Tuesday: Hili dialogue

May 7, 2019 • 6:30 am

It’s Tuesday, May 7, 2019, and National Roast Leg of Lamb Day. The chances are zero that I’ll get one of those, but I may have a T-bone tonight. It’s also National Teachers Day (part of National Teachers Week) as well as World Asthma Day.

On this day in 1664, Louis XIV began construction of his Palace of Versailles, which was mostly completed by 1678. On May 7, 1824, in Vienna, Austria, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony premiered, conducted by Michael Umlauf with the deaf composer sitting on stage and providing the tempos (erroneously). It was the first major symphony to include human voices.  In 1895, according to Wikipedia, it was on this day that, in Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrate[d] to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society his invention, the Popov lightning detector—a primitive radio receiver. In some parts of the former Soviet Union the anniversary of this day is celebrated as Radio Day.”

The detector could detect radio waves but Popov didn’t use it for communication for a few years, putting him in a virtual tie with Marconi as inventor of the “radio”. Here’s one of Popov’s early receivers, with a rotating drum to record lightning strikes:

On March 7, 1915, the German submarine U-20 sank the passenger liner RMS Lusitania, killing 1,198 people, among them 128 Americans. (The ship was inside the “war zone” German had declared around the UK.) The public outrage after this led, two years later, to the U.S. declaration of war on Germany. Exactly 30 years later, German general Alfred Jodl signed unconditional surrender terms to the allies at Reims, France, effectively ending the Second World War in Germany.

On this day in 1986, Canadian climber Patrick Morrow became the first person to climb each of the Seven Summits (the highest mountain on each continent), but there are different versions of the seven summits and some include 9 (see below). Morrow climbed those on the Carstensz-Version , including Denali (1977), Aconcagua (1981), Mt. Everest (1982), Kilimanjaro (1983), Mt. Kosciuszko (1983), Mt. Vinson (1985), Mt. Elbrus (1985) and the Puncak Jaya (Carstensz Pyramid) on May 7, 1986. Here’s the list with nine summits:

On May 7, 1994, Edvard Munch’s famous painting “The Scream” was recovered undamaged three months after having been stolen from Norway’s National Gallery. Finally, on this day in 2000, the oligarch/dictator Vladimir Putin was inaugurated as President of Russia. (If you’re going to defend the man, including the unhinged and/or drunk person who calls me in the middle of the night in my office, leaving garbled messages about Putin’s greatness, don’t bother. The next such phone call will be reported to the cops, as I have the man’s name and number.)

Notables born on this day include David Hume (1711), Robert Browning (1812), Archibald MacLeish (1882), Gary Cooper (1901), Eva Perón (1919), and Johnny Unitas (1933).

There were few notables who passed away on May 7; in fact, I could find only one worth noting: Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (2000).

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is frustrated in her hunt for birds:

Hili: They have a nest under the roof!
A: Who?
Hili: Starlings. It’s impossible to climb up there.
In Polish:
Hili: One mają gniazdo pod dachem!
Ja: Kto?
Hili: Szpaki. Tam nie można się wdrapać.

Two “memes” from Facebook. The first one, which I may have posted before, is very clever:

This is an old joke I know well, except that I tell it using a duck who walks into a pharmacy and asks for grapes:

 

Reader Barry sent a tweet portraying what seems to be a dyed-in-the-wool faithhead, but I know nothing about this guy. Perhaps readers can help identify him and see how accurate this snip-quote is:

Tweets from Heather Hastie. She said she was profoundly shocked by this one:

https://twitter.com/becingber/status/1124007004496904193

This young kakapo has apparently found bark inedible:

A cat wearing a necklace made from its own fur. I’m not sure how I feel about this:

. . . but at least the same cat gets corn, and loves it. But don’t give cats the silk!

