Good morning, Whitewater.

Midweek in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of eighty-one. Sunrise is 5:36 and sunset 8:25, for 14h 48m 50s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 33.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets this afternoon at 5 PM.

On this day in 1931, an aviator first completes a solo flight around the world:

Wiley Hardeman Post (November 22, 1898 – August 15, 1935) was a famed American aviator during the period known as the Golden Age of Aviation, the first pilot to fly solo around the world. Also known for his work in high-altitude flying, Post helped develop one of the first pressure suits and discovered the jet stream….

Post wanted to open his own aeronautical school, but could not raise enough financial support because of doubts many had about his rural background and limited formal education. Motivated by his detractors, Post decided to attempt a solo flight around the world and to break his previous speed record. Over the next year, Post improved his aircraft by installing an autopilot device and a radio direction finder that were in their final stages of development by the Sperry Gyroscope Company and the United States Army. In 1933, he repeated his flight around the world, this time using the auto-pilot and compass in place of his navigator and becoming the first to accomplish the feat alone. He departed from Floyd Bennett Field and continued on to Berlin where repairs were attempted to his autopilot, stopped at Königsberg to replace some forgotten maps, Moscow for more repairs to his autopilot, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk for final repairs to the autopilot, Rukhlovo, Khabarovsk, Flat where his propeller had to be replaced, Fairbanks, Edmonton, and back to Floyd Bennett Field. Fifty thousand people greeted him on his return on July 22 after 7 days, 18 hours, 49 minutes^[2][3]

A Google a Day asks a question about animation:

What comedians were the inspiration for the names of the two hungry cats in the short that marked Tweety Bird’s first appearance?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Tuesday in town will be sunny, with a high of eighty. Sunrise is 5:35 and sunset 8:26, for 14h 50m 40s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent, with 25.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

The inaugural Whitewater City Market, situated alongside the Cravath lakefront arch, takes places this afternoon from 3-7 PM. They’ll have nineteen vendors under pleasant skies, offering both produce, goods, and food.

Common Council meets tonight, at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1861, Union and Confederate soldiers fight the first large battle of the war:

The First Battle of Bull Run, also known as First Manassas (the name used by Confederate forces), was fought on July 21, 1861, in Prince William County, Virginia, near the city of Manassas, not far from the city of Washington, D.C. It was the first major battle of the American Civil War. The Union’s forces were slow in positioning themselves, allowing Confederate reinforcements time to arrive by rail. Each side had about 18,000 poorly trained and poorly led troops in their first battle. It was a Confederate victory followed by a disorganized retreat of the Union forces….

Confederate reinforcements under Brig. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston arrived from the Shenandoah Valley by railroad and the course of the battle quickly changed. A brigade of Virginians under the relatively unknown brigadier general from the Virginia Military Institute, Thomas J. Jackson, stood their ground and Jackson received his famous nickname, “Stonewall Jackson”. The Confederates launched a strong counterattack, and as the Union troops began withdrawing under fire, many panicked and the retreat turned into a rout. McDowell’s men frantically ran without order in the direction of Washington, D.C. Both armies were sobered by the fierce fighting and many casualties, and realized the war was going to be much longer and bloodier than either had anticipated.

A Google a Day asks a geography question:

The castle that sits on top of the volcanic mound, Beblowe Craig, was founded by what 16th century king?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Monday will be warm, with a high of eighty-four, and a probability of afternoon thunderstorms. Sunrise is 5:35 and sunset 8:27, for 14h 52m 27s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 15.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first humans on the Moon, Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, on July 20, 1969, at 20:18 UTC. Armstrong became the first to step onto the lunar surface six hours later on July 21 at 02:56 UTC. Armstrong spent about two and a half hours outside the spacecraft, Aldrin slightly less, and together they collected 47.5 pounds (21.5 kg) of lunar material for return to Earth. The third member of the mission, Michael Collins, piloted the command spacecraft alone in lunar orbit until Armstrong and Aldrin returned to it just under a day later for the trip back to Earth.

Launched by a Saturn V rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida, on July 16, Apollo 11 was the fifth manned mission of NASA‘s Apollo program. The Apollo spacecraft had three parts: a Command Module (CM) with a cabin for the three astronauts, and the only part that landed back on Earth; a Service Module (SM), which supported the Command Module with propulsion, electrical power, oxygen, and water; and a Lunar Module (LM) for landing on the Moon (which itself was composed of two parts). After being sent toward the Moon by the Saturn V’s upper stage, the astronauts separated the spacecraft from it and traveled for three days until they entered into lunar orbit. Armstrong and Aldrin then moved into the Lunar Module and landed in the Sea of Tranquility. They stayed a total of about 21 ¹?₂ hours on the lunar surface. After lifting off in the upper part of the Lunar Module and rejoining Collins in the Command Module, they returned to Earth and landed in the Pacific Ocean on July 24.

On this day in 1976, Hank Aaron hit his 755th home run:

1976 – Hank Aaron Hits Record Home Run

On this date Hank Aaron hit his 755th and last home run at Milwaukee County Stadium against the California Angels. [Source: Milwaukee Brewers]

A Google a Day asks a history question:

For whom was the ship, on which the man who served as governor for 12 of the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s first 20 years sailed to the New World, named ?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Sunday in town will be sunny, with a high of eighty-two. Sunrise is 5:34 and sunset 8:28, for 14h 54m 12s of daytime. The moon’s a waxing crescent with 11.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

Friday’s FW poll asked whether readers would go for bacon-flavored seaweed. Among respondents, it was a close vote: 51.8% of respondents said they wouldn’t, but 48.15% of respondents said that they would.

