Today’s dialogue will be short and sweet as I suffered from jet-lag sleeplessness last night. Yes, it’s Sunday, September 17, 2017. When I landed in Chicago yesterday, after two weeks of being in chilly Poland, it was 30° C (86° F): a warm day for mid-September. And in our hemisphere Fall officially starts in four days.
It’s National Apple Dumpling Day, and there’s small chance of me getting one of those—or, given the emptiness of my larder, any other food. Back in Poland, it’s Sybirak’s Day, Dzień Sybiraka, which Wikipedia notes is “set on the anniversary of Soviet invasion of Poland, established in 1998.” This marks the Soviet invasion of the country on September 17, 1939, after Germany had invaded from the West on September 1. The Russians then began a ruthless campaign of killing and suppression, executing Polish intellectuals, priests, government officials, and military officers, and deported over 350,000 Poles to Siberia.
On this day in 1630, the city of Boston, Massachusetts was founded. In 1669, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek wrote a paper to the Royal Society of London detailing his microscopic observation of “animalcules”, or protozoa—the first time they’d been seen and described. On this day in 1862, the Battle of Antietam took place between Union and Confederate forces in Maryland. It remains the bloodiest day in American military history, with 22,717 dead, wounded, or missing. On September 17, 1925, Frida Kahlo was in a trolley accident in Mexico, which left her crippled and a semi-invalid for the rest of her life, giving up her medical studies and turning to art. After years of pain and botched surgeries Kahlo died in 1954 (some say she took an overdose of painkillers) at age 47. The last entry in her famous diary (I can’t find the drawing) is this:
The last drawing was a black angel, which biographer Hayden Herrera interprets as the Angel of Death. It was accompanied by the last words she wrote, “I joyfully await the exit — and I hope never to return — Frida” (“Espero alegre la salida — y espero no volver jamás”)
On this day in 1978, the Camp David Accords were signed by Israel and Egypt, and in 2011 the Occupy Wall Street movement began.
Notables born on this day include Billy the Kid (1859), Warren Burger (1907; now that was a Supreme Court!), Hank Williams (1923), Ken Kesey (1935). Those who died on September 17 include Dred Scot (1858), Karl Popper (1994), Spiro Agnew (1996) and Red Skelton (1997). Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is wondering if the cats are greener on the other side of the Vistula:
Hili: Are cats on the other side of the river the same race as I am?A: Of course.Hili: It’s not so obvious. It has to be investigated.
Hili: Czy koty po drugiej stronie rzeki są tej samej rasy co ja?
Ja: Oczywiście.
Hili: To nie jest takie oczywiste, trzeba to zbadać.
For lagniappe, Barry sent at d*g tw**t:
According to Tom Skilling, our Fall starts around Sep 1, rather than the astronomical Fall which begins with the Fall equinox. Turns out there is more than one way to define Autumn. Had to learn this as I migrated from California a decade ago, which is considerably further south than Chicago.
On Sun, Sep 17, 2017 at 7:16 AM, Why Evolution Is True wrote:
> whyevolutionistrue posted: “Today’s dialogue will be short and sweet as I > suffered from jet-lag sleeplessness last night. Yes, it’s Sunday, September > 17, 2017. When I landed in Chicago yesterday, after two weeks of being in > chilly Poland, it was 30° C (86° F): a warm day for mid-Sep” >
Chicago is just south of the 42nd parallel, which is the northern border of California. So there is actually a small part of California that is farther north than Chicago. I doubt that you lived there, though.
Jet-lag. Not much to do but time and sleep to remove this lousy feeling.
Not only the deadliest battle in our history, Antietam was the first time Lee came into the North for battle. Had he not been up against one of the poorest Generals (McClellan) of the war, he may have lost even worst than he did. Lee did not learn so much either because his next try at Gettysburg was another defeat. Antietam also allowed Lincoln to go forward with Emancipation.
Oh, the Vietnam War documentary starts today on PBS.
Here’s a good short write up on Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. REMEMBER DIEGO RIVERA AND FRIDA KAHLO:
http://www.widewalls.ch/diego-rivera-frida-kahlo/
1. Been meaning to tell PCC(E), and another reader : Check out J. Allan Hobson’s writings on sleep – off the top of my head, and just for Euro- jet-lag
Interview in “Q & A: Conversations with Harvard Scholars”
Book by Peter Costa
https://g.co/kgs/e7K1qN
General – sleep, dreams – I think also rejecting Freud:
The Chemistry of Conscious States
2. Thanks again for recommending “The Microbe Hunters”. One piece of trivia : in the Gilbert and Sullivan song “I Am The Very Model of a Modern Major General”, the general sings the word “animalcules” to rhyme with “calculus”, with amusing results.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major-General's_Song
Wuuuull, I dunno how “notable” this ex – preacher – man, now mighty fine good and godless one be; buuuut Mr Jerry DeWitt himself of the very same first and last names as a belovéd, former employer and bossman of mine, Dr Jerry DeWitt, turns today 48 years of age. y1969. Not but one month born Mr DeWitt was … … after I, three darling friends of mine and ~499,996 of our other ones all hauled our degrees of soooo apparently ‘thin skins” back to our respective daily lives. From Woodstock. Bethel, New York, and Mr Yasgur’s hillside dairying acres.
To echo Mr Schenck’s announcement: instead of viewing Mr Colbert’s Emmy Awards show tonight, you may wanna tune in to the 7:00pm / Central commencement of Ms Lynn Novick’s and Mr Ken Burns’ inaugural display of their ten – year, ten – episode endeavor, The Viet Nam War, its 18 hours’ worth concluding with PBS upon Thursday, 28 September y2017.
Ms Novick just this morning, “The most striking ? Of what we researched over the ten years of our making this documentary ? O, that one is easy: the lies coming straight out at all of us. From the War’s very beginning. Unlike of the past. Unlike during the wars of the past. Right out of the mouths of all of our presidents (especially Nixon and Johnson) and the other leaders at the time. Lie after lie after lie.”
Mr Burns also this morning, “War is fought twice: once on the battlefield, and again in the memories of it.”
Actually ? .never.never. forget.
Blue
“Warren Burger (1907; now that was a Supreme Court!)”
I dunno; might you be thinking instead of Earl Warren? The Burger court did have a few good decisions, but Burger was usually in the minority.