Good morning, Whitewater.

Tuesday brings a one-third chance of thunderstorms on an otherwise sunny day with a high of seventy-nine.

Downtown Whitewater’s board meets this morning at 8 AM. This evening, Common Council meets at 6:30 PM.

On 9.2.1969, a new way to do banking begins in America:

On this day in 1969, America’s first automatic teller machine (ATM) makes its public debut, dispensing cash to customers at Chemical Bank in Rockville Center, New York. ATMs went on to revolutionize the banking industry, eliminating the need to visit a bank to conduct basic financial transactions. By the 1980s, these money machines had become widely popular and handled many of the functions previously performed by human tellers, such as check deposits and money transfers between accounts. Today, ATMs are as indispensable to most people as cell phones and e-mail.

Several inventors worked on early versions of a cash-dispensing machine, but Don Wetzel, an executive at Docutel, a Dallas company that developed automated baggage-handling equipment, is generally credited as coming up with the idea for the modern ATM. Wetzel reportedly conceived of the concept while waiting on line at a bank. The ATM that debuted in New York in 1969 was only able to give out cash, but in 1971, an ATM that could handle multiple functions, including providing customers’ account balances, was introduced.

On this day in 1862, rumors cause a Wisconsin panic:

1862 – Rumored Indian Attack Panics Citizens

On this evening, Manitowoc settlers were awakened to the cry of “Indians are coming.” Messengers on horseback arrived from the Rapids, Branch, Kellnersville, and other nearby communities, announcing that Indians were burning everything in their path, starting what was known as the “Indian Scare of 1862.” Fire and church bells gave warning to frightened residents.

Over the next few days, people from the surrounding areas fled to Manitowoc and other city centers. Ox carts were loaded with women and children carrying their most valuable belongings. Men arrived with guns, axes, and pitchforks, anything with which to defend themselves and their community. A company of recruits from the Wisconsin 26th Regiment formed themselves into two scouting units, both of which returned to report that there was no threat of an Indian attack.

Even after the excitement had subsided, many frightened farm families could not be persuaded to return home. [Source: Manitowoc County, Wisconsin Genealogy]

Google-a-Day poses a history question:

What major English constitutional document, sent to Charles I, set specific liberties that the king could not infringe upon?

Good morning, Whitewater.

We’ll have a likelihood of showers this Labor Day, with a high of eighty.

Do peacocks fly? Yes, and they come when called, too:

On this day in 1775, King George refuses the Olive Branch Petition from America:

Richard Penn and Arthur Lee were dispatched by Congress to carry the Petition to London, where, on August 21, they provided Lord Dartmouth, Secretary of State for the Colonies, with a copy, followed on September 1 with the original. However, the King refused to see Penn and Lee or to look at the Petition, which in his view originated from an illegal and illegitimate assembly of rebels.^[6]

Instead, on August 23, in response to the news of the Battle of Bunker Hill, the King had issued the Proclamation for Suppressing Rebellion and Sedition, declaring the North American colonies to be in a state of rebellion and ordering “all Our officers … and all Our obedient and loyal subjects, to use their utmost endeavours to withstand and suppress such rebellion.”^[6] The proclamation was written before Lord Dartmouth had received the Petition. Because the King refused to receive the Petition, the Proclamation effectively served as an answer to it.^[7]

Google-a-Day asks a geography question:

The European country that has a half-submerged church in the middle of its largest artificial lake is located in what peninsula?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Sunday in town will be mostly sunny, with a high of eighty-three, and southwest winds of five mph. Sunrise today is 6:19 AM and sunset is 7:31 PM. The moon is a waxing crescent with thirty-two percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Sometimes a day at the beach isn’t a day at the beach:

On this day in 1897, a Wisconsin film star is born:

1897 – Actor Frederic March Born
On this date actor Frederic March (Ernest Frederick Bickel) was born today in Racine, Wisconsin. He stared in many successful movies including Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Best Years of Our Lives, Death of a Salesman, and Death Takes a Holiday. [Source: Internet Movie Database]

Good morning, Whitewater.

We’ll have an even chance of thunderstorms in Whitewater today, with a high of seventy-eight.

On the FW poll question of whether respondents would eat from a subway floor that had been vacuumed with a Bissell product, 86.36% of respondents said they wouldn’t. Bissell Canada brand manager Ravi Dalchand may have done so, but I’d guess there aren’t many who’d follow his lead.

Some good solutions are traditional ones; the method for keeping brush under control proves to be one of them. Chicago’s O’Hare Airport uses a low-tech herd to solve maintenance problems at their high-tech facility:

On this day in 1862, Pres. Lincoln thanks Wisconsin soldiers, among others, for their service in combat:

1862 – (Civil War) Wisconsin troops rest at the White House lawn
The 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th and 7th Wisconsin Infantry regiments fought in the Second Battle of Bull Run. By the end of this third day, more than 18,000 soldiers had been killed or wounded and Union forces had been pushed back to Washington, D.C. When the Wisconsin regiments arrived in Washington, they rested on the White House lawn. According to historian Frank Klement, “President Lincoln came out with a pail of water in one hand and a dipper in the other. He moved among the men, offering water to the tired and thirsty. Some Wisconsin soldiers drank from the common dipper and thanked the President for his kindness.”