Good morning, Whitewater.

A new month begins, with partly cloudy skies and a high of seventy-one. Sunrise is 6:52 AM and sunset 6:36 PM. We’ll have a first quarter moon this afternoon.

On this day in 1890, an act of Congress creates Yosemite National Park:

Yosemite National Park … is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in the central eastern portion of the U.S. state of California. The park, which is managed by the National Park Service, covers an area of 747,956 acres (3,026.87 km2)[2] and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain.[5] Over 3.7 million people visit Yosemite each year:[3] most spend their time in the seven square miles (18 km2) of Yosemite Valley.[6] Designated a World Heritage Site in 1984, Yosemite is internationally recognized for its spectacular granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, Giant Sequoia groves, and biological diversity.[6] Almost 95% of the park is designated wilderness.[7] Yosemite was central to the development of the national park idea. First, Galen Clark and others lobbied to protect Yosemite Valley from development, ultimately leading to President Abraham Lincoln’s signing the Yosemite Grant in 1864. Later, John Muir led a successful movement to establish a larger national park encompassing not just the valley, but surrounding mountains and forests as well – paving the way for the United States national park system.[8]

Yosemite is one of the largest and least fragmented habitat blocks in the Sierra Nevada, and the park supports a diversity of plants and animals. The park has an elevation range from 2,127 to 13,114 feet (648 to 3,997 m) and contains five major vegetation zones: chaparral/oak woodland, lower montane forest, upper montane forest, subalpine zone, and alpine. Of California’s 7,000 plant species, about 50% occur in the Sierra Nevada and more than 20% within Yosemite. There is suitable habitat or documentation for more than 160 rare plants in the park, with rare local geologic formations and unique soils characterizing the restricted ranges many of these plants occupy.[6]

The geology of the Yosemite area is characterized by granitic rocks and remnants of older rock. About 10 million years ago, the Sierra Nevada was uplifted and then tilted to form its relatively gentle western slopes and the more dramatic eastern slopes. The uplift increased the steepness of stream and river beds, resulting in formation of deep, narrow canyons. About 1 million years ago, snow and ice accumulated, forming glaciers at the higher alpine meadows that moved down the river valleys. Ice thickness in Yosemite Valley may have reached 4,000 feet (1,200 m) during the early glacial episode. The downslope movement of the ice masses cut and sculpted the U-shaped valley that attracts so many visitors to its scenic vistas today.[6]

Google-a-Day asks a baseball question:

One of the greatest baseball players of all time was banned from the game for life after he and seven other players accepted bribes to throw a game in what year?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Month’s end in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of sixty-two.

On this day in 1954, America commissions the world’s first nuclear submarine:

USS Nautilus (SSN-571) was the world’s first operational nuclear-powered submarine. The vessel was the first submarine to complete a submerged transit to the North Pole on 3 August 1958. Sharing names with the submarine in Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and named after another USS Nautilus (SS-168) that served with distinction in World War II, Nautilus was authorized in 1951 and launched in 1954. Because her nuclear propulsion allowed her to remain submerged far longer than diesel-electric submarines, she broke many records in her first years of operation, and traveled to locations previously beyond the limits of submarines. In operation, she revealed a number of limitations in her design and construction. This information was used to improve subsequent submarines.

Nautilus was a component of SubRon Ten (Submarine Squadron Ten). The squadron commander was stationed aboard the USS Fulton (AS-11), a submarine tender stationed in New London, Connecticut at State Pier. Nautilus and other submarines in the squadron made their home tied up alongside the tender, where they received preventive maintenance and, if necessary, repairs, from the well-equipped Fulton and her crew of machinists, millwrights, and other crafts.

Nautilus was decommissioned in 1980 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982. The submarine has been preserved as a museum of submarine history in Groton, Connecticut, where the vessel receives some 250,000 visitors a year.

On this day in 1859, Abraham Lincoln speaks in Wisconsin:

1859 – Abraham Lincoln Speaks at State Fair
On this date Abraham Lincoln delivered an address at the Wisconsin State Fair. In his speech, he connected agriculture to education: “Every blade of grass is a study; and to produce two, where there was but one, is both a profit and a pleasure.” The rising political star (who was elected the following year), also stressed the importance of free labor. This was Lincoln’s last visit to Wisconsin. In 1861, after winning the presidential election, Lincoln signed the bill establishing the U.S. Department of Agriculture. [Source: AbrahamLincoln.org]

Google-a-Day asks about a poem:

What poem title did T. S. Eliot say he created by combining the titles of a romance by William Morris with the title of a Rudyard Kipling poem?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Monday in town will be warm, with a high of eighty-one, accompanied by an even chance of late afternoon thundershowers.