Tweets from Grania. Who knew that Great White Sharks have evil faces when viewed from below? (Matthew also found this one.)

https://twitter.com/41Strange/status/1125170324402610177

A Maru wannabee in training:

https://twitter.com/castellanosce/status/1124861492514447365

Tweets from Matthew, who has discovered his affinity for black foxes (they’re melanistic variants of the common red fox):

https://twitter.com/atlanticbaked/status/1125422723071709186

And this is simply fantastic:

 

64 thoughts on “Tuesday: Hili dialogue”

  4. The public outrage after this led, two years later, to the U.S. declaration of war on Germany.

    Never let it be said that the USA rushes into decisions too quickly…

    In fact, the primary motivating factor for the USA joining the war was because it would have been a financial catastrophe had the Britain and France lost since both countries had borrowed heavily from the USA in order to prosecute the war.

    Also, it didn’t help that Germany promised Mexico that they could have three US states if they joined in on the German side if the USA entered the war.

    2. Could we pick which three Mexico got, ’cause there’ve always been a few states we in the US could happily do without. Not all of ’em are contiguous to Mexico, mind you, but it would’ve still been addition by way of subtraction. 🙂

      1. They were offered California, New Mexico and Arizona.

        It should be said that the Mexicans conducted a feasibility study and decided that, even with German financial help, they wouldn’t be able to successfully invade the USA. And even if they did, the occupied states would be ungovernable.

        1. Texas should have been first on the list. That was the first one we stole from Mexico.

        2. Texas should have been first on the list. That was the first one we stole from Mexico.

        3. I see they left off their list Texas (which had actually been part of Mexico. Remember the Alamo?). But then, Texas is flat ungovernable whatever its national borders may be. 🙂

          3. During the radical Chicano student movement of the Sixties, the whole area was referred to as “Aztlán,” upon which they had notions of a Reconquista.

          4. True, but Texas fought its own private revolution against Mexico, even before the Mexican-American War. For a decade in the 19th century, before joining the American union, Texas was its own independent republic — the only one of the 50 states ever to have been so.

            This provides an odd source of pride, even today, among native Texans. 🙂

          5. Most people are not aware that the main reason for the Texas revolution was their desire to remain a place where you could own slaves.

    3. There was a LOT of controversy about the Lusitania sinking.

      The second explosion that hastened her sinking – was alleged to be a second torpedo (by the Allies); was alleged to be munitions (by the Germans); or may have been a coal-dust explosion.

      The British denied that Lusitania had been carrying munitions – until 1982 (!)

      Then there was the question of whether the Lusitania was armed (which would have made her a legitimate target) – apparently she wasn’t but had been fitted with gun mountings. The British operated a number of ‘Q’ ships (armed merchantmen with concealed armament).

      And of course, a fertile ground for conspiracy theories.

      cr

    4. Also, it didn’t help that Germany promised Mexico that they could have three US states if they joined in on the German side if the USA entered the war.

      I saw something go past – which had gone before my brain parsed it, and I couldn’t find it again – implying that the catastrophic success that is Brexit may be repeated in America, with some people are agitating for “Texit”.
      Oh boy, that’s got so much Schadenfreude potential.

      1. “Catastrophic success”? I like that.

        I would have thought that the Brexit process is much more likely to put other people off seceding from political unions.

        1. That would imply people in general – and politicians in particular – to learn from the errors of themselves and others.
          I normally discuss SF in other fora.

  5. First off, those shark faces can’t be real…can they? They can’t. Can they? They can’t…etc.

    Second, I like the duck joke. I’ll add that to the tiny bank of jokes that I ever bother remembering.

    Third, that statistic about the holocaust should be taught in every school.

    Fourthly, I hope the diminution in size of the latest black dog is a sign that it’s on its way out. It’s very persistent but if you can ride it out it eventually buggers off to worry at some other poor sod’s shoulder. It tends to come back, but in the meantime you can have other things there instead, like a pink kakapo or a purple macaque, even a green kitten, and unlike the previous occupant they don’t whisper into your ear about death or loneliness or senescence or how awful Game Of Thrones has become. Much better company.

    1. Recently read “Denying The Holocaust ” by Deborah Libstadt,one of the early deniers claimed that the Jews were not killed they had been brought over to the USA and were living in New York.

      I have Deborah Lipstadt’s “History On Trial “about the libel case that that dhead david irving brought against her and her publisher .
      Don’t know ehrn i will get around to it .

