Good morning.

Friday brings sunny skies to Whitewater, with a high of thirty-two, and northwest winds at five miles per hour.

On this day in 1765, Britain imposed the Stamp Act on America. It was a bad idea:

In an effort to raise funds to pay off debts and defend the vast new American territories won from the French in the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763), the British government passes the Stamp Act on this day in 1765. The legislation levied a direct tax on all materials printed for commercial and legal use in the colonies, from newspapers and pamphlets to playing cards and dice.

Though the Stamp Act employed a strategy that was a common fundraising vehicle in England, it stirred a storm of protest in the colonies. The colonists had recently been hit with three major taxes: the Sugar Act (1764), which levied new duties on imports of textiles, wines, coffee and sugar; the Currency Act (1764), which caused a major decline in the value of the paper money used by colonists; and the Quartering Act (1765), which required colonists to provide food and lodging to British troops.

With the passing of the Stamp Act, the colonists’ grumbling finally became an articulated response to what they saw as the mother country’s attempt to undermine their economic strength and independence. They raised the issue of taxation without representation, and formed societies throughout the colonies to rally against the British government and nobles who sought to exploit the colonies as a source of revenue and raw materials. By October of that year, nine of the 13 colonies sent representatives to the Stamp Act Congress, at which the colonists drafted the “Declaration of Rights and Grievances,” a document that railed against the autocratic policies of the mercantilist British empire.

In Wisconsin history on this day, the father of a mysterious creature is born:

1854 – Eugene Shepard, Father of the Hodag
On this date Eugene Shepard was born near Green Bay. Although he made his career in the lumbering business near Rhinelander, he was best known for his story-telling and practical jokes. He told many tales of Paul Bunyan, the mythical lumberjack, and drew pictures of the giant at work that became famous. Shepard also started a new legend about a prehistoric monster that roamed the woods of Wisconsin – the hodag. Shepard built the mythical monster out of wood and bull’s horns. He fooled everyone into believing it was alive, allowing it to be viewed only inside a dark tent. The beast was displayed at the Wausau and Antigo county fairs before Shepard admitted it was all a hoax. [Source: Badger saints and sinners, by Fred L. Holmes, p.459-474]

Google-a-Day asks a question of history and language: “In 1578, a high lama of the Gelug school was given the name “Dalai Lama.” What does the Sino-Mongolian translation of “dalai” mean in English?”

Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of twenty-eight. We’ll have 12h 12m of sunlight, 13h 8m of daylight, and a waxing gibbous moon.

On this day in 1965, Dr. King and over 3,000 marchers began trip from Selma to Montgomery – it was their third attempt, the first two having been met with violent state opposition:

Backed by the armed might of the United States, 3,200 persons marched out of Selma today on the first leg of a historic venture in nonviolent protest.

The marchers, or at least many of them, are on their way to the State Capitol at Montgomery to submit a petition for Negro rights Thursday to Gov. George C. Wallace, a man with little sympathy for their cause.

Today was the third attempt for the Alabama Freedom March. On the first two, the marchers were stopped by state troopers, the first time with tear gas and clubs.

The troopers were on hand today, but they limited themselves to helping Federal troops handle traffic on U.S. Highway 80 as the marchers left Selma.

Soldiers Line Highway

Hundreds of Army and federalized National Guard troops stood guard in Selma and lined the highway out of town to protect the marchers. The troops were sent by President Johnson after Governor Wallace said that Alabama could not afford the expense of protecting the march.

The marchers were in festive humor as they started. The tone was set by the Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy, top aide to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, as he introduced Dr. King for an address before the march started.

Google-a-Day asks a science question: “What is the binomial name of the tiny mammal of the family Craseonycteridae, genus Craseonycteris and species C. thonglongyai that is “hog-nosed?”

Good morning.

Spring arrives in Whitewater, on a day with chance of snow showers and a high of nineteen. (Monday, March 18th is the most recent day to have a snowfall accumulation of at least an inch.)

Whitewater’s Tech Park Board meets today at 8 AM.

CNN asks if this is the best golf shot ever:

Looking at it from this vantage, I’d say it’s very good, indeed.

On this day in 1778, Americans meet a (French) king:

Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane and Arthur Lee present themselves to France’s King Louis XVI as official representatives of the United States on this day in 1778. Louis XVI was skeptical of the fledgling republic, but his dislike of the British eventually overcame these concerns and France officially recognized the United States in February 1778.

Some of the great ironies of the American Revolution lay in the relationship between the new United States and the French. In 1774, when Parliament decided to offer religious toleration and judicial autonomy to French-speaking Catholics in Quebec, North American colonists expressed horror at the notion of empowered French Catholics on their borders. In 1778, though, Franklin, Deane and Lee, all proponents of democratic government, were delighted at the prospect that the French Catholic monarchy, ruling by divine right, would come to their aid in a war against British parliamentary rule.

On this day in 1854, the Republicans are born:

On this date Free Soilers and Whigs outraged by the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, met in Ripon to consider forming a new political party. The meeting’s organizer, Alvan E. Bovay, proposed the name “Republican” which had been suggested by New York editor Horace Greeley. You can see eyewitness accounts of the meeting, early Republican campaign documents, and other original sources on our page devoted to Wisconsin and the Republican Party. Though other places have claimed themselves as the birthplace of the Republican Party, this was the earliest meeting held for the purpose and the first to use the term Republican. [Source: History of Wisconsin, II: 218-219]

Google tests one’s knowledge of Russian monuments: “In the Russian monument of the founder of Moscow, which hand is he holding out to the side?”

Good morning.

Tuesday brings a high of twenty-six, and gradually clearing skies.

Common Council meets tonight at 6:30 PM.

A decade ago, the Iraq war begins:

On this day in 2003, the United States, along with coalition forces primarily from the United Kingdom, initiates war on Iraq. Just after explosions began to rock Baghdad, Iraq’s capital, U.S. President George W. Bush announced in a televised address, “At this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger.” President Bush and his advisors built much of their case for war on the idea that Iraq, under dictator Saddam Hussein, possessed or was in the process of building weapons of mass destruction.

On 3.19.1865, Wisconsin soldiers fought in a campaign against the Carolinas:

1865 – (Civil War) Battle of Goldsborough, North Carolina, Begins
The 21st, 22nd and 25th Wisconsin Infantry regiments took part in the battle at Goldsborough, North Carolina, during the Campaign of the Carolinas. Three Union armies totaling 100,000 men attacked the city in order to control its strategically important railroad lines.

Google-a-Day asks about Roman mythology: “Of the Romans “group of three” gods in the Archaic Triad, which one did not have a Greek counterpart?”

Good morning.

Monday brings snow during the day, with a high of thirty-five. If the National Weather Service is right, accumulation will be less than one inch. We’ll see.

The city’s Library Board meets tonight at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1890, the Wisconsin Supreme Court rules against reading the Bible in public classrooms:

1890 – Bible Prohibited from Wisconsin Schools

On this date a Rock County circuit court decision which had permitted the Bible to be read in classrooms was overturned by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. In 1889 a group of Edgerton citizens brought suit against their school board for allowing area teachers to read the Bible in class. They contested the teacher’s use of the Douay version which, they claimed, differed materially from the King James translation. The case was tried in the circuit court of Rock County. The judge denied the petition and ruled that “reading the Bible was not sectarian and was, therefore, lawful and proper.” The case was appealed to the Supreme Court which handed down a decision that reversed the circuit court and held “the use of any version of the Bible as textbook in the public schools” violated the Constitution. [Source: Wis. Court System, “Famous Cases of the Supreme Court”]

Google-a-Day asks a politics and science question: “What cabinet position had been held by the head of the commission that investigated the STS-51L disaster?”