Good morning, Whitewater.

Sunday in town will be partly sunny with a high of eighty-two.  Sunrise is 6:01 AM and sunset 7:56 PM, for 13h 55m 15s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing gibbous with 83.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

Friday’s FW poll asked what readers thought of a man who sneaked a service monkey onto a airplane.  The plurality of respondents (48.48%) thought the proper response was to issue a warning to the monkey-carrying passenger, with just over a third believing that the passenger should be charged for the monkey’s presence.

On this day in 2003, over fifty-million people in the eastern United States and Canada experienced a blackout:

The Northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and the Canadian province of Ontario on Thursday, August 14, 2003, just after 4:10 p.m. EDT.^[1]

Some power was restored by 11 p.m. Many others did not get their power back until two days later. In more remote areas it took nearly a week to restore power.^[2] At the time, it was the world’s second most widespread blackout in history, after the 1999 Southern Brazil blackout.^[3][4] The outage, which was much more widespread than the Northeast Blackout of 1965, affected an estimated 10 million people in Ontario and 45 million people in eight U.S. states.

The blackout’s primary cause was a software bug in the alarm system at a control room of the FirstEnergy Corporation, located in Ohio. A lack of alarm left operators unaware of the need to re-distribute power after overloaded transmission lines hit unpruned foliage, which triggered a race condition in the control software. What would have been a manageable local blackout cascaded into massive widespread distress on the electric grid.

Good morning, Whitewater.

Saturday in town will be partly cloudy with a high of eighty-one. Sunrise is 6:00 AM and sunset 7:58 PM, for 13h 57m 49s of daytime. The moon is a waning waxing gibbous with 75.3% of its visible disk illuminated.

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE, (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980)^[2] was an English film director and producer,^[3] at times referred to as “The Master of Suspense”.^[4] He pioneered many elements of the suspense and psychological thriller genres. He had a successful career in British cinema with both silent films and early talkies and became renowned as England’s best director. Hitchcock moved to Hollywood in 1939^[5] and became a US citizen in 1955.^[6]

Over a career spanning more than half a century, Hitchcock fashioned for himself a recognisable directorial style.^[7] His stylistic trademarks include the use of camera movement that mimics a person’s gaze,^[8] forcing viewers to engage in a form of voyeurism.^[9] In addition, he framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy, and used innovative forms of film editing.^[9] His work often features fugitives on the run alongside “icy blonde” female characters.^[10][11] Many of Hitchcock’s films have twist endings and thrilling plots featuring depictions of murder and other violence. Many of the mysteries, however, are used as decoys or “MacGuffins” that serve the films’ themes and the psychological examinations of their characters. Hitchcock’s films also borrow many themes from psychoanalysis and sometimes feature strong sexual overtones.

Hitchcock became a highly visible public figure through interviews, movie trailers, cameo appearances in his own films, and the ten years in which he hosted the television program Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In 1978, film critic John Russell Taylor described Hitchcock as “the most universally recognizable person in the world”, and “a straightforward middle-class Englishman who just happened to be an artistic genius.”^[12]

Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career spanning six decades and is often regarded as the greatest British filmmaker.^[13] He came first in a 2007 poll of film critics in Britain’s Daily Telegraph, which said: “Unquestionably the greatest filmmaker to emerge from these islands, Hitchcock did more than any director to shape modern cinema, which would be utterly different without him. His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information (from his characters and from viewers) and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else.”^[14][15]

On this day in 1936, a train derails near Janesville:

On this date a freight train derailed one mile east of Janesville on the Milwaukee Road tracks. 18 cars, 13 of them oil tankers, burned in the ensuing spectacular blaze. Although monetary loss was estimated at $150,000, no one was injured. [Source: Janesville Gazette]

Good morning, Whitewater.

Friday in town will be rainy with a high of seventy-seven. Sunrise is 5:59 AM and sunset 7:59 PM, for 14h 00m 20s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 67% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1898, the Spanish & American acceptance of a Protocol of Peace halts fighting in the war between those nations (with a formal treaty coming some months later):

Although the main issue was Cuban independence, the ten-week war was fought in both the Caribbean and the Pacific. US naval power proved decisive, allowing expeditionary forces to disembark in Cuba against a Spanish garrison already facing nationwide Cuban insurgent attacks and further wasted by yellow fever.^[9] Numerically superior Cuban, Philippine, and US forces obtained the surrender of Santiago de Cuba and Manila despite the good performance of some Spanish infantry units and fierce fighting for positions such as San Juan Hill.^[10] With two obsolete Spanish squadrons sunk in Santiago de Cuba and Manila Bay and a third, more modern fleet recalled home to protect the Spanish coasts, Madrid sued for peace.^[11]

The result was the 1898 Treaty of Paris, negotiated on terms favorable to the US, which allowed it temporary control of Cuba, and ceded ownership of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippine islands. The cession of the Philippines involved payment of $20 million ($568,880,000 today) to Spain by the US to cover infrastructure owned by Spain.^[12]

