Saturday: Hili dialogue

December 8, 2018 • 6:30 am

It’s Saturday, December 8, 2018, and National Brownie Day. It’s also the Day of Finnish Music, but I don’t know any Finnish music. How sad; let’s have some! Here’s a rousing Finnish Guard marching song:

On this day in 1660, or so reports Wikipedia, “A woman (either Margaret Hughes or Anne Marshall) appears on an English public stage for the first time, in the role of Desdemona in a production of Shakespeare’s play Othello. On December 8, 1813, Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony premiered in Vienna, conducted by Ludwig himself.  And it’s a banner day in Catholicism, for on this day in 1854, Pope Pius IX proclaimed, speaking inflammably (that’s an Archie Bunker malaprop) in the Apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus asserted that the Immaculate Conception was true. Remember, that’s the dogma that Mary was born free of original sin, not that Jesus was conceived without sperm. It’s an example of how Catholic dogma, without any supporting evidence (even from the Bible), is simply announced by fiat. But of course the Pope, when speaking from “the chair,” is inflammable.

On this day in 1922, Northern Ireland stopped being a member of the Irish Free State.  On December 8, 1941, a day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, speaking before Congress, declared December 7 to be a “date that will live in infamy”. Then the Congress voted to declare war on Japan. Here’s Roosevelt’s announcement:

On this day in 1955 (and I didn’t know it was so long ago), the Council of Europe adopted the Flag of Europe:

On December 8, 1980, John Lennon was murdered by Mark David Chapman in New York City. Chapman remains in prison, having been denied parole ten times since 2000. He lives in solitary confinement but is allowed one 48-hour conjugal visit with his wife every year.  On this day in 2010, after the second launch of SpaceX Falcon 9 and the first of the SpaceX Dragon, SpaceX became the first private company to launch a spacecraft, put it into orbit, and recover it (except for last week).  Finally—and I bet you didn’t know this—on this day in 2013 the band Metallica gave a show in Antarctica, making them the first band to perform on all seven continents.

Notables born on this day include Mary, Queen of Scots (1542), Eli Whitney (1765), Jean Silbelius (1865), Diego Rivera (1886), Lucian Freud (1922), Sammy Davis, Jr. (1925), Jim Morrison (1943), Gregg Allman (1947), Bill Bryson (1951), and Nicki Minaj (1982).

In honor of Jim’s 75th birthday, here’s my favorite Doors song, sung live (?) on the Smothers Show in 1968. I love Ray Manzarek’s baroque riff on the organ. The driving beat, however, was taken from “C’mon Marianne” by the Four Seasons.  Morrison died in 1971 at age 27, Manzarek in 2013. (The song starts 37 seconds in, and there may be an ad.)

Those who expired on December 8 include Thomas De Quincey (1859), Herbert Spencer (1903), Golda Meir (1978), John Lennon (1980; see above), Marty Robbins (1982), William Shawn (1992) and John Glenn (2016).

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is quoting from Ecclesiastes:

Hili: Vanity of vanities.
A: Why?
Hili: No friendly soul. No mouse, no bird.
In Polish:
Hili: Marność nad marnościami.
Ja: Dlaczego?
Hili: Żadnej przyjaznej duszy. Ani myszki, ani ptaszka.

The photo below is at once cruel and hilarious (and yes, the apostrophe is wrong), but I want to see a live cat that’s been shaved this way. Is this real?

A timely cartoon:

This woman was Instagramming her donut at the moment it was grabbed by a seagull. Remember “Mine! Mine! Mine!” from Finding Nemo?

And a pun for good measure:

A tweet from reader Barry. Do you know what that weird-looking bird is? (Hint.)

https://twitter.com/Tirpitz13/status/1071083242340671490

Reader Vampyricon shows Darwin having a bad day:

Tweets from Grania. The first is a serious developmental anomaly in a Pogona. Which head does the thinking? Do they share the eating?

Nothing, but nothing, is cuter than a baby panda. Here’s a video of a few:

https://twitter.com/itsdogpandapic/status/1071005883981807616

Tweets from Matthew. The first shows an unbelievably beautiful marine gastropod:

The Egyptians worshiped cats, so why did they show them bringing offerings to mice? That’s just wrong!!

And a shot from Lord of the Pizza:

 

31 thoughts on “Saturday: Hili dialogue”

  3. Pearl Harbor Day: There’s always two sides of the coin. For Japanese Americans, it’s always a day to endure and get through.

