Good morning.

We’ll have a Sunday of cloudy skies, a one-in-five chance of afternoon rain, a high near fifty-two, and south winds at 10 to 15 mph.

The Hubble Space Telescope is twenty-three-years old. The European Space Agency recently recorded a video presentation with information on joint NASA and European Space Agency photographs of nebulae, particularly the Horsehead Nebula.

Remarkable.

Some updates on recent poll results —

Of Sphynx Cats, readers’ assessing their appearance picked elegant over evil glint by more than 2-1, 69.44 – 30.56%. Of illuminated beer bottles, in a close vote, Heineken’s proposed glowing bottle prevailed, with 51.16% saying Yes! and 48.84% saying Umm….no.

Google-a-Day asks a geography question: “What group of islands in the Pacific are part of the same volcanic zone and named from the Greek words meaning “small” and “island?”

Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater: mostly sunny, high of forty-four, light winds, 13h 37m of sunlight, 14h 37m of daylight, and a waxing gibbous moon.

It’s National Record Store Day, if you can find one. If you do find one, you may discover that vinyl may not be dead after all:

The LP has re-emerged as the music format of choice among hipsters and audiophiles, with sales soaring by nearly 18% to 4.6 million albums in 2012, according to Nielsen Soundscan. (Just two decades ago, sales were down to 300,000.) But before you join the bandwagon — April 20 is National Record Store Day, after all — you’ll need a turntable.

Continuum, an Australian audio brand, suggests its $160,000 Caliburn model — a record player that it bills as “something beyond the state-of-the-art.” In layman’s terms, that means everything about the turntable is designed with stability in mind — the fewer vibrations, the better the sound. The stand, for instance, is “precision-machined in aircraft-grade aluminum” and incorporates a “floating platform.” Its oddly shaped tonearm promises “infinite stiffness with lowest mass.” And its “platter” — that’s where the LP sits — is 80 pounds, and driven by a specially built motor that makes use of the same technology employed by the U.S. military “for select advanced motion-control systems.”

It is beautiful, but digital is vastly more convenient, however heretical that must sound to an audiophile.

On this day in 1836, Wisconsin’s oldest library:

1836 – Oldest Library in the State Founded
On this date an Act of Congress created the Territory of Wisconsin and in the sixteenth and final section of that Act appropriated funds for the Wisconsin State Library to support the needs of the fledgling government. The library is still functioning but has been renamed as the Wisconsin State Law Library [Source: Wisconsin State Law Library]

From Google, a daily question on geography and air travel: “What active volcano in the U.S. poses a significant threat to air travel between North America and East Asia?”

Good morning.

Our week ends with the possibility of rain or snow in the afternoon, with a high of forty-one.

Update: David, kindly commenting below, reminds me that I missed a crucial anniversary in American history. Yes, did I ever! On April 19, 1775, Americans fight the British at the Battles of Lexington and Concord, and a great revolution begins:

At about 5 a.m., 700 British troops, on a mission to capture Patriot leaders and seize a Patriot arsenal, march into Lexington to find 77 armed minutemen under Captain John Parker waiting for them on the town’s common green. British Major John Pitcairn ordered the outnumbered Patriots to disperse, and after a moment’s hesitation the Americans began to drift off the green. Suddenly, the “shot heard around the world” was fired from an undetermined gun, and a cloud of musket smoke soon covered the green. When the brief Battle of Lexington ended, eight Americans lay dead or dying and 10 others were wounded. Only one British soldier was injured, but the American Revolution had begun….

When the British troops reached Concord at about 7 a.m., they found themselves encircled by hundreds of armed Patriots. They managed to destroy the military supplies the Americans had collected but were soon advanced against by a gang of minutemen, who inflicted numerous casualties. Lieutenant Colonel Frances Smith, the overall commander of the British force, ordered his men to return to Boston without directly engaging the Americans. As the British retraced their 16-mile journey, their lines were constantly beset by Patriot marksmen firing at them Indian-style from behind trees, rocks, and stone walls. At Lexington, Captain Parker’s militia had its revenge, killing several British soldiers as the Red Coats hastily marched through his town. By the time the British finally reached the safety of Boston, nearly 300 British soldiers had been killed, wounded, or were missing in action. The Patriots suffered fewer than 100 casualties.

On this day in 1995, “a truck bomb exploded outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring 500. (Timothy McVeigh was later convicted of federal murder charges and executed.)”

On 4.19.1862, while fighting to preserve his country, Wisconsin’s governor dies:

1862 – Governor Harvey Drowns in the Tennessee River
On this date Governor Louis Harvey died while leading an expedition to relieve Wisconsin troops after the battle of Shiloh. The expedition was bringing doctors, nurses, and much-needed medical supplies to soldiers when Harvey, crossing from one steamboat to another, slipped, fell into the swift currents of the Tennessee River, and never re-surfaced. His body was recovered ten days later, nearly sixty miles downstream. When news reached Madison, Lieutenant Governor Edward Salomon was sworn in as Wisconsin’s first German-American governor. [Source: Wisconsin in the Civil War, by Frank L. Klement]

Google-a-Day asks a question about animals in Chicago: “As a testament to its adaptability in urban areas, what kind of animal strolled into a popular sandwich shop in the Chicago Loop area in the spring of 2007?” Follow up: What kind of sandwich did it order? I’d guess pastrami on rye, but that’s just speculation.

Good morning.

Rain – we’ve had much of it, and we’ll have more today in Whitewater. The high will be about fifty-seven, with southeast winds at 5 to 10 mph. Total rainfall today may amount to between a half and three quarters of an inch. It’s a gift: rainy days are often among the most soothing.

Fishermen aren’t the only ones who’d like to catch a fish:

On 4.18.1818, we become part of another territory:

1818 – Wisconsin Becomes Part of Michigan Territory
On this date, the land encompassing current-day Wisconsin was made part of the Michigan Territory, representing one step in Wisconsin’s path to statehood. Wisconsin was a part of the Northwest Territory from July 13, 1787-May 11, 1800; the Indiana Territory from May 1800-February 3, 1809; and the Illinois Territory from February 3, 1809-April 18, 1818. The Territory of Wisconsin was formed July 4, 1836.

From Google-a-Day, a science question: “If you want to find the energy quantum of light, you multiply the frequency of the radiation (v) by ‘h.’ What is ‘h’?”   Odd, but this doesn’t even seem like a serious question.  The clever men and women of Google must know that h is the eight letter of the English alphabet…