Good morning.

It’s a partly sunny Sunday for us, with a high of fifteen, but with a wind chill measure between five below and zero.

If we had slightly milder temperatures, and more snow, we could imagine trips like these from Sled Dog Adventures of Fairbanks:

On this day in 1981, “Iran released 52 Americans held hostage for 444 days, minutes after the presidency had passed from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan.”

Google-a-Day throws a football question: “The club that was established in 1935 to promote safety in the game of American football was named after a player with what nickname?

Good morning.

Saturday brings unseasonably warm weather, with a high of forty-seven, for a breezy, sunny day. There will be 9h 31m of sunlight, 10h 33m of daylight, with tomorrow being one minute longer.

On this day in 1937, Howard Hughes sets a transcontinental flight record. The New York Times wrote about Hughes’s accomplishment the next day:

All landplane distance speed records were broken yesterday by Howard Hughes, millionaire sportsman pilot, who reached Newark Airport 7 hours 28 minutes and 25 seconds after he took off from Los Angeles, Calif. He was then forced to stay aloft until the runway at the field was clear and landed at 1:03 P. M. His average speed was 332 miles an hour for the 2,490 miles he traveled…

At 14,000 feet, at which altitude he flew most of the way, he passed over the clouds, set his course and leveled off. He throttled his engine back until it was delivering only 375 horsepower and hunched himself over his instrument panel.

He was wearing a new type oxygen mask for high altitude flying. With nothing to see except the top of the cloud stratum he began experimenting with it. He finally adjusted it so that it fed too much air and not enough oxygen and he began to feel faint. Over the Sierras he had fears for a moment that his attempt might not be a success, but at last re-adjusted the mask so that the gas revived him.

Two years later, in Wisconsin, another sort of record:

1939 – Chicken Plucking World Record
On January 19, 1939 Ernest Hausen (1877 – 1955) of Ft. Atkinson set the world’s record for chicken plucking. [Source: Guiness Book of World’s Records, 1992]

Google-a-Day asks about competitive sailing: “What is the common term used by the America’s Cup organization, for an object shaped like an airplane wing, designed to direct the flow of air over its surface?”

Good morning.

Friday brings a 30% chance of snow in the morning, and thereafter mostly sunny skies with a high of thirty-nine.

On this day in 1912, English explorer Robert F. Scott and his team arrive at the South Pole, to discover that Roald Amundsen had already been there.

On 1.18.1908, a blaze in Janesville:

1908 – Fire Destroys Tobacco Warehouse
On this date fire devastated the tobacco warehouse of Julius Marqusee & Co. An estimated 4,000 cases of tobacco were destroyed. Losses were estimated at $250,000, Janesville’s largest property loss to that date. Three firemen suffered injuries fighting the blaze. [Source: Janesville Gazette]

Google-a-Day poses a football question: “An NFL game was given the nickname “Ghost to the Post”, as a result of two memorable plays by a great receiver and blocker who played college ball at what university?”

Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny, with a high of twenty-two. There will be 9h 26m of sunlight, 10h 29m of daylight, and we;ll have a waxing crescent moon.

On this day in 1893, Hawaii’s monarch is overthrown:

The Hawaiian steamer Claudine arrived at this port [San Francisco] at 2 o’clock this morning [one day after the overthrow] with the news of a revolution at Honolulu. The revolutionists have succeeded in overthrowing the Government of Hawaii, and United States troops have been landed.

A provisional government has been established, and a commission, headed by Mr. Thurston, came in on the Claudine en route to Washington with a petition to the American Government to annex the Hawaiian Islands to the United States. The commission will leave here to-morrow afternoon and reach Washington next Friday.

Queen Liliuokalani has been deposed from power, the monarchy abrogated, Government buildings seized, and the new provisional Ministry, composed of four members, is sustained by bayonets of volunteers.

Queen Liliuokalani attempted on Saturday, Jan. 14, to promulgate a new Constitution, depriving foreigners of the right of franchise and abrogating the existing House of Nobles, at the same time giving her the power of appointing a new House. This was resisted by the foreign element of the community, which at once appointed a committee of safety of thirteen members, which called a mass meeting of their classes, at which 1,200 or 1,500 were present. That meeting unanimously adopted resolutions condemning the action of the Queen and authorizing the committee to take into consideration whatever was necessary for the public safety.

The slug of that New York Times headline: ‘Grasping for more power she fell.’ If only present-day monarchs, far worse, went so easily…

On January 17th in 1900, a Wisconsin strike, at a cotton mill:

1900 – Female Cotton Mill Workers Strike
On this date 100 female employees of the Monterey mill, affiliated with the Janesville Cotton Mills, went on strike for higher wages. According to local sources, a committee of four “good-looking young ladies” was appointed to negotiate with management. Doing piece work, the women earned only $40 a month. The company said the women “don’t know how good they’ve got it…because they are paid more than at other local cotton mills and as well as some men with families.” The women argued their monthly pay only averaged $20. Within three days, all the women were hired to work by tobacco warehouses. The Monterey mill was one of three Janesville cotton mills in operation at the turn of the century. [Source: Janesville Gazette]

Google-a-Day has a geography question for us: “A few weeks after the birth of Michelangelo, his family returned to an Italian city that is the capital of the what region?”