Good morning, Whitewater.

Monday in town will be stormy with a high of eighty-six. Sunrise is 5:16 and sunset 8:37, for 15h 20m 19s. The moon is a waxing crescent with 30.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

Friday’s FW poll asked whether readers thought a customer’s pictures of a Kentucky Fried Chicken meal looked more like fried chicken or a fried rat. A majority of respondents (78.57%) chose fried chicken as their answer.

On this day in 1940, France surrenders to Nazi Germany, by signing an armistice with her aggressor. It’s impossible to imagine circumstances under which any armistice or arrangement with the Third Reich could be other than tragic for civilized peoples:

Discouraged by his cabinet’s hostile reaction to a British proposal to unite France and Britain to avoid defeat, and believing that his ministers no longer supported him, Prime Minister Paul Reynaud resigned on 16 June. He was succeeded by Marshal Philippe Pétain, who delivered a radio address to the French people announcing his intention to ask for an armistice with Germany. When Hitler received word from the French government that they wished to negotiate an armistice, he selected the Forest of Compiègne as the site for the negotiations.^[239]

Compiègne had been the site of the 1918 Armistice, which ended the First World War with a humiliating defeat for Germany; Hitler viewed the choice of location as a supreme moment of revenge for Germany over France.^[240] The armistice was signed on 22 June 1940 in the very same railway carriage in which the 1918 Armistice was signed (it was removed from a museum building and placed on the precise spot where it was located in 1918), Hitler sat in the same chair in which Marshal Ferdinand Foch had sat when he faced the defeated German representatives.^[241] After listening to the reading of the preamble, Hitler left the carriage in a calculated gesture of disdain for the French delegates, and negotiations were turned over to Wilhelm Keitel, the Chief of Staff of the OKW. The armistice and cease-fire went into effect at 01:35 on 25 June.^[242]

On this day in 1943, Joe McCarthy lies about an accident:

1943 – McCarthy Breaks Leg in Drunken Accident
On this date future senator Joseph McCarthy broke his leg during a drunken Marine Corps initiation ceremony, despite a press release and other claims that he was hurt in “military action.” Although nicknamed “Tail Gunner Joe”, McCarthy never was a tail gunner, but instead served at a desk as an intelligence officer. In 1951 he applied for medals, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded to those who had flown at least 25 combat missions. The Marine Corps has records of only 11 combat flights McCarthy flew on, and those were described as local “milk run” flights. Many of McCarthy’s claims were disputed by political opponents as well as journalists.

Puzzability begins a new series, entitled Colorful Characters:

This Week’s Game — June 22-26

Colorful Characters

Would you like to join our rainbow coalition? For each day this week, we started with the name of a color and formed a new word that’s a type of person that has “consonantcy” with the color—a word with all the same consonants, in the same order, but a different set of vowels, which can appear anywhere in the word. (The letter Y is not used in any words here.) The resulting two-word phrase, with the color first, is described in each day’s clue.

Example:

Dark red leatherneck

Answer:

Maroon marine

What to Submit:

Submit the two-word phrase (as “Maroon marine” in the example) for your answer.

Monday, June 22

Purple person who parks your Pontiac

Good morning, Whitewater.

Summer begins today in Whitewater at 11:39 AM.  This first day of summer in town will bring a mix of sunshine and clouds with a high of eighty-four.  Sunrise is 5:16 and sunset 8:36, for 15h 20m 23s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 23.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1788, a necessary ninth state ratified the Constitution:

New Hampshire becomes the ninth and last necessary state to ratify the Constitution of the United States, thereby making the document the law of the land….

Congress endorsed a plan to draft a new constitution, and on May 25, 1787, the Constitutional Convention convened at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. On September 17, 1787, after three months of debate moderated by convention president George Washington, the new U.S. constitution, which created a strong federal government with an intricate system of checks and balances, was signed by 38 of the 41 delegates present at the conclusion of the convention. As dictated by Article VII, the document would not become binding until it was ratified by nine of the 13 states.

Beginning on December 7, five states–Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut–ratified it in quick succession. However, other states, especially Massachusetts, opposed the document, as it failed to reserve undelegated powers to the states and lacked constitutional protection of basic political rights, such as freedom of speech, religion, and the press. In February 1788, a compromise was reached under which Massachusetts and other states would agree to ratify the document with the assurance that amendments would be immediately proposed. The Constitution was thus narrowly ratified in Massachusetts, followed by Maryland and South Carolina. On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the document, and it was subsequently agreed that government under the U.S. Constitution would begin on March 4, 1789. In June, Virginia ratified the Constitution, followed by New York in July.

On this day in 1856, Milwaukee exports to Europe:

On this date the first vessel to leave Milwaukee for a European port departed. Loaded with 14,320 bushels of wheat from H. & J.F. Hill, the Dean Richmond left Milwaukee for Liverpool. She reached her destination on September 29, 1856. [Source: History of Milwaukee, Vol. II, pg. 10]

Good morning, Whitewater.

Saturday in town will be partly cloudy, with a probability of evening thunderstorms, and a high of eighty three.  Sunrise is 5:16 and sunset 8:36, for 15h 20m 25s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 15.6% of its visible disk illuminated.

Jaws is a 1975 American thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley‘s 1974 novel of the same name. The prototypical summer blockbuster, its release is regarded as a watershed moment in motion picture history. In the story, a giant man-eating great white shark attacks beachgoers on Amity Island, a fictional New England summer resort town, prompting the local police chief to hunt it with the help of a marine biologist and a professional shark hunter. The film stars Roy Scheider as police chief Martin Brody, Richard Dreyfuss as oceanographer Matt Hooper, Robert Shaw as shark hunter Quint, Murray Hamilton as the mayor of Amity Island, and Lorraine Gary as Brody’s wife, Ellen. The screenplay is credited to both Benchley, who wrote the first drafts, and actor-writer Carl Gottlieb, who rewrote the script during principal photography.

Shot mostly on location on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, the film had a troubled production, going over budget and past schedule. As the art department’s mechanical sharks suffered many malfunctions, Spielberg decided to mostly suggest the animal’s presence, employing an ominous, minimalistic theme created by composer John Williams to indicate the shark’s impending appearances. Spielberg and others have compared this suggestive approach to that of classic thriller director Alfred Hitchcock. Universal Pictures gave the film what was then an exceptionallywide release for a major studio picture, over 450 screens, accompanied by an extensive marketing campaign with a heavy emphasis on television spots and tie-in merchandise.

Generally well received by critics, Jaws became the highest-grossing film in history at the time, a distinction it held until the release of Star Wars. It won several awards for its soundtrack and editing. Along with Star Wars, Jaws was pivotal in establishing the modern Hollywood business model, which revolves around high box-office returns from action and adventure pictures with simple “high-concept” premises that are released during the summer in thousands of theaters and supported by heavy advertising. It was followed by three sequels, none with the participation of Spielberg or Benchley, and many imitative thrillers. In 2001, Jaws was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, being deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

On this day in 1816, soldiers arrive near what was then the frontier:

On this date troops arrived at Fort Crawford. After the War of 1812, the United States Congress approved a plan to erect a chain of forts along the Fox-Wisconsin-Mississippi waterway. In 1816 Fort Crawford was erected on a mound behind the main village of Prairie du Chien. It was a four-sided enclosure made of squared logs, set horizontally. At the two opposing corners stood a blockhouse. Soldiers’ quarters formed the walls of the fort, faced the parade ground, and accommodated five companies. By the middle of the year, the 8th Infantry had established three posts on the east bank of the Mississippi: Fort Edwards, Fort Armstrong and Fort Crawford, the latter named for the Secretary of War. [Source: The History of Wisconsin, Volume 1, SHSW 1973, page 97]

Good morning, Whitewater.

The end of the work week will be sunny with a high of seventy-five. Sunrise is 5:16 and sunset 8:36, for 15h 20m 21s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 9.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1944, the Battle of the Philippine Sea begins:

The Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 19–20, 1944) was a decisive naval battle of World War II which eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy’s ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States’ amphibious invasion of the Mariana Islands during the Pacific War. The battle was the last of five major “carrier-versus-carrier” engagements between American and Japanese naval forces, and involved elements of the United States Navy‘s Fifth Fleet as well as ships and land-based aircraft from the Imperial Japanese Navy‘s Mobile Fleet and nearby island garrisons.

The aerial theatre of the battle was nicknamed the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot by American aviators for the severely disproportional loss ratio inflicted upon Japanese aircraft by American pilots and anti-aircraft gunners.^[2] During a debriefing after the first two air battles a pilot from USS Lexington remarked “Why, hell, it was just like an old-time turkey shoot down home!”^[3] The outcome is generally attributed to American improvements in pilot and crew training and tactics, war technology (including the top-secret anti-aircraft proximity fuze), and ship and aircraft design.^{[N 1][N 2]} Although at the time the battle appeared to be a missed opportunity to destroy the Japanese fleet, the Imperial Japanese Navy had lost the bulk of its carrier air strength and would never recover.^[1] During the course of the battle, American submarines torpedoed and sank two of the largest Japanese fleet carriers taking part in the battle.^{[4]:331–333}

This was the largest carrier-to-carrier battle in history.

