Saturday, May 13, 2023

Lois Kiser Miller (1923-2023) Warren High School class of 1940

 
1940 Dragon yearbook

Source:  Peterson Blick Funeral Home


Lois's high-school activities:
Stenographers' Club (4); Junior Shortland Club (3); Girls' Glee Club (4); Mixed Chorus (3).
1967 Warren City Directory
  • Lois and Wayne live at 107 Jackson Street (since remaned) in North Warren
1983 Warren City Directory
  • ditto


The popularity of Lois as a baby name is graphed here.  Let's take a look at classmate Vernon.

Source:   Social Security Administration

Vernon had a very good run during the 1st two-thirds of the 20th century, spending 31 years (1906; 1908-1937) in the top 100 and 67 years in the top 200, peaking at #65 in 1920.   Beginning in the 1980s, though, his popularity went into a precipitous decline.


Other class of 1940 members (15):
2021

2018

2017
Adolf von Weissenfluh.  (11/9)
Lucy Andera Fowler.  (9/24/)
Violet Harvey Ahlquist.  (2/13)

2016
Richard Scalise.  (12/7)
Lorraine Bevevino Bengston.  (7/27)
Harold Gilson.  (6/21)
Gertrude Crocker Maines.  (5/17)
Virginia Wooster Bielawski.  (5/8)

2014
John Notoro Sr.  (11/7)
Harry Segal.  (10/15)
Mary Wolstencroft Lampela.  (10/2)

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The Art of the Texas Gerrymander: U.S. House District 33

 
Diluting the Power of Hispanic and
Asian Voters with Surgical Precision
 
Marc Veasey (D-Fort Worth) won a 6th term in Congress with 72.8% of the vote in 2022.  



The Texas Tribune, 10/15/2021
The intensity with which Texas Republicans are struggling against demographic tides as they redraw the state's congressional districts can best be seen in their new maps for the Dallas-Fort Worth region, specifically its suburbs. 
For decades, suburban communities offered the GOP solid political ground. But census figures demonstrate the state is growing away from Republicans, with nearly all of its population gains coming within communities of color more likely to support Democrats. 
That shift has reached the suburbs. In a bid to hold the political turf, Republicans zeroed in on communities with high shares of potential voters of color and grafted them onto massive districts dominated by white voters.

Related posts:
District 1.  (4/19/2023
District 2.  (4/19/2023)
District 3.  (4/19/2023)
District 4.  (4/21/2023)
District 5.  (4/21/2023)
District 6.  (4/21/2023)
District 7.  (4/24/2023)
District 8.  (4/24/2023)
District 9.  (4/25/2023)
District 10.  (4/25/2023)
District 11.  (4/26/2023)
District 12.  (4/26/2023)
District 13.  (4/27/2023)
District 14.  (4/27/2023)
District 15.  (4/28/2023)
District 16.  (4/28/2023)
District 17.  (4/29/2023)
District 18.  (4/29/2023)
District 19.  (4/30/2023)
District 20.  (5/1/2023)
District 21.  (5/2/2023)
District 22.  (5/3/2023)
District 23.  (5/4/2023)
District 24.  (5/5/2023)
District 25.  (5/6/2023)
District 26.  (5/7/2023)
District 27.  (5/8/2023)
District 28.  (5/9/2023)
District 29.  (5/9/2023)
District 30.  (5/10/2023)
District 31.  (5/11/2023)
District 32.  (5/12/2023)

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Friday, May 12, 2023

NEXT DOOR ADVENTURES: Viewing the Wisconsin State Capitol: I'm not like Lesa, let's move on

 

Screenshot and video by Retiring Guy




"For the Good Times' by Ray Price debuted at #91 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending 8/29/1970.  It peaked at #11 and spent 24 weeks on the chart.



Other Next Door adventures:
2023

2022

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Reminiscing photo of the day: Conewango Creek rest stop, Warren PA (2013)

 
Photo by Retiring Guy

The church in the background is the former St. Paul's Lutheran Church, where Retiring Guy's dad served as pastor from 1957 to 1981.  The cross topping the steeple was removed in 1971 when a new church building was dedicated.
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GET ME REWRITE!! Hanging onto his job by a thread, Chris Licht defends decision to host worst hour of television programming ever

 
Headline:  New York Times, 5/11/2023
On a network-wide editorial call, Mr. Licht congratulated the moderator, Kaitlan Collins, on “a masterful performance” before acknowledging the public backlash. “We all know covering Donald Trump is messy and tricky, and it will continue to be messy and tricky, but it’s our job,” Mr. Licht said, according to a recording of the call obtained by The New York Times. 
“I absolutely, unequivocally believe America was served very well by what we did last night,” Mr. Licht added. “People woke up, and they know what the stakes are in this election in a way that they didn’t the day before. And if someone was going to ask tough questions and have that messy conversation, it damn well should be on CNN.”

