Tuesday: Hili dialogue

December 17, 2019 • 7:00 am

It’s Tuesday, December 17, 2019 on a chilly but snowless day in Chicago (the current temperature here is 24° F or -4° C). It’s National Maple Syrup Day, and that’s a day I can get behind (always buy the lowest grade [used to be C, now renamed] for the best flavor). It’s also Wright Brothers Day, celebrating the first successful flight of a “heavier-than-air” craft, which took place on this day in 1903.  Finally, it’s International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers.

Coynezaa is almost upon us: only eight shopping days left. I bought myself a Coynezaa gift from eBay: this year’s official “training jersey” for the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team. The World Cup was held in Japan, and although the All Blacks didn’t win (South Africa defeated England in the finals), the Kiwis had special jerseys for the match, created by a Japanese designer:

Yohji Yamamoto, who is world renowned for his striking, avant-garde designs, said: “We wanted to create a jersey that brought together the Japanese and Maori cultures. The design bears hand-drawn koru and fern motifs in a celebration of Maori culture. It has been a privilege to work on such a major project and I wish the team the best of luck in the tournament.”

The “training jersey” (worn, I suppose, in practice) has a special fusion of the cultures (my emphasis):

The fusing of Maori and Japanese design aesthetics also extends to the design of the training jersey the All Blacks will wear at Rugby World Cup 2019. Taking inspiration from the Maori concept of kaitiaki (guardianship) and the Japanese fuku neko (lucky cat), the Y-3 team has designed a mythical cat figure which will adorn the back of the training jersey. The training range also includes a performance tee, performance singlet, polo shirt and hoodie.

Well, when Heather Hastie told me about the cat jersey, I had to have it (I already have a regular All Blacks jersey, a gift from Heather that I wear proudly as an honorary Kiwi). And, though they’re collectors’ items, I found a new one on eBay in my size at about half the retail price. And so this one is MINE (I show the eBay photos). Look at that cat!

Front:

Back: ferns and a fierce cat (New Zealanders spurn cultural appropriation and love stuff like this):

Stuff that happened on December 17 includes:

  • 497 BC – The first Saturnalia festival was celebrated in ancient Rome. (This is, of course, the antecedent of Christmas)
  • 1790 – The Aztec calendar stone is discovered at El Zócalo, Mexico City.

This post is late today as I spent a long time looking for my photo of the calendar stone, which reposes in the National Anthropology Museum in Mexico City, one of the best museums around. But I couldn’t find my picture, and I wonder if photos were prohibited. Anyway, here’s the stone from Wikipedia:

  • 1819 – Simón Bolívar declares the independence of Gran Colombia in Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar in Venezuela).
  • 1903 – The Wright brothers make the first controlled powered, heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
  • 1933 – The first NFL Championship Game is played. The game was at Wrigley Field between the New York Giants and Chicago Bears. The Bears won 23–21.[1]
  • 1938 – Otto Hahn discovers the nuclear fission of the heavy element uranium, the scientific and technological basis of nuclear energy.
  • 1989 – The Simpsons first premieres on television with the episode “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire“.

It’s the 30th anniversary of that show, and here’s the first episode:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7a5sen

  • 2010 – Mohamed Bouazizi sets himself on fire. This act became the catalyst for the Tunisian Revolution and the wider Arab Spring.
  • 2014 – The United States and Cuba re-establish diplomatic relations after severing them in 19

Notables born on this day include:

  • 1778 – Humphry Davy, English chemist and physicist (d. 1829)
  • 1929 – William Safire, American journalist and author (d. 2009)
  • 1937 – John Kennedy Toole, American novelist (d. 1969)
  • 1942 – Paul Butterfield, American singer and harmonica player (d. 1987)

Those who snuffed it on the 17th of December include:

  • 1830 – Simón Bolívar, Venezuelan general and politician, 2nd President of Venezuela (b. 1783)
  • 1833 – Kaspar Hauser, German feral child (b. 1812)
  • 2005 – Jack Anderson, American journalist and author (b. 1922)
  • 2008 – Sammy Baugh, American football player and coach (b. 1914)
  • 2009 – Jennifer Jones, American actress (b. 1919)
  • 2011 – Kim Jong-il, North Korean commander and politician, 2nd Supreme Leader of North Korea (b. 1941)
  • 2012 – Daniel Inouye, American captain and politician (b. 1924)
  • 2016 – Henry Heimlich, American doctor (b. 1920) [yes, that Heimlich]

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is referring not to Millennial kids, but to the 2000 millennium, and the advent of millennia always spawns some wannabe Messiahs:

Hili: I’m in a millennial mood today.
A: What does that mean?
Hili: I’m thinking of becoming a messiah.
In Polish:
Hili: Jestem dziś w nastroju milenijnym.
Ja: To znaczy?
Hili: Zastanawiam się czy nie zostać mesjaszem.