Today in Juneteenth:

By 1865, there were an estimated 250,000 slaves in Texas.^[7] As news of end of the war moved slowly, it did not reach Texas until May 1865, and the Army of the Trans-Mississippi did not surrender until June 2.^[7] On June 18, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger arrived at Galveston Island with 2,000 federal troops to occupy Texas on behalf of the federal government.^[6] On June 19, standing on the balcony of Galveston’s Ashton Villa, Granger read aloud the contents of “General Order No. 3”, announcing the total emancipation of slaves:

The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.^[8]

Former slaves in Galveston rejoiced in the streets after the announcement, although in the years afterward many struggled to work through the changes against resistance of whites. But, the following year, freedmen organized the first of what became annual celebrations of Juneteenth in Texas.^[8] Barred in some cities from using public parks because of state-sponsored segregation of facilities, across parts of Texas, freed people pooled their funds to purchase land to hold their celebrations, such as Houston‘s Emancipation Park, Mexia‘s Booker T. Washington Park, and Emancipation Park in Austin.^[7][8]

For more about the holiday, see The Hidden History Of Juneteenth.

Here’s the final puzzle in this week’s Puzzability series, Make Room for Dad:

This Week’s Game — June 15-19

Make Room for Dad

We’re mixing it up with pop this Father’s Day. For each day this week, we started with a word or phrase, added the three letters in DAD, and rearranged all the letters to get a new phrase. Both pieces are described in each day’s clue, with the shorter one first.

Example:

Overweight; heroically turned the tide from bad to good

Answer:

Heavyset; saved the day

What to Submit:

Submit both pieces, with the shorter one first (as “Heavyset; saved the day” in the example), for your answer.

Friday, June 19

Close up shop; Scottish pirate executed in 1701

 

Good morning, Whitewater.

Thursday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of seventy-eight. Sunrise is 5:15 and sunset 8:36, for 15h 20m 15s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 3.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1948, Columbia Records unveils two versions of an LP:

CBS Laboratories head research scientist Peter Goldmark led Columbia’s team to develop a phonograph record that would hold at least 20 minutes per side.^[7] The team included Howard H. Scott, who died September 22, 2012, at the age of 93.^[8]

Research began in 1941, was suspended during World War II, and then resumed in 1945.^[9] Columbia Records unveiled the LP at a press conference in the Waldorf Astoria on June 18, 1948, in two formats: 10 inches (25 centimetres) in diameter, matching that of 78 rpm singles, and 12 inches (30 centimetres) in diameter.^[10] The initial release of 132 were: 85 twelve-inch classical LP’s, 26 ten-inch classics, 18 ten-inch popular numbers and 4 ten-inch juvenile records. According to the 1949 Columbia catalog, issued for August 1948, the first twelve-inch LP was ML 4001 Nathan Milstein performing the Mendelssohn violin concerto. Three ten-inch series were released: ‘popular’, starting with CL 6001, a Frank Sinatra album, and ‘classical’, numbering from Beethoven’s 8th symphony ML 2001, and ‘juvenile’, commencing with JL 8001 (nursery songs). Also released at this time were a pair of 2-LP sets, La Bohème, SL-1 and Hansel & Gretel, SL-2.^[11]

….When the LP was introduced in 1948, the 78 was the conventional format for phonograph records. By 1952, 78s still accounted for slightly more than half of the units sold in the United States, and just under half of the dollar sales. The 45, oriented toward the single song, accounted for just over 30% of unit sales and just over 25% of dollar sales. The LP represented not quite 17% of unit sales and just over 26% of dollar sales.^[12]

Ten years after their introduction, the share of unit sales for LPs in the US was almost 25%, and of dollar sales 58%. Most of the remainder was taken up by the 45; 78s accounted for only 2% of unit sales and 1% of dollar sales.^[6] For this reason, major labels in the United States ceased manufacturing of 78s for popular and classical releases in 1956 with the minor labels following suit, with the final US-made 78 being produced in 1959.

Canada and the UK continued production into 1960 and India, the Philippines and South Africa continued to produce 78s up until 1965, with the last holdout, Argentina continuing the practice until 1970.

The LP’s popularity ushered in the Album Era of English-language popular music beginning in the 1960s as performers took advantage of the longer playing time to create coherent themes or concept albums. Although the popularity of LPs fell in the late 1970s with the advent of firstcassettes and later compact discs, the album survived as a popular format well into the 2000s.

Vinyl LP records have enjoyed an increased resurgence amongst a younger generation in the early 2010s.^[13] Vinyl sales in the UK reached 2.8 million in 2012.^[14]

Here’s Puzzablity‘s game for Thursday:

This Week’s Game — June 15-19

Make Room for Dad

We’re mixing it up with pop this Father’s Day. For each day this week, we started with a word or phrase, added the three letters in DAD, and rearranged all the letters to get a new phrase. Both pieces are described in each day’s clue, with the shorter one first.

Example:

Overweight; heroically turned the tide from bad to good

Answer:

Heavyset; saved the day

What to Submit:

Submit both pieces, with the shorter one first (as “Heavyset; saved the day” in the example), for your answer.

Thursday, June 18

2012 or 2016, in the United States; rash that comes up days after poison ivy contact, for example