Good morning, Whitewater.
Tuesday in town will be partly sunny with a high of seventy-six. Sunrise is 5:29 and sunset 8:31, for 15h 02m 11s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with just 2.6% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1789, aggrieved Frenchmen storm the Bastille:
The crowd gathered outside around mid-morning, calling for the surrender of the prison, the removal of the guns and the release of the arms and gunpowder. Two representatives of the crowd outside were invited into the fortress and negotiations began, and another was admitted around noon with definite demands. The negotiations dragged on while the crowd grew and became impatient. Around 1:30 the crowd surged into the undefended outer courtyard, and the chains on the drawbridge to the inner courtyard were cut, crushing one unfortunate vainqueur. About this time gunfire began, though some stories state that the Governor had a cannon fire into the crowd killing several women, children, and men, turning the crowd into a mob. The crowd seemed to have felt it had been drawn into a trap and the fighting became more violent and intense, while attempts by deputies to organise a cease-fire were ignored by the attackers.
The firing continued, and at 3:00 the attackers were reinforced by mutinous gardes françaises and other deserters from among the regular troops, along with two cannons. A substantial force of Royal Army troops encamped on the nearby Champs de Mars did not intervene. With the possibility of a mutual massacre suddenly apparent Governor de Launay ordered a cease fire at 5:00. A letter offering his terms was handed out to the besiegers through a gap in the inner gate. His demands were refused, but de Launay nonetheless capitulated, as he realised that his troops could not hold out much longer; he opened the gates to the inner courtyard, and the vainqueurs swept in to liberate the fortress at 5:30.
Louis XVI only learns of the storming the next morning:
The king was only informed of the storming the next morning by the Duke of La Rochefoucauld.
“Is it a revolt?” asked Louis XVI.
The duke replied: “No sire, it’s not a revolt; it’s a revolution.”[9]
On this day in 1948, Janesville tries to solve a problem:
1948 – Janesville Sprays for Bugs
On this date, intending to create a bug-free environment, Janesville tested a DDT fogging machine that quickly emitted a “smokescreen of insect-killing fog.” City officials hoped to persuade the county to buy the machine for use by all municipalities or to buy it jointly with Beloit. [Source: Janesville Gazette]
A Google a Day asks a science question:
What is the name of the anatomy text written by a physician from Bologna who is credited as “the restorer of anatomy?”