Good morning.

Whitewater’s week begins with a partly sunny Monday and a high of seventy-seven. There’s a twenty percent chance of isolated showers in the later afternoon.

The Planning Commission meets tonight at 6 PM.

On this day in 1898, an armistice ends the Spanish-American war:

The brief and one-sided Spanish-American War comes to an end when Spain formally agrees to a peace protocol on U.S. terms: the cession of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Manila in the Philippines to the United States pending a final peace treaty.

On this day in 1939, the Wizard of Oz has its world premiere in Wisconsin:

1939 – Wizard of Oz World Premier — in Oconomowoc
According to the fan site, thewizardofoz.info, “The first publicized showing of the final, edited film was at the Strand Theatre in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin on August 12, 1939. No one is sure exactly why a small town in the Midwest received that honor.” It showed the next day in Sheboygan, Appleton and Rhinelander, according to local newspapers. “The official premiere was at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on August 15, attended by most of the cast and crew and a number of Hollywood celebrities.” [Source: thewizardofoz.info

Puzzability starts a new weekly puzzle series, Tourist Traps:

Tourist Traps
We’re crossing a lot of bridges on our summer vacation. For each day this week, fill in the two-word name of a U.S. tourist destination so that a familiar phrase or compound word is formed by the first word in the clue followed by the first word in the tourist site, and likewise a phrase or word is formed by the second word in the tourist site’s name followed by the second word in the clue.

Example:
GRIND ___ ___ GOAT

Answer:
Stone Mountain

Here’s today’s puzzle:

Monday, August 12

BETTY ___ ___ ARREST

Good morning.

Sunday presents a one-third chance of thunderstorms during the day, but a ninety percent chance for tonight. The high temperature for today will be seventy-four.

Some creatures just won’t share the road, as an enduro rider recently learned:

On this day in 1929, Babe Ruth becomes the first major-league player to hit 500 home runs.

But on August 11, 1919, an even more significant sports moment:

1919 – Green Bay Packers Founded
On this date the Green Bay Packers professional football team was founded during a meeting in the editorial rooms of Green Bay Press-Gazette. On this evening, a score or more of young athletes, called together by Curly Lambeau and George Calhoun, gathered in the editorial room on Cherry Street and organized a football team. [Source: Packers.com]

Good morning.

Saturday will be mostly sunny with a high of seventy-six. Sunrise was 5:56 PM and sunset will be 8:04 PM. The moon is a waxing crescent with 14% of its visible disk illuminated.

A bit of dog and human teamwork:

On 8.10.1945, Japan accepts the Potsdam terms:

On this day in 1945, just a day after the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan submits its acquiescence to the Potsdam Conference terms of unconditional surrender, as President Harry S. Truman orders a halt to atomic bombing.

Emperor Hirohito, having remained aloof from the daily decisions of prosecuting the war, rubber-stamping the decisions of his War Council, including the decision to bomb Pearl Harbor, finally felt compelled to do more. At the behest of two Cabinet members, the emperor summoned and presided over a special meeting of the Council and implored them to consider accepting the terms of the Potsdam Conference, which meant unconditional surrender. “It seems obvious that the nation is no longer able to wage war, and its ability to defend its own shores is doubtful.” The Council had been split over the surrender terms; half the members wanted assurances that the emperor would maintain his hereditary and traditional role in a postwar Japan before surrender could be considered. But in light of the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, Nagasaki on August 9, and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, as well as the emperor’s own request that the Council “bear the unbearable,” it was agreed: Japan would surrender.

Tokyo released a message to its ambassadors in Switzerland and Sweden, which was then passed on to the Allies. The message formally accepted the Potsdam Declaration but included the proviso that “said Declaration does not comprise any demand which prejudices the prerogatives of His Majesty as sovereign ruler.” When the message reached Washington, President Truman, unwilling to inflict any more suffering on the Japanese people, especially on “all those kids,” ordered a halt to atomic bombing, He also wanted to know whether the stipulation regarding “His Majesty” was a deal breaker. Negotiations between Washington and Tokyo ensued. Meanwhile, savage fighting continued between Japan and the Soviet Union in Manchuria.

Good morning.

Friday in town will be partly sunny, with a high of seventy-eighty. We’ll have west winds at 5 to 10 MPH, and just a slight chance of isolated morning showers.

On this day in 378, a bad day for the Roman Empire:

In one of the most decisive battles in history, a large Roman army under Valens, the Roman emperor of the East, is defeated by the Visigoths at the Battle of Adrianople in present-day Turkey. Two-thirds of the Roman army, including Emperor Valens himself, were overrun and slaughtered by the mounted barbarians.

Crowned in 264, Emperor Valens initiated warfare against the semi-civilized Visigoths in 364 and by 369 had defeated them. Visigoths under Fritigern were given permission to settle south of the Danube in the Roman Empire but, subjected to oppressive measures by Roman officials, they soon rose in revolt. In 378, Valens marched a Roman army against Fritigern, and 10 miles from Adrianople the Romans came upon the massed barbarians. As the Visigoth cavalry was off on a forging mission, Valens ordered a hasty attack on August 9. The Romans initially drove the barbarians back, but then the Visigoth cavalry suddenly returned, routing the Romans and forcing them into retreat. The horsemen then rode down and slaughtered the fleeing Roman infantry. Some 20,000 of 30,000 men were killed, including Emperor Valens.

The decisive Visigoth victory at the Battle of Adrianople left the Eastern Roman Empire nearly defenseless and established the supremacy of cavalry over infantry that would last for the next millennium. Emperor Valens was succeeded by Theodosius the Great, who struggled to repel the hordes of Visigoth barbarians plundering the Balkan Peninsula.

Puzzability‘s series about mythology concludes today:

Myth Takes
For this week of freaks and Greeks, we started each day with a mythical creature. Then we hid it in a sentence, with spaces added as necessary. The answer spans at least two words in the sentence and starts and ends in the middle of words. The day’s clue gives the sentence with a Greek column in place of the creature.

Example:
I am not rising from this comfortable sotil I’ve finished this fascinating myth about the early days of Mt. Olympus.

Answer:
Faun (sofa until)

What to Submit:
Submit the mythical creature (as “Faun” in the example) for your answer.

Friday, August 9:

My daughter only likes love stories, so if a myth isn’t rootional, she won’t finish it.

Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be a mostly sunny day with a high of seventy-seven. Sunrise was at 5:54 AM and sunset will be at 8:06 PM. The moon is a waxing crescent with 3% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1974, Pres. Nixon announces his resignation, to take effect the following day at noon:

In an evening televised address, President Richard M. Nixon announces his intention to become the first president in American history to resign. With impeachment proceedings underway against him for his involvement in the Watergate affair, Nixon was finally bowing to pressure from the public and Congress to leave the White House. “By taking this action,” he said in a solemn address from the Oval Office, “I hope that I will have hastened the start of the process of healing which is so desperately needed in America.”

Just before noon the next day, Nixon officially ended his term as the 37th president of the United States. Before departing with his family in a helicopter from the White House lawn, he smiled farewell and enigmatically raised his arms in a victory or peace salute. The helicopter door was then closed, and the Nixon family began their journey home to San Clemente, California. Minutes later, Vice President Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as the 38th president of the United States in the East Room of the White House. After taking the oath of office, President Ford spoke to the nation in a television address, declaring, “My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.” He later pardoned Nixon for any crimes he may have committed while in office, explaining that he wanted to end the national divisions created by the Watergate scandal.

Six years earlier, on 8.8.1968, Wisconsin Republican delegates nominated Nixon for president:

1968 – Wisconsin Delegates Nominate Nixon
On this date thirty Wisconsin delegates at the Republican National Convention in Miami cast their votes to nominate Richard Nixon as the Republican party presidential candidate. These thirty votes gave Nixon the majority over Nelson Rockefeller and Ronald Reagan and won for him the party nomination. Nixon selected Spiro Agnew to be his running mate. [Source: Back in Time]

Here’s Thursday’s puzzle from Puzzability, with a series this week about mythology:

Myth Takes
For this week of freaks and Greeks, we started each day with a mythical creature. Then we hid it in a sentence, with spaces added as necessary. The answer spans at least two words in the sentence and starts and ends in the middle of words. The day’s clue gives the sentence with a Greek column in place of the creature.

Example:
I am not rising from this comfortable sotil I’ve finished this fascinating myth about the early days of Mt. Olympus.

Answer:
Faun (sofa until)

What to Submit:
Submit the mythical creature (as “Faun” in the example) for your answer.

Thursday, August 8:

Hector’s young son played with a toy sword just like the famous warrior’s in order to mimidicating enemies.

Good morning.

We’ll have a partly sunny Wednesday in Whitewater, with a high of eighty, and southwest winds at 5 to 15 MPH.

I had no idea that Pres. Garfield had an interest in mathematics, but yesterday I learned that he did. While a member of Congress, he produced a simple proof of the Pythagorean theorem, as Esther Inglis-Arkell explains:

Most will remember the Pythagorean Theorem as the old A² + B² = C² problem, wherein the square of the two sides of a right triangle, added together, will yield the square of the hypotenuse. Garfield’s proof is simple, but it takes a little fiddling with paper.

Grab a piece of paper and cut two identical right triangles, trying to include one long side and one short side. Call the long side A, the short side, B, and the hypotenuse C. Place them, opposing points together, on a piece of paper so that they look like this.

Draw the third line in and you’ve made three triangles. The total area of a triangle can be calculated as one half the base times the height. Each of the original triangles has an area of ½ ab, and the third has an area of ½c².

A trapezoid has an area calculated by its height times one half the sum of its uneven sides. So the trapezoid has an area of ½ (a+b)(a +b).

Since these areas are the same, this leads us to an equation.

½ ab + ½ ab + ½c² = ½ (a + b)(a +b)

This simplifies quickly. On the left, the two halves of ‘ab’ can be added together. On the right, we just multiply all the terms.

ab +½c² = ½ (a² + b² + 2ab)

ab +½c2 = ½ a² + ½ b² + ab

Since we have ‘ab’ on either side, they cancel each other out.

½c² = ½ a² + ½ b²

Multiply it all by 2, and you get:

c² = a² + b²

Well, you get that, and the deep satisfaction that you have solved a problem, Presidential-style.

From mathematics to a different sort of puzzle:

Puzzability‘s series this week is about mythology:

Myth Takes
For this week of freaks and Greeks, we started each day with a mythical creature. Then we hid it in a sentence, with spaces added as necessary. The answer spans at least two words in the sentence and starts and ends in the middle of words. The day’s clue gives the sentence with a Greek column in place of the creature.

Example:
I am not rising from this comfortable sotil I’ve finished this fascinating myth about the early days of Mt. Olympus.

Answer:
Faun (sofa until)

What to Submit:
Submit the mythical creature (as “Faun” in the example) for your answer.

Wednesday, August 7:

In Roman mythology, the iridesora (the goddess Eos in Greek myths) creates a beautiful dawn across the sky.