by Grania
Good morning, welcome to Wednesday!
Jerry is in recovery. It’s a kind of a Morning After The Night Before situation. He’ll fill us in later on this morning.
Today in history:
- 910 – Battle of Augsburg: The Hungarians defeat the East Frankish army under King Louis the Child, using the famous feigned retreat tactic of the nomadic warriors.
- 1240 – At the instigation of Louis IX of France, an inter-faith debate, known as the Disputation of Paris, starts between a Christian monk and four rabbis.
- 1775 – American Revolution: British general Thomas Gage declares martial law in Massachusetts. The British offer a pardon to all colonists who lay down their arms. It still hasn’t worked.
- 1942 – Anne Frank receives a diary for her thirteenth birthday.
- 1943 – The Holocaust: Germany liquidates the Jewish Ghetto in Brzeżany, Poland (now Berezhany, Ukraine). Around 1,180 Jews are led to the city’s old Jewish graveyard and shot.
- 1964 – Anti-apartheid activist and ANC leader Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life in prison for sabotage in South Africa.
- 1994 – Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman are murdered outside Simpson’s home in Los Angeles. Her estranged husband, O.J. Simpson is later charged with the murders, but is acquitted by a jury.
- 2016 – Forty-nine civilians are killed and 58 others injured in an attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida; the gunman, Omar Mateen, is killed in a gunfight with police.
Notable birthdays:
- 1107 – Gao Zong, Chinese emperor (d. 1187)
- 1771 – Patrick Gass, American sergeant (Lewis and Clark Expedition) and author (d. 1870)
- 1827 – Johanna Spyri, Swiss author, best known for Heidi (d. 1901)
- 1924 – George H. W. Bush, American lieutenant and politician, 41st President of the United States (d. 2018)
- 1932 – Mimi Coertse, South African soprano and producer
Poor Hili is still in mourning. It is difficult to know exactly what animals make of the death of one of their extended family, but it certainly seems to make them sad.
A: What are you thinking about?
Hili: The same as yesterday.
In Polish:
Ja: O czym myślisz?
Hili: O tym samym co wczoraj.
A contribution from the denizens of Facebook.
Today on the Twitterz
A tweet from Anna, kind curator of the ducklings of Botany Pond.
You guys!!! The new baby ducks 🦆 at #BotanyPond are doing great and the new hen is going to be named ‘Anna’ 😭😭🥰🥰😭😭 Im so honored https://t.co/69psnckYgO (cc @Evolutionistrue)
— Anna Mueller (@procAnna) June 11, 2019
Cooperative storms
This is what happens when you kick a ball towards a very powerful storm [storm Eleanor, Ireland, January 2018] https://t.co/4gJhjCQBi1 pic.twitter.com/sJhh9ML7Kj
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) June 10, 2019
Being brave, in an existential sort of a way, of course.
The definition of “asking for it.” https://t.co/FdcQsYrk9G
— Undine (@HorribleSanity) June 9, 2019
How I feel pretty much every time my alarm goes off in the morning.
https://twitter.com/41Strange/status/1137787138341187584?s=20
Woke egalitarianism in previous centuries. Exchange the clubs for foam batons, and we may have solved all of humankind’s problems.
In medieval Germany, husbands and wives could legally settle disputes by fighting each other with clubs. To make it "fair", the man would stand waist-deep in a hole.
If you think we're a nasty & stupid species now, think about how far we've come.https://t.co/MrFQ4hDMi0 pic.twitter.com/LQjAPo59hE
— Gurwinder (@G_S_Bhogal) June 9, 2019
A bit of history
My mom sent this to me.
“You don’t see this in textbooks and they don’t teach it in schools but your grandmother landed in Normandy in 1944 too. She was a nurse and women were there too.”
Love you mom. pic.twitter.com/uUW7jrcGiu
— YS (@NYinLA2121) June 7, 2019
Just in case you think America is the only country that can do better
The clods who keep saying they want a hard WTO Brexit don't understand this… https://t.co/pgHooJ9WQJ
— The Walrus 3.5% #FBPE 🐦🏴🐟🇪🇺 (@RebetikoWalrus) June 8, 2019
Same
https://twitter.com/41Strange/status/1138553005194612736?s=20
John Stewart makes a passionate speech that should never have had to be made.
Don't click on this, see it's 9 minutes long and think, "I don't have time." You do. It's worth it. https://t.co/LeCjU2Xjsy
— Niall Stanage (@NiallStanage) June 11, 2019
Also, for some reason known only to God, Justin Bieber challenged Tom Cruise to a fight.
