Tuesday: Hili dialogue

February 2, 2016 • 6:30 am

It’s Tuesday, the most depressing day of the week.  It’s gonna rain today and tomorrow (I know—at least it’s not snow), but the good news is that no snow is predicted for Saturday, the day I fly to Old Blighty. On this day in 1936 there were two broadcasting events: the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was founded, and the BBC began its regular television service, the world’s first such station. And that station, BBC1, continues to this day. On this day, Marie Antoinette was born in 1755, living a short 38 years before she was guillotined; and k.d. lang was born in 1961. Finally, on this day in 2004, Theo van Gogh was killed by a fanatic for making the film “Submission”, critical of Islamic attitudes towards women. His partner in the film, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, remains under government protection. Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is using Andrzej as a large hot-water bottle:

A: May I return to my desk?
Hili: Not just yet.

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In Polish:

Ja: Czy mogę już wrócić do biurka?
Hili: Jeszcze nie.

And here’s Hili as a wee kitten, just after adoption. I’m sure I’ve shown this before, but you can’t see enough photos of Baby Hili:

Baby Hili

From reader Lauren, an athletic tabby catching a thrown toy. It grabs it with both hands, puts it in its mouth, and lands gracefully, all in a second or so.

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21 thoughts on “Tuesday: Hili dialogue”

  1. Poor PCC[E]!
    C’mon!
    Pull yourself together man!
    Nowt wrong with today!!!

    Exclaimation mark overload… I do that a lot 🙂

  3. Tremendous Athleticism, I read somewhere that the optimal height from which a Cat can land safely is 60 ft, can this be true ?

    1. “…an average-sized cat with its limbs extended achieves a terminal velocity of about 60mph (97km/h), while an average-sized man reaches a terminal velocity of about 120mph (193km/h)”

      “Through natural selection, cats have developed a keen instinct for sensing which way is down, analogous to the mechanism humans use for balance, BIOLOGISTS SAY.”

      If biologists say, you’d better believe it.

    2. I don’t recall where I read it now, but from a height sufficient to cause injury (i.e. more than a few inches), cats do make out better from slightly higher falls, because it gives them time for their righting reflex to put their bodies in an optimal position for hitting the ground. But once they get above that height, going even higher just means they’re moving faster and will hit harder, so I can’t imagine that 60 ft is the optimal height. In fact, according to this article:

      Specifically, according to a study done by the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 132 cats falling from an average of 5.5 stories and as high as 32 stories, the latter of which is more than enough for them to reach their terminal velocity, have a survival rate of about 90%, assuming they are brought in to treat their various injuries that may occur because of the impact with the ground. Of those 132 cats included in the study, about 2/3 required some sort of medical treatment as a result of their fall, and about half of those that required treatment (1/3 of the total cats brought in) would have died without medical aid.

      That article pointed out that wasn’t a 90% survival rate of all cats that fell from that height, but a 90% survival rate of those that fell AND were taken to vets. Also note that 2/3 of those required medical treatment. So, that’s a pretty high rate of injury, and doesn’t even account for any cats that might have been fatally wounded and never made it to the vet.

      2. “Through natural selection, cats have developed a keen instinct for sensing which way is down, analogous to the mechanism humans use for balance, BIOLOGISTS SAY.”

        Hmmm. Seems as if many animals, inc. humans, are pretty good at sensing that. (Although I know that when we have no visual clues we can have trouble.) Anyway, I’d have thought the cats’ successful falling ability had more to due with their musculature and their four landing pads. (And overall lighter weight!)

    1. a bald statement like that deserves to be expanded into a multi-page stream of consciousness blether without any punctuation and at least one mention of kidneys with the piss still in them

  7. baby Hili is soooo cute! and if you lived here, Emeritus professor Ceiling Cat, you would be praying for rain! Even unto deepest darkest Basement cat!

  9. Punxsutawney Phil has been of late the target of some harsh criticism for his failed augury of an early vernal tide so with his exculpatory rebuttal evidence thereof, he verily testifies, “I’m a rodent, not a meteorologist !”

    But hey, no matter: I’ll take specifically today’s / “the most depressing day’s” prediction of his ! as from the Washington Post headline: “Groundhog Day y2016: Punxsutawney Phil sees no shadow, predicts early spring.”

    O yeah.
    Blue

    ps But, alas ‘nd alack, there is thus as well: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/557320522616177211

    1. And, too, for the next immediate depressing Tuesdays as well as their neighboring days, there is this loveliness: for one’s still – wintry stroll home from work at least among (some of) the Northern Hemisphere’s en l i g h t ed residents = the lengthening minutes’ worth of (some of those) days’ afternoon sunshine !

      Smashing !
      Blue

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