Good morning, Whitewater.

Monday in town will be mostly cloudy with a high of sixty-one.  Sunrise is 5:45 AM and sunset 7:57 PM, for 14h 12m 09s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 25.6% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Aquatic Center will hold an annual meeting this evening at 7 PM.

On this day in 1933, someone publishes an account of something in Loch Ness that he describes as a monster:

The term “monster” was reportedly applied for the first time to the creature on 2 May 1933 by Alex Campbell, the water bailiff for Loch Ness and a part-time journalist, in a report in the Inverness Courier.^[8][9][10] On 4 August 1933, the Courierpublished as a full news item the assertion of a London man, George Spicer, that a few weeks earlier while motoring around the Loch, he and his wife had seen “the nearest approach to a dragon or pre-historic animal that I have ever seen in my life”, trundling across the road toward the Loch carrying “an animal” in its mouth.^[11] Other letters began appearing in the Courier, often anonymously, with claims of land or water sightings, either on the writer’s part or on the parts of family, acquaintances or stories they remembered being told.^[12]

These stories soon reached the national (and later the international) press, which described a “monster fish”, “sea serpent”, or “dragon”,^[13] eventually settling on “Loch Ness Monster”.^[14]On 6 December 1933 the first purported photograph of the monster, taken by Hugh Gray, was published in the Daily Express,^[15] and shortly after the creature received official notice when the Secretary of State for Scotland ordered the police to prevent any attacks on it.^[16] In 1934, interest was further sparked by what is known as The Surgeon’s Photograph. In the same year R. T. Gould published a book,^[17] the first of many that describe the author’s personal investigation and collected record of additional reports pre-dating 1933. Other authors have claimed that sightings of the monster go as far back as the 6th century….

On this day in 1941, a breakfast offering is born: “General Mills began shipping a new cereal called “Cheerioats” to six test markets. (The cereal was later renamed ‘Cheerios.’)” Cheerios billed itself as the world’s first “ready-to-eat oat cereal.”

Good morning, Whitewater.

A new month in town begins on a day with morning showers and a high of fifty-six. Sunrise is 5:46 AM and sunset 7:56 PM, for 14h 09m 41s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 35.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

Friday’s FW poll asked if readers thought that SpaceX, a private company, could land an unmanned capsule on Mars by 2020. Most respondents thought that goal was too optimistic: a majority of almost 70% didn’t think that goal could be achieved so soon.

Today is the anniversary, from 5.1.1931, of the official opening of the Empire State Building:

….The construction was part of an intense competition in New York for the title of “world’s tallest building“. Two other projects fighting for the title, 40 Wall Street and the Chrysler Building, were still under construction when work began on the Empire State Building. Each held the title for less than a year, as the Empire State Building surpassed them upon its completion, just 410 days after construction commenced. Instead of taking 18 months as anticipated, the construction took just under fifteen. The building was officially opened on May 1, 1931 in dramatic fashion, when United States President Herbert Hoover turned on the building’s lights with the push of a button from Washington, D.C. Coincidentally, the first use of tower lights atop the Empire State Building, the following year, was for the purpose of signaling the victory of Franklin D. Roosevelt over Hoover in the presidential election of November 1932.^[29]
….

On this day in 1786, a famous Wisconsin brewer is born:

1786 – Brewer Jacob Best Born
On this date Jacob Best Sr. was born. Best founded the Best and Co. Brewery in Milwaukee. In 1889, the brewery was renamed the Pabst Brewing Co. [Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin Biography,  1960].

Good morning, Whitewater.

Saturday in town will be rainy with a high of forty-nine.  Sunrise is 5:48 AM and sunset 7:55 PM, for 14h 07m 12s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 46.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1803, a deal is reached to add a huge expanse to the United States:

On April 30, 1803, representatives of the United States and Napoleonic France conclude negotiations for the Louisiana Purchase, a massive land sale that doubles the size of the young American republic. What was known as Louisiana Territory comprised most of modern-day United States between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains, with the exceptions of Texas, parts of New Mexico, and other pockets of land already controlled by the United States. A formal treaty for the Louisiana Purchase, antedated to April 30, was signed two days later.

On this day in 1845, Wisconsin adopts public education:

On this date, under the leadership of Michael Frank, Wisconsin adopted “free” education for its residents. Frank’s plan narrowly passed the legislature by a vote of 90 to 79. Frank’s motivation for free education in Wisconsin was partially inspired by a similar campaign, promoted by Horace Mann in Massachusetts. On June 16, 1845 the first free school opened in Wisconsin. It was one of only three free schools in the country, outside the New England states. By August 1845, Wisconsin had five free schools in operation. [Source: Badger Saints and Sinners, Fred L. Holmes, pg 78-92]

Good morning, Whitewater.

Friday in town will be cloudy with a high of fifty-four. Sunrise is 5:49 AM and sunset 7:54 PM, for 14h 04m 41s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 57.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1974, the president announces the release of audio recordings:

…President Richard Nixon announces to the public that he will release transcripts of 46 taped White House conversations in response to a Watergate trial subpoena issued in July 1973. The House Judiciary committee accepted 1,200 pages of transcripts the next day, but insisted that the tapes themselves be turned over as well.

