Good morning, Whitewater.

Monday in town will be partly cloudy with a high of eighty-six. Sunrise is 6:25 AM and sunset 7:20 PM, for 12h 55m 26s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 15.3% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1774, the First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia:

The First Continental Congress was a meeting of delegates from twelve of the Thirteen Colonies that met on September 5 to October 26, 1774 at Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. It was called in response to “The passage of the Coercive Acts” (also known as Intolerable Acts by the Colonial Americans) by the British Parliament. The Intolerable Acts had punished Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party.

The Congress was attended by 56 delegates. The Pennsylvania delegation was appointed by the colonial assembly. Georgia declined to send delegates because they were hoping for British assistance with Native American problems on their frontier and did not want to upset the British.^[1]

The Congress met briefly to consider options, including an economic boycott of British trade; rights and grievances; and petitioned King George III for redress of those grievances.

The Congress also called for another Continental Congress in the event that their petition was unsuccessful in halting enforcement of the Intolerable Acts. Their appeal to the Crown had no effect, and so the Second Continental Congresswas convened the following year to organize the defense of the colonies at the onset of the American Revolutionary War. The delegates also urged each colony to set up and train its own militia.

JigZone has a puzzle of a colorful fish for Monday:

Good morning, Whitewater.

Ted Yoder covers Everybody Wants to Rule the World on a dulcimer. Quite something –

Sunday in town will become increasingly sunny with a high of seventy-nine. Sunrise is 6:24 AM and sunset 7:22 PM, for 12h 58m 15s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 9.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

Friday’s FW poll asked whether readers thought that Vladimir Putin was, in fact, ignorant of the hacking of a major American political party’s servers. Most respondents thought that he was lying (84%), but 16% thought he was ignorant of the hacking’s perpetrators.

On this day in 1884, George Eastman patents the film-roll camera:

George Eastman (July 12, 1854 – March 14, 1932) was an American innovator and entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak Company and popularized the use of roll film, helping to bring photography to the mainstream. Roll film was also the basis for the invention of motion picture film in 1888 by the world’s first film-makers Eadweard Muybridgeand Louis Le Prince, and a few years later by their followers Léon Bouly, William Dickson, Thomas Edison, the Lumière Brothers, and Georges Méliès.

He was a major philanthropist, establishing the Eastman School of Music, and schools of dentistry and medicine at the University of Rochester and in London; contributing to the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and the construction of several buildings at MIT‘s second campus on the Charles River. In addition he made major donations to Tuskegee and Hampton universities, historically black universities in the South. With interests in improving health, he provided funds for clinics in London and other European cities to serve low-income residents….

In 1884, Eastman patented the first film in roll form to prove practicable; he had been tinkering at home to develop it. In 1888, he perfected the Kodak camera, the first camera designed. Eastman was progressive for his era. He promoted Florence McAnaney to be head of the personnel department, one of the first women to hold an executive position in a major U.S. company.

 

 

Good morning, Whitewater.

Saturday in town will be mostly sunny with a high of seventy-seven. Sunrise is 6:23 AM and sunset is 7:24 PM, for 13h 01m 05s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 4.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1783, representatives of America and Britain sign the Treaty of Paris, formally ending the Revolutionary War:

The Treaty of Paris, signed in Paris by representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of theUnited States of America on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War. Britain acknowledged the United States to be sovereign and independent. The treaty set the boundaries between the British Empire and the new country, on lines “exceedingly generous” to the United States.^[2] Details included fishing rights and restoration of property and prisoners of war.

This treaty, along with the separate peace treaties between Great Britain and the nations that supported the American cause—France, Spain, and the Dutch Republic—are known collectively as the Peace of Paris.^[3][4]

….Historians have often commented that the treaty was very generous to the United States in terms of greatly enlarged boundaries. Historians such as Alvord, Harlow, and Ritcheson have emphasized that British generosity was based on a statesmanlike vision of close economic ties between Britain and the United States. The concession of the vast trans-Appalachian region was designed to facilitate the growth of the American population and create lucrative markets for British merchants, without any military or administrative costs to Britain.^[14] The point was the United States would become a major trading partner. As the French foreign ministerVergennes later put it, “The English buy peace rather than make it”.^[15] Vermont was included within the boundaries because the state of New York insisted that Vermont was a part of New York, although Vermont was then under a government that considered Vermont not to be a part of the United States.^[16]

On this day in 1970, Coach Lombardi passes away:

On this date famed Green Bay Packer coach, Vince Lombardi, died at the age of 57. Lombardi played college football at Fordham, where he was one of the legendary “Seven Blocks of Granite.” Lombardi served as coach and general manager for the Green Bay Packers from 1959 to 1967. He directed the team to five NFL championships in seven years (1961-62 and 1965-67). His 1966 and 1967 teams also made history by winning the first two Super Bowls.

Good morning, Whitewater.

