Saturday: Hili dialogue

November 10, 2018 • 6:30 am

by Grania

Welcome to another weekend.

It’s the birthday of writer and illustrator Neil Gaiman (1960) ; Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation (1483); George Jennings, inventor of the flush toilet (1810); Tim Rice, lyricist and writer (1944).

Tim Rice created the lyrics for these songs, the music for the first was written by  Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus.

For Evita the music was written by regular music partner Andrew Lloyd Webber.

 

In history today Kristallnacht was underway, there’s a good thread on it if you click through in the tweet below.

https://twitter.com/jakeishistory/status/1061221223521308672

Hili is being very philosophical today, although I am not sure what she thinks cats would do in Plato’s cave, except get under people’s feet.

Hili: Were there cats in Plato’s cave?
A: No, they weren’t.
Hili: This explains the strange behavior of these humans.
In Polish:
Hili: Czy w platońskiej jaskini były koty?
Ja: Nie, nie było.
Hili: To wyjaśnia dziwne zachowania tych ludzi.
And finally, on to the more general doings of Twitter.
Political satire Twitter
What really happened at that infamous session.

Historical Twitter

Felid Twitter
From the weirdos and nutters of Twitter

From Natural World Twitter

 

Educational Twitter

Hat-tip: Matthew

35 thoughts on “Saturday: Hili dialogue”

  1. The flushing toilet was invented by John Harington in 1596. Joseph Bramah of Yorkshire patented the first practical water closet in England in 1778. George Jennings in 1852 also took out a patent for the flush-out toilet.

    1. Yeah but none of them have obtained the immortality of Thomas Crapper, a proprietor of fine toilets.

  2. Speaking of Gaiman, Good Omens comes to Netflix in January & im really hoping it is good because it has all the potential of being so with David Tennant playing Crowley.

    1. Oh yes, that should hopefully be good. I love the way Crowley is written in the book, specifically the way things magically (diabolically?) work out to suit him.

      cr

  3. Re ‘Chess’, my favourite song from it is Someone Else’s Story. It has an unusually subtle tune, the longest breaks in the voicing are not at the ends of the lines; I find that unless I’m listening to it, the mind ceases ‘tracking’ the rhythm and the rhythm gets lost. An interesting demonstration that listening is an active mental phenomenon, not just a passive one.

    Here’s Judy Kuhn singing it:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDUraEPF8IU
    and Lea Salonga:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opGDRbRyv9Y

    cr

  4. My favourite song from ‘Chess’ is Someone Else’s Story. It has an unusually subtle tune, the longest breaks are not at the ends of the lines; if not actively listening, the mind ceases ‘tracking’ the rhythm and the rhythm gets lost. An interesting demonstration that listening is not just a purely passive phenomenon.

    Here’s Judy Kuhn singing it:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDUraEPF8IU
    and Lea Salonga:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opGDRbRyv9Y

    cr

    1. Oops! First WordPress appears to lose my comment, then after I decide I somehow screwed up and type it all out again… 8-(

      cr

    2. I had a really good friend in high school named Judy Kuhn whom I’ve lost touch with. Doubt it’s she…

  8. I like the ‘Tu-Vous’ chart.
    2 points though:
    1 – The bottom is missing (on the tweet too)
    2 – In French you might in several cases address your lover with ‘vous’, especially if not very well acquainted in other aspects of life (which is not that rare in France).

    1. Much of that is similar to the differences in du/sie in German–something that also always confuses Americans.

      1. Yes and the formal and informal use of “you” in some indo-european languages is nothing compared to Russian name use. Reading Dostoyevsky without knowing how diminutives & patronymics work is confusing. Who the hell is this guy? What?! Alexander and Sasha are the same guy?!

      2. Or ‘jij’ and ‘U’ in Dutch (pronounced approximately ‘yay’ and ,’…’ well there is no equivalent sound in English).

    2. Well the French even have a word for it – ‘tutoyer’ (to address someone with ‘tu’). And a corresponding ‘vouvoyer’.

      So it is actually a thing. With a name.

      cr

        1. Interesting! I knew “tutoyer” but had never heard “duzen”, even after 6 years in Austria.

    1. The horror🙀
      Just reading an interview of Alexander McCall Smith (of the delightful Ladies #1 Detective Agency fame) in which he counters accusations of cultural appropriation by saying that what he does is cultural APPRECIATION. Gotta remember that very sensible response.

  10. “Lord Byron’s beloved dog Boatswain …

    Wonder if Lord Byron called his dog “Bosun,” the way a “boatswain” is known aboard ship.

    We known Byron was fond of contractions, as in his famous line from “Don Juan” concerning Julia, who “whispering, ‘I will ne’er consent’–consented.”

  11. So if you follow the tu/vous flowchart all the way to the bottom, it all comes down to whether you’re a soixante-huitard/Woodstock hippie or the perp in a Clint Eastwood flick?

    Somehow I always suspected this, without ever thinking about it so expressly. 🙂

  12. I remember attempting to get useful work done with the first version of Microsoft Windows. It was an experience that convinced me that I could make a career in the nascent field of computer support.

    1. 😎

      Problem was, it was just too heavy for most existing home PC’s, which had neither sufficient RAM or hard drive space to run it properly. Putting Windows on a 386-SX20 was a recipe for disaster.

      To allow the Windows files to fit on small hard drives, MS incorporated ‘Drivespace’ which compressed the whole disk. So anything saved to disk had to be compressed first, anything read off disk had to be uncompressed. This used quite a lot of memory. However, because there wasn’t enough RAM for this, swap space had to be created on the disk. The result was, it fell over its own feet.

      On my father’s 386-SX20, if you scrolled down to a new page on MSWord, you could sit there and watch and listen as the disk thrashed like crazy and the text appeared line by line and even sometimes letter by letter on the screen… it was agonising.

      I think MS deserved the hate this sort of thing generated – they should NOT have marketed it as an upgrade for existing PC’s.

      cr

  13. That London fence made from stretchers – what a great example of recycling! I’m amazed it hasn’t rusted away by now, particularly the wire. Maybe it was heavily galvanised? Or maybe it gets regular and effective repainting?

    (By the way, I think I have far exceeded 15% of comments. But what to do? – Grania put up so many talking points. I have no wish to dominate the thread but will somebody else please comment on something? 😉

    cr

    1. “I have far exceeded 15% of comments.”

      You have over 100,000 points well made. You get a reset. 😎

    1. Julie Covington is a wonderful singer. She also did a superb cover of Alice Cooper’s “Only Women Bleed” (easily found on youtube). Her very first album featured songs written by Pete Atkin and Clive James, perhaps the least-known great songwriting team of the 1970s. It’s called “The Magic Wasn’t There” and has been recently reissued in CD.

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