Welcome to the weekend—those of you who respect it. Remember that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. (Jesus forgot about the women.) Today is March 12, and tonight, if you live in Canada, the U.S., or Mexico, you should remember to set your clocks forward; if you don’t go to bed early or sleep later, you’ll lose an hour of shut-eye. It’s gonna be Daylight Savings Time!
On this day in 1912, the Girl Scouts were founded in the US (the original name was “Girl Guides”) and, in 1918, Moscow replaced St. Petersburg as the capital of Russia. In 1930, Gandhi led the famous Salt March to the sea in protest of the British ban on the locals’ production of salt from seawater. On March 12, 1938, Hitler took over Austria, and, on this day in 1961 was the first winter ascent of the North Face of the Eiger (it took 6 days, ending on March 12). In 1994, the Church of England ordained its first female priests, something the Vatican has yet to emulate. Notable births on this day include Julia Lennon (1914), memorialized in her son’s song, “Julia”; Elaine de Kooning (1918); Liza Minelli (1946); Mittens Romney (1947); and Dave Eggers (1970). Those who died on March 12 include Sun yat-Sen (1925), Charlie Parker (1955), and Yehudi Menuhin (1999). Is anybody reading this?
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is frightened by the sudden erosion of democracy by the new Polish government. But I suspect Polish cats will always be free!
A. Hili, what are you doing?Hili: I’m hiding after reading the papers this morning.(Photo: Sarah Lawson)
Ja: Hili, co ty robisz?
Hili: Chowam się po porannej lekturze gazet.
(Zdjęcie: Sarah Lawson)
Well I was reading it ’til I finished. Now I’m writing this to encourage you, so keep it up. Cheers
Read it, and scored 32 on the quiz the other day.
I was reading it. Enjoying it too. People one had forgotten popping up in memory. More!
I agree!
Read it, with my fruit and coffee, and was reflecting that the fact that Mitt and Bird share a birthday ought to refute any lingering proponents of astrology.
Even I’m reading it, and it’s 1.47 am Sunday here.
I didn’t know “Julia” was Lennon’s mother. I’ve always loved that song.
Explains the somewhat unusual name of his first son, who went by the name of Julian Powell when he was in Mrs Ford’s class at Black Horse Hill in ’71-72.
Yes it is an interesting choice. Any idea what became of him?
Going from Wikipedia, he does seem to have been less active lately, but has had a productive enough career considering he never had to earn a crust. (We weren’t close; he was a year older and our desks were on opposite sides of the classroom, but he was noticeably confident and charismatic, so I remembered him many years later when reading a Lennon biography and realised who he was.)
I’m reading it in Tokyo, where it’s still Saturday, just before 10 pm. Like those commenting before me, I enjoy the juxtaposition of the names, and the memories they evoke. I’ve looked forward to it every evening since “On this day in …” started.
It’s actually Grania who started this, I believe when I was last in India. She gets the credit.
“Is anybody reading this?”
Yes
I think what we are saying is – if you are reading it, lets hear from you. Get off of that log and say something. This daylight savings thing is crap. Get rid of it and give it an improper burial.
Crimony, I thought, is his real name actually Mittens? To answer your question.
He actually just has a really old cat.
Yup, I imagine that, like me, a lot of people read it and find it interesting, but its not a feature that will generate a lot of comments.
Yes, I’m reading this too. I very much enjoy the little history lesson each morning, as you often mention someone I’ve never heard of, someone I’ve forgotten, and something worth noting for the day. Thank you.
“Is anybody reading this?”
yup
It is this time of year when I curse George W Bush for moving DST up. You just get to wake up for a while in the daylight and drive home with the sun far up that it isn’t in your eyes then this happens and you’re back to weeks!
Meant back “weeks”. Don’t know why the extra “to”
I don’t complain about switching to DST because it means that spring is around the corner. But I do wonder why we change time so early in the “spring” (a week before the equinox) and so late in the fall (six weeks after the equinox.) Seems very asymmetric.
Because of George W who made us all move it, costing us a fortune to tweet the code in every bank machine, gas station, server, and cash register in 3 countries.
Yup, I’m reading, drinking my coffee and petting my daughter’s cat Cleo.
Yes sir. Always read it but skip the cat part.
Okay, didn’t need that last part.
The cat part sometimes sucks one into reading about a whole different thing. Like today. Polish gov’t apparently not understanding that, from the perspective of the citizens, one of the reasons for separation of powers is precisely to stop duly elected bodies from doing what they think best at a given moment.
Absolutely reading your blog! In addition to reading about historical events and birthdays, I enjoy following the adventures of Hili.I don’t have a kitty right now, so she’s a digital replacement. Take care, Jerry, and sleep well!
Always reading! I appreciate the trivia and especially the daily dose of Hili.
Yep, I read it. Did you know there is a splinter sect called the Anglican Church in North America that was founded because of opposition to the ordination of women?
Back reading after a few days’ hiatus; it took time to replace my hard drive and rebuild my computer software. Glad WEIT is part of my morning again.
You poor thing! Srsly!
Of course, I’m reading this – the historical bits as well as the all important Hili update!
