Friday: Hili dialogue (and Leon monologue)

May 10, 2019 • 6:30 am

I had to look at the calendar to be sure it was really Friday, but indeed it is: May 10, 2019, and it’s National Liver and Onions Day. Jebus, what a horrible food! But my old man loved it, and when my mom made it for him it stunk up the whole house. Mr. Floyd Coyne ate with relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls.

It’s also Golden Spike Day, honoring the meeting of the tracks of the first U.S. transcontinental railroad, built from both east and west and meeting on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit, Utah. Leland Stanford (who founded the University) drove in a golden spike (17.6-carat) linking the tracks, which was, of course, later removed. Being gold and all, it couldn’t be pounded, so was dropped into a pre-drilled hole linking the tracks. Here it is:

(From Wikipedia): The original “golden spike”, on display at the Cantor Arts Museum at Stanford University

Today the Google Doodle honors Lucy Wills, whose achievement is described by C|Net:

Pregnant women around the world have Lucy Wills to thank for crucial research that led to the creation of a prenatal vitamin that helps prevent birth defects.

That vitamin is folic acid — a man-made form of folate, a B-vitamin found naturally in dark green vegetables and citrus fruits. It plays an important role in the creation of red blood cells, and when taken by women before and during pregnancy, it can help prevent birth defects in the baby’s brain and spinal cord.

But this connection was unknown until 1931, when Wills published a paper about research of anemia in pregnant women in India. For her pioneering work, Google dedicated its Doodle on Friday to Wills on her 131st birthday.

On May 10, 1497, Amerigo Vespucci is said to have left Cádiz for his first voyage to the New World; he was the first to discover that Brazil and the West Indies were not the eastern edge of Asia. On this day in 1534, Jacques Cartier arrived in Newfoundland, which he claimed for France. On this day in 1774, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette became the King and Queen of France.

On this day in 1869, as noted above, the linking of the American coasts by railroad was completed at Promontory Point, Utah. And in 1908, we had the first observance of Mother’s Day—in Grafton, West Virginia. On May 10, 1916, according to Wikipedia, “Sailing in the lifeboat James Caird, Ernest Shackleton arrives at South Georgia after a journey of 800 nautical miles from Elephant Island.” This was an amazing journey.  Eight years later, J. Edgar Hoover was appointed first director of the FBI, a post he held until he died in 1972 (48 years at the helm, sometimes in lingerie).

On this day in 1954, the first rock and roll record to reach #1 on the Billboard charts was released by Bill Haley & His Comets. Do you remember (or know) the name? I was 5 when I first heard it, and I still remember. It was being played on Sally Quinn’s 45 rpm record player upstairs in her house, and I can well remember being amazed at the music. Quinn, the daughter of my father’s commanding general, went on to become a Washington Post reporter and the wife of Ben Bradlee.

On May 10, 1974, Bobby Orr scored “THE GOAL” to win the 1970 Stanley Cup for the Boston Bruins. Here’s that goal:

Finally, it was on this day in 1994 that Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as the first black president of South Africa.

Notables born on this day include John Wilkes Booth (1938), Karl Barth (1886), Alfred Jodl (1890), Fred Astaire (1899), Maybelle Carter (1809), Donovan (1906), Sid Vicious (1957), Rick Santorum (1958), and Bono (1960).

Those who expired on May 10 include Paul Revere (1818), Stonewall Jackson (1863), Carl Nägeli (1891), Joan Crawford (1977), Walker Percy (1990), John Wayne Gacy (1994), and Shel Silverstein (1999).

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is nervous, as she always is when crossing the soccer field:

Hili: Something is there.
A: What?
Hili: Exactly, also I wonder what.
In Polish:
Hili: Tam coś jest.
Ja: Ale co?
Hili: No właśnie. Też się zastanawiam, co?

In nearby Wroclawek, Leon rejects some reading. When I asked Malgorzata what the book was, she replied, “I have no idea. I tried to read the few words that are visible and I suspect it’s some kind of recipe book on how to pickle or make preserves of vegetables and fruits. But it’s a guess.”

Leon: I’m not convinced that this is a suitable reading for today’s evening.
Leon: Nie jestem przekonany, że to odpowiednia lektura na dzisiejszy wieczór.

This is from Facebook, sent by Diana MacPherson. Can you find the hidden cat? It took me a while:

And another from Facebook:

A tweet from reader Barry, who says, “I can’t stand these cultists.” Neither can I.

From Nilou: Biologist Bob Trivers promotes exercise (and weed). The Dude abides!

Tweets from Grania. I may have posted this one before, but it’s a heartwarmer and will make you tear up.

From the inimitable Stephen Fry, who coins a new profanity:

AI still isn’t perfect . . .

