Good morning, Whitewater.

Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of sixty-eight. Sunrise is 5:28 and sunset is 8:14, for 14h 45m 50s of daytime. It’s a new moon today.

On this day in 1863, Gen. Grant begins the Siege of Vicksburg:

On this day, Union General Ulysses S. Grant surrounds Vicksburg, the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River, in one of the most brilliant campaigns of the war.

Beginning in the winter of 1862-63, Grant made several attempts to capture Vicksburg. In March, he marched his army down the west bank of the Mississippi, while Union Admiral David Porter’s flotilla ran past the substantial batteries that protected the city. They met south of the city, and Grant crossed the river and entered Mississippi. He then moved north to approach Vicksburg from its more lightly defended eastern side. In May, he had to split his army to deal with a threat from Joseph Johnston’s Rebels in Jackson, the state capital that lay 40 miles east of Vicksburg. After defeating Johnston’s forces, Grant moved toward Vicksburg.

On May 16, Grant fought the Confederates under John C. Pemberton at Champion Hill and defeated them decisively. He then attacked again at the Big Black River the next day, and Pemberton fled into Vicksburg with Grant following close behind. The trap was now complete and Pemberton was stuck in Vicksburg, although his forces would hold out until July 4.

In the three weeks since Grant crossed the Mississippi in the campaign to capture Vicksburg, his men marched 180 miles and won five battles. They took nearly 100 Confederate artillery pieces and nearly 6,000 prisoners, all with relatively light losses.

On this day in 1964, Milwaukee students protest:

1964 – Milwaukee Students Participate in First School Boycott

On this date, the 10th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, students from Milwaukee schools participated in the first boycott of the city’s public schools, a critical moment in civil rights and desegration movements in Wisconsin. Two months earlier, in March 1964, the NAACP, CORE, and other civil rights organizations formed MUSIC — the Milwaukee United School Integration Committee. Its purpose was to implement mass action to highlight the issue of educational inequality. For two years, sit-ins, picketing, prayer vigils, marches, and boycotts had raised public awareness about segregation but failed to move the school board to action. In December of 1965, Wisconsin civil rights activist and attorney Lloyd Barbee filed a formal desegregation suit in federal court on behalf of 41 black and white children, eventually decided in their favor in 1976. [Source: Rethinking Schools].

Puzzability begins a new week with a set of games, entitled, Phrymetime:

This Week’s Game — May 18-22

Prhymetime

For your viewing pleasure this week, we’re airing a series series every day. Each day’s clues lead to a series of answer words that, in order, rhyme with the title of an Emmy-winning TV series (comedy or drama).

Example:

Pretending to be sick; tartan pattern

Answer:

Breaking Bad (faking; plaid)

What to Submit:

Submit the series title and the rhyming words (as “Breaking Bad (faking; plaid)” in the example) for your answer.

Monday, May 18

In the clothes hamper; group of sheep

Good morning, Whitewater.

Sunday in town will bring an afternoon of thunderstorms and a high of seventy-seven. Sunrise is 5:29 and sunset 8:13, for 14h 43m 53s of daytime. We’ve a new moon.

Friday’s FW poll asked readers if they thought Australian filmmaker Dave Riggs was too close to a shark when he took a picture of a great white. Just under fifty-four percent (53.85%) of respondents said that they thought he was too close, and 46.15% said that being near the shark was worth the shot.

On this day in 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its unanimous decision in Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka. Here are the opening paragraphs of a New York Times story on the decision:

Washington, May 17 — The Supreme Court unanimously outlawed today racial segregation in public schools.

Chief Justice Earl Warren read two opinions that put the stamp of unconstitutionality on school systems in twenty-one states and the District of Columbia where segregation is permissive or mandatory.

The court, taking cognizance of the problems involved in the integration of the school systems concerned, put over until the next term, beginning October, the formulation of decrees to effectuate its 9-to-0 decision.

The opinions set aside the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine laid down by the Supreme Court in 1896.

“In the field of public education,” Chief Justice Warren said, “the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”

He stated the question and supplied the answer as follows:

“We come then to the question presented: Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though physical facilities and other ‘tangible’ factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does.”

On this day in 1673, an expedition begins:

1673 – Jolliet and Marquette Expedition Gets Underway

On this date Louis Jolliet, Father Jacques Marquette, and five French voyageurs departed from the mission of St. Ignace, at the head of Lake Michigan, to reconnoitre the Mississippi River. The party traveled in two canoes throughout the summer of 1673, traveling across Wisconsin, down the Mississippi to the Arkansas River, and back again.

Good morning, Whitewater.

Saturday in town will have a high of seventy-seven and see an even chance of afternoon thunderstorms. Sunrise is 5:30 and sunset 8:12, for 14h 41m 53s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 3.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

It’s the anniversary, from 1929, of the first Academy Awards ceremony:

The official Academy Awards banquet took place in the Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Some 270 people attended, and tickets cost $5 each. After a long dinner, complete with numerous speeches, Douglas Fairbanks, the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which had been formed in 1927, handed out 15 awards in a five-minute ceremony. The awards presentation was somewhat anticlimactic compared to today’s Academy Award ceremonies, as the winners had already been announced in February.

In 1929, movies were just making the transition from silent films to so-called “talkies,” but all the nominated films were without sound. For the only time in Academy history, Best Picture honors were split into two categories: Best Picture – Unique and Artistic Production, and Best Picture – Production. The winner in the first category was F.W. Murnau’s romantic drama Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, starring George O’Brien and Janet Gaynor. William Wellman’s film Wings, set in the World War I-era and starring Clara Bow, Charles “Buddy” Rogers and Richard Arlen, won in the second category. Other winners of the night included the German actor Emil Jannings as Best Actor for two films, The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh; and Gaynor as Best Actress. She had received three of the five nominations in the category, and was honored for all three roles, in Sunrise, Seventh Heaven and Street Angel. The Academy also presented an honorary award to Charles Chaplin; it would be the only honor the great actor and filmmaker would receive from the organization until 1972, when he returned to the United States for the first time in two decades to accept another honorary award.

Starting with the following year’s awards, the Academy began releasing the names of the winners to the press on the night of the awards ceremony to preserve some suspense. That practice ended in 1940, after the Los Angeles Times published the results in its evening edition, which meant they were revealed before the ceremony. The Academy then instituted a system of sealed envelopes, which remains in use today.

On this day, in 1913, Woody Herman is born:

On this date Woody Herman was born in Milwaukee. A child prodigy, Herman sang and tap-danced in local clubs before touring as a singer on the vaudeville circuit. He played in various dance bands throughout the 20s and 30s and by 1944 was leading a band eventually known as the First Herd. In 1946, the band played an acclaimed concert at Carnegie Hall but disbanded at the end of the year. The following year, Herman returned to performing with the Second Herd that included a powerful saxophone section comprised of Herbie Steward, Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, and Serge Chaloff. He died in 1987. [Source: WoodyHerman.com].

Good morning, Whitewater.

Friday in town will be cloudy with a high of seventy-five. Sunrise is 5:31 and sunset 8:11, for 14h 39m 51s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 9.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

So perhaps a fish can be warm-blooded, after all. At least, one species seems to be:

The opah is the first fish species found to be fully warm-blooded, circulating heated blood throughout its body much like mammals and birds, research has revealed.

The fish, found in the waters off the US, Australia and several other countries, generates heat by constantly flapping its fins and has developed an internal “heat exchange” system within its gills to conserve the warmth.

This adaptation means warm blood that leaves the opah’s body core helps heat cold blood returning from the surface of the gills where it absorbs oxygen, maintaining an average body temperature of about 4C to 5C.

This system, likened by scientists to a car radiator, is similar to that used by mammals and birds, which are known as endotherms for their ability to maintain body temperature independent of the environment.

On this day in 1911, Janesville prepares to ban fortune tellers:

1911 – Janesville Prohibits Fortune Tellers
On this date the Janesville City Council proposed ordinances banning fortune tellers and prohibiting breweries from operating bars in the city. For more on Wisconsin brewing history, see the Brewing and Prohibition page at Turning Points in Wisconsin History. [Source: Janesville Gazette].

Here’s the final game in Puzzability‘s Prom Going series:

This Week’s Game — May 11-15

Prom Going

We’re having a senior moment this week. For each day, we started with a word or phrase, removed the four letters in PROM, and rearranged the remaining letters to get a new word or phrase. Both pieces are described in each day’s clue, with the longer one first.