“Girl Guides” because that was the name of the organization founded in England by Baden-Powell, who founded the Boy Scouts. It was still the Girl Guides in New Zealand when I was growing up there, and as far as I know it’s still the Girl Guides in many countries (especially British Commonwealth countries). Why/when the US changed the name I don’t know, perhaps someone can enlighten us – it surely precedes the co-ed movement in the Boy Scouts.
I read it. I read it. There’s Charlie Parker – dead in 1955 of complications of life. I never heard him in a club because I was still not 18, but he is well represented in my music collection. Hili is doing as I feel like doing after reading in the NYT:
A Texas Candidate Pushes the Boundary of the Far Right
By MANNY FERNANDEZ
Mary Lou Bruner, who is running for a Texas Board of Education seat, posted on Facebook that “a reliable source” had told her President Obama was once a prostitute.
I’ve read about her before and the she will probably be elected. Move over Hili. Furthermore, her friend Cyrus looks just like our Benny.
“Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is frightened by the sudden erosion of democracy by the new Polish government.”
The reports of sudden erosion of democracy in Poland have been greatly exaggerated. As it transpired in the process of investigation by the Venice Commission, it was actually the previous parliamentary majority who first took unconstitutional actions in Poland…
What I’m trying to say is that the situation in Poland is obviously nowhere near as bad as in, say, Turkey…
https://twitter.com/End_of_Europe/status/708376787001188352
Small wonder! The hypocrites in charge of the EU are now relying on Erdogan to keep the migrants out of Europe. If I were him, I would take the money and still let the migrants sail to Greece. And this is exactly what he will do.
Yep, Erdogan is going to milk the EU for cash, as Qaddafi successfully did before him. As history shows, the EU politicians are no strangers to deal-making with known “keepers of democratic values”, so long as the deals suit their political goals, please read:
“More and more, it seems that the European Union wants President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey to replace Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi as the guardian of European shores against the flow of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa.
It was Colonel Qaddafi, the former Libyan strongman, who, before Europe and the United States helped to overthrow him, had an agreement with Italy to keep migrants from its shores. In 2010, visiting Silvio Berlusconi, then the Italian prime minister, Colonel Qaddafi demanded 5 billion euros, then about $6.6 billion, a year to continue to stem the tide. Otherwise, he said, Europe would become ‘another Africa’ as a result of the ‘advance of millions of immigrants.'”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/11/world/europe/europe-turkey-erdogan-refugees-migrants.html?ref=world&_r=2
Read it every day! Thank you
Read it, but I know that takes less effort than writing it. It is appreciated.
I think Jesus is not guilty in this case. In my language, the line in question is “He told them that Saturday has been made for the human and not the human for the Saturday.” I checked the Greek text; my Greek is only marginally better than my Chinese, but I saw the word “anthropon”, which I think means “human” (“man” would be a form of “andras”, I think; any Greek here?).
In the English translation of an ancient text, it seems to me that “man” could very well designate humans of both sexes, because “human” would sound too modern.
anthropon will be the accusative of anthropos which we translate as “humankind”. I think how we translate it depends on who we are and when we are. This word was probably translated as “mankind” often as well. Since it has a masculine (instead of neuter) ending and knowing the ancient Greeks, most likely it referred to men as mankind as women didn’t really participate in the whole civilization thing. How could they when they had to stay home and manage the oikosafter all? 🙂 I think if they used androsit would be more of an individual thing not encompassing the whole global notion of mankind. But I could be wrong, I think anthropos just makes better sense in this context.
In Bulgarian, “human” (noun) is “chovek”, which is of masculine gender (no escape of this! we have no “common” gender) but definitely includes women. “Man” is “mazh”, quite unrelated word which has never have a wider meaning of “human”. Humankind is “chovechestvo”, a derivative of “chovek”. The words in Russian are similar.
In English, I often use “mankind” in a context including women; I am convinced this was correct 70 years ago, not sure whether it is still correct.
Depends on who you ask. I prefer “humankind” or “humanity.”
You are right! I became curious and checked a text that seemed most suitable: the description of the Mecone conference in Hesiod’s Theogony, where “mankind” includes only men because women are to be engineered a little later as a divine WMD against men. And, indeed, the words used were forms of “anthropos”.
“…because women are to be engineered a little later as a divine WMD against men.”
Ha ha!
Still got it! 😉
When I first started reading this blog, I was skipping the Hili parts. Then I started reading them. And then I was so interested that I found out the posts about Prof. Coyne’s visit to Poland when he first met Hili and the human family tamed by her.
Like Scientifik, I am not afraid for the Polish democracy. Every democratic country can occasionally have a suboptimal government and a parliament voting some bad laws. What troubles me more is the current German government having the audacity to lecture Poland about democracy.
It is indeed beyond arrogant of Germany, a country that had first systematically exterminated Polish elites, public officials, professors, engineers with the express purpose of fatally crippling the country so that “it can never rise again,” to now mock and reprove Poland for a “suboptimal government.”
Reading with pleasure. I usually read HD the first thing in the morning. I’m in the middle of a move and so my schedule is messed up, but found time to read during lunch. Keep up the great work PCC(E)!