There will be a meeting of the Urban Forestry Commission at 2:15 PM. Later, at 6:30 PM, there will be an informational meeting about construction at the intersection of Center and Whitewater Streets.

Reason prevails – when asked whether they’d perform CPR on a bear, 91.3% of respondents to FW’s Friday poll said, “No, I think I’d pass on that.” I’ve always been an optimist about our country’s future, and this is another small bit of information supporting a positive outlook.

On this day in 1957, the Packers get a new stadium:

1957 – Packers Dedicate New Stadium
On this date the Green Bay Packers dedicated City Stadium, now known as Lambeau Field, and defeated the Chicago Bears, 21-17. In the capacity crowd of 32,132 was Vice president Richard Nixon. [Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

Google-a-Day asks a question about a book, about a band:

The Curatorial Director of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum authored a book describing 50 years of what rock band?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of eighty. Sunrise today is 6:49 AM and sunset 6:42 PM. The moon is a waxing crescent with nineteen percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Here’s one lucky cyclist from Russia, in the midst of accidents and chaos all around, but able to walk away —

On this day in 1781, as the Battle of Yorktown begins, Lord Cornwallis’s days as a British commander are numbered:

…General George Washington, commanding a force of 17,000 French and Continental troops, begins the siege known as the Battle of Yorktown against British General Lord Charles Cornwallis and a contingent of 9,000 British troops at Yorktown, Virginia, in the most important battle of the Revolutionary War.

Earlier, in a stroke of luck for the Patriots, the French fleet commanded by Francois, Count de Grasse, departed St. Domingue (the then-French colony that is now Haiti) for the Chesapeake Bay, just as Cornwallis chose Yorktown, at the mouth of the Chesapeake, as his base. Washington realized that it was time to act. He ordered Marquis de Lafayette and an American army of 5,000 troops to block Cornwallis’ escape from Yorktown by land while the French naval fleet blocked the British escape by sea. By September 28, Washington had completely encircled Cornwallis and Yorktown with the combined forces of Continental and French troops. After three weeks of non-stop bombardment, both day and night, from cannon and artillery, Cornwallis surrendered to Washington in the field at Yorktown on October 17, 1781, effectively ending the War for Independence.

Pleading illness, Cornwallis did not attend the formal surrender ceremony, held on October 19. Instead, his second in command, General Charles O’Hara, carried Cornwallis’ sword to the American and French commanders.

Although the war persisted on the high seas and in other theaters, the Patriot victory at Yorktown ended fighting in the American colonies. Peace negotiations began in 1782, and on September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed, formally recognizing the United States as a free and independent nation after eight years of war.

On this day in 1925, one of America’s finest computer engineers is born:

1925 – Seymour R. Cray Born
On this date Seymour R. Cray was born in Chippewa Falls. Cray received a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. He established himself in the field of large-scale computer design through his work for Engineering Associates, Remington Rand, UNIVAC, and Control Data Corporation. In 1957 Cray built the first computer to use radio transistors instead of vacuum tubes. This allowed for the miniaturization of components which enhanced the performance of desktop computers. In the 1960s he designed the world’s first supercomputer at Control Data. In 1972 he founded Cray Research in his hometown of Chippewa Falls where he established the standard for supercomputers with CRAY-1 (1976) and CRAY-2 (1985). He resigned from the company in 1981 to devote himself to computer design in the areas of vector register technology and cooling systems. Cray died in a automobile accident on October 5, 1996. [Source: MIT and Cray Company]

Good morning, Whitewater.

Saturday in the Whippet City will be partly cloudy with a high of eighty. Sunrise is 6:48 AM and sunset 6:43 PM. The moon is a waxing crescent with eleven percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Tim Bell, while racing in the Circuit of the Americas, lost the brakes on his Nissan 370z and took evasive action — finally hitting a barrier at around one-hundred miles per hour. Amazingly, and fortunately, he walked away unharmed:

On this day in 1964, the Warren Commission report becomes public:

The President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established by President Lyndon B. Johnson on November 29, 1963[1] to investigate the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy that had taken place on November 22, 1963. Its 889-page final report was presented to President Johnson on September 24, 1964[2] and made public three days later.[3] It concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing Kennedy and wounding Texas Governor John Connally[4] and that Jack Ruby also acted alone when he killed Oswald two days later.[5] The Commission’s findings have proven controversial and have been both challenged and supported by later studies.

The Commission took its unofficial name—the Warren Commission—from its chairman, Chief Justice Earl Warren.[6] According to published transcripts of Johnson’s presidential phone conversations, some major officials were opposed to forming such a commission and several commission members took part only reluctantly.[7] One of their chief reservations was that a commission would ultimately create more controversy than consensus, and those fears proved valid.[7]