Good morning, Whitewater.

Our weather in town will look more like fall: mostly sunny with a high of sixty-four. Sunrise is 6:48 AM and sunset 6:43 PM for 11h 55m 12s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 19.6% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Urban Forestry Commission meets at 4:30 PM today, and their will be a School Board meeting at 7 PM.

The first general election presidential debate was held on September 26, 1960, between U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy, the Democratic nominee, and Vice President Richard Nixon, the Republican nominee, in Chicago at the studios of CBS‘s WBBM-TV. It was moderated by Howard K. Smith and included a panel composed of Sander Vanocur of NBC News, Charles Warren of Mutual News, and Stuart Novins of CBS. Historian J.N. Druckman observed “television primes its audience to rely more on their perceptions of candidate image (e.g., integrity). At the same time, television has also coincided with the world becoming more polarized and ideologically driven.”^[2]

Three more debates were subsequently held between the candidates.:^[3] On October 7 at the WRC-TV NBC studio in Washington, D.C., narrated by Frank McGee with a panel of four newsmen Paul Niven, CBS; Edward P. Morgan, ABC; Alvin Spivak, UPI;^[4] Harold R. Levy, Newsday; October 13, with Nixon at the ABC studio in Los Angeles and Kennedy at the ABC studio in New York, narrated by Bill Shadel with a panel of four newsmen; and October 21 at the ABC studio in New York, narrated by Quincy Howe with a panel of four including Frank Singiser, John Edwards, Walter Cronkite, and John Chancellor. Nixon was considered a poor performer on television as he didn’t have the same telegenic looks in contrast to JFK. While he was considered the better debater, with more policy knowledge and good radio skills, Nixon wasn’t a snappy dresser, refused make up in the first debate, sweat profusely, and had a 5 O’Clock shadow.^[5][6] Nixon later refused to do television debates in 1968 and 1972 as he felt his appearance had cost him against JFK in the tight-run race.

On this day in 1833, a treaty between several tribes and U.S. government cedes tribal land in eastern Wisconsin:

1833 – Indian Treaty Cedes to Government

On this date Indian tribes including the Ojibwe, Menominee, Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk, Ottawa and Sauk ceded land to the government, including areas around Milwaukee, especially to the south and east of the city. The ceded land included much of what is today John Michael Kohler and Terry Andrae State Parks. The Potawatomi continued to live along the Black River until the 1870s, despite the treaty. [Source:Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources]

JigZone‘s daily puzzle for Monday is of a Spanish coastline:

Good morning, Whitewater.

Sunday in town will be partly cloudy in the morning, with thunderstorms arriving in the afternoon, and a high of eighty-one. Sunrise is 6:46 AM and sunset 6:45 PM, for 11h 58m 06s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 28% of its visible disk illuminated.

Friday’s FW poll asked readers whether they would watch the first presidential debate, this Monday night at 8 PM CT. An overwhelming majority of respondents (85.19%) said that they would.

Transatlantic telephone communication by cable begins this day in 1956:

TAT-1 (Transatlantic No. 1) was the first transatlantic telephone cable system. It was laid between Gallanach Bay, near Oban, Scotland and Clarenville, Newfoundland between 1955 and 1956 by the cable ship Monarch.^[3] It was inaugurated on September 25, 1956, initially carrying 36 telephone channels. In the first 24 hours of public service there were 588 London–U.S. calls and 119 from London to Canada. The capacity of the cable was soon increased to 48 channels.

Later, an additional three channels were added by use of C Carrier equipment. Time-assignment speech interpolation (TASI) was implemented on the TAT-1 cable in June 1960 and effectively increased the cable’s capacity from 37 (out of 51 available channels) to 72 speech circuits. TAT-1 was finally retired in 1978. Later coaxial cables, installed through the 1970s, used transistors and had higher bandwidth.

On this day in 1961, Gov. Nelson signs a bill requiring seatbelts in cars:

1961 – Law Requires Seatbelts in Wisconsin Cars

On this date Wisconsin Governor Gaylord Nelson signed into law a bill that required all 1962 cars sold in Wisconsin to be equipped with seat belts. [Source: Janesville Gazette]

Good morning, Whitewater.

Saturday in town will have a high of seventy-one, with morning clouds and afternoon sunshine.  Sunrise is 6:45 AM and sunset 6:46 PM, for 12h 00m 59s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 38% of its visible disk illuminated.

Someone’s happy —

On this day in  1960, the United States launches the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier:

USS Enterprise (CVN-65), formerly CVA(N)-65, is an inactive^[11] United States Navy aircraft carrier. She was the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and the eighth United States naval vessel to bear the name. Like her predecessor of World War II fame, she is nicknamed “Big E”. At 1,123 ft (342 m),^[5][6] she is the longest naval vessel ever built. Her 93,284-long-ton (94,781 tonnes)^[4] displacement ranked her as the 12th-heaviestsupercarrier, after the 10 carriers of the Nimitz class and the USS Gerald R. Ford. Enterprise had a crew of some 4,600 service members.^[9]

The only ship of her class, Enterprise^[12] was, at the time of inactivation, the third-oldest commissioned vessel in the United States Navy after the wooden-hulled USS Constitution and USS Pueblo. She was originally scheduled for decommissioning in 2014 or 2015, depending on the life of her reactors and completion of her replacement,USS Gerald R. Ford,^[13] but the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 slated the ship’s retirement for 2013, when she would have served for 51 consecutive years, longer than any other U.S. aircraft carrier.^[14]

….In 1958, Enterprise‘s keel was laid at Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. On 24 September 1960, the ship waslaunched, sponsored by Mrs. W. B. Franke, wife of the former Secretary of the Navy. On 25 November 1961, Enterprise was commissioned, with Captain Vincent P. de Poix, formerly of Fighting Squadron 6 on her predecessor,^[31] in command. On 12 January 1962, the ship made her maiden voyage conducting a three-month shakedown cruise and a lengthy series of tests and training exercises designed to determine the full capabilities of the nuclear powered super carrier.

Good morning, Whitewater.

Friday in town will be cloudy with a high of seventy. Sunrise is 6:44 AM and sunset 6:48 PM, for 12h 03m 51s of daytime. The moon is in its third quarter, with 49.6% of its visible disk illuminated.

The Checkers speech or Fund speech was an address made on September 23, 1952, by the Republican candidate for vice president of the United States, California Senator Richard Nixon. Nixon had been accused of improprieties relating to a fund established by his backers to reimburse him for his political expenses. With his place on the Republican ticket in doubt, he flew to Los Angeles and delivered a half-hour television address in which he defended himself, attacked his opponents, and urged the audience to contact the Republican National Committee (RNC) to tell it whether he should remain on the ticket. During the speech, he stated that regardless of what anyone said, he intended to keep one gift: a black-and-white dog who had been named Checkers by the Nixon children, thus giving the address its popular name.

Nixon, as he related in his address, came from a family of moderate means, and had spent much of his time after law school either in the military, campaigning for office, or serving in Congress. After his successful 1950 Senate campaign, Nixon’s backers continued to raise money to finance his political activities. These contributions went to reimburse him for travel costs, postage for political mailings which he did not have franked, and similar expenses. Such a fund was not illegal at the time, but as Nixon had made a point of attacking government corruption, it exposed him to charges he might be giving special favors to the contributors.

The press became aware of the fund in September 1952, two months after Nixon’s selection as General Dwight D. Eisenhower‘s running mate. Within a few days, the story grew until the controversy threatened Nixon’s place on the ticket. In an attempt to turn the tide of public opinion, Nixon broke off a whistle-stop tour of the West Coast to fly to Los Angeles to make a television and radio broadcast to the nation; the $75,000 to buy the television time was raised by the RNC. The idea for the Checkers reference came from Franklin Roosevelt‘s Fala speech—given eight years to the day before Nixon’s address—in which Roosevelt mocked Republican claims that he had sent a destroyer to fetch his dog, Fala, when the dog was supposedly left behind in the Aleutian Islands.

Nixon’s speech was seen or heard by about 60 million Americans, including the largest television audience to that time, and led to an outpouring of public support. A huge majority of the millions of telegrams and phone calls received by the RNC and other political offices supported Nixon. He was retained on the ticket, which then swept to victory weeks later in November 1952. The Checkers speech was an early example of a politician using television to appeal directly to the electorate, but has since sometimes been mocked or denigrated. Checkers speech has come more generally to mean any emotional speech by a politician.

JigZone‘s puzzle of the day is of a metal pot:

Good morning, Whitewater.

Whitewater will see a one-third chance of isolated thunderstorms today, with a high of eighty-two. Sunrise is 6:43 AM and sunset 6:50 AM for 12h 06m 45s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 59.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

Downtown Whitewater’s board meets this morning at 8 AM.

From the Hyperunner, here’s a year of running, edited into a single video:

…Julien Dubuque, a French trapper from Quebec, was granted permission by a council of Sauk and Fox Indians of the area to work the lead mines. Using the Sauk and Fox as a labor force, Dubuque found the Upper Mississippi Valley to be rich in lead, which was used in the production of firearms. Dubuque had the most success in what is now the area of Dubuque, Iowa. [Source: Iowa History Project]

Here’s the Thursday puzzle from JigZone:

Good morning, Whitewater.

Wednesday in town will be a day of thunderstorms, with a high of eighty.  Sunrise is 6:42 AM and sunset 6:52 PM, for 12h 09m 37s of daytime.  The moon is a waning gibbous with 71.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Parks & Recreation Board meets this evening at 6:30 PM.

Today is the International Day of Peace, a United Nations-inspired, annual call for “a cessation of hostilities during the Day, and to otherwise commemorate the Day through education and public awareness on issues related to peace.”

Libertarians (and so many others) have always wanted a world like this (‘FREE MARKETS in CAPITAL, LABOR, & GOODS, INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY, LIMITED & OPEN GOVERNMENT, and PEACE’).

I’m reminded, though, of a pastor who once gave a sermon on challenges to the teaching of doctrine. He was a clergyman who often talked & preached the doctrine of his faith: doctrine in the morning, doctrine in the afternoon, doctrine in the evening. Doctrine, doctrine, doctrine.

He was once asked why he kept preaching doctrine, and if he would ever stop. He replied that he would stop preaching doctrine when people stopped challenging it.

So it is with peace: we’ll have peace – more than a mere commemorative day – when people stop breaking the peace. Until then, one keeps calling for it. Along the way, we’ve no reason to be lenient with those who’ve broken it.

On this day in 1962, an area mill moves away –

1962 – Janesville’s Oldest Mill Closes

On this date Janesville’s oldest manufacturer, Rock River Woolen Mills, ceased operation after 113 years. The company moved to Texas. Started in 1849 as Monterey Water Power Mill, the mills initially produced fine yarns, flannels and cashmere. [Source: Janesville Gazette]

JigZone‘s daily puzzle is of gray wolves: