Good morning, Whitewater.

Monday in town will be sunny with a high of seventy-eight. Sunrise is 6:10 AM and sunset 7:44 PM, for 13h 34m 11s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 79.3% of its visible disk illuminated.

The Urban Forestry Commission meets today at 4:30 PM. Whitewater’s School Board meets tonight in regular session at 7 PM.

On this day in 1851, the America wins the first of a series that was to become the America’s Cup:

America was a 19th-century racing yacht and first winner of the America’s Cup international sailing trophy. The Royal Yacht Squadron‘s “One Hundred Sovereign Cup” or “£100 Cup,” mistakenly known in America as the “One Hundred Guinea Cup,”^[3] the trophy was later renamed after the original winning yacht. On August 22, 1851,America won the Royal Yacht Squadron’s 53-mile (85 km) regatta around the Isle of Wight by eighteen minutes.^[4]

….The race was held on August 22, 1851, with a 10:00 AM start for a line of seven schooners and another line of eight cutters. America had a slow start due to a fouled anchor and was well behind when she finally got under way. Within half an hour however, she was in 5th place and gaining.[8]

The eastern shoals of the Isle of Wight are called the Nab Rocks. Traditionally, races would sail around the east (seaward) side of the lightship that marked the edge of the shoal, but one could sail between the lightship and the mainland if they had a knowledgeable pilot. America had such a pilot and he took her down the west (landward) side of the lightship. After the race a contestant protested this action, but was overruled because the official race rules did not specify on which side of the lightship a boat had to pass.[8]

The result of this tactic put America in the lead. She held this lead throughout the rest of the race. At one point the jib boom broke due to a crew error, but it was replaced in fifteen minutes. On the final leg of the race the yacht Aurora closed but was 18 minutes behind when America finished shortly after 6:00 PM. Legend has it that while watching the race, Queen Victoria asked who was second, and received the famous reply: “There is no second, your Majesty.”[8]

On this day in 1861, a future governor leaves for war:

1861 – (Civil War) Future Gov. Lucius Fairchild departs for the front

The Daily Milwaukee Press reported on this day that Company K of the 1st Wisconsin Infantry presented their Captain, Lucius Fairchild, with a ceremonial sword and sash at Camp Scott in Milwaukee. Fairchild was to leave that same afternoon for Washington, D.C., and begin his new appointment as lieutenant colonel of the 2nd Wisconsin Infantry.

A Google a Day asks a geography question: “The European country that has a half-submerged church in the middle of its largest artificial lake is located in what peninsula?”

Good morning, Whitewater.

We’ll have an increasingly sunny day with a high of seventy-three. Sunrise is 6:09 AM and sunset 7:46 PM, for 13h 36m 53s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 87.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

Friday’s FW poll asked what readers thought about a confrontation between a baboon and a family at a North Carolina zoo. Most respondents (74.19%) supported a baboon who threw its own waste at a girl who had teased it.

In March 1959, Congress passed the Hawaii Admission Act, which U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law.^[89]The act excluded Palmyra Atoll from statehood; it had been part of the Kingdom and Territory of Hawaii. On June 27, 1959, a referendum asked residents of Hawaii to vote on the statehood bill; 94.3% voted in favor of statehood and 5.7% opposed it.^[90]The referendum asked voters to choose between accepting the Act and remaining a U.S. territory. The United Nations’ Special Committee on Decolonization later removed Hawaii from its list of self-governing territories.

On this day in 1864, Wisconsinites give the Union a victory:

1864 – (Civil War) Second Battle of Weldon Railroad ends near Petersburg, Virginia

The 2nd, 6th, 7th, 37th, and 38th Wisconsin Infantry regiments took part in the Second Battle of Weldon Railroad, also known as the Battle of Globe Tavern, near Petersburg, Virginia. On this day, the 7th Wisconsin Infantry repulsed a fierce attack. It then captured the 16th Mississippi Infantry and all its officers. This was the first Union victory in the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign. By destroying the railway while under heavy attack, Union troops forced Confederates to carry their provision 30 miles by wagon around Union lines to supply the city.

Good morning, Whitewater.

We’ll have thunderstorms for most of Saturday, on a day with a high of seventy-seven. Sunrise is 6:08 AM and sunset 7:47 PM, for 13h 39m 33s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 94.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

August 20th is the anniversary of two technological feats:

On this day in 1911, a dispatcher in the New York Times office sends the first telegram around the world via commercial service. Exactly 66 years later, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) sends a different kind of message–a phonograph record containing information about Earth for extraterrestrial beings–shooting into space aboard the unmanned spacecraft Voyager II.

The Times decided to send its 1911 telegram in order to determine how fast a commercial message could be sent around the world by telegraph cable. The message, reading simply “This message sent around the world,” left the dispatch room on the 17th floor of the Times building in New York at 7 p.m. on August 20. After it traveled more than 28,000 miles, being relayed by 16 different operators, through San Francisco, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Saigon, Singapore, Bombay, Malta, Lisbon and the Azores–among other locations–the reply was received by the same operator 16.5 minutes later. It was the fastest time achieved by a commercial cablegram since the opening of the Pacific cable in 1900 by the Commercial Cable Company.