On this day in 1862, U.S. Marines take the Confederate flag from the New Orleans city hall, after a successful naval campaign against that city:

From April 18 to April 28, Farragut bombarded and then fought his way past the forts in the Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, managing to get thirteen ships up river on April 24. Historian John D. Winters in The Civil War in Louisiana (1963) noted that with few exceptions the Confederate fleet at New Orleans had “made a sorry showing. Self-destruction, lack of co-operation, cowardice of untrained officers, and the murderous fire of the Federal gunboats reduced the fleet to a demoralized shambles.”^[10]

….Despite the complete vulnerability of the city, the citizens along with military and civil authorities remained defiant. At 2:00 p.m. on 25 April, Admiral Farragut sent Captain Bailey, First Division Commander from the USS Cayuga, to accept the surrender of the city. Armed mobs within the city defied the Union officers and marines sent to city hall. General Lovell refused to surrender the city, along with Mayor Monroe. William B. Mumford pulled down a Union flag raised over the former U.S. mint by marines of the USS Pensacola and the mob destroyed it. Farragut did not destroy the city in response, but moved upriver to subdue fortifications north of the city. On April 29, Farragut and 250 marines from the USS Hartfordremoved the Louisiana State flag from the City Hall.^[13] By May 2, US Secretary of State, William H. Seward, declared New Orleans “recovered” and “mails are allowed to pass”.^[14]

Here’s the Friday JigZone puzzle:

Good morning, Whitewater.

Thursday will be rainy, and colder than yesterday, with a high temperature of forty-five. Sunrise is 5:51 AM and sunset 7:53 PM, for 14h 02m 10s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 67.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

There will be a meeting of the Downton Whitewater Board this morning at 8 AM, and of the Community Development Authority this afternoon at 5 PM.

On this day in 1947, Thor Heyerdahl begins an ocean voyage in the Kon-Tiki expedition:

Heyerdahl believed that people from South America could have settled Polynesia in pre-Columbian times. Although most anthropologists as of 2010 had come to the conclusion they did not,[1][2][3] in 2011, new genetic evidence was uncovered by Erik Thorsby that Easter Island inhabitants in fact do have some South American DNA,[4] lending credence to at least some of Heyerdahl’s theses. His aim in mounting the Kon-Tiki expedition was to show, by using only the materials and technologies available to those people at the time, that there were no technical reasons to prevent them from having done so. Although the expedition carried some modern equipment, such as a radio, watches, charts, sextant, and metal knives, Heyerdahl argued they were incidental to the purpose of proving that the raft itself could make the journey.

The Kon-Tiki expedition was funded by private loans, along with donations of equipment from the United States Army. Heyerdahl and a small team went to Peru, where, with the help of dockyard facilities provided by the Peruvian authorities, they constructed the raft out of balsa logs and other native materials in an indigenous style as recorded in illustrations by Spanish conquistadores. The trip began on April 28, 1947. Heyerdahl and five companions sailed the raft for 101 days over 6900 km (4,300 miles) across the Pacific Ocean before smashing into a reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands on August 7, 1947. The crew made successful landfall and all returned safely.

Here’s Thursday’s puzzle from JigZone:

Good morning, Whitewater.

Wednesday in town will be mostly cloudy and windy with a high of fifty-four. Sunrise is 5:52 AM and sunset is 7:52 PM, for 13h 59m 37s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 76.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Tech Park Board meets today at 8 AM.

On this day in 1667, John Milton sells for a bargain:

Blind poet John Milton sells the copyright to his masterpiece Paradise Lost (1667) for a mere 10 pounds.

Milton was born and raised the indulged son of a prosperous London businessman. He excelled at languages in grammar school and at Christ’s College, Cambridge, where he took a bachelor’s and a master’s, which he completed in 1632. He then decided to continue his own education, spending six years reading every major work of literature in several languages. He published an elegy for a college classmate, Lycidas, in 1637 and went abroad in 1638 to continue his studies.

In 1642, Milton married 17-year-old Mary Powell, who left him just weeks later. Milton wrote a series of pamphlets arguing for the institution of divorce based on incompatibility. The idea, however mild it seems today, was scandalous at the time, and Milton experienced a vehement backlash for his writing.

Milton’s wife returned to him in 1645, and the pair had three daughters. However, he continued espousing controversial views. He supported the execution of Charles I, he railed against the control of the church by bishops, and he upheld the institution of Cromwell’s commonwealth, for which he became secretary of foreign languages.

In 1651, he lost his sight but fulfilled his government duties with the help of assistants, including poet Andrew Marvell. His wife died the following year. He remarried in 1656, but his second wife died in childbirth. Four years later, the commonwealth was overturned, and Milton was thrown in jail, saved only by the intervention of friends. The blind man lost his position and property.

He remarried in 1663. Blind, impoverished, and jobless, he began to dictate his poem Paradise Lost to his family. When the poem was ready for publication, he sold it for 10 pounds. Once printed, the poem was immediately hailed as a masterpiece of the English language. In 1671, he wrote Paradise Regained, followed by Samson Agonistes. He died in 1674.

Here’s Wednesday’s JigZone puzzle: