Wednesday: Hili dialogue (and lagniappe)

January 6, 2016 • 5:30 am

It’s Wednesday, and the weather is gonna get really frigid in Chicago, with lows of -16°F (-27°C) on the weekend.

Screen shot 2016-01-06 at 4.50.56 AMAnd so be it: as a long-term resident, I have the proper clothing. Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is still trying to run Listy, though she is only an impediment (don’t tell her!)

A: What are you doing up there?
Hili: I’m organizing and supervising your work.

P1030757
In Polish:
Ja: Co tam robisz?
Hili: Organizuję i nadzoruję waszą pracę.
And some treats: I woke up to three emails from readers featuring animals. Matthew sent a tw**t about a bison hit by lightning (he added, “Poor Sparky!):

Reader Barry sent a link to a jaguar swimming (they apparently like water):
And Mahul sent a video of rock climbing bears (I may have posted this before):
Thanks, all!

 

19 thoughts on “Wednesday: Hili dialogue (and lagniappe)”

  1. – Quick, let’s freeclimb that wall to escape from those pursuing bears!
    …
    – Well, that didn’t quite work out. But sure we can get rid of that jaguar by jumping in the water!
    …
    – Oh bugger that, I’ll buy us some dogs to protect us from the wild animals.

    1. About as effective as enListyning Cyrus to take Hili away from her editorial duties!

    2. A joke I was told by a Newfie : “How do you tell if you’re being chased by a black bear or a brown bear (grizzly)?”
      “Dunno.”
      “Well, you climb up a tree. If you are being chased be a black bear, it’ll climb the tree behind you, eat your face and probably kill you.”
      “Great. But I’ll be OK if I climb a tree and it’s a grizzly – right?”
      “Briefly. A Grizzly will look at you in the tree, then push the tree down, chase you, eat your face and probably kill you.”
      There’s also the Attenborough, lion and running shoes joke.

      1. I think it’s because he’s considered one of the worlds best snake oil salespersons. You can tell by his jewelry and fancy costumes.

        1. You can’t miss the diamante encrusted glasses I suppose – perhaps he deserves the award for being the only person outside the Entertainment Industry proper who dares to wear them. Or perhaps those who follow him should realize they make him part of that industry and not the actual medical profession.

          1. I’m always wondering – would anyone buy even a multi-vitamin tablet from a man wearing sequined glasses? But you have only to look at the likes of Creflo Dollar the TV evangelist to realize how many fools are born every minute. (by the way, Dollar recently obtained enough donations to purchase his much wanted $70 million dollar Gulfstream).

          2. I had hope Dollar wouldn’t get that money. It’s shocking that people are so sucked in by him that this happened.

  3. Poor Bison, that had to hurt, I.ve been with a foot or two of being struck by Lightning, cured my constipation I can tell you. heres a great video of a Jaguar taking a Cayman sunning itself , pound for pound I beieve they are the most powerful of the Big Cats.

    1. At least I know that if I stayed in the water I could out swim the Jaguar, but then again I am never swimming with crocs.

  4. It’s gone back to relatively warm temperatures here. 2C will be the high today. Monday was literally painful at -13C with some hellish windchill like -25C. My hands, though ensconced in two layers of gloves were painfully frozen by the time I got to my car.

  5. I know it’s early, so I might be asleep and missing something, but the numbers on your weather forecast are pretty much the same as the numbers on mine – unsurprising since I’m only 15 miles or so away. However, since I still can’t think in Fahrenheit and have a mental picture of what the numbers feel like, mine is in Celsius – I think your Sunday -16 low is a C (3F) not an F.

  6. I don’t have the energy to check, but I believe both jaguar videos are oldies but goldies on this site.

    The bear film is easier to place as a reprisal, it looks scary. So does the poor lightning survivor!

  7. How long would it take for a dedicated population of Jaguars to evolve into something like a dolphin or whale? If they do, I hope they keep the spots just as they are.

    1. Tens of millions of years. And, considering how versatile the jaguar is, how effective an hunter on both land and in the water and how vast their territories are, it’s not hard to imagine it taking longer. Such an effective generalist might not have much incentive for long-term specialization.

      b&

    2. How long would it take for a dedicated population of Jaguars to evolve into something like a dolphin or whale?

      Evolution is blind. (Which begs the question of why it hasn’t evolved eyes yet!) You’re talking about a directed evolution experiment. Get thee to an ID echo chamber!

      If they do, I hope they keep the spots just as they are.

      I can’t think off-hand of any cetacean which has anything other than contra-shading (light belly, dark upper surface). Which would suggest that plain colouration is quite strongly adaptive in the sea.
      Hmmm, then there are reef-fish. Who torpedo that idea.

  8. I’m in Chicago, woke up and saw that forecast and was shocked.

    I got all concerned about my walk to work, where my gloves were and taking my d*g out in the freezing cold!

    But I worried for nothing. I think PCC’s GPS or weather app or something is malfunctioning. It’s a balmy 36F in Chicago going up to the 40’s (F) this weekend.

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