Monday: Hili dialogue

January 6, 2020 • 6:30 am

It’s Monday, January 6, 2020, and National Shortbread Day, honoring the butter-laden cookies (or “biscuits” to you Brits). This is again a case of cultural appropriation, for the treat is not American but Scottish, and you can’t eat it without a deep knowledge of the history of how Scots were oppressed (FREEEEEDOM!).

It’s also Bean Day, and National Smith Day, honoring people with the surname Smith:

[Adrienne Sioux} Koopersmith chose January 6 as the date of celebration because Captain John Smith was born on the date in 1580.

If you’re a Smith, I congratulate you. But wait! There’s more! It’s also Apple Tree Day, National Take Down the Christmas Tree Day, and National “Thank God It’s Monday” Day—a dreadful holiday if ever there was one. The excuse is lame:

Dorothy Zjawin of Roselle Park, New Jersey, created this holiday, in part to give recognition to the first day of the week in general. Sure, the first Monday of the year may be tough, and sometimes people have to start new jobs on Monday as well, but people also get promoted and start vacations on the day. There are many holidays that take place on Mondays throughout the year, so why not have one right at the beginning of the year?

That’s lame. Yes, some people have good Mondays but many more people don’t.

Finally, if you’re of a goddy bent, it’s Epiphany!

In Western Christianity, the feast commemorates principally (but not solely) the visit of the Magi to the Christ Child, and thus Jesus’ physical manifestation to the Gentiles. It is sometimes called Three Kings’ Day, and in some traditions celebrated as Little Christmas.  Moreover, the feast of the Epiphany, in some denominations, also initiates the liturgical season of Epiphanytide.

Eastern Christians, on the other hand, commemorate the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River, seen as his manifestation to the world as the Son of God The spot marked by Qasr el Yahud in the West Bank, and Al-Maghtas in Jordan on the east bank, is considered to be the original site of the baptism of Jesus and the ministry of John the Baptist.

And it is on Epiphany that the greatest piece of fiction ever written in English was set: the story The Dead by James Joyce. I will brook no dissent on this judgment. Matthew found this tweet:

https://twitter.com/bowbrick/status/1214105378050494464?s=11

If is another cold and overcast day in Chicago, with temperatures barely rising above freezing, and so this is appropriate (it resembles yesterday’s cold-averse ducks):

Stuff that happened on January 6 includes:

  • 1066 – Following the death of Edward the Confessor on the previous day, the Witan meets to confirm Harold Godwinson as the new King of England; Harold is crowned the same day, sparking a succession crisis that will eventually lead to the Norman conquest of England.
  • 1492 – The Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella enter Granada, completing the Reconquista.
  • 1540 – King Henry VIII of England marries Anne of Cleves.
  • 1838 – Alfred Vail and colleagues demonstrate a telegraph system using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code).
  • 1839 – The Night of the Big Wind, the most damaging storm in 300 years, sweeps across Ireland, damaging or destroying more than 20% of the houses in Dublin.
  • 1907 – Maria Montessori opens her first school and daycare center for working class children in Rome, Italy.
  • 1912 – German geophysicist Alfred Wegener first presents his theory of continental drift.
  • 1929 – Mother Teresa arrives by sea in Calcutta, India, to begin her work among India’s poorest and sick people.
  • 1941 – United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his Four Freedoms speech in the State of the Union address.
  • 2005 – American Civil Rights Movement: Edgar Ray Killen is indicted for the 1964 murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner.

Notables born on this day were numerous, meaning that many people copulated in April (springtime!):

  • 1832 – Gustave Doré, French painter and sculptor (d. 1883)

Doré is one of my favorite illustrators. Here’s his rendition of Puss in Boots:

  • 1878 – Carl Sandburg, American poet and historian (d. 1967)
  • 1880 – Tom Mix, American cowboy and actor (d. 1940)
  • 1882 – Sam Rayburn, American lawyer and politician, 48th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1961)
  • 1912 – Danny Thomas, American actor, comedian, producer and humanitarian; founded St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (d. 1991)
  • 1913 – Loretta Young, American actress (d. 2000)
  • 1915 – Alan Watts, English-American philosopher and author (d. 1973)
  • 1920 – John Maynard Smith, English biologist and geneticist (d. 2004)

I knew John, or “JMS” as his friends called him. He was a great evolutionary geneticist, and I tweeted about his 100th birthday:

  • 1924 – Earl Scruggs, American banjo player (d. 2012)
  • 1925 – John DeLorean, American engineer and businessman, founded the DeLorean Motor Company (d. 2005)
  • 1931 – E. L. Doctorow, American novelist, playwright, and short story writer (d. 2015)
  • 1947 – Sandy Denny, English folk-rock singer-songwriter (d 1978)
  • 1960 – Nigella Lawson, English chef and author
  • 1984 – Kate McKinnon, American actress and comedian

Those who became officially deceased on January 6 include:

  • 1882 – Richard Henry Dana, Jr., American lawyer and politician (b. 1815)
  • 1884 – Gregor Mendel, Czech geneticist and botanist (b. 1822)
  • 1918 – Georg Cantor, German mathematician and philosopher (b. 1845)
  • 1919 – Theodore Roosevelt, American colonel and politician, 26th President of the United States (b. 1858)
  • 1993 – Dizzy Gillespie, American singer-songwriter and trumpet player (b. 1917)
  • 1993 – Rudolf Nureyev, Russian-French dancer and choreographer (b. 1938)
  • 2006 – Lou Rawls, American singer-songwriter (b. 1933)

Nureyev, of course, died way too young—of AIDS. Here he is in his healthy days with Merle Park:

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Elżbieta and her daughter visit Hili, who shows some rare concern for another cat: the kitten Mietek (who is fine):

Elżbieta: Greetings from Mietek.
Hili: Thank you, and how is he?
In Polish:
Elżbieta: Z pozdrowieniami od Mietka.
Hili: Dziękuję, jak jego zdrowie?

