Good morning on yet another Monday: March 6, 2017. It’s National Oreo Day (I wonder who paid for that designation?), but I have to admit that I do like those cookies. I favor regular ones–not overstuffed or mint flavored—and, unlike any other cookie, I eat them the classic way: with a glass of milk, dunking them and them washing them down. It’s also European Day of the Righteous, celebrating those who have stood up against totalitarianism. I’m sure you’re thinking what I am: we need to move that day to to America, too.
News of the day: CNN reports “The FBI asked the Justice Department on Saturday to refute President Donald Trump’s assertion that then-President Barack Obama ordered the wiretapping of Trump’s phones last year, two sources with knowledge of the situation told CNN.” It would be lovely if the Justice Department would confirm that Trump himself was spreading “fake news,” and it’s telling that Justice was asked to refute Trump’s claim. Our President continues to be a national embarrassment.
On March 6, 1665, the first issue of the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society was published, establishing it as the world’s first journal devoted exclusively to science (it’s still going strong). On this day in 1836, the Battle of the Alamo ended, with all Americans, including Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett, killed by Mexican troops. In 1869, Mendeleev first presented his periodic table of the elements to the Russian Chemical Society, and, in 1899, the Bayer Company registered “aspirin” as a trademarked word. On March 6, 1965, Elijah Muhammad bestowed the name of Muhammad Ali on the boxer formerly known as Cassius Clay. In 1981, Walter Cronkite signed off after 19 years as the anchor of CBS News. I remember that well, and here’s the short video showing him signing off for good:
Notables born on this day include Michelangelo (1475), Ring Lardner (1885), Bob Wills (1905), Lou Costello (1906), Alan Greenspan (1926), Kiri Te Kanawa (1944), Carolyn Porco (1953), and Shaquille O’Neal (1972.)
In honor of Kiri Te Kanawa’s 73rd birthday, and to inspire me for my forthcoming trip to New Zealand—where she was born to a Maori father and white mother, and given up for adoption to a couple of the same ancestry—have a listen to one of my favorite arias, “O mio babbino caro” (“Oh my dear daddy”) from Puccini’s opera Gianni Schicchi (1918).
Those who died on this day include, besides Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett, Louisa May Alcott (1888), John Philip Sousa (1932), Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1935), Pearl S. Buck (1973), Ayn Rand (1982), Georgia O’Keefe (1986), and Nancy Reagan (last year). Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is doing some judicious editing of Andrzej’s new article for Listy.
A: I have to write an article about a welfare state.Hili: Do not forget about the problem of the very minimal care for cats.(Photo: Sarah Lawson)
Ja: Muszę napisać artykuł o państwie dobrobytu.
Hili: Nie zapomnij o problemie minimalnej troski o koty.
(Foto: Sarah Lawson)
Lagniappe: Sunday’s “Bloom County” strip shows Berk Breathed continuing his take on America’s Great Bathroom Battle (click to enlarge). No trans-species bathroom use!
Finally, the Countryside Baptist Church of Clearwater, Florida clearly thinks this is a clever sign:
h/t: Taskin, Blue
Call me jaded, but those church signs always look made-up by someone on a computer. The letters just look a slight tinge copy/pasted.
Head off to the URL on the sign. It is a real sign.
Thank you, noted on my mental tally.
There is a church nearby with one of those signs. Whoever is in charge changes the pithy sayings weekly. When I was younger and could run fast I was known to tamper with a sign or two….
That’s ‘Countryside Baptist’, not ‘Landover Baptist’…
cr
Now why would a nonphysical spiritual realm ruled by an omnipotent being need a wall?
“What does God need with a starship?” (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier) Maybe it’s to keep something in….
It’s a metaphorical wall.
It’s a metaphorical place.
Got to have a wall or the Pearly Gates would fall down.
That’s basic physics.
A graveyard is far more tolerant than the Church. It will let anyone in.
Not necessarily. Most church graveyards won’t admit but their own, and in the past blacks were not allowed to be buried in white ones.
And in the past, Catholics refused a Christian Burial to those that died as a result of suicide.
They claim to know more now, and now allow it. No apologies to those who were denied, because you know, that was all covered with the whole John Paul notapology.
But wouldn’t it be a useful perpetual miracle to have the gates freestanding? 😉
The authors of the Genesis apparently were matter-of-fact people, so their Paradise is quite physical. It is located between rivers, two of which are claimed to be Tigris and Euphrates. (One wonders how the Iraqis have omitted its existence.) After the Fall, G*d dispatches an angelic thug with a fiery sward to guard the eastern side. Nothing is said about a wall, but we could infer that the other boundaries of the territory are protected by physical barriers.