    1. The singers, you mean? Same as us instrumentalists, I guess…at least it’s not Wagner.

      1. Do you guys have restroom emergencies during long performances like that? At least at rock concerts the band can take a little break if they want.

        1. As a chorister who has sung in some damn long works, not just the 9th but also stuff such as Verdi’s Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana (yes, I know he was a Nazi, don’t start), Bach’s Mass in B Minor, and his Matthew and John Passions, the answer is No! You get used to limiting your intake beforehand and making sure you void yourself as completely as possible just before going on stage!

          1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hey_Jude

            “With drums absent for the first 50 seconds of the song, McCartney began this take unaware that Starr had just left for a toilet break. Starr soon returned – ‘tiptoeing past my back rather quickly’, in McCartney’s recollection – and performed his cue perfectly.”

  7. Jeez, Jerry, I’m a little surprised a dedicated royal-watcher like you hasn’t mentioned the latest addition to the British family. 🙂

    I’m always happy to hear after any such event that mother and child are both doing well, but as far as I’m concerned, the world needs another royal like it needs another strain of the flu.

    1. As you know, I’m not a royal watcher as I see the royalty as a vestigial appendage on the body politic. I have not the slightest interest in which royal produced which baby.

    2. I got pissed off. Meghan Markle had announced that she would have a homebirth. (While I had wondered about her intellectual abilities, this was the proverbial moment when she opened her mouth and removed all doubt.) Ultimately, some media report that she was rushed to hospital, but many sources still claim that she had homebirth!

  8. Not to play a ‘who had it worse’ game, but depending on whose estimates you believe indigenous people in the Americas (north and south) still haven’t come back to their pre-Colombian numbers. Currently about 70 million, modern consensus is around 50 with many making the case for up to 100 million.

    2. I’ll play.

      How many indigenous people in the Americas died due to disease for which they had no immunity. As such, were not murdered.

      The vast majority wasn’t it.

      The Jews aren’t talking about accidental disease or plague they are talking about a systematic deliberate plan to round up, transport and execute them.

      It’s a different thing.

  9. “If you’re going to defend the man, including the unhinged and/or drunk person who calls me in the middle of the night in my office, leaving garbled messages about Putin’s greatness, don’t bother. The next such phone call will be reported to the cops, as I have the man’s name and number.”
    POTUS is crank-calling you?

    1. “leaving garbled messages about Putin’s greatness, don’t bother. The next such phone call will be reported to the cops, as I have the man’s name and number.”

      The way I construe that is, PCC has Putin’s number. Isn’t there some grammatical rule (whose name I have forgotten) about that sort of construction? 😉

      cr
      … all hairs cheerfully split

  11. 1. Can someone explain the crow one to me?
    I’m not getting it.

    2. Why are there not d*g photos at the bottom of many of Jerry’s posts? Did he lose a bet or something?

    Thanks.

    1. Ugh.

      Number 2 was supposed to read:

      2. Why are there NOW d*g photos at the bottom of many of Jerry’s posts? Did he lose a bet or something?

    2. Number 2 with typo fixed:

      2. Why are there NOW d*g photos at the bottom of many of Jerry’s posts? Did he lose a bet or something?

      1. A group of crows is a murder of crows. Two together is an attempt to form a group/murder. Not sure how many more would be needed. Three? Six? Have to google that. Good trivia question. How many crows does it take to make a murder?

        1. I checked it out. Apparently it is the same number as the number of cows it takes to make a herd of cows. Or the number of lions to make a pride of lions.
          And to answer the next question, no, I don’t have anything better to do with my time. But U should find something.

          1. I should find something. Like shopping for a smart phone that has the u and the I and the other letters farther

          3. Dvorak? nope, that’s no good.
            Polish and German layouts don’t help either. Nor French. But there’s probably one of the Latin script keyboards that would do.

          1. Yes, if you image search online for “tower ravens” there are plenty of shots showing that bar they are standing on (at the Tower of London).

        3. Thank you for the crow explanation!

          I’m still confused about the presence of a dog photos accompanying so many of Jerry’s posts. It’s usually just a picture of a dog at the bottom of his post, with no comment about the photo.

          ????