Related posts:
Media immorality:  CNN welcomes sexual assault perp Donald Trump to the New Hampshire town hall stage for ratings bonanza

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Ron DeSantis: Blueprint for America

 
He wants to recycle all the bad stuff he did as Governor of Florida.





Sources:
No One Is Talking About What Ron DeSantis Has Actually Done to Florida.  (Time, 3/29/2023)

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GET ME REWRITE!! Just another reminder that Alabama U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville is one major-league dumbass

 
And racist, to boot.

Tommy Tuberville dressed for work
Headline:  NPR, 5/11/2023
"The Democrats are attacking our military, saying we need to get out the white extremists, the white nationalists, people that don't believe in our agenda, as Joe Biden's agenda," Tuberville said in the WBHM interview conducted last week. "They're destroying it." 
Following those comments, WBHM reporter Richard Banks asked Tuberville to clarify his comments on white nationalists saying, "You mentioned the Biden administration trying to prevent white nationalists from being in the military. Do you believe they should allow white nationalists in the military? 
"Well, they call them that. I call them Americans," Tuberville said.  [emphasis added]

Related post:
Just another reminder that Tommy Tuberville is one major-league dumb fuck.  (2/27/2022)
Meet the GOP troglodytes of the United States Senate.  (11/30/2022)
How dumb is Tommy Tuberville? Very, very, very dumb.  (10/11/2022)
Just another reminder that Tommy Tuberville is one major-league dumb fuck.  (2/27/2022)
GET ME REWRITE: UAB Hospital doctors request examination of Tommy Tuberville for traumatic brain injuries.  (3/2/2020)

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GET ME REWRITE!! CNN still desperately seeking ratings success

 
Top headline:  Politico, 12/29/2016
Bottom headline:  The Hill, 5/11/2023
Former President Trump’s town hall event with CNN was a major ratings boost for the network Wednesday. 
The hourlong event, broadcast in prime time and moderated by anchor Kaitlan Collins, netted 3.3 million total viewers, according to preliminary Nielsen Media Research data. 
That figure represents more than three times the number of viewers CNN has earned during the 8 p.m. hour in recent weeks but is less than the size of the audience that has watched Trump town halls on Fox News and other networks in previous years. [emphasis added]

3 million viewers.  Out of the anywhere from 100 to 120 million viewers, on average, during primetime.

Related posts:
Media immorality:  CNN welcomes sexual assault perp Donald Trump to the New Hampshire town hall stage for ratings bonanza
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GET ME REWRITE: Republicans in Iowa House remain squeamish about birth control

 
And this is not just an Iowa thing.  You'll want to keep this in mind when you go to the polls in November 2024.

Photos:  Iowa Legislature
Headline:  Des Moines Register, 5/11/2023
House Speaker Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, said on a May 5 episode of "Iowa Press" on Iowa PBS that even though Reynolds' proposal has been around for several years, this year was the first time that the 24 new Republican members of the Iowa House had encountered it. 
"We've had members that have moved from solid noes that are getting more comfortable as we're working through modifying the language," Grassley said. "And I'm sure it will be something we continue to talk about."

Related posts:
2023

2022

2021

2018
What's the matter with Iowa? Health benefit plans mean you're screwed when it comes to pre-existing conditions.  (10/5)

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Covid Chronicles. Chapter 38: Personal Protective Equipment


 Read chapter 37 here

Tuesday, May 12, 2020 


Last week I dropped off the Matrix at Smart Motors, the Madison Toyota dealership where we’ve purchased our last two cars. It was due for its 135,000 turn-up. As I drove into the large reception bay in the service department, I didn’t see anyone wearing a mask. Not the older man who waved me forward to a specific location. Not the younger man who placed the paper mats on the front seat floor of the car. Not the customer service specialist who greeted with “Do you have an appointment today?” None of the other customer service employees, all of them men, wore masks. Sneeze screens had not been installed at the counter-height desks. Neither were there any kind of barriers to insure the standard 6 feet of social distancing. Even the women who work at the payment desk did not wear masks, although a sneeze screen had been installed at this location. 


I made a return trip this morning, as some hardware, not in stock last week, had to be installed to complete the replacement of the front fender guard. Cruising into the bay, I saw that everyone present wore a mask. And sneeze screens had been added to each of the customer service counters – a dozen altogether. They even placed a very unsteady-looking, cardboard Purell tower next to the payment desk. (I didn’t test it out for fear it might topple over.) 

Toyota was certainly late to the coronavirus safety party, but at least they finally arrived. Considering the number of cases in Dane County – 477 as of today -- I suspect customer feedback played a key role. 

