Is it Thursday already? How we lose track of time during the pandemic! But yes, it’s Thursday, June 11, 2020, and National German Chocolate Cake Day. This isn’t be cultural appropriation since the cake is not from Germany but was invented in 1852 by an American named Samuel German.
It’s also Corn on the Cob Day (I haven’t had any this year), National Making Life Beautiful Day, and, in Hawaii, King Kamehameha Day, honoring the monarch who established the Kingdom of Hawai’i.
I can’t do much to make anyone’s life beautiful, but here’s a small attempt: one of Honey’s ducklings from two years ago:
News of the Day: Unrelentingly grim. CNN reports that the administration is proposing big changes in American asylum policy, apparently making it much tougher for immigrants to claim asylum. And the New York Times reports that although coronavirus cases are rising in 21 states, lawmakers are apparently ignoring this, turning their business to other matters. Here are the hot spots in the U.S., with any color orangish to red show rising cases (key at top). The Southeast appears especially badly afflicted:
Today’s reported Covid-19 death toll in the U.S. is 113,097 , an increase of about a thousand from yesterday (the increase in deaths in our country appears to be slowing). The world toll now stands at 416,382, a one-day increase of about 5,200 from the day before.
A lot of stuff happened on June 11, including this:
- 1184 BC – Trojan War: Troy is sacked and burned, according to calculations by Eratosthenes.
- 1509 – Henry VIII of England marries Catherine of Aragon.
- 1770 – British explorer Captain James Cook runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef.
- 1776 – The Continental Congress appoints Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston to the Committee of Five to draft a declaration of independence.
- 1895 – Paris–Bordeaux–Paris, sometimes called the first automobile race in history or the “first motor race”, takes place.
- 1919 – Sir Barton wins the Belmont Stakes, becoming the first horse to win the U.S. Triple Crown.
Sir Barton was three, and racing in his first season. Here he is in 1919, with a braided mane, carrying jockey Johnny Loftus:
- 1920 – During the U.S. Republican National Convention in Chicago, U.S. Republican Party leaders gathered in a room at the Blackstone Hotel to come to a consensus on their candidate for the U.S. presidential election, leading the Associated Press to coin the political phrase “smoke-filled room”.
- 1955 – Eighty-three spectators are killed and at least 100 are injured after an Austin-Healey and a Mercedes-Benz collide at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the deadliest ever accident in motorsports.
Here’s a British Pathé report on the accident (warning: it’s hard to watch):
- 1963 – American Civil Rights Movement: Governor of Alabama George Wallace defiantly stands at the door of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama in an attempt to block two black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from attending that school. Later in the day, accompanied by federalized National Guard troops, they are able to register.
Here’s the old racist s.o.b. standing in the door; he’s being by US Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach.. Of course many white Southerners supported him, but he failed. Thanks to the National Guard, both students registered that day.
- 1963 – Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức burns himself with gasoline in a busy Saigon intersection to protest the lack of religious freedom in South Vietnam.
I won’t show the famous picture of this here, but you can see it at this link.
- 1963 – John F. Kennedy addresses Americans from the Oval Office proposing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which would revolutionize American society by guaranteeing equal access to public facilities, ending segregation in education, and guaranteeing federal protection for voting rights.
- 1970 – After being appointed on May 15, Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington officially receive their ranks as U.S. Army Generals, becoming the first females to do so.
- 2001 – Timothy McVeigh is executed for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
- 2010 – The first African FIFA World Cup kicks off in South Africa.
Here’s Shakira’s official song for that cup, with the tune and some of the words derived from a Cameroon army marching song. She was accused of cultural appropriation for that. I think it’s a great song and a great video.
- 2018 – United States President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un of North Korea held the first meeting between leaders of their two countries in Singapore.
Notables born on this day include:
- 1572 – Ben Jonson, English poet, playwright, and critic (d. 1637)
- 1910 – Jacques Cousteau, French biologist, author, and inventor, co-developed the aqua-lung (d. 1997)
- 1925 – William Styron, American novelist and essayist (d. 2006)
- 1933 – Gene Wilder, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
- 1939 – Jackie Stewart, Scottish race car driver and sportscaster
- 1959 – Hugh Laurie, English actor and screenwriter
Those who left this vale of tears on June 11 include:
- 323 BC – Alexander the Great, Macedonian king (b. 356 BC)
- 1979 – John Wayne, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1907)
- 2001 – Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist (b. 1968)
- 2015 – Ornette Coleman, American saxophonist, violinist, trumpet player, and composer (b. 1930)
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili kvetches to Elzbieta. Malgorzata explains:
Hili thinks that this is a constitutional monarchy and she would like it to be an absolute monarchy – it would give her more power and better treatment.
The dialogue:
Hili: You see yourself how I’m treated here.Elżbieta: Like a princess.Hili: But it’s not an absolute monarchy.
Hili: Sama widzisz jak mnie tu traktują.
Elżbieta: Jak księżniczkę.
Hili: To nie jest monarchia absolutna.
Posted by Laurie Ann on my FB page. Can I have a bunch of those flowers?
From Charles, a 2020 calendar:
From Jesus of the Day, The Cattening:
This could be something Trump did, even though it’s bogus:
What’s with the headline? (The article itself is almost as bad.)
27 police officers injured during largely peaceful anti-racism protests in London https://t.co/vIq1VL1aiT
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) June 7, 2020
From Gethyn a very messy moggy:
I think my cat has a drinking problem 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/kt2tP5pQsl
— LADbible (@ladbible) June 7, 2020
Tweets from Matthew. Have a look at the wonderful insects, and ponder how many species are unknown to us if they can find 47 species new to science just around Los Angeles:
Brilliant images of diverse new insect life in LA @matthewcobb @flygirlNHM https://t.co/XWGHPpE0mv
— Prof Sheena Cruickshank (@sheencr) June 10, 2020
One of the optical illusions of which Matthew and I are so fond:
You’ll need to get out a ruler to accept that all the squares are parallel and perpendicular… https://t.co/kePyIcbbqb
— Matthew Cobb (@matthewcobb) June 10, 2020
Gator fight on a golf course! I hope nobody was hurt, but it looks as if they could do substantial damage. And what are they fighting over?
This goes waaaaaay back. We have lots of crocodylian #fossils with half-healed bites on their faces. https://t.co/9WAUncewOt
— Stephanie Drumheller (@UglyFossils) May 25, 2020
They are crammers!
in case you've ever wondered what all those mouthparts are for pic.twitter.com/MGwIowy2tv
— Adam Kranz (@adam_kranz) May 3, 2020
Another great illusion; be sure to watch the video:
This is just amazingly cool.
Looks like two pairs of lines, oscillating in parallel, right?
But it's actually a diamond shape moving in a circle. But almost impossible to see when the corners are removed.
Created from Micheal Bach's wonderful website https://t.co/OcFDgkwUKK pic.twitter.com/uo5Q9Y1Too
— Gavin Buckingham (@DrGBuckingham) May 3, 2020
Jefferson was chosen from the committee to draft the declaration which he completed in his room in a few days. Maybe the best know 58 words in American History – “We hold these truths to be self evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness; and to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
I think I’ve commented on this before, but the footage of the the Le Mans crash occurring is reversed (freeze frame it and examine the writing on the advertising hoardings for the most obvious proof).
I previously assumed that this was a measure to dodge automated copyright checks on youtube, but the rest of the report is not reversed and the Pathé logo is correct throughout the whole film.
Sometimes the flip is needed to maintain flow, that is if something happens from right to left in one scene, the next will be easier to “read” from right to left. The second shot may have been shot from the opposite side of the event. If shown as is, it would look strange. I don’t know if that’s the case here. The logo is added in post and is not part of the original film( I may have said as much before, too).
Sorry for hogging 67% of the posts (at the time of writing) but the headline in the BBC tweet about the protests is technically correct. The protests were largely peaceful, with some estimates of 100,000 turning out.
Anyway, the BBC agrees with you that the headline reads badly and they’ve changed it.
I believe they were quoting the Met Police, who said themselves that the demo was largely peaceful.
Who’s “away” on the next shot? Who has “honors” on the next tee? One gator refused to grant the other gator a “gimme” on a short putt? Who’s going to pick up the tab for hot dogs and beers in the clubhouse between the front and back nines? Who’s going to pay the caddies? Who owes whom on a two-dollar >a href=”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nassau_(bet)#:~:text=The%20Nassau%20is%20a%20type,classic%20and%20best%20known%20wagers.”>”Nassau” bet?
I caddied at a local country club as a kid and saw some strange arguments between duffers, though most of them stopped short of this type of physical confrontation. 🙂
That’s a $2 Nassau bet.
The British racing driver Stirling Moss, who took part in the disastrous 1955 Le Mans race, only died this April, aged 90. It’s astonishing that the race was allowed to continue.
To his credit, George Wallace repented and tried to make amends.
In his early days in Alabama politics, Wallace was considered something of a moderate on race (moderate being a relative term in 1950s’ Alabama, of course). But when he got his ass whipped by a stone-cold Klansman in his 1958 gubernatorial run, he vowed he’d never get out-segregationisted again.
Many of the Soviet politicians “repented” and became fans of democracy and later fans of Putin. Politician are, by and large, power hungry opportunists without real principles. Wallace always knew which way the wind blew.
The Le Mans cars don’t even have roll bars in 1955! That means the drivers helmet is the default rollover bar.
Ack… now I can get that song out of my head, Waka waka is a really catchy tune. In German we call that “Ohrwurm” literally ear worm.
Here in Burlington, VT, we are one of the hotspots on the Covid map.
We have had about 100 new “cases” over the past week. But most of these cases are asymptomatic people testing positive – there are only 3 people hospitalized with the disease in the state.
So, some good news to go with the bad.
In the photo of the horses being used for crowd control by the police it appears that the horses’ eyes are covered but I can’t really tell. Can someone please enlighten me? If their eyes are covered, no matter the reason, that’s terrible.
Those are masks for the horses’ eyes.
Re the photo of George Wallace, something’s missing: “Here’s the old racist s.o.b. standing in the door; he’s being by US Deputy Attorney General…”
“He’s being [what?]…”
Where’s Forrest Gump in the photo?
The progressive left has a real conceptual problem with violence. With the great revolutions as examples, they really believe that violence is the way to effect change (and one fears to maintain it). At the same time, though, violence was given a bad name by the Viet Nam War, and so there is lip-service to the idea of non-violence. Rhetorically, they are forced to limit the meaing of non-violence, to the point where nothing done in the name of their goals is violent, and everything their opponents do is. You can see this in the ultimate totalitarian statement used last week: silence [on racism] = violence. Luckily, this plays well with their ongoing strategy of dominating the discourse, and delegitimizing anything their opponents due or say. We can see this in the case of Rowling, once on the right side of History for announcing Dumbledore is gay, and now being pushed of the stage for being TERF.
‘But Asia Ahmed . . .who was not at Downing Street during the disturbance, said a “lot of people” she spoke to “feared for their lives when they saw police horses”.’
(However many “a lot” is. I’m reminded of NY Times reporters’ tendency to speak of “a hand full” of [U.S.] states.)
Perhaps they should have been given equine trigger warnings, if the mere sight of a horse is so distressing. (Did the armored leggings on the horses trigger demonstrators?) Also, one likely would not fear so much for ones life if one can be troubled to simply move to the side and away from the fearsome horses – if one is inclined to peacefully protest.
We always say, “the cattening!” 👍🏽👍🏽
“Nationwide, 22 states are seeing upward trends in coronavirus cases. About 20 states have seen decreases in recent days, and eight states are holding steady.”
https://www.wjcl.com/article/national-coronavirus-updates-june-8/32797844#
In other words, despite opening up the economy things are staying roughly the same.
My governor/dictator has just declared that my daughter’s senior year of high school will be mostly online and therefor mostly useless. I wish I had a say but it was Educational Decree #23 and what Dolores says is all the matter.