Tuesday: Hili dialogue (and Leon monologue)

December 24, 2019 • 7:00 am

Good morning on the day before Christmas: Tuesday, December 24, 2019. It’s National Eggnog Day, and I’ll avoid the libation since I never had a version I enjoyed.  It’s also the very last day you can buy holiday gifts, and I’m told that  Amazon is still offering one-day shipping. Good luck with that! It’s also the second full day of Hanukkah, and only one day before the beginning of Coynezaa, honoring the birth of the prophet JC (peace be upon him).

It was extremely warm (for Chicago) yesterday, and will be warm through the whole week (today’s high will be about 51° F or 11° C), so we have zero chance of a white Christmas in Chicago. And although it will be even warmer tomorrow, we won’t approach the record for Chicago on Christmas Day, which was 64° F (18° C), set in 1982.

Riddle: When is a Ceiling Cat not a Ceiling Cat?
Answer: When it’s abed.

Professor Ceiling Cat (Emeritus) has caught a bug, and will be recumbent at home today. Therefore, posting will be light. But it’s the holidays and everyone should be celebrating anyway.

Here are some of the Christmas Eve festivities around the world:

And a nice article on what the people working in Antarctica are having for Christmas dinner. (Pizza, for one thing.)

Stuff that happened on December 24 includes:

  • 1737 – The Marathas defeat the combined forces of the Mughal Empire, Rajputs of Jaipur, Nizam of Hyderabad, Nawab of Awadh and Nawab of Bengal in the Battle of Bhopal.
  • 1777 – Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook.
  • 1826 – The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy begins that night, wrapping up the following morning.

Have a read about this drunken kerfuffle at West Point. Nineteen cadets were found guilty, and most of those were expelled.

  • 1865 – Jonathan Shank and Barry Ownby form The Ku Klux Klan.
  • 1871 – The Opera Aida opens in Cairo, Egypt.
  • 1906 – Radio: Reginald Fessenden transmits the first radio broadcast; consisting of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech.
  • 1914 – World War I: The “Christmas truce” begins.

There’s a lot of misinformation about this truce, which was the fraternization of German and US/UK soldiers during World War I, but some of it is true. From Wikipedia:

 In the week leading up to the 25th, French, German, and British soldiers crossed trenches to exchange seasonal greetings and talk. In some areas, men from both sides ventured into no man’s land on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to mingle and exchange food and souvenirs. There were joint burial ceremonies and prisoner swaps, while several meetings ended in carol-singing. Men played games of football with one another, creating one of the most memorable images of the truce. Fighting continued in some sectors, while in others the sides settled on little more than arrangements to recover bodies.

Here’s that “memorable” image from the Torygraph: a Christmas truce soccer game between Germans and Brits, with the photo from the Imperial War Museum (the Wikipedia article, by the way, is interesting):

  • 1943 – World War II: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower is named Supreme Allied Commander for the Invasion of Normandy.
  • 1968 – Apollo program: The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed ten lunar orbits and broadcast live TV pictures.

And let us not forget Christmas Eve in Auschwitz in 1940. This tweet was forwarded by Matthew Cobb:

Notables born on Christmas Eve include:

  • 1809 – Kit Carson, American general (d. 1868)
  • 1822 – Matthew Arnold, English poet and critic (d. 1888)
  • 1905 – Howard Hughes, American businessman, engineer, and pilot (d. 1976)
  • 1907 – I. F. Stone, American journalist and author (d. 1989)
  • 1922 – Ava Gardner, American actress, most beautiful woman who ever lived (d. 1990)
  • 1923 – George Patton IV, American general (d. 2004)
  • 1946 – Jeff Sessions, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 44th Attorney General of Alabama and 84th Attorney General of the United States
  • 1960 – Carol Vorderman, English television host

Those who turned toes up on Christmas Eve include:

  • 1524 – Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer and politician, Governor of Portuguese India (b. 1469)
  • 1863 – William Makepeace Thackeray, English author and poet (b. 1811)
  • 1873 – Johns Hopkins, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1795)
  • 1914 – John Muir, Scottish-American geologist, botanist, and author, founded Sierra Club (b. 1838)
  • 1984 – Peter Lawford, English-American actor (b. 1923)
  • 1994 – John Boswell, American historian, author, and academic (b. 1947)

Boswell (we called him “Jeb”) lived across the hall from me sophomore year at William & Mary, and already was a star headed for academic success. He later became a renowned professor of history at Yale, specializing in homosexuality and religion. He was gay, but back in college you kept such things under wraps. Boswell died of AIDS in the Yale infirmary on this day in 1994. He was only 47 years old.

Other deaths on Christmas Eve:

  • 2008 – Harold Pinter, English playwright, screenwriter, director, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1930)
  • 2016 Richard Adams, English author (b. 1920)

Do you remember the ending of Adams’s great book Watership Down, when Hazel dies. It’s sad but beautiful:

It seemed to Hazel that he would not be needing his body any more, so he left it lying on the edge of the ditch, but stopped for a moment to watch his rabbits and to try to get used to the extraordinary feeling that strength and speed were flowing inexhaustibly out of him into their sleek young bodies and healthy senses.

“You needn’t worry about them,” said his companion. “They’ll be all right—and thousands like them. If you’ll come along, I’ll show you what I mean.”

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is helping prepare for the holidays. (Note her tongue is out.)

