Good morning, Whitewater.

Saturday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of sixty-three. Sunrise is 6:09 and sunset 5:59, for 11h 49m 42s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 16.8% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1933, Pres. Roosevelt began this first of thirty fireside chats:

Fireside chats is the term used to describe a series of 30 evening radio addresses given by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt between 1933 and 1944. The fireside chats represent the first time in history that a chief executive communicated directly with a large number of citizens. Roosevelt spoke with familiarity to millions of Americans about the promulgation of the Emergency Banking Actin response to the banking crisis, the recession, New Deal initiatives, and the course of World War II. On radio, he was able to quell rumors and explain his policies comprehensibly. His tone and demeanor communicated self-assurance during times of despair and uncertainty. Roosevelt was one of radio’s greatest communicators, and the fireside chats kept him in high public regard throughout his presidency.

The series of fireside chats was among the first 50 recordings made part of the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress, which noted it as “an influential series of radio broadcasts in which Roosevelt utilized the media to present his programs and ideas directly to the public and thereby redefined the relationship between the President and the American people.”

On this day in 1862, the Second Wisconsin readies:

1862 – (Civil War) 2nd Wisconsin Cavalry Mustered In

The 2nd Wisconsin Cavalry mustered in at Milwaukee. It would go on to participate in the Battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas, on December 7, 1862, and in the siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi, the following year. The regiment would lose 312 men during service. Twenty-four enlisted men were killed in combat, and four officers and 284 enlisted men died from disease.

Good morning, Whitewater.

Our week ends with partly cloudy skies and a high of fifty-seven. Sunrise is 6:11 and sunset 5:57, for 11h 46m 47s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 8.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1941, Pres. Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act:

The Lend-Lease policy, formally titled “An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States”, (Pub.L. 77–11, H.R. 1776, 55 Stat.31, enacted March 11, 1941)^[1] was a program under which the United States supplied Free France, the United Kingdom, the Republic of China, and later the USSR and other Allied nations with food, oil, and materiel between 1941 and August 1945. This included warships and warplanes, along with other weaponry. It was signed into law on March 11, 1941 and ended in September 1945. In general the aid was free, although some hardware (such as ships) were returned after the war. In return, the U.S. was given leases on army and naval bases in Allied territory during the war.

A total of $50.1 billion (equivalent to $659 billion today) worth of supplies were shipped, or 17% of the total war expenditures of the U.S.^[2] In all, $31.4 billion went to Britain, $11.3 billion to the Soviet Union, $3.2 billion to France, $1.6 billion to China, and the remaining $2.6 billion to the other Allies. Reverse Lend-Lease policies comprised services such as rent on air bases that went to the U.S., and totaled $7.8 billion; of this, $6.8 billion came from the British and the Commonwealth. The terms of the agreement provided that the materiel was to be used until returned or destroyed. In practice very little equipment was returned. Supplies that arrived after the termination date were sold to Britain at a large discount for £1.075 billion, using long-term loans from the United States. Canada operated a similar program called Mutual Aid that sent a loan of $1 billion and $3.4 billion in supplies and services to Britain and other Allies.^[3][4]

This program effectively ended the United States’ pretense of neutrality and was a decisive step away from non-interventionist policy, which had dominated United States foreign relations since 1931. (See Neutrality Acts of 1930s.)

Here’s the final game in Puzzability’s Contain Yourself series:

This Week’s Game — March 7-11

Contain Yourself

Hey, hold it! Each day’s answer this week is a title, name, or phrase whose initial letters spell the three-letter name of a container.

Example:

What documentary about Wikipedia takes its name from a phrase indicating that statistics don’t lie?

Answer:

Truth in Numbers? (TIN)

What to Submit:

Submit the title, name, or phrase (as “Truth in Numbers?” in the example) for your answer.

Friday, March 11

What 1990 Robert Altman film was about the relationship between a famous painter and his art dealer brother?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Thursday in town will be cloudy with a high of fifty-four. Sunrise is 6:12 and sunset 5:56, for 11h 43m 51s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 3.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Police and Fire Commission meets at 6:30 PM, and there is a Fire Department business meeting at 7 PM.

On 3.10.864, Pres. Lincoln signs a promotion:

On this day in 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signs a brief document officially promoting then-Major General Ulysses S. Grant to the rank of lieutenant general of the U.S. Army, tasking the future president with the job of leading all Union troops against the Confederate Army.

The rank of lieutenant general had not officially been used since 1798; at that time, President John Adams assigned the post to former President George Washington, in anticipation of a possible French invasion of the United States. One of Grant’s predecessors in the Civil War, Winfield Scott, had briefly earned the rank, but the appointment was only temporary—really, use of the rank had been suspended after George Washington’s death in 1799.

In 1862, Lincoln asked Congress to revive the rank of lieutenant general in order to distinguish between the general in charge of all Union forces and other generals of equal rank who served under him in the field. Congress also wanted to reinstate the rank of lieutenant general, but only if Lincoln gave the rank to Grant. Lincoln had other ideas.

Lincoln preferred to promote then-Commanding General Henry Wagner Halleck to lead the Union Army, which had been plagued by a string of ineffective leaders and terrible losses in battle. He was reluctant to promote Grant and risk boosting the general’s popularity; at the time Washington was abuzz with rumors that many northern senators were considering nominating Grant instead of Lincoln at the 1864 Republican National Convention. After Grant publicly dismissed the idea of running for the presidency, Lincoln submitted to Congress’ choice and agreed to give Grant the revived rank. As lieutenant general of the U.S. Army, Grant was answerable only to Lincoln. Well-respected by troops and civilians, Grant earned Lincoln’s trust and went on to force the South’s surrender in 1865.