Friday in town will be partly cloudy with a high of seventy-five. Sunrise is 6:22 AM and sunset is 7:25 PM, for 13h 03m 53s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 1.3% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1666, the Great Fire of London began:

The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666.^[1] The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall. It threatened but did not reach the aristocratic district of Westminster, Charles II‘s Palace of Whitehall, and most of the suburban slums.^[2] It consumed 13,200 houses, 87 parish churches, St Paul’s Cathedral, and most of the buildings of the City authorities. It is estimated to have destroyed the homes of 70,000 of the City’s 80,000 inhabitants.^[3] The death toll is unknown but traditionally thought to have been small, as only six verified deaths were recorded. This reasoning has recently been challenged on the grounds that the deaths of poor and middle-class people were not recorded, while the heat of the fire may have cremated many victims, leaving no recognisable remains. A melted piece of pottery on display at the Museum of London found by archaeologists in Pudding Lane, where the fire started, shows that the temperature reached 1250 °C.^[4]

The Great Fire started at the bakery of Thomas Farriner (or Farynor) on Pudding Lane shortly after midnight on Sunday, 2 September and spread rapidly west across the City of London. The major firefighting technique of the time was to create firebreaks by means of demolition; this, however, was critically delayed owing to the indecisiveness of Lord Mayor of London Sir Thomas Bloodworth. By the time that large-scale demolitions were ordered on Sunday night, the wind had already fanned the bakery fire into a firestorm which defeated such measures. The fire pushed north on Monday into the heart of the City. Order in the streets broke down as rumours arose of suspicious foreigners setting fires. The fears of the homeless focused on the French and Dutch, England’s enemies in the ongoing Second Anglo-Dutch War; these substantial immigrant groups became victims of lynchings and street violence. On Tuesday, the fire spread over most of the City, destroying St Paul’s Cathedral and leaping the River Fleet to threaten Charles II’s court at Whitehall, while coordinated firefighting efforts were simultaneously mobilising. The battle to quench the fire is considered to have been won by two factors: the strong east winds died down, and the Tower of London garrison used gunpowder to create effective firebreaks to halt further spread eastward.

The social and economic problems created by the disaster were overwhelming. Evacuation from London and resettlement elsewhere were strongly encouraged by Charles II, who feared a London rebellion amongst the dispossessed refugees. Despite numerous radical proposals, London was reconstructed on essentially the same street plan used before the fire.^[5]

JigZone ends the week with a wagon-wheel puzzle:

Good morning, Whitewater.

A new month begins in Whitewater with morning clouds, giving way to afternoon sunshine, with a daytime high of seventy-one. Sunrise is 6:21 AM and sunset 7:27 PM, for 13h 06m 41s of daytime. The moon is new today, with no part of its visible disk illuminated.

Google has a doodle to mark the 37th anniversary of the publishing of The Neverending Story.  (There’s more than one slide to the doodle, as there’s more than one part to the story.)

A new school year begins in our public district. Best wishes for a year of exploration and adventure.

Whitewater’s Landmarks Commission meets tonight at 6 PM, and there will be a Fire Department Business Meeting at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1972, Fischer defeats Spassky:

The World Chess Championship 1972 was a match for the World Chess Championship between challenger Bobby Fischer of the United States and defending champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. The match took place in the Laugardalshöll arena in Reykjavík, Iceland, and has been dubbed the Match of the Century. Fischer became the first American born in the United States to win the world title, and the second American overall (Wilhelm Steinitz, the first world champion, became a naturalized American citizen in 1888). Fischer’s win also ended, for a short time, 24 years of Soviet domination of the World Championship.

The first game was played on July 11, 1972. The last game (the 21st) began on August 31, was adjourned after 40 moves, and Spassky resigned the next day without resuming play. Fischer won the match 12½–8½, becoming the eleventh undisputed World Champion.

JigZone has flowers as its theme for today’s puzzle:

Good morning, Whitewater.

Our month ends on a day of partly cloudy skies with a high of seventy-eight.  Sunrise is 6:19 AM and sunset 7:29 PM, for 13h 09m 29s of daytime.  We’ve a new moon, with just .9% of its visible disk illuminated.

Marquette Law publishes a new Wisconsin poll this afternoon. I’ll have highlights when they’re available.

On this day in 1897, Edison patents the kinetograph:

Thomas Edison receives a patent for his movie camera, the Kinetograph. Edison had developed the camera and its viewer in the early 1890s and staged several demonstrations.

The camera was based on photographic principles discovered by still-photograph pioneers Joseph Nicephone Niepce and Louis Daguerre of France. In 1877, inventor Edward Muybridge developed a primitive form of motion pictures when Leland Stanford, governor of California, invited him to develop photo studies of animals in motion. Muybridge developed an ingenious system for photographing sequential motion, setting up 24 cameras attached to trip wires stretched across a racetrack. As the horse tripped each wire, the shutters snapped. The resulting series of photos could be projected as something resembling a motion picture. This breakthrough in the early 1870s inspired another student of animal motion, Etienne Jules Marey of France, to develop in 1882 a rotating camera rather like a rifle, where different pictures were taken in a rapid sequence by a rotating cartridge.

Unlike these earlier cameras, Edison’s Kinetoscope and Kinetograph used celluloid film, invented by George Eastman in 1889. In February 1893, Edison built a small movie studio that could be rotated to capture the best available sunlight. He showed the first demonstration of his films—featuring three of his workers pretending to be blacksmiths—in May 1893.

It’s a seahorse puzzle from JigZone for Wednesday:

Good morning, Whitewater.

Tuesday in the city will be partly cloudy, with a four-in-ten chance of afternoon thunderstorms, and a high of eighty-two.  Sunrise is 6:18 AM and 7:31 PM, for 13h 12m 16s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 4% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1945, Gen. MacArthur arrives in Japan:

Japan surrendered to the Allies on August 14, 1945, when the Japanese government notified the Allies that it had accepted the Potsdam Declaration. On the following day, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s unconditional surrender on the radio (the Gyokuon-h?s?). The announcement was the emperor’s first ever planned radio broadcast and the first time most citizens of Japan ever heard their sovereign’s voice.^[5] This date is known as Victory Over Japan, or V-J Day, and marked the end of World War II and the beginning of a long road to recovery for a shattered Japan.

Japanese officials left for Manila, Philippines on August 19 to meet MacArthur and to be briefed on his plans for the occupation. On August 28, 150 U.S. personnel flew to Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture. They were followed by USS Missouri,^[6] whose accompanying vessels landed the 4th Marine Division on the southern coast of Kanagawa. Other Allied personnel followed.

MacArthur arrived in Tokyo on August 30, and immediately decreed several laws. No Allied personnel were to assault Japanese people. No Allied personnel were to eat the scarce Japanese food. Flying the Hinomaru or “Rising Sun” flag was initially severely restricted (although individuals and prefectural offices could apply for permission to fly it). This restriction was partially lifted in 1948 and completely lifted the following year.^[7]

Today’s JigZone puzzle is of a pelican:

Good morning, Whitewater.

Monday in town will be mostly cloudy with a high of eighty-four. Sunrise is 6:17 AM and sunset 7:32 PM, for 13h 15m 03s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 9.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1944, American troops parade through Paris, a city they had so recently helped liberate:

On 29 August, the U.S. Army’s 28th Infantry Division, who had assembled in the Bois de Boulogne the previous night, paraded 24-abreast up the Avenue Hoche to the Arc de Triomphe, then down the Champs Élysées. Joyous crowds greeted the Americans as the entire division, men and vehicles, marched through Paris “on its way to assigned attack positions northeast of the French capital.” ^[17]

JigZone‘s Monday puzzle is of a bridge:

Good morning, Whitewater.

Sunday in town will be cloudy in the morning, sunny in the afternoon, with a high of eighty-four.  Sunrise is 6:16 AM and sunset 7:34 PM, for 13h 17m 49s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 16.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

Friday’s FW poll asked whether a University of Pittsburgh student who got stuck between buildings (while leaping from one to another to impress a date) was reckless, romantic, or a bit of both.  A majority of respondents (61.29%) said that he was reckless.

Someone asked me, recently, why each day’s morning post at FW often includes mention of a national or state event. There are two reasons, one personal, one ideological. The quickest answer is simply that I like historical accounts and anecdotes.

There’s a second reason, however: too much of the policy in this city assumes a world no larger than one within the boundaries of Townline Road. This assumption comes not from localism, or even hyper-localism, but nearly a kind of solipsism. Policy made on that basis is (at best) flawed or (at worst) destructive.

Beginning the day with reference to international, national, or state events is a reminder that good policy rests on principles far broader than local glad-handing.

If all were well here, this perspective would matter less. But if all were well here, then it would mean that this perspective had been adopted more often.

On this day in 1963, Dr. King delivered his I Have a Dream speech during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

Download (PDF, 1.48MB)

Text via National Archives.

On this day in 1862, the Iron Brigade sees its first combat:

On this date the Iron Brigade (Western soldiers) fought their first battle at Browner Farm. The unit was composed of the 2nd Infantry, 6th Infantry, 7th Wisconsin Infantry, and the 19th Indiana Infantry, 24th Michigan Infantry, and Battery B of the 4th U.S. Light Artillery and was well known for its valor at such Civil War battles as Bull Run, Antietam and Gettysburg. [Source: WHS Card File].

Good morning, Whitewater.

Saturday in town will bring thunderstorms and a high of eighty-one.  Sunrise is 6:15 AM and sunset 7:36 PM, for 13h 20m 34s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 24.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1883, volcanic eruptions destroy Krakatoa and cause global effects:

The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) began in the afternoon of August 26, 1883 (with origins as early as May of that year), and culminated with several destructive eruptions of the remaining caldera. On August 27, two-thirds of Krakatoa collapsed in a chain of titanic explosions, destroying most of the island and its surrounding archipelago. Additional alleged seismic activity continued to be reported until February 1884, though reports of those after October 1883 were later dismissed by Rogier Verbeek‘s investigation. It was one of the deadliest and most destructive volcanic events in recorded history, with at least 36,000 deaths being attributed to the eruption itself and the tsunamis it created. Significant additional effects were also felt around the world….

