Thomas Snyder (aka Dr. Sudoku) is a two-time World Sudoku Champion and five-time US Puzzle Champion, as well as the author of several books of puzzles. His puzzles are hand-crafted, with artistic themes, serving as a kind of “cure for the common sudoku.” Each week he posts a new puzzle on his blog, The Art of Puzzles. This week’s prescription is a themed Calcu-doku puzzle for 12/24, with only those numbers as clues.
Via Dr. Sudoku Prescribes: A 12/24 Calcu-doku | Magazine | Wired.com.
A solid description of a recent Planning Commission decision in Whitewater.
Planners for a proposed four-story student complex near UW-Whitewater’s campus would have to downsize the project to move forward after the plan commission rejected a zoning change….
The full story nicely explains the status of the proposed project.
See, Proposed student complex halted in Whitewater — Walworth County Today.
Five Artists, 250 Hours, Six Months to Create the Search Engine’s ‘Doodle’
Good morning,
Whitewater’s forecast is for a snowy day, with a high temperature of twenty-nine degrees. Accumulations of about two inches are forecast for the Whippet City.
Wired recalls that on this day in 1968, Apollo 8 delivered Christmas Eve Greetings From Lunar Orbit:
1968: The crew of Apollo 8 delivers a live, televised Christmas Eve broadcast after becoming the first humans to orbit another space body.
Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders made their now-celebrated broadcast after entering lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, which might help explain the heavy religious content of the message. After announcing the arrival of lunar sunrise, each astronaut read from the Book of Genesis.
In the present, back on Earth, or at least not so far from it as Apollo 8 once was, a very clever FPV pilot has filmed a radio control plane’s flight over Manhattan. Raphael “Trappy” Pirker is an Austrian who has recorded first person view footage from flights all over the world.
It’s a remarkable film.
The flight generated a bit of hand-wringing from a model aircraft association about supposed threats from the small plane, but those dangers are both overblown and (in this era of unreasonable and ill-considered ‘security’ measures) predictable.
Hat tip to Singularity Hub for the videos. more >>
The failure of a nationalized, cumbersome bureaucracy —
It seems like terrorists don’t even need to think of crazy new shoe, underwear, or pancake bombs to get around the TSA, since airport security seems to have forgotten what normal weapons look like. Though they still won’t let me bring four ounces of conditioner onto the plane….
Airports have a right — and should exercise it — to reject TSA security in favor of private alternatives.
Here’s a press release from the Dane County UW Extension —
On Saturday, February 26, 2011 the Madison Area Woodland Owners Conference will feature presentations focusing on woodland understory, managing for wildlife, maple sugaring, a physician’s perspective regarding tick diseases – plus other topics.
The February 26th conference runs from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and includes continental breakfast, lunch and handout materials. The registration fee is $35 if you register before February 10th and $40 for a late or onsite registration. The conference will be held at the American Family Insurance Headquarters Training Center, located between Madison and Sun Prairie, off of Highway 151 on American Parkway. Commercial and educational exhibits will also be included as part of the conference.
The sponsors for the conference include Dane County UW-Extension, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and Wisconsin Woodland Owners Association. If you would like to receive a registration brochure or are interested in having an exhibit at the conference, contact Mindy Habecker at the Dane County UW-Extension office (608)224-3718. The conference brochure is also available at: http://dane.uwex.edu/
Here’s a press release from the Bruce Johnson Clay Studio —
ONE FREE POTTERY CLASS IS BEING OFFERED
Bruce Johnson’s distinctive rake ceramic pieces have been enjoyed by people all over the nation for over 25 years. Johnson is now offering to share his knowledge and technique with others by offering lessons in wheel thrown and hand built ceramics. ” I want to make sure that people can try a pottery class free before they sign up for a session” says Johnson.
“With my years of experience as a full-time artist, I believe I have much to offer those interested in ceramics,” says Johnson, “whether they are just beginning or already experienced in working with clay.” In this unique learning opportunity, students will learn the art of making functional and decorative pottery, both hand built and wheel thrown. The pieces will be fired in food-safe, high-fire glazes, and in the ancient technique of rake firing.
All sessions will take place at Bruce Johnson Clay Studio, 302 W. Campus Street, in Lake Mills, Wisconsin, beginning the week of January 4 2011. The class includes one session a week for seven weeks, 25 pounds of clay, and all glaze materials, including firing. Classes will be held Tuesday and Thursday nights from 6:30pm to 9pm, and Saturday mornings from 10am to 12:30pm. Each class is limited to six students to ensure individual attention for each student.
To register, or for further information, contact Johnson at 920-648-3049 or bruce@brucejohnsonclaystudio.com. Samples of work can be seen on his website, www.brucejohnsonclaystudio.com.