Translation by Twitter: “It is a wild mama who eats the food to the kitten first.”

Tweets from Matthew. The first one is kind of sad, but predators gotta eat:

A boy imitating birds:

Check that against the original. Pretty good!

Matthew loves illusions, and this is a great one. ALL the lines are curved but half of them in the gray area appear to be zig-zagged. They’re not: check for yourself.

 

62 thoughts on “Friday: Hili dialogue (and Leon monologue)”

  1. There’s an “owl” whose beak is hidden but I don’t know if that’s the kitty…I have seen that there golden spike up close.

    1. The Golden Spike ceremony was one of the first news stories covered “live.” A reporter at the scene described the events, which were transmitted to telegraph stations around the country, where crowds gathered to follow the event.

      When the spike was “driven,” he telegraphed “Done.” Years later, people who had been at one of the telegraph offices felt that they had “heard” the spike being driven.

      2. I rate this one as ‘easy’. The cat’s open mouth is the same colour and two dimensional shape) as the owls’ beaks. The cats I knew all had pinkish mouths.

    5. I usually suck at these, but found the kitteh almost instantly. First place I looked was lucky I suppose.

      1. Same here. In this one, the cat really looks like a cat and the owls really look like owls. Most of these are harder because they all look like owl-cats with one cat-owl.

  3. Organ meats are splendid, until you get gout! I ate liver and onions often as a child; it was a relatively cheap dish. Calves’ liver is best as older beasts and pig liver will have a granular texture. If you roll the liver chunks in flour the shed flour in the frying fat will make an easy and rich dark gravy that makes the dish.

    Devilled kidneys are worth the effort, too. Again, be sure to pick the right kidneys – lambs’ in this case.

    But the king of organ foods has to be the black pudding. That is something I would kill for (hmm, I guess that’s literally true!)

    1. “Organ meats are splendid, until you get gout!”

      Once again my picky eating comes to my rescue – I can’t think of anything more disgusting and revolting than identifiable bits of internal anatomy. My utter loathing and nausea at the thought of liver etc is probably why I’ve only ever had one mild attack of gout.

      😎

      cr

      1. I hope that neither you nor Jerry ever went to dinner with Oliver Sacks — he loved liver and onions — because even if you didn’t order the dish, if he did (and he probably would have if he saw it on the menu), surely the aroma from that dish would spread across the table.

        In fact, he loved liver and onions so much that right after he received his diagnosis of liver cancer, he went out and had a mess of liver and onions, relishing both the dish and the incongruity of his gustatory desire. Quote (I think from his last Radiolab interfiew): “So far, the metastases from my eye are only in my liver. I’m told they love liver. Actually, I love liver as well. And one of the magical things I did was to go and have liver and onions soon after the diagnosis.” I wonder if he thought of liver and onions the way the Greeks and Romans thought about eels.

          1. Re A’s theory of nutrition? I’d love a brief explanation re Sacks and the liver (his cancerous organ and the dish). Trying to think about Sacks’ statement in light of A’s theory scrambles my brain (then “scrambles” one thinks about the dish, delectable to some,not I, Brains and Eggs). Which leads me to wonder if one consumes brains and eggs, and the brains are infected with some type of spongiform encephalophy (such as Mad Cow disease) can the disease be transmitted to the eater? I’d venture a ‘yes’.

          2. “I” should be “me.” I think but as I noted, my brains are already scrambled.

          3. I am quite fond of the ‘inside bits’, and have a wonderful cook book called ‘The Book of Tripe’. I am especially fond of liver (lightly sautéed) and of brains. In the case of the latter I would not eat them in a country that has scrapie, which is probably related to spongiform encephalopathy. Brains are quite hard to buy here since most seem to be exported.

      2. cr,

        A kindred spirit!

        I am simply incapable of eating (at least what I now to be) organ meats. I’ve even tried the “most divine buttery foi gras – it doesn’t taste like liver!” (says my dining companion) and the hint of that irony liver pretty much ruined the rest of my meal.

        My system just doesn’t register that stuff as “edible.”

        1. I hate it when “friends” do this kind of thing. Reminds me of the time a friend who was a much better skier convinced me with, “This intermediate run is really more a beginner run”. Aargh!

          1. I’ve been down more black diamond runs than I like to think about trying to keep track of my young and fearless son. This was 20 odd years ago And I was never too proud to attempt to snowplow or just slide down on my backside. Discretion being the better part of valor..

        2. Foie gras is heavenly in my lexicon. Accompanied by a gewurtztraminer (I can’t afford Chateau Yqiem). It does indeed not taste like liver, and I should know since I love most liver dishes.
          I very rarely eat it, not only it is expensive, but I disapprove of the way it is produced ( force feeding geese -or ducks). I would not support that industry by buying it. It must have been more that a decade I ate it. Still, ‘most devine buttery foie gras’ spurs my salivary glands into overdrive.