    Hey, how about a “Bomb Hiroshima Day”?

  4. Touch Me was on Best Of The Doors. Also on the same record was Roadhouse Blues, L.A. Woman and Love Her Madly.

    2. Still like Light My Fire best. Morrison is sexy as hell on Touch Me, but the “for you and I” gives me the willies in a decidedly unsexy way😬

      That Siamese dragon is fascinating, but it creeps me out.

  5. Slightly off-topic, but knowing PCC(E)’s admiration for Philomena Cunk, I though I should draw attention to her new book, “Cunk on Everything”, subtitled “The Encyclopedia Philomena”:

    https://www.amazon.com/Cunk-on-Everything/dp/1473690366/

    The description at the UK Amazon web site says:

    “Philomena Cunk is one of the greatest thinkers of the 21st century, and in Cunk on Everything she turns her attention to our biggest issue: why are there so many books? Wouldn’t it be better if there was just one? This is that book – an encyclopedia of ALL HUMAN KNOWLEDGE, from sausages to Henry of Eight to Brush Strokes to vegetarian sausages.”

  6. … on this day in 1854, Pope Pius IX proclaimed, speaking inflammably (that’s an Archie Bunker malaprop) in the Apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus asserted that the Immaculate Conception was true.

    The only other time the pope has spoken ex cathedra, to my knowledge, was nearly a century later in the Apoltolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus that the Assumption of Mary (that Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven at the end of her earthly life) was true.

  7. Although I have a couple of recordings of Sibelius’ Violin Concerto I can’t say whether the melodies used in it could be considered as originating in Finnish folk music, however his work Finlandia would surely qualify as being idiomatic with the culture.

  8. He [Mark David Chapman] lives in solitary confinement but is allowed one 48-hour conjugal visit with his wife every year.

    That must be a real wingdinger. Does the missus have to pretend to be Holden Caulfield’s inamorata Jane Gallagher?

  9. If you want a Finnish singer, try listening to Sanna Kurki-Suonio. In the 1990s, she was with a Swedish/Finnish band called Hedningarna (The Heathens) and now follows a solo career along with being a professor of music. Her solo albums (available on Amazon) are Musta (The Dark One)and Huria (Reckless). She sings in Finnish, and the lyric flyers include English translations. In Hedningarna, the men in the band are Swedish and the women are Finns, so the language of each song depends on who the lead singer is.

  10. Considering the shaved cat’s face, it’s probably persian or exotic short hair. Relieving them of their coat isn’t cruel, and you might shave all the way up to the face if it’s not good at grooming and has become a matted mess. Sometimes you might just have the butt shaved too since persians are notorious for getting poop caught in their fur… or just plain bad box habits.

    1. When my adult daughter moved back home so she could go back to school full time she brought her two cats, one was a long haired cat. The cat required her butt to be shaved. Unfortunately my daughter once let it slip for too long and I woke to find the cat had smeared it’s feces all over the house in an attempt to remove it.
      The floors, walls (two feet up, I don’t know how she did it), stove, fridge, washer and dryer. Thankfully not the new sofa.

      Naturally my daughter had already gone to classes.

      1. In fourth grade, one of my teacher’s told me I write like “a chicken writing with its feet.” I haven’t improved much, but at least most of what I write is legible.

  12. Sibelius is the best-known Finnish musical artist. Guess they chose his birthday.

    Finland now produces a lot of heavy metal music, especially in the sub-genre of “folk metal”. It’s an acquired taste.

    1. One of the more interesting Finnish metal bands is Apocalyptica. They started when four cellists (from the Sibelius Academy) formed a Metallica tribute band, then began writing and recording original works. Their current discography includes eight albums.

      1. My mistake – only three of the four founding cellists were graduates of the Sibelius Academy.

  13. “But I am very poorly today”

    Darwin suffered from a severe, chronic illness which I don’t think was ever fully diagnosed.

  14. On this day in 2010, after the second launch of SpaceX Falcon 9 and the first of the SpaceX Dragon, SpaceX became the first private company to launch a spacecraft, put it into orbit, and recover it (except for last week).

    Unless you are thinking of the failed booster stage recovery – which they started to attempt 2016 IIRC – give them some time. The Dragon is still docked to the ISS.

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