Is it really Friday? Indeed: it’s Friday, March 15, 2019, and National Peanut Lovers’ Day. It’s also World Contact Day, in which we’re all supposed to telepathically contact aliens. As Wikipedia notes:
World Contact Day was first declared in March 1953 by an organization called the International Flying Saucer Bureau (IFSB), as a day on which all IFSB members would attempt to send a telepathic message into space.
The IFSB voted to hold such a day in 1953, theorising that if both telepathy and alien life were real, a large number of people focussing on an identical piece of text may be able to transmit the message through space. IFSB members focused on the following message during 1953:
Calling occupants of interplanetary craft! Calling occupants of interplanetary craft that have been observing our planet EARTH. We of IFSB wish to make contact with you. We are your friends, and would like you to make an appearance here on EARTH. Your presence before us will be welcomed with the utmost friendship. We will do all in our power to promote mutual understanding between your people and the people of EARTH. Please come in peace and help us in our EARTHLY problems. Give us some sign that you have received our message. Be responsible for creating a miracle here on our planet to wake up the ignorant ones to reality. Let us hear from you. We are your friends.
Which reminds me of a Carpenters song, one clearly inspired by World Contact Day (note bits of the message in the song). It’s a dreadful song but, Ceiling Cat help me, I like it because it’s Karen Carpenter.
The bad news of the day comes from New Zealand, where in Christchurch a white supremacist gunman killed 49 Muslim worshipers in two mosques. (Four people have been arrested, one of them charged with murder. ( heard on the news that automatic weapons were used, but I can’t verify that.) Real justice would involve bringing those people back, but of course that’s not possible. I can’t offer prayers, but I join all Kiwis in deploring this gratuitous violence and in expressing my sorrow for the victims, their loved ones, and their families. The gunman apparently posted a manifesto online, but I haven’t yet seen it.
It’s the Ides of March, and so on this day in 44 BC, Julius Caesar was stabbed to death by Roman senators including Brutus and Cassius. On March 15, 1493, Christopher Columbus returned to Spain after his first trip to the Americas (he never landed on the mainland. On this day in 1819, says Wikipedia, “French physicist Augustin Fresnel [was] adjudged the winner of the Grand Prix of the Académie des Sciences for his ‘Memoir on the Diffraction of Light’, which verifies the Fresnel integrals, accounts for the limited extent to which light spreads into shadows, and thereby demolishes Newton’s initial objection to the wave theory of light.”
In 1877, it was on this day that the first official cricket test match was played—in Melbourne Australia and featuring England vs. Oz. On March 15, 1917, Tsar Nicholas II abdicated the Russian throne, ending the Romanov Dynasty. He, his family, and his retinue were shot by the Bolsheviks on July 17 of the next year. On March 15, 1952, on the island of Réunion, the world rainfall record was set for 24 hours: 1.87 meters (73 inches)! It was WET! Finally, it was on this day in 1990 that Mikhail Gorbachev was elected as the first President of the Soviet Union. He lasted 1.5 years and since then nobody has filled that position.
Notables born on this day include Andrew Jackson (1767), Emil von Behring (1854, Nobel Laureate), Jackson Scholz (1897), Lightnin’ Hopkins (1912), Ruth Bader Ginsberg (1933), Jimmy Swaggart (1935), Mike Love (1941), Sly Stone (1943), Ry Cooder (1947), and Eva Longoria (1975).
Those who died on this day include Julius Caesar (44 BC), H. P. Lovecraft (1937), Lester Young (1959), Aristotle Onassis (1975), Rebecca West (1983), and Benjamin Spock (1998).
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili was frightened by two strange dogs outside the fence.
Hili: Slowly I start to understand.A: What are you trying to understand?Hili: That fences are not such a bad invention.
Hili: Powoli zaczynam rozumieć.
Ja: Co zaczynasz rozumieć?
Hili: Że płoty nie są najgorszym wynalazkiem.
The video below clearly shows the survival costs of sexual selection:
When natural selection trumps sexual selection pic.twitter.com/0J6hkzYVGa
— Steve Stewart-Williams (@SteveStuWill) March 14, 2019
When I was in Paris last fall, I visited the catacombs but not the sewers. Reader Jiten offers this tweet about underground Paris:
The networks of tunnels beneath Paris have their own art, their own nightlife, even their own police… https://t.co/JDaqqhx5N8
— Graham Farmelo (@grahamfarmelo) March 14, 2019
Two tweets from Heather Hastie. The first is a preening sea otter:
Facebook and Instagram are down, here's an EmergenSea Otter pic.twitter.com/E9g3xfOQhn
— Monterey Bay Aquarium (@MontereyAq) March 13, 2019
The second is what she calls “the best kind of sheep dog.” It doesn’t scare the sheep, but it doesn’t help the shepherd, either.
https://twitter.com/StefanodocSM/status/1105782179169214465
Tweets from Grania. The first is a “lazarus plant”; does anybody know what it is?