    2. Funnily enough, I like most organs apart from liver. Can’t stand it. Lungs, kidneys, and most of the GI tract are delicious.

      -Ryan

  4. Bill Haley and the Comets? Was Rock Around the Clock his first?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgdufzXvjqw

    …or was it Shake Rattle and Roll?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B7xr_EjbzE

    I was a very young teenager at the time. Just the right age for the music.

    As for the hidden cat, look straight down under the T in cat, and you’ll find the cat some three or four birds down, depending on whether you count the owls off at an angle.

    (And I agree…liver and onions are absolutely gross!!! Yuck!!!)

    1. Wish I had a cool Sally Quinn-style story like Jerry, but I know “Rock Around the Clock” from the kinda cheesy movie of that name that was a staple of early Sixties tv when I was a kid.

    1. Quite powerful, isn’t it?

      I think it’s because the curved lines have been shaded either dark or light, which makes them look as if sections are in light or in shadow; they have an illusory 3-D effect and the brain assumes that the dark sections are uniformly in shadow (therefore at a uniform angle to the imaginary light source) while the light sections are uniformly exposed to the light.

      Why so powerful in the grey section – I think because the dark bits are darker than the background while the light bits are lighter, therefore the lines look like steps in a flat grey surface. This is not the case with the white or black areas.

      cr

    1. And don’t forget the white Russians…I don’t think those aid in exercise though. 😉

    1. Thanks buddy. You’ve just deprived me of my one remaining fantasy. 😉

  8. My parents tried many times to force me to eat liver & onions. Finally, they tried the old “you don’t leave the table until you eat it” ploy. They finally gave up when I was still sitting in front of a cold plate at 11:00 PM.

    1. Respect.

      Did you ever consider reporting your parents to the authorities for child abuse? 😉

      cr

      1. Grandma used to press my son to eat a slice of bread at lunch, with the mistaken belief that this would add some flesh to his bones. She stopped when we started to find hidden slices (in various state) all around the house.

  9. Ah, yes, The Goal. The great #7. Just another reminder that the Bruins are still in it after yet again beating the Leafs. Sigh.

  10. An expedition to the Antarctic (or was it arctic) died from vitamin A overdose. They ate the sled dogs’ livers to stay alive when food ran out. I’ll have to read up on it later. Vitaminosis is the condition.

    A typical Beef liver serving has over 300% DV of vitamin A ( I looked that up just this AM).

  12. Mmm, calves liver with onions (and bacon). It’s my favorite Friday evening meal. It’s tasty if cooked properly, a great source of Vitamin A, and a non-violent anti-religion food-taboo protest. The liver is a protest against the “you have to eat fish on Fridays” and the “don’t have a cow” crowds (not to mention those that take a holier-than-thou vegan/vegetarian attitude). The bacon is a protest against irrational porcine fears, and the onions are a protest against the Jains (google it (or use duckduckgo, if you prefer)). It goes well with a side of potatoes au gratin, some vegetables, and a glass of a nice red wine.

    If particularly hungry, shrimp cocktail or eggs mayonnaise makes a nice appetizer.

  13. I love liver and onions! Unsurprisingly a hated it when I was a kid. I haven’t had it for maybe 15 years because it has been hard to find and because it was considered unhealthy due to the high levels of cholesterol.

    1. High levels of cholesterol in your food has little influence on your blood levels, unless you have some form of cholesterol metabolism defect (familial hypercholesterolaemia).
      Nearly all the cholesterol in your blood is synthesised by (you guessed it) your liver. 😁

      1. Yes, I later learned that it was not an issue. But, that was the old wives/husbands tale back then. It was not very often available where I shopped, and not often on restaurant menus, so we just never ate it since.

  14. Many people who smoke a lot of weed also exercise a lot? Color me skeptical. I’ve known lots of people who smoke weed and I’ve never known a frequent pot smoker that frequently exercised. Not saying there’s none but lots? No.

    Of course, I guess it really does depend on what is meant by “frequent” and “exercise.”

    1. Same here, not one person I’ve ever known to be a regular pot smoker exercised a lot.
      Usually the opposite.

    2. This isn’t news to me. I’ve read a number of articles or parts of articles and first-person reports stating that cannabis can motivate a person to exercise and enhance the quality of their exercise. And years before I’d read anything about this, I knew it from personal experience. As an aging stoner, I can personally attest that cannabis not only motivates but enhances my exercise (jogging and working out). So it’s anecdotal, but it works for me, and that’s what I care about. I love it; it’s great fun, “trippy,” to jog while stoned. One does get in the “zone.”

