Good morning, Whitewater.

Thursday in town will be warm, with a high of seventy-six, and an even chance of afternoon thunderstorms.  Sunrise is 7:00 and sunset 6:23, for 11h 22m 56s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 17.3% of its visible disk illuminated.

Millions of years ago, the great reptiles of this planet vanished from existence.  There were, however, other animals living at that time – including small mammals – that survived even as the dinosaurs waned into extinction.  Among them was Kimbetopsalis simmonsae:

While an asteroid impact, earthquakes and volcanoes wiped out much of life on earth, one survivor apparently emerged, a furry, buck-toothed creature science has dubbed Kimbetopsalis simmonsae.

Identified from fossils, the new species was a member of a group of mammals known as multituberculates, named for the many cusps, or tubercles, found on their teeth.

The rodent-like animals lived alongside the dinosaurs, but unlike the doomed reptilian giants, they managed to live for another 30 million years after the asteroid that pushed the dinosaurs off the evolutionary stage.

What was bad for the dinosaurs proved a boon to Kimbetopsalis, researchers explain.

After the asteroid impact pushed many species to extinction, “all this ecological space became available and the mammals went a bit nuts,” says University of Edinburgh paleontologist Sarah Shelley, co-author of a published study on the discovery.

Via Fossil Find Is Ancient Beaver-Like Mammal That Outlived The Dinosaurs @ Tech Times.

Go mammal, or go home, it seems.

On this day in 1871, fire devastates Chicago and Wisconsin:

The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned from Sunday, October 8, to early Tuesday, October 10, 1871. The fire killed up to 300 people, destroyed roughly 3.3 square miles (9 km²) of Chicago, Illinois, and left more than 100,000 residents homeless.^[1] Though the fire was one of the largestU.S. disasters of the 19th century, and destroyed much of the city’s central business district, Chicago was rebuilt and continued to grow as one of the most populous and economically important American cities. The same night the fire broke out, an even deadlier fire annihilated Peshtigo, Wisconsin, and other villages and towns north of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

The Peshtigo fire took more lives than any other in American history:

1871 – Peshtigo Fire

On this date Peshtigo, Wisconsin was devastated by a fire which took 1,200 lives. The fire caused over $2 million in damages and destroyed 1.25 million acres of forest. This was the greatest human loss due to fire in the history of the United States. The Peshtigo Fire was overshadowed by the Great Chicago fire which occurred on the same day, killing 250 people and lasting three days. While the Chicago fire is said to have started by a cow kicking over a lantern, it is uncertain how the Peshtigo fire began. [Source:Wisconsin Magazine of History].

A Google a Day asks a geography question:

What area with nearly 2 million life forms was created to protect the wildlife of the country with the largest economy in Africa?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Midweek in town, like yesterday, will be mild, with a high of seventy-one and partly cloudy skies. Sunrise is 6:59 and sunset 6:25, for 11h 25m 47s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 24.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1780, Patriots defeat the British in a South Carolina battle:

Patriot militia under Colonel William Campbell defeat Loyalist militia under Major Patrick Ferguson at the Battle of King’s Mountain in North Carolina near the border with Blacksburg, South Carolina, on this day in 1780.

Major Ferguson’s force, made up mostly of frontier Loyalists from South Carolina, was the western wing of General Charles Cornwallis’ North Carolina invasion force tasked with protecting Loyalist outposts from attacks by Patriots led by Isaac Shelby, Elijah Clark and Charles McDowell. Ferguson had declared that the Patriots could choose to lay down their arms or see him “lay waste to their country with fire and sword.” Believing they could prevent Ferguson from making good on his threat, 1,000 Patriot militiamen gathered in the Carolina backcountry, including Davy Crockett’s father, John. Learning of the Patriot force from a deserter, Ferguson positioned his Loyalists in defense of a rocky, treeless ridge named King’s Mountain.

The Patriots charged the hillside multiple times, demonstrating lethal marksmanship against the surrounded Loyalists. Unwilling to surrender to a “band of banditti,” Ferguson led a suicidal charge down the mountain and was cut down in a hail of bullets. After his death, some of his men tried to surrender, but they were slaughtered in cold blood by the Patriot frontiersmen, who wanted revenge for British Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton’s cruelty to surrendering prisoners at Waxhaws on the Carolina border on May 29, 1780. The Loyalists suffered 157 killed, 163 wounded and 698 captured, while Campbell’s force suffered just 28 killed and 60 wounded. The Patriot success was the first against the British in the South, and convinced General Cornwallis to stop his march through the territory.

Of the 2,000 men that fought for both sides at the Battle of King’s Mountain, 1,900 were born on American soil. Only Ferguson and 100 of his personally trained Redcoats were Britons.

On this day in 1774, Wisconsin becomes part of Quebec:

On this date Britain passed the Quebec Act, making Wisconsin part of the province of Quebec. Enacted by George III, the act restored the French form of civil law to the region. The Thirteen Colonies considered the Quebec Act as one of the “Intolerable Acts,” as it nullified Western claims of the coast colonies by extending the boundaries of the province of Quebec to the Ohio River on the south and to the Mississippi River on the west. [Source: Avalon Project at the Yale Law School]

A Google a Day asks about a donor:

Who donated the money that established the American institution that would come to be known as “the nation’s attic”?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Tuesday in town will be mild, with a high of seventy and afternoon sunshine.  Sunrise is 6:58 and sunset 6:27, for 11h 28m 38s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 32.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

Common Council meets tonight at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1866, America sees the first robbery of a moving train:

…the Reno gang carries out the first robbery of a moving train in the U.S., making off with over $10,000 from an Ohio & Mississippi train in Jackson County, Indiana. Prior to this innovation in crime, holdups had taken place only on trains sitting at stations or freight yards.

This new method of sticking up moving trains in remote locations low on law enforcement soon became popular in the American West, where the recently constructed transcontinental and regional railroads made attractive targets. With the western economy booming, trains often carried large stashes of cash and precious minerals. The sparsely populated landscape provided bandits with numerous isolated areas perfect for stopping trains, as well as plenty of places to hide from the law. Some gangs, like Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch, found robbing trains so easy and lucrative that, for a time, they made it their criminal specialty. Railroad owners eventually got wise and fought back, protecting their trains’ valuables with large safes, armed guards and even specially fortified boxcars. Consequently, by the late 1800s, robbing trains had turned into an increasingly tough and dangerous job.

On this day in 1917, Fighting Bob defends free speech:

On this date Senator Robert La Follette gave what may have been the most famous speech of his Senate career when he responded to charges of treason with a three hour defense of free speech in wartime. La Follette had voted against a declaration of war as well as several initiatives seen as essential to the war effort by those that supported U.S. involvement in the first World War. His resistance was met with a petition to the Committee on Privileges and Elections that called for La Follette’s expulsion from the Senate. The charges were investigated, but La Follette was cleared of any wrong doing by the committee on January 16, 1919. [Source: United States Senate]

A Google a Day asks a question of literature:

What was the drug that Hermes gave Odysseus to help resist the magic of the witch-goddess?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Monday in town will be cloudy with a high of sixty-three. Sunrise is 6:57 and sunset 6:28, for 11h 31m 30s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 43.8% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1953, the Yankees win it all for the fifth consecutive time:

The 1953 World Series matched the 4-time defending champions New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers in a rematch of the 1952 Series, and the 4th such matchup between the two teams in the past seven seasons. The Yankees won in 6 games for their 5th consecutive title—a mark which has not been equalled—and their 16th overall. Billy Martin recorded his 12th hit of the Series scoring Hank Bauer in Game 6.

Broadcaster Vin Scully took over Red Barber‘s spot for the series due to a salary dispute. At the age of 25, Scully became the youngest man to broadcast a World Series game (a record that stands to this day).

On this day in 1846, Wisconsin begins deliberations for her future in the Union:

1846 – First State Constitutional Convention Meets

On this date Wisconsin’s first state Constitutional Convention met in Madison. The Convention sat until December 16,1846. The Convention was attended by 103 Democrats and 18 Whigs. The proposed constitution failed when voters refused to accept several controversial issues: an anti-banking article, a homestead exemption (which gave $1000 exemption to any debtor), providing women with property rights, and black suffrage. The following convention, the Second Constitutional Convention of Wisconsin in 1847-48, produced and passed a constitution that Wisconsin still very much follows today. [Source:The Convention of 1846 edited Milo M. Quaife]

A Google-a-Day asks a sports question:

The renowned football, basketball and baseball player and coach who stated, “It is how you show up at the showdown that counts,” was born in what southern state?