Wednesday: Hili dialogue

January 31, 2018 • 6:30 am

Well, it’s the final day of January: the 31st, in the year of our Ceiling Cat 2018, and it’s National Hot Chocolate Day. I added extra hot chocolate powder to my latte to celebrate. Political news: Trump’s State of the Union address, which I didn’t watch. What can Trump say that would make me feel better about him? What is he good for? Absolutely nothing (say it again).  I’ll read about the address later, but I’ll predicting now that he touted the economic “progress” of the U.S. (stock market rise and jobs) without mentioning that the middle class isn’t doing better; will say that he’ll propose a DACA bill, but one linked to other immigration reforms (like the goddam wall); and in general will trumpet that things are going terrifically. Was I right? Science news:  a new report in the Guardian, summarizing research from the University of St. Andrews, reveals that Orcas can imitate human speech as well as the sounds of other marine mammals (do listen to the audio at the link; h/t Michael).

On January 31, 1606, Guy Fawkes was put to death for the “Gunpowder Plot” against Parliament and King James. On this day in 1865 the U.S. Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment that abolished slavery. It was later ratified by the states. In 1929, Leon Trotsky was exiled from the Soviet Union; he was killed with an ice axe to the skull in 1940.  On January 31, 1930, a great innovation arrived: the 3M company began marketing Scotch Tape (why do they call it “Scotch”?). On this day in 1945, the U.S. Army executed private Eddie Slovik was for desertion; it was the first execution for desertion since the Civil War, and, I believe, the last in our time (49 soldiers were given the death sentence for desertion in WWII, but Slovik’s was the only one carried out.  Exactly 5 years later, President Harry Truman announced the U.S. program to develop a hydrogen bomb.

Notables born on this day include Franz Schubert (1797), Tallulah Bankhead (1902), Jackie Robinbson (1919), Norman Mailer (1923), Philip Glass and Suzanne Pleshette (both 1937), Nolan Ryan (1947), and Minnie Driver (1970). The Grim Reaper was kindly today, as not many notables died; those include Guy Fawkes (see above), A. A. Milne (1956), and Molly Ivins (2007).

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili was out for a bit last night, for the snow is melting. She can’t wait for warmer weather!

Hili: It looks promising.
A: What does?
Hili: The world: the grass is greener today than it was yesterday.
In Polish:
Hili: Wygląda obiecująco.
Ja: Co?
Hili: Świat, trawa jest dziś zieleńsza niż wczoraj.

Matthew sent an optical illustion tw**t; watch the center appear to move:

A nature tweet from Grania:

And three nicer tw**ts. This is a good one. (Here’s another: “Why did the crow sit on the telephone wire?” “Because he wanted to make a long-distance caw.”)

Look at this sweetie!

https://twitter.com/landpsychology/status/958133474170372096

Noms and history:

From reader Karl, a cartoon showing the difference between cats and d*gs:

 

38 thoughts on “Wednesday: Hili dialogue”

  1. the 3M company began marketing Scotch Tape (why do they call it “Scotch”?).

    The story I’ve read is that when they were tweaking it, someone was stingy with the adhesive and it didn’t stick well. So it began to be called “Scotch tape,” as in overly cheap tape. Then they put more adhesive on it so that it would work properly and sell decently, but the name “Scotch” had already, pardon the pun, stuck.

    Yes, ethnic evil, a microagression (the evil continues every time you buy it) that means non-SJW speakers need to be deplatformed. If the story is true, anyhow.

    Glen Davidson

    2. It is because Jerry (stealthily) loves d*gs too. Isn’t this black puppy cute beyond description?

  5. Yes, what could possibly be learned listing to Trump who most likely won’t be around much longer.

    More important, we are having a lunar trifecta as we speak, blue moom, lunar eclipes, full moom, you name it. I cannot see it from my location but they showed a good photo on the tube out at the airport.

