Good morning, Whitewater.

Sunday brings a mostly sunny day with a high of eighty-two. We’ll have south winds at around five mph.

Well, of respondents to the FW poll on World Cup viewership, a majority said they’d take a pass (58.62% not watching, with 41.38% watching).

For those who are watching, or as a way to tempt a few more to watch, it’s the United States against Portugal today at 5 PM CT on ESPN. Here’s a brief game preview from two British analysts:

On this day in 1944, Pres. Roosevelt signs the G.I. Bill:

…President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the G.I. Bill, an unprecedented act of legislation designed to compensate returning members of the armed services–known as G.I.s–for their efforts in World War II.

As the last of its sweeping New Deal reforms, Roosevelt’s administration created the G.I. Bill–officially the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944–hoping to avoid a relapse into the Great Depression after the war ended. FDR particularly wanted to prevent a repeat of the Bonus March of 1932, when 20,000 unemployed veterans and their families flocked in protest to Washington. The American Legion, a veteran’s organization, successfully fought for many of the provisions included in the bill, which gave returning servicemen access to unemployment compensation, low-interest home and business loans, and–most importantly–funding for education.

By giving veterans money for tuition, living expenses, books, supplies and equipment, the G.I. Bill effectively transformed higher education in America. Before the war, college had been an option for only 10-15 percent of young Americans, and university campuses had become known as a haven for the most privileged classes. By 1947, in contrast, vets made up half of the nation’s college enrollment; three years later, nearly 500,000 Americans graduated from college, compared with 160,000 in 1939.

One may be a critic of most government spending, without being a critic of all; it seems wholly right that those who fought to defend this country (and the free, civilized peoples allied with us) were deserving of educational and other benefits at the war’s (blessedly victorious) end.

On this day in 1943, Joe McCarthy shows himself, not for the last time, to be a bum:

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.

Good morning, Whitewater.

A new season begins. Sunrise is 5:16 AM and sunset 8:37 PM. The moon is a waning crescent with twenty-nine percent of its visible disk illuminated.

We’ll have a high of seventy-nine today and a one-third chance of afternoon thunderstorms.

Humanity played a role in the unfortunate extinction of the passenger pigeon, but Safya Khan-Ruf writes that perhaps we were not wholly responsible for their demise:

Once the most numerous bird species in North America, passenger pigeons went from numbering in the billions to being extinct in less than a century. Their decline has been mostly blamed on intensive hunting. But new research suggests that the human impact coincided with a natural decrease in population size, resulting in Martha, the last passenger pigeon, dying in 1914.

Robert Zink, from the University of Minnesota, describes the story of a billion passenger pigeons passing one spot during a migratory passage. He estimates that it meant “nearly 400,000 birds per minute, stretching across the sky.” Flocks could block the sunlight for hours as they moved in mind-boggling numbers. On the ground, the passenger pigeons ate acorns, beechnuts, and chestnuts but also soft fruits.

Regan Early, lecturer in conservation biology at the University of Exeter, said, “They were a keystone species that had incredible effects on the landscape. They came, dropped bird poo everywhere, and devoured the fruit crops in the forests. Their excrement was toxic to plants, and when a flock roosted on trees, they could break all the branches through the sheer numbers perching.”

On this day in 1788, New Hampshire ratifies the U.S. Constitution, and being the ninth state to do so, assures that a sufficient number of ratifications to bring the Constitution into effect.

On this day in 1949, southern Wisconsin gets her first drive-in theater:

1949 – Southern Wisconsin’s First Drive-in Movie
On this date Southern Wisconsin’s first outdoor, drive-in movie, the Hi-Way 26 Outdoor Theatre, opened on Milton Avenue in Janesville. The screen was 33- by 46-foot. [Source: Janesville Gazette]

Good morning, Whitewater.

Morning rain, but otherwise a mostly sunny Friday awaits, with a high of eighty-three.

On this day in 1782, Congress adopted the design for the Great Seal of the United States.

