Good morning, Whitewater.

Tuesday will bring rain in the afternoon and evening, with a high of fifty-eight. Sunrise is 7:23 and sunset 5:53, for 10h 30m 15s of daytime. We’ve a full moon today.

Whitewater’s Police & Fire Commission meets at 1 PM, the Urban Forestry Commission at 4:30 PM, and Common Council at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1904, New York begins a new means of transportation for that city:

At 2:35 on the afternoon of October 27, 1904, New York City Mayor George McClellan takes the controls on the inaugural run of the city’s innovative new rapid transit system: the subway.

While London boasts the world’s oldest underground train network (opened in 1863) and Boston built the first subway in the United States in 1897, the New York City subway soon became the largest American system. The first line, operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), traveled 9.1 miles through 28 stations. Running from City Hall in lower Manhattan to Grand Central Terminal in midtown, and then heading west along 42nd Street to Times Square, the line finished by zipping north, all the way to 145th Street and Broadway in Harlem. On opening day, Mayor McClellan so enjoyed his stint as engineer that he stayed at the controls all the way from City Hall to 103rd Street.

At 7 p.m. that evening, the subway opened to the general public, and more than 100,000 people paid a nickel each to take their first ride under Manhattan. IRT service expanded to the Bronx in 1905, to Brooklyn in 1908 and to Queens in 1915. Since 1968, the subway has been controlled by the Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA). The system now has 26 lines and 468 stations in operation; the longest line, the 8th Avenue “A” Express train, stretches more than 32 miles, from the northern tip of Manhattan to the far southeast corner of Queens.

On this day in 1864, a Union officer serves the U.S. Navy very well:

1864 – Waukesha Soldier Sinks Confederate Ship

On this date William Cushing led an expedition to sink the Confederate ram, the Albermarle, which had imposed a blockade near Plymouth, North Carolina and had been sinking Union ships. Cushing’s plan was extremely dangerous and only he and one other soldier escaped drowning or capture. Cushing pulled very close to the Confederate ironclad and exploded a torpedo under it while under heavy fire. Cushing’s crew abandonded ship as it began to sink. The Albemarle also sunk. Cushing received a “letter of thanks” from Congress and was promoted to Lieutenant Commander. He died in 1874 due to ill health and is buried in the Naval Cemetery at Annapolis, Maryland. [Source: Badger Saints and Sinners by Fred L. Holmes, p.274-285]

Here’s Puzzability‘s Tuesday game:

This Week’s Game — October 26-30

No Tricks

It’s all sweet talk this Halloween week. For each day, we started with a candy brand and replaced all the letters with asterisks, except for every occurrence of the letters in TREAT.

Example:

**TTER****ER

Answer:

Butterfinger

What to Submit:

Submit the candy name (as “Butterfinger” in the example) for your answer.

Tuesday, October 27

RA****ET*

Good morning, Whitewater.

A new work week begins in town with mostly sunny skies and a high of sixty-two. Sunrise is 7:22 and sunset 5:55, for 10h 32m 55s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 98.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1881, a now-legendary confrontation takes place:

…the Earp brothers face off against the Clanton-McLaury gang in a legendary shootout at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona.

….On the morning of October 25, Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury came into Tombstone for supplies. Over the next 24 hours, the two men had several violent run-ins with the Earps and their friend Doc Holliday. Around 1:30 p.m. on October 26, Ike’s brother Billy rode into town to join them, along with Frank McLaury and Billy Claiborne. The first person they met in the local saloon was Holliday, who was delighted to inform them that their brothers had both been pistol-whipped by the Earps. Frank and Billy immediately left the saloon, vowing revenge.

Around 3 p.m., the Earps and Holliday spotted the five members of the Clanton-McLaury gang in a vacant lot behind the OK Corral, at the end of Fremont Street. The famous gunfight that ensued lasted all of 30 seconds, and around 30 shots were fired. Though it’s still debated who fired the first shot, most reports say that the shootout began when Virgil Earp pulled out his revolver and shot Billy Clanton point-blank in the chest, while Doc Holliday fired a shotgun blast at Tom McLaury’s chest. Though Wyatt Earp wounded Frank McLaury with a shot in the stomach, Frank managed to get off a few shots before collapsing, as did Billy Clanton. When the dust cleared, Billy Clanton and the McLaury brothers were dead, and Virgil and Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday were wounded. Ike Clanton and Claiborne had run for the hills.

Sheriff John Behan of Cochise County, who witnessed the shootout, charged the Earps and Holliday with murder. A month later, however, a Tombstone judge found the men not guilty, ruling that they were “fully justified in committing these homicides.” The famous shootout has been immortalized in many movies, including Frontier Marshal (1939), Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957), Tombstone (1993) and Wyatt Earp (1994).

On this day in 1818, Wisconsin gets her first counties:

On this date Lewis Cass, governor of the Michigan Territory, declared the first counties in Wisconsin. The counties included Michilimackinac (all areas drained by Lake Superior tributaries), Brown, and Crawford counties, which were separated through Portage. Michilimackinac County is now part of the state of Michigan. Governor Cass later became the Secretary of War under President Andrew Jackson, as well as the Minister to France and a Michigan Senator. Cass, a Democrat, also ran for president in 1848, but lost to Whig Zachary Taylor due to factions within the Democratic Party and the formation of the Free Soil Party. [Source: Historic Elmwood Cemetery and Foundation]

Puzzability begins a new series this week entitled, No Tricks:

This Week’s Game — October 26-30

No Tricks

It’s all sweet talk this Halloween week. For each day, we started with a candy brand and replaced all the letters with asterisks, except for every occurrence of the letters in TREAT.

Example:

**TTER****ER

Answer:

Butterfinger

What to Submit:

Submit the candy name (as “Butterfinger” in the example) for your answer.

Monday, October 26

T**T**E R***

Good morning, Whitewater.

We’ll have a sunny Sunday with a high of sixty.  Sunrise is 7:21 and sunset 5:56, for 10h 35m 36s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing gibbous with 94.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

Friday’s FW poll asked whether readers thought, regardless of their own politics, that the Benghazi hearings on Thursday with former Sec. Clinton were useful or wasteful.  A clear majority (79.31% of respondents said that they were wasteful.)

Over on the righthand sidebar, there’s a new widget entitled, Key Topics (Alphabetically Listed).  There are many important topics facing the city, but in this box I’ll keep an alphabetized list of those issues I’m watching  & thinking about for the city.  An orderly, plainly-stated focus is important.  I’ve been reviewing the list once each season; many of these topics are likely to remain far beyond one season, as they’re still pressing, unresolved matters before our city.

On this day six-hundred years ago, in 1415, Britain defeats France at Agincourt:

On this day in 1836, a territorial first takes place:

1836 – Belmont-Wisconsin Territory 1836 Established

On this date the first legislative session of the Wisconsin territory convened in Belmont, Wisconsin. During this first session, forty-two laws were put in the statute books. At this time, the Territory of Wisconsin included all of present-day Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and part of the two Dakotas.

Good morning, Whitewater.

Saturday in town will be cloudy with a one-in-five chance of scattered showers throughout the day, and a high of sixty-six. Sunrise is 7:19 and sunset 5:58, for 10h 38m 18s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 87.3% of its visible disk illuminated.

What happens when a Great Dane jumps on a pool cover. Something like this happens, if the Great Dane is Nessie, a one-hundred forty pound canine —

This is a safety cover! Nessie aka the Loch Ness Monster, a Blue Great Dane, is 140 pounds. Since she was a few months old, she has loved leaping around and resting her bones on this cover. Sometimes we all get on it and play tag with her. : To use this video in a commercial player or in broadcasts, please email licensing@storyful.com So a note about the safety: about twenty years ago when I first got a cover like this, they advertised them with two football teams playing against each other on it. We’ve had ten to fifteen people on it a few times. Nessie has played on it since she was about three months old. A tornado once smashed my fence and a three storey pine tree into it; never has a hole, a tear, or anything dangerous occurred. I installed this new one and designed this set up specifically to keep animals (and people) safe. I never encourage her or anyone to play on it and prefer it if they don’t, however I do trust it when it happens and am always there with Nessie. My only worry is her playing too hard, since Great Danes are more fragile in some ways than people think. They have statistically short lives, which is tragic. Nessie’s health, wellness, and safety has and always will be a top priority, because I love her and want to give her the longest, fullest life possible. Hence, I’m going to ignore the negativity by responding to specifics. She’s safe! Please enjoy her, she’s beautiful inside and out- I think her sheer joy and exuberance says it all.

