Friday: Hili dialogue

February 15, 2019 • 6:30 am

Is it really Friday again? Indeed it is: Friday, February 15, 2019, and National Gumdrop Day. Lordy—I haven’t had a gumdrop in years. I like the fruit-flavored ones but disdain the more common spicy ones.  It’s also John Frum Day in Vanuatu, celebrating the fictional figurehead of the most famous Cargo Cult.

After some warmish weather yesterday—enough above freezing to melt most of the remaining snow—we have a cold day today: it’s currently 15°F (-9°C), and it’s predicted to snow on Sunday. I’m glad that James and Honey are warm down in the Mississippi Delta.

On this day in 1879, President Rutherford B. Hayes signed a bill that allowed women attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court. Nineteen years later, the American battleship USS Maine exploded and sank in Havana Harbor, an incident that started th Spanish-American war. But the explosion was most likely not due to sabotage but to a fire in the coal bunker that ignited the ammunition stores.  On this day in 1923, Greece became the last country in Europe to adopt the Gregorian calendar.

On February 15, 1942, Singapore fell to the Japanese Army as the British General surrendered. 80,000 troops from the UK, India, and Australia became prisoners of war. Exactly seven years later, as Wikipedia notes, “Gerald Lankester Harding and Roland de Vaux begin excavations at Cave 1 of the Qumran Caves, where they will eventually discover the first seven Dead Sea Scrolls.” Here’s Cave 4 at Qumran where 90% of the scrolls (famous for comprising a lot of the Hebrew Bible) were found. They were written about 100 BC.

On this day in 1952, King George I was buried at Windsor Castle, with Elizabeth II having taken over as Queen.

O Canada! It was on February 15, 1965, that Canada adopted this flag:

replacing this cluttered one:

On February 15, 1971, British currency finished being decimalized on Decimal Day.  In 1992, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced to life in prison for murdering 15 people. Dahmer was bludgeoned to death by a fellow inmate in November of 1994.  Finally, it was on this day in 2001 that the first draft of the human genome was published in the journal Nature.

Notables born on February 15 include Galileo (1564), Jeremy Bentham (1748), Cyrus McCormick (1809), Susan B. Anthony (1820), Harold Arlen (1905), Miep Gies (1909; she helped hide Anne Frank), Art Spiegelman (1948), Matt Groening (1954), and Chris Farley (1964).

Spiegalman graphic novel Maus (one of only three such novels I’ve read, the other two being The Rabbi’s Cat) is a fantastic book, and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992. It’s the tale of Spiegelman’s dad a Holocaust survivor, recounting his experiences, and depicts the Jews as mice and the Nazis as cats:

Those who died on this day include Gotthold Ephrian Lessing (1781), Lew Wallace (1905), Nat King Cole (1965), Richard Feynman (1988) and Martha Gellhorn (1998).

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili makes a pun:

Hili: I will presently jump from the darkness into the light.
A: And what then?
Hili: I will be enlightened.
In Polish:
Hili: Zaraz wyskoczę z mroku w światło.
Ja: I co?
Hili: I będę oświecona.

Two cat LOLs from Facebook:

A tweet from reader Nilou, who commented, “Maybe they are just SICK AND TIRED of each other!” (Bibi and Poldi both hatched around 1897.)  And indeed, the linked article reports “’We get the feeling they can’t stand the sight of each other anymore,’ [keeper] Helga Happ told the Austrian Times, defeated.”

From reader Gethyn. How I wish everyone would act like this!

From Grania; a tweet from Ziya Tong. I still can’t  believe that goats can do this. (This is the first time I’ve seen Ziya use “bad words”.)

Grania says, “This must have been written by an angry lion”. We must have a Chinese speaker among us who can translate this properly.

UPDATE: Reader Jon says this:

“For those who do not understand Chinese, “干菜” means dried vegetables and the last word “类” means type. So as a whole, it should be the dried vegetables section.”

https://twitter.com/YouHadOneJ0B/status/1096114350916395008

Yes, this is how the internet works. Read the rest of the thread, too.

Yep, the Mars Rover Opportunity is kaput. First, a cartoon, and then a happier ending in the last tweet:

Happy ending (click on the cartoon to see the final panels):

Tweets from Matthew, the first being one he posted himself:

Is this box swaying, or is it me?

Man, this must hurt, but it’s good for both of them:

Finally, Shakespeare clarified!

 

60 thoughts on “Friday: Hili dialogue”

  2. What other words are as effective as “fuck” or “fucking” at expressing an edgy attitude?

    For example:

    “Fuck your physics. I’m a cat”
    “Goats are fucking amazing”
    “I fucking love science”

    I think it is appealing because it distinguishes kids stuff from “young adults”.

        1. … except it is only for grown ups… and… well, there are a number of fucking exceptions…

    2. I think it’s appealing partly because it’s so satisfying to say. Starts with a fricative ‘fff’ which builds up to the sharp ending.

      cr

  4. British currency started being decimalized on Decimal Day. It was long overdue and is the obsession of the fictional Chancellor of the Exchequer in some of Trollope’s novels of the 1860s.

  5. While the goats in the video are indeed amazing, it appears from the background that the camera is tilted to make it seem more so. The tree trunk seems to actually be at an angle of 50-60 degrees from horizontal.

    3. Well spotted! Yes and obvious now you point it out.

      I *hate* it when somebody does that.

      The goats are still extraordinary, but – at the correct angle – it can be seen that their centre of gravity is behind their front feet. If the tree was vertical, their back feet would have been pulling off the tree (if they hadn’t found deep notches to jam them into).

      cr

  6. Thanks Jerry for the little-known Canadian flag fact! I wouldn’t be surprised if most Canadians themselves don’t realize how recent the maple leaf flag is; certainly most Americans don’t. I remember going to see Brian De Palma’s film The Untouchables in 1987 with my Dad when it came out. It’s about the prohibition agent Eliot Ness trying to bring down Al Capone and other prohibition era gangsters. There is a scene where some contraband whisky from Canada is found (presumably rye whisky) and the boxes have Canadian maple leaf flags on them. My Dad pointed out the historical error. Ever since then I’ve noticed the same historical error in other films. It’s very common. In fairness to De Palma, I guess if he had known and had used the historically correct flag then the audience wouldn’t have understood where the liquor had come from or become confused about it, perhaps thinking it came from Britain. But if so, then that just makes the point about widespread historical ignorance — though flag-fact ignorance is relatively benign compared to other forms of historical ignorance prevalent today.

    1. You are quite correct in noting the prevalence of historical ignorance, at least in the U.S. Part of the reason for this is the emphasis on directing young people into the STEM fields. Except at the elite colleges there has been a marked decline in history majors. My fear is that we may heading toward a society of well trained technocrats, but its members lack an historical understanding, meaning that even the educated (at least in a limited area)will be easily subject to manipulation through historical lies.

      Eric Alterman in the New Yorker discusses this disturbing trend. As he puts it: “A nation whose citizens have no knowledge of history is asking to be led by quacks, charlatans, and jingos.”

      https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-decline-of-historical-thinking

      1. Yeah. There has been a long running battle to maintain appreciation and acknowledgment of the benefits of a well rounded liberal education. To our detriment it has been a losing battle. I think this has contributed to problems in both the humanities and STEM fields, which magnifies the detrimental effects further like some sort of feed back loop.

        1. If I am given arbitrary power in these affairs, I’d immediately close the “Studies” departments and give the released space and funds to true humanities. I am not sure what to do with the released teachers and students, however.

      2. I doubt that STEM is significant competition to history. To me, these two realms of thought require different mindsets and few people can be successful in both. In my country, it is law that takes young people away from history.

        Anyway, it is sad that interest to history is declining.