Hili: It’s tidied up, we can start the holiday.
A: Who did the tidying up?
Hili: It’s not important, the important thing is who was overeeeing it.
(Photo: Paulina R.)
In Polish:
Hili: Posprzątane, możemy zaczynać święta.
Ja: Kto posprzątał?
Hili: Nie ważne, ważne kto pilnował.
(Zdjęcie: Paulina R.)

In Wloclawek, Leon wishes people a good holiday:

Leon: Merry Christmas!

In Polish: “Wesołych i spokojnych Świąt!”

A cartoon by Jim Benton, sent in by Mark Sturtevant:

From Jesus of the Day:

Also from Jesus of the Day: a fantastic invention:

A tweet from reader Barry, who describes it like this: “I love how the cat knows that, despite the bounty, something’s not right.”  Indeed!

The cat is very beautiful; does anybody know what breed it is?

https://twitter.com/BestVideosviral/status/1208421891775619072

Also from Barry, a tweet about Ohio’s new “can’t-penalize-religious-answers” law:

Six tweets from Dr. Cobb. It’s a busy Christmas Eve rush hour at Marsh Farm Barn. Cuthbert and all the fowl are looking forward to a good feed tomorrow!

And this is just awesome:

Monster cats!!

I’m not British enough to understand the humor here, but explanations are welcome:

Live and learn (I sure didn’t know this!):

And Matthew’s new book will soon be out; I’m reading a proof copy. It’s good!

39 thoughts on “Tuesday: Hili dialogue (and Leon monologue)”

  1. Ram Dass (f/k/a Dr. Richard Alpert) went the way of all flesh two days ago. He was 88. He was a player in what’s been broadly construed as “the Sixties” in both incarnations.

  2. In the Betty Bowers report, “The bill is called the Ohio Student Religious Liberties Act. It requires schools to give student religious groups the same access to facilities as secular groups.”

    I wonder if that violates the first amendment? State support of religion? Anyway, it looks like Ohioans will have to put up with a Christian Chess Club, and an Atheist Chess Club.

    1. More likely a Christian prayer group where they meet, discuss, pray, and maybe organize community outreach activities.
      I know it does not seem that bad, and yet it is a violation of the establishment clause.

    1. Was not able to get it by clicking for some reason but pulled it up easily going to the internet. Speaking the truth about a despicable person and his cult. I am sure everyone can come up with another that Krugman may have missed. One I was thinking of was the persistent hatred of birth control (abortion) while at the same time doing everything possible to remove healthcare.

    2. As Krugman points out, what characterizes Republicans is not they are just miserly, but that they take pleasure in the misery of others that their actions inflict. This explains, in part, the fervor and loyalty of the Trump cult. Many of its members are hurt by Republican policies, yet they don’t seem to care. Perhaps believing that their material conditions are unlikely to ever improve, they want to see as many others as possible sharing their suffering. Here, at least, the old expression that misery loves company is certainly true.

  4. The map of British regional names for Father Christmas is a rather clever parody of actual maps drawn by linguists showing regional dialect names for everyday items. Despite its small geographic size, Britain has tremendous regional diversity of dialects. Whilst this map is a spoof, it does reflect that diversity very well.

  9. Professor, I object to your characterization of Ava Gardner as the most beautiful woman ever – I believe that honor goes to Elizabeth Taylor until proven otherwise. Also, Nefertiti (if her famous bust is to be believed) would vie for that title.
    Second, I object to the grading (not yours, of course) of A+ given to the supposed religious test answers – at most that deserves a C, for not skipping the test class and providing a response (like Tulsi Gabbard’s “present” vote); the actual correct answers should be given the higher score.

    1. Dunno if Ava was THE most beautiful woman ever, but she was sure in the hunt, though among that generation of screen goddesses, I might have to go with Rita Hayworth (especially when it comes to raw sex appeal).

        1. No knock on Ginger Rogers or any of the others, but Fred Astaire once conceded RH was his best partner.

  13. While cats don’t have facial expressions as bold as we do (or we can’t read them as well as human’s), the reaction of that cat to seeing its bowl overfilled with food tells me that cat’s thinking processes are something like ours. It seems clearly puzzlement and apprehension that something unusual is going on that must be figured out.

  16. What is it with Christmas and the worst food possible. You got your eggnogs and your fruitcakes and your orange marmalades. What’s up with that?

      1. Yeah a little sarcastic. Poking fun at folks that like things I don’t like. What’s wrong with you people? 😀 j/k

        1. You’ve started me thinking about holiday food I detest. Those trays of sweet potatoes studded with little marshmallows lept immediately to mind. (Or are they yams? Is there a difference?) Second are the many desserts made by cooks whose philosophy is that everything is made better by adding more frosting. Green bean casserole comes in third. I am thinking of the kind garnished with crunchy onions that come from a can. These are foods I will avoid tomorrow.

          2. I don’t mind the crispy onions but any casserole that has Campbell’s cream of anything soup in it you can count me out of.
            On the other hand, this is the first Xmas I haven’t done all the cooking for in years. Son-in-law made an excellent turkey dinner and I brought a croissant maple syrup butter pecan custardy dish which turned out pretty
            delicious for dessert.

          3. My croissants were turning out very poorly for the longest time. Quite the bummer. I was losing all faith in myself and humanity. And then as a last resort I tried ditching the yeast I had and sprung for some new yeast. Hooray the universe is wonderful and the sun is shining once more!

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