Good morning.

We’ve a sunny and chilly day before us in Whitewater. The high will be twenty-two, and there will be 9h 5m of sunlight and 10h 9m.

Almost a century ago, on 12.30.1916, the controversial Rasputin was murdered in Russia:

Sometime over the course of the night and the early morning of December 29-30, 1916, Grigory Efimovich Rasputin, a self-proclaimed holy man, is murdered by Russian nobles eager to end his influence over the royal family.

Rasputin, a Siberian-born muzhik, or peasant, who underwent a religious conversion as a teenager and proclaimed himself a healer with the ability to predict the future, won the favor of Czar Nicholas II and Czarina Alexandra through his ability to stop the bleeding of their hemophiliac son, Alexei, in 1908. From then on, though he was widely criticized for his lechery and drunkenness, Rasputin exerted a powerful influence on the ruling family of Russia, infuriating nobles, church orthodoxy, and peasants alike. He particularly influenced the czarina, and was rumored to be her lover. When Nicholas departed to lead Russian forces in World War I, Rasputin effectively ruled the country through Alexandra, contributing to the already-existing corruption and disorder of Romanov Russia.

Fearful of Rasputin’s growing power (among other things, it was believed by some that he was plotting to make a separate peace with the Germans), a group of nobles, led by Prince Felix Youssupov, the husband of the czar’s niece, and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, Nicholas’s first cousin, lured Rasputin to Youssupov Palace on the night of December 29, 1916.

First, Rasputin’s would-be killers gave the monk food and wine laced with cyanide. When he failed to react to the poison, they shot him at close range, leaving him for dead. A short time later, however, Rasputin revived and attempted to escape from the palace grounds, whereupon his assailants shot him again and beat him viciously. Finally, they bound Rasputin, still miraculously alive, and tossed him into a freezing river. His body was discovered several days later and the two main conspirators, Youssupov and Pavlovich were exiled.

In the Wisconsin of 1922, another episode in the losing battle of Prohibition:

1922 – Authorities Confiscate Illegal Alcohol
On this date authorities in Madison confiscated 1,200 gallons of “mash” and fifteen gallons of moonshine from the home of a suspected bootlegger. As the illegal liquor trade flourished in Madison’s Greenbush neighborhood during Prohibition, two rival gangs, one on Regent Street and the other located on Milton Street, fought to gain control until the “Rum War” erupted among these factions in 1923. [Source: Bishops to Bootleggers: A Biographical Guide to Resurrection Cemetery, p.189]

Google-a-Day gives us a sports & geography question: “The renowned football, basketball and baseball player and coach who stated, “It is how you show up at the showdown that counts,” was born in what southern state?

Good morning.

It’s snow for Saturday in Whitewater, mostly in the morning, with only a slight accumulation. Today will top out at twenty-nine degrees, with northwest winds 5 to 10 mph.

Here we go… Zeitgeist 2012: The Year in Review:

In our own history on this day in 1879,

1879 – General William “Billy” Mitchell Born
On this date aviation pioneer Billy Mitchell was born in Nice, France. Mitchell grew up in Milwaukee and attended Racine College. During World War I, Mitchell was the first American airman to fly over enemy lines.  He also led many air attacks in France and Germany.

Upon return to the U.S., he advocated the creation of a separate Air Force. Much to the dislike of A.T. Mahan, Theodore Roosevelt, and other contemporaries, Mitchell asserted that the airplane had rendered the battleship obsolete, and attention should be shifted to developing military air power. Mitchell’s out-spokenness resulted in his being court martialed for insubordination. He was sentenced to five years suspension of rank without pay.

General Douglas MacArthur — an old Milwaukee friend — was a judge in Mitchell’s case and voted against his court martial. Mitchell’s ideas for developing military air power were not implemented until long after his death. In 1946 Congress created a medal in his honor, the General “Billy” Mitchell Award. Milwaukee’s airport, General Mitchell International Airport, is named after him. [Source: American Airpower Biography]

Google-a-Day is looking for the name of a pet: “What was the name of the pet that often traveled with the artist of “Tuna Fishing”?”

Good morning.