      Apparently, the study referred to in the NYT article doesn’t touch on the type of cannabis. I don’t know much about statistical analysis but without this question being asked, the conclusions, even if positive, are worthless.

      It’s the sativas, not the indicas, that do the trick. Numerous articles on the internet about the energizing effects (mental and physical) of sativas. Now strains are being bred specifically to enhance physical performance. Strains of both sativa and indica, and hybrids, are also fantastic for enhancing creativity, where one needs the brain to be active.

      1. I’m surprised, I guess I only had the ‘indicas’ that give me the munchies, make me horny but above all make me feel I’m kinda ridiculous.
        I think the benefits of -hypothetical- increased exercise don’t weigh up against the
        multiple deleterious effects of smoking.

        1. True, smoking weed is undeniably hazardous to the lungs, but there are other ways to get the THC buzz. Edibles aren’t fast acting but they last for hours and can be almost psychedelic (not ideal for physical exercise), but now one can find sublingual sprays, tinctures, and strips, which aren’t as fast acting as smoking cannabis but work pretty fast. Fizzy sodas are nice. I’m sure that even more novel ways of ingesting cannabis will soon be available.

          It’s a long way from the days of a “matchbox” of weed when little research had been done on particular strains and their properties. Once Once growers and cannabis researchers really began to isolate strains and determine their specific properties, the whole science of cannabis took off and has never looked back. Many users these days want to know the parentage of various strains; there’s lots of crossing and re-crossing and back-crossing (don’t know if that’s a word), hybridizing strains. These days, one can get cannabis designed to produce specific effects — at least where pot is legal or for medical use. In fact, strains of indica, specifically designed to enhance appetite and/or induce sleep have been bred especially for medical use, such as cancer and AIDS. And there are those who say that pot just makes you stupid, yet certain strains have been developed to enhance creativity of various sorts. I’ve had some Blue Dream and Haze that fired me up to think and write creatively like nothing else (also good for doing certain kinds of graphic art), and those who saw the products of my reveries did not consider them evidence of a dulled mind; rather, it broke down barriers that are normally there and allowed thoughts to percolate. That said, I’m the first to admit that I’ve thought plenty of stupid thoughts and written plenty that’s execrable, but using cannabis isn’t the determining factor in my stupidity (though indica pretty much kills the ability to cogitate and concatenate thoughts and words).

  15. A couple of typos:
    Donovan Leitch was born in 1946, and Maybelle Carter in 1909.

    Also, as a matter of pure pedantry, Haley’s original 1954 release of “Rock Around the Clock” did OK but did not reach #1. It reached #1 after it’s re-release in 1955, following the use of a different recording of the song in the soundtrack of the movie The Blackboard Jungle.

  17. Google Translate does a much better job than Twitter evidently, translating the mom and kitty caption to:

    “Wild mommy who makes kitten eat food first”

  18. My Mother was anemic and her doctor told her to eat liver. I could never eat it. Still cannot stand the taste.
    Parents also pushed buttermilk. Never could stand that either.
    Most other goods I can take in small amounts.

  19. Organ meats are hit and miss for me. It’s all about the preparation. I hate Menudo, but I love tripe in tacos where it’s fried and tastes like bacon. I’ve never had a sweet-bread that I didn’t like. Cow’s testicles aren’t bad, but not something I’d order again. I hate beef liver, but am very fond of chicken liver- esp. when cooked in a Japanese style. I don’t like fish stomachs (once tried at a sushi restaurant…gag), won’t touch brains, and have never liked kidneys in any preparation. I’ve had decent beef heart. I’ll try anything once…except brains…I’m afraid of prions!

  21. “On May 10, ***1974***, Bobby Orr scored “THE GOAL” to win the ***1970*** Stanley Cup for the Boston Bruins. ” (*** denotes possible typo)

    The video says 1970, and I don’t think the Bruins had a time machine or had that many minutes per period back then. soooo… 1974 is supposed to be 1970. That’s an amusing typo I think.

    1. Well, they did, in fact, have a time machine, but couldn’t squeeze the whole team into the box with all their equipment, soooo…
      You were close though. 😉

  23. Very nice illusion, when the background of the greys in the sinusoids is either lighter or darker than both the placement on top (bend) or slope does not matter, when inbetween the placement plays a role. Striking.
    I wonder if it is mostly a retinal, or a completely cerebral phenomenon.

    1. I think it’s two-fold.

      One, there is the illusion that the lines are stepped edges in a flat grey surface, exposed to slanting ‘sunlight’ and either catching or shaded from the light.

      Two, the colour of the lines changes abruptly from uniform light to uniform dark; this suggests that there is a sharp discontinuity (bend) between light and dark segments, and further that each light segment is entirely at a uniform angle to the ‘sunlight’, therefore straight. And the same for dark segments.

      cr

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