Sunday: Hili dialogue

October 13, 2019 • 6:30 am

It’s Sunday, October 13, 2019, and National M&Ms Day (I’ve omitted the link’s incorrect apostrophe before the “s”). It’s also English Language Day, International Day for Failure, National Yorkshire Pudding Day (in the US!; this is cultural appropriation), and National No Bra Day, which requires some explanation, as it’s not a glorification of mammae:

Taking place in the middle of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and on the same day as Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day, National No Bra Day was created in 2011 by people who wanted to raise awareness for breast cancer and support survivors, who were inspired in part by Breast Reconstruction Awareness Day. The goal of raising awareness is to get more women to get mammograms and get screened for breast cancer. This way, intensive cancer treatments and breast removal can be avoided, and lives can be saved. To get the discussion started, some women celebrate the day by not wearing bras, and some women and men also wear purple. People also use the day to raise money for cancer research and donate their time. The day is not without its critics, though, who see it more as a day to glorify breasts than as a day to raise awareness about breast cancer.

In my view, the doffing of bras isn’t likely to start a discussion about preventing breast cancer.

Stuff that happened on this day include:

  • AD 54 – Roman emperor Claudius dies from poisoning under mysterious circumstances. [JAC: It’s been suggested that the poison may have been made by the notorious poisoner Locusta.]
  • 1269 – The present church building at Westminster Abbey is consecrated.
  • 1792 – In Washington, D.C., the cornerstone of the United States Executive Mansion (known as the White House since 1818) is laid.
  • 1881 – First known conversation in modern Hebrew by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and friends.
  • 1903 – The Boston Red Sox win the first modern World Series, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in the eighth game.
  • 1908 – Margaret Travers Symons bursts into the UK parliament and became the first woman to speak there.
  • 1917 – The “Miracle of the Sun” is witnessed by an estimated 70,000 people in the Cova da Iria in Portugal.

Also known as “The Miracle of Fátima,” this was a gathering in response to three shepherd children, who prophesied, based on their vision of the virgin Mary, that something unusual would happen on that day. Well, some reported that the sun did all kinds of gyrations, while others saw nothing. Wikipedia reports:

Various claims have been made as to what actually happened during the event. According to many witnesses, after a period of rain, the dark clouds broke and the Sun appeared as an opaque, spinning disc in the sky. It was said to be significantly duller than normal, and to cast multicolored lights across the landscape, the people, and the surrounding clouds. The Sun was then reported to have careened towards the Earth before zig-zagging back to its normal position. Witnesses reported that their previously wet clothes became “suddenly and completely dry, as well as the wet and muddy ground that had been previously soaked because of the rain that had been falling”. Not all witnesses reported seeing the Sun “dance”. Some people only saw the radiant colors, and others, including some believers, saw nothing at all. The only known picture of the Sun taken during the event shows nothing unusual.

. . . In The Evidence for Visions of the Virgin Mary Kevin McClure wrote that the crowd at Cova da Iria may have been expecting to see signs in the Sun, since similar phenomena had been reported in the weeks leading up to the miracle. On this basis, he believes that the crowd saw what it wanted to see. McClure also stated that he had never seen such a collection of contradictory accounts of a case in any of the research that he had done in the previous ten years.

LOL! I guess the camera lied!

The crowds at Covina on October 13, 1917:

Here’s a newspaper from October 29 showing people watching the “miracle”:

 

Finally, there’s this:

  • 1976 – The first electron micrograph of an Ebola virus is taken at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by Dr. F. A. Murphy.

Here, from Time magazine, is that first photo (read the preceding link for more). As Murphy said, “It made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.”

Transmission Electron Micrograph (TEM) of the Ebola virus, an RNA virus (filovirus) causing hemorrhagic fever. Credit: Murphy/CDC, Getty Images Photo Researchers RM

Notables born on October 13 include:

  • 1821 – Rudolf Virchow, German physician, biologist, and politician (d. 1902)
  • 1909 – Art Tatum, American jazz pianist (d. 1956)
  • 1925 – Lenny Bruce, American comedian and actor (d. 1966)
  • 1925 – Margaret Thatcher, English chemist and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 2013)
  • 1941 – Paul Simon, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1959 – Marie Osmond, American singer, actress, and television spokesperson
  • 1969 – Nancy Kerrigan, American figure skater and actress
  • 1989 – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, member of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress.

Here’s some standup comedy from Bruce in a rare video from the Steve Allen Show in 1959. He was the forerunner of many of today’s comics.

