Good morning, Whitewater.

Tuesday in town will be cloudy, with an even chance of morning thunderstorms, and a daytime high of eighty-five.  Sunrise is 5:28 AM and sunset is 8:32 PM, for 15h 03m 57s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing gibbous with 54.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1389, Chaucer receives an appointment:

King Richard II appoints Geoffrey Chaucer to the position of chief clerk of the king’s works in Westminster on this day in 1389.

Chaucer, the middle-class son of a wine merchant, served as a page in an aristocratic household during his teens and was associated with the aristocracy for the rest of his life. In 1359, he fought in France with Edward III, and was captured in a siege. Edward III ransomed him, and he later worked for Edward III and John of Gaunt. One of his earliest known works was an elegy for the deceased wife of John of Gaunt, Book of the Duchesse.

In 1372, Chaucer traveled to Italy on diplomatic missions, where he may have been exposed to Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. He also visited Flanders and France, and was appointed comptroller of customs. He wrote several poems in the 1380s, including The Parlement of Foules and Troilus and Criseyde. In the late 1380s or early 1390s, he began work on the Canterbury Tales, in which a mixed group of nobles, peasants, and clergy make a pilgrimage to the shrine of Thomas a Becket in Canterbury. The work, a compilation of tales told by each character, is remarkable for its presentation of the spectrum of social classes. Although Chaucer intended the book to include 120 stories, he died in 1399, with only 22 tales finished.

On this day in  1995, a heat wave begins to afflict the Midwest:

From July 12-15, 1995, the Midwest was subjected to a deadly outbreak of hot and humid weather responsible for 141 deaths in Wisconsin. According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, this was the “greatest single event of weather-related deaths in Wisconsin history.” Most of the fatalities happened in the urban southeast counties of the state, and at one point several Milwaukee-area hospitals were unable to admit more patients.

Milwaukee Temperatures (from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel): July 12: Hi=91, Lo=65 July 13: Hi=103*, Lo=78 July 14: Hi=102, Lo=84 July 15: Hi=92, Lo=69 July 16: Hi=88, Lo=68 *Some communities reported highs as high as 108. Heat Index values were 120-130 degrees.

NOAA’s Natural Disaster Survey Report on the outbreak is available at http://www.weather.gov/os/assessments/pdfs/heat95.pdf  [Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

A Google a Day asks a geography question: “Who was the wife of the president whose legacy lives on through a famous landmark on the Colorado River?”

Good morning, Whitewater.

Monday in town will be partly cloudy with a high of ninety. Sunrise is 5:27 AM and sunset 8:33 PM, for 15h 05m 20s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 44.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Planning Commission meets this evening at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1952, the Republican Party nominates Eisenhower:

The 1952 Republican National Convention was held at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois from July 7 to July 11, 1952, and nominated the popular general and war hero Dwight D. Eisenhower of New York, nicknamed “Ike,” for president and the anti-communist crusading Senator from California, Richard M. Nixon, for vice president.

The Republican platform pledged to end the unpopular war in Korea, to fire all “the loafers, incompetents and unnecessary employees” at the State Department, condemned the Roosevelt and Truman administrations’ economic policies, supported retention of the Taft-Hartley Act, opposed “discrimination against race, religion or national origin”, supported “Federal action toward the elimination of lynching“, and pledged to bring an end to communist subversion in the United States.^[1]

On this day in 1839, a Wisconsinite first receives a patent:

On this day Ebenezar G. Whiting of Racine was issued patent #1232 for his improved plow, the first patent issued to someone from Wisconsin. Whiting’s improvements consisted of making the mold-board straight and flat which, when united in the center with the curvilinear part of the mold-board, would require less power to drag through the dirt. Whiting went on to serve as Vice President of the J.I. Case Plow Company and received another patent for a steel plow in 1876. [Source: United States Patent and Trademark Office]

A Google a Day asks a science question: “What star in the Milky Way passes all five tests scientists require for it to be a candidate for extraterrestrial life?”

Good morning, Whitewater.

Sunday in town will be sunny with a high of eighty-four. Sunrise is 5:27 AM and sunset 8:33 PM, for 15h 06m 40s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 35.6% of its visible disk illuminated.

Friday’s FW poll asked what readers thought of a kale-eating contest, substituting kale for a more conventional contest food. Most respondents, 68.19%, voted yes to a contest with kale.

7.10.1940 sees the beginning of the Battle of Britain:

The Battle of Britain (German: die Luftschlacht um England, literally “Air battle for England”) was a combat of the Second World War, when the Royal Air Force (“RAF”) defended the United Kingdom (“UK”) against the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) attacks from the end of June 1940, and described as the first major campaign fought entirely by air forces.^[14] The British officially recognise its duration as from 10 July until 31 October 1940 that overlaps with the period of large-scale night attacks known as the Blitz,^[15] while German historians do not accept this subdivision and regard it as a campaign lasting from July 1940 to June 1941.^[16]

….By preventing the Luftwaffe’s air superiority over UK, the British forced Adolf Hitler to postpone and eventually cancel Operation Sea Lion, a provisionally proposed amphibious and airborne invasion of Britain. However, Nazi Germany continued bombing operations on Britain, known as the Blitz. The failure to destroy Britain’s air defencesto force an armistice (or even surrender outright) is considered by Steven Bungay to be the Nazi’s first major defeat in World War II, and a crucial turning point in the conflict.^[19]

On this day in 1832, Gen. Atkinson’s soldiers begin building a fort:

1832 – Fort Koshkonong Construction Begins

On this date General Henry Atkinson and his troops built Fort Koshkonong after being forced backwards from the bog area of the “trembling lands” in their pursuit of Black Hawk. The Fort, later known as Fort Atkinson, was described by Atkinson as “a stockade work flanked by four block houses for the security of our supplies and the accommodation of the sick.” It was also on this date that Atkinson discharged a large number of Volunteers from his army in order to decrease stress on a dwindling food supply and to make his force less cumbersome. One of the dismissed volunteers was future president, Abraham Lincoln, whose horse was stolen in Cold Spring, Wisconsin, and was forced to return to New Salem, Illinois by foot and canoe. [Sources: History Just Ahead: A Guide to Wisconsin’s Historical Markers edited by Sarah Davis McBride and Along the Black Hawk Trail by Willilam F. Stark]

Good morning, Whitewater.

Saturday in town will be mostly sunny with a high of eighty. Sunrise is 5:26 AM and sunset is 8:34 PM, for 15h 07m 56s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 26.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

Dylan recorded “Blowin’ in the Wind” on July 9, 1962, for inclusion on his second album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, released in May 1963.

In his sleeve notes for The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991, John Bauldie wrote that Pete Seeger first identified the melody of “Blowin’ in the Wind” as an adaptation of the old African-American spiritual “No More Auction Block“. According to Alan Lomax‘s The Folk Songs of North America, the song originated in Canada and was sung by former slaves who fled there after Britain abolished slavery in 1833. In 1978, Dylan acknowledged the source when he told journalist Marc Rowland: “‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ has always been a spiritual. I took it off a song called ‘No More Auction Block’ – that’s a spiritual and ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ follows the same feeling.”^[7] Dylan’s performance of “No More Auction Block” was recorded at the Gaslight Cafe in October 1962, and appeared on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991.

The critic Michael Gray suggested that the lyric is an example of Dylan’s incorporation of Biblical rhetoric into his own style. A particular rhetorical form deployed time and again in the New Testament and based on a text from the Old Testament book of Ezekiel (12:1–2) is: “The word of the Lord came to me: ‘Oh mortal, you dwell among the rebellious breed. They have eyes to see but see not; ears to hear, but hear not.” In “Blowin’ in the Wind”, Dylan transforms this into “Yes’n’ how many ears must one man have …?” and “Yes’ n’ how many times must a man turn his head / Pretending he just doesn’t see?”^[8]

“Blowin’ in the Wind” has been described as an anthem of the 1960s civil rights movement.^[9] In Martin Scorsese‘s documentary on Dylan, No Direction Home, Mavis Staples expressed her astonishment on first hearing the song and said she could not understand how a young white man could write something which captured the frustration and aspirations of black people so powerfully.

Sam Cooke was also deeply impressed by the song and began to perform it in his live act. A version was included on Cooke’s 1964 album Live At the Copacabana. He later wrote the response “A Change Is Gonna Come“, which he recorded on January 24, 1964.^[10]

On this day in 1755, Gen. Braddock encounters an ambush:

1755 – Charles de Langlade Ambushes British

On this date Frenchman Charles de Langlade led a group of Wisconsin Native Americans (including Ottawas and Ojibways) against the British General Braddock during the French and Indian War. Langlade, acting as “commander” of the Northwestern Indians, ambushed the British troops. The battle is depicted in the oil painting by Edward W. Deming which hangs on the 4th floor of the Wisconsin Historical Society. [Source: Badger Saints and Sinners by Fred L. Holmes, 1939; pg 25]

Good morning, Whitewater.

Friday in town will be mostly sunny with a high of eighty-four. Sunrise is 5:25 AM and sunset 8:34 PM, for 15h 09m 09s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 17.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1776, John Nixon makes a public address:

On July 8, 1776, he made the first public proclamation of the Declaration of Independence from the steps of the Pennsylvania State House. The same year, Nixon was promoted colonel and later served under George Washington at the Battle of Princeton. In 1776, he became a member of the Navy Board, and two years later was with Washington again at Valley Forge.

On this day in 1850, a man declares himself a king:

1850 – James Jesse Strang Crowned King

On this date James Jesse Strang, leader of the estranged Mormon faction, the Strangites, was crowned king; the only man to achieve such a title in America. When founder Joseph Smith was assassinated, Strang forged a letter from Smith dictating he was to be the heir. The Mormon movement split into followers of Strang and followers of Brigham Young. As he gained more followers (but never nearly as many as Brigham Young), Strang became comparable to a Saint, and in 1850 was crowned King James in a ceremony in which he wore a discarded red robe of a Shakespearean actor, and a metal crown studded with a cluster of stars as his followers sang him hosannas.

Soon after his crowning, he announced that Mormonism embraced and supported polygamy. (Young’s faction was known to have practiced polygamy, but had not at this time announced it publicly.)

A number of followers lived in Walworth County, including Strang at a home in Burlington. In 1856 Strang was himself assassinated, leaving five wives. Without Strang’s leadership, his movement disintegrated. [Source: Wisconsin Saints and Sinners, by Fred L. Holmes, p. 106-121]

A Google a Day asks a history question: “What war was ended by the treaty that was ratified by the U.S. Senate on February 6, 1899?”