Thursday: Hili dialogue

September 5, 2019 • 6:30 am

The week is passing quickly, and now it’s September 5, with a tad more than two weeks till Fall begins. It’s National Cheese Pizza Day, best observed in Chicago, as well as International Day of Charity, World Samosa Day, celebrating the savory and toothsome Indian treat, and National Shrink Day, celebrating American psychologists and psychiatrists.

Meanwhile in Britain, everything is in turmoil vis-à-vis Boris Johnson, Brexit, and Parliament. It’s all very confusing, and Matthew may favor us with an on-the-ground report today.

September 5 is a significant day in history, including these events:

  • 1666 – Great Fire of London ends: Ten thousand buildings, including Old St Paul’s Cathedral, are destroyed, but only six people are known to have died.
  • 1698 – In an effort to Westernize his nobility, Tsar Peter I of Russia imposes a tax on beards for all men except the clergy and peasantry.
  • 1774 – First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia.

That Congress didn’t produce a document except for a futile petition to the King. That failed, and so the Second Continental Congress was convened in May of 1775. And that produced the Declaration of Independence.

  • 1836 – Sam Houston is elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas.
  • 1877 – American Indian Wars: Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse is bayoneted by a United States soldier after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson in Nebraska.

Here’s the great Lakota chief, who died at age 37, and reportedly (and as the photo shows) was very handsome as well as brave.

CORRECTION: As reader Chewy notes below, this is not Crazy Horse but one of his lieutenants, Little Big Man, who may have had a hand in the murder of Crazy Horse. Apparently there were no photos taken of Crazy Horse in his lifetime. I have to say, I was puzzled when I saw the photo as one of Crazy Horse, because why would he post in full battle dress after he’d been captured?

  • 1882 – Tottenham Hotspur, a Premier League football club from North London, is founded (as Hotspur F.C.).

Spurs are of course my team; I was told they had to be as they were a traditionally Jewish-supported team. But I barely follow them these days.

  • 1906 – The first legal forward pass in American football is thrown by Bradbury Robinson of St. Louis University to teammate Jack Schneider in a 22–0 victory over Carroll College (Wisconsin).
  • 1914 – World War I: First Battle of the Marne begins. Northeast of Paris, the French attack and defeat German forces who are advancing on the capital.
  • 1927 – The first Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon, Trolley Troubles, produced by Walt Disney, is released by Universal Pictures.

And, of course, I proffer you Oswald. The cartoon made Walt Disney’s reputation. Be sure to look for the lucky rabbit foot bit (5:10):

  • 1945 – Cold War: Igor Gouzenko, a Soviet Union embassy clerk, defects to Canada, exposing Soviet espionage in North America, signalling the beginning of the Cold War.
  • 1969 – My Lai Massacre: U.S. Army Lieutenant William Calley is charged with six specifications of premeditated murder for the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai.
  • 1972 – Munich massacre: A Palestinian terrorist group called “Black September” attacks and takes hostage 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games. Two die in the attack and nine are murdered the following day.
  • 1975 – Sacramento, California: Lynette Fromme attempts to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford.
  • 1978 – Camp David Accords: Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat begin peace discussions at Camp David, Maryland.
  • 1984 – STS-41-D: The Space Shuttle Discovery lands after its maiden voyage.

Here’s a landing of Discovery, but I don’t think it’s the first one.

Notables born on this day include:

  • 1638 – Louis XIV, king of France (d. 1715)
  • 1847 – Jesse James, American outlaw (d. 1882)
  • 1905 – Arthur Koestler, Hungarian-English journalist and author (d. 1983)
  • 1912 – John Cage, American composer and theorist (d. 1992)
  • 1929 – Bob Newhart, American comedian and actor

Newhart is 90 today! Others born on September 5 include:

  • 1936 – Bill Mazeroski, American baseball player and coach
  • 1940 – Raquel Welch, American actress and singer
  • 1942 – Werner Herzog, German actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1946 – Freddie Mercury, Tanzanian-English singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1991)

Those who went to the Great Beyond on September 5 include:

  • 1548 – Catherine Parr, Sixth and last Queen of Henry VIII of England (b. c. 1512)
  • 1877 – Crazy Horse, American tribal leader (b. 1849)
  • 1902 – Rudolf Virchow, German anthropologist, pathologist, and biologist (b. 1821)
  • 1993 – Claude Renoir, French cinematographer (b. 1914)
  • 1997 – Georg Solti, Hungarian conductor and director (b. 1912)
  • 2001 – Justin Wilson, American chef and author (b. 1914)
  • 2016 – Phyllis Schlafly, American lawyer, writer, and political activist (b. 1924)

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili announces her plans:

Hili: There is not a moment to lose.
A: And that means?
Hili: I will lie here for a moment and then I will go somewhere else.
In Polish:
Hili: Nie ma chwili do stracenia.
Ja: To znaczy?
Hili: Poleżę tu chwilę, a potem pójdę dalej.

Two postings from Jesus of the Day:

A very profound observation from Amazing Things:

Here’s a tweet Grania sent me on April 5 of this year. Look at that pangolin ball itself up!

From reader gravelinspector, a French biker saving a traumatized kitten:

https://twitter.com/seankent/status/1168963253319426049?s=09

Heather Hasties says, “There are some funny replies to this fuckwit.”

And five tweets from Matthew Cobb. The first is a beautiful and probably aposematic (warningly-colored) orthopteran.

You can do this with humans, too, at least in some places. It’s a testimony to genetic differentiation by distance:

You’ll understand this better if you’re a Brit:

https://twitter.com/davidallengreen/status/1169286314413494274?s=11

And I bet this is true of Scottish wildcats as well . . .

