Saturday: Hili dialogue

September 21, 2019 • 6:30 am

I thought it was the first day of Autumn, but that’s actually on Sunday, and today is just September 21, 2019. It’s National Pecan Cookie Day, but there are also tons of holidays today, including:

Batman Day
Big Whopper Liar Day (are you supposed to pretend you ate a Big Whopper?)
International Red Panda Day
International Eat An Apple Day
National Chai Day (cultural appropriation)
National Gymnastics Day
Responsible Dog Ownership Day
Thank a Police Officer Day (you won’t be seeing much of that on campuses)
and others.

Wikipedia also notes, “In the popular 1978 song “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire, the date of September 21 is mentioned in the lyric “Do you remember the 21st night of September?” This reference has gained popularity on the internet due to the song’s spread as an internet meme.”  I don’t remember seeing that.

There’s a new Google Doodle today, one that celebrates the PRETZEL, in turn marking the beginning of Oktoberfest. When you click on it, or on the screenshot below, you go to a movie that shows pretzel-making making. From 9 to 5 Google:

Today’s Doodle, freshly baked by Esther’s German Bakery, celebrates the one and only pretzel—one of the world’s most versatile and beloved foods! As Oktoberfest, the Bavarian fall festival, begins today, Brotfrauen (or bread ladies) will be carrying baskets of chewy Brezeln through Bierhallen (massive tents) in Germany, the center of Oktoberfest revelry.

With help from a local bakery, the Google homepage has been taken over by pretzel dough carefully crafted to spell out “Google.” Each letter piece is then baked, garnished with salt, and a bowl of butter is added to form the second “o.” The end result makes for an appetizing presentation that leaves you craving a warm pretzel to begin your own Oktoberfest celebration.

Click below. I do love me a soft German-style pretzel with mustard.

Stuff that happened on September 21 includes:

  • 1780 – American Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold gives the British the plans to West Point.
  • 1921 – A storage silo in Oppau, Germany, explodes, killing 500–600 people.

Read about that explosion, which was huge and horrific (click on “explodes”).

  • 1937 – J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit is published.

A first edition and first printing of this book, signed by Tolkien himself, will run you a cool $65,000:

  • 1949 – The People’s Republic of China is proclaimed.
  • 1981 – Sandra Day O’Connor is unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate as the first female Supreme Court justice.
  • 1996 – The Defense of Marriage Act is passed by the United States Congress.
  • 2003 – The Galileo spacecraft is terminated by sending it into Jupiter’s atmosphere.

Notables born on this day include:

  • 1866 – H. G. Wells, English novelist, historian, and critic (d. 1946)
  • 1874 – Gustav Holst, English composer and educator (d. 1934)
  • 1912 – Chuck Jones, American animator, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2002)
  • 1924 – Hermann Buhl, Austrian mountaineer (d. 1957)
  • 1934 – Leonard Cohen, Canadian singer-songwriter and poet (d. 2016)
  • 1940 – Bill Kurtis, American journalist and producer
  • 1950 – Bill Murray, American actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1967 – Faith Hill, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress

Here’s Faith Hill and Carlos Santana performing Hill’s big crossover hit, “Breathe,” which hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April of 2000:

Those who died on September 21 include:

  • 1832 – Walter Scott, Scottish novelist, playwright, and poet (b. 1771)
  • 1860 – Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher and author (b. 1788)
  • 1904 – Chief Joseph, American tribal leader (b. 1840)
  • 1974 – Walter Brennan, American actor (b. 1894)
  • 1998 – Florence Griffith Joyner, American sprinter (b. 1959)

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is outside remarking on the plants:

Hili: And what did this plant grew up here for?
A: It wanted to conquer the world.
In Polish:
Hili: I po co ta roślinka tu wyrosła?
Ja: Chciała podbić świat.

From Merilee: Note the caption: “Please read instructions before assembling your cat.”

From Jesus of the Day via Diana MacPherson:

Cat lessons from Jesus of the Day:

Sadly, we have run out of tweets that Grania sent me. There will be no more.

Two tweets from Nilou. This is from Antarctica. Do you know what it is?

And Andrew Yang boogying. I still don’t have a warm feeling towards this Democrat:

Two tweets from Heather Hastie. They’re going to have to start locking the bathroom door here. What a pain!

https://twitter.com/AwwwwCats/status/1169324669591330816

A real catwalk. The moggie is wearing a one-piece fur tuxedo styled by Karl Lagerfeld:

Tweets from Matthew. This first one is simultaneously sweet and hilarious. The “other” Brian Cox teaching a toddler Hamlet’s soliloquy:

A lovely bird giving a distress display:

This is really, really sad. A quote from the Guardian article:

Hasankeyf is thought to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements on Earth, dating as far back as 12,000 years and containing thousands of caves, churches and tombs.

But this jewel of human history will soon be lost; most of the settlement is about to be flooded as part of the highly controversial Ilisu dam project.

And the first crossword editorial I’ve ever seen:

 

 

13 thoughts on “Saturday: Hili dialogue”

  1. Appropriate that we remember the treason of Benedict Arnold, who escaped hanging and eventually went to England to rot. Very similar to Trump in one way and that was, in life Arnold was in it for himself only. As Elbridge Gerry put it at the 1787 constitutional convention in Philadelphia – “A good magistrate will not fear impeachments, a bad one aught to be kept in fear of them”.

    Reply

  3. This is from Antarctica. Do you know what it is?

    My first thought was that it bears some resemblance to Opabinia from the Burgess Shale fauna. But that’s a bit unlikely.
    Someone in the thread suggested a “sea pig“, which was a novelty to me. The transparency would suggest a dark habitat – major depth, or under the ice.
    Power to the Grauniad for the crossword. An extra brownie point (?) for speelung it correctly.

    Reply

      1. That did go through my mind fairly early too, but they become fixed and sessile before they digest their brains and CNS. I couldn’t see any signs of damage from detachment on the specimen under discussion.

        Reply

  4. International Red Panda Day

    “The red panda (Ailurus fulgens)” is extremely cute. It was the mascot animal for the FireFox web browser for a number of years, as “fire fox” was one of it’s many names.

    Reply

  5. in re “the first day of Autumn,
    but that’s actually on Sunday,” … …

    Apparently, the . y2019 . Autumnal Equinox
    in much of Europe and at least within four
    time zones of the USA = is actually upon
    Monday, 23 September 2019.

    https://tinyurl.com/y5kxxdp6

    Blue

    Reply

  7. PCC(e), Autumn begins on Monday, September 23, 2019 at 07:50 UTC. In Chicago, that’s at 02:50 AM.

    You might find this webpage useful for future reference. It’s my go-to website for such things.

    βPer

    Reply

  9. This book is a must read for anyone involved in the popular conversation. Ask any random religious person who disregards evolution, How many books on evolution have you read? and you will soon find out that those who reject evolution actually know very little about it. This makes their dismissal whimsical, dogmatic, ignorant, and arrogantly dismissive. Attitudes aside, ignorance is the problem, a grotesque problem that Coyne s book remedies, at least, partially; people still need to pick it up and read it.

    Reply

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