Good morning.

It’s another rainy day for Whitewater, with a high of eighty-seven and afternoon showers and thunderstorms. Rainfall accumulation will be between a quarter and a half of an inch.

On this day in 1877, Wimbledon begins:

On July 9, 1877, the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club begins its first lawn tennis tournament at Wimbledon, then an outer-suburb of London. Twenty-one amateurs showed up to compete in the Gentlemen’s Singles tournament, the only event at the first Wimbledon. The winner was to take home a 25-guinea trophy….

Twenty-two men registered for the tournament, but only 21 showed up on July 9 for its first day. The 11 survivors were reduced to six the next day, and then to three. Semifinals were held on July 12, but then the tournament was suspended to leave the London sporting scene free for the Eton vs. Harrow cricket match played on Friday and Saturday. The final was scheduled for Monday, July 16, but, in what would become a common occurrence in future Wimbledon tournaments, the match was rained out.

It was rescheduled for July 19, and on that day some 200 spectators paid a shilling each to see William Marshall, a Cambridge tennis “Blue,” battle W. Spencer Gore, an Old Harrovian racket player. In a final that lasted only 48 minutes, the 27-year-old Gore dominated with his strong volleying game, crushing Marshall, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4. At the second Wimbledon in 1878, however, Gore lost his title when his net-heavy game fell prey to a innovative stroke developed by challenger Frank Hadow: the lob.

Puzzability‘s series this week is called Fruit Salad:

Fruit Salad
For a refreshing summer dessert this week, just mix and serve. For each day, we’ve taken the name of a kind of fruit, added a letter, and scrambled all the letters to get a new word. The answer phrase, described by each day’s clue, is the new word followed by the fruit name.

Example:
Citrus fruit turned to a lava-like liquid

Answer:
Molten lemon

Here’s the puzzle for Tuesday:

Fruit grown in the capital of the Czech Republic that comes in bunches

Good morning.

We’ll have a day of showers and thunderstorms in Whitewater, with a high of eighty-seven.

The city’s Planning Commission meets tonight at 6 PM.

It’s the 1947 anniversary of the Roswell Incident, and Google’s commemorating the event with a doodle that’s an interactive game (screenshot below, game at Google.com):

Was it an aircraft, weather balloon, or flying saucer piloted by aliens that was spotted crashed near Roswell, N.M., exactly 66 years ago?

It appears Google may be placing its bets on the flying saucer. In a tongue-in-cheek Doodle commemorating the anniversary of Roswell’s UFO incident, the Web giant has created a game that involves an alien spaceship wreck.

In 1947, a local claimed to have found the remains of a crashed UFO in field near Roswell. Subsequently, a handful of people also said they witnessed a flying disc hurtling through the night sky in the same area. The event made headlines around the world, but the U.S. military clamped down and denied it was anything other than a downed weather balloon.

The Google Doodle game loosely follows this same storyline. The game starts with an alien crash-landing its spacecraft in a Roswell-like landscape. The goal is for the alien to find the correct puzzle pieces to be able to get back on its saucer and fly home. To play the game, users click their mouse to walk around and solve certain riddles.

Puzzability has a new series this week, called Fruit Salad:

Fruit Salad
For a refreshing summer dessert this week, just mix and serve. For each day, we’ve taken the name of a kind of fruit, added a letter, and scrambled all the letters to get a new word. The answer phrase, described by each day’s clue, is the new word followed by the fruit name.

Example:
Citrus fruit turned to a lava-like liquid

Answer:
Molten lemon

Here’s the puzzle for Monday:

Citrus fruit for Panamanian dictator Manuel

Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of eighty-three.

Whitewater’s Independence Day celebration concludes today. The carnival midway opens at Noon, as will the beer tent and food vendors.

There’s a ski show at Noon, with a magic show immediately following. A petting zoo is open from 12-4, and there’s a children’s pedal pull at 2, with a family Survivor-style game show immediately thereafter.

Live music begins at 4. There will be fireworks again tonight at 10.

Here’s a bit of nature (and high-speed videography). Students at Stanford have been studying birds’ flight, and they’ve recorded some impressive video of birds taking wing:

Good morning.

It’s a beautiful Friday for Whitewater: sunny, a high of eighty-three, and light winds of 5 to 10 mph. Sunrise was 5:23 AM, and sunset will be at 8:36 PM. The moon is a waning crescent with just 6% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Independence Day events continue today at Noon. The carnival will open then, and the festival opens at 5.   Live music begins at 6.  There will be fireworks tonight about an hour after sunset, at 10.

Almost seventy years ago today, a fashion innovation:

On July 5, 1946, French designer Louis Reard unveils a daring two-piece swimsuit at the Piscine Molitor, a popular swimming pool in Paris. Parisian showgirl Micheline Bernardini modeled the new fashion, which Reard dubbed “bikini,” inspired by a news-making U.S. atomic test that took place off the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean earlier that week.

European women first began wearing two-piece bathing suits that consisted of a halter top and shorts in the 1930s, but only a sliver of the midriff was revealed and the navel was vigilantly covered. In the United States, the modest two-piece made its appearance during World War II, when wartime rationing of fabric saw the removal of the skirt panel and other superfluous material. Meanwhile, in Europe, fortified coastlines and Allied invasions curtailed beach life during the war, and swimsuit development, like everything else non-military, came to a standstill.

Puzzability‘s current series, concluding today, is called Key Words:

Key Words
We’ve got a parade of patriotic trivia this Independence Day week. The answer to each day’s question is a name or title that contains one of the main words in the well-known first verse of our national anthem.

Example:
What super-sweet cereal is Calvin’s favorite in “Calvin and Hobbes”?

Answer:
Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs

Here’s the puzzle for Friday:

What alternative rock duo originally presented themselves as brother and sister when they were, in fact, married for several years?

Here’s a link to the lyrics for the first verse of the Star-Spangled Banner.