          I can’t make sense of it given Jerry’s view of dogs, unless as I said I missed somewhere that he lost a bet or something where he said he’d post d*g photos if he lost. Otherwise…what’s going on?

          1. I don’t know either. But some of his cat pictures have the black d#g in them. But I like the pictures. Maybe he secretly likes them. A closet d#g person who does not want yo come out?

      2. I infer that Jerry gets the black dog from time to time.

        Up to the rest of us to help lift his spirits.

  12. If I wanted to offer praise of Putin, it might be for the Internet shut off Russia implemented. In war/cyberwar it would be invaluable for protecting critical infrastructure because all that stuff is connected to the Internet now for easier management. Except ICS and IoT stuff isn’t always patched well or may not be patchable (how often can you afford to take a hydro-electric plant offline to patch your turbines? Some SLAs can event prevent you from updating vulnerable routers!) so they make good targets to mess with. Even well maintained communications infrastructure can be brought to its knees. But the flip side is of course censorship, propaganda, and information control. So while I think a switch to block foreign Internet connection is useful in a hypothetical war, I’m worried and the not-hypothetical problems it would bring, and I don’t have enough information to figure out if it’s worth accepting those problems. I think we’re somewhat protected against the same sort of censorship, but that kind of control could so easily be abused.

    (Also, I will not call you to talk about connecting power stations to the Internet at 3am. That’d be weird.)

    1. Why indeed? The man is brilliant. Not many dictators succeed in getting their man elected as president of their greatest opposing power. No mean feat.

  13. “but I may have a T-bone tonight.”

    Well then I think we should call you t-bone. T-bone, T-bone, T-bone. Somehow I don’t think Coco quite fits.

  16. That map of the Seven Summits brings up a number of things that are good for winning pub quizzes.

    The highest in (western) Europe is not in Switzerland (and the highest in Switzerland is not the Matterhorn, but Monte Rosa)
    Mont Blanc is not the highest mountain in Europe (Elbruz in the Caucasus is)

    Australia is even messier.
    Kosciusko is the highest in Australia itself, but the continent of ‘Australasia’ also includes New Zealand – in which Mt Cook is higher – and sometimes New Guinea in which case it’s Puncak Jaya / Carstensz Pyramid’s turn.

    Of course, if for the ‘seventh continent’ one wants to substitute Oceania (‘cos those Pacific islands have got to fit somewhere) – Oceania includes Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia and hence may or may not include Hawaii – in which case Mauna Kea beats out Mount Cook but sadly for any lazy mountaineers, not Puncak Jaya.

    … and now I see Wikipedia has beaten me to it, again. 8-(

    cr

    1. The Wikipedia article on the Seven Summits lists Mt Kosciuszko as a “very easy to climb, being a four hour, grade 3 return walk from the nearest car park” — basically a ‘Walk in the Park’, so I don’t know why anybody would bother to include it in a “mountaineering” list. But that’s the Aussies for you — always making mountains out of molehills.

      1. Well, I guess because it’s the highest one Australia has got, and Australia is (by some definitions) a continent – though a remarkably flat one.

        NZ is much smaller but we’ve got higher mountains, though 130 feet fell off the top of Mount Cook a few years back. We’re not called the ‘shaky isles’ for nothing 🙂

        Mauna Kea, on the other hand, which is 1800 feet higher, you can drive up, which makes it even easier than Kosciusko.

        cr

    2. Kosciusko is the highest in Australia itself, but the continent of ‘Australasia’ also includes New Zealand – in which Mt Cook is higher – and sometimes New Guinea in which case it’s Puncak Jaya / Carstensz Pyramid’s turn.

      PNG and Australia are on the same block of continental crust. New Zealand isn’t – there’s a lot of underwater bits between Australia and New Zealand, but there is oceanic crust between the two all the way.
      Drop sea level by a mere 60m and you can walk from Australia to PNG. To do the same between Australia and New Zealand you’d need to drop sea level by more like 3000m.

      1. That is undoubtedly true.

        But Googling ‘Australasia’ and ‘Oceania’ brings up a remarkable miscellany of different definitions of the extent of these ‘regions’.

        cr

        1. How does that song go? “You say potato and I say banana!”

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