Good morning, Whitewater.

Friday in town will be mostly cloudy with a high of twenty-eight. Sunrise is 6:46 AM, sunset 4:32 PM, for 9h 45m 35s of daytime today. The moon is a waning gibbous with 50.8% of its visible disk illuminated.

On November 14, 1851, Melville publishes a great novel, although it takes the world decades to see how great:

On this day in 1851, Moby-Dick, a novel by Herman Melville about the voyage of the whaling ship Pequod, is published by Harper & Brothers in New York. Moby-Dick is now considered a great classic of American literature and contains one of the most famous opening lines in fiction: “Call me Ishmael.” Initially, though, the book about Captain Ahab and his quest for a giant white whale was a flop.

Herman Melville was born in New York City in 1819 and as a young man spent time in the merchant marines, the U.S. Navy and on a whaling ship in the South Seas. In 1846, he published his first novel, Typee, a romantic adventure based on his experiences in Polynesia. The book was a success and a sequel, Omoo, was published in 1847. Three more novels followed, with mixed critical and commercial results. Melville’s sixth book, Moby-Dick, was first published in October 1851 in London, in three volumes titled The Whale, and then in the U.S. a month later. Melville had promised his publisher an adventure story similar to his popular earlier works, but instead, Moby-Dick was a tragic epic, influenced in part by Melville’s friend and Pittsfield, Massachusetts, neighbor, Nathaniel Hawthorne, whose novels include The Scarlet Letter.

After Moby-Dick’s disappointing reception, Melville continued to produce novels, short stories (Bartleby) and poetry, but writing wasn’t paying the bills so in 1865 he returned to New York to work as a customs inspector, a job he held for 20 years.

Melville died in 1891, largely forgotten by the literary world. By the 1920s, scholars had rediscovered his work, particularly Moby-Dick, which would eventually become a staple of high school reading lists across the United States. Billy Budd, Melville’s final novel, was published in 1924, 33 years after his death.

On this day in 1861, famed historian Frederick Jackson Turner is born:

On this date Frederick Jackson Turner was born in Portage. Turner spent most of his academic career at the University of Wisconsin. He published his first article in 1883, received his B.A. in 1884, then his M.A. in History in 1888. After a year of study at Johns Hopkins (Ph.D., 1890), he returned to join the History faculty at Wisconsin, where he taught for the next 21 years. He later taught at Harvard from 1910 to 1924 before retiring. In 1893, Turner presented his famous address, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History,” at the Chicago World’s Fair. Turner died in 1932.

Google-a-Day gives us a science question for Friday:

What element on the periodic table is named after the European capital where it was discovered in 1923?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Thursday in Whitewater will be mostly cloudy with a high of thirty. Sunrise is 6:45 AM and sunset 4:33 AM with 9h 47m 47s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with just over sixty-percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Police and Fire Commission is scheduled to meet tonight at 6:30 PM.

The European Space Agency’s successful landing of a probe onto a comet was a space-facing first:

Here’s the first image mosaic from #Philae on the surface of comet 67P rotated 90º CW & CCW #CometLanding #esa pic.twitter.com/NoAKwWdMiR

— Observing Space (@ObservingSpace) November 13, 2014

On this day in 1861, Gen. McClellan snubs president Lincoln:

After being named to the top army post, McClellan began openly associating with Democratic leaders in Congress and showing his disregard for the Republican administration. To his wife, McClellan wrote that Lincoln was “nothing more than a well-meaning baboon,” and Secretary of State William Seward was an “incompetent little puppy.”

Lincoln made frequent evening visits to McClellan’s house to discuss strategy. On November 13, Lincoln, Seward, and presidential secretary John Hay stopped by to see the general. McClellan was out, so the trio waited for his return. After an hour, McClellan came in and was told by a porter that the guests were waiting. McClellan headed for his room without a word, and only after Lincoln waited another half-hour was the group informed of McClellan’s retirement to bed. Hay felt that the president should have been greatly offended, but Lincoln replied that it was “better at this time not to be making points of etiquette and personal dignity.” Lincoln made no more visits to the general’s home. In March 1862, the president removed McClellan as general in chief of the army.

Lincoln later soundly defeated McClellan in the presidential election of 1864.

Google-a-Day asks a question about geography:

What structure on the South African coast has a range of 63 km and releases flashes every 30 seconds?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be a partly cloudy day with a high of thirty-two. Sunrise is 6:44 AM, sunset 4:34 PM, and we will have 9h 50m of daytime.

Whitewater’s CDA Capital Screening Committee is scheduled to meet at 3:30 PM, and the CDA Board at 5 PM.

At 6:30 PM, there is a scheduled meeting of the Fire & Rescue Task Force.

On this day in 1892, America has her first professional football player:

On November 12, 1892, William “Pudge” Heffelfinger becomes the first professional football player when Pittsburgh’s Allegheny Athletic Association pays him $500 to play as a ringer in a game against its rival Pittsburgh Athletic Club. Before Heffelfinger, players had traded their services on the field for expense money, “double expenses,” or trinkets that players could pawn back to the team–but no one had ever openly accepted a cash payment to play football. (Baseball, on the other hand, had been frankly professional for almost 25 years.) For his part, Heffelfinger never acknowledged that he’d taken the payment. He went on to become a prominent insurance executive and congressman from Minnesota.

On this day in 1836, Wisconsin has her first territorial law:

1836 – Governor Dodge Signs First Law
On this date territorial governor, Henry Dodge, signed the first law passed by the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature. The law prescribed how the legislators were to behave, and how other citizens were to behave towards them. For example, it authorized “the Assembly to punish by fine and imprisonment every person, not a member, who shall be guilty of disrespect, disorderly or contemptuous behavior, threats, in the legislature or interference with witnesses to the legislature; also to expel on a two thirds majority in either house a member of its own body…” This did not keep the members from vociferous arguments, fist fights, or even shooting one another (see this This Day in Wisconsin History for February 11th)

Google-a-Day asks a baseball question:

Willie Mays began his professional career in 1948 with a team that has what three letter in the middle circle of their logo?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Whitewater’s Veteran’s Day will have a high of thirty-eight, with a probability of morning rain or light snow. Sunrise is 6:42 AM, sunset 4:35 PM, with 9h 52m 15s of daytime.

The Parks & Rec Board meets today at 5:30 PM. (Update: subsequently canceled.)

On this day in 1918, World War One ends:

At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the Great War ends. At 5 a.m. that morning, Germany, bereft of manpower and supplies and faced with imminent invasion, signed an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside Compiégne, France. The First World War left nine million soldiers dead and 21 million wounded, with Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, France, and Great Britain each losing nearly a million or more lives. In addition, at least five million civilians died from disease, starvation, or exposure.

On this day in 1964, the Rolling Stones play Milwaukee:

On this date the Rolling Stones first performed in Wisconsin, to a crowd of 1,274 fans at Milwaukee Auditorium. Although Brian Jones remained in a Chicago hospital with a high fever, the rest of the band performed. According to a dubious reporter for the Milwaukee Journal, “Chances are, few in the audience missed his [Jones’] wailing harmonica. Screams from a thousand throats drowned out all but the most insistent electronic cacaphony and the two-fisted smashes of drummer Charlie Watts.” The reporter continued, “Unless someone teaches guitar chords to chimpanzees, the visual ultimate has been reached in the Rolling Stones. With shoulder length hair and high heeled boots, they seemed more feminine than their fans. The Stones make the Beatles look like clean cut kids. You think it must be some kind of parody – but the little girls in front paid $5.50 a seat.” [Source: Milwaukee Journal November 12, 1964, p.14]

Google-a-Day asks a question about science:

What is the name of the anatomy text written by a physician from Bologna who is credited as “the restorer of anatomy?”

Good morning, Whitewater.

We’ll have a high of fifty-eight today, with morning clouds and afternoon sunshine. Sunrise is 6:41 AM and sunset 4:36 PM. There will be 9h 54m 33s of daytime today.

Whitewater’s Planning Commission meets this evening at 6:30 PM.

If you enjoy projects in electronics, Raspberry Pi has a new (and smaller) product out:

Raspberry Pi micro-computer gets even tinier – and cheaper – with new Model A+ board http://t.co/OPHtp0lRFz pic.twitter.com/YBFLxoyArJ

— CNET (@CNET) November 10, 2014

On this day in 1969, it’s a debut for Sesame Street. Here’s that first episode:

Google-Day asks a geography question:

What U.S. peninsula, explored by Captain Cook, experienced a tidal wave that destroyed its main port?