Example:

Julie Kavner’s cartoon alter ego; quality of the taste of venison

Answer:

Marge Simpson; gaminess

What to Submit:

Submit both pieces, with the longer one first (as “Marge Simpson; gaminess” in the example), for your answer.

Friday, May 15

Entire body of ambassadors and the like in a nation; computer storage device read with a laser

Good morning, Whitewater.

Thursday will bring cloudy skies, a slight chance of rain, and a high of sixty-five to Whitewater. Sunrise is 5:32 and sunset 8:10, for 14h 37m 46s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 17.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

Quick update: I’ll have a restaurant-themed post today (the Thursday calendar slot for FW food & restaurant posts), and will move a reply to the WEDC’s Reed Hall to Friday, so that one post does not step on the other, so to speak. I’ll address Hall’s arguments (delivered in two separate statements) on 5.15.15. Hall deserves his own ignominious day.

On this day in 1974, America launches her first space station:

Skylab was a space station launched and operated by NASA and was the United States‘ first space station. Skylab orbited the Earth from 1973 to 1979, and included a workshop, a solar observatory, and other systems. It was launched unmanned by a modified Saturn V rocket, with a weight of 169,950 pounds (77 t).^[1] Three manned missions to the station, conducted between 1973 and 1974 using the Apollo Command/Service Module (CSM) atop the smaller Saturn IB, each delivered a three-astronaut crew. On the last two manned missions, an additional Apollo / Saturn IB stood by ready to rescue the crew in orbit if it was needed.

The station was damaged during launch when the micrometeoroid shield separated from the workshop and tore away, taking one of two main solar panel arrays with it and jamming the other one so that it could not deploy. This deprived Skylab of most of its electrical power, and also removed protection from intense solar heating, threatening to make it unusable. The first crew was able to save it in the first in-space major repair, by deploying a replacement heat shade and freeing the jammed solar panels.

Skylab included the Apollo Telescope Mount, which was a multi-spectral solar observatory, Multiple Docking Adapter (with two docking ports), Airlock Module with EVA hatches, and the Orbital Workshop, the main habitable volume. Electrical power came from solar arrays, as well as fuel cells in the docked Apollo CSM. The rear of the station included a large waste tank, propellant tanks for maneuvering jets, and a heat radiator.

Numerous scientific experiments were conducted aboard Skylab during its operational life, and crews were able to confirm the existence of coronal holes in the Sun. The Earth Resources Experiment Package (EREP) was used to view the Earth with sensors that recorded data in the visible, infrared, and microwave spectral regions. Thousands of photographs of Earth were taken, and records for human time spent in orbit were extended. Plans were made to refurbish and reuse Skylab, using the Space Shuttle to boost its orbit and repair it. However, development of the Shuttle was delayed, and Skylab reentered Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrated in 1979, with debris striking portions of Western Australia. Post-Skylab NASA space laboratory projects included Spacelab, Shuttle-Mir, and Space Station Freedom (later merged into the International Space Station).

On this day in 1953, Wisconsin experiences an extended beer strike:

1953 – Milwaukee Brewery Workers Go On Strike
Milwaukee brewery workers begin a 10-week strike, demanding contracts comparable to those of East and West coast workers. The strike was won when Blatz Brewery accepted their demands, but Blatz was ousted from the Brewers Association for “unethical” business methods as a result. The following year Schlitz president Erwin C. Uihlein told guests at Schlitz’ annual Christmas party that “Irreparable harm was done to the Milwaukee brewery industry during the 76-day strike of 1953, and unemployed brewery workers must endure ‘continued suffering’ before the prestige of Milwaukee beer is re-established on the world market.”

Here’s Puzzability’s Thursday game in their Prom Going series:

This Week’s Game — May 11-15

Prom Going

We’re having a senior moment this week. For each day, we started with a word or phrase, removed the four letters in PROM, and rearranged the remaining letters to get a new word or phrase. Both pieces are described in each day’s clue, with the longer one first.

Example:

Julie Kavner’s cartoon alter ego; quality of the taste of venison

Answer:

Marge Simpson; gaminess

What to Submit:

Submit both pieces, with the longer one first (as “Marge Simpson; gaminess” in the example), for your answer.

Thursday, May 14

Turn water into wine and raise someone from the dead, for example; decades of work for movie actors