Good morning, Whitewater.

Sunday in town will be partly cloudy with a high of seventy-two. Sunrise is 6:10 and sunset 7:44, for 13h 33m 32s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 57.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

The Friday FW poll asked readers what they thought of a koala chasing a farmer’s ATV: was it a singular incident, or a harbinger of a koala war? A bit over sixty-three percent of respondents said that the incident was likely a harbinger of a koala war.

A commenter speculated that if koalas can’t swim, they’ll not be able to invade continents beyond Australia. Unfortunately for humanity, one reads that koalas can swim (but have difficulty climbing the sides of pools, for example, once they’re in). We’ll need a better defense than a water barrier, especially if these fanatical marsupials develop a fondness for swimming or floating on the open ocean.

On this day in 1784, for a brief time, North America is home to a would-be country called Franklin:

…four counties in western North Carolina declare their independence as the state of Franklin. The counties lay in what would eventually become Tennessee.

The previous April, the state of North Carolina had ceded its western land claims between the Allegheny Mountains and the Mississippi River to the United States Congress. The settlers in this area, known as the Cumberland River Valley, had formed their own independent government from 1772 to 1777 and were concerned that Congress would sell the territory to Spain or France as a means of paying off some of the government’s war debt. As a result, North Carolina retracted its cession and began to organize an administration for the territory.

Simultaneously, representatives from Washington, Sullivan, Spencer (modern-day Hawkins) and Greene counties declared their independence from North Carolina. The following May, the counties petitioned for statehood as “Frankland” to the United States Congress. A simple majority of states favored acceptance of the petition, but it fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass, even after the counties’ changed their proposed name to “Franklin” in an attempt to curry Benjamin Franklin’s and others’ favor.

In defiance of Congress, Franklin survived as an independent nation for four years with its own constitution, Indian treaties and legislated system of barter in lieu of currency, though after only two years, North Carolina set up its own parallel government in the region. Finally, Franklin’s weak economy forced its governor, John Sevier, to approach the Spanish for aid. North Carolina, terrified of having a Spanish client state on its border, arrested Sevier. When Cherokee, Chickamauga and Chickasaw began to attack settlements within Franklin’s borders in 1788, it quickly rejoined North Carolina to gain its militia’s protection from attack.

Good morning, Whitewater.

Saturday in town will be sunny with a high of eighty-two.  Sunrise is 6:09 and sunset 7:45, for 13h 36m 13s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 47.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

What does sound look like?  It looks like this —

On his arrival at Hartford the President was welcomed by a committee of representative citizens, and then taken for a drive around the city, occupying, with Col. Jacob L. Greene, a handsome victoria automobile, in charge of two expert New York chauffeurs. He was enthusiastically cheered all along the route.

The President expressed his satisfaction at the substitution of drives, for conventional handshaking. this method of entertainment seems to have given the people the opportunity desired of seeing him.

Good morning, Whitewater.

Friday will be partly cloudy and warm, with a high of eighty-three. Sunrise is 6:08 and sunset 7:47, for 13h 38m 54s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 37.!% of its visible disk illuminated.

William James “Count” Basie (August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984)^[1] was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. His mother taught him to play the piano and he started performing in his teens. Dropping out of school, he learned to operate lights for vaudeville and to improvise accompaniment for silent films at a local movie theater in his home town of Red Bank, New Jersey. By 16 he increasingly played jazz piano at parties, resorts and other venues. In 1924 he went to Harlem, where his performing career expanded; he toured with groups to the major jazz cities of Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City. In 1929 he joined Bennie Moten‘s band in Kansas City, and played with them until Moten’s death in 1935.

That year Basie formed his own jazz orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and their first recording. He led the group for almost 50 years, creating innovations like the use of two “split” tenor saxophones, emphasizing the rhythm section, riffing with a big band, using arrangers to broaden their sound, and others. Many musicians came to prominence under his direction, including the tenor saxophonists Lester Young and Herschel Evans, the guitarist Freddie Green, trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry “Sweets” Edison and singers Jimmy Rushingand Joe Williams. Basie’s theme songs were “One O’Clock Jump“, developed in 1935 in the early days of his band, and later “April in Paris“.

Here’s the final game in this week’s Puzzability series:

This Week’s Game — August 17-21

Kings and Queens

We’re melding royal pairs this week. For each day, we started with the first name of a famous person whose last name is King, and also a word that can be followed by “queen” to get a familiar phrase or title. Each day’s clue shows the King name and the queen word melded together in a string of letters, with each in order but intermingled with the other.

Example:

VAILRAGNIN

Answer:

Alan/virgin

What to Submit:

Submit the King name and the queen word, in that order (as “Alan/virgin” in the example), for your answer.

Friday, August 21

BECAAUROTLYE

Good morning, Whitewater.

Thursday in the Whippet City will be cloudy with a high of sixty-seven.  Sunrise is 6:07 and sunset is 6:48, for  13h 41m 34s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with  27.8% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Police & Fire Commission meets this evening at  6:30 PM.

On this day in 1911, in a communications first, a telegram travels round the world:

…a dispatcher in the New York Times office sends the first telegram around the world via commercial service.

The Times decided to send its 1911 telegram in order to determine how fast a commercial message could be sent around the world by telegraph cable. The message, reading simply “This message sent around the world,” left the dispatch room on the 17th floor of the Times building in New York at 7 p.m. on August 20. After it traveled more than 28,000 miles, being relayed by 16 different operators, through San Francisco, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Saigon, Singapore, Bombay, Malta, Lisbon and the Azores–among other locations–the reply was received by the same operator 16.5 minutes later. It was the fastest time achieved by a commercial cablegram since the opening of the Pacific cable in 1900 by the Commercial Cable Company.

On this day in 1794, Americans under the command of Anthony Wayne win a victory that reduces British influence in the frontier:

1794 – Battle of Fallen Timbers

On this date American troops under General “Mad” Anthony Wayne defeated a confederation of Indian forces led by Little Turtle of the Miamis and Blue Jacket of the Shawnees. Wayne’s soldiers, who included future Western explorer William Clark and future President William Henry Harrison, won the battle in less than an hour with the loss of some 30 men killed. (The number of Indian casualties is uncertain.) The battle had several far-reaching consequences for the United States and what would later become the state of Wisconsin. The crushing defeat of the British-allied Indians convinced the British to finally evacuate their posts in the American west (an accession explicitly given in the Jay Treaty signed some three months later), eliminating forever the English presence in the early American northwest and clearing the way for American expansion. The battle also resulted in the 1795 Treaty of Greenville, in which the defeated Indians ceded to Wayne the right of Americans to settle in the Ohio Valley (although the northwestern area of that country was given to the Indians). Wayne’s victory opened the gates of widespread settlement of the Old Northwest, Wisconsin included. [Source: American History Illustrated, Feb. 1969]

Here’s Thursday’s game from Puzzability:

This Week’s Game — August 17-21

Kings and Queens

We’re melding royal pairs this week. For each day, we started with the first name of a famous person whose last name is King, and also a word that can be followed by “queen” to get a familiar phrase or title. Each day’s clue shows the King name and the queen word melded together in a string of letters, with each in order but intermingled with the other.

Example:

VAILRAGNIN

Answer:

Alan/virgin

What to Submit:

Submit the King name and the queen word, in that order (as “Alan/virgin” in the example), for your answer.

Thursday, August 20

RDORDANEMAY

Good morning, Whitewater.

We’ll have a Wednesday of partly cloudy skies and mild temperatures, with a high of seventy-one. Sunrise is 6:06 and sunset 7:50, for 13h 44m 13s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 19.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

If one is made of strong stuff, success is more likely.  On this day in 1812, U.S.S. Constitution defeats and forces the surrender of the British frigate Guerriere:

At 2:00 p.m. on 19 August, the Constitution sighted a large ship to leeward, and bore down to investigate. The weather was cloudy, and the wind was brisk. The strange ship proved to be the Guerriere, whose crew recognised Constitution at about the same moment. Both ships prepared for action, and shortened sail to “fighting sail”, i.e. topsails and jibs only. As the Constitution closed, Dacres first hove to to fire a broadside, which fell short, and then ran before the wind for three quarters of an hour with the Constitution on her quarter. Dacres yawed several times to fire broadsides at the Constitution, but the Guerriere’s broadsides were generally inaccurate, while the few shots fired from Constitution’s foremost guns had little effect.^[10] After one cannonball bounced “harmlessly” off the side of the Constitution, a crew member is said to have yelled “Huzzah! Her sides are made of iron!”^[8]

Once the range had closed to within a few hundred yards, Captain Hull ordered extra sail (the foresail and main topgallant sail) to be set, to close the distance quickly. Dacres did not match this manoeuvre, and the two ships began exchanging broadsides at “half pistol-shot”,^[11] with the Constitution to starboard and Guerriere to port. After fifteen minutes of this exchange, during which Guerriere suffered far more damage than the Constitution due to the latter’s larger guns and thicker hull, Guerriere’s mizzenmast fell overboard to starboard, acting like a rudder and dragging her around. This allowed Constitution to cross ahead of Guerriere, firing a raking broadside which brought down the main yard. Hull then wore ship to cross Guerriere’s bow again, firing another raking broadside, but the manoeuvre was cut too close and the Guerriere’s bowsprit became entangled in the rigging of the Constitution’s mizzenmast….

As Constitution prepared to renew the action, the Guerriere fired a shot in the opposite direction to the Constitution.^[14] Sensing that this was an attempt to signal surrender, Hull ordered a boat to take a Lieutenant over to the British ship. When the Lieutenant boarded the Guerriere and asked if Guerriere was prepared to surrender, Captain Dacres responded “Well, Sir, I don’t know. Our mizzen mast is gone, our fore and main masts are gone – I think on the whole you might say we have struck our flag.”^[2]

Here’s the midweek game in Puzzability‘s Kings and Queens series:

This Week’s Game — August 17-21

Kings and Queens

We’re melding royal pairs this week. For each day, we started with the first name of a famous person whose last name is King, and also a word that can be followed by “queen” to get a familiar phrase or title. Each day’s clue shows the King name and the queen word melded together in a string of letters, with each in order but intermingled with the other.

Example:

VAILRAGNIN

Answer:

Alan/virgin

What to Submit:

Submit the King name and the queen word, in that order (as “Alan/virgin” in the example), for your answer.

Wednesday, August 19

HOBIMLECLIEJOMEIANNG