Good morning.

We’ll have a mostly cloudy but warm day in the Whippet City, with a high of seventy-four.

On this day in 1945, Germany surrenders unconditionally:

…the German High Command, in the person of General Alfred Jodl, signs the unconditional surrender of all German forces, East and West, at Reims, in northwestern France.

At first, General Jodl hoped to limit the terms of German surrender to only those forces still fighting the Western Allies. But General Dwight Eisenhower demanded complete surrender of all German forces, those fighting in the East as well as in the West. If this demand was not met, Eisenhower was prepared to seal off the Western front, preventing Germans from fleeing to the West in order to surrender, thereby leaving them in the hands of the enveloping Soviet forces. Jodl radioed Grand Admiral Karl Donitz, Hitler’s successor, with the terms. Donitz ordered him to sign. So with Russian General Ivan Susloparov and French General Francois Sevez signing as witnesses, and General Walter Bedell Smith, Ike’s chief of staff, signing for the Allied Expeditionary Force, Germany was-at least on paper-defeated. Fighting would still go on in the East for almost another day. But the war in the West was over.

Since General Susloparov did not have explicit permission from Soviet Premier Stalin to sign the surrender papers, even as a witness, he was quickly hustled back East-into the hands of the Soviet secret police, never to be heard from again. Alfred Jodl, who was wounded in the assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944, would be found guilty of war crimes (which included the shooting of hostages) at Nuremberg and hanged on October 16, 1946-then granted a pardon, posthumously, in 1953, after a German appeals court found Jodl not guilty of breaking international law.

On 5.7.1932, a discovery in Janesville:

1932 – Illegal Distillery Discovered in Janesville
On this date Rupert E. Fessenden, Rock County’s chief deputy, discovered the largest ever illegal liquor distillery in southern Wisconsin. The distillery was found on the old Frances Willard estate south of the Wisconsin School for the Blind. Ironically, Willard was one of the founders of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. [Source: Janesville Gazette].

Imagine if Rock County had not found that illegal operation: Janesville might have lost its GM plant, been saddled with lying officials, and beset with scheming businessmen telling tall tales to advance dubious development schemes. Thank goodness those things didn’t happen…

Here’s Puzzability‘s midweek game:

This Week’s Game — May 5-9

Cine-Ma

It’s a Mom-and-Popcorn operation this Mother’s Day week. For each day, we started with the title of a movie and replaced all the letters with asterisks, except for letters that spell out the word MOTHER. (Those letters may appear elsewhere in the title as well.)

Example:

***M**  O*  T**  HE*R*

Answer:

Crimes of the Heart

What to Submit:

Submit the movie title (as “Crimes of the Heart” in the example) for your answer.

Wednesday, May 7

MO*T*  ***H**  ***  **E  ****   *R***

Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of sixty-two.

The Alcohol Licensing Committee meets at 6:10 PM, followed by Common Council at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1937, the German airship Hindenburg explodes in New Jersey.

It’s Orson Welles’s birthday:

1915 – Actor and Filmmaker Orson Welles Born
On this date George Orson Welles was born in Kenosha. The name George was soon dropped. The family moved to Chicago in 1919, and two years later, Welles’ parents separated. After his mother’s death in 1924, he travelled the world with his father, only to lose him in 1928.

Welles turned down the chance at college in 1931, choosing instead to go on a sketching trip to Ireland. In 1934, Welles made his New York debut, playing Tybalt in Katherine Cornell’s staging of Romeo and Juliet. In the mid 1930s, he established himself as a radio actor on The March of Time and The Shadow, among other shows. He began working with John Houseman and together they formed the Mercury Theatre in 1937. Their program, The Mercury Theatre on Air, became famous for the notorious events surrounding their version of The War of the Worlds in 1938, in which they provoked mass panic among listeners. A renowned actor, writer, producer, and director, Welles is known best for his roles in such films as Citizen Kane (1941),Jane Eyre (1944), MacBeth (1948), Moby Dick (1956), A Man for all Seasons(1966), and Catch 22 (1970).

