Good morning, Whitewater.

We’ll have snow today, in town, but less than an inch of accumulation. Our high temperature today will be thirty-two degrees. Sunrise is 7:18 AM and sunset 4:54 PM, for 9h 35m 40s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 1.3% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1924, Lenin drops dead, too late to prevent the establishment of a murderous and tyrannical state:

In 1922, the Russian SFSR joined former territories of the Russian Empire in becoming the Soviet Union, with Lenin as its head of government. Only 13 months later, after being incapacitated by a series of strokes, Lenin died at his home in Gorki.

For a sad but thorough account of Lenin’s legacy, one could consult The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression, a scholarly account of leninist policies’ responsibility for the deaths of tens of millions.

On January 21, 1935, Janesville’s next generation gets in trouble:

1935 – Five Janesville Youths Arrested
On this date five Janesville boys, ages 13-16, were arrested for a string of burglaries, including the thefts of cigarettes, whisky and blankets. While in the police station, one of the boys tried to crack the safe in the chief’s office. [Source: Janesville Gazette]

Google-a-Day asks a baseball question:

One of the greatest baseball players of all time was banned from the game for life after he and seven other players accepted bribes to throw a game in what year?

Good morning, Whitewater.

We will have a wintry mix this morning, on a day with a high of thirty-four. Later tonight we will likely see at least an inch of snowfall. Sunrise is 7:19 AM and sunset 6:52 PM, for 9h 33m 42s of daytime. It’s a new moon today.

Common Council meets tonight at 6:30 PM. Among the items on the agenda is a reading of a Complete Streets initiative, so that in future designs planners will take account of pedestrians and cyclists, for example, when building or reconstructing streets. I would hope readers would support the proposal. See, In Support of the Complete Streets Initiative for Whitewater.

Industrialist Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been designing private alternatives for human and cargo transportation to Earth orbit. SpaceX is trying to build a rocket, the Falcon 9, that could land upright after launch, so that it might be reused cheaply. Cheaper spaceflight, needless to say, would mean more spaceflight, and more exploration or industry in orbit. SpaceX’s recent test of a reusable Falcon 9 failed, but it was a near miss – even on an early test, Musk is close to his goal.

Here’s a clip of that test, and although it failed, even on this try it was very close to succeeding (the rocket found its small target even after flight). There’s reason to believe that Musk will succeed, and soon —

On this day in 1981, the Iran hostage crisis ends:

Minutes after Ronald Reagan’s inauguration as the 40th president of the United States, the 52 U.S. captives held at the U.S. embassy in Teheran, Iran, are released, ending the 444-day Iran Hostage Crisis….

President Jimmy Carter was unable to diplomatically resolve the crisis, and on April 24, 1980, he ordered a disastrous rescue mission in which eight U.S. military personnel were killed and no hostages rescued. Three months later, the former shah died of cancer in Egypt, but the crisis continued. In November 1980, Carter lost the presidential election to Republican Ronald Reagan. Soon after, with the assistance of Algerian intermediaries, successful negotiations began between the United States and Iran. On the day of Reagan’s inauguration, the United States freed almost $8 billion in frozen Iranian assets, and the hostages were released after 444 days. The next day, Jimmy Carter flew to West Germany to greet the Americans on their way home.

Google-a-Day asks a geography question:

The mountain range extending along the northern frontier of India was formed as the result of a collision of the Indian subcontinent and what other continent?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Happy King Day. We’ll have mild temperatures in Whitewater, with a high of thirty-six. Sunrise is 7:19 and sunset 4:51 PM, for 9h 31m 46s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent, with just 1.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

Google’s doodle for King Day links to useful information about his work and ongoing legacy.

On this day in 1937, industrialist and aviator Howard Hughes sets a transportation record for the time:

All landplane distance speed records were broken yesterday by Howard Hughes, millionaire sportsman pilot, who reached Newark Airport 7 hours 28 minutes and 25 seconds after he took off from Los Angeles, Calif. He was then forced to stay aloft until the runway at the field was clear and landed at 1:03 P. M. His average speed was 332 miles an hour for the 2,490 miles he traveled.

Grimy from the smoke of his exhaust stacks the lanky pilot climbed out of his cramped cockpit and grinned. In recounting his experiences on the flight he said that the skies were overcast all the way and he had to fly on top of the clouds. He saw the ground only twice west of the Ohio Valley, once at Winslow, Ariz. and again as he roared across the Mississippi River.

It was 2:14 o’clock in the morning and pitch dark when opened the throttle at the Union Air Depot at Burbank and released the 1,100 horsepower sealed in the fourteen cylinders of his supercharged Twin Row Wasp engine. The sleek gray and blue low-winged monoplane, designed and built under his own direction, staggered, accelerated and then literally vaulted into the air. Within a few seconds Hughes climbed into low-hanging clouds swung eastward and headed for the San Bernardino Pass.

At 14,000 feet, at which altitude he flew most of the way, he passed over the clouds, set his course and leveled off. He throttled his engine back until it was delivering only 375 horsepower and hunched himself over his instrument panel.