On August 20, 1977, a NASA rocket launched Voyager II, an unmanned 1,820-pound spacecraft, from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It was the first of two such crafts to be launched that year on a “Grand Tour” of the outer planets, organized to coincide with a rare alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Aboard Voyager II was a 12-inch copper phonograph record called “Sounds of Earth.” Intended as a kind of introductory time capsule, the record included greetings in 60 languages and scientific information about Earth and the human race, along with classical, jazz and rock ‘n’ roll music, nature sounds like thunder and surf, and recorded messages from President Jimmy Carter and other world leaders.

The brainchild of astronomer Carl Sagan, the record was sent with Voyager II and its twin craft, Voyager I–launched just two weeks later–in the faint hope that it might one day be discovered by extraterrestrial creatures. The record was sealed in an aluminum jacket that would keep it intact for 1 billion years, along with instructions on how to play the record, with a cartridge and needle provided.

On this day in 1794, Americans fight the Battle of Fallen Timbers:

On this date American troops under General “Mad” Anthony Wayne defeated a confederation of Indian forces led by Little Turtle of the Miamis and Blue Jacket of the Shawnees. Wayne’s soldiers, who included future Western explorer William Clark and future President William Henry Harrison, won the battle in less than an hour with the loss of some 30 men killed. (The number of Indian casualties is uncertain.)

The battle had several far-reaching consequences for the United States and what would later become the state of Wisconsin. The crushing defeat of the British-allied Indians convinced the British to finally evacuate their posts in the American west (an accession explicitly given in the Jay Treaty signed some three months later), eliminating forever the English presence in the early American northwest and clearing the way for American expansion.

The battle also resulted in the 1795 Treaty of Greenville, in which the defeated Indians ceded to Wayne the right of Americans to settle in the Ohio Valley (although the northwestern area of that country was given to the Indians). Wayne’s victory opened the gates of widespread settlement of the Old Northwest, Wisconsin included. [Source: American History Illustrated, Feb. 1969]

Good morning, Whitewater.

Friday in town will be partly cloudy with a high of eighty-seven. Sunrise is 6:07 AM and sunset 7:49 PM, for 13h 42m 13s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 98.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1812, during war with Britain, the U.S.S. Constitution defeats H.M.S. Guerriere:

A frigate was sighted on 19 August and subsequently determined to be HMS Guerriere (38) with the words “Not The Little Belt” painted on her foretopsail.^{[100][Note 3]} Guerriere opened fire upon entering range of Constitution, doing little damage. After a few exchanges of cannon fire between the ships, Captain Hull maneuvered into an advantageous position and brought Constitutionto within 25 yards (23 m) of Guerriere. He then ordered a full double-loaded broadside fired of grape and round shot which took out Guerriere‘s mizzenmast.^[101][102] With her mizzenmast dragging in the water, Guerriere‘s maneuverability decreased and she collided with Constitution, her bowsprit becoming entangled in Constitution‘s mizzen rigging. This left only Guerriere‘s bow guns capable of effective fire. Hull’s cabin caught fire from the shots, but the fire was quickly extinguished. With the ships locked together, both captains ordered boarding parties into action, but due to heavy seas, neither party was able to board the opposing ship.^[103]

At one point, the two ships rotated together counter-clockwise, with Constitution continuing to fire broadsides. When the two ships pulled apart, the force of the bowsprit’s extraction sent shock waves through Guerriere‘s rigging. Her foremast soon collapsed, and that brought the mainmast down shortly afterward.^[104] Guerriere was now a dismasted, unmanageable hulk, with close to a third of her crew wounded or killed, while Constitution remained largely intact. The British surrendered.^[105]

Using his heavier broadsides and his ship’s sailing ability, Hull had managed to surprise the British. Adding to their astonishment, many of their shots rebounded harmlessly off Constitution‘s hull. An American sailor reportedly exclaimed “Huzzah! her sides are made of iron!” and Constitution acquired the nickname “Old Ironsides”.^[106]

The battle left Guerriere so badly damaged that she was not worth towing to port. The next morning, after transferring the British prisoners onto Constitution, Hull ordered Guerriere burned.^[107] Arriving back in Boston on 30 August, Hull and his crew found that news of their victory had spread fast, and they were hailed as heroes.^[108]

JigZone ends the week with a colorful puzzle:

Good morning, Whitewater.

Thursday in town will be partly cloudy with a high of eighty-six.  Sunrise is 6:05 AM and sunset 7:50 PM, for 13h 44m 50s of daytime.  We’ve a full moon today.

Whitewater’s Police & Fire Commission meets at 6:30 PM, and her Fire Department Board meets at 7 PM.