Although Grant enjoyed a distinguished career in the military, he later wrote that he never consciously chose the life of a soldier. As a student at West Point, he never expected to graduate, let alone lead the entire U.S. Army in a desperate but ultimately successful struggle to preserve the Union.

In 1869, Grant became the 18th president of the United States.

Here’s the Thursday game from Puzzability:

This Week’s Game — March 7-11

Contain Yourself

Hey, hold it! Each day’s answer this week is a title, name, or phrase whose initial letters spell the three-letter name of a container.

Example:

What documentary about Wikipedia takes its name from a phrase indicating that statistics don’t lie?

Answer:

Truth in Numbers? (TIN)

What to Submit:

Submit the title, name, or phrase (as “Truth in Numbers?” in the example) for your answer.

Thursday, March 10

What actor is known for his role in Beverly Hills, 90210 and his marriage to Megan Fox?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Midweek in town will grow increasingly sunny, with a high of sixty-one. Sunrise is 6:14 and sunset 5:55, for 11h 40m 56s of daytime. It’s a new moon again today, with just .3% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Parks & Recreation Board meets tonight at 7 PM.

Here’s time-lapse video of yesterday’s solar eclipse, an eclipse that was visible over parts of the Pacific:

NASA also keeps an eclipse website with records about past and upcoming eclipses.

On this day in 1862 during the Civil War, two ironclads battle off the coast of Virginia, near Hampton Roads:

On March 9, the two vessels engaged each other, and both the Monitor and the Virginia suffered direct hits that failed to penetrate their iron shells. Finally, after four hours, a cannon blast from the Virginia hit the Monitor‘s pilothouse, temporarily blinding the ship’s captain, Union Lieutenant John L. Worden. The Virginia was thus allowed to escape to Norfolk, Virginia, and the Battle of the Ironclads ended in a draw. Two months later, the Virginia was trapped in Norfolk by advancing Union forces, and its Confederate crew blew up the fearful vessel rather than allow it to fall into Union hands.

Here’s the Wednesday game from Puzzability, in a series entitled, Contain Yourself:

This Week’s Game — March 7-11

Contain Yourself

Hey, hold it! Each day’s answer this week is a title, name, or phrase whose initial letters spell the three-letter name of a container.

Example:

What documentary about Wikipedia takes its name from a phrase indicating that statistics don’t lie?

Answer:

Truth in Numbers? (TIN)

What to Submit:

Submit the title, name, or phrase (as “Truth in Numbers?” in the example) for your answer.

Wednesday, March 9

What tingling “falling asleep” feeling in a limb is technically known as paresthesia?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Tuesday in town will be warm, with intermittent showers, and a high of sixty-five. Sunrise is 6:16 and sunset 5:54, for 11h 38m 01s of daytime. We’ve a new moon today, with less than one-percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1950, the first generation of the VW bus goes into production:

The first generation of the Volkswagen Type 2 with the split windshield, informally called the Microbus, Splitscreen, or Splittie among modern fans, was produced from 8 March 1950 through the end of the 1967 model year. From 1950 to 1956, the T1 (not called that at the time) was built in Wolfsburg; from 1956, it was built at the completely new Transporter factory in Hanover. Like the Beetle, the first Transporters used the 1100 Volkswagen air-cooled engine, an 1,131 cc (69.0 cu in), DIN-rated 18 kW (24 PS; 24 bhp), air-cooled flat-four-cylinder ‘boxer’ engine mounted in the rear. This was upgraded to the 1200 – an 1,192 cc (72.7 cu in) 22 kW (30 PS; 30 bhp) in 1953. A higher compression ratio became standard in 1955; while an unusual early version of the 30 kW (41 PS; 40 bhp) engine debuted exclusively on the Type 2 in 1959. This engine proved to be so uncharacteristically troublesome that Volkswagen recalled all 1959 Transporters and replaced the engines with an updated version of the 30 kW engine.^{[citation needed]} Any 1959 models that retain that early engine today are true survivors. Since the engine was totally discontinued at the outset, no parts were ever made available.

The early versions of the T1 until 1955 were often called the “Barndoor” (retrospectively called T1a since the 1990s), owing to the enormous rear engine cover, while the later versions with a slightly modified body (the roofline above the windshield is extended), smaller engine bay, and 15″ roadwheels instead of the original 16″ ones are nowadays called the T1b (again, only called this since the 1990s, based on VW’s restrospective T1,2,3,4 etc. naming system.). From the 1963 model year, when the rear door was made wider (same as on the bay-window or T2), the vehicle could be referred to as the T1c. 1964 also saw the introduction of an optional sliding door for the passenger/cargo area instead of the outwardly hinged doors typical of cargo vans.

On this day in 1862, the 1st Wisconsin readies:

The 1st Wisconsin Cavalry mustered in at Camp Harvey, Kenosha, and left for for St. Louis, Missouri, a week later. It would go on to fight in the Battle of Chickamauga in 1863 and in the Atlanta Campaign the following year. It also helped capture Confederate President Jefferson Davis on May 10, 1865. The 1st Cavalry lost about half its men in three years: six officers and 67 enlisted men were killed in combat and seven officers and 321 enlisted men died from disease.

Here’s the Tuesday game from Puzzability:

This Week’s Game — March 7-11

Contain Yourself

Hey, hold it! Each day’s answer this week is a title, name, or phrase whose initial letters spell the three-letter name of a container.

Example:

What documentary about Wikipedia takes its name from a phrase indicating that statistics don’t lie?

Answer:

Truth in Numbers? (TIN)

What to Submit:

Submit the title, name, or phrase (as “Truth in Numbers?” in the example) for your answer.

Tuesday, March 8

What option on eBay, which allows you to purchase an item without bidding, was introduced in 2000 to enable last-minute holiday shoppers to avoid waiting for auctions to close?