Good morning and Happy Thanksgiving.

We will have a mostly cloudy day with a high of twenty-eight. Sunrise is 7:03 AM and sunset 4:23 PM. The moon is a waning crescent with twenty-two percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On 11.28.1520, Magellan reaches the Pacific:

After sailing through the dangerous straits below South America that now bear his name, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan enters the Pacific Ocean with three ships, becoming the first European explorer to reach the Pacific from the Atlantic.

On September 20, 1519, Magellan set sail from Spain in an effort to find a western sea route to the rich Spice Islands of Indonesia. In command of five ships and 270 men, Magellan sailed to West Africa and then to Brazil, where he searched the South American coast for a strait that would take him to the Pacific. He searched the Rio de la Plata, a large estuary south of Brazil, for a way through; failing, he continued south along the coast of Patagonia. At the end of March 1520, the expedition set up winter quarters at Port St. Julian. On Easter day at midnight, the Spanish captains mutinied against their Portuguese captain, but Magellan crushed the revolt, executing one of the captains and leaving another ashore when his ship left St. Julian in August.

On October 21, he finally discovered the strait he had been seeking. The Strait of Magellan, as it became known, is located near the tip of South America, separating Tierra del Fuego and the continental mainland. Only three ships entered the passage; one had been wrecked and another deserted. It took 38 days to navigate the treacherous strait, and when ocean was sighted at the other end Magellan wept with joy. His fleet accomplished the westward crossing of the ocean in 99 days, crossing waters so strangely calm that the ocean was named “Pacific,” from the Latin word pacificus, meaning “tranquil.” By the end, the men were out of food and chewed the leather parts of their gear to keep themselves alive. On March 6, 1521, the expedition landed at the island of Guam….

For the Badgers, an undefeated season on 11.28.1901:

1901 – UW Football Undefeated
On this date the University of Wisconsin defeated the University of Chicago, 35-0, to finish its first undefeated football season in school history with a 9-0 record. [Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

Here’s Puzzability‘s daily puzzle:

This Week’s Game — November 25-29

With Thanks

It’s all about the stuffing this week. For each day, we started with a word or phrase, added the six letters in the word THANKS, and rearranged all the letters to get a new word or phrase. Both pieces are described in each day’s clue, with the shorter one first.

Example:

Rosary component; what you might go to hell in

Answer:

Bead; handbasket

What to Submit:

Submit both pieces, with the shorter one first (as “Bead; handbasket” in the example), for your answer.

Thursday, November 28

Noted Roman orator; Boston Market staple

Good morning.

Wednesday will be mostly sunny with a high of twenty-four, but wind chill values between zero and five degrees.

Downtown Whitewater’s board meets today at 8 AM.

On this day in 1965, a request for an increase:

The Pentagon informs President Johnson that if General Westmoreland is to conduct the major sweep operations necessary to destroy enemy forces during the coming year, U.S. troop strength should be increased from 120,000 to 400,000 men.

On this day in 1882, a first performance:

1882 – Ringling Brothers’ First Performance
On this date the Ringling brothers of Baraboo, Wisconsin performed their first show to an audience in Mazomanie. The brothers called their show the “Ringling Brothers Classic Comic Concert Company.” The show was barely a success, bringing in 59 paid admissions – just enough money to meet their hotel expenses. However, the brothers continued to tour and raised over $300 in three months, performing in Wisconsin, Iowa, and the Dakotas. After extensive investment and practice, the brothers launched their first circus in Baraboo on May 19, 1884. [Source: Badger Saints and Sinners by Fred L. Holmes, p.476-492]

Puzzability‘s Thanksgiving series continues:

This Week’s Game — November 25-29

With Thanks

It’s all about the stuffing this week. For each day, we started with a word or phrase, added the six letters in the word THANKS, and rearranged all the letters to get a new word or phrase. Both pieces are described in each day’s clue, with the shorter one first.

Example:

Rosary component; what you might go to hell in

Answer:

Bead; handbasket

What to Submit:

Submit both pieces, with the shorter one first (as “Bead; handbasket” in the example), for your answer.

Wednesday, November 27

Alter, as a photo; star of Two and a Half Men since 2011

Good morning.

For Tuesday, Whitewater will have scattered snow showers in the afternoon, with a high of thirty-one falling to twenty-four by late afternoon.