The eruption darkened the sky worldwide for years afterwards, and produced spectacular sunsets throughout the world for many months. British artist William Ashcroft made thousands of colour sketches of the red sunsets halfway around the world from Krakatoa in the years after the eruption. The ash caused “such vivid red sunsets that fire engines were called out in New York, Poughkeepsie, and New Haven to quench the apparent conflagration.”^[16] This eruption also produced a Bishop’s Ring around the sun by day, and a volcanic purple light at twilight.

In 2004, an astronomer proposed the idea that the blood-red sky shown in Edvard Munch‘s famous 1893 painting The Scream is also an accurate depiction of the sky over Norway after the eruption.^[17]

Weather watchers of the time tracked and mapped the effects on the sky. They labeled the phenomenon the “equatorial smoke stream”.^[18] This was the first identification of what is known today as the jet stream.^[19]

For several years following the eruption, it was reported that the moon appeared to be blue and sometimes green. This was because some of the ash clouds were filled with particles about 1 µm wide—the right size to strongly scatter red light, while allowing other colors to pass. White moonbeams shining through the clouds emerged blue, and sometimes green. People also saw lavender suns and, for the first time, recorded noctilucent clouds.^[16]

On this day in 1878, Sholes patents the typewriter:

On this date Christopher Latham Sholes patented the typewriter. The idea for this invention began at Kleinsteuber’s Machine Shop in Milwaukee in the late 1860s. A mechanical engineer by training, Sholes, along with associates Carlos Glidden and Samuel Soulé, spent hours tinkering with the idea. They mounted the key of an old telegraph instrument on a base and tapped down on it to hit carbon & paper against a glass plate.

This idea was simple, but in 1868 the mere idea that type striking against paper might produce an image was a novelty. Sholes proceeded to construct a machine to reproduce the entire alphabet. The prototype was sent to Washington as the required Patent Model. This original model still exists at the Smithsonian. Investor James Densmore provided the marketing impetus which eventually brought the machine to the Remington Arms Company. Although Remington mass-marketed his typewriter beginning in 1874, it was not an instant success.

A few years later, improvements made by Remington engineers gave the machine its market appeal and sales skyrocketed. [Source: Wisconsin Lore and Legends, p.41]

Good morning, Whitewater.

Friday in town will be partly cloudy with a high of seventy-nine. Sunrise is 6:14 AM and sunset is 7:37 PM for 13h 23m 19s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 35.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

When Olympian Katie Ledecky threw out the first pitch at a Nationals game, Bryce Harper stood nearby holding all her many Olympic medals:

On 8.26.1939, an experimental first:

On this day in 1939, television station W2XBS in New York City broadcasts a doubleheader between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds from Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. The game, filmed with two cameras, was the first Major League Baseball game ever aired on television.

W2XBS in Manhattan, a trailblazing television station owned by NBC, was the first to broadcast not just baseball, but college and professional football in 1939 and hockey and basketball in 1940. The station’s first foray into baseball broadcasting came in May 1939 when it aired a game between Columbia and Princeton universities from Baker Field in upper Manhattan–using just one camera that was essentially unable to follow the game as well as the naked eye. Three months later for the major league game, a second camera was added in order to better follow the action on the field. The first was placed by the visitor’s dugout down the third base line; the second camera was in the stands directly behind home plate. Newspapers reported that the ball could be seen leaving the pitcher’s hand on the way to home plate some of the time, a dramatic improvement over the first broadcast at Columbia.

Red Barber, the long-time radio voice of the Dodgers, also called the game for the broadcast. In the first game, Reds ace pitcher Bucky Walters flummoxed the Dodgers, holding them to just two hits in a 5-2 win. The Dodgers got their revenge in the second game with a 6-1 victory. In that second game, Dodger pitcher Hugh Casey snagged his ninth win with help from first baseman Dolf Camilli, who hit a two-run game-winning home run, his 22nd of the year, in the second inning.

The game was broadcast from New York City’s Empire State Building, completed just eight years earlier, and could be seen in homes up to 50 miles away.

A Google a Day asks a pop culture question: “Near what sea is the actual lighthouse where British inserts were filmed for Fraggle Rock?”

Good morning, Whitewater.

Thunderstorms this morning will give way to partly cloudy skies and a high of eighty.  Sunrise is 6:13 AM and sunset 7:39 PM, for 13h 26m 04s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 46.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1944, the Allies liberate Paris:

The Liberation of Paris (also known as the Battle for Paris) was a military action that took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the German garrison surrendered the French capital on 25 August 1944. Paris had been ruled by Nazi Germany since the signing of the Second Compiègne Armistice on 22 June 1940, after which the Wehrmacht occupied northern and western France.

