Thursday, Hili dialogue

March 1, 2018 • 6:30 am

It’s MARCH! Thursday, March 1, 2018. March is said to “come in like a lion and go out like a lamb”, but in Chicago it’s coming in pretty much like a lamb, with highs of 39° F ( 4° C) today, and perhaps a bit of rain.  That’s tropical for our area!  But it’s snowing in England, and you can be sure that, snow or sun, Matthew is out on Manchester Uni’s picket line.

It’s also “National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day“, with the placement of the apostrophe suggesting that there’s only one person who loves peanut butter—or at least only one being honored for that love. And it’s National Pig Day in the U.S.!

National Pig Day is an event held annually on March 1 in the United States to celebrate the pig. The holiday celebration was started in 1972 by sisters Ellen Stanley, a teacher in Lubbock, Texas, and Mary Lynne Rave of Beaufort, North Carolina. According to Rave the purpose of National Pig Day is “to accord the pig its rightful, though generally unrecognized, place as one of man’s most intellectual and domesticated animals.” The holiday is most often celebrated in the Midwest.

I asked Grania to find me a pig tweet in honor of NPD, and she found a good one: Pigcasso, the Artistic Pig.

On March 1, 1564, the French Wars of Religion began with the massacre of 63 Huguenots in Wassy, France.  Further superstition on this day in 1692: three women, Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and the slave Tituba, were accused of witchcraft in Salem Village, Massachusetts, kicking off the Salem Witch Trials. On this day in 1815, Napoleon returned to France after being banished to Elba. After the Hundred Days, he was deposed and sent to St. Helena, where he died. On March 1, 1872, the world’s first national park, Yellowstone, was established in the U.S. Exactly 11 years later, Henri Becquerel discovered the phenomenon of radioactive decay.

On this day in 1932, Charles Lindbergh reported the kidnapping of his son, found dead two months later. Bruno Hauptmann was convicted and executed for the crime, one of the biggest news stories of the era. In 1950, Klaus Fuchs was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union when it was discovered that he’d passed on data on the atomic bomb. He served nine years in prison in England. On March 1, 1964, President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps. Exactly ten years later, seven men—H. R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, John N. Mitchell, Charles Colson, Gordon C. Strachan, Robert Mardian, and Kenneth Parkinson—were indicted for obstructing justice in the Watergate break-in, the first of many “-gates”.  Seven years later, IRA member Bobby Sands began his hunger strike in Maze Prison, ending with his death on May 5. On March 1, 1998, the movie Titanic became the first film to gross over a billion dollars worldwide. And on this day in 2006, Wikipedia published its one millionth article, on the Jordanhill railway station.

Here’s perhaps the most famous scene from Titanic:

Notables born on this day include Frédéric Chopin (1810), William Dean Howells (1837), Lytton Strachey (1880), Oskar Kokoschka (1886), Glenn Miller (1904), David Niven (1910), Harry “Holy Cow” Carey (1914), Robert Lowell (1914). Harry Belafonte (1927; he’s 89 today), and Catherine Bach and Ron Howard (both 1954).

Here’s Kokoschka’s “Lovers With Cat”: can you spot the moggie?:

Those who died on March 1 include Paul Scott (1978; read his Raj Quartet, one of the best works of fiction of our time), Edwin H. Land (1991), Andrew Breitbart (2012), Bonnie Franklin (2013), Alain Resnais (2014), and Minnie Miñoso (2015).

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, a bit of hilarity took place. I have to say that this is one of the best Hilis yet!

Hili: How big are angels?
A: LIke humans or a bit bigger.
Hili: That means that I’ve eaten a sparrow.
 In Polish:
Hili: Jakiej wielkości są anioły?
Ja: Takie jak ludzie, albo troszkę większe.
Hili: To znaczy, że zjadłam wróbla.