Via Marci M @ YouTube.

On this day in 1901, Annie Taylor takes a plunge:

…a 63-year-old schoolteacher named Annie Edson Taylor becomes the first person to take the plunge over Niagara Falls in a barrel.

After her husband died in the Civil War, the New York-born Taylor moved all over the U. S. before settling in Bay City, Michigan, around 1898. In July 1901, while reading an article about the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, she learned of the growing popularity of two enormous waterfalls located on the border of upstate New York and Canada. Strapped for cash and seeking fame, Taylor came up with the perfect attention-getting stunt: She would go over Niagara Falls in a barrel.

Taylor was not the first person to attempt the plunge over the famous falls. In October 1829, Sam Patch, known as the Yankee Leaper, survived jumping down the 175-foot Horseshoe Falls of the Niagara River, on the Canadian side of the border. More than 70 years later, Taylor chose to take the ride on her birthday, October 24. (She claimed she was in her 40s, but genealogical records later showed she was 63.) With the help of two assistants, Taylor strapped herself into a leather harness inside an old wooden pickle barrel five feet high and three feet in diameter. With cushions lining the barrel to break her fall, Taylor was towed by a small boat into the middle of the fast-flowing Niagara River and cut loose.

Knocked violently from side to side by the rapids and then propelled over the edge of Horseshoe Falls, Taylor reached the shore alive, if a bit battered, around 20 minutes after her journey began. After a brief flurry of photo-ops and speaking engagements, Taylor’s fame cooled, and she was unable to make the fortune for which she had hoped. She did, however, inspire a number of copy-cat daredevils. Between 1901 and 1995, 15 people went over the falls; 10 of them survived. Among those who died were Jesse Sharp, who took the plunge in a kayak in 1990, and Robert Overcracker, who used a jet ski in 1995. No matter the method, going over Niagara Falls is illegal, and survivors face charges and stiff fines on either side of the border….

Good morning, Whitewater.

Friday will bring a probability of rain and a high of sixty to Whitewater. Sunrise is 7:18 and sunset 5:59, for 10h 41m 00s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 78.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

On 10.23.1983, “a suicide truck-bombing at Beirut International Airport in Lebanon killed 220 U.S. Marines, 18 sailors and 3 Army soldiers; a near-simultaneous attack on French forces killed 58 paratroopers.”

On this day in 1869, John Heisman is born:

John William Heisman (October 23, 1869 – October 3, 1936) was an American player and coach of football, basketball, and baseball. He served as the head football coach at Oberlin College (1892, 1894), Buchtel College—now known as the University of Akron (1893–1894), Auburn University (1895–1899), Clemson University (1900–1903), Georgia Tech (1904–1919), the University of Pennsylvania (1920–1922), Washington & Jefferson College (1923), and Rice University(1924–1927), compiling a career college football record of 186–70–18.

His 1917 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets have been recognized as a national champion. Heisman was also the head basketball coach at Georgia Tech (1908–1909, 1912–1914), tallying a mark of 9–14, and the head baseball coach at Buchtel (1894), Clemson (1899–1904), and Georgia Tech (1904–1917), amassing a careercollege baseball record of 219–119–7.

He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1954. The Heisman Trophy, awarded annually to the season’s most outstanding college football player, is named after him.^[2]

On this day in 1921, the Packers play a first:

1921 – Green Bay Packers First NFL Game

On this date the Green Bay Packers played their first NFL game. The Packers defeated the Minneapolis Marines 7-6, for a crowd of 6,000 fans and completed their inaugural season with 3 wins, 2 losses, and 2 ties.[Source: Packers.com]

A Google a Day asks a science & technology question:

The general who directed the project responsible for the “Fat Man” graduated from what alma mater in 1918?