About yesterday’s snow, I’d say we were under one inch (the National Weather Service station for Milwaukee/Sullivan official record is .7 inches for their location. Admittedly, we might have had more than that, but I think still we were under an inch.)

Whitewater’s Urban Forestry Commission meets at 4:30 PM today.

On this day in 1931, a cloverleaf makes the cover:

The first cloverleaf interchange to be built in the United States, at the junction of NJ Rt. 25 (now U.S. Rt. 1) and NJ Rt. 4 (now NJ Rt. 35) in Woodbridge, New Jersey, is featured on the cover of this week’s issue of the Engineering News-Record. (By contrast, a piece on the under-construction Hoover Dam was relegated to the journal’s back pages.)

With their four circular ramps, cloverleaf interchanges were designed to let motorists merge from one road to another without braking. They worked well enough—and became so ubiquitous as a result—that writer Lewis Mumford once declared that “our national flower is the concrete cloverleaf.” But many of the older cloverleaves were not built to handle the volume and speed of traffic they now receive, and many have been demolished and rebuilt.

There’s a documentary video that includes information on this cloverleaf:

This Week’s Game — November 25-29

With Thanks

It’s all about the stuffing this week. For each day, we started with a word or phrase, added the six letters in the word THANKS, and rearranged all the letters to get a new word or phrase. Both pieces are described in each day’s clue, with the shorter one first.

Example:

Rosary component; what you might go to hell in

Answer:

Bead; handbasket

What to Submit:

Submit both pieces, with the shorter one first (as “Bead; handbasket” in the example), for your answer.

Tuesday, November 26

Place associated with balm in the Bible; David Byrne’s group

Good morning.

We will have a wintry mix of precipitation for Monday, with snow combining with freezing rain, to end by the afternoon. Snow accumulation may be under an inch.

Of snow, most respondents to the FW Friday Poll: Whitewater’s first accumulated snowfall in the 2013-14 season? picked December 16-31 (at 54.76%), with December 1-15 second at 26.19%, November 22-30 at 9.52%, January 1-15 at 7.14%, and January 16-31 at 2.38%.

Whenever it snows, there will be snowflakes, and if snowflakes, then why not photographs of them? For that task, one might turn to How to Photograph Snowflakes – with a Really Cheap Camera:

• Go out onto your porch one night during a light snowfall, and let a flake fall onto a piece of glass. Be patient and discerning.

• Light the snowflake with a flashlight from below the glass, and make sure everything remains steady.

• Get up close—about a centimeter—and stand still and snap photos, letting autofocus take over.

• Combine and average the best photos you take, and add color to bring everything out.

Consider as inducement an example of photographer Alexey Kljatov’s work:

On this day in 1783, the British leave:

…nearly three months after the Treaty of Paris was signed ending the American Revolution, the last British soldiers withdraw from New York City, the last British military position in the United States. After the last Redcoat departed New York, U.S. General George Washington entered the city in triumph to the cheers of New Yorkers. The city had remained in British hands since its capture in September 1776.

Four months after New York was returned to the victorious Patriots, the city was declared to be the capital of the United States. In 1789, it was the site of Washington’s inauguration as the first U.S. president and remained the nation’s capital until 1790, when Philadelphia became the second capital of the United States under the U.S. Constitution….

Puzzability begins a new series this week:

This Week’s Game — November 25-29

With Thanks

It’s all about the stuffing this week. For each day, we started with a word or phrase, added the six letters in the word THANKS, and rearranged all the letters to get a new word or phrase. Both pieces are described in each day’s clue, with the shorter one first.

Example:

Rosary component; what you might go to hell in

Answer:

Bead; handbasket

What to Submit:

Submit both pieces, with the shorter one first (as “Bead; handbasket” in the example), for your answer.

Monday, November 25

Party that had four U.S. presidents, including Taylor and Tyler; Edward Hopper diner painting

Good morning.

Sunday will be mostly sunny with a high of twenty-four.

One often hears about a bird’s eye view. What would that be like? Something like this, perhaps —

On 11.24.1824, a beer magnate is born:

1824 – Frederick Miller Born
On this date brewing barron Frederick Miller was born in Riedlingen, Wurttemberg, Germany. In 1854, he migrated to the U.S. and to Milwaukee. In 1855 he purchased the Plank Road Brewery. He operated this business until 1888 when it was incorporated as the Frederick Miller Brewing Company, with Miller as president. Miller died on June 11, 1888. [Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin History]