On June 13, 1782, the Congress turned to its Secretary Charles Thomson, and provided all material submitted by the first three committees.^[10] Thomson was 53 years old, and had been a Latin master at a Philadelphia academy.^[27] Thomson took elements from all three previous committees, coming up with a new design which provided the basis for the final seal.^[10]

Thomson used the eagle – this time specifying an American bald eagle – as the sole supporter on the shield. The shield had thirteen stripes, this time in achevron pattern, and the eagle’s claws held an olive branch and a bundle of thirteen arrows. For the crest, he used Hopkinson’s constellation of thirteen stars. The motto was E Pluribus Unum, taken from the first committee, and was on a scroll held in the eagle’s beak.^[10][27]

An eagle holding symbols of war and peace has a long history, and also echoed the second committee’s themes. Franklin owned a 1702 emblem book, which included an eagle with olive branch and arrows near its talons, which may have been a source for Thomson.^[18] The arrows also mirror those in the arms of the Dutch Republic, the only country in Europe with a representative government at the time, which depicted a lion holding seven arrows representing their seven provinces.^[17][18] State currency may have provided further inspiration; a 1775 South Carolina bill showed a bundle of 13 arrows and a 1775 Maryland note depicted a hand with an olive branch of 13 leaves.^[28]

Thomson’s drawing, the basis for the final seal

For the reverse, Thomson essentially kept Barton’s design, but re-added the triangle around the Eye of Providence and changed the mottos to Annuit Cœptisand Novus Ordo Seclorum.^[27] Thomson sent his designs back to Barton, who made some final alterations. The stripes on the shield were changed again, this time to “palewise” (vertical), and the eagle’s wing position was changed to “displayed” (wingtips up) instead of “rising”. Barton also wrote a more properly heraldic blazon.^[10]

The design was submitted to Congress on June 20, 1782 and was accepted the same day. Thomson included a page of explanatory notes, but no drawing was submitted. This remains the official definition of the Great Seal today.^[10]

Puzzability‘s Game Boxes series concludes with Friday’s game:

This Week’s Game — June 16-20

Game Boxes

Playing around will work well for you this week. For each day, we’ll give a three-by-three letter grid in which we’ve hidden the name of a tabletop game. Each has 10 or more letters and any number of words. To find the game, start at any letter and move from letter to letter by traveling to any adjacent letter—across, up and down, or diagonally. You may come back to a letter you’ve used previously, but may not stay in the same spot twice in a row. You will not always need all nine letters in the grid.

Example:

Answer:

Connect Four

What to Submit:

Submit the game’s name (as “Connect Four” in the example) for your answer.

Friday, June 20

Good morning, Whitewater.

Thursday will open with morning thunderstorms, and then develop into a partly cloudy day with a high of seventy-eight.

It’s Lou Gehrig’s birthday:

Henry Louis “Lou” or “Buster“^[1] Gehrig (June 19, 1903 – June 2, 1941) was an American baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig was renowned for his prowess as a hitter and for his durability, a trait which earned him his nickname “The Iron Horse“. He finished with a career batting average of .340, an on-base percentage of .447, and aslugging percentage of .632, and he tallied 493 home runs and 1,995 runs batted in (RBIs). A seven-time All-Star^[2] and six-time World Series champion, Gehrig won the Triple Crown in 1934^[3] and was twice named theAmerican League‘s (AL) Most Valuable Player. Gehrig was the first MLB player to have his uniform number retired, and he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.

A native of New York City and attendee of Columbia University, Gehrig signed with the Yankees in 1923. He set several major league records during his career,^[4] including the most career grand slams (23) (since broken)^[5][6] and most consecutive games played (2,130), a record that stood for 56 years and was long considered unbreakable until surpassed by Cal Ripken, Jr. in 1995.^[7] Gehrig’s streak ended in 1939 after he was stricken with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a disorder now commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease in North America,^[8] which forced him to retire at age 36 and claimed his life two years later. The pathos of his farewell from baseball was capped off by his iconic “Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth” speech at the original Yankee Stadium.

Here’s Thursday’s Game Boxes puzzle from Puzzability:

This Week’s Game — June 16-20

Game Boxes

Playing around will work well for you this week. For each day, we’ll give a three-by-three letter grid in which we’ve hidden the name of a tabletop game. Each has 10 or more letters and any number of words. To find the game, start at any letter and move from letter to letter by traveling to any adjacent letter—across, up and down, or diagonally. You may come back to a letter you’ve used previously, but may not stay in the same spot twice in a row. You will not always need all nine letters in the grid.

Example:

Answer:

Connect Four

What to Submit:

Submit the game’s name (as “Connect Four” in the example) for your answer.

Thursday, June 19