Notables who died on this day were few; they include:

  • AD 54 – Claudius, Roman emperor (b. 10 BC)
  • 1945 – Milton S. Hershey, American businessman, founded The Hershey Company (b. 1857)
  • 1974 – Ed Sullivan, American journalist and talk show host (b. 1901)

In honor of Hershey’s death, read Steve Gould’s engaging article below from 1979 (click on screenshot), which shows how the bars keep getting smaller and the prices higher:

The decrease in weight over time, with punctuated increases in size (and price) followed by more decline. Now the bars cost about a buck for 1.5 ounces. Someone should update this graph over the last 39 years!

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, today is a parliamentary election. And Hili, in her own way, is encouraging people to vote:

Hili: The future is in our paws.
A: In what sense?
Hili: We have to chose the right bowl.
Photo: Sarah Lawson
In Polish:
Hili: Przyszłość jest w naszych łapkach.
Ja: W jakim sensie?
Hili: Musimy wybrać właściwą miseczkę.

A “Trumpkin” posted by Seth Andrews. Definitely scary!

Pareidolia from the Purrfect Feline Page.

And yet another black-and-white cat with weird markings, from Donna:

How does this work?

https://twitter.com/_youhadonejob1/status/1182707074049949701?s=11

Reader Barry has some commentary on the cat-rescue tweet below, one that he sent:

It really seems to me that the dog is somehow thinking this through—and then realizes, “Hey, I know what I can do. I can jump into the water, get under the cat to get it on my back, and then climb out.”
Actually, I wonder if this is remarkable on two fronts: a) the dog feeling compelled to save the cat (really, why is a dog expressing concern for a cat?), and b) the dog figuring out a way to do it.

Big Cat Pile-On, sent by Gethyn:

https://twitter.com/thehumanxp/status/1182762902236880897?s=03

Two tweets from Heather Hastie. I hope these weren’t set-ups!

Three tweets from Professor Cobb. I think I’ve posted this first one before, but it’s worth seeing again. If I was that guy, even with the proper gestures of submission, I’d be scared to death. But afterwards I’d feel that I had a spiritual experience: a connection with a close relative.

In this illusion, and the quilt, all the circles are the same color. Hard to believe, no?

Pretty amazing, but it doesn’t run. . .

 

25 thoughts on “Sunday: Hili dialogue”

  1. “The Sun was then reported to have careened towards the Earth before zig-zagging back to its normal position.”

    Entirely plausible. The complex physics behind it is explained here by Prof T. Gilliam:

  2. “… more women to get mammograms and get screened for breast cancer. “

    Important to emphasize- more _women_ getting an _appropriate_ number of mammograms, not women getting more mammograms – I think there was some guidance somewhere that the clinics were overdoing the mammograms per patient.

    1. They basically use statistics to figure this all out and as we all know statistics don’t always accurately reflect the individual who is a mere data point in those statistics and comes with a whole slew of confounding variables. Where I live, the government recommends screening with mammogram after age 50 but you can go earlier if you want. I should have because I found my cancer at 44. Since every individual has their own genetics and there are various types of breast cancer, the treatment and prevention is varied as well. I now must be screened every year for the rest of my life and so do any first degree female relatives as they are at higher risk statistically because of me and my genetics; but they have some better equipment to use in addition to mammograms to produce 3D images and see what the mammogram machine isn’t as good at showing (especially for premenopausal women with dense breast tissue).

      The medical community tends to over treat women with breast cancer simply because the treatments show that they work. Of course this varies at the individual level and women need to work with their doctors to determine what is best for them using tools like the Oncotype DX genetic testing for estrogen and progesterone receptive tumours to determine likelihood of recurrence and therefore help determine if the risk of taking chemotherapy is worthwhile since that treatment is deadly and has severe, lifelong side effects including neuropathy and loss of mental acuity.

  3. Breast cancer in young women is very deadly (I lost my young wife that way), still good to rise ‘awareness’, for what it is worth. And it should be stressed that breast cancer is not limited to middle aged and elderly women. Together with cervical cancer (for which we have the HPV vaccine now) it is the greatest cancer killer in women.
    Obviously I’ not a proponent of breast sparing surgery . Just amputate, and the other breast too.

    1. Your comment, Dr Stempels, inspires me to
      expound further in the quest to help the
      health of human beings with mammary and
      nippled tissues. Any of ‘em. Cuz much of
      the World is only obsessed with nipples
      belonging upon only one gender. Folks are
      not really “objecting” to the sights of
      bulbous, glandular fattiness covered by
      epidermis and dermis… … since we now see
      .that. nearly everywhere, especially upon
      awards’ nights. Folks are only upset over
      the public visualizing of mammary .nipples.
      and to .ones. only affixed upon girls and
      upon women. And, most certainly, .not.
      to the .ones. upon any other human being –
      mammals.