The liberation began when the French Forces of the Interior—the military structure of the French Resistance—staged an uprising against the German garrison upon the approach of the US Third Army, led by General George Patton. On the night of 24 August, elements of General Philippe Leclerc‘s 2nd French Armoured Division (the Régiment de marche du Tchad, a mechanised infantry unit led by Captain Raymond Dronne and composed primarily of exiled Spanish republicans), made its way into Paris and arrived at the Hôtel de Ville shortly before midnight. The next morning, 25 August, the bulk of the 2nd Armored Division and US 4th Infantry Division entered the city. Dietrich von Choltitz, commander of the German garrison and the military governor of Paris, surrendered to the French at the Hôtel Meurice, the newly established French headquarters, while General Charles de Gaulle arrived to assume control of the city as head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic.

On this day in 1835, Wisconsin moves closer to becoming a territory:

1835 – Incorporation of the Wisconsin Internal Improvement Company

On this date the Michigan legislature incorporated the Wisconsin Internal Improvement Company to open communication between Green Bay and the Mississippi by land or water. It was also on this day that the Governor of the Michigan territory (the Wisconsin territory was not yet created), Stevens T. Mason, officially called for the creation of a western legislative council. Both actions were critical to the creation of the Wisconsin Territory.[Source: Card File in WHS Library]

A Google a Day asks a sports question: “In 2011, who was the president of the club that was established to promote safety in the game of American football?”

 

Good morning, Whitewater.

Morning thunderstorms will give way to cloudy skies and a high of eighty this Wednesday. Sunrise is 6:12 AM and sunset 7:41 PM, for 13h 28m 46s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 58.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets at 5 PM, and the Parks & Recreation Board at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 79, Mount Vesuvius erupts:

In the year of 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius erupted in one of the most catastrophic and famous eruptions of all time. Historians have learned about the eruption from the eyewitness account of Pliny the Younger, a Roman administrator and poet.^[33]

….Mount Vesuvius spawned a deadly cloud of stones, ash and fumes to a height of 33 km (20.5 mi), spewing molten rock and pulverized pumice at the rate of 1.5 Mt/s, ultimately releasing a hundred thousand times the thermal energy released by the Hiroshima bombing.^[2] The towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum were destroyed by pyroclastic flows and the ruins buried under dozens of feet of tephra.^[2][33]

….Reconstructions of the eruption and its effects vary considerably in the details but have the same overall features. The eruption lasted two days. The morning of the first day was perceived as normal by the only eyewitness to leave a surviving document, Pliny the Younger. In the middle of the day an explosion threw up a high-altitude column from which ash began to fall, blanketing the area. Rescues and escapes occurred during this time. At some time in the night or early the next day pyroclastic flows in the close vicinity of the volcano began. Lights were seen on the mountain interpreted as fires. People as far away as Misenum fled for their lives. The flows were rapid-moving, dense and very hot, knocking down wholly or partly all structures in their path, incinerating or suffocating all population remaining there and altering the landscape, including the coastline. These were accompanied by additional light tremors and a mild tsunami in the Bay of Naples. By evening of the second day the eruption was over, leaving only haze in the atmosphere through which the sun shone weakly.

August 24, 1970 sees a bombing on the UW-Madison campus:

1970 – Sterling Hall Bombing on UW-Madison Campus

On this date a car bomb exploded outside Sterling Hall, killing research scientist Robert Fassnacht. Sterling Hall was targeted for housing the Army Mathematics Research Center and was bombed in protest of the war in Vietnam. The homemade bomb (2,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate soaked in aviation fuel) was detonated by the New Year’s Gang, aka Vanguard of the Revolution, who demanded that a Milwaukee Black Panther official be released from police custody, ROTC be expelled from the UW campus, and “women’s hours” be abolished on campus. The entire New Year’s Gang fled to Canada the evening of the explosion. Four men were charged with this crime: Karleton Armstrong, David Fine, Dwight Armstrong, and Leo Burt. All but Burt were captured and served time for their participation. Leo Burt remains at large.[Source: On Wisconsin Summer 2005]

A Google a Day asks a sports question: “What is the common term used by the America’s Cup organization, for an object shaped like an airplane wing, designed to direct the flow of air over its surface?”

Good morning, Whitewater.

Tuesday in town will be partly cloudy with a high of eighty.  Sunrise is 6:11 AM and sunset is 7:42 PM, for 13h 31m 29s of daytime.  The moon is a waning gibbous with 69.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

Tokyo will host the next Summer Olympic Games, in 2020, and it’s likely to be quite an event (and that really is the Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, appearing as video-game character Mario toward the end of the clip):

On this day in 1775, King George declares the American colonies in a state of rebellion:

The Proclamation of Rebellion, officially titled A Proclamation for Suppressing Rebellion and Sedition, was the response of George III of Great Britain to the news of the Battle of Bunker Hill at the outset of the American Revolutionary War. Issued August 23, 1775, it declared elements of the American colonies in a state of “open and avowed rebellion.” It ordered officials of the British Empire “to use their utmost endeavours to withstand and suppress such rebellion.” The Proclamation also encouraged subjects throughout the Empire, including those in Great Britain, to report anyone carrying on “traitorous correspondence” with the rebels so that they could be punished.

