Tomorrow is Easter, and I head for Bhubaneswar to give my two talks, and then, after a couple days of sightseeing, it’s back to America. Today is March 26, and on this day in 1830, the bogus Book of Mormon was published in New York. (It has the highest number of “and so it came to pass” phrases of any book.) In 1934 the UK introduced a driving test; does this mean that, before that year, people didn’t have to show they were competent behind the wheel to get a license? On March 26, 1942, the first female prisoners arrived at Auschwitz, and, in 1971, East Pakistan declared its independence from Pakistan, bringing the nation of Bangladesh into being. In 1997, police discovered the bodies of 39 “Heaven’s Gate” members who had committed a mass, UFO-related suicide.
Those born on this day include A. E. Housman (1859), Robert Frost (1874), Tennessee Williams (1911), Sandra Day O’Conner (1930), Leonard Nimoy (1931), Erica Jong (1942), and Keira Knightley (1985). Those who died on this day include Ludwig van Beethoven (1827), Walt Whitman (1892), and Daniel Patrick Moynihan (2003).
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is being a Feline Snowflake:
A: Could you please leave this carpet alone?
Hili: I can’t because it’s molesting me constantly.
Ja: Hili, czy mogłabyś zostawić ten dywan w spokoju?
Hili: Nie mogę, bo on mnie ciągle zaczepia.
Lagniappe: Gus helps his staff Taskin play the harpsichord:
and a new Non Sequitur strip by Wiley Miller, speculating about the evolution of squirrels (h/t: Ben Goren):
In answer to your question about UK driving licenses, yes, before 1934 you bought a license for a few shillings and that was it. There was no driving test.
I see now from the internet that this was also the case in many American States until even later.
“In 1934 the UK introduced a driving test; does this mean that, before that year, people didn’t have to show they were competent behind the wheel to get a license”
The lady who took me to the police station for my driving test (I had a learner’s permit, so needed to be accompanied by someone with a full licence) had got her licence back in about 1945 when you just sent in 10 Shillings to the motor registry and they sent out a full licence. No test required, and she just kept renewing it. She’d never driven a car.
When my grandfather was learning to fly back in 1927 they had just started issuing licenses to pilots. An agent from the Aeronautics Branch of the Commerce Dept. was at the airport one day and talked him into getting a license.
I’ve often wondered when squirrels will evolve, to not run out in front of cars.
They’re under an evolutionary pressure. Applied to the back of the neck.
I’ve said this before, but I’m sure that since I was a young driver in the 60s the incidence of sheep running out in front of cars on unfenced roads (common in the Highlands) has reduced considerably. Natural selection. Pure anecdote, of course.
Hmmm, NFU Mutual (the insurance arm of the National Farmers Union) might be able to apply some data to that speculation.
Having just flagged New Zealand’s efforts at rabbit eradication in a mail to PCC(E), I wonder if there is any taste to eradicate the rabbit from the British landscape? After all, they were introduced by the Normans and only went wild … about the “Civil” War, wasn’t it?
I have noticed that squirrels and chipmunks out here in the country, where roadkill may be more likely because the speed limit is higher, have learned to just go for it. Put up the tail and run as fast as you can when you are crossing the road. It must work most of the time as I rarely see dead squirrels/chipmunks on the road.
wheras the genuine “Book of Mormon” was published in London’s West End in 2010 or so. (Not up to things theatrical. I don’t know if it started on Broadway/ LA/ Peroria, or some other Slough of (cultural) Despond
As others said, yes.
To quote a friend from my university days, “A man is not a man until he has driven a tractor along the road at 5 mph with 40 tourist cars stacked up behind him. That’s normally by the age twelve, as soon as your feet can reach the pedals.” I’m not going to try to reproduce his Western Isles accent. Nor the fact that both of the island’s policemen were close relatives and fellow crofters.
There are still several British islands where you don’t need a driving license to drive on public land. This is normally because though there might be public land on the island, there aren’t any publicly-maintained roads. Fair Isle springs to mind.
Today is Richard Dawkins’ birthday too – he’s 75.
And a fun fact – when there were only three cars in the whole US, two of them had a head-on collision on a straight bit of road. Yes, both were being driven by men. And still they managed to invent the myth that it’s women drivers that are the problem. Ah, testosterone!
Haaaappy, Happy Birthing Day to you, Dr Dawkins !
I don’t know but I’ve been told: IF you keep on dancin’, then you’ll never grow old !
Woo – ish, I so know (“not growing old”); but I do wish you a continued good recovery and many, many more birthing day – anniversaries !
Blue
ps Her body language says it all, not ? http://www.pinterest.com/pin/506655026806646242
Is it just me, or are Pinterest pictures hidden to non-members?
Likely that is correct: that is, are hidden. I did not know; I am sorry about that.
Here for the same then ?
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/9f/f1/f4/9ff1f46a9cd3ce7c6ade69778653959f.jpg
Blue
What a wonderful capture, that! 🙂
Yes, too bad about Pinterest! So much of what you post sounds so interesting.
“Ah, testosterone!”
Thank heaven. Without it what would little girls do?
Yeah, Richard Dawkins’s birthday is 6 days after my dad’s. My dad turned 74 this year. When my dad realized Richard was about his age, I think he was happy about it because Richard is so active in doing what he does and so articulate and smart. I think my dad has been anticipating losing his marbles since he turned 40 and is surprised he never did. 😀
My mum will be 74 next month. She’s constantly trying to prove she can still do as much as she always has. She mostly succeeds too, except nowadays it ends with her falling asleep in the armchair at night. 😀
Hedgehogs may be evolving to deal with car traffic. I have heard that the ones who curl up at the sign of danger get killed off, whereas the ones who react by running away survive. There are said to be increasing numbers of run-for-it hedgehogs now. Just anecdotal, as far as I know.
Damn. you’ve just reminded me that I needed to report another squished badger to the County Recorder.
I’ve witnessed the “run for it” behaviour with squirrels and chipmunks too. When one runs in front of my car, I think “oh crap, you better not change your mind” as they have an instinct to dart back and forth to confuse the enemy and this is usually what gets them squished so I’m usually, if it’s safe, ready to stop. But usually, here in the countryside, they just put up their little tails and run as quickly as possible across the road.
Actually it’s not. Easter has been cancelled. Yeah – they found the body.
“they found the body”
I hope they publish the DNA to check for a Y chromosome and compare it to the Shroud of Turin.
Ha ha! Yes, because the Shroud of Turin is the baseline for authenticity and Christian belief.
If the shroud doesn’t fit, you must acquit!
Ha ha! I hope I remember that one in the future.
I did a little research into the Heaven’s Gate bunch, and the Wikepedia article includes the detail that the members had purchased the following:
“Alien abduction insurance is an insurance policy issued against alien abduction. The insurance policy is redeemed if the insured person can prove they were abducted by aliens and returned to Earth. Geico insurance and The Daily Telegraph report that one English company has sold over 30,000 policies. Some companies offer policies for alien pregnancy, alien examinations and death caused by aliens.”
p.t.barnum, anyone???
That’s priceless!