He was wearing a new type oxygen mask for high altitude flying. With nothing to see except the top of the cloud stratum he began experimenting with it. He finally adjusted it so that it fed too much air and not enough oxygen and he began to feel faint. Over the Sierras he had fears for a moment that his attempt might not be a success, but at last re-adjusted the mask so that the gas revived him.

On this day in 1939, in Fort Atkinson, a different kind of record:

1939 – Chicken Plucking World Record
On January 19, 1939 Ernest Hausen (1877 – 1955) of Ft. Atkinson set the world’s record for chicken plucking. [Source: Guiness Book of World’s Records, 1992]

Google-a-Day asks a question about geography:

What explorer first visited the U.S. river, which is the largest within its state, creating a natural boundary with Mexico?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Sunday in town will be a day of decreasing clouds with a high of thirty-seven. Sunrise is 7:20 AM and sunset 4:50 PM, for 9h 29m 53s of daytime.

Friday’s FW poll asked if readers thought that a video of a supposed ghost in Blackburn, England seemed convincing. A majority of respondents (82.76%) said that they were unconvinced (‘you must be kidding’).

On this day in 1803, Pres. Jefferson requests $2,500 from Congress:

….President Thomas Jefferson sends a special confidential message to Congress asking for money to fund the journey of Lewis and Clark….

Jefferson directed Lewis to draw up an estimate of expenses. Basing his calculations on a party of one officer and 10 enlisted men—the number was deliberately kept small to avoid inspiring both congressional criticisms and Indian fears of invasion—Lewis carefully added up the costs for provisions, weapons, gunpowder, scientific instruments, and a large boat. The final tally came to $2,500. The largest item was $696, earmarked for gifts to Indians.

Following the advice of his secretary of the treasury, Albert Gallatin, Jefferson decided not to include the request in his general proposed annual budget, since it involved exploration outside of the nation’s own territory. Instead, on January 18, 1803, he sent a special secret message to Congress asking for the money, taking pains to stress that the proposed exploration would be an aid to American commerce. Jefferson noted that the Indians along the proposed route of exploration up the Missouri River “furnish a great supply of furs & pelts to the trade of another nation carried on in a high latitude.” If a route into this territory existed, “possibly with a single portage, from the Western ocean,” Jefferson suggested Americans might have a superior means of exploiting the fur trade. Though carefully couched in diplomatic language, Jefferson’s message to Congress was clear: a U.S. expedition might be able to steal the fur trade from the British and find the long hoped-for Northwest passage to the Pacific.

Despite some mild resistance from Federalists who never saw any point in spending money on the West, Jefferson’s carefully worded request prevailed, and Congress approved the $2,500 appropriation by a sizeable margin. It no doubt seemed trivial in comparison to the $9,375,000 they had approved a week earlier for the Louisiana Purchase, which brought much of the territory Jefferson was proposing to explore under American control….

On this day in 1908, tobacco goes up in smoke:

1908 – Fire Destroys Tobacco Warehouse
On this date fire devastated the tobacco warehouse of Julius Marqusee & Co. An estimated 4,000 cases of tobacco were destroyed. Losses were estimated at $250,000, Janesville’s largest property loss to that date. Three firemen suffered injuries fighting the blaze. [Source: Janesville Gazette]

Good morning, Whitewater.

It’s only the seventeenth day of the year, but (at least so far) Saturday, January 17th will claim the title of warmest day of the year. The high temperature in town will be about forty-two, on a mostly cloudy day. Sunrise is 7:21 AM and sunset 4:49 PM, for 9h 28m 04s of daytime.

On this day in 1893, Hawaii loses her monarch:

…a group of American sugar planters under Sanford Ballard Dole overthrow Queen Liliuokalani, the Hawaiian monarch, and establish a new provincial government with Dole as president. The coup occurred with the foreknowledge of John L. Stevens, the U.S. minister to Hawaii, and 300 U.S. Marines from the U.S. cruiser Boston were called to Hawaii, allegedly to protect American lives….

President Grover Cleveland sent a new U.S. minister to Hawaii to restore Queen Liliuokalani to the throne under the 1887 constitution, but Dole refused to step aside and instead proclaimed the independent Republic of Hawaii. Cleveland was unwilling to overthrow the government by force, and his successor, President William McKinley, negotiated a treaty with the Republic of Hawaii in 1897. In 1898, the Spanish-American War broke out, and the strategic use of the naval base at Pearl Harbor during the war convinced Congress to approve formal annexation.

On this day in 1900, female cotton workers in Wisconsin go on strike:

1900 – Female Cotton Mill Workers Strike
On this date 100 female employees of the Monterey mill, affiliated with the Janesville Cotton Mills, went on strike for higher wages. According to local sources, a committee of four “good-looking young ladies” was appointed to negotiate with management. Doing piece work, the women earned only $40 a month. The company said the women “don’t know how good they’ve got it…because they are paid more than at other local cotton mills and as well as some men with families.” The women argued their monthly pay only averaged $20. Within three days, all the women were hired to work by tobacco warehouses. The Monterey mill was one of three Janesville cotton mills in operation at the turn of the century. [Source: Janesville Gazette]