Resurrección de una planta del desierto pic.twitter.com/WzMpw55xmH
— Mauricio Zapata (@mezvan) March 14, 2019
This lovely kitten isn’t quite sure about being brushed:
https://twitter.com/EmrgencyKittens/status/1106276560359829505
People in the thread mused about whether this is Photoshopped, but decided that the shirt and guy are probably for real. God bless America!
Well that escalated quickly. pic.twitter.com/tRUcZVX6xn
— Noah Smith 🐇 (@Noahpinion) March 13, 2019
Grania said “Pence had to be nice to the Irish Taoiseach and his boyfriend (the “Taoiseach” is the Irish Prime Minister).
Vice President Mike Pence invited me and Matt to his home at the Naval Observatory this morning. It’s great to be back here for a really warm reception. pic.twitter.com/Wkh2Ic8lWP
— Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) March 14, 2019
Tweets from Matthew. The first reports a new paper, which I’ve just read, suggesting that the importance of epigenetic inheritance in evolution may be way overrated—something that Matthew and I think, too:
“Nongenetic inheritance could, in fact, be genetic in origin.” https://t.co/D3OyUzifyh
— The Scientist (@TheScientistLLC) March 13, 2019
Coyote hunts otter:
https://twitter.com/NEtrailcams/status/1097633547035336704
Matthew retweets somebody else’s tweet, and adds his conclusion:
Yes, it could be an example of removing parasites like a snow dustbath. But it’s not. They are having fun. https://t.co/53L0GM55nb
— Matthew Cobb (@matthewcobb) February 18, 2019
I think the shadow a lamp makes on the wall is a Poisson spot, and is also evidence of the wave nature of light
No, the shadow isn’t a Poisson spot – it’s the spot of light at the centre of the shadow, but I suppose you misspoke. Also a lamp will not do as you describe. But yes the correct setup confirms the wave theory of light.
To make a Poisson spot [the bright point in the middle of the below pic] requires a laser beam [or a very tight pinhole-produced light beam] & a very small, smooth, circular or spherical, opaque shadow-creating object between the point source & the screen/wall – something like the shadow of a 3 mm ball bearing:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0a/Poissonspot_simulation_d4mm.jpg
A very nice Veritasium video covers it.
GET OUT – in your floaters!?!
I can’t wait to see this!
I do wonder if Derek is right about that. Seems like an urban legend.
I am excited to report I observed the putative Poisson Spot in floaters in my eye. I did this two ways:
1. Laying down looking at a clear blue sky
2. Indoors, sitting, lights off, looking at the bright sunny day through a north facing window. The bright spot was unmistakable in the round dark floater in case (2). (1) was trickier to catch.
Easy to try in any case.
That the influence of this so-called president has affects half way round the world is pretty disgusting. Apparently the manifesto from this white fanatic speaks of this. Another proud day in America. I don’t know but suspect the weapons may be semi-automatic but do not know. Very poor coverage on CNN this morning.
I was going to report some good news on guns this morning but will save it to later.
Supposedly the New Zealand shooters’ manifesto mentions Trump as an inspiration. Don Jr. tweeted this morning that everyone, media included, should avoid mentioning the names of the shooters or reading the manifesto. Like we’re not going to notice that Trump’s rhetoric is partly to blame here.
“avoid mentioning the names of the shooters or reading the manifesto.”
Sounds like the Church on banned books. Can that be real? He might have added, “…and don’t look at dad’s tax returns if they are made public, and don’t read Mueller’s report – it could make you blind.”
Here’s what Don Jr. tweeted:
“Don’t give the POS NZ shooter what he wants. Don’t speak his name don’t show the footage. Seems that most agree on that. The questions is can the media do what’s right and pass up the ratings they’ll get by doing the opposite? I fear we all know the answer unfortunately.”
No denouncement of white supremacy or mention that Donald Trump was mentioned in their manifesto. Just that we should cover our ears and go “na na na”.
What a yo-yo.
Notice how DJT seems to have tweeted NADA about latest academic scandals?? Too close to home, d’ya think?
‘OK to be white’ has even made it as a motion in the Australian Senate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_OK_to_be_white#Australian_parliament_motion
The ever reliable BELL?NGCAT has a good post out: “Shitposting, Inspirational Terrorism, and the Christchurch Mosque Massacre” concentrating on one of the shooters who goes by the name Brenton Tarrant & his connections to the 8chan /pol/board.