Our week ends with a high of thirty, and a small amount of snow, of about an inch or two. There wil be 9h 3m of daylight, and 10h 8m of sunlight, with a full moon.

On 12.28.1981, America’s first so-called test tube baby, Elizabeth Jordan Carr, was born:

For the first time, a ”test-tube” baby, conceived in a laboratory dish, has been born in an American hospital. Elizabeth Jordan Carr, weighing 5 pounds 12 ounces and described as ”perfectly healthy,” was delivered yesterday morning at Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk, Va.

The birth, which came two weeks ahead of schedule, brings to at least 15 the number of babies born in this manner. The rest were in Britain and Australia, although one was born to American parents in England. About 100 women have become pregnant through the same procedure, five of them in the United States.

At least five American clinics are treating infertile women in this way, but so far with meager success. Nevertheless, reliability seems to be improving rapidly. The time when it becomes standard treatment for several causes of infertility may be drawing near.

On this day in 1938, a moment from the long and checkered career of Joe McCarthy:

1938 – McCarthy Declares Candidacy for Judgeship
On this date future senator Joseph McCarthy announced his candidacy for the Wisconsin 10th Circuit Court judgeship, a position that had been held for 24 years by Edgar V. Werner. The 30-year-old McCarthy used Werner’s age against him, claiming that Werner was 73 while secretly knowing he was 66. In the election, held in April of the following year, McCarthy earned 15,160 votes to Werner’s 11,154. Although McCarthy’s campaign tactics and spending practices were investigated, he was cleared of wrong-doing. [Source: Legal Affairs]

Google-a-Day poses a question on history & cartography: “What famous Alexandrian was responsible for the most popular map printed from movable type in the fifteenth century?”

Good morning.

A cloudy Thursday with a high of twenty-eight awaits. We’ll have 9h 3m of sunlight and 10h 8m of daylight.

There will be two public meetings in the city today. At 8 AM, Downtown Whitewater’s Board will meet, and at 4:30 PM in the afternoon there will be a meeting of the Community Development Authority.

On this day in 1900, the property-destroying, regulation-loving anti-alcohol crusader Cary Nation smashed a bar with a hatchet:

Prohibitionist Carry Nation smashes up the bar at the Carey Hotel in Wichita, Kansas, causing several thousand dollars in damage and landing in jail. Nation, who was released shortly after the incident, became famous for carrying a hatchet and wrecking saloons as part of her anti-alcohol crusade.

She didn’t live to see Prohibition become law under the 18th Amendment, and so of course didn’t see the repeal of that failed amendment just under fourteen years later.

On this day in 1831, the thrice-elected Lucius Fairchild was born:

1831 – Lucius Fairchild Born
On this date Lucius Fairchild was born in Kent, Ohio. Soldier, diplomat, and Wisconsin Governor, Fairchild arrived in Madison with his family in 1846. After a trip to California in search of gold, Fairchild returned to Madison and studied law. He was a soldier in the “Iron Brigade” and lost an arm at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. He was elected as a Republican to the post of secretary of state and in 1865 was elected governor. He served for three terms. As governor and as a private citizen, Fairchild was active in promoting soldiers’ aid. [Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin History]

Google-a-Day aska a question of literature:  “Early in Conrad’s 1903 novella, Marlow makes a comment “one of the dark places on earth.”  About what place does he say this?”

Good morning.

Wednesday for Whitewater will be cloudy, with a high of twenty-nine and northeast winds at 10 to 15 mph.

On this day in 1776, Gen Washington won his first great victory after crossing the Delaware:

At approximately 8 a.m. on the morning of December 26, 1776, General George Washington‘s Continental Army reaches the outskirts of Trenton, New Jersey, and descends upon the unsuspecting Hessian force guarding the city. Trenton’s 1,400 Hessian defenders were still groggy from the previous evening’s Christmas festivities and had underestimated the Patriot threat after months of decisive British victories throughout New York. The troops of the Continental Army quickly overwhelmed the German defenses, and by 9:30 a.m.Trenton was completely surrounded.

Although several hundred Hessians escaped, nearly 1,000 were captured at the cost of only four American lives.

Google-a-Day also has a military topic today: “What notable river was close by the campaign in which Lee defeated the much larger army led by Major General Joseph Hooker?”