    Love that cartoon…

    1. Just saw the lunar eclipse from my front yard… lovely.

      Wondered if the double “moom” reference above were typos, or in sly response to the State of the “Uniom” invitation misprints?

      1. Hey, pretty good. I do need an editor for all typing but those white house boys do have a spelling problem.

          1. Interesting but…Republicans in the House or White House, what’s the difference?

    2. If I were forced to bet, I would wager that Trump will indeed be around for quite some time. There isn’t the slightest indication that the Republican controlled Congress would take impeachment action against him, even if Mueller condemns him in the strongest terms.

      There is a slightly greater possibility that Trump would resign, but I wouldn’t bet on this either. My bet would be on the likelihood that Trump will be around until at least January 20, 2021.

      1. You may be overlooking the tons of stuff accumulated by Mueller. Or maybe the fall elections and effect on the numbers. This garbage about to be made public by Trump’s puppets in the House will be absolute proof of the House’s complicity in his attempt to take down the justice department and the FBI. Are the people going to sit by while all of this takes place? Even the corrupt have their limits, or at least we hope they do.

        1. There have been so many lies and appalling stories during the campaign and in the first year of his presidency that I was sure would be the death of Trump–and weren’t–that I now see predictions of his imminent demise as mere wishful thinking. I’m quite afraid we’ll have another 7 years of him.

      2. Once we are in agreement! I actually think that whenever such a … president is elected, people should roast a turkey to give thanks for the 2-term limit.

  6. ‘What can Trump say that would make me feel better about him?’

    I resign?

    There’s an extraneous ‘executed’ in the item on private Eddie Slovik.

    2. I bet Slovik didn’t have ‘bone spurs’. If he had had, he might have become POTUS instead of being ignobly executed. 😦
      (for all clarity, I do not imply Mr Trump should have been executed, but….)

  7. I guess marketing- the simply chose Scotch plaid as their design, and voila. Was I right? Off to Wikipedia I go…

    1. Ian, cannot speak for everyone but no apology needed from me, I had not seen that before and it has cheered up an otherwise annoying day for me.

  9. On this day in 1945, the U.S. Army executed private Eddie Slovik was executed for desertion …

    I once caused an awkward moment during a tour of a portraiture gallery in Washington, DC. There was a painting of a seated, grandfatherly Dwight Eisenhower with his hands folded on his lap. The docent said a few words about the painting, and, before moving on to the next, asked if there were any questions. “Yeah,” I said from the back of the pack, “why’d the artist leave the blood of Eddie Slovik and Ethel Rosenberg offa Ike’s hands?”

    1. During the Civil War Lincoln saved many soldiers from death for desertion. The total number are probably not known. But he personally along with his clerk, reviewed all the the court martial cases that came up and there were tons of them during the war. I know of no other President that ever did this but then, there was only one Lincoln.

  10. The story about the orca who can mimic human speech was featured on the BBC radio news this morning. I was amused to find that the orca could also do fart noises.

    2. Yes you can stop the movement by staring at one point, you have to move ever so slightly over the picture.

  12. I think your summary of Trump’s SOTU speech is pretty accurate. I was watching it (out of sense of civic obligation) but nodded off during the anodyne first half, before (as I understand it) he segued into the familiar xenophobic nationalist tropes. Just as well, I suppose, since that probably woulda had me up pacing around and GRRRR-ing at the tube for another couple hours.

    1. Are you the one who used “anodyne” the other week? I love that word! I repeated it a number of times (to myself, in my head) since then – thanks!

  15. Re: Origins of Scotch tape.

    Wikipedia reports
    “The use of the term Scotch in the name was a pejorative meaning “stingy” in the 1920s and 1930s. The brand name Scotch came about around 1925 while Richard Drew was testing his first masking tape to determine how much adhesive he needed to add. The bodyshop painter became frustrated with the sample masking tape and exclaimed, “Take this tape back to those Scotch bosses of yours and tell them to put more adhesive on it!”[2][3] The name was soon applied to the entire line of 3M tapes.”

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