 By last week, the number of shoppers wearing masks in the stores that we patronize approached 100%. Moreover, as of a week ago Monday, Costco and Menard’s require customers to wear a mask in order to enter the store. (Staff are also required to wear them.) Menard’s even sells masks for a buck apiece at a greeter counter just inside the store’s entrance. Predictably, this requirement resulted in protests on social media. The best response I read was a reminder to the Trumpers — who else would be so small-minded — that businesses already have certain restrictions in place, ones that can be implemented as long as they’re not discriminatory. 

Masks are a sensible addition during the pandemic. 


The young woman you see in the photo at the top of this post, taken at Menard’s before the mask requirement was implemented, certainly believes that there is no such thing as too much protection. The plastic rain poncho appears roomy enough for a 300-pound NFL lineman. The woman’s face was completely covered with a combination mask and veil, obviously a homemade piece of personal protective equipment. The contrast with the maskless guy wearing a cap, waiting for a printer to spit out his receipt, a pre-Covid convenience, is stark.

Read chapter 39 here

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Around Town Middleton: Checking in on the recently closed Collector's Corner Resale Shop

 
Pretty much cleared out and awaiting a new tenant.

Photos by Retiring Guy




Other Around Town Middleton posts:
May 2023
Best double cheeseburger ever (Village Green).  (5/5)

April 2023

March 2023

February 2023

January 2023
Bathroom advice.  (1/11)
Vin Santo restaurant reopening date postponed again.  (1/7)

October 2022
The Club Tavern still sits empty (2022 edition)  (10/20)
According to a recent Next Door post, this apartment building allegedly has roaches. (10/15)

August 2022
"Tactical Urbanism" at the intersection of Elmwood Avenue and Middleton Street.  (8/29/2022)
The G Spot.  (8/11/2022)

July 2022
Turfbot mower.  (7/28)

May2022


November 2021


February 2021

January 2021

December 2020

November 2020

October 2020

August 2020

December 2019
Roman Candle survives the cut, even without the availability of convenient parking.  (12/12)
The Monona side of town.  (12/6)

November 2019
Bike rack at Sauk Trail Elementary School.  (11/8)
Not everybody's on board in the Meadows neighborhood.  (11/4)
 
October 2019
Matching car and garage door.  (10/11)

September 2019
Around Town Middleton: Bees love ornamental onion plants.   (9/4) 

August 2019
60-year-old resident arrested for armed robbery.  (8/21)
Staff and visitors may now park in the MCPASD Services Center lot .  (8/2)

June 2019
"ROAD WORK AHEAD" trumps "DRIVE LIKE YOUR KIDS LIVE HERE" on Park Street.  (6/27)
Free lunch Friday.  (6/24/2019)
CBD, just like everywhere else in Wisconsin.  (6/24)
 
February 2019
According to chapter 8.07 of the city ordinances....  (2/4)

January 2019
More than a snow fort, but not a standing-room igloo.  (1/2)
 
December 2018
This section of sidewalk was replaced in 1980.  (12/18)
The post office's new and improved self-service kiosk.  (12/18)

November 2018
Spell checker.  (11/19)

August 2018
Must be on a tight schedule.  (8/6/)

July 2018
What type of seeds?  (7/6)

June 2018
If it's not one thing, it's another.  (6/23)
Bloom Bake Shop to reopen as Bloom Bindery, a bakery/bookstore.  (6/15)

May 2018
The Tiedeman Pond frog chorus.  (5/15)

March 2018
Tiedeman Pond winter fish kill.  (3/30)
Hear that lonesome whistle blow.  (3/22)
Explosion on Elmwood Avenue.  (3/20)
Googling 'Henry Hubbard'.  (3/18) 
A not-so-faded Flo strikes a new pose.  (3/12)

February 2018

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Checking in on the recently lamented closing of Middleton Cleaners

 
Empty except for a fake plant

Photos by Retiring Guy





Original 10/18/2023 post, "Next Door laments the closing of Middleton Cleaners", starts here.

Photos by Retiring Guy



Original 10/1/2022 post starts here

Nextdoor

Retiring Guy put in his 2 cents.

We stopped going there in the early 1990s. They had an antiquated drop-off/pick-up system, which didn't work if you happened to misplace or lose your ticket.. Hide-and-go-seek time. Moreover, the entrance area always looked as though it hadn't been vacuumed or dusted in years. Not a welcoming vibe. If you want to dig a little deeper, read this article.