The defeat and collapse of the Spanish Empire was a profound shock to Spain’s national psyche, and provoked a thorough philosophical and artistic revaluation of Spanish society known as the Generation of ’98.^[11] The United States gained several island possessions spanning the globe and a rancorous new debate over the wisdom ofexpansionism.^[13]

The war began exactly fifty-two years after the beginning of the Mexican–American War. It was one of only five US wars (against a total of eleven sovereign states) to have been formally declared by Congress.^[14]

On 8.12.1939, a film premiers in Oconomowoc:

According to the fan site, thewizardofoz.info, “The first publicized showing of the final, edited film was at the Strand Theatre in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin on August 12, 1939. No one is sure exactly why a small town in the Midwest received that honor.” It showed the next day in Sheboygan, Appleton and Rhinelander, according to local newspapers. “The official premiere was at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on August 15, attended by most of the cast and crew and a number of Hollywood celebrities.” [Source: thewizardofoz.info.

Here’s the Friday puzzle from JigZone:

Good morning, Whitewater.

Thursday in town will be partly cloudy with a high of ninety. Sunrise is 5:58 AM and sunset 8:01 PM, for 14h 02m 51s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 56.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1992, America’s largest shopping mall (then and now) opens to the public:

The Mall of America (MOA) is a shopping mall owned by the Triple Five Group and is the largest mall in the United States.^{[citation needed]} It is located in Bloomington, Minnesota (a suburb of the Twin Cities), southeast of the junction ofInterstate 494 and Minnesota State Highway 77, north of the Minnesota River and across the interstate from theMinneapolis–St. Paul International Airport. Opened in 1992, the mall receives over 40 million visitors annually, the most of any mall in the world. 80 percent of the visitors are from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, the Dakotas, Illinois, Ohio, and Canada.^[2] The Triple Five Group, owned by Canada’s Ghermezian family, owns and manages the Mall of America, as well as the West Edmonton Mall….

Mall of America opened its doors to the public August 11, 1992. Even before opening, the mall had earned several nicknames, including “The Megamall”, “Sprawl of America”, “Hugedale” (in reference to the four major “dale” shopping malls within the Twin Cities: Rosedale, Southdale, Ridgedale, and (defunct as of 2010) Brookdale), and simply, “The Mall”.

Mall of America became the largest shopping mall in total area and largest in total store vendors in the United States when it opened. The Mall of America’s 42 million annual visitors equal roughly eight times the population of the state of Minnesota. The mall employs over 11,000 workers year-round and 13,000 during peak seasons.^[4]

On this day in 1919, a great team is born:

On this date the Green Bay Packers professional football team was founded during a meeting in the editorial rooms of Green Bay Press-Gazette. On this evening, a score or more of young athletes, called together by Curly Lambeau and George Calhoun, gathered in the editorial room on Cherry Street and organized a football team. [Source: Packers.com]

Here’s the JigZone puzzle for Thursday:

Good morning, Whitewater.

Midweek in town will be mostly sunny with a high of eighty-nine.  Sunrise is 5:57 AM and sunset 8:02 PM, for 14h 05m 21s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 47% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1846, Pres. Polk signs legislation chartering the Smithsonian Institution:

British scientist James Smithson (d. 1829) left most of his wealth to his nephew Henry James Hungerford. When Hungerford died childless in 1835,^[8] the estate passed “to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an Establishment for the increase & diffusion of knowledge among men”, in accordance with Smithson’s will.^[9] Congress officially accepted the legacy bequeathed to the nation, and pledged the faith of the United States to the charitable trust on July 1, 1836.^[10] The American diplomat Richard Rush was dispatched to England by President Andrew Jackson to collect the bequest. Rush returned in August 1838 with 105 sacks containing 104,960 gold sovereigns (about $500,000 at the time, which is equivalent to $11,111,000 in 2015).^[11][12]

Once the money was in hand, eight years of Congressional haggling ensued over how to interpret Smithson’s rather vague mandate “for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.”^[10][12] Unfortunately, the money was invested by the US Treasury in bonds issued by the state of Arkansas which soon defaulted. After heated debate, Massachusetts Representative (and ex-President) John Quincy Adams persuaded Congress to restore the lost funds with interest^[13] and, despite designs on the money for other purposes, convinced his colleagues to preserve it for an institution of science and learning.^[14] Finally, on August 10, 1846, President James K. Polk signed the legislation that established the Smithsonian Institution as a trust instrumentality of the United States, to be administered by a Board of Regents and a Secretary of the Smithsonian.^[10]

On this day in 1962, Marvel unveils a new character:

Spider-Man is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics existing in its shared universe. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko, and first appearedin the anthology comic book Amazing Fantasy #15 (Aug. 1962) in the Silver Age of Comic Books. Lee and Ditko conceived the character as an orphan being raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben, and as a teenager, having to deal with the normal struggles of adolescence in addition to those of a costumed crime-fighter. Spider-Man’s creators gave him super strength and agility, the ability to cling to most surfaces, shoot spider-webs using wrist-mounted devices of his own invention, which he calls “web-shooters”, and react to danger quickly with his “spider-sense”, enabling him to combat his foes. And later in his life founded his own company call Parker Industries.

JigZone‘s Wednesday puzzle is of a dog: