Thursday: Hili dialogue

February 6, 2020 • 6:45 am

Good morning on Thursday, February 6, 2020. There’s snow on the ground in Chicago, but in my area it was scant: less than an inch. Other parts of Chicago, however, got as much as three inches. And Matthew found a tweet of some loons SURFING in Lake Michigan several days ago:

It’s National Bagels and Lox Day as well as National Pizza Day, a double dip of cultural appropriation. However, you’re free to consume the object of National Frozen Yogurt Day.

In Canada it’s National Sweater Day, with over a million Canadians set to celebrate by donning their sweaters and turning down their thermostats. In the U.S., it’s “Lame Duck Day,” celebrating not crippled waterfowl but the passage of the Twentieth Amendment. Wikipedia enlightens us:

The Twentieth Amendment (Amendment XX) to the United States Constitution moved the beginning and ending of the terms of the president and vice president from March 4 to January 20, and of members of Congress from March 4 to January 3. It also has provisions that determine what is to be done when there is no president-elect. The Twentieth Amendment was adopted on January 23, 1933.

The amendment was designed largely to limit the “lame duck” period, the period served by Congress and the president after an election but before the end of the terms of those who were not re-elected. Because under the amendment Congressional terms begin before presidential terms, it is now the incoming Congress, rather than the outgoing one, that would hold a contingent election in the event that no candidate wins a majority of the electoral vote in a presidential election. The amendment also establishes procedures in the case that a president-elect dies, is not chosen, or otherwise fails to qualify prior to the start of a new presidential term.

Finally, a serious day designated by the United Nations: International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation.  Here’s a figure showing “the Percentage of the 0–14 group who have undergone FGM in 21 countries for which figures were available in 2016.” It’s sad and disheartening:

Stuff that happened on February 6 includes:

  • AD 60 – The earliest date for which the day of the week is known. A graffito in Pompeii identifies this day as a dies Solis (Sunday). In modern reckoning, this date would have been a Wednesday.[1]
  • 1840 – Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, establishing New Zealand as a British colony.
  • 1843 – The first minstrel show in the United States, The Virginia Minstrels, opens (Bowery Amphitheatre in New York City). This is a day that will live in infamy.
  • 1900 – The Permanent Court of Arbitration, an international arbitration court at The Hague, is created when the Senate of the Netherlands ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree.
  • 1918 – British women over the age of 30 who meet minimum property qualifications, get the right to vote when Representation of the People Act 1918 is passed by Parliament.
  • 1952 – Elizabeth II becomes Queen of the United Kingdom and her other Realms and Territories and Head of the Commonwealth upon the death of her father, George VI. At the exact moment of succession, she was in a tree house at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya.
  • 1959 – Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments files the first patent for an integrated circuit.

I think this is a mistake, for, looking up the patent, I repeatedly get this plan, which, as you note, remarks it was filed on MAY 6, 1959. Somebody should fix Wikipedia if their date is wrong. But this is clearly the first patent

  • 1978 – The Blizzard of 1978, one of the worst Nor’easters in New England history, hit the region, with sustained winds of 65 mph and snowfall of four inches an hour.

I was in Boston then, finishing grad school, and I remember the storm well. A snowdrift like the one below (this was photographed in Boston) piled up in Harvard Square, and some enterprising students were doing downhill skiing on the pile:

Here’s the famous slam dunk contest with Jordan versus Dominique Wilkins (Jordan won).

  • 1998 – Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.
  • 2018 – SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, a super heavy launch vehicle, makes its maiden flight.

Notables born on this day include:

  • 1756 – Aaron Burr, American colonel and politician, 3rd Vice President of the United States (d. 1836)
  • 1833 – J. E. B. Stuart, American general (d. 1864)
  • 1895 – Babe Ruth, American baseball player and coach (d. 1948)
  • 1911 – Ronald Reagan, American actor and politician, 40th President of the United States (d. 2004)
  • 1912 – Eva Braun, German wife of Adolf Hitler (d. 1945)
  • 1913 – Mary Leakey, English-Kenyan archaeologist and anthropologist (d. 1996)
  • 1917 – Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian-American actress and socialite (d. 2016)
  • 1932 – François Truffaut, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1984)
  • 1945 – Bob Marley, Jamaican singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1981)
  • 1946 – Kate McGarrigle, Canadian musician and singer-songwriter (d. 2010)

I was a fan of the McGarrigle sisters, French-Canadians from Quebec. Kate died of cancer at age 63. Here’s a 23-minute documentary of the pair:

Those who began their Dirt Nap on February 6 include:

  • 1804 – Joseph Priestley, English chemist and theologian (b. 1733)
  • 1865 – Isabella Beeton, English author of Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management (b. 1836)
  • 1918 – Gustav Klimt, Austrian painter and illustrator (b. 1862)
  • 1989 – Barbara W. Tuchman, American historian and author (b. 1912)
  • 1991 – Salvador Luria, Italian biologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
  • 1991 – Danny Thomas, American actor, producer, and humanitarian (b. 1914)

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, The Princess has a rare moment of humility:

Hili: The more I think the more unsure I feel.
Andrzej: I know the feeling.
In Polish:
Hili: Im dłużej myślę, tym bardziej jestem niepewna.
Ja: Znam to uczucie.

