Thursday: Hili Dialogue

July 23, 2015 • 3:56 am

Good morning!

Today in 1888 Raymond Chandler was born ensuring the world would one day get to read The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye. One hundred years later Guns & Roses released Sweet Child Of Mine, condemning Western society to endure a significant percentage of its population patiently trying to butcher the song as they earnestly tried to recreate the opening bars on every piano or guitar they could lay their hands on for the next three decades.

Hili and Cyrus are being enigmatical this morning. Enigmatical is a word. If it was good enough for Shakespeare, it’s good enough for me.

[JAC note: I have an explanation from Malgorzata.  Due to storms and other factors, Dobrzyn has experienced serious power cuts over the last few days. When that happens, Andrzej and Malgorzata, who work on their website most of the day, get very distressed when their computers have no power.]

Hili: We have to look for some secluded place.
Cyrus: Why?
Hili: When there is a power break they get very nervous.

aa

In Polish:

Hili: Trzeba poszukać jakiegoś ustronnego miejsca.
Cyrus: Dlaczego?
Hili: Bo jak nie ma prądu to oni są bardzo nerwowi.

We also have a bonus Leon monologue. I’m not sure he’s fooling anyone, except himself.

Leon: I’m meditating, following the greatest masters of yoga.

leon yoga

28 thoughts on “Thursday: Hili Dialogue”

  1. Surely G&R’s crime is not nearly as bad in that respect as Led Zeppelin’s with Stairway to Heaven?

    cr

      1. Both. I thought the awful rendition of ‘There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold’ was a byword for the ambitiously untalented. 😉

        cr

        1. (I hasten to add that ‘ambitiously untalented’ refers to wannabe imitators, NOT Led Zep!)

          cr

        2. I will maintain that nothing can quite compare to the horror of listening to said “ambitiously untalented” trying to do Richard Clayderman. Even the original was a crime against humanity, but his imitators managed to sink even lower.

          ~Grania

          1. I seem to have been lucky. I’ve never heard of Richard Clayderman or any of his music.

            Looking him up and skimming his discography . . ., damn, he has certainly been prolific.

    2. But “Stairway to Heaven” is redeemed by Weird Al’s “Gilligan’s Island” cover of it.

  2. Speaking of power breaks, maybe that’s the way for humanity to get use to less power and more conservation. Start with short little brownouts every few days and gradually increase the rate and duration. Eventually, CO2 will be under control and everyone will have converted their homes, businesses, and computers to wind, solar, or hamster power.
    BTW, I see in the news Washington Post that Europeans consider the U.S. stupid for our reliance on air conditioning.

    1. Every European I have known who spent July and August in Houston came to love air conditioning almost as much as their own life.

      1. Must be something about the slight difference in ambient temps. Makes me wonder how people got along in the south for decades before Freon. In NY, at least for now, you can consider A/C optional.

        1. I don’t know anyone in the Midwest who considers air conditioning optional. This from someone who remembers when air in an auto was almost unheard of.

          By the way Rick, how optional is it in all those tall building in NYC with no windows?

          1. NYC is a separate planet. Upstate has no diplomatic relations with Manhattan. They create their own microclimat every time they pour concrete.

          2. I’m sure provocative is one way to go. I’ve noticed that lately in some folks from NY. One even builds buildings and puts his name on them. However, I’ll bet if you really look around in all that upstate area you will find plenty with air conditioning. Unless that is, you do live on another planet.

          3. There is, I’m sure, more than there ever was and more on the way. But, we really don’t need it up here. I’m with the Europeans to some extent on this. Yes, A/C is something we should use judiciously, but I think people get addicted to the luxury and forget how to build buildings and live lives in closer contact with nature.

    2. Something like that in Sun City, Arizona (a suburb of Phoenix on the west side of town and a large retirement community) would result in a great many premature deaths. You do not want to be without air conditioning here when not only is the daytime high regularly well over 110°F but the overnight low over 90°F.

      Hell, just what the lack of refrigeration would do to food supplies would be disastrous…and that’s before we get to hospitals and medical supplies….

      The Phoenix area is rather unusual in that it’s not significantly susceptible to any natural disasters. We’re at negligible risk for earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, any of that sort of thing. But an extended power outage this time of year would be devastating, potentially on the scale of a Katrina.

      b&

      1. So, with all that solar energy pouring in, why aren’t you guys energy independent already? You could probably cook dinner with the energy from the sun hitting the hood of your car. Solar water heaters were around in the 1890s. What’s holding things up?

        1. Don’t look at me. A third of my roof is covered with solar panels, and I generate about half again as much electricity as I use — enough to power the electric vehicle I’ve yet to acquire….

          b&

          1. That’s just great! Congratulations.

            While you’re saving up for a car, can you rig up an electric raiser to power a Honda bike?

      2. You do not want to be without air conditioning here when not only is the daytime high regularly well over 110°F but the overnight low over 90°F

        Which is puzzling, because those are probably exactly the conditions under which our specific ancestors evolved, a mere couple of thousand generations ago. I do wonder how much of modern intolerance of heat is cultural/ psychological and how much is genuinely physiological.
        And yes, I have worked hard labour out in the desert at 48 degrees (Celsius) in the non-existent shade. Not a fun experience.

        1. Our Paleolithic ancestors probably defined “premature death” a bit differently than we do now.

          1. Thank your lucky stars for that. The majority of WEIT readers would probably be extinct by now.

        2. Our cousins who’ve stayed in close proximity to our ancient ancestral hunting grounds tolerate heat much better than those of us whose recent ancestors went north. Think of a Scandinavian and a Kenyan, and how each would fare in Juneau or Phoenix.

          b&

    1. I was thinking that too. That’s gotta be lovely Leon in the felid foetal position. Getting a good stretch along the spine and keeping warm too.

  5. Without getting into the area of how the electricity is made, fossil fuels, nuclear, solar, and wind…getting by without electricity today is impossible. Does not matter if you live in Arizona or even some place where air conditioning is truly option, such as parts of the Bay Area or Hawaii.

    Without electricity nearly everything comes to a standstill. The only species that may be as glad for electricity today as we humans would probably be whales.

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