Good morning,
Today’s forecast for Whitewater calls for a mostly cloudy day, with a high temperature of twenty six.
It’s a lot colder than 26 degrees Fahrenheit on Mars — but even frigid temperatures offer amazing sights. Here’s a video from the Mars rover Opportunity as it records a solar eclipse from Mars (as the Martian moon Phobos briefly obscures the sun).
Hauntingly beautiful.
Wired recalls a milestone from this day in 1882:
An inventive New Yorker finds a brilliant application for electric lights and becomes the first person to use them as Christmas tree decorations.
Edward H. Johnson, who toiled for Thomas Edison’s Illumination Company and later became a company vice president, used 80 small red, white and blue electric bulbs, strung together along a single power cord, to light the Christmas tree in his New York home. Some sources credit Edison himself with being the first to use electric lights as Christmas decorations, when he strung them around his laboratory in 1880.
Sticking them on the tree was Johnson’s idea, though.
See, Dec. 22, 1882: Looking at Christmas in a New Light. more >>
State Representative Steve Nass, part of the Wisconsin Assembly’s Republican majority, wants to repeal the law that allows the state superintendent to decide whether local public districts may use a tribal name, or other ‘race-based’ name. (Wis. Stat. 118.134, et seq).
Although I’m not a proponent of tribal names, I’m surely an opponent of Wisconsin’s current law, one that places decision-making in the hands of the state superintendent, and unfairly shifts the burden of proof to districts to show that their mascots are not discriminatory. Communities should decide these matters, for themselves, and the burden of proof should rest with those wishing to change an existing name. See, Wisconsin’s Law on ‘Raced-Based’ School Mascots.
It doesn’t matter whether one doesn’t like these names, if the law used to remove them is unfair. (One also sees that mascots like Whitewater’s whippets are solid choices.)
Nass is right to seek repeal.
There’s a fine, speech-defending column at the Chicago Tribune from Jamie Katz on saying “Merry Christmas.” Here’s part of it:
….It’s all right to say Merry Christmas. In fact, it’s lovely.
I happen to be Jewish. And I’ve lived most of my life in New York City, where, on the whole, contrary to rumor, people of every faith, language and hue do a pretty good job of getting along.
Not once, ever, publicly or privately, have I heard anyone – Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Cherokee, atheist or Aqua Buddhist – say he or she was insulted by a sincere holiday greeting that included the word Christmas.
Of course, if you’re aware that someone celebrates a different tradition, it’s nice to acknowledge that too. And if you have no idea whether he or she prefers Kwanzaa, Hanukkah or Omisoka, you can always say, “Happy Festivus for the rest of us!” or even “Happy holidays!” It’s not that bad.
Well said. I say ‘Merry Christmas,’ unless, like Katz, I know someone celebrates a different holiday. One starts with what one believes, and it’s a measure of intolerance to expect someone to sacrifice belief for supposed tolerance.
(If, for example, someone said Happy New Year to me around Rosh Hashanah, I wouldn’t be offended; on the contrary, I respect someone for his or her commitment and happiness in it. A multicultural society is exactly that — multicultural. It’s not a society that cajoles people into a standard that’s not meaningful to them. Rights derive from individuals, not to be sacrificed for a homogenizing community.)
Good morning,
Today’s Whitewater forecast calls for a cloudy day with a high temperature of thirty-three degrees.
In the City of Whitewater, there’s a special, closed-session meeting of the Community Development Authority scheduled for 4:30 p.m. The agenda is available online.
The Wisconsin Historical Society recalls that on this day in 1862, Woof Woof was born:
1862 – Wisconsin Governor Walter Goodland Born
On this date Governor Goodland was born. Goodland had a long and successful career editing and publishing various newspapers in Michigan and Wisconsin, including the Racine Times. Newspaper reporters dubbed him “Woof-Woof” due to his deep, rumbling voice. Twice widowed, Goodland eventually married his secretary, Madge Roche Risney Goodland (also widowed). After retiring from the newspaper business, Goodland decided to run for lieutenant governor under Progressive Orland Loomis. Loomis died before inauguration, giving the office to Goodland. Goodland, a Republican, proceeded to win the governorship in 1944 and 1946. He died in the old executive residence on March 12, 1947 at the age of 84, being the oldest governor in office in any state. [Source: First Ladies of Wisconsin, The Governors’ Wives by Nancy G. Williams]
“A lot of people are making these political arguments, which are, ‘What is the proper political chess move against Obama?’ And that is not the way we should be thinking right now when it comes to jobs and economy,” Ryan said in an interview Tuesday.
Via Republican Paul Ryan defends tax deal from conservative critics – JSOnline.
