Good morning, Whitewater.

We’ll have rain today, in the =morning, and then a cloudy day with a high in the low fifties. Sunrise is 5;32 AM and sunset 8:11 PM. The moon is in a waning gibbous phase with ninety-nine percent of the its visible disk illuminated.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center created a brief animated film about the formation of galaxies. Video and description below:

Galaxies are collections of stars, gas, dust and dark matter held together by gravity. Their appearance and composition are shaped over billions of years by interactions with groups of stars and other galaxies. Using supercomputers, scientists can look back in time and simulate how a galaxy may have formed in the early universe and grown into what we see today. Galaxies are thought to begin as small clouds of stars and dust swirling through space. As other clouds get close, gravity sends these objects careening into one another and knits them into larger spinning packs. Subsequent collisions can sling material toward a galaxy’s outskirts, creating extensive spiral arms filled with colonies of stars. Watch the video to see this process unfold.

On this day in 1756, a world war officially begins after England declares war on France, in a conflict later to claim around a million lives:

The Seven Years’ War was a war that took place between 1754 and 1763 with the main conflict being in the seven-year period 1756–1763. It involved most of the great powers of the time and affected Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines. In the historiography of some countries, the war is alternatively named after combatants in the respective theatres: the French and Indian War as it is known in the United States or the War of the Conquest as it is known in French-speaking Canada, while it is called the Seven Years’ War in English-speaking Canada (North America, 1754–63);Pomeranian War (with Sweden and Prussia, 1757–62); Third Carnatic War (on the Indian subcontinent, 1757–63); and Third Silesian War (with Prussia and Austria, 1756–63).

The war was driven by the antagonism between the great powers of Europe. Great Britain competed with both France and Spain over trade and colonies. Meanwhile rising power Prussia was struggling with Austria for dominance within and outside the Holy Roman Empire. In the wake of the War of the Austrian Succession, the major powers “switched partners;” Prussia established an alliance with Britain while traditional enemies France and Austria formed an alliance of their own. The Anglo-Prussian alliance was joined by smaller German states (especially Hanover) and later Portugal. The Austro-French alliance included Sweden, Saxonyand later Spain. The Russian Empire was originally aligned with Austria, but switched sides upon the succession of Tsar Peter III in 1762 and, like Sweden, concluded a separate peace with Prussia.

The war ended with the Treaty of Paris between France, Spain and Great Britain and the Treaty of Hubertusburg between Saxony, Austria and Prussia, both in 1763. The war was characterized in Europe by sieges and arson of towns as well as open battles involving extremely heavy losses; overall, some 900,000 to 1,400,000 people died.

Puzzability‘s Just Drop It! series continues with Thursday’s game:

This Week’s Game — May 12-16

Just Drop It!

Sometimes, it goes without saying. For each day this week, we started with a word that contains the two-letter chunk IT and deleted it to get a new word. The two-word answer phrase, described by each day’s clue, is the longer IT word followed by the shorter word.

Example:

Einstein from England

Answer:

Britain brain

What to Submit:

Submit the two-word phrase, with the IT word first (as “Britain brain” in the example), for your answer.

Thursday, May 15

Sauce for meat formed by letting the heavy bits sink to the bottom

Good morning, Whitewater.

We’re at mid-week in the Whippet City, with a Wednesday that will reach a high of fifty-nine, under partly cloudy skies.

There is a special session of the Whitewater School Board tonight at 6 PM.

Some people worry about our nation’s future. They can now put their minds at ease. Online retailer Vat19 is offering customers the world’s largest gummy bear: “The World’s Largest Gummy Bear is the lion of the candy world. There is no candy more magnificent or more powerful. This five-pound beast is the equivalent of 1,400 regular sized gummy bears…..”

Oh, yes. That’s the stuff. America’s going to be just fine.

On this day in 1804, Lewis and Clark begin their expedition across North America:

The Corps of Discovery departed from Camp Dubois at 4 p.m. on May 14, 1804, and met up with Lewis in St. Charles, Missouri, a short time later, marking the beginning of the voyage to the Pacific coast. The Corps followed the Missouri River westward. Soon they passed La Charrette, the last Euro-American settlement on the Missouri River.

The expedition followed the Missouri through what is now Kansas City, Missouri, and Omaha, Nebraska. On August 20, 1804, Sergeant Charles Floyd died, apparently from acute appendicitis. He was the only member of the expedition to die, and was among the first to sign up with the Corps of Discovery. He was buried at a bluff by the river, now named after him, in what is now Sioux City, Iowa. His burial site was marked with a cedar post on which was inscribed his name and day of death. A mile up the river the expedition camped at a small river which they named Floyd’s River.^[40][41][42] During the final week of August, Lewis and Clark reached the edge of the Great Plains, a place abounding with elk, deer, bison, and beavers.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition established relations with two dozen Indian nations, without whose help the expedition would have risked starvation during the harsh winters and/or become hopelessly lost in the vast ranges of the Rocky Mountains.^[43]

Here’s Wednesday’s game from Puzzability:

This Week’s Game — May 12-16

Just Drop It!

Sometimes, it goes without saying. For each day this week, we started with a word that contains the two-letter chunk IT and deleted it to get a new word. The two-word answer phrase, described by each day’s clue, is the longer IT word followed by the shorter word.

Example:

Einstein from England

Answer:

Britain brain

What to Submit:

Submit the two-word phrase, with the IT word first (as “Britain brain” in the example), for your answer.

Wednesday, May 14

Penalty for keeping a library book past its due date, but not forever

Good morning.

Tuesday in the Whippet City will bring a high of sixty-one, and a fifty-fifty chance of scattered showers.

The city’s Parks & Recreation Board meets this afternoon at 5:30 PM.

Adam Ellis of BuzzFeed has 15 Charts That Perfectly Illustrate How To Properly Pet Animals (“Learn how to interact with animals and you’ll have more furry friends than you know what to do with.”).

He illustrates (among others) the petting options for dogs and, by contrast, wolverines:

On this day in 1940, Churchill declares his commitment:

…as Winston Churchill takes the helm as Great Britain’s new prime minister, he assures Parliament that his new policy will consist of nothing less than “to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime.”

Emphasizing that Britain’s aim was simply “victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of terror, victory however long and hard the road may be.” That very evening, Churchill was informed that Britain would need 60 fighter squadrons to defend British soil against German attack. It had 39.

Within a couple of weeks, the conservative, anti-Socialist Churchill, in an effort to make his rally cry of victory a reality, proceeded to place all “persons, their services, and their property at the disposal of the Crown,” thereby granting the government the most all-encompassing emergency powers in modern British history….

Churchill’s powers, like Lincoln’s, were exigencies of war. For those they fought, power and control were the oppressive foundation of daily life.

On this day in 1918, a sensational Wisconsin trial begins:

1918 – Lusk Murder Trial Begins in Waukesha
On this day Grace Lusk, a Waukesha high school teacher, began her trial for the murder of Mary Roberts. Prosecutors alleged a tragic love triangle had resulted in the murder after Lusk’s pleas for Roberts to give up her husband were rebuffed. The trial, a national sensation in the early days of mass media, resulted in a guilty verdict on May 29, 1918. Lusk was sentenced to 19 years in prison but served only five before being pardoned by the Governor. After her release she jealously guarded her privacy; the identity of her husband, known only as “Mr. Brown,” was never determined. [Source: Capital Times 5/13/1918, p.1]

Here’s the Tuesday game in Puzzability‘s Just Drop It series:

This Week’s Game — May 12-16

Just Drop It!

Sometimes, it goes without saying. For each day this week, we started with a word that contains the two-letter chunk IT and deleted it to get a new word. The two-word answer phrase, described by each day’s clue, is the longer IT word followed by the shorter word.

Example:

Einstein from England

Answer:

Britain brain

What to Submit:

Submit the two-word phrase, with the IT word first (as “Britain brain” in the example), for your answer.

Tuesday, May 13

Eyeshade worn by a tourist