From Jesus of the Day:

Speaking of which, here’s a bit of humor from Facebook:

Posted on FB by Ali Rizvi:

The Royal Academy is having a thread of people drawing the best duck they can in five seconds. Here’s the contest and my contribution along with others (there are several):

Titania has posted her goals for the coming year:

Here are two tweets from reader Barry. The first is a gorgeous orthopteran:

Fowl on the attack! Look at that chicken kick!

https://twitter.com/cctvidiots/status/1213358944367759360

Tweets from Dr. Cobb. After having read his new book on the brain, I understand his fascination with optical illusions. This is a very good one:

A tweet and some corrections. But the musical road is really cool! (Sound up.) It’s inventive, too: keeps you awake. But the locals didn’t like it. . .

I love metallic-looking insects, and this beetle is a lovely one:

Finally, a wonderful GOOSE PARADE! Sound up.

 

35 thoughts on “Monday: Hili dialogue”

  1. With the illusion, it is not the colours that the eye is drawn to but the arrows – I see waves of arrows not colours, so how is that an illusion?

    I re-tweeted the JMS tweet!

    Goose joke –
    If I asked you what genus the greylag goose was, would you know the Anser?

    1. Re: the illusion. I agree. I work with seismic analysis and the [vertical) lines do not look like they are moving at all, but I thought that might just be “preparation” because of my work. I can’t even make the illusion appear if I try.

      1. Totally looks like waving lines to me. I can focus and see the arrows switching direction, but the waves are still there. I suppose we trained our brains differently.

      2. Yeah, but it’s well known that working with too much seismic makes your eyes go funny. If they weren’t funny to start with.

  2. The most important item Jerry has included here today is the chilling cartoon about paratroopers. But Jerry has also reminded that today is the birthday of both Gregor Mendel and John Maynard Smith (whose family name was Maynard Smith, not Smith). No one alive today met Mendel, but a lot of evolutionary biologists have fond memories of JMS. William Hamilton and he were the leaders of the major wave of work on evolution of reproductive strategies and social behavior in the past 50 years. For me, JMS’s leadership was really displayed at a Population Genetics Group meeting some years ago when it was fashionable for younger biologists to reject “orthodox Neo-Darwinism” in favor of supposed new paradigms. So he got up and cheerfully declared himself to be an orthodox neo-Darwinian. Which gave courage to those of us who were unpersuaded by the new paradigms, and was an enormously helpful thing for him to do. He did a lot of that.

    1. “The most important item Jerry has included here today is the chilling cartoon about paratroopers.”

      Indeed. Worrisome times.

      1. I’d intended to remark on this comment but inadvertently posted it in response to another commenter’s remarks below:

        Just read that Bolton says he’s ready to testify. Given that Bolton has long wanted the US to go after Iran militarily, what does this news mean at this precise juncture re impeachment, after Trump assassinated Suleimani, is threatening to destroy Iranian cultural sites, and all bets are off?

    2. But the war won’t kick off properly (nukes, US chemical weapons on million-plus cities, etc) until until the last 6-8 weeks of the election campaign.

  4. Instead of – first reelection campaign it could read – your first impeachment campaign?

      1. Just read that Bolton says he’s ready to testify. Given that Bolton has long wanted the US to go after Iran militarily, what does this news mean at this precise juncture re impeachment, after Trump assassinated Suleimani, is threatening to destroy Iranian cultural sites, and all bets are off?

        1. This was intended to be a response to EdwardM’s comment @#2 but isn’t inapt here.

      2. At least Clinton told Congress before acting and had Congressional approval. Trump didn’t even tell the gang of 8. As with so many things Trump does- unprecedented.

  5. John Maynard Smith was not only one of the greatest evolutionary biologist of the 20th century, but also probably the nicest one. The first time I met him, I was very anxious because I had to give a talk in english (I’m still very bad at it). He found the proper remedy for me, and paid me a bottle of “Courage Bitter Best”.

  6. Don’t forget to click on the Phanolinus rove beetle. It will embiggen twice and blow your mind!

  8. “… and then show us it.”

    Oh, how they tease – not that I know if it’s incorrect, but…

  9. That illusion is amazing!!!!!!

    I’d like to know how to make a tangible collection of these – perhaps a flip book….

  11. That cow won’t be getting too high, seeing that those marijuana plants haven’t started flowering yet LOL

    1. It’s my understanding that in order to get high, the THCa in cannabis must be converted to THC by heating, as in burning, vaporizing or cooking. But perhaps that isn’t applicable to cows.

    2. There won’t be much in the way of beef full stop, since it’s dairy cow (probably a Guernsey) and a very thin one at that.

  12. I’m still writing “19” on things that use the last two digits to represent the year. But if I have to write “2020”, and write “2019” by accident, I correct it immediately.

  15. There is a musical road along old Route 66 east of Albuquerque that plays America the Beautiful, You have to drive over it at 45 mph and keep your tires on the rumble strips for it to work. It is getting quite worn but there is a move afoot to have it renewed.

  16. As a current sailor (well, come April), and a recovering English teacher, I must point out that Richard Henry Dana, Jr. is the author of the justly acclaimed “Two Years Before the Mast.” Not as good as “The Dead,” but still! He championed the underdog his entire life.

  17. Titania …
    • End the gender pregnancy gap

    That would be a sight almost worth seeing. How many men have given birth, so far (I’ve heard multiple reports, but don’t exactly keep count ; it’s perfectly possible that no-one does).

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