Good morning, Whitewater.

Monday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of fifty-six.

Whitewater’s Planning Commission and Community Development Authority meet jointly tonight at 6:30 PM.

In last Friday’s FW poll, readers could vote on whether they’d try a black hamburger from Burger King Japan. A majority said they’d decline the offer: 61.9% said no thanks, with 38.1% saying they’d try one.

On this day in 1950, American Marines land at Inchon:

During the Korean War, U.S. Marines land at Inchon on the west coast of Korea, 100 miles south of the 38th parallel and just 25 miles from Seoul. The location had been criticized as too risky, but U.N. Supreme Commander Douglas MacArthur insisted on carrying out the landing. By the early evening, the Marines had overcome moderate resistance and secured Inchon. The brilliant landing cut the North Korean forces in two, and the U.S.-led U.N. force pushed inland to recapture Seoul, the South Korean capital that had fallen to the communists in June. Allied forces then converged from the north and the south, devastating the North Korean army and taking 125,000 enemy troops prisoner.

On this day in 1832, the United States makes a treaty with the Ho-Chunk:

On this date a a treaty was signed between the Ho-Chunk and the United States that stipulated that the Ho-Chunk cede lands lying to the south and east of the Wisconsin river as well as lands around the Fox river of Green Bay. [Source:Oklahoma State University Library]

Google-a-Day asks a football question:

What NFL quarterback threw for over 3000 yards and got 21 touchdowns in the 2010 season, but still did not make it into the “Hall of Fame”?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Sunday in town will be sunny with a high of sixty-five.

On this day in 1812, Napoleon captures Moscow, but doesn’t find what he expected:

On September 14, 1812, Napoleon moved into the empty city that was stripped of all supplies by its governor, Feodor Rostopchin. Relying on classical rules of warfare aiming at capturing the enemy’s capital (even though Saint Petersburg was the political capital at that time, Moscow was the spiritual capital of Russia), Napoleon had expected Tsar Alexander I to offer his capitulation at the Poklonnaya Hill but the Russian command did not think of surrendering.

As Napoleon prepared to enter Moscow he was surprised to have received no delegation from the city. At the approach of a victorious general, the civil authorities customarily presented themselves at the gates of the city with the keys to the city in an attempt to safeguard the population and their property. As nobody received Napoleon he sent his aides into the city, seeking out officials with whom the arrangements for the occupation could be made. When none could be found, it became clear that the Russians had left the city unconditionally.[62]

In a normal surrender, the city officials would be forced to find billets and make arrangements for the feeding of the soldiers, but the situation caused a free-for-all in which every man was forced to find lodgings and sustenance for himself. Napoleon was secretly disappointed by the lack of custom as he felt it robbed him of a traditional victory over the Russians, especially in taking such a historically significant city.[62]

Before the order was received to evacuate Moscow, the city had a population of approximately 270,000 people. As much of the population pulled out, the remainder were burning or robbing the remaining stores of food, depriving the French of their use. As Napoleon entered the Kremlin, there still remained one-third of the original population, mainly consisting of foreign traders, servants and people who were unable or unwilling to flee. These, including the several hundred strong French colony, attempted to avoid the troops.

On this day in 1875, a Wisconsin scientist dies in the surroundings he studied and loved:

1875 – Increase Lapham Dies While Fishing
On this date Increase Lapham died of a heart attack while fishing in Oconomowoc. Lapham served Wisconsin as a geologist, meteorologist, historian, archivist, anthropologist, and scientist.He helped found the State Historical Society and served on its board for 22 years. He helped establish the National Weather Service and worked to preserve Native American burial mounds, as well as the forests and prairies of Wisconsin. He also helped establish hospitals for the blind, deaf, and mentally ill in Milwaukee and to start two women’s colleges, Carroll College and Milwaukee-Downer College. [Source: Badger Saints and Sinners; by Fred L. Holmes, p.330-344]

Good morning, Whitewater.

Saturday will be sunny and mild, with a high of fifty-nine. Sunrise today is 6:33 AM and sunset 7:08 PM. The moon is in a waning gibbous phase with 74% of its visible disk illuminated.

Pacific Rim was a big-budget film about building giant robots to fight giant monsters – kaiju – that were emerging from the ocean floor and terrorizing coastal communities. It was good fun, but then who’d imagine that kaiju might be (or once have been) real?