Most of the world is going ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Others are seizing the opportunity. If you don’t know who Angela Lansbury, Dick Van Dyke and Brent Spiner are, you officially fail as a human being.
As Lena sang, Stormy Weather.
Giant hailstones hammer Lake Ammersee in Germany | https://t.co/onqbq5z4Ar pic.twitter.com/IJvrCrX6T6
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) June 11, 2019
Twitter, a play in three acts: TL; DR, don’t mess with God.
Finally, Keanu says you are breathtaking. Therefore it is true.
In case you want to know more, it’s to do with this game that was announced at E3. (Warning, the clip of the game to the left is extremely violent, the clip below is the epitome of fluffiness.)
Remember that on this day, at #E32019 , Keanu Reeves called us all breathtaking. Never forget that.#XboxE3 pic.twitter.com/PQlr9NWaje
— тαℓєѕ σf cσσkíє 🎮 #Celeste C-side Hell (@ArcanaLegacy) June 9, 2019
John Stewart is to be commended for his long fight for the 9/11 victims. The congress, well, we know what they are.
+1.
I utterly concur, Randall, with Mr Jon Stewart’s
statements thereat, one in particular, thus:
” What an incredible metaphor this room is
for ‘the entire process that getting healthcare
and benefits for 9/11 first responders has come to’
… … a filled room of 9/11 first responders and
in front of me, a nearly empty Congress. ”
Mr Lester Holt’s NBC Nightly News broadcast last night
stated that this specific hearing was one
of a “sub”committee, not of the “full committee”
so that .that. is the reason for so, so very many
empty Congresspersons’ seats.
Still: Mr Stewart’s words ring t r u e.
Blue
Very true and one has to wonder why the hearing was even necessary since approval in the house is a foregone conclusion. It is the graveyard of congress over in the republican controlled senate where everything good dies. We shall see. As Maddow says all the time, watch this space.
Another sweet twitter titterer
in re Mr Stewart’s statements:
http://www.twitter.com/AynRandPaulRyan/status/1138598219544293376 .
Blue
Snopes has the original caption of the nurses photo as: “Original caption: “Ladies Day” on the Riviera. Southern France. Time for Yanks in the coastal region of Southern France to sit up and take notice — lady visitors have arrived. As the ramp of this Coast Guard-manned landing barge swings down, American Red Cross women, carrying small packs and bags, jump out on the beach. Brought by Coast Guard transport from the US, they are prepared to carry out their duties and keep high the spirits of Yank fighting men.”
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/red-cross-nurse-normandy-beach/
I was gonna say that didn’t look like Normandy. My guess was maybe Anzio.
The DRAGOON landings took place in August 1944 on the Southeastern coast of France.
The landing craft photo:
A bit calm for the worst June weather in many a year! Which got my BS detector going, but I didn’t have to look far as someone in the thread points out that pic is from the south of France months later in Jan ’45.
While female nurses from various forces [& the Red Cross] DID land on the beaches around D+4 onwards that picture is unrelated in time & space.
SNOPES has this to say:
The original caption of the photo brings me back to the breezy sexism of my youth: “Ladies Day” on the Riviera. Southern France. Time for Yanks in the coastal region of Southern France to sit up and take notice — lady visitors have arrived. As the ramp of this Coast Guard-manned landing barge swings down, American Red Cross women, carrying small packs and bags, jump out on the beach. Brought by Coast Guard transport from the US, they are prepared to carry out their duties and keep high the spirits of Yank fighting men.
And to balance it all up, the story of two NORMANDY NURSES off Juno beach in August ’44. When the hospital ship hit a mine they went below to bring casualties up on deck – they saved some at the cost of their own lives.
Clarification: By “someone in the thread” I mean in the Twitter thread.
My bs detector went up when I saw the way they were dressed and what they were carrying. All in all, it sure doesn’t look like they were landing in Normandy on or around D-Day. Glad that you resolved the anomaly.
I had to look up the Disputation of Paris which has an ominous sound to it. I was surprised to learn that Louis the IX held a debate between a Christian and several Jewish scholars. Nothing was resolved.
Nor was anything resolved when the church had Jan Hus in for a little chat. Though Hus was fuming afterwards.
Burned at the stake, I see. Troublemaker.
Medieval interfaith debate? What could go wrong?
At least it was thought that they could rationally resolve the issue through persuasion…for a while.