Welles was awarded an Honorary Oscar in 1971 and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute in 1975. Despite his lack of commercial success, the Directors Guild of America awarded him their highest award, the D.W. Griffith Award, in 1984. Welles was briefly married to Hollywood actress Rita Hayworth from 1943 to 1948, with whom he had one daughter. Orson Welles died on October 9, 1985. [Source: Wisconsin Film Office].

Here’s Tuesday’s Cine-Ma game from Puzzability:

This Week’s Game — May 5-9

Cine-Ma

It’s a Mom-and-Popcorn operation this Mother’s Day week. For each day, we started with the title of a movie and replaced all the letters with asterisks, except for letters that spell out the word MOTHER. (Those letters may appear elsewhere in the title as well.)

Example:

***M**  O*  T**  HE*R*

Answer:

Crimes of the Heart

What to Submit:

Submit the movie title (as “Crimes of the Heart” in the example) for your answer.

Tuesday, May 6

**M**  O*  TH*  *E*R

Good morning.

Whitewater will see a mostly cloudy Monday, with a high of fifty-seven.

On this day in 1961, Alan Shepard Jr. became the first American in space. Here’s how the New York Times reported that event:

Cape Canaveral, Fla. — A slim, cool Navy test pilot was rocketed 115 miles into space today.

Thirty-seven-year-old Comdr. Alan B. Shepard Jr. thus became the first American space explorer.

Commander Shepard landed safely 302 miles out at sea fifteen minutes after the launching. He was quickly lifted aboard a Marine Corps helicopter.

“Boy, what a ride!” he said, as he was flown to the aircraft carrier Lake Champlain four miles away.

Extensive physical examinations were begun immediately.

Tonight doctors reported Commander Shepard in “excellent” condition, suffering no ill effects.

The near-perfect flight represented the United States’ first major step in the race to explore space with manned space craft.

True, it was only a modest leap compared with the once-around-the-earth orbital flight of Maj. Yuri A. Gagarin of the Soviet Union.

The Russian’s speed of more than 17,000 miles an hour was almost four times Commander Shepard’s 4,500. The distance the Russian traveled was almost 100 times as great.

But Commander Shepard maneuvered his craft in space–something the Russians have not claimed for Major Gagarin.

Puzzability begins a new series, entitled Cine-Ma, this week.  Here’s Monday’s game:

This Week’s Game — May 5-9

Cine-Ma

It’s a Mom-and-Popcorn operation this Mother’s Day week. For each day, we started with the title of a movie and replaced all the letters with asterisks, except for letters that spell out the word MOTHER. (Those letters may appear elsewhere in the title as well.)

Example:

***M**  O*  T**  HE*R*

Answer:

Crimes of the Heart

What to Submit:

Submit the movie title (as “Crimes of the Heart” in the example) for your answer.

Monday, May 5

*’M  *OT  *HER*

Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be partly sunny, with a high of fifty-seven.

The Friday FW poll asked if we were Slaves to Our Devices? Responses were almost evenly split between yes and no, with 52.63% of respondents believing that we’re free, but 46.37% believing that our smartphones ands tablets have enslaved us.

It’s getting warmer, but perhaps a video of skiing will make you miss winter.

Perhaps, just a bit?

On this day in 1864, Wisconsinites participate as the Union’s Wilderness Campaign begins:

1864 – (Civil War) Wilderness Campaign Opens in Virginia
Union forces crossed the Rapidan River in Virginia and prepared to fight at the Wilderness the next day. The resulting series of battles between May 5 and June 12, 1864, is called the Wilderness Campaign, or Grant’s Overland Campaign. The 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 19th, 36th and 38th  Wisconsin Infantry regiments and the 4th Wisconsin Light Artillery participated in this series of bloody battles. The initial Battle of the Wilderness on May 5-7, 1864, produced nearly 30,000 casualties without giving either side a clear victory.