Sunday: Hili dialogue (and Leon lagniappe)

May 8, 2016 • 6:30 am

It’s Sunday, May 8, and though universities all over the U.S. are ending their years and having commencement, Chicago has a month to go. The good news is that the Ceiling CatMobile passed its emission test, with no sign of hairballs in the exhaust system.

Oh—I forgot. It’s Mother’s Day (the apostrophe is correct, but I don’t think it should be there). Here’s today’s Google Doodle celebrating it. If you’re a mom, enjoy your Day, and if you have a mom (mine is not alive), be sure to fête her.

search

On this day in 1794, chemist Antoine Lavoisier was tried, sentenced, and guillotined (all in one day). In 1902, the volcano Mt. Pelée erupted in Martinique, killing 30,000, leaving few alive, and marking the only time a volcano has erupted on French territory in recorded history. In 1945, VE Day marked the end of combat in Europe, and, in 1980, the end of smallpox on this planet was proclaimed by the World Health Organization: a triumph for science and epidemiology (and for diligent field workers).

Notables born on this day include Edmund Wilson (1895), Don Rickles (1926, still alive), Gary Snyder (1930, also still with us), and Thomas Pynchon (1937). Those who died on this day include Gustave Flaubert (1880), Paul Gaugin (1903), and Maurice Sendak (2012, see below).

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is in the window, dreaming above her station:

A: Hili, what are you doing?
Hili: I’m dreaming about sainthood.

P1040197

In Polish:

Ja: Hili, co ty tu robisz?
Hili: Marzę o świętości.

And in Wroclawek, the Dark Tabby is impatient, for he has Cat Shit to do:

Leon: Hurry up with this picture, I still have a few things to take care of.

13174039_1153187778035155_5580918462905443119_n

Oh, and Matthew just reminded me of another birthday (click the arrow):

Finally, some Sendak cats:

sendak_jackandguy10

15 thoughts on “Sunday: Hili dialogue (and Leon lagniappe)”

  2. Happy birthday Sir David. He, Carl Segan, Richard Dawkins, Jacques Cousteau, and other educators are probably responsible for turning many young people to take up careers in science.

  3. Natural Environment Research Council’s new polar research ship will be named after David Attenborough despite the name Boaty McBoatface winning the online poll to name the ship.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/07/world/europe/boaty-mcboatface-sir-david-attenborough.html

    A small victory –
    “The name Boaty McBoatface will live on as a high-tech remotely operated submarine that will collect data and samples.”

    But the true believers have not yet accepted defeat. The have started a petition calling for Sir David Attenborough to be renamed Sir Boaty McBoatface
    http://www.itv.com/news/2016-05-08/petition-for-david-attenborough-to-be-renamed-boaty-mcboatface/

    1. Totes brill. And that’s why Britain is in mho the best country in the world.

    3. Acknowledging the public poll, the NERC have said that one of the new vessel’s submersibles may be named Boaty.

      As a correspondent to The Times noted, this presumably means that other submersibles will be named Boatx, Boatz, etc.

      1. “autonomous submersibles”
        Verily, we do live in the future.

  4. I’m pleased but not surprised to hear of the Ceiling CatMobile’s success. Husband and I have a manual transmission 1999 Mazda Protegé that still passes smog tests with flying colors. Alas, knee problems a few years ago made it necessary for me to get a high-slung, automatic transmission car for myself, and Husband is the primary driver now. But I got a lot of years out of that reliable little car, and he’s getting more.

    1. Excellent point! Hili has brought far more genuine happiness to the world than Mother Teresa, and none of the pain and suffering.

      1. There are probably theropod dinosaurs who would have disagreed on that last point. Briefly.

  6. That’s one of the (many!) great things about the Mustang…being a 1965 model year, it’s a pre-pollution-controlled vehicle, so no emissions tests required….

    b&

Comments are closed.