Good morning on a very cold Tuesday, December 12, 2017: the temperature in Chicago right now is 18° F (-8° C). It’s National Cocoa Day, and I think I may make myself a warming mug of hot chocolate. It’s also Kanji Day in Japan, in which a Japanese character (a written one, not a person) will be chosen to symbolize the day.
I’m quite busy finishing up preparations and talks for India, so this may be today’s only post. Like Maru, I do my best.
On December 12, 1787, Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the United States Constitution (you may remember that Delaware, the first, ratified it five days before). On this day in 1901, in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic radio signal—the letter “S” in Morse Code. Exactly a decade later, Delhi replaced Calcutta as the capital of India. On this day in 1941, Hitler “declared the imminent extinction of the Jews” at the Reich Chancellery. As usual, there were no official records of this, but Joseph Goebbels recorded Hitler’s declaration in his diary:
Bezüglich der Judenfrage ist der Führer entschlossen, reinen Tisch zu machen. Er hat den Juden prophezeit, daß, wenn sie noch einmal einen Weltkrieg herbeiführen würden, sie dabei ihre Vernichtung erleben würden. Das ist keine Phrase gewesen. Der Weltkrieg ist da, die Vernichtung des Judentums muß die notwendige Folge sein.
Regarding the Jewish Question, the Führer has decided to make a clean sweep. He prophesied to the Jews that, if they yet again brought about a world war, they would experience their own annihilation. That was not just a phrase. The world war is here, and the annihilation of the Jews must be the necessary consequence.
On December 12, 1963, Kenya gained independence from the UK, and in 1991 the Russian Federation became independent from the USSR. Finally, on a day that will live in infamy—December 12, 2000—the U.S—Supreme court released its decision in the case of Bush v. Gore. Voting along ideological lines, the court allowed Katherine Harris’s Florida vote certification to stand, making Bush the President.
Notables born on this day include Gustave Flaubert (1821), Edvard Munch (1863), Edward G. Robinson (1893), Frank Sinatra (1915), Buford Pusser (1915), Connie Francis (1938), Dionne Warwick (1940), Dickey Betts (1943), Jennifer Connelly (1970), and Mayim Bialik (1975).
In honor of Dionne Warwick’s birthday, here she is with Whitney Houston, singing the hit “That’s what friends are for,” written by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager. Note that Bacharach is at the piano:
And in honor of Munch, here’s his drawing “Die Katze” (The Cat):
Those who died on this day include Robert Browning (1889), Tallulah Bankhead (1968), Mo Udall (1998), Joseph Heller (1999), and Ike Turner (2007).
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is, as usual, kvetching about the paucity of noms:
Hili: Providence didn’t provide.A: Oh, I’m sorry.
Hili: Opatrzność nie zaopatrzyła.
Ja: O przepraszam.
Speaking of cats and providence, here’s a cartoon about cat religion from Rubes, by Leigh Rubin, sent by reader Diane G.:
Most of the tweets below were found by the ever reliable Matthew Cobb. Be sure to watch the video.
Bank loan officer: why are you borrowing money, and what is your product name?
Entrepreneur: I want to make cows happy, and the name of my product is 'happy cow' 🐮
Bank loan officer: let's do this! pic.twitter.com/VQbG9fAMy7
— Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) December 9, 2017
A fox noms Frosty’s nose:
https://twitter.com/Naturanotitia/status/939818178011680768
Reader Charleen sent a d*g trying to annoy a sleeping cat. The d*g finally gets what he deserves.
“On this day in 1935, Hitler “declared the imminent extinction of the Jews” at the Reich Chancellery. ”
Is the date right? The world war was still a long way off in 1935. December 1939 perhaps?
You’re right–it was 1941. I changed it, thanks.
Was that just before the Wannsee Conference?
Yes. The Wannsee conference was January 1942.
The kanji character for 2017 is 北 – kita which means north. It is not just for the day but selected to reflect the events of the year. Driving kita to the win were North Korea’s missile tests and nuclear test, the heavy rain in northern Kyushu, and the poor harvest of potatoes in Hokkaido.
In 2016 it was gold.
“and I think I may make myself a warming mug of hot chocolate.”
error?
On Tue, Dec 12, 2017 at 4:31 AM Why Evolution Is True wrote:
> whyevolutionistrue posted: “Good morning on a very cold Tuesday, December > 12, 2017: the temperature in Chicago right now is 18° F (-8° C). It’s > National Cocoa Day, and I think I may make myself a warming mug of hot > chocolate. It’s also Kanji Day in Japan, in which a Japanese charac” >
Error? I see none.
1787 & 1788 were the ratification years for the constitution and this time period does not get much play in history although it was the most important and interesting part of the story. Each state had to conduct a convention just for the purpose of debating and deciding if this document should produce a government. Some states got right to it, such as Delaware and Pennsylvania. Others were slow and generally they were the states that were in doubt. The sequence was of some importance and the goal was to reach 9 states to ratify the document. After the number 9 was reached the goal became not to get left out. Rhode Island, who did not even send delegates to the constitutional convention decided very late to join the Union.
And now cows can get scritches!!
Thank you, DrBrydon, for my new word !
I had not known of ‘scritch’ before
and just now in re it … … studied up !
Blue
I would guess they might add some insect repellent to this device as well. Helps keep the face flies off the cows. Out in the field/pasture they would hang a chain between two posts and wrap gunny sacks around the chain. Then add the repellent.
Smashing one, Ms Diane G !
I seem to know a passel of beings .human.
who believe upon their last word and breath
the same fairy tale ! As a matter of fact,
one upon her dying dais ( literally ) asked
me to recite for her thus of Tennyson’s to
which I, o’course, complied:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Bar
I have long wondered at, rather than yearning for another ‘place’ over where to cross, how
difficult can it be .to know. one ‘d better
like at where one is .now. … … .now. with
breath !
Blue
With respect to Hitler’s vow to exterminate the Jews, it is eerie that the date, December 12, is one day after Nazi Germany unilaterally declared war on the US. Do Goebbels or other Nazi officials ever tie the two things together?
Do not know about that but the declaration of war on the U.S. was more or less required after the Pearl Harbor event. Partners in crime as it were.
Apparently Hitler did. Note the reference to world war in Goebbel’s diary. After Pearl Harbor and Hitler’s declaration, what was mainly a European conflict became a full-scale world war.
Us Canadians – not to mention the Vietnamese and Koreans – might have a problem with that “European” characterization. 😉
And of course the Chinese!
Presumably that Munch drawing is of Salome after her dance, with the head of John the Baptist. Those cats want to see everything!
And Happy Cow (happycow.net) is also a website dedicated to reviews of vegan and vegetarian restaurants and stores.
I remember that SCOTUS decision in 2000. SCOTUS lost all credibility as a non-partisan, independent judiciary body that day. Quadruple shame on them!
We’re still living with the consequences of that unconscionable decision. The situation in Iraq being but the tip of the ice-berg. How different would our world have looked if Mr Gore would have been the (rightful) POTUS then, instead of the usurper Dubaya?
Caught 23?
Fido is extremely lucky to get a one-paw education, not all four plus teeth.
So, why are cats supposedly the possessor of *nine* lives, rather than eight, ten, seventeen or three hundred and six?
According to moggies.co.uk:
HERE’S A WIKI ON THE NINE
This could all be wild fancy of course