Day of the righteous? Sound a bit bloody self-righteous to me! 😉
PCC(E), you forgot to explain WHY today is the anniversary of the deaths of Davey Crockett and Jim Bowie – the Battle of the Alamo!
REMEMBER THE ALAMO!
I certainly did not forget; you didn’t read the post. See paragraph 3 from the top!
Oops – sorry! My bad…
“If the Alamo had a back door,
nobody would remember it.”
–variously attributed
The fortress castles in Europe had “back doors” for hundreds of years. A long tunnel with a disguised opening on the other side of the hill.
As someone who grew up in a baptist household, let me say how shocked, Shocked I tell you, I am that a baptist church would sink to such bigotry and hate!
Oh, I don’t think any sinking is required.
I find it candid and with a sense of humor. I would also bring the analogy further: if someone wants to vet you extremely to let you in, think well why you are trying to go there in the first place.
We usually use it in a different context, but with regard to Trump’s latest, What is asserted without evidence may be rejected without evidence.
Some Republican with a conscience needs to tell Trump to put up or shut up.
Several GOPs have said almost that. The news this morning is that he’s been tearing his hair(piece) out with fury as his White House is sliding into a sinkhole of bad press.
And he’s blaming everyone else for it except himself. Really good for morale mate – sign of a great leader! Just keep on blaming the staff and keep on wondering why your administration is leaking like a sieve.
And if it’s Obama holdovers who are doing the leaking, why was it all the Trump staff that had to get their phones checked by Spicer? Another great morale booster btw.
I believe I hear Walter spinning in the grave. I suppose that is where we will have to go if real journalism is needed. YouTube of dead people.
The polling masters should stop showing us how low Trump’s ratings are. Just put up on the screen his credibility – 0
What a glorious ,glorious voice, one of my favourite Soprano Arias, Damn but Puccini could write a great tune.Another is Casta Diva from Bellini’s Norma.
Here it is with Anna Netrebko.
https://youtu.be/yiGpm56Bi8s
Sorry about that ,how do we link it without embedding.?
I’ll leave it to other readers to answer that; in truth, I don’t know, but there is a way. You can put a hyperlink to it if you know the code.
I found out how to do this reading this thing called “Da Roolz”. It’s actually quite handy. Kudos to the guy who created them 😀
16. Linking to videos. Don’t embed them directly unless you have something really special to show, for it makes the comments unwieldy. If you just paste in the http:// address of a YouTube video, for instance, it will put the entire video in your comment. Occasionally I will let this go, but sometimes readers insert multiple videos. To avoid this, and create a link, use the following html formulation:
LinkText (note space after first “a”)
For people who are impatient, like me, you can just write something like REMOVE_THIS_PART in the link. I was a frequent offender until I just did that.
Use the http address at the top of the screen rather than the code in the share section.
IF the url, Mr Mike, comes with an http:// or an https:// in its full address, then delete of that url just this much. Delete over to, and leave in, the www part of, and the rest, of its url.
IF the url does not come with an http:// or an https:// and, as well, does NOT come with a www either, then, do nothing. Just copy all of that url in to your posting.
“I think” as per the quoth of Mr C Darwin.
Blue
Yes. If writing the link in a comment box, if the URL you want to link to is “https://www.youtube.com/somelink” you leave out the ‘https://’ when you write your comment and WordPress will actually put the ‘https://’ back in to your post to make a proper link, but it won’t imbed the video.
If you do include the https then WordPress will imbed the video.
cr
The aria was very nice, and reminded me it’s time to watch “The Quartet” movie again.
Ah, the pride of fundamentalist Christians.
I used to think if you held a mirror up to these people they would feel ashamed. Trump has now taught me these people are beyond reconciliation of equality or tolerance for their fellow human beings and that a mirror would only delude them into thinking that there were others who thought as dreadfully as they do.
Why in the heck would anyone think the extreme vetting of burning people in hell is a good thing? Thank you religion.
Extreme vetting? Not really…according to many Christian sects, even a serial killer can have a “deathbed conversion”. No vetting whatsoever. There is a fancy word for being “saved” in the last moment after living a “sinful” life, but I can’t recall it.
redeemed?
It’s a philosophical term… I learned it here on WEIT…frustrated that I can’t remember it. grrrr.
I remember that broadcast. Things didn’t quite work out as Walter thought but I was pleased to see him host New Year’s from Vienna for many years on PBS.
Wow. I didn’t realize tonight would be opera night. Two really stunning arias, sung by the best. Thank you.
In honour of Mendeleev, and in sad (musical) contrast to the operatic arias above, here’s Tom Lehrer’s brilliant tribute to the ‘Elements’, beautifully animated by Timwi Terby:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGM-wSKFBpo
cr
I’ve been outed!