Good morning, Whitewater.

There’s a mild November day ahead for us, with a high of fifty-one and cloudy skies. Sunrise is 6:57 AM and sunset 4:25 PM, with 9h 27m 43s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with only 1.3% of its visible disk illuminated.

Friday’s FW poll asked respondents for their favorite Thanksgiving foods. Turkey topped the list, followed in order by Other, Stuffing, Cranberries, Pumpkin Pie, Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Rolls, Green Beans, and Ham.

On this day in 1943, news came from both Europe and the Pacific of Allied victories. Here’s the headline and report in the New York Times of that day:

Ruined Berlin Afire After 2d Bombing; U. S. Planes Smash At Toulon and Sofia; 4 Japanese Destroyers Sunk In Battle

Foe Driven Into Sea By Marines on Betio
By WILLIAM L. WORDEN

With the Seventh Army Air Force in the Central Pacific, Nov. 22 (Delayed)–United States Marine assault battalions today conquered the west end of Betio Island, on Tarawa atoll, driving the defenders into the sea and others onto the eastern open flat sections where they became excellent targets for dive-bombing and strafing attacks.

The vicious air attacks were made by Navy planes operating from carriers in this area. The air assault was timed with our artillery fire, which pounded the fleeing Japanese almost at will once they had abandoned their prepared defense positions. Only a few isolated strong Japanese points remain intact.

On the east side of the island some of the enemy attempted to escape by boat, but our patrol aircraft spotted them, sinking some and damaging others.

In our state’s history, from 1909, a Janesville man gets eighteen months for selling margarine:

1909 – Janesville Man Convicted for Selling Oleo
On this date A.E. Graham of Janesville was put on trial for selling oleo as butter. Oleo, an early form of margarine, was outlawed in the dairy state of Wisconsin. On January 27, 1910, he was found guilty in federal court and sentenced to 18 months in Fort Leavenworth Prison. [Source: Janesville Gazette]

Graham shouldn’t have been passing margarine off as butter, yet it’s hard to believe, then or now, that scores of other Janesvillians would not be more deserving of prison time. If in your travels you run into any Federal agents, feel free to give them my contact information (www.freewhitewater.com, adams@freewhitewater.com). I’d be happy to offer a list of contemporary Janesville ‘movers and shakers’ more deserving of incarceration than any oleo salesman.

Good morning, Whitewater.

Saturday will begin with areas of fog giving away to mild temperatures, with a high of forty-five. Sunrise is 6:56 AM and sunset 4:25 PM, for 9h 29m 31s of daytime. We’ve a new moon today.

On this day in 1963, Pres. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Here’s the initial account of the assassination, as reported in the New York Times:

Dallas, Nov. 22–President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was shot and killed by an assassin today.

He died of a wound in the brain caused by a rifle bullet that was fired at him as he was riding through downtown Dallas in a motorcade.

Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson, who was riding in the third car behind Mr. Kennedy’s, was sworn in as the 36th President of the United States 99 minutes after Mr. Kennedy’s death.

Mr. Johnson is 55 years old; Mr. Kennedy was 46.

Shortly after the assassination, Lee H. Oswald, who once defected to the Soviet Union and who has been active in the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, was arrested by the Dallas police. Tonight he was accused of the killing.

Oswald, 24 years old, was also accused of slaying a policeman who had approached him in the street. Oswald was subdued after a scuffle with a second policeman in a nearby theater.

President Kennedy was shot at 12:30 P.M., Central standard time (1:30 P.M., New York time). He was pronounced dead at 1 P.M. and Mr. Johnson was sworn in at 2:39 P.M.

Astrobiologists remain curious about the possibility of ocean life beneath the icy surface of the Jupiter’s moon Europa. Kevin Hand of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory explains:

Good morning, Whitewater.

Our Friday in town will be mostly sunny with a high of thirty. Sunrise today is 6:55 AM and sunset 4:26 PM, for 9h 31m 22s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 1.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1783, men fly over Paris:

French physician Jean-François Pilatre de Rozier and François Laurent, the marquis d’ Arlandes, make the first untethered hot-air balloon flight, flying 5.5 miles over Paris in about 25 minutes. Their cloth balloon was crafted by French papermaking brothers Jacques-Étienne and Joseph-Michel Montgolfier, inventors of the world’s first successful hot-air balloons.

On this day in 1941, Wisconsin begins ramping up military production:

1941 – Badger Army Ammunition Plant Established
On this date the Badger Army Ammunition Plant was established on 7,354 acres of land in Sauk County, near Baraboo. Employment reached an historic high of near 7,500 during World War II. The plant operated intermittently over a 33-year period to produce single and double-base propellant for cannon, rocket, and small arms ammunition. Plant operation was terminated in March 1975 and all production facilities and many support functions were placed on standby status, which continued until 1998. [Source: Joint Munitions Command]

Google-a-Day asks a question about Fantasy Football:

The basis of modern Fantasy Football was developed by Wilfred Winkenbach in 1962, laying the blueprint for a League that was known by what acronym?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Thursday in town will be mostly sunny with a high of twenty-one. Sunrise is 6:54 AM and sunset 4:27 PM, for 9h 33m 17s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with just 4.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1864, General Sherman continues his March to the Sea through Georgia:

…nearly a week into the famous March to the Sea, the army of Union General William T. Sherman moves toward central Georgia, destroying property and routing small militia units it its path. Advanced units of the army skirmished with scattered Rebel forces at Clinton, Walnut Creek, East Macon, and Griswoldville, all in the vicinity of Macon.

The march began on November 15 and ended on December 21, 1864. Sherman led 62,000 troops for some 285 miles across Georgia and cut a path of destruction more than 50 miles wide. He divided his force into two columns and widened the swath of destruction. The Yankees cut away from their supply lines at Atlanta and generally lived off the land. What they did not consume, they destroyed. More than 13,000 cattle fell into Union hands, as well as 90,000 bales of cotton and numerous sawmills, foundries, cotton gins, and warehouses.

Sherman’s superiors, President Abraham Lincoln and General in Chief Ulysses S. Grant, endorsed his controversial tactic. Sherman planned, in his words, to “make Georgia howl,” and argued that, although it would be brutal, destroying the resources of the South could bring the war to a quicker end….

For an assessment that finds Sherman’s campaign more restrained and disciplined than critics have contended, see historian W. Todd Groce’s Rethinking Sherman’s March.

Google-a-Day asks a question about reptiles:

What reptile is the most vocal, with some species able to communicate more than 20 distinguishable messages through sound alone?