Good morning, Whitewater.

A new month begins with partly cloudy skies and a high of eighty-four. Sunrise is 5:46 and sunset 8:15, for 14h 28m 23s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 98.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this month in 1774, British scientist Joseph Priestly discovers a new gas, one that proves to be oxygen:

In August 1774 he isolated an “air” that appeared to be completely new, but he did not have an opportunity to pursue the matter because he was about to tour Europe with Shelburne. While in Paris, however, Priestley managed to replicate the experiment for others, including French chemist Antoine Lavoisier. After returning to Britain in January 1775, he continued his experiments and discovered “vitriolic acid air” (sulphur dioxide, SO2).
In March he wrote to several people regarding the new “air” that he had discovered in August. One of these letters was read aloud to the Royal Society, and a paper outlining the discovery, titled “An Account of further Discoveries in Air”, was published in the Society’s journal Philosophical Transactions.[101] Priestley called the new substance “dephlogisticated air”, which he made in the famous experiment by focusing the sun’s rays on a sample of mercuric oxide. He first tested it on mice, who surprised him by surviving quite a while entrapped with the air, and then on himself, writing that it was “five or six times better than common air for the purpose of respiration, inflammation, and, I believe, every other use of common atmospherical air”.[102] He had discovered oxygen gas (O2).

On this day in 1832, a ship prevents Black Hawk’s escape across the Mississippi:

1832 – Black Hawk’s Escape Across Mississippi Blocked
On this date the armed steamboat the Warrior reached the British Band on the Mississippi where they hoped to cross the river and escape the American troops. After being guided by a Sioux Indian, the ship which held an artillery piece, dropped anchor, making the Sauk escape virtually impossible. Black Hawk attempted to surrender to the Warrior, waving a white cloth, but the crew either did not understand or did not accept the message. The ship and its men opened fire, killing a number of unprepared Indians. [Source: Along the Black Hawk Trail by William F. Stark, p. 140-141]

Good morning, Whitewater.

July ends with sunny skies and a high of eighty-four. Sunrise is 5:45 and sunset 8:16, for 14h 30m 36s of daytime. We’ve a full moon tonight.

Of the moon, on this day in 1964 America’s Ranger 7 spacecraft spent back pictures of the lunar surface, more detailed than any seen before:

Pasadena, Calif., July 31 – Ranger 7 radioed to earth today the first close-up pictures of the moon – a historic collection of 4,000 pictures one thousand times as clear as anything ever seen through earth-bound telescopes.

Scientists here were hailing the achievement, which exceeded all expectations, as by far the greatest advance in lunar astronomy since Galileo.

They said the pictures not only represented a great leap in man’s knowledge of the moon, but also, on a more practical level, lent encouragement that the lunar surface was suitable for Project Apollo’s manned lunar landings.

The still pictures were snapped and transmitted in the last 17 minutes before the spacecraft [by design crashed] into an area northwest of the Sea of Clouds.

They meant in effect that the 240,000-mile distance to the moon had been shrunk by man’s ingenuity to a mere half-mile in terms of what he could see of its topography. They showed craters three feet in diameter and a foot to a foot and a half deep.

The best earthbound telescopes, handicapped by the shimmering mantle of the atmosphere, can shrink the lunar distance only to 500 miles and reveal features no smaller than about one-mile across.

On this day in 1967, Lake Geneva takes a stand for the preservation of Western civilization, assuring her place in history:

1967 – Lake Geneva Bans Go-Go Girls
On this date the Lake Geneva city government passed an ordinance banning go-go girls, dancers in bikinis, and swimsuit-clad waitresses from working in establishments that served alcohol. [Source: Janesville Gazette]

Here’s Friday’s puzzle from Puzzability:

This Week’s Game — July 27-31

Showstoppers

It’s curtains for us this week. For each day, we started with the title of a Broadway musical’s Act I closing number and replaced all the letters in each word—except the last letter—with asterisks. The name of the musical is presented the same way in parentheses.

Example:

******G ******Y (*****D)

Answer:

“Defying Gravity” (Wicked)

What to Submit:

Submit the song title and the musical’s title (as “Defying Gravity (Wicked)” in the example) for your answer.

Friday, July 31

***E ********D ******G (****H ******C)

Good morning, Whitewater.

We’ll have a sunny day in town, with a high of eighty-five. Sunrise is 5:44 and sunset 8:17, for 14h 32m 45s of daytime. The moon’s a waxing gibbous with 98.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

This day in 1619 sees the opening session of this continent’s first elected legislative assembly:

In Jamestown, Virginia, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World–the House of Burgesses–convenes in the choir of the town’s church.

Earlier that year, the London Company, which had established the Jamestown settlement 12 years before, directed Virginia Governor Sir George Yeardley to summon a “General Assembly” elected by the settlers, with every free adult male voting. Twenty-two representatives from the 11 Jamestown boroughs were chosen, and Master John Pory was appointed the assembly’s speaker. On July 30, the House of Burgesses (an English word for “citizens”) convened for the first time. Its first law, which, like all of its laws, would have to be approved by the London Company, required tobacco to be sold for at least three shillings per pound. Other laws passed during its first six-day session included prohibitions against gambling, drunkenness, and idleness, and a measure that made Sabbath observance mandatory.

The creation of the House of Burgesses, along with other progressive measures, made Sir George Yeardley exceptionally popular among the colonists, and he served two terms as Virginia governor.

On this day in 1857, a noted Wisconsin economist is born:

1857 – Thorstein Veblen Born
On this date economist and social commentator Thorstein Bunde Veblen was born in Cato, although some sources place his birth in Valders. He is best known for his book The Theory of The Leisure Class (1899), a classic of social theory that introduced the concept of “conspicuous consumption.”

Here’s the Thursday game from Puzzability:

This Week’s Game — July 27-31

Showstoppers

It’s curtains for us this week. For each day, we started with the title of a Broadway musical’s Act I closing number and replaced all the letters in each word—except the last letter—with asterisks. The name of the musical is presented the same way in parentheses.

Example:

******G ******Y (*****D)

Answer:

“Defying Gravity” (Wicked)

What to Submit:

Submit the song title and the musical’s title (as “Defying Gravity (Wicked)” in the example) for your answer.

Thursday, July 30

***’T ***N *N *Y *****E (****Y ***L)

Good morning, Whitewater.

Wednesday will bring scattered morning thunderstorms to Whitewater, with gradual clearing in the afternoon, and a high of eighty-three. Sunrise is 5:43 and sunset 8:18, for 14h 34m 54s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 94.8% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1958, Congress votes for a space agency:

…the U.S. Congress passes legislation establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a civilian agency responsible for coordinating America’s activities in space. NASA has since sponsored space expeditions, both human and mechanical, that have yielded vital information about the solar system and universe. It has also launched numerous earth-orbiting satellites that have been instrumental in everything from weather forecasting to navigation to global communications.

NASA was created in response to the Soviet Union’s October 4, 1957 launch of its first satellite, Sputnik I. The 183-pound, basketball-sized satellite orbited the earth in 98 minutes. The Sputnik launch caught Americans by surprise and sparked fears that the Soviets might also be capable of sending missiles with nuclear weapons from Europe to America. The United States prided itself on being at the forefront of technology, and, embarrassed, immediately began developing a response, signaling the start of the U.S.-Soviet space race.

Among NASA’s many current projects is the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (in orbit around the moon since 2009). Below is a video describing how NASA controls the orbiter:

This Week’s Game — July 27-31

Showstoppers

It’s curtains for us this week. For each day, we started with the title of a Broadway musical’s Act I closing number and replaced all the letters in each word—except the last letter—with asterisks. The name of the musical is presented the same way in parentheses.

Example:

******G ******Y (*****D)

Answer:

“Defying Gravity” (Wicked)

What to Submit:

Submit the song title and the musical’s title (as “Defying Gravity (Wicked)” in the example) for your answer.

Wednesday, July 29

*E *O *******R (*****E)