On this day in 1799, Michel Ange Lancret, a member of French technical commission, reports on the French discovery of the Rosetta Stone:

The Rosetta Stone is a granodiorite stele inscribed with a decree issued at Memphis, Egypt, in 196 BC on behalf of King Ptolemy V. The decree appears in three scripts: the upper text is Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the middle portion Demotic script, and the lowest Ancient Greek. Because it presents essentially the same text in all three scripts (with some minor differences among them), it provided the key to the modern understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Although it is believed to have originally been displayed within a temple, possibly at nearby Sais, the stone was probably moved during the early Christian or medieval period and was eventually used as building material in the construction of Fort Julien near the town of Rashid (Rosetta) in the Nile Delta. It was rediscovered there in 1799 by a soldier, Pierre-François Bouchard, of the Napoleonic expedition to Egypt. As the first Ancient Egyptian bilingual text recovered in modern times, the Rosetta Stone aroused widespread public interest with its potential to decipher this previously untranslated ancient language. Lithographic copies and plaster casts began circulating among European museums and scholars. Meanwhile, British troops defeated the French in Egypt in 1801, and the original stone came into British possession under the Capitulation of Alexandria. Transported to London, it has been on public display at the British Museum almost continuously since 1802. It is the most-visited object in the British Museum….

The find was announced to Napoleon’s newly founded scientific association in Cairo, the Institut d’Égypte, in a report by Commission member Michel Ange Lancret noting that it contained three inscriptions, the first in hieroglyphs and the third in Greek, and rightly suggesting that the three inscriptions would be versions of the same text. Lancret’s report, dated July 19, 1799, was read to a meeting of the Institute soon after July 25. Bouchard, meanwhile, transported the stone to Cairo for examination by scholars. Napoleon himself inspected what had already begun to be called la Pierre de Rosette, the Rosetta Stone, shortly before his return to France in August 1799.[9]

On this day (or perhaps the day before), American militia pursue the British Band (so called from Black Hawk’s earlier alliance with Britain):

1832 – Dodge and Henry pursue the British Band
On this date General James Henry and Colonel Henry Dodge found the trail of the British Band and began pursuit of Black Hawk and the Sauk Indians. Before leaving camp, the troops were told to leave behind any items that would slow down the chase. The troops camped that evening at Rock River, 20 miles east of present day Madison. Some sources place this event on July 18, 1832. [Source: Along the Black Hawk Trail by William F. Stark, p. 119]

Good morning, Whitewater.

We’ll have a hot day in Whitewater, with a high of ninety-two, and a likelihood of scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon.  Sunrise is 5:33 and sunset 8:29, for 14h 55m 53s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 5.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

On July 18, 1999, David Cone of the New York Yankees pitched the 16th perfect game (no opposing batters reach first base) in Major League Baseball (MLB) history and the third in team history. Pitching against the Montreal Expos at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx in front of 41,930 fans in attendance, Cone retired all 27 batters that he faced. The game took 2 hours and 19 minutes, from 1:35 PM ET to 4:54 PM ET; the game was interrupted by a 33-minute rain delay in the bottom of the third inning in the middle of an at-bat for Tino Martinez. As part of the day’s “Yogi Berra Day” festivities honoring the Yankees’ former catcher, before the game, former Yankees pitcher Don Larsen threw the ceremonial first pitchto Berra; the two comprised the battery for Larsen’s perfect game in 1956.

Cone’s perfect game was the 247th no-hitter in MLB history, and 11th and last to date no-hitter in Yankees history. The previous perfect game in both MLB and Yankee history was 14 months prior on May 17, 1998, when David Wells pitched a perfect game against the Minnesota Twins at Yankee Stadium; Wells’ perfect game was also the most recent no-hitter in franchise history at the time. Cone’s perfect game gave the Yankees the record for the franchise with most perfect games, breaking a two-perfect game tie with the Cleveland Indians. Since Cone’s perfecto, the Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, and Chicago White Sox have recorded their second perfect games, with the White Sox tying the Yankees with a third perfect game in 2012. To date, Cone’s perfect game is the only one achieved in regular season interleague play.^[1]

On this day in 1921, a UW athlete wins at an inaugural NCAA meet:

1921 – UW Athlete Wins First NCAA Track Meet

On this date UW-Madison athlete Lloyd Wilder became the school’s first champion in the first NCAA track and field meet, held at the University of Chicago. Wilder cleared 12 feet in the pole vault to finish in a four-way tie for first. Tom Jones, who served as track coach at Wisconsin from 1913-48, initiated the first NCAA meet and was inducted into the National Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1977. [Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

Good morning, Whitewater.

Friday will be warm with a likelihood of thunderstorms, and a high of eighty-nine. Sunrise is 5:32 and sunset 8:29, for 14h 57m 32s of daytime. The moon is a taxi g crescent with 2.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1975, an American Apollo and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock together in orbit:

1832 – Fort Koshkonong Construction Completed
On this date General Henry Atkinson wrote General Winfield Scott that he had finished constructing Fort Koshkonong. The fort, constructed of oak logs, was abandoned when the army pursued and defeated Black Hawk at the Battle of Bad Axe in August of 1832. The logs from the fort were then used in the construction of houses in the community now known as Fort Atkinson. By 1840, little of the original fort remained. [Source: History Just Ahead: A Guide to Wisconsin’s Historical Markers edited by Sarah Davis McBride, p. 107]

A Google a Day asks a question about science and business:

What company patented the invention of James Dewar, thus denying him the credit?