A gorgeous Maine Coon cat from the Emporium of Unique & Wondrous Things. At first I thought this was a lynx!

From Wild and Wonderful. NOTE: The readers have pointed out, and they’re right, that these cockatoos are sculpted fakes, not real birds. I’m leaving them up because the comments below wouldn’t make sense if I removed the tweet.

A hand cheese grater shown on Jesus of the Day. And yes, it’s real; it used to be sold on Amazon but it’s “currently unavailable.” I wonder why. . . .

Another brave Iranian woman removes her hijab—in front of a cleric.

From reader Barry, who adds, “Said one person on Twitter: ‘That’s basically a metaphor for what Western style fast food is doing to entire cultures.'” What will it demand next? Chicken McNuggets?

From Dom: an albatross cam with adorable chicks. You can see the live 24/7 stream here.

A tweet from Luana: the Night of the Zombie Raccoons:

Tweets from Matthew: Make sure the sound is up for this bobcat mating (and note the head bobbing):

Look at the size of this annelid!

https://twitter.com/stefdegreef/status/923198556936208385?s=11

Yes, this report is true. Only in America: “You didn’t tell me there were gonna be crotch shots.”

A supernova remnant that looks like God’s Condom:

 

25 thoughts on “Thursday: Hili dialogue”

    1. Seems like one problem is that, once the packaging is removed, you appear to change from being a Jesus jokester to a foody supporter. Perhaps that’s why it is no longer available.

      Reply

      1. Reminds me of the one about the engaged Christian couple who’d taken a pledge to remain chaste until marriage. After a bout of frustrated heavy petting, the groom-to-be whispered to his bride-to-be, “Don’t worry, darling, it won’t be long until our honeymoon.”

        “Oh yeah,” said his betrothed excitedly, “how long will it be then?”

        Reply

        1. Some male students were rumored to be using baggies. One student, when questioned about viability, said, “They work, but they leak.”

          Reply

  6. Birds are fake. See below side-by-side Fake/Real comparison image. Forgive my poor naming of bird parts – not an -ologist of any kind.

    ** The individual ‘hairs’ on the feathers grow almost parallel [say 10-15 degrees difference] to the quill/stem in the real bird & form a fringe at the tip. The fake bird feather are more like those on a pigeon – growing from the quill at a 30 degree angle say.

    ** The head crest feathers when raised should curve backwards [curve forwards in the fake]

    ** Yellow spots – there is only ever one spot per feather near the tip [but not at the tip] of each feather [the fake head crest feathers have up to 4 yellow spots each]

    ** Yellow spots – should not be round – a close inspection shows the spots have an almost bilateral symmetry dictated by the growth of each feather ‘hair’

    ** Yellow spots – forming the disc around the eyes is strikingly different, with more subtlety in the real bird

    ** Nostrils & beak – look too perfect [manufactured] in the fake, but I’ve seen pics of real young birdies also with a manufactured look. Presumably more ragged with age [like me]

    https://flic.kr/p/2ipS5Q4

    Reply

  8. RIGHT WING WATCH: “Dave Daubenmire Is Looking to Sue the NFL for Putting His Eternal Salvation at Risk Via the Super Bowl Halftime Show”

    p.s. This is just a Christian nobody trying to build his web presence through manufactured controversy. His Coach Dave LIVE YouTube channel videos get less than 500 views & he’s hidden his subscriber numbers:

    Fake anger:

    https://youtu.be/uqZCstw9TEQ

    Reply

    1. Well done, Michael!

      I was going to say, “You just doubled the creep’s view numbers”, but I see you linked to a copy on Right Wing Watch and not to Mr MAGA-hats-for-Jesus.

      So, cool!

      cr

      Reply

  9. I had not heard of the McGarrigle sisters. Thanks for the introduction. There must be very many talented creators of music who do not fit well into the current big-money music seen. But, that’s OK. Money isn’t everything.

    Reply

  13. Those arctic surfers, that’s brave!

    Meanwhile (just to make y’all jealous), the water at Piha* is the warmest I’ve known it. I can just wander casually in and out of the sea without even bracing myself (and I’m a coward for cold water).

    *Auckland, NZ

    cr

    Reply

  14. On the earthworm: I remember seeing an explanation of why the giant insects of fiction are impossible because of the nature of the open circulatory system. If I recall, however, earthworms have a closed one. So, how far can their little heart (or whatever) pump, anyway?

    Reply

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