The Proclamation was written before Colonial Secretary Lord Dartmouth had been given a copy of the Olive Branch Petition from the Continental Congress. Because the king refused to receive the petition, the Proclamation effectively served as an answer to the petition.^[1]

….The Second Continental Congress issued a response to the Proclamation on December 6, saying that while they had always been loyal to the king, the British Parliament never had any legitimate claim to authority over them, because the colonies were not democratically represented. Congress argued that it was their duty to continue resisting Parliament’s violations of the British Constitution, and that they would retaliate if any supporters in Great Britain were punished for “favouring, aiding, or abetting the cause of American liberty.” Congress maintained that they still hoped to avoid the “calamities” of a “civil war.”

The Proclamation and the Speech from the Throne undermined moderates in the Continental Congress like John Dickinson, who had been arguing that the king would find a way to resolve the dispute between the colonies and Parliament. When it became clear that the king was not inclined to act as a conciliator, colonial attachment to the Empire was weakened, and a movement towards declaring independence became a reality, culminating in the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

A Google a Day asks a geography question for Tuesday: “What famous Alexandrian was responsible for the most popular map printed from movable type in the fifteenth century?”

Good morning, Whitewater.

Monday in town will be sunny with a high of seventy-eight. Sunrise is 6:10 AM and sunset 7:44 PM, for 13h 34m 11s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 79.3% of its visible disk illuminated.

The Urban Forestry Commission meets today at 4:30 PM. Whitewater’s School Board meets tonight in regular session at 7 PM.

On this day in 1851, the America wins the first of a series that was to become the America’s Cup:

America was a 19th-century racing yacht and first winner of the America’s Cup international sailing trophy. The Royal Yacht Squadron‘s “One Hundred Sovereign Cup” or “£100 Cup,” mistakenly known in America as the “One Hundred Guinea Cup,”^[3] the trophy was later renamed after the original winning yacht. On August 22, 1851,America won the Royal Yacht Squadron’s 53-mile (85 km) regatta around the Isle of Wight by eighteen minutes.^[4]

….The race was held on August 22, 1851, with a 10:00 AM start for a line of seven schooners and another line of eight cutters. America had a slow start due to a fouled anchor and was well behind when she finally got under way. Within half an hour however, she was in 5th place and gaining.[8]

The eastern shoals of the Isle of Wight are called the Nab Rocks. Traditionally, races would sail around the east (seaward) side of the lightship that marked the edge of the shoal, but one could sail between the lightship and the mainland if they had a knowledgeable pilot. America had such a pilot and he took her down the west (landward) side of the lightship. After the race a contestant protested this action, but was overruled because the official race rules did not specify on which side of the lightship a boat had to pass.[8]

The result of this tactic put America in the lead. She held this lead throughout the rest of the race. At one point the jib boom broke due to a crew error, but it was replaced in fifteen minutes. On the final leg of the race the yacht Aurora closed but was 18 minutes behind when America finished shortly after 6:00 PM. Legend has it that while watching the race, Queen Victoria asked who was second, and received the famous reply: “There is no second, your Majesty.”[8]

On this day in 1861, a future governor leaves for war:

1861 – (Civil War) Future Gov. Lucius Fairchild departs for the front

The Daily Milwaukee Press reported on this day that Company K of the 1st Wisconsin Infantry presented their Captain, Lucius Fairchild, with a ceremonial sword and sash at Camp Scott in Milwaukee. Fairchild was to leave that same afternoon for Washington, D.C., and begin his new appointment as lieutenant colonel of the 2nd Wisconsin Infantry.

A Google a Day asks a geography question: “The European country that has a half-submerged church in the middle of its largest artificial lake is located in what peninsula?”

Good morning, Whitewater.

We’ll have an increasingly sunny day with a high of seventy-three. Sunrise is 6:09 AM and sunset 7:46 PM, for 13h 36m 53s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 87.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

Friday’s FW poll asked what readers thought about a confrontation between a baboon and a family at a North Carolina zoo. Most respondents (74.19%) supported a baboon who threw its own waste at a girl who had teased it.

On this day in 1959, Hawaii became a state:

In March 1959, Congress passed the Hawaii Admission Act, which U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law.^[89]The act excluded Palmyra Atoll from statehood; it had been part of the Kingdom and Territory of Hawaii. On June 27, 1959, a referendum asked residents of Hawaii to vote on the statehood bill; 94.3% voted in favor of statehood and 5.7% opposed it.^[90]The referendum asked voters to choose between accepting the Act and remaining a U.S. territory. The United Nations’ Special Committee on Decolonization later removed Hawaii from its list of self-governing territories.

