I have landed in Chicago, and soon will be back to work—in today’s case, talking about evolution with students at the nearby Lab School. (As part of their biology class, they’ve read WEIT_. It’s very overcast, freezing drizzle and snow are predicted for the next two days, and I’m again suffering from insomnia, so posting may be light due to sleeplessness. Pardon the kvetching. On this day in history, March 3, Alexander I freed the serfs in Russia (1861), Bizet’s “Carmen” premiered in Paris (1875), a secular Turkey began when the last Caliphate ended and Atatürk took power (1924), and oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia (1938), thereby enabling us to ignore its later human rights violations. Births on this day include Georg Cantor (1845), Alexander Graham Bell (1847), Jean Harlow (1911), Doc Watson (1923), and Brian Cox (1968). Those who died on this day include Lou Costello (1959), Danny Kaye (1987), and the geneticist Sewall Wright (1988), who died at 99. Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili and Andrzej, while trying to figure out where to sit, are using a metaphor of a popular Palestianian “solution” to the Middle East problem.
A: What would you say about a two-seat solution?Hili: Sure, both will be for me, and in the meantime my resistance is legal.
In Polish:
Ja: Co byś powiedziała na temat rozwiązania w postaci dwóch foteli?
Hili: Oczywiście, obydwa dla mnie, a chwilowo mój opór jest legalny.
And, over in Winnipeg, Gus has decided to put a rear window in his Ikea box:
I seems Hili is playing the victim card.
I will be visiting the Windy City as well this week end to attend the Chicago Irish Film Festival. A film I edited is playing. I hope the weather holds.
If you’re looking for a bit of Irish, the pub at the Irish American Heritage Center 4626 N Knox Ave is open Friday – Sunday nights. It’s best when there’s a band.
A great tip, thanks. If I only have time to get to it…sigh.
Insomnia is a tough one to deal with. I find that getting fresh air and aerobic exercise, staying well hydrated and unplugging all the ‘blue light’ devices *well* before bedtime helps. A light dinner of a turkey sandwich can help too along with chamomile tea.
The U. of Chicago Lab School sounds very impressive!
I only heard about blue light the other day when talking to a friend whose husband has been suffering from insomnia….
Also eat lettuce…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactucarium
And hug a kitty!
Gus is most likely a break-out artist.
Reminds me of the joke about the alcoholic who had to quit drinking because it made him breakout. Yes, breakout windows, doors ….
Gus’s house needs a sunroof.
In fact, with spring approaching, What Gus really needs is a gazebo.
fwiw, Danny Kaye died in 1987. Simple typo. thought I remembered him being alive when I was growing up…
Just read this post as I was in India and out of contact. Point being made is trivial anyway but it was Tsar Alexander II who freed the serfs. Alexander I played at being a liberal as a young guy but turned authoritarian long before he died, 35 years before the serfs were freed. Not that it did them much more immediate good than freeing the slaves in the US during and after the Civil War. Freedom was not much more than having little, if not actually nothing, to lose.