It’s that time of year when Monarchs are on the move:

41 thoughts on “Thursday: Hili dialogue”

  1. “Look at that pangolin ball itself up!”

    It is an armadillo, not a pangolin. The large ears give a clue.

    1. The blog author (mushi_kurotowa) has his own website, mushi-sommelier.net, and is very interested in the idea of insects as food. He actually asks in the title of his Twitter post whether this insect, which is an Asian bush cricket, is poisonous; and eventually he boils and eats it. It would seem that it’s not that poisonous, at least if cooked, since he ends up still able to write the tweet.

      1. I did not yet get the chance to go look. I did, on the other hand, find a way to fit the word in: One of my more noxious co-workers was wearing a slogan shirt (not appropriate here… he is rather misogynistic and the shirt fit the bill). I asked another coworker (a biologist) if it was his aposematic signal. She spit her coffee.

  3. Never forget the 1972 Olympics and the terrorist. It all played out on TV. On a much better note the final of the 800 meter was a classic:

    2. The most spectacular final in my books was Wayde Van Niekerk’s record breaking 400m in the 2016 Olympics, not only did he crush Michael Johnson’s nearly 20 year old record, it was the first time ever a runner in the outside lane 8, the ‘blind’ runner, won a final.

      1. I assume BoJo’s buckets of cash from journalism have dried up while he’s pretending to be Prime Minister. He isn’t poor, but it must rankle to suspend his overpaid ‘journalism’ gig that someone else probably writes for him. This politics malarkey is costing him at least half a million squid/year in the short term. Unless of course there’s hidden benefits as per Rees-Mogg, but also he’ll have millions coming in from his post-political autobiography & speaking engagements. I think Tony Blair is north of £70,000,000 now, money he mostly wouldn’t have today if he hadn’t humbly served his country in the highest office in the land. That opened a lot of doors to cheap property loans & insider stuff.

  6. 1906 – The first legal forward pass in American football is thrown by Bradbury Robinson of St. Louis University to teammate Jack Schneider in a 22–0 victory over Carroll College (Wisconsin).

    Dang, I grew up thinking Knute Rockne and Notre Dame invented the forward pass in a game against Army, but I reckon that’s just a myth perpetuated by the movie Knute Rockne, All-American (starring our 40th president as “the Gipper”).

    Learn somethin’ new everyday with the Hili dialogue.

      1. Now you sound like Woody Hayes, the longtime Ohio State coach, Randy. He used to say that, when you put the ball in the air, three things can happen — and two of ’em are bad. He was also famous for his “three yards and a cloud of dust” theory of football rushing offense.

  7. Re. Crazy Horse, there’s a figure from the Old West (or maybe Early Midwest), Valentine T. McGillycuddy, who seems to someone who should be more widely known. Explorer, surveyor, surgeon and banker, he befriended Crazy Horse and treated his fatal wounds, and came to be revered by the Indians. In later life he went to the aid of victims of the Flu Epidemic of 1918 in Alaska.

    He doesn’t seem to be widely known outside Rapid City SD, where he built a two-story mansion (by local standards) that is how he crossed my window. That mansion was later turned into a one-story bungalow, probably in the 1930s, but is now undergoing a heroic restoration by the folks out there. (The photo gallery in this link may take awhile to load but it covers the effort quite well.)

    1. Unfortunately your link to the Rapid City Journal can’t be viewed in the EU due to the site not conforming to the EU’s GDPR. So here’s a pic of the house for us Euros:

      P.S. You can see Herman’s happy green face peeking out the top right window if you look closely 🙂

      https://flic.kr/p/2haWhP5

    2. Was the murderer of Crazy Horse (bayonetting a prisoner in the back) ever prosecuted or court-martialed? I guess we all know the answer.

  8. First they came for the “Merry Christmas” as Macy’s and made all the Xtians say “Happy Holidays” …

    1. Since “holiday” comes from old English for “holy day”, the greeting means “Happy Holy Days.” You’d think they would be okay with that.

      1. Well, except for the clothing of small children by their parents, we generally clothe ourselves or, in a few cases, we invite others to do it. All animals (humans included) are free to clothe themselves but may not clothe others without their permission, except for their own children. 😉

  12. I’m a great admirer of Jean Renoir’s films. I was not aware of Claude Renoir career making films. He was the son of actor Pierre Renoir, the nephew of director Jean Renoir, and the grandson of painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir. There may be a genetic link involving artistic ability.

  14. That Rick Wiles clip has me on the horns of a dilemma.

    On the one hand, I want to encourage him and his followers to “go underground” as soon as possible. The less we hear from these idiots the better.

    On the other hand, isn’t this how the Jamestown Massacre started? His paranoia seems a short hop from going there. So scary.

  15. Freddy Mercury was born in Tanzania of Farsi parents (Farsi: Persian Zoroastrans that moved to India with the Muslim take over of Iran more than a millennium ago). His ‘real’ name was Farrokh Bulsara. Although not wrong per se, I think ‘Tanzanian-English’ does not give a very clear idea of his background.

    1. Personally, I think “Tanzanian” is outright wrong. His family fled Zanzibar because of the revolution that led to it becoming part of Tanzania. Freddy himself was educated in India before his family moved to the UK.

  16. No, that is not Crazy Horse. It is Little Big Man, aka Charging Bear. There is no picture of Crazy Horse. This seems to pop up every year or so, like a Ground Hog Day nightmare. It isn’t Dustin Hoffman, either.

  17. Gouzenko – His Snowden-like act is commemorated on a plaque in central Ottawa, across from the still-standing building where he was living (and fled from the Soviet authorities to, if I recall).

    Also, I always seem to get him confused with Glivenko, a famous logician.

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