On this day in 1864, Wisconsinites give the Union a victory:

1864 – (Civil War) Second Battle of Weldon Railroad ends near Petersburg, Virginia

The 2nd, 6th, 7th, 37th, and 38th Wisconsin Infantry regiments took part in the Second Battle of Weldon Railroad, also known as the Battle of Globe Tavern, near Petersburg, Virginia. On this day, the 7th Wisconsin Infantry repulsed a fierce attack. It then captured the 16th Mississippi Infantry and all its officers. This was the first Union victory in the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign. By destroying the railway while under heavy attack, Union troops forced Confederates to carry their provision 30 miles by wagon around Union lines to supply the city.

Good morning, Whitewater.

We’ll have thunderstorms for most of Saturday, on a day with a high of seventy-seven. Sunrise is 6:08 AM and sunset 7:47 PM, for 13h 39m 33s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 94.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

August 20th is the anniversary of two technological feats:

On this day in 1911, a dispatcher in the New York Times office sends the first telegram around the world via commercial service. Exactly 66 years later, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) sends a different kind of message–a phonograph record containing information about Earth for extraterrestrial beings–shooting into space aboard the unmanned spacecraft Voyager II.

The Times decided to send its 1911 telegram in order to determine how fast a commercial message could be sent around the world by telegraph cable. The message, reading simply “This message sent around the world,” left the dispatch room on the 17th floor of the Times building in New York at 7 p.m. on August 20. After it traveled more than 28,000 miles, being relayed by 16 different operators, through San Francisco, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Saigon, Singapore, Bombay, Malta, Lisbon and the Azores–among other locations–the reply was received by the same operator 16.5 minutes later. It was the fastest time achieved by a commercial cablegram since the opening of the Pacific cable in 1900 by the Commercial Cable Company.

On August 20, 1977, a NASA rocket launched Voyager II, an unmanned 1,820-pound spacecraft, from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It was the first of two such crafts to be launched that year on a “Grand Tour” of the outer planets, organized to coincide with a rare alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Aboard Voyager II was a 12-inch copper phonograph record called “Sounds of Earth.” Intended as a kind of introductory time capsule, the record included greetings in 60 languages and scientific information about Earth and the human race, along with classical, jazz and rock ‘n’ roll music, nature sounds like thunder and surf, and recorded messages from President Jimmy Carter and other world leaders.

The brainchild of astronomer Carl Sagan, the record was sent with Voyager II and its twin craft, Voyager I–launched just two weeks later–in the faint hope that it might one day be discovered by extraterrestrial creatures. The record was sealed in an aluminum jacket that would keep it intact for 1 billion years, along with instructions on how to play the record, with a cartridge and needle provided.

On this day in 1794, Americans fight the Battle of Fallen Timbers:

On this date American troops under General “Mad” Anthony Wayne defeated a confederation of Indian forces led by Little Turtle of the Miamis and Blue Jacket of the Shawnees. Wayne’s soldiers, who included future Western explorer William Clark and future President William Henry Harrison, won the battle in less than an hour with the loss of some 30 men killed. (The number of Indian casualties is uncertain.)

The battle had several far-reaching consequences for the United States and what would later become the state of Wisconsin. The crushing defeat of the British-allied Indians convinced the British to finally evacuate their posts in the American west (an accession explicitly given in the Jay Treaty signed some three months later), eliminating forever the English presence in the early American northwest and clearing the way for American expansion.

The battle also resulted in the 1795 Treaty of Greenville, in which the defeated Indians ceded to Wayne the right of Americans to settle in the Ohio Valley (although the northwestern area of that country was given to the Indians). Wayne’s victory opened the gates of widespread settlement of the Old Northwest, Wisconsin included. [Source: American History Illustrated, Feb. 1969]

Good morning, Whitewater.

Friday in town will be partly cloudy with a high of eighty-seven. Sunrise is 6:07 AM and sunset 7:49 PM, for 13h 42m 13s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 98.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1812, during war with Britain, the U.S.S. Constitution defeats H.M.S. Guerriere:

A frigate was sighted on 19 August and subsequently determined to be HMS Guerriere (38) with the words “Not The Little Belt” painted on her foretopsail.^{[100][Note 3]} Guerriere opened fire upon entering range of Constitution, doing little damage. After a few exchanges of cannon fire between the ships, Captain Hull maneuvered into an advantageous position and brought Constitutionto within 25 yards (23 m) of Guerriere. He then ordered a full double-loaded broadside fired of grape and round shot which took out Guerriere‘s mizzenmast.^[101][102] With her mizzenmast dragging in the water, Guerriere‘s maneuverability decreased and she collided with Constitution, her bowsprit becoming entangled in Constitution‘s mizzen rigging. This left only Guerriere‘s bow guns capable of effective fire. Hull’s cabin caught fire from the shots, but the fire was quickly extinguished. With the ships locked together, both captains ordered boarding parties into action, but due to heavy seas, neither party was able to board the opposing ship.^[103]