Over at the Washington Post, there’s an article about a now-extinct reptile, Spinosaurus, that might have been called a kaiju had anyone seen a living one in our time:

On this weekend in 1814, Francis Scott Key pens the words that later become America’s national anthem:

“The Star-Spangled Banner” is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from “Defence of Fort M’Henry”,[1] a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by British ships of the Royal Navy in the Chesapeake Bay during the Battle of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812.

The poem was set to the tune of a popular British song written by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a men’s social club in London. “The Anacreontic Song” (or “To Anacreon in Heaven”), with various lyrics, was already popular in the United States. Set to Key’s poem and renamed “The Star-Spangled Banner”, it would soon become a well-known American patriotic song. With a range of one octave and one fifth (a semitone more than an octave and a half), it is known for being difficult to sing. Although the poem has four stanzas, only the first is commonly sung today.

“The Star-Spangled Banner” was recognized for official use by the Navy in 1889, and by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916, and was made the national anthem by a congressional resolution on March 3, 1931 (46 Stat. 1508, codified at 36 U.S.C. § 301), which was signed by President Herbert Hoover.

Good morning, Whitewater.

Friday brings a probability of light rain with a high of fifty-one to the Whippet City.

On this day in 1940, French teenagers discover paleolithic drawings:

Lascaux (Lascaux Caves)…is the setting of a complex of caves in southwestern France famous for its Paleolithic cave paintings. The original caves are located near the village of Montignac, in the department of Dordogne. They contain some of the best-known Upper Paleolithic art. These paintings are estimated to be 17,300 years old.[3][4] They primarily consist of images of large animals, most of which are known from fossil evidence to have lived in the area at the time. In 1979, Lascaux was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list along with other prehistoric sites in the Vézère valley.[5]

==History since rediscovery==. On 12 September 1940, the entrance to Lascaux Cave was discovered by 18-year-old Marcel Ravidat. Ravidat returned to the scene with three friends, Jacques Marsal, Georges Agnel, and Simon Coencas, and entered the cave via a long shaft. The teenagers discovered that the cave walls were covered with depictions of animals.[6][7] The cave complex was opened to the public in 1948.[8] By 1955, the carbon dioxide, heat, humidity, and other contaminants produced by 1,200 visitors per day had visibly damaged the paintings and introduced lichen on the walls. The cave was closed to the public in 1963 to preserve the art. After the cave was closed, the paintings were restored to their original state and were monitored daily. Rooms in the cave include the Hall of the Bulls, the Passageway, the Shaft, the Nave, the Apse, and the Chamber of Felines.

Lascaux II, a replica of the Great Hall of the Bulls and the Painted Gallery located 200 meters away from the original, was opened in 1983 so that visitors may view the painted scenes without harming the originals.[7] Reproductions of other Lascaux artwork can be seen at the Centre of Prehistoric Art at Le Thot, France.

Since 1998 the cave has been beset with a fungus, variously blamed on a new air conditioning system that was installed in the caves, the use of high-powered lights, and the presence of too many visitors.[9] As of 2008, the cave contained black mold which scientists were and still are trying to keep away from the paintings. In January 2008, authorities closed the cave for three months even to scientists and preservationists. A single individual was allowed to enter the cave for 20 minutes once a week to monitor climatic conditions. Now only a few scientific experts are allowed to work inside the cave and just for a few days a month but the efforts to remove the mold have taken a toll, leaving dark patches and damaging the pigments on the walls.[10]

On 9.12.1892, UW-Madison adds some new schools:

1892 – UW-Madison Schools Open
On this date the School of Economics, Political Science and History at UW-Madison opened under the leadership of Professor Richard T. Ely. [Source: University of Wisconsin-Madison]

Google-a-Day asks about an author’s sustenance:

Who, along with his wife, gave Harper Lee the gift of a year’s wages so that she could quit her job “to write whatever you please”?

Good morning, Whitewater.

We’ll have a partly cloudy day with a high of just sixty-one today. Sunrise today is 6:30 AM and sunset 7:12 PM. The moon is in a waning gibbous phase with ninety-percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On the International Space Station, astronauts have been studying fire in a weightless environment:

It’s the thirteenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

In 1903, auto racing begins at a Wisconsin location:

1903 – Auto racing debuts at The Milwaukee Mile
On this date William Jones of Chicago won a five-lap speed contest, setting the first track record with a 72 second, 50 mph lap in the process. The Milwaukee Mile was originally a private horse track, in existence since at least 1876, and is the oldest, continuously operating auto racing facility in the world. [Source: The Milwaukee Mile]

Google-a-Day asks about a word from a film:

In 2005 Ryan Gosling starred in a thriller in which an anagram of what word is referred to several times?