Bloomberg, 9/12/2022
The Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent wholesale move to working from home have been tough on dry cleaners and professional laundries in the US. 
So has the 21st century. The number of business establishments offering “dry-cleaning and laundry services, except coin-operated” fell to 16,497 in the first quarter of 2022 from 18,756 in the last quarter of 2019, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, an annualized decline of nearly
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Wheel and Sprocket celebrates the grand reopening of its Middleton store


Wheel & Sprocket celebrated the grand reopening of its Middleton store on May 5.

Photo by Retiring Guy


1/16/2023 update starts here

Photo by Retiring Guy


9/30/2022 update starts here


Photos by Retiring Guy




Rendering and application:  Middleton
 Plan Commission



6/1/2022 update, " 17 months later, still nothing happening at site of former Chocolaterian in Middleton WI", starts here.

Photos by Retiring Guy





1/16/2021 update, "Chocolaterian still resting in peace", starts here.
 
Photo by Retiring Guy


9/9/2019 update, "UPDATE.  R.I.P. Chocolaterian (June 9, 2017-August 18, 2019)", starts here.

Photos by Retiring Guy

After an amazing 7 years,' Chocolaterian closes for good.  (Wisconsin State Journal, 8/6/2019)
Leanne Cordisco, the majority owner of the business, said she couldn't survive after a flood and then a fire at the Atwood location, and a flood at the Middleton shop. 
"A fire and two floods. It's just cash flow -- just couldn't overcome it," she said. 
Cordisco opened Chocolaterian Cafe, a European-style patisserie, in October 2012 at 2004 Atwood Ave., in the 1920s-era Schenk-Huegel uniform shop. 
The building suffered a fire in February 2018 caused by faulty electrical equipment in the basement. It resulted in $750,000 in damage, and forced out Chocolaterian and Vault Interiors & Design. Businesses on the second floor were also affected.




 7/25/2018 update, "Chocolaterian has got parking", starts here.

Photo by Retiring Guy

Chocolaterian will not reopen Atwood location after fire.  Chocolaterian in Middleton remains operational.  (Channel 3000, 4/24/2018)
"We are heartbroken over the loss of our original café but it helps a lot to see the restoration in full swing," the post said. 
Chocolaterian is going to work with some east side businesses to carry some of the treats usually available in store.


Original 3/12/2018 post, "With Chocolaterian a big draw in Middleton, neighboring businesses post a forest of restrictive parking signs", starts here.

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign.

The scene of the clutter:  6600 block of University Avenue


Reserved parking for office quite 210, Community Counseling

 Reserved parking for Collectors Corner

 Parking reserved for Wheel & Sprocket

 Parking reserved for Simply Swimming and Cabinet City
All photos by Retiring Guy

 And naturally, "all others will be ticketed and towed at owner's expense" or some such warning.
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Day 923 of GOP election denier hysteria (Trump Big Lie Clown Show Circus, Washington edition)

 
Meet the stars of the
ATTACK Of the Clown Show zombies
 
Starring failed Washington state
candidate for Congress Joe Kent
Washington Post, 5/8/2023
Kent campaigned in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District on a hard-right platform that made election conspiracy theories a core tenet of the race. Kent conceded the race to Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez after a close recount. 
Kent, who has ties to white nationalist groups, has launched another run for the seat. He has voiced concerns about Republican turnout and the need for the GOP to mobilize its conservative base.

perennial laughingstock Sarah Palin
Washington Post, 5/8/2023
The former Alaska governor and vice-presidential nominee lost her race for Alaska’s at-large seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Palin, who ran as a Trump-aligned conservative in a crowded field, blamed her loss to Rep. Mary Peltola (D) on the state’s new ranked-choice voting system. 
Palin has since campaigned against ranked-choice voting across the country, claiming without evidence that the system may lead to fraud and casting other doubts on its usefulness.

failed congressional candidate
Karoline "NO" Leavitt
Washington Post, 5/8/2023
A former assistant press secretary in the Trump White House and communications director to Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Leavitt ran an unsuccessful bid to unseat incumbent Rep. Chris Pappas (D) in New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District. Leavitt, 25, would have been the youngest woman ever elected to the House of Representatives. 
In April, Leavitt joined MAGA Inc., a pro-Trump super PAC, as its press secretary. The organization is staffed with several alumni of the Trump administration and seeks to “ensure a second Trump administration and to promote America First candidates,” according to its website.

A trifecta of GOP wackiness. 


Texas Sore Loser Mayra Flores
Washington Post, 5/8/2023
Flores won an upset victory in a June 2022 special election for a House district in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley. Her win in the heavily Hispanic area prompted excitement from Republicans and shock among Democrats at the shifting voting patterns of Hispanic voters in the area. 
In November, Flores lost a race for a newly drawn congressional district. Flores, who denied the results of the 2020 election and shared conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, says she is focused on bringing more Hispanic voters into the conservative political sphere.

Related series of posts:

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