Daily Bread for 2.20.14

Good morning.

Whitewater has a wintry mix ahead this morning, but mostly rain for later in the day (with a chance for thunderstorms in the afternoon). Our high temperature today will be forty-three.

Common Council meets tonight at 6:30 PM.

Cape Canaveral, Fla., Feb. 20 — John H. Glenn Jr. orbited three times around the earth today and landed safely to become the first American to make such a flight.

The 40-year-old Marine Corps lieutenant colonel traveled about 81,000 miles in 4 hours 56 minutes before splashing into the Atlantic at 2:43 P.M. Eastern Standard Time.

He had been launched from here at 9:47 A. M.

The astronaut’s safe return was no less a relief than a thrill to the Project Mercury team, because there had been real concern that the Friendship 7 capsule might disintegrate as it rammed back into the atmosphere.

There had also been a serious question whether Colonel Glenn could complete three orbits as planned. But despite persistent control problems, he managed to complete the entire flight plan.

On February 20th, 1950, Wisconsinite Sen. Joe McCarthy hurls accusations:

1950 – McCarthy Delivers Allegations to Senate
On this date, in a six-hour speech delivered before the U.S. Senate, Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy claimed he had the names of 81 U.S. government officials actively engaged in Communist activities, including “one of our foreign ministers.” [Source: Joseph McCarthy timeline]

Ironic, truly, that those most known for speeches of that length are Communist despots.

Puzzability‘s Thursday game is now out:

This Week’s Game — February 17-21

Cities of Gold

Here’s our inside track at the Olympics. For each day this week, we started with the name of a city in which the Winter Olympics have been held. Then we hid it in a sentence, with spaces added as necessary. The answer spans at least two words in the sentence and starts and ends in the middle of words. The day’s clue gives the sentence with a torch in place of the city name.

Example:

I didn’t qualify for the luge finals after my qualifying time was tow.

Answer:

Oslo (too slow)

What to Submit:

Submit the city (as “Oslo” in the example) for your answer.

Thursday, February 20

Although Tahoe expressed interest in hosting the 2022 Winter Games, officials from the neighborinw their chances by saying they couldn’t handle the crowds.