Wednesday: Hili dialogue

February 17, 2016 • 6:30 am

Sleeping is still difficult for me, and therefore braining will be as well today. I ask your indulgence. On this day in 1600, Giordano Bruno was burned alive for heresy in Rome. In 1904, “Madame Butterfly” premiered at La Scala in Milan, and, in 1933, the ill-advised experiment of Prohibition finally ended in the U.S. Births on this day included Gene Pitney in 1940, Huey Newton in 1942, Michael Jordan in 1963, and Paris Hilton in 1981; while deaths included Geronimo n 1909, Thelonious Monk in 1982, and Lefty Gomez in 1989. Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Sarah, Malgorzata’s friend and co-translator, is visiting for a few weeks, and she is taking excellent pictures of Hili (one is below). And Andrzej just published a new book, which, sadly, is solely in Polish.  But the box in which his books arrived (below) was taken up by Hili, who heretofore hasn’t shown any interest in boxes. But I guess this is the right kind of box. Sadly, Andrzej found it too obstructive, and burned it, much to Hili’s annoyance.

Hili: I have a question for my friends.
A: What question?
Hili: My copy is here, what about yours?

(Photo: Sarah Lawson)

000_0043
In Polish:
Hili: Mam pytanie do moich przyjaciół.
Ja: Jakie?
Hili: Do mnie już przyszły książki, a do was?
(Zdjęcie: Sarah Lawson)
Squee: the Toronto Zoo has released a video of its two four-month-old panda cubs learning to walk. Click on the screenshot below to see the fun (video in a NY Daily News article):
Screen shot 2016-02-17 at 5.35.15 AM
And some woodpecker lagniappe from reader Randy Schenck in Iowa:
Woodpeckers are present in large quantity today: I believe both Downy (Picoides pubescens) and Hairy (Picoides villosus)
Birds 16 Feb. 2016 002
Don’t forget to feed the birds and squirrels, folks!

17 thoughts on “Wednesday: Hili dialogue”

    2. I saw that. The quote, iirc, was, “Maybe everyone should have a gun until no one has a gun.”

      I wonder how he thinks that would work?

      Talk about complete fu*kwittery.

      It recalls to me also Trump blaming France’s strong gun laws for the massacre. The problem wasn’t France’s gun laws, it was that Belgium’s laws weren’t just as strong because that’s where the terrorists got their weapons. Just like in the US where criminals get their weapons via states with weak laws.

  2. What is Andrzej’s book about? I don’t know anything about him.

    I would love to feed the birds and have a feeder out. But there are no birds this year (in central France), aside from a couple of doves. Where have all the birds gone? Should I be worried about that?

    1. Put out the food regularly throughout the year & they will come. Feeding in gardens has even changed migration patterns of some species like blackcaps
      http://www.bto.org/science/latest-research/garden-bird-feeding-and-changing-climate-are-driving-evolutionary-change-bla

      Ideally regularly sterilise the feeders as they can spread diseases by bringing together birds that rarely meet in the wild.
      http://www.rspb.org.uk/makeahomeforwildlife/advice/helpingbirds/disease/disease-garden-birds.aspx

    2. My only guess on that would be weather. If you have had a particularly bad winter recently. Ice is very hard on the birds in winter.

      1. If you put out food in cold weather you are bound to attract birds. Or maybe they (passarines?) have moved to warmer milder areas. If it is as mild in France as in the south-east of England where we have hardly had a winter, there will be plenty of food in the wild probably.

        1. Yes, if the winter is mild, quite different. The information about feeding all the time is also good. If you put out something for a day or a week and have big expectations – probably not going to happen. My wife finds out what the birds prefer and that is what we get.

          A few years ago she put out orange halves and pretty soon the Orioles showed up.

        2. There’s food out there now and it’s consistently below 4°C these days. True, tho, we have had relatively mild weather lately. Yes, I expect passerines (called mesanges here).

          Thanks for the tips.

    3. The book is about Israel as the world’s whipping boy. It is in the form of letters to a younger Polish journalist specializing in Middle East and swallowing everything she is told. You must know the famous question “Is it allowed to criticize Israel”. I go a step further and ask the question: Is it allowed to analyze the content of these accusations? Just to give you some idea I attach a link to my article in English about this problem – http://www.listyznaszegosadu.pl/from-gaza-with-love-1
      And about myself – I’m a journalist and sociologist.

      1. That is a most compelling article, Adrzej. And a much clearer explanation of the Palestine Mandate than what I found in Wikipedia when I looked it up a few days ago.

  3. Love the photo with both woodpecker species. The shape of the black eye patch is very different in the two species…good to know, since size is often hard to judge in the field.

    1. That is a slick idea. Sometimes the cat likes a couple of escape holes so it would not be hard to add.

  5. A rare instance when reference to Ms. Hilton appears on this website. Very “oxymoronic”, I may say!

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