From Merilee. If Sisyphus were a female cat, this would be her fate:

Reader Jon sent an cat-themed cartoon from Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis:

From Jesus of the Day. Remember, he who sups with the devil should have a long spoon:

Lots of cat tweets today. FIrst, two cat tweets from Heather Hastie. “Milk neat, no rocks.”

And this cat loves the squirt gun:

https://twitter.com/AwwwwCats/status/1180828820930252800

Moar cats, this time from reader Barry, who says, “A collection of short videos (you’ve seen some of these). The first one is hilarious. But the one showing a cat walking on its front legs is in urgent need of an explanation.”  I think that cat can’t use its rear legs, and this is how it has compensated. Do watch them all: it’s a good collection.

And five—count them, five—tweets from Matthew. The first is, of course, the morning “rush hour” at Marsh Farm. The cat supervises:

A lovely pet Indian runner duck (a breed of mallard):

I had no idea that there were melanic servals. We have melanic leopards and jaguars, but why no melanic lions or tigers?

God, I hate National Geographic. Here they engage in Darwin-trolling.

I had to add this one because Antarctica. Can you make out where the horizon is? Look hard—it’s there.

 

20 thoughts on “Tuesday: Hili dialogue”

  2. That National Geographic was years ago…

    Looking forward to Coynezaa! however, as usual I will be off the interweb for the best part of 2 weeks from Friday night… so I will miss the fun here!

  5. Had a look at a NatGeo history special issue in the newsstand the other day. A section on Persia baldly stated that the Shah was the ruler of Iran from WWII until his overthrow in 1978. Uh…

  6. Re maple syrup: “(always buy the lowest grade [used to be C, now renamed] for the best flavor).”

    I learn from https://newengland.com/today/food/guide-to-maple-syrup-grades/ that the grades were renamed because consumers assumed that the old grading, A-C indicated the quality of the syrup, a perfectly understandable assumption. However the grades indicate color and strength of taste, not quality.

    Now everything gets an A grade, with descriptions of color and taste following.

    1. It’s like grading these days: EVERY maple syrup gets grade A. If that’s the only grade, why do they bother to even GIVE grades rather than just descriptions.

      Anyway, I prefer what used to be grade C: “Very dark and strong flavor.” That’s by far the best, and has the additional advantage of being the cheapest. This is one of the rare foods in which the better value is also the better product.

    2. Just looked at the one bottle of maple syrup we have now and it does not have any rating on it. But, it is pretty good syrup that we bought at Funk’s Grove in Shirley, Illinois while on a Route 66 trip. Vermont may have the hype but there is very good maple syrup in several other places. Growing up in Cleveland, we would drive out to Chardon, Ohio in the spring and get syrup and maple candy from Richardson’s Maple Products. They have a maple cream candy that is amazingly good, in my opinion.

      1. I have found that examining closely the fine print on “Vermont” maple syrup often reveals in small font “product of Canada”. Oh well….caveat emptor.

  7. The United States and Cuba re-establish diplomatic relations after severing them in 19…

    Google says, January 3, 1961.

  8. Careful PCC,

    the All Blacks (and other NZ sports teams) use Maori emblems within their logos and shirts to represent both sides of their country (European/Islander).

    I would suggest that this is the very opposite of cultural appropriation – unless the viewer holds the unstated assumption that only the European side of NZ might be represented in the team (where the sport is of European or US invention).

    As an Australian, I love it when our rugby team plays in the Aboriginal patterned shirt (only used for special occasions), not least because I think it looks better than the standard one!

    Ross

    1. I own only one sports branded product and that is an All Blacks T shirt that I bought in Ireland in 2008. I looked at the All Blacks online store and they have a Maori design T shirt that is very tempting. What I don’t like about most sports jerseys with team brands is the prominent advertising. But, I guess the cat image on the back of the training jersey more than balances the large AIG ad in the front.

    2. The training jersey with the cat image is still available at allblacks.com, but the only sizes avaiable are small and 3XL. $150, but I assume that is NZ dollars and $1 NZ is only $.66 US.

  9. The cat video montage was a riot. I also liked the accompanying song- pretty sure it’s a song by Gogol Bordello- a fun band!

  10. NZ and cats? Not a happy combination, I guess. Heather knows more about that, and it is not just cats. I must admit that the backside of the shirt is fantastic though. Wish I could get one for my nine year old, who is an All Blacks fan as well as an ailurophile.
    Btw, if you’re a, even lukewarm, rugby fan, that final between die Bokke and the Roses is well worth watching. There are only two tries, one brilliant one by Makazole Mapimpi and Lukhanyo Am, and an equally good one by the Lionel Messi of Rugby, Cheslin Kolbe.

    1. Nicolaas, go to allblacksshop.com and click on Jerseys. You want the RWC Y3 training jersey. The small might fit nine year old and he will eventually grow into it if it is too big now.

  11. But the one showing a cat walking on its front legs is in urgent need of an explanation.” I think that cat can’t use its rear legs, and this is how it has compensated.

    The left foot has a near 90degree bend at the … metatarsals? Looks painful, if not disabling. What leads to an injury like that is in the realm where other nerve or tissue damage is highly plausible.

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