Good morning.

Thursday brings a sunny day and a high of forty-eight to Whitewater.

This afternoon at 4:30 PM, Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets.

On this day in 1942 as World War II raged, rationing hit Americans in a specific way:

On this day in 1942, coffee joins the list of items rationed in the United States. Despite record coffee production in Latin American countries, the growing demand for the bean from both military and civilian sources, and the demands placed on shipping, which was needed for other purposes, required the limiting of its availability.

Scarcity or shortages were rarely the reason for rationing during the war. Rationing was generally employed for two reasons: (1) to guarantee a fair distribution of resources and foodstuffs to all citizens; and (2) to give priority to military use for certain raw materials, given the present emergency.

At first, limiting the use of certain products was voluntary. For example, President Roosevelt launched “scrap drives” to scare up throwaway rubber-old garden hoses, tires, bathing caps, etc.–in light of the Japanese capture of the Dutch East Indies, a source of rubber for the United States. Collections were then redeemed at gas stations for a penny a pound. Patriotism and the desire to aid the war effort were enough in the early days of the war.

But as U.S. shipping, including oil tankers, became increasingly vulnerable to German U-boat attacks, gas became the first resource to be rationed. Starting in May 1942, in 17 eastern states, car owners were restricted to three gallons of gas a week. By the end of the year, gas rationing extended to the rest of the country, requiring drivers to paste ration stamps onto the windshields of their cars. Butter was another item rationed, as supplies were reserved for military breakfasts. Along with coffee, the sugar and milk that went with it were also limited. All together, about one-third of all food commonly consumed by civilians was rationed at one time or another during the war. The black market, an underground source of rationed goods at prices higher than the ceilings set by the Office of Price Administration, was a supply source for those Americans with the disposable incomes needed to pay the inflated prices.

Some items came off the rationing list early; coffee was released as early as July 1943, but sugar was rationed until June 1947.

Google’s daily puzzle asks a history question: “Only one man was twice honored with the “Thanks of Congress” during the Civil War. To what rank was this individual promoted after the war?”

Good morning.

Midweek in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of thirty-six.

On this day in 1520, Magellan reached the Pacific:

After sailing through the dangerous straits below South America that now bear his name, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan enters the Pacific Ocean with three ships, becoming the first European explorer to reach the Pacific from the Atlantic.

On September 20, 1519, Magellan set sail from Spain in an effort to find a western sea route to the rich Spice Islands of Indonesia. In command of five ships and 270 men, Magellan sailed to West Africa and then to Brazil, where he searched the South American coast for a strait that would take him to the Pacific….

On October 21, he finally discovered the strait he had been seeking. The Strait of Magellan, as it became known, is located near the tip of South America, separating Tierra del Fuego and the continental mainland. Only three ships entered the passage; one had been wrecked and another deserted. It took 38 days to navigate the treacherous strait, and when ocean was sighted at the other end Magellan wept with joy. His fleet accomplished the westward crossing of the ocean in 99 days, crossing waters so strangely calm that the ocean was named “Pacific,” from the Latin word pacificus, meaning “tranquil.” By the end, the men were out of food and chewed the leather parts of their gear to keep themselves alive. On March 6, 1521, the expedition landed at the island of Guam.

Among his many accomplishments as an explorer and navigator, Magellan also had a penguin named in his honor:

Google’s daily puzzle asks about a river and a president’s son: “On what river is the graduate school attended by the eldest son of the 41st POTUS?”

Good morning.

Tuesday brings mostly sunny skies and a high of thirty-three to our small city.

Whitewater’s Urban Forestry Commission meets this afternoon at 4:15 PM.

On this day in 1973, the United States Senate voted to confirm Gerald Ford as vice-president following the resignation of Spiro Agnew.  One of the three voting against Ford was Sen. Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin.

Wisconsin history includes two notable anniversaries, from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries:

1882 – Ringling Brothers’ First Performance
On this date the Ringling brothers of Baraboo, Wisconsin performed their first show to an audience in Mazomanie. The brothers called their show the “Ringling Brothers Classic Comic Concert Company.” The show was barely a success, bringing in 59 paid admissions – just enough money to meet their hotel expenses. However, the brothers continued to tour and raised over $300 in three months, performing in Wisconsin, Iowa, and the Dakotas. After extensive investment and practice, the brothers launched their first circus in Baraboo on May 19, 1884. [Source: Badger Saints and Sinners by Fred L. Holmes, p.476-492]

1903 – Green Bay Packer Johnny Blood Born
On this date Johnny Blood (aka John McNally) was born in New Richmond. Blood was an early NFL halfback playing for Green Bay from 1929 to 1933 and 1935 to 1936. He also played for the Milwaukee Badgers, Duluth Eskimos, Pottsville Maroons, and the Pittsburgh Pirates. An elusive runner and gifted pass receiver, he played a major role in the Packers’ drive to the first three championships in 1929, 1930 and 1931. Johnny Blood died on November 28, 1985, at the age of 82. Titletown Brewing Co. in Green Bay named their brew Johnny “Blood” Red Ale after the famed halfback. [Source: Packers.com]

Google’s daily puzzle asks about a writer’s friend: “A friend of J. R. R. Tolkien’s wrote a series of seven fantasy novels for children. By what nickname was this author known to his friends and family?”

Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of twenty nine.

On 11.26.1941, a Japanese naval force left for its mission against Pearl Harbor:

On this day in 1941, Adm. Chuichi Nagumo leads the Japanese First Air Fleet, an aircraft carrier strike force, toward Pearl Harbor, with the understanding that should “negotiations with the United States reach a successful conclusion, the task force will immediately put about and return to the homeland.”

….Nagumo had no experience with naval aviation, having never commanded a fleet of aircraft carriers in his life. This role was a reward for a lifetime of faithful service. Nagumo, while a man of action, did not like taking unnecessary risks—which he considered an attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor to be. But Chief of Staff Rear Adm. Isoruku Yamamoto thought differently; while also opposing war with the United States, he believed the only hope for a Japanese victory was a swift surprise attack, via carrier warfare, against the U.S. fleet. And as far as the Roosevelt War Department was concerned, if war was inevitable, it desired “that Japan commit the first overt act.”

On this day in 1838, a milestone in Wisconsin history:

1838 – Legislature Assembled in Madison for the First Time
On this date, after moving from the temporary capital in Burlington, Iowa, theWisconsin Territorial Legislature assembled in Madison for the first time. Two years earlier, when the territorial legislature had met for the first time in Belmont, many cities were mentioned as possibilities for the permanent capital — Cassville, Fond du Lac, Milwaukee, Platteville, Mineral Point, Racine, Belmont, Koshkonong, Wisconsinapolis, Peru, and Wisconsin City. Madison won the vote, and funds were authorized to erect a suitable building in which lawmakers would conduct the people’s business. Progress went so slowly, however, that some lawmakers wanted to relocate the seat of government to Milwaukee, where they also thought they would find better accommodations than in the wilds of Dane Co. When the legislature finally met in Madison in November 1838 there was only an outside shell to the new Capitol. The interior was not completed until 1845, more than six years after it was supposed to be finished. On November 26, 1838, Governor Henry Dodge delivered his first speech in the new seat of government. [Source: Wiskonsan Enquirer, Nov. 24 and Dec. 8, 1838]

For Google’s daily puzzle, a combination of sports and film: “Which baseball great has been played in films by both D.B. Sweeney and Ray Liotta?”

Good morning.

Sunday in the Whippet City will bring partly sunny skies, a high of thirty eight, and west winds at 10 to 15 MPH.

On this day in 1783, the last British soldiers, defeated and unwelcome, left New York:

On this day in 1783, nearly three months after the Treaty of Paris was signed ending the American Revolution, the last British soldiers withdraw from New York City, the last British military position in the United States. After the last Redcoat departed New York, U.S. General George Washington entered the city in triumph to the cheers of New Yorkers. The city had remained in British hands since its capture in September 1776….

New Yorkers shaped the history of two new nations. The British evacuated their New York Loyalists to remaining British territories, mainly in Canada. These families had been dispossessed of their land and belongings by the victorious Patriots because of their continued support of the British king and were able to regain some financial independence through lands granted to them by the British in western Quebec (now Ontario) and Nova Scotia. Their arrival in Canada permanently shifted the demographics of what had been French-speaking New France until 1763 into an English-speaking colony, and later nation, with the exception of a French-speaking and culturally French area in eastern Canada that is now Quebec.

In Wisconsin history on this day, in 1863, Wisconsin soliders helped win a Union victory:

1863 – (Civil War) Battle of Missionary Ridge at Chattanooga, Tennessee
Fourteen Wisconsin units — seven Wisconsin Infantry regiments and seven Wisconsin Light Artillery batteries participated in breaking the siege at Chattanooga. The 15th and 24th Wisconsin Infantry regiments were among the forces that charged up Missionary Ridge, broke through the Confederate ranks, and seized the strategic location on November 25.

Google asks a question about Coleridge: “What appears over the body of each dead sailor and animates the bodies on the mariner’s ship described in Coleridge’s addition to “Lyrical Ballads”?”