Reader Dave Andrews sent a tweet with a story about Steve Gould and Isaac Asimov:

And some tweets from Grania, the first showing a deer parade in Scotland:

A sleepy kitten tucked in:

https://twitter.com/EmrgencyKittens/status/968889843974656001

Four tweets of cats in the snow! (Four of them don’t like it.)

https://twitter.com/RSSS_CSI_Gina/status/968804901953384449

This one likes it, though, and tries to catch snowballs (sent by Matthew):

36 thoughts on “Thursday, Hili dialogue”

  1. The strike is in fact not on today or tomorrow, but, if negotiations don’t succeed, I and tens of thousands of colleagues around the country will be back on the picket line for a 4-day strike next week, beginning on Monday! – MC

  2. Soserov

    На 1.03.2018 г. 14:36 “Why Evolution Is True” написа:

    > whyevolutionistrue posted: “It’s MARCH! Thursday, March 1, 2018. March is > said to “come in like a lion and go out like a lamb”, but in Chicago it’s > coming in pretty much like a lamb, with highs of 39° F ( 4° C) today, and > perhaps a bit of rain. That’s tropical for our area! But it” >

  3. On March 1, 1964, President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps.

    I doubt that. 1961?

  4. Lots of cats always. Only 10 more days until we go on daylight savings and lose one hour. Makes perfect sense.

  5. People who died on 1 March include my wife, 1999. I call it the worst day of my life.

    3. I know how that feels, it is horrible. I guess the only thing that compares is losing a beloved child.
      Is it still that bad after 19 years? I hope that time will heal, but does it?

    1. I agree. Years ago, before my cats became indoor only, I had two who liked snow. They enjoyed digging in it, like Sarah’s cat, catching large snowflakes, and also jumping to catch the snowballs. They were particularly intent on finding the snowballs that disappeared into the snow. When the wet snow was annoying, one of them would stand on his hind feet and jump a couple of times like a rabbit before he came down on the front feet again.

  9. Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and the slave Tituba, were accused of witchcraft in Salem Village, Massachusetts, kicking off the Salem Witch Trials.

    Back when “non-materialists” still had the courage of their convictions.

    Unfortunately.

    Glen Davidson

        1. I think The Dark Side of the Moon is not their greatest album. Although before my time, I greatly loved Atom Heart Mother, and their older albums. Perfect LSD or mushroom music (although in the latter field Jimi Hendrickx’s Pali Gap is unsurpassed, closest is Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D)

  11. I’d buy a pig painting, but not for that much. It looks like the pig is enjoying it.

  12. It would be interesting to ask how many scandals before Watergate could be retroactively given a title of —gate.

    Ulysses Grant and the Whiskey Ring: WhiskeyGate
    Warren Harding and the Teapot Dome: TeapotGate
    The Credit Mobiller scandal: CreditGate
    Jefferson and Sally Hemmings: MiscegenateGate

    =-=-=
    Asimov was a terrific popularizer of science, but I find his prose style in his early short stories a tad clunky. He definitely grew into his craft.

    2. Totally agree about Asimov. Recently re-read some of his early stuff, which I loved as a teenager, and clunky is the word, especially some of his dialogue.

  13. For the past decade or so I’ve referred to Harry Belafonte from time to time in a somewhat unusual way. People ask if my “philosopher-animal” affectation has anything to do with the Muppets character. The answer is no – Animal is a much better musician than I am! After all, he did a duet with HB. 🙂

  15. Those deer in Scotland were driven out of the hills by the snow. They’re looking for food and shelter. I hope they found both.

    1. Best pie I ever had was a venison pie in Te Anau in the South Island. I was staying there for a few days before I walked the Milford track.
      Also, best burger ever was the Sweet Bambi, also venison, from Fergberger in Queenstown.

      1. Though we have wild deer, we also farm them extensively. Glad you enjoyed the result!

  17. Is that curiouswavefn that brought us the Stephen J Gould and Isaac Adimov conversation the same as the curiouswavefunction on Derek Lowe’s bl*g?

  18. This one likes it, though, and tries to catch snowballs (sent by Matthew):

    I suspect that is a ca that has a lot of fun with the tip of it’s own tail, on a slow-mouse day.

Comments are closed.