    2. To be persnickety: yes, “The Untouchables” did err in specifically using the stylized maple leaf that first appeared on the 1965 flag. But a more naturalistic/generic maple leaf – as a symbol of Canada – wouldn’t be at all anachronistic. E.g., it appeared on coins, military insignia, etc. as far back as the late 19th century.

      1. That’s a fair point and a slightly embarrassing one for me, as I just looked at my late Grandfather’s WWII and Korean War medals and pins (which hang on the wall in my study) and some of them do indeed have a maple leaf on them. Touché! Presumably the maple leaf became the flag in 1965 in the first place precisely because it had been used for a long time as a Canadian symbol.

  7. That black cat Nike ad riff cracks me up. That little black cat looks very much like a psychotic little sweetheart I once knew named Sapphire. She was very petite and pretty. She would casually walk up to anybody and posture and rub on them exactly as cats do when they want some fusses. When the person would inevitably reach down to pet her, the instant contact was made, Sapphire would sink teeth and claws into their arm. Not hard enough to draw blood, but damn near. Even I, the person she would curl up on to take a nap whenever I’d sit down to read, could only rarely touch her with my hand without piquing her ire.

    1. I had a little kitty that would do the same. She’d throw herself down in front of someone and expose her belly as if she wanted it rubbed — as soon as a friendly hand descended, she’d sink her claws into it and draw it down so she could start biting and kicking it. I was not immune, either.

      1. I forgot to fill in the name and email boxes. This creates a split-personality problem. Perhaps I should become “anonymous.”

        1. Once I switched to myLucy Poochie gravatar I no longer had that dumb sign-in problem ( at least for now…)

      2. My cat Misha is the same ,been seeing to his every need for just over 3 years .And he still bites and scratches me .

    2. I had a little kitty that would do the same. She’d throw herself down in front of someone and expose her belly as if she wanted it rubbed — as soon as a friendly hand descended, she’d sink her claws into it and draw it down so she could start biting and kicking it. I was not immune, either.

  8. A nice poem in honor of Opportunity.


    WE LET YOU GO
    So unjust, so unfair that in the end it was the dust that killed you,
    Not the natural wear and tear or honourable rust of old age.
    Everyone who loved you knew the Sol would come
    When Mars finally murdered you; we expected
    Howls of rage as an axle broke
    Or your computer had a stroke,
    But not… this.

    Around the world, laboratories and living rooms alike
    Were filled with helpless sighs as that dust storm
    Covered Endeavour’s Big Country sky, swirling ochre clouds
    Of fines blotting out your Sun and settling on your back,
    Blinding you, smothering you, choking you…

    Today, as they declare your mission has ended
    And the Deep Space Network’s great concave ears
    Turn away from you with a grinding and groaning of gears
    I can’t help wondering if you’re still alive.
    Does your electronic pilot light still flicker inside you?
    Does your brave digital heart still beat in your deep, deep sleep?
    Have we abandoned you too soon?
    Are Barsoom’s twin moons shining down on you
    As you cling stubbornly to life, needing just one more
    Whisper of code to prise open your dust-caked eyes?

    We’ll never know.
    There’ll be no more calling out your name from Earth’s front porch;
    We’ve gone inside and closed the door behind us
    Because there’s nothing left to try.
    Every die has been thrown a dozen times;
    Every desperate plea shouted at the sky has gone unanswered.
    No-one can do any more,
    So it’s time to say goodbye.

    Perhaps, on one far future day, a weary Martian,
    Standing on Cape Tribulation’s sunlit peak
    Will sweep their gaze up and down the meandering
    Curves of Perseverance Valley and see you standing there –
    A statue, thick with dust, your shadow stretching down to
    And out across Endeavour’s floor – and bound down to you,
    Sweeping your back clean with their gloved hands
    And understand the treasure they’ve found…

    But our time with you is over.
    And so, Opportunity, our brave, bold girl,
    We let you go.
    © Stuart Atkinson 2019

    1. THANK YOU for posting the earlier link here. I would have spent half the day looking for that comic (I thought it might have been an SMBC and would have gone off the edge looking).