      In the interest of keeping the whole organ
      healthy, i) doff that damned bra as it is,
      healthwise, utterly physically unnecessary
      and, further, ii) stat stop with any
      commercial antiperspirant. Rubbing alcohol
      throughout all seasons and throughout all
      activities works as well … … or better ( just
      as one is given as a toilette by her
      technician post one’s mammography [ when,
      .and only when., “another one” is due ], … …
      in order for her to redress and get back
      to work, not ? )

      Thus, as with this poem’s “dimples” and
      “cheeks,” then substitute those words within
      it with “breasts” and “nipples” … … and
      remain healthy:

      https://twitter.com/saffroncobra/status/1181959107038703616

      Blue

    2. Depends on the cancer and breast size which surgery is best and I have friends who have had complete mastectomies and still ended up with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. I had a lumpectomy. A complete mastectomy would only have spared me radiation in my case. I was very lucky with my cancer that it was caught early.

  4. The “Miracle of the Sun” — heh. A few years ago I wrote a paper on faith and miracles, and if I may be allowed to quote myself, here’s what I said about that. After describing the alleged historical events, and the poor quality of the evidence:

    But to me, an even bigger problem, if you’ll pardon my French, is what a lame-ass miracle! The all-powerful creator of the universe caused a crowd of already-believing people to see a trick of the light, and we’re supposed to be impressed. A real god should be able to do better than that! You know what would impress me? It would impress me if in October of 1917 the Virgin Mary had done something – anything – to mitigate the inconceivable suffering going on a couple of hundred miles away in the First Word War at the Third Battle of Ypres in Belgium, which had been going on for months and eventually resulted in something like a half-million casualties. Or if She had tweaked the genome of the Spanish influenza virus that was going to kill a hundred million people in the following year, to make it less deadly.

    Not impressed. What we have is a sketchy report about something to do with bored children with active imaginations. We have a lot of adults who had been taught their whole lives that miraculous visions are real – and by the way, they tend to be witnessed by extremely virtuous and pious people just like themselves. And then there’s the big miracle, which looks just like what any sinner like me would see staring into a bright light. And we know this with total confidence because of second- and third-hand uncritical reporting.

  7. When I first beheld the frightening Trumpkin, I couldn’t but think of Seneca’s Menippean satire, “Apocolocyntosis Claudii,” or “The Pumpkinification of Claudius.”

      1. It’s a perfect day for pumpkinification — as noted in “stuff that happened on this day,” Claudius died.

        1. I thought it was well established that Claudius died of poisonous mushrooms (maybe the influence of Robert Graves?)
          However, I would think it is an insult to Claudius to compare him to ‘Trumpkin’. What a wonderful portrait, btw.

  8. Lenny Bruce’s opening line on Steve Allen’s show about whether Elizabeth Taylor will be “bat mitzvahed” I’m pretty sure relates to her then-recent marriage to crooner Eddie Fisher (and is probably a play off of Marilyn Monroe’s putative conversion to Judaism a couple years earlier in connection with her marriage to playwright Arthur Miller).

    2. You use the cautionary adjective “putative” when speaking about Marilyn Monroe converting to Judaism.

      I find it curious that the wikiwand list of Jewish atheists and agnostics lists Marilyn Monroe but not Jerry Coyne! Hope that has been rectified. Well, maybe they think he’s Irish.

  10. I think a lot of this breast cancer awareness crap is really a “look at me” party and does glorify the female body part. I actually hate Pinktober because it triggers me and reminds me that I had cancer. My screening happens throughout November as well so I get two months of panic. Others who have had BC often complain of the dread they feel with Pinktober.

  11. A properly cooked Yorkshire pudding is a thing of beauty, and the perfect accompaniment to (properly cooked, ie rare) roast beef, along with fresh horseradish sauce. I would be proud and delighted if the rest of the world were to culturally appropriate it.

    1. O ! m’golly, Mr Pollard ! I ‘ll be right over,
      supplicant bowl in hand, to help culturally appropriate
      a share o’all o’that, p l e a s e !

      Blue

      1. My respected Ms Blue, thank you for that supportive comment! Please appropriate as much of our culture as you wish (or can put up with). I hope that over here we will be allowed to carry on appropriating a lot of your culture as well! Cheers!

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