Didn’t they know they were Medievals? 😛
King Louis IX wasn’t the only ruler to sponsor a religious debate. As stated in Language Log https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=24337, quoting from Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, by Jack Weatherford (which I read some years ago and that’s why I remember that the Mongols were ecumenical), “The Mongols loved competitions of all sorts, and they organized debates among rival religions the same way they organized wrestling matches. One particular debate between various sects of Buddhists, Christians and Muslims, sponsored by Mongke Khan in September of 1254” was written about by William of Rubruck (who had been sent by Louis IX) involved Buddhists, Muslims, and Christians. Language Log has a lengthy quote from Weatherford’s book regarding this debate, too long to quote here, but it’s worth reading. However, I must quote him on how the debate ended: “Mongol athletes would drink fermented mare’s milk; in keeping with that tradition, after each round of the debate, the learned men paused to drink deeply in preparation for the next match. No side seemed to convince the other of anything. Finally, as the effects of the alcohol became stronger, the Christians gave up trying to persuade anyone with logical arguments, and resorted to singing. The Muslims, who did not sing, responded by loudly reciting the Koran in an effort to drown out the Christians, and the Buddhists retreated into silent meditation. At the end of the debate, unable to convert or kill one another, they concluded the way most Mongol celebrations concluded, with everyone simply too drunk to continue.” I sure wish I could have seen that.
William of Rubruck’s account of his journey can be found here https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/rubruck.html#debate.
Thanks for the background info. The Mongols were not just destructive, bestial, hoards, and they certainly exhibited high spirits and a sense of humor, didn’t they. I agree these debates would have be a delight to witness.
Just think of how many languages one would have to do translation from/to – like the UN!
I read a similar book (_Genghis Khan and the Quest for God: How the World’s Greatest Conqueror Gave Us Religious Freedom_) recently and thought – Genghis Khan had a few useful virtues! Who thought? 🙂 And (comparatively, for the time and for a long time after) *religious tolerance* as one of them? Wow.
The same German hailstorm, but on land:
https://twitter.com/filiusmontium/status/1138171474173464578
Still, the pond is the most spectacular bit. It isn’t till you see the splashes that you realise just how hard those hailstones are hitting.
cr
I’ve always thought the wife/husband disputation method was pretty fair. Men are generally physically stronger than women. If a dispute had to be settled physically I don’t see how else you’d manage it.
Also, the Keanu reveal at E3 was brilliant. I watched it live, being a slight nerd. It’s one of my favourite moments from an E3 that has come out of nowhere and turned into on of the best in a long, long time.
Wait, in what universe does Dick Van Dyke have less than a million twitter followers? What went wrong with our timeline?
Morning after??? Is there no pill for that?
Keanu – his recent film Replicas has the best tagline ever –
“A daring synthetic biologist, after a car accident kills his family, will stop at nothing to bring them back, even if it means pitting himself against a government-controlled laboratory, a police task force and the physical laws of science.”
NEVER LET THE PHYSICAL LAWS OF SCIENCE STOP YOU!
🙂
PS Angela Lansbury – isn’t she the grandaughter of George, the Labour leader? Or am I a bit out of date?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lansbury
oooh! her cousin was a microbiologist!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Postgate_(microbiologist)
AND Oliver Postgate!!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Postgate
AND Malcom Turnbull is a distant cousin !!!
She is the mother of the Manchurian Candidate.
That reads very differently if you move the comma from after ‘biologist’ to after ‘accident’.
Sub
I can easily imagine God getting banned from twitter.
Remember the Jewish saying: if God lived on earth, people would break his windows. Believers in incarnations and avatars, take note.
I see Ken White’s decided to do a Twitter drive-by on Bret Weinstein for making reasonable points.
“Woke egalitarianism in previous centuries. Exchange the clubs for foam batons, and we may have solved all of humankind’s problems.”
Alas, no. I’d be nice, though. Back in the late ’60s or early ’70s, I was introduced to the man who invented the “bataka bat,” a foam bat that couples could use to hit each other and safely release their aggression. Batakas are still on the market, now used for various purposes, and the world is still fighting.
The inventor invited me to try it out and I declined. I told him that if I wanted to hit somebody, I didn’t want no stinkin’ foam bat to bop somebody with, I’d cold-cock ’em with my fists. That was pure bravado because there was something about the bats themselves that angered me. I don’t go around doing the Rick James, imprint-the-mark-of-my-ring-on- your-forehead thang as a way of saying hello.
There’s an episode of The Simpsons where the family use those bats to work out their issues in a therapy session. It takes about thirty seconds before they, naturally, remove the foam padding and attack each other with the metal bat underneath.
That football kick into wind is impressive. I wonder if it was the first take or if it took several to get the angle right.
cr