On this day in 1795, Pres. Washington signs the Jay Treaty:

The Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, Between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, commonly known as the Jay Treaty, and also as Jay’s Treaty, the British Treaty, and the Treaty of London of 1794,^[1][2] was a 1795 treaty between the United States and Great Britain that is credited with averting war,^[3] resolving issues remaining since the Treaty of Paris of 1783 (which ended the American Revolutionary War),^[4] and facilitating ten years of peaceful trade between the United States and Britain in the midst of the French Revolutionary Wars, which began in 1792.

The terms of the treaty were designed primarily by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, strongly supported by the chief negotiator John Jay, and also by President George Washington. The treaty gained the primary American goals, which included the withdrawal of British Army units from pre-Revolutionary forts that it had failed to relinquish in the Northwest Territory of the United States (the area west of Pennsylvania and north of the Ohio River). (The British had recognized this area as American territory in the Treaty of Paris of 1783.) The parties agreed that disputes over wartime debts and the American–Canadian boundary were to be sent to arbitration — one of the first major uses of arbitration in diplomatic history. The Americans were granted limited rights to trade with British possessions in India and colonies in the Caribbean in exchange for some limits on the American export of cotton.

JigZone’s puzzle of the day if of a ship:

Good morning, Whitewater.

Wednesday in town will bring thunderstorms and a high of eighty-three to Whitewater. Sunrise is 6:04 AM and sunset 7:52 PM, for 13h 47m 28s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous, with 98.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Parks & Rec Board meets tonight at 6:30 PM.

Earlier in the afternoon, at 5:30 PM, Whitewater’s School Board will meet to consider the wording of a proposed referendum question on capital spending.

On this day in 1978, Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson, and Larry Newman cross the Atlantic Ocean in a balloon:

Double Eagle II, piloted by Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson, and Larry Newman, became the first balloon to crossthe Atlantic Ocean when it landed 17 August 1978 in Miserey near Paris, 137 hours 6 minutes after leaving Presque Isle, Maine.

It can be regarded as a successful crossing at the point that the Double Eagle II crossed the Irish coast, on the evening of 16 August, an event that Shannon Airport notified the crew about when it happened. Newman originally intended to hang glide from the balloon to a landing, while Anderson and Abruzzo continued to fly, but the hang-glider had to be dropped as ballast earlier on 16 August.

While flying over France, they heard by radio that authorities had closed Le Bourget Airfield, where Charles Lindbergh had landed, for them. The crew declined the offer as they were running out of ballast and it would be too risky (to themselves and anyone below) to pass over the suburbs of Paris. They landed in a field of barley, owned by Roger and Rachel Coquerel, in Miserey, 60 mi (97 km) northwest of Paris. Television images showed a highway nearby, its shoulders and outer lanes crowded with stopped cars, people sweeping across the farm field to the landing spot. The gondola was protected, but most of the logs and charts were stolen by souvenir hunters.

The flight, the fourteenth known attempt, was the culmination of more than a century of previous attempts to cross the Atlantic Ocean by balloon. Some of the people who had attempted it were never found.

On this day in 1864, Wisconsinites defending the Union bury Confederate dead:

A soldier in the 2nd Wisconsin Infantry wrote home this day describing the aftermath of the Battle of Cedar Mountain, Virginia. He criticizes Confederate officers for withdrawing under cover of darkness and forcing Union soldiers to inter their enemies: “Instead of burying his dead, we found the plains, the hills, the villages strewn with dead and dying rebels. Oh! the sight was sickening, and beggars description. Here an arm, there a leg, yonder half of what was once a man…”

Here’s the JigZone puzzle for Wednesday:

Good morning, Whitewater.

Tuesday in town will be mostly sunny with a high of eighty-four.  Sunrise is 6:03 AM and sunset 7:53 PM, for 13h 50m 05s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing gibbous with 95.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

Common Council meets tonight at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1858, the first transatlantic telegraph message was successfully transmitted:

On August 16, 1858 the first message sent via the cable, other than technical messages sent by the electricians setting up the system, was, “Europe and America are united by telegraphy. Glory to God in the highest; on earth, peace and good will toward men,” sent from England.^[10][11]Queen Victoria then sent a telegram of congratulation to President James Buchanan at his summer residence in the Bedford Springs Hotel in Pennsylvania and expressed a hope that it would prove “an additional link between the nations whose friendship is founded on their common interest and reciprocal esteem.” The President responded that, “it is a triumph more glorious, because far more useful to mankind, than was ever won by conqueror on the field of battle. May the Atlantic telegraph, under the blessing of Heaven, prove to be a bond of perpetual peace and friendship between the kindred nations, and an instrument destined by Divine Providence to diffuse religion, civilization, liberty, and law throughout the world.”^[12] The messages were hard to decipher – Queen Victoria’s message of 98 words took sixteen hours to send.^[13]

These messages engendered an outburst of enthusiasm. The next morning a grand salute of 100 guns resounded in New York City, the streets were decorated with flags, the bells of the churches were rung, and at night the city was illuminated.^[14]

JigZone‘s Tuesday puzzle is of a marina: