Good morning, Whitewater.

Friday will be sunny and cold, with a high of three degrees. Sunrise is 7:24 AM and sunset 4:39 PM, for 9h 15m 22s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 83.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s schools are on a two-hour delayed start today.

On this day in 1493, Columbus makes a mistake of identification:

…Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, sailing near the Dominican Republic, sees three “mermaids”–in reality manatees–and describes them as “not half as beautiful as they are painted.” Six months earlier, Columbus (1451-1506) set off from Spain across the Atlantic Ocean with the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, hoping to find a western trade route to Asia. Instead, his voyage, the first of four he would make, led him to the Americas, or “New World”….

On this day in 1863, the Wisconsin 23rd saw intense action for the next three-days:

1863 – (Civil War) Battle of Arkansas Post begins
The Battle of Arkansas Post, also called Fort Hindman, began on this day near the mouth of the Arkansas River. The 23rd Wisconsin Infantry was in the thick of the action all three days.

Google-a-Day asks a question about cartoon characters:

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.

We’ll have a high in town of about fifteen this Thursday, with between one to three inches of snow. Sunrise is 7:24 AM and sunset 4:38 PM, for 9h 14m 01s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 90.3% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1918, Pres. Wilson issues his Fourteen Points for peace. Many are, even these generations later, still forward-thinking:

1. Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, after which there shall be no private international understandings of any kind but diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and in the public view.

2. Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial waters, alike in peace and in war, except as the seas may be closed in whole or in part by international action for the enforcement of international covenants.

3. The removal, of all economic barriers and the establishment of equality of trade conditions among all the nations consenting to the peace and associating themselves for its maintenance.

4. Adequate guarantees given and taken that national armaments will be reduced to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety.

5. Free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the government whose title is to be determined.

6. The evacuation of all Russian territory and such a settlement of all questions affecting Russia as will secure the best and freest cooperation of the other nations of the world in obtaining for her an unhampered and unembarrassed opportunity for the independent determination of her own political development and national policy and assure her of a sincere welcome into the society of free nations under institutions of her own choosing; and, more than a welcome, assistance also of every kind that she may need and may herself desire. The treatment accorded Russia by her sister nations in the months to come will be the acid test of their good will, of their comprehension of her needs as distinguished from their own interests, and of their intelligent and unselfish sympathy.

7. Belgium, the whole world will agree, must be evacuated and restored, without any attempt to limit the sovereignty which she enjoys in common with all other free nations. No other single act will serve as this will serve to restore confidence among the nations in the laws which they have themselves set and determined for the government of their relations with one another. Without this healing act the whole structure and validity of international law is forever impaired.

8. All French territory should be freed and the invaded portions restored, and the wrong done to France by Prussia in 1871 in the matter of Alsace-Lorraine, which has unsettled the peace of the world for nearly fifty years, should be righted, in order that peace may once more be made secure in the interest of all.

9. A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should be effected along clearly recognizable lines of nationality.

10. The people of Austria-Hungary, whose place among the nations we wish to see safeguarded and assured, should be accorded the freest opportunity to autonomous development.

11. Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro should be evacuated; occupied territories restored; Serbia accorded free and secure access to the sea; and the relations of the several Balkan states to one another determined by friendly counsel along historically established lines of allegiance and nationality; and international guarantees of the political and economic independence and territorial integrity of the several Balkan states should be entered into.

12. The Turkish portion of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, but the other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development, and the Dardanelles should be permanently opened as a free passage to the ships and commerce of all nations under international guarantees.

13. An independent Polish state should be erected which should include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which should be assured a free and secure access to the sea, and whose political and economic independence and territorial integrity should be guaranteed by international covenant.

14. A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.

On this day in 1910, men strike to get thirty cents an hour for working in Janesville:

1910 – Vagrant Snow Shovelers Strike for Pay
On this date 228 vagrants were brought in to shovel snow at the Chicago & Northwestern rail yard in Janesville. Shortly thereafter, they went on strike for 25 cents an hour and better food. Two days later, they went on strike again, asking for 30 cents an hour. [Source: Janesville Gazette]

Google-a-Day asks a question about film and theater:

At the time he was offered the role of Albert in “War Horse”, what part did the actor say he was playing onstage?

Good morning, Whitewater.

It’s a chilly day today, with a high expected to be no more than three below zero. For it all, we’ll have sunny skies. Sunrise is 7:25 AM and sunset 4:37 PM, for 9h 12m 45s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 94.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater Schools are closed today. Stay warm, play responsibly.

There’s a trailer online for Marvel’s upcoming feature-length film, Ant-Man. Wow, it looks promising, and from the trailer one gets the impression that the film has a sense of humor about itself.

See what you think:

Ant-Man is scheduled for release on July 17, 2015.

On this day in 1953, Pres. Truman makes an announcement:

President Harry S. Truman tells the world that that the United States has developed a hydrogen bomb.

It was just three years earlier on January 31, 1950, that Truman publicly announced that had directed the Atomic Energy Commission to proceed with the development of the hydrogen bomb. Truman’s directive came in responds to evidence of an atomic explosion occurring within USSR in 1949.

On this day in 1901, Fighting Bob becomes governor:

1901 – Robert Marion La Follette Inaugurated as Governor
On this date Robert M. La Follette was inaugurated as governor after winning the November 6, 1900 election. La Follette was born in Dane County in 1855. A Wisconsin Law School graduate and three-term member of congress, La Follette was renowned for his oratorical style. He was the first Wisconsin-born individual to serve as governor.

Google-a-Day asks a question about literature:

What was the only bestselling novel by the author who gave Hemingway his letter of introduction to Gertrude Stein?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of nine degrees. Sunrise is 7:25 AM and sunset 4:36 PM. The moon is a waning gibbous with 98.3% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1838, Samuel Morse demonstrates his telegraph:

Samuel Morse’s telegraph system is demonstrated for the first time at the Speedwell Iron Works in Morristown, New Jersey. The telegraph, a device which used electric impulses to transmit encoded messages over a wire, would eventually revolutionize long-distance communication, reaching the height of its popularity in the 1920s and 1930s.

Samuel Finley Breese Morse was born April 27, 1791, in Charlestown, Massachusetts. He attended Yale University, where he was interested in art, as well as electricity, still in its infancy at the time. After college, Morse became a painter. In 1832, while sailing home from Europe, he heard about the newly discovered electromagnet and came up with an idea for an electric telegraph. He had no idea that other inventors were already at work on the concept.

Morse spent the next several years developing a prototype and took on two partners, Leonard Gale and Alfred Vail, to help him. In 1838, he demonstrated his invention using Morse code, in which dots and dashes represented letters and numbers. In 1843, Morse finally convinced a skeptical Congress to fund the construction of the first telegraph line in the United States, from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore. In May 1844, Morse sent the first official telegram over the line, with the message: “What hath God wrought!”

Over the next few years, private companies, using Morse’s patent, set up telegraph lines around the Northeast. In 1851, the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company was founded; it would later change its name to Western Union. In 1861, Western Union finished the first transcontinental line across the United States. Five years later, the first successful permanent line across the Atlantic Ocean was constructed and by the end of the century telegraph systems were in place in Africa, Asia and Australia.

Because telegraph companies typically charged by the word, telegrams became known for their succinct prose–whether they contained happy or sad news. The word “stop,” which was free, was used in place of a period, for which there was a charge. In 1933, Western Union introduced singing telegrams. During World War II, Americans came to dread the sight of Western Union couriers because the military used telegrams to inform families about soldiers’ deaths.

Over the course of the 20th century, telegraph messages were largely replaced by cheap long-distance phone service, faxes and email. Western Union delivered its final telegram in January 2006.

Samuel Morse died wealthy and famous in New York City on April 2, 1872, at age 80.

On this day in 1921, Janesville women fight the salacious:

1921 – Janesville Women Abhor Salacious Entertainment
On this date the Janesville Federation of Women decided to “censor” movies and vaudeville in the city. Members of this organization praised and promoted what they considered “better offerings.” They were zealously critical towards those of a “salacious” nature. No follow-up ever determined whether the women were successful in their quest or if the increased publicity for “salacious” shows backfired. [Source: Janesville Gazette]

Google-a-Day asks about a drama:

What is the name of the play in which Tom’s older sister withdraws into a fantasy life she has created amid her collection of glass animal figurines?

Good morning, Whitewater.

It will be cold today, with cloudy skies and a high of ten degrees. Sunrise is 7:25 AM and sunset 4:35 PM, for 9h 10m 25s of daytime. We’ve a full moon today.

On this day in 1914, Henry Ford announces a new business model. The New York Times promptly reports on it, with some astonishment over the plan:

Detroit, Mich., Jan. 5. — Henry Ford, head of the Ford Motor Company, announced today one of the most remarkable business moves of his entire remarkable career. In brief it is:

To give to the employees of the company $10,000,000 of the profits of the 1914 business, the payments to be made semi-monthly and added to the pay checks.

To run the factory continuously instead of only eighteen hours a day, giving employment to several thousand more men by employing three shifts of eight hours each, instead of only two nine-hour shifts, as at present.

To establish a minimum wage scale of $5 per day. Even the boy who sweeps up the floors will get that much.

Before any man in any department of the company who does not seem to be doing good work shall be discharged, an opportunity will be given to him to try to make good in every other department. No man shall be discharged except for proved unfaithfulness or irremediable inefficiency.

The Ford Company’s financial statement of Sept. 20, 1912, showed assets of $20,815,785.63, and surplus of $14,745,095.57. One year later it showed assets of $35,033,919.86 and surplus of $28,124,173.68. Dividends paid out during the year, it is understood, aggregated $10,000,000. The indicated profits for the year, therefore, were about $37,597,312. The company’s capital stock authorized and outstanding, is $2,000,000. There is no bond issue.

About 10 per cent of the employees, boys and women, will not be affected by the profit sharing, but all will have the benefit of the $5 minimum wage. Those among them who are supporting families, however, will have a share similar to the men of more than 22 years of age.

On this day in 1855, Fond du Lac produces a razor baron:

1855 – King Camp Gillette Born
On this date King Camp Gillette was born in Fond du Lac. He worked for many years as a traveling salesman. After much experimentation, he developed a disposable steel blade and razor. He established the Gillette Safety Razor Company in 1901. Sales for his product skyrocketed. Gillette remained president of his company until 1931 and was a director until his death the following year. [Source: Lemelson-MIT Program]

Google-a-Day asks a question about literature:

How many more books is Milton’s 1667 epic masterpiece than the connected work that was published in 1671?

Good morning, Whitewater.

We’ll have about an inch of additional snowfall during the day today, with cloudy skies giving way to sunny ones, and a high of thirty-three falling into the single digits by the late afternoon. Sunrise is 7:25 AM and sunset 4:34 PM, for 9h 09m 20s of daytime.

In Friday’s FW poll, asking whether UFO sightings in the ’50s and ’60s were more likely the result of CIA experiments or extraterrestrial beings, a majority of respondents picked extraterrestrial beings.

So someone challenges Gaston to a push-up contest at Disney World. No doubt, Gaston‘s a swine in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, but the man playing him here acquits himself (in the spirit of the character) very well:

On this day in 1785, Jacob Grimm is born:

Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863) was a German philologist, jurist and mythologist. He is known as the discoverer of Grimm’s Law (linguistics), the author (with his brother Wilhelm) of the monumental Deutsches Wörterbuch, the author of Deutsche Mythologie and, more popularly, as one of the Brothers Grimm, as the editor of Grimm’s Fairy Tales.

On this day in 1923, Milton College bans dancing:

1923 – Student Dancing Banned
On this date Milton College president A.E. Whitford bannned dancing by students in off-campus, semi-public places such as confectionery stores. [Source: Janesville Gazette]

The college closed in 1982.