I always play any morning music selection you post, and I almost always enjoy it. But with the Carpenters’ “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft,” you’ve finally gone a bridge too far for me, boss.
Since you feel that way I wouldn’t recommend “Karen Carpenter Sings the Sun Ra Songbook.”
Your mention of the first test match reminds me of my days in London in 1979. I was fascinated by the test matches. I couldn’t believe that a two-inning game could last up to five days! Also, I believe that England was up first (they were playing India). One batsman scored 200 runs and England as a team scored 600 runs in the first inning and then “declared”. Mind boggling!
Ahem – innings, not inning, in cricket!
Lucky to get a 5 day game these days, as the short form of the game has changed/destroyed/improved (delete as you feel appropriate) the traditional game…
My bad–thank you for the correction! Yes, I also watched a bit of “one-day” cricket while I was there, but it just didn’t seem to have the same “je ne sais quoi” as the test matches.
If it’s 600, you are talking about the first test at Edgbaston in Birmingham. England scored 633 for 5 declared. India scored 297 in their first innings (fewer than half the number of runs for twice as many wickets) and were made to follow on (that is to say, normally the innings proceed alternately, but India were so bad that they had to bat twice in a row). They only made 253 in their second innings and so England won without having to bat again.
David Gower scored 200 and Ian Botham took five wickets for 70 in India’s second innings.
That was the first test match I can remember watching (on the TV).
That’s the one! The names David Gower and Ian Botham refreshed my memory as well. It was my first match on telly as well. Of course, I was a temporarily transplanted Yank who never got the chance to watch cricket back in the colonies!
Why is declaring after reaching 600 in your first innings mind boggling?
It almost never happens that you are in a position to declare during the first innings. 600 odd is a pretty big score in a test match – it doesn’t happen very often – but to do it with five wickets still intact is exceptional.
The plant is Anastatica hierochunticam ir “rose of Jericho.”
*hierochintica or
*hierochuntica or… can’t type today 🙁
Selaginella lepidophylla and Anastatica hierochunticam are confused because both curl up when dry and then open when watered. The “Lazarus plant” shown is Selaginella lepidophylla.
Thank you. I recognized the genus but didn’t know the specific epithet.
It is also World Sleep Day, so if you have the luxury of lying abed a while – good luck to you!
It is all about health – alas! the website is down probably as so many are looking at it…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Sleep_Day
That song came out when I was about 7 years old. I liked it, but never really got what it was about, and I’m a little surprised to have discovered its true meaning on this site, of all places!
I knew someone in Australia whose husband was in jail — he’d been contacted by aliens and told to construct a landing pad for their spaceship; and that it would cost $200,000 to build. So he tried to rob a bank and wound up shooting someone. (This is both true, and useful for exercising some of those facial muscles that only woos can reach.)
It’d sure be fun if Muller issued his report today — the Ides of March
‘Calling Occupants…” was originally by Klaatu, and imho, Klaatu’s is a much better version.
That is better! Very much Sgt. Peppery Beatles-esque.
🐾🐾
Natural selection trumps sexual selection reminds me of a Larson cartoon. The antelopes in the foreground have the punch line.
I contacted some aliens this morning in honor of World Contact Day. They had nothing to say.
Where? Down at the border?
Yes, at the border between the Terran and Aldebaran sectors.
Maybe they will post a comment later.
That can’t be right. How’s the plot going to thicken?
Just add some corn(y)starch.
COMING SOON
**** RICKFLICK & HANIVER ****
TO A COMEDY STORE NEAR YOU
BOOK NOW!
Look. All caps. Just how alien communication would look. I was suspicious when the avatar changed to green.
Where’s my cattle prod gone?
I stole it. There were some two-legged varmints I needed to goose.
I’m gonna have to launch a probe, so to speak… *Evil Laugh Echoes Out From Saucer*
Full alert.
Set phasers to stun.
Shields up.
Does anyone have some sugar cubes?
Perhaps not enough ❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️to be authentic.
But, that’s part of the deception. Just enough to seem authentic without giving away the store.
Waiting with bated breath🤓
I think, in fact, you can relax and exhale. We both have our reputations on WEIT to consider.
🤓
I telepathed the aliens as well but nobody was home – I left a message on their answering service > how did you enjoy Johnny B. Goode?
rz
As Jim. D mentioned, the Carpenters’ “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft” is a cover of the original version by Klaatu. But my all-time favorite version of the song was recorded in 1976-77 by The Langley Schools Music Project, an amateur chorus of rural schoolkids in British Columbia. As a piece of “outsider art” it’s magnificent and deeply moving, more so than any other version of the song:
“Real justice would involve bringing those people back, but of course that’s not possible.”
I will look forward to hearing “Restorative Justice” enthusiasts hold forth on this incident.