At one point, the two ships rotated together counter-clockwise, with Constitution continuing to fire broadsides. When the two ships pulled apart, the force of the bowsprit’s extraction sent shock waves through Guerriere‘s rigging. Her foremast soon collapsed, and that brought the mainmast down shortly afterward.^[104] Guerriere was now a dismasted, unmanageable hulk, with close to a third of her crew wounded or killed, while Constitution remained largely intact. The British surrendered.^[105]

Using his heavier broadsides and his ship’s sailing ability, Hull had managed to surprise the British. Adding to their astonishment, many of their shots rebounded harmlessly off Constitution‘s hull. An American sailor reportedly exclaimed “Huzzah! her sides are made of iron!” and Constitution acquired the nickname “Old Ironsides”.^[106]

The battle left Guerriere so badly damaged that she was not worth towing to port. The next morning, after transferring the British prisoners onto Constitution, Hull ordered Guerriere burned.^[107] Arriving back in Boston on 30 August, Hull and his crew found that news of their victory had spread fast, and they were hailed as heroes.^[108]

JigZone ends the week with a colorful puzzle:

Good morning, Whitewater.

Thursday in town will be partly cloudy with a high of eighty-six.  Sunrise is 6:05 AM and sunset 7:50 PM, for 13h 44m 50s of daytime.  We’ve a full moon today.

Whitewater’s Police & Fire Commission meets at 6:30 PM, and her Fire Department Board meets at 7 PM.

On this day in 1795, Pres. Washington signs the Jay Treaty:

The Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, Between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, commonly known as the Jay Treaty, and also as Jay’s Treaty, the British Treaty, and the Treaty of London of 1794,^[1][2] was a 1795 treaty between the United States and Great Britain that is credited with averting war,^[3] resolving issues remaining since the Treaty of Paris of 1783 (which ended the American Revolutionary War),^[4] and facilitating ten years of peaceful trade between the United States and Britain in the midst of the French Revolutionary Wars, which began in 1792.

The terms of the treaty were designed primarily by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, strongly supported by the chief negotiator John Jay, and also by President George Washington. The treaty gained the primary American goals, which included the withdrawal of British Army units from pre-Revolutionary forts that it had failed to relinquish in the Northwest Territory of the United States (the area west of Pennsylvania and north of the Ohio River). (The British had recognized this area as American territory in the Treaty of Paris of 1783.) The parties agreed that disputes over wartime debts and the American–Canadian boundary were to be sent to arbitration — one of the first major uses of arbitration in diplomatic history. The Americans were granted limited rights to trade with British possessions in India and colonies in the Caribbean in exchange for some limits on the American export of cotton.

JigZone’s puzzle of the day if of a ship:

Good morning, Whitewater.

Wednesday in town will bring thunderstorms and a high of eighty-three to Whitewater. Sunrise is 6:04 AM and sunset 7:52 PM, for 13h 47m 28s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous, with 98.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Parks & Rec Board meets tonight at 6:30 PM.

Earlier in the afternoon, at 5:30 PM, Whitewater’s School Board will meet to consider the wording of a proposed referendum question on capital spending.

On this day in 1978, Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson, and Larry Newman cross the Atlantic Ocean in a balloon:

Double Eagle II, piloted by Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson, and Larry Newman, became the first balloon to crossthe Atlantic Ocean when it landed 17 August 1978 in Miserey near Paris, 137 hours 6 minutes after leaving Presque Isle, Maine.

It can be regarded as a successful crossing at the point that the Double Eagle II crossed the Irish coast, on the evening of 16 August, an event that Shannon Airport notified the crew about when it happened. Newman originally intended to hang glide from the balloon to a landing, while Anderson and Abruzzo continued to fly, but the hang-glider had to be dropped as ballast earlier on 16 August.

While flying over France, they heard by radio that authorities had closed Le Bourget Airfield, where Charles Lindbergh had landed, for them. The crew declined the offer as they were running out of ballast and it would be too risky (to themselves and anyone below) to pass over the suburbs of Paris. They landed in a field of barley, owned by Roger and Rachel Coquerel, in Miserey, 60 mi (97 km) northwest of Paris. Television images showed a highway nearby, its shoulders and outer lanes crowded with stopped cars, people sweeping across the farm field to the landing spot. The gondola was protected, but most of the logs and charts were stolen by souvenir hunters.

The flight, the fourteenth known attempt, was the culmination of more than a century of previous attempts to cross the Atlantic Ocean by balloon. Some of the people who had attempted it were never found.

On this day in 1864, Wisconsinites defending the Union bury Confederate dead:

A soldier in the 2nd Wisconsin Infantry wrote home this day describing the aftermath of the Battle of Cedar Mountain, Virginia. He criticizes Confederate officers for withdrawing under cover of darkness and forcing Union soldiers to inter their enemies: “Instead of burying his dead, we found the plains, the hills, the villages strewn with dead and dying rebels. Oh! the sight was sickening, and beggars description. Here an arm, there a leg, yonder half of what was once a man…”

Here’s the JigZone puzzle for Wednesday: