Good morning, Whitewater.

Friday in town will be partly cloudy with a high of seventy-five. Sunrise is 6:22 AM and sunset is 7:25 PM, for 13h 03m 53s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 1.3% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1666, the Great Fire of London began:

The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666.^[1] The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall. It threatened but did not reach the aristocratic district of Westminster, Charles II‘s Palace of Whitehall, and most of the suburban slums.^[2] It consumed 13,200 houses, 87 parish churches, St Paul’s Cathedral, and most of the buildings of the City authorities. It is estimated to have destroyed the homes of 70,000 of the City’s 80,000 inhabitants.^[3] The death toll is unknown but traditionally thought to have been small, as only six verified deaths were recorded. This reasoning has recently been challenged on the grounds that the deaths of poor and middle-class people were not recorded, while the heat of the fire may have cremated many victims, leaving no recognisable remains. A melted piece of pottery on display at the Museum of London found by archaeologists in Pudding Lane, where the fire started, shows that the temperature reached 1250 °C.^[4]

The Great Fire started at the bakery of Thomas Farriner (or Farynor) on Pudding Lane shortly after midnight on Sunday, 2 September and spread rapidly west across the City of London. The major firefighting technique of the time was to create firebreaks by means of demolition; this, however, was critically delayed owing to the indecisiveness of Lord Mayor of London Sir Thomas Bloodworth. By the time that large-scale demolitions were ordered on Sunday night, the wind had already fanned the bakery fire into a firestorm which defeated such measures. The fire pushed north on Monday into the heart of the City. Order in the streets broke down as rumours arose of suspicious foreigners setting fires. The fears of the homeless focused on the French and Dutch, England’s enemies in the ongoing Second Anglo-Dutch War; these substantial immigrant groups became victims of lynchings and street violence. On Tuesday, the fire spread over most of the City, destroying St Paul’s Cathedral and leaping the River Fleet to threaten Charles II’s court at Whitehall, while coordinated firefighting efforts were simultaneously mobilising. The battle to quench the fire is considered to have been won by two factors: the strong east winds died down, and the Tower of London garrison used gunpowder to create effective firebreaks to halt further spread eastward.

The social and economic problems created by the disaster were overwhelming. Evacuation from London and resettlement elsewhere were strongly encouraged by Charles II, who feared a London rebellion amongst the dispossessed refugees. Despite numerous radical proposals, London was reconstructed on essentially the same street plan used before the fire.^[5]

JigZone ends the week with a wagon-wheel puzzle:

Good morning, Whitewater.

A new month begins in Whitewater with morning clouds, giving way to afternoon sunshine, with a daytime high of seventy-one. Sunrise is 6:21 AM and sunset 7:27 PM, for 13h 06m 41s of daytime. The moon is new today, with no part of its visible disk illuminated.

A new school year begins in our public district. Best wishes for a year of exploration and adventure.

Whitewater’s Landmarks Commission meets tonight at 6 PM, and there will be a Fire Department Business Meeting at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1972, Fischer defeats Spassky:

The World Chess Championship 1972 was a match for the World Chess Championship between challenger Bobby Fischer of the United States and defending champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. The match took place in the Laugardalshöll arena in Reykjavík, Iceland, and has been dubbed the Match of the Century. Fischer became the first American born in the United States to win the world title, and the second American overall (Wilhelm Steinitz, the first world champion, became a naturalized American citizen in 1888). Fischer’s win also ended, for a short time, 24 years of Soviet domination of the World Championship.

The first game was played on July 11, 1972. The last game (the 21st) began on August 31, was adjourned after 40 moves, and Spassky resigned the next day without resuming play. Fischer won the match 12½–8½, becoming the eleventh undisputed World Champion.

JigZone has flowers as its theme for today’s puzzle:

Good morning, Whitewater.

Our month ends on a day of partly cloudy skies with a high of seventy-eight.  Sunrise is 6:19 AM and sunset 7:29 PM, for 13h 09m 29s of daytime.  We’ve a new moon, with just .9% of its visible disk illuminated.

Marquette Law publishes a new Wisconsin poll this afternoon. I’ll have highlights when they’re available.

On this day in 1897, Edison patents the kinetograph:

Thomas Edison receives a patent for his movie camera, the Kinetograph. Edison had developed the camera and its viewer in the early 1890s and staged several demonstrations.

The camera was based on photographic principles discovered by still-photograph pioneers Joseph Nicephone Niepce and Louis Daguerre of France. In 1877, inventor Edward Muybridge developed a primitive form of motion pictures when Leland Stanford, governor of California, invited him to develop photo studies of animals in motion. Muybridge developed an ingenious system for photographing sequential motion, setting up 24 cameras attached to trip wires stretched across a racetrack. As the horse tripped each wire, the shutters snapped. The resulting series of photos could be projected as something resembling a motion picture. This breakthrough in the early 1870s inspired another student of animal motion, Etienne Jules Marey of France, to develop in 1882 a rotating camera rather like a rifle, where different pictures were taken in a rapid sequence by a rotating cartridge.

Unlike these earlier cameras, Edison’s Kinetoscope and Kinetograph used celluloid film, invented by George Eastman in 1889. In February 1893, Edison built a small movie studio that could be rotated to capture the best available sunlight. He showed the first demonstration of his films—featuring three of his workers pretending to be blacksmiths—in May 1893.

It’s a seahorse puzzle from JigZone for Wednesday:

Good morning, Whitewater.

Tuesday in the city will be partly cloudy, with a four-in-ten chance of afternoon thunderstorms, and a high of eighty-two.  Sunrise is 6:18 AM and 7:31 PM, for 13h 12m 16s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 4% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1945, Gen. MacArthur arrives in Japan:

Japan surrendered to the Allies on August 14, 1945, when the Japanese government notified the Allies that it had accepted the Potsdam Declaration. On the following day, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s unconditional surrender on the radio (the Gyokuon-h?s?). The announcement was the emperor’s first ever planned radio broadcast and the first time most citizens of Japan ever heard their sovereign’s voice.^[5] This date is known as Victory Over Japan, or V-J Day, and marked the end of World War II and the beginning of a long road to recovery for a shattered Japan.

Japanese officials left for Manila, Philippines on August 19 to meet MacArthur and to be briefed on his plans for the occupation. On August 28, 150 U.S. personnel flew to Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture. They were followed by USS Missouri,^[6] whose accompanying vessels landed the 4th Marine Division on the southern coast of Kanagawa. Other Allied personnel followed.

MacArthur arrived in Tokyo on August 30, and immediately decreed several laws. No Allied personnel were to assault Japanese people. No Allied personnel were to eat the scarce Japanese food. Flying the Hinomaru or “Rising Sun” flag was initially severely restricted (although individuals and prefectural offices could apply for permission to fly it). This restriction was partially lifted in 1948 and completely lifted the following year.^[7]

Today’s JigZone puzzle is of a pelican:

Good morning, Whitewater.

Monday in town will be mostly cloudy with a high of eighty-four. Sunrise is 6:17 AM and sunset 7:32 PM, for 13h 15m 03s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 9.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

On 29 August, the U.S. Army’s 28th Infantry Division, who had assembled in the Bois de Boulogne the previous night, paraded 24-abreast up the Avenue Hoche to the Arc de Triomphe, then down the Champs Élysées. Joyous crowds greeted the Americans as the entire division, men and vehicles, marched through Paris “on its way to assigned attack positions northeast of the French capital.” ^[17]

JigZone‘s Monday puzzle is of a bridge: