Good morning, Whitewater.

Midweek in Whitewater brings a high of thirty-one, with clouds in the morning giving way to sunshine this afternoon. Sunrise is 7:15 AM and sunset is 4:20 PM, for 9h 05m 38s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 84.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Community Development Authority Seed Capital Committee meets at 4 PM today, and the CDA Board at 5 PM.

On this day in 1967, Otis Redding and members of his band die in a Madison plane crash:

A plane crash in Madison, Wisconsin, kills soul singer Otis Redding and members of the Bar-Kays band on this day in 1967. The plane crashed into Lake Monona, several miles from the Madison airport.

One survivor, Ben Cauley of the Bar-Kays, later reported that he had been asleep until just before the crash. He saw his friend in the band, Phalon Jones, look out the window of the small plane and exclaim “Oh no!” and, before he knew it, he was in a frigid lake holding onto a seat cushion. The following day, the lake was dragged and the bodies of the victims were recovered. A storm in Madison that day was a factor in the crash but the exact cause was never determined.

Redding was not the only well-known singer to die in a plane crash. In 1959, Buddy Holly, along with the lesser known J.P. “Big Bopper” Richardson and Ritchie Valens, were killed in a crash that is thought to have inspired Don McLean’s well-known song “American Pie.” Country singer Patsy Cline died in a 1963 crash. Ten years later, Jim Croce perished in one in Louisiana. Key members of the band Lynyrd Skynyrd died in an accident 1977. Singer John Denver was killed piloting his own plane in 1997.

Four months after his death at the age of 26, Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ on the) Dock of the Bay,” the last song he ever recorded, reached the top spot on the pop music charts. It was his first No. 1 hit.

Google-a-Day asks a question about geography:

Of the Maya ruins on Mexico’s Caribbean coast, which is the most remote and best known for its series of huge stucco masks?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of thirty-four. Sunrise is 7:14 AM and sunset 4:20 PM for 9h 06m 27s. The moon is a waning gibbous with 91% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Parks & Rec Board is scheduled to meet at 5:30 PM this afternoon.

On this day in 2000, a 5-4 vote in Bush v. Gore halts vote counting, and likely dooms Vice President Al Gore’s election hopes:

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 — In a sudden and devastating blow to Vice President Al Gore’s presidential hopes, the United States Supreme Court voted 5 to 4 today to stop the vote counting that had begun hours earlier in Florida. The court set Monday morning for arguments on Gov. George W. Bush’s appeal of the Florida Supreme Court ruling that ordered manual recounts across the state of ballots that initially showed no vote for president.

With the clock ticking inexorably toward a Dec. 12 deadline for certifying electors, the Supreme Court’s order, issued shortly before 3 p.m., could have the effect of erasing the Democrat’s chances that the Florida Supreme Court had so dramatically revived barely 24 hours earlier with its 4-to-3 ruling.

Even if by some chance the United States Supreme Court eventually rules in the vice president’s favor, the ruling could come too late. While not conceding ultimate defeat, David Boies, Mr. Gore’s chief lawyer, said today that “if we had world enough and time,” a short-term stay would make little difference, but that there was now a “very serious issue” as to whether the vote counting could be finished in time even if the court’s eventual ruling allowed it to resume.

On this day in 1844, Milwaukee gets a daily:

1844 – Milwaukee’s First Daily Newspaper Published
On this date Milwaukee’s first daily newspaper, The Daily Sentinel, was published. David M. Keeler served and manager and C.L. MacArthur was the editor. [Source: History of Milwaukee, Vol. II, p.49]

Google-a-Day asks about football:

What NFL player (Redskins and Vikings) held onto his record as the all-time interception leader until he retired?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Icy road conditions have led to a two-hour delay for Whitewater’s schools. We’ll have a high of thirty-five today, with snow showers (but accumulation of less than one inch). Sunrise is 7:13 AM and sunset 4:20 PM. The moon is waning gibbous with 95.8% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Planning Commission meets tonight at 6:30 PM. (Update: this meeting has been canceled.)

The Earth’s not flat, but what would life on the planet be like if it were flat? That is, as a thought-experiment, what would it be like if we did live on a giant disk rather than a sphere (assuming a giant disk would retain that shape under gravity’s pressure)?

Vsauce has the answer:

On this day in 1941, Pres. Roosevelt asks Congress for a declaration of war against Japan:

Google-a-Day asks a question about British history:

What was the title of the father of the first child born to the sister of the British monarch who ascended the throne in February 1952?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Sunday in town will be relatively mild, with a high of thirty-five and partly cloudy skies. Sunrise is 7:12 AM and sunset 4:20 PM, for 9h 08m 14s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 98.8% of its visible disk illuminated.

Friday’s FW poll asked if readers would go for peanut butter & jelly Pop Tarts. Fifty-two percent of respondents said that they would, with forty-eight percent saying no. A commenter suggested that grape jelly might be better than peanut butter & strawberry jelly. That seems right to me, too. As it turns out, Kellogg offers over a dozen kinds of Pop Tart, including some limited edition varieties, in response to market pressures.

Seventy-three years ago today, Japan attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor (and British targets simultaneously), plunging America into the Pacific war, and less than four years later leading to the destruction of the Japanese Empire.

A Wisconsinite aboard the Arizona survives the Pearl Harbor attack:

1941 – Wisconsin Man Survives Pearl Harbor Attack

On this date Russ Warriner, a 25-year-old first class seaman on the USS Arizona, miraculously survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The explosions ripped apart the Arizona and killed nearly all his mates.

At the time of the attack, Warriner was on the sky control platform, where his job was to spot enemy ships and planes. The bomb that struck the Arizona sliced through the steel deck and exploded into a fuel tank. Fire flared for seven seconds before it ignited 1.7 million pounds of explosives held in the ship’s magazine. More than 1,000 sailors died instantly, including many on the lookout platform with Warriner.

Warriner lost his balance and fell onto the platform. His hands swept through fiery magnesium remaining from incendiary bombs and were nearly burned off. He was knocked off the ship, pulled aboard a small motor boat, and eventually made his way to shore. Warriner was treated at Great Lakes Naval Base in Illinois, where plastic surgeons were able to repair his hands.

Warriner settled in Wisconsin, married and raised two children. In the late 90s, Warriner was a retired piano tuner living in Beloit Township. [Source: Janesville Gazette]

Good morning, Whitewater.

Saturday in the Whippet City will be mostly sunny with a high of thirty-six. Sunrise today is 7:11 AM and sunset 4:20 PM, for 9h 09m 14s of daytime. We’ve a full moon today.

On this day in 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment is ratified by the states, having been passed by Congress about six months earlier on January 31st, and submitted to the sates on February 1st in a joint Congressional resolution that Pres. Lincoln signed.

How about “a sleek, solid metal, American-made mechanical pencil that will last you a lifetime”? The proposal has a Kickstarter page where you can learn more about the project. Creator Andrew Sanderson has already reached his funding goal, so this venture has a promising future. (The pencil also nicely fits in a Field Notes notebook’s spiral binding, a proof of thoughtful, useful design.)