  10. The wasp animation is pretty impressive but I’m certain that if I were to regurgitate in my wife’s mouth during intercourse I would experience more than 180 degrees of genital rotation.

  11. I have a sticky note in my office that says “Goats can climb trees”. It’s a good reminder that determining ecology from anatomy isn’t a simple thing. No one on earth, upon seeing a goat skeleton, would believe that there was an arboreal component to its lifestyle; the thing should fall out of trees immediately if it even got up there! But it happens. It’s a good reminder for any paleontologist that nature is far more wild, and weird, and wonderful than we tend to expect!

    1. Does the sign gain anything by adding some choice selections from the dictionary? Under F, perhaps?

    2. My first experience of goats in trees was, of course, a video clip on the internet. I tried looking for it but couldn’t find it. It was quite a few years ago. The clip starts with a view of a good size tree with a large, leafy canopy. No goats visible. After a few moments a goat climbs down out of the canopy to the ground. WTF? And then another. And then another & another . . . There had been an entire trip of goats hidden up in the canopy of the tree! Made my day.

      1. Mine was at a lecture given by a paleontologist who’d spent some time in Africa, and had photos of goats in trees. I thought they were faked until I spoke with an uncle who raises goats. My uncle informed me that yeah, they do climb–that’s why his goat pasture doesn’t have any trees in it, they kept getting out.

        I haven’t seen it in person, unfortunately. Always wanted to.

  14. The report of mean density estimate of 0.168 P/100 km2 for entire Europe is pretty amazing. Previous estimates had been 4.4 P/100 km2. So, much more of a bottle neck effect. I tried to skim through the paper but found it a bit of a slog. I did discover that these complicated estimation techniques involve projecting backwards from historic records.
    I’m thinking that if Europe was so sparsely populated, the effect of one or a few creative individuals could have been highly leveraged to spawn Aurignacian technology. It’s fascinating to imagine some Einstein of stone tools banging out a new style of spear point, or a Picasso of cave painting ushering in the works we see today in French and Spanish caves.

    1. I seem to remember that, depending on the environment, extant hunter gatherer density is about 1-2 per 100 square km, a bit in between those 2 estimates. I think projecting back from historical records is frayed with little adders.

    2. I wonder about these population estimates & I think ‘hunter gatherer’ leaves a wrong impression of hairy people chucking spears & digging up wild onions.

      I don’t think we know the exact coastline 40,000 years ago & rivers, salt flats, flood plains etc wander about – I suppose a lot of evidence of fishing communities has been obliterated. How about the huge, fertile area known today as DOGGERLAND? Underwater now – under the English Channel & the North Sea – but that area could sustain 1,000s of Ugs & Thogs back in the day.

      1. I didn’t read enough to see if they tackled those questions directly. The maps show settlements in Northern Spain, France, and across to Eastern Europe. Ancient shorelines and areas now drown were likely settlement locations. Over the past 24,000 years sea level has risen 130 meters, so lots of potential evidence is now gone.

        1. Exactly – it was probably a mad rave down in what passed for Benidorm way back when [now beneath the waves]. I would like to see a map for the ‘Europe’ they’re citing – the Black Sea has risen & fallen many times for example & I don’t think it connected to the Med 40k years ago.

  16. On the rover:

    “The machines will convince us that they are conscious, that they
    have their own agenda worthy of our respect.
    They’ll embody human qualities and
    claim to be human, and we’ll believe them”

    — This part of R. Kurtzweil’s stuff doesn’t seem too implausible now …

  17. I am loving Hili’s fuzzy caterpillar winter coat. I wonder if it’s amplified for her since she’s in such a cold climate? Her fur looks not just thicker but longer, but maybe that’s just the angle of the picture.

  18. You’ve probably already been advised that it was King George VI not King George I that was buried on this day in 1952

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