It’s Monday, April 2, 2018, so Spring is well ensconced—in theory. Yesterday was the fourth coldest Easter since the mid-1800s, and it’s predicted to remain cold in Chicago for two weeks or so. It’s National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day as well, and this will most probably be my lunch. It’s also International Children’s Book Day, and I’m waiting patiently to hear some news on my own such work from the publisher.
April 2 was, historically, not a big news day. On this day in 1513, Juan Ponce de León first caught sight of land in what is now Florida. On April 2, 1800, Beethoven led the first performance of his First Symphony in Vienna. On April 2, 1917, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson requested that the Congress declare war on Germany; Congress complied two days later. Finally, on this day in 1982, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, setting off the Falklands War. According to Wikipedia, here’s how London was informed:
At 16:30 local time on 2 April 1982, the last telex conversation between the operator in the Falklands and an operative in London, announced that the islands were under Argentine control.
LON (London): HELLO THERE WHAT ARE ALL THESE RUMOURS WE HEAR THIS IS LON
FK (Falklands): WE HAVE LOTS OF NEW FRIENDS
LON: WHAT ABOUT INVASION RUMOURS
FK: THOSE ARE THE FRIENDS I WAS MEANING
LON: THEY HAVE LANDED
FK: ABSOLUTELY
LON: ARE YOU OPEN FOR TRAFFIC (i.e. normal telex service)
FK: NO ORDERS ON THAT YET ONE MUST OBEY ORDERS
LON: WHOSE ORDERS
FK: THE NEW GOVERNORS
LON: ARGENTINA
FK: YES
LON: ARE THE ARGENTINIANS IN CONTROL
FK: YES YOU CAN’T ARGUE WITH THOUSANDS OF TROOPS PLUS ENORMOUS NAVY SUPPORT WHEN YOU ARE ONLY 1800 STRONG. STAND BY PLEASE.
Notables born on April 2 include Charlemagne (742), Giacomo Casanova (yes, that one; 1725), Hans Christian Andersen (1805), Émile Zola (1840), Buddy Ebsen (1908), Alec Guinness (1914), Serge Gainsbourg (1928), Marvin Gaye (1939; shot to death 1984), Leon Russell (1942), and Emmylou Harris and Camille Paglia (both 1947). Those who expired on this day include Samuel “Code” Morse (1872), Georges Pompidou (1974), Buddy Rich (1987), and Pope John Paul II (2005).
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is engaging in classic feline dithering about whether to come in or stay out:
A: Are you coming back?Hili: I have to think about it.
Ja: Wracasz?
Hili: Muszę się jeszcze zastanowić.
And in Wloclawek, Leon is chilling before the television. I have to say that he has strange tastes in programs.
Leon: Prepare me something to eat. I’m watching a serial now.
Big news from Winnipeg: Gus had a nap in the sun!
Reader Barry sent an Easter-related cartoon:
A tweet from Grania. I get why bath clogs have to be raised off the floor, but so high?
Before there was @ManoloBlahnik there were Ottoman bath clogs. @IslamicMuseum pic.twitter.com/wel5X6IT2k
— Emily Steiner (@PiersatPenn) March 31, 2018
And a few from Matthew. He insists on presenting another color illusion, but I expect readers to find out this is bogus:
Another color illusion: The narrow vertical zigzags look strikingly different colors but are actually the same color. pic.twitter.com/eThWk2HHH9
— David Novick (@NovickProf) March 28, 2018
Here’s the supposed proof (tweet can be found here):
Okay, this is an April Fool joke, but it’s not mine:
Haggis colony on the Isle of Harris. In early April they begin hatching from their cocoons and make their way down to the beach to disperse around the Western Isles on tidal currents. Once fully mature they return to the land and make their way up the hills to graze on lichens. pic.twitter.com/MMf5VApVgr
— Guy Edwardes (@guyedwardes) April 1, 2018
Dumb dog tries to get a statue to throw a ball:
Should have gone to @Specsavers pic.twitter.com/mgC7Wfkt61
— Adam Shore (@climbingadam) March 25, 2018
Post-Easter eggs:
Dutiful father caring for his eggs above, deadly predator with piercing beak below!
Belostoma flumineum from the Santa Cruz River, AZ pic.twitter.com/MSUxQVfTW5
— Michael Thomas Bogan (@mtbogan) March 31, 2018
Here’s a possible successor to Bill Nye:
I have called the phrigging cops pic.twitter.com/CARrvW4PdB
— trouteyes (@trouteyes) March 31, 2018
And a funny take on an ancient statue:
It is easy to tell that the haggis photo is fake. Everybody knows that haggises have legs longer on one side that the other, for walking round mountains.
I’m gonna let the explanation of this April Fools joke pass for now.
Which makes sudden changes in direction quite difficult.
It is perfectly simple: a haggis wishing to reach a point behind it merely walks almost round the mountain to get there.
Plural is haggi.
I thought it was haggoi.
When Buddy Rich was in the hospital near the end, hooked up to all kinds of machines and IVs in the ICU, a nurse stopped by to ask him if there was anything causing him discomfort. “Yes,” said the great jazz drummer, “country music.”
That would do it for me.
It’s very cold here making some wonder why they turned on the water to the water sprinklers last week. Not good.
There’s a recording- I’m not certain it’s all true – of Rich ranting at his band in a bus. Jerry Seinfeld has said he finds it funny.
Rich was a well-known curmudgeon — bordering on misanthrope. Sinatra punched him out once (but, then, who didn’t Frank punch out at least once?). Johnny Carson used to call him “Mr. Warmth.”
Could play the skins like nobody’s business, though.
Nice to see Ichabod Crane taking a dip in the pool.
“Samuel “Code” Morse”
There’s a millisecond-length brain process where I read this as “Samuel “Morse” Code”, until it gets corrected.
You are now producing a philosophistry conundrum, since Morse codes are not error correcting (like, say, Reed-Solomon coding).
Yes
Yes I did
I…… meant to do that, you see.
Are you writing or planning a book on evolution for children?
Read THIS HILI DIALOGUE starting after the picture of Hili. The children’s book [illustrated by Kelly Houle] is about Mr. Das from Bangalore & his approx 50 cats. THIS is a good post to learn more about him & his kitties
Thank you. Had missed that.
WTF kind of statue is that? I’m afraid, very afraid.
Excerpt from a Visit Britain site:
An army of iron statues look out to sea from Crosby Beach. Visit this surreal, haunting artwork by Antony Gormley, and explore its unique coastline.
I think David Novick illustrates what is going on with these colour interactions rather well in his Twitter feed. Interestingly, Although he has posted PNG files in order to eliminate compression artifacts, Twitter has converted the files to highly compressed JPG. Twitter can display PNG files, but only if they contain at least one transparent pixel. The conversion is done to save bandwidth I suppose. Although images like these are usually displayed to demonstrate how flawed our vision is, what they illustrate is something far more interesting; our colour vision has evolved to provide the means of distinguishing colours that we need to see in order to survive, find food, locate mates, and discover predators. Clever little monkeys that we are we have employed our somewhat limited colour vision to create wonderful works of art. Remember, there are no yellow pixels in an RGB image or display.
I believe that today is also International Dyngus/Dingus Day. Remembering one of our dogs, Dirty Dingus McGee 🙂
April 2nd 1982 was a pretty big news day for Britain and Argentina.