It’s Saturday, August 22, 2020, and September is drawing nigh. The good news is that it’s not “Bacon Lovers’ Day,” but National Pecan Torte Day, though I’ve never had one of them. (I’m sure I’d prefer pecan pie—my favorite of all pies.) The torte is like a pecan pie but it’s a cake.
The linked page provides more Good News about Pecans:
If the body does not get enough zinc, it may have difficulty producing testosterone – a key hormone in initiating sexual desire in both men and women. Pecans provide nearly 10 percent of the recommended Daily Value for zinc.
Only ten percent?! But doesn’t that depend on how many pecans you eat? And is it therefore advisable to down a slice or two of pecan pie before sex?
It’s also National Bao Day (Chinese steamed buns; cultural appropriation), National Eat a Peach Day (no, not about the Allman Brothers), World Plant Milk Day, and, most important, Take Your Cat to the Vet Day.
News of the Day: First, when should you get your flu shot this year? I’ve heard people say that you should get it now, but I’d recommend following the CDC’s advice (my emphasis):
You should get a flu vaccine before flu viruses begins spreading in your community, since it takes about two weeks after vaccination for antibodies to develop in the body and provide protection against flu. Make plans to get vaccinated early in fall, before flu season begins. CDC recommends that people get a flu vaccine by the end of October. However, getting vaccinated early (for example, in July or August) is likely to be associated with reduced protection against flu infection later in the flu season, particularly among older adults.
It looks as if adults should get their shot between the beginning of September and Halloween, with older people skewing more toward the end of that period. But, as always, follow your doctor’s advice.
Actress Lori Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, have been sentenced to prison as well as fined and mandates to do community service, both for bribing USC and lying about their daughter’s resumes to get their kids into college. (The charges were wire and mail fraud.) Loughlin will do two months in prison, Giannulli five, and both will be convicted felons. The judge lectured them sternly, as they deserved:
During the hearings Friday, US District Judge Nathaniel Gorton addressed both defendants, telling Loughlin that he believed her statement was sincere, but pointed to what he described as her “fairy-tale life.”
“Yet you stand before me a convicted felon, and for what? For the inexplicable desire to grab more,” Gorton said. “To have whatever prestige and instant gratification that comes from being able to show off the admission of your daughters to a preferred university.”
Earlier in the day, Gorton told Giannulli that he “certainly did know better.”
“You were not stealing bread to feed your family,” Gorton said. “You have no excuse for your crime. And that makes it all the more blameworthy.”
Had they gone to trial, they could have gotten a lot more time: the sentence could have been up to twenty years, though wouldn’t be near that. Loughlin cried crocodile tears on her Zoom statement though she earlier pleaded not guilty. The idea of parents buying their way into college especially nauseates me, perhaps because I worked in one.
The miscreants in court last year:
Finally, today’s reported Covid-19 death toll in the U.S. is 175,298, an increase of about 1,100 deaths over yesterday’s report. The world death toll now stands at 798l,473, an increase of about 5,200 deaths from yesterday.
Stuff that happened on August 22 includes:
- 1639 – Madras (now Chennai), India, is founded by the British East India Company on a sliver of land bought from local Nayak rulers.
- 1770 – James Cook names and lands on Possession Island, and claims the east coast of Australia for Britain as New South Wales.
- 1780 – James Cook’s ship HMS Resolution returns to England (Cook having been killed on Hawaii during the voyage).
- 1849 – The first air raid in history. Austria launches pilotless balloons against the city of Venice.
You can read more about this “air raid” (really an aerial bombing) here.
- 1864 – Twelve nations sign the First Geneva Convention, establishing the rules of protection of the victims of armed conflicts.
- 1902 – Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first President of the United States to make a public appearance in an automobile.
There doesn’t appear to be a photo of Teddy in the car that time, but this short video from the Library of Congress shows him briefly, riding in a car in 1917:
- 1910 – Korea is annexed by Japan with the signing of the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910, beginning a period of Japanese rule of Korea that lasted until the end of World War II.
- 1941 – World War II: German troops begin the Siege of Leningrad.
- 1978 – The District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment is passed by the U.S. Congress, although it is never ratified by a sufficient number of states.
- 1989 – Nolan Ryan strikes out Rickey Henderson to become the first Major League Baseball pitcher to record 5,000 strikeouts.
No other player has surpassed that number, and Ryan still holds the lifetime strikeout record with 5,714. Here’s the record strikeout (the victim was Ricky Henderson):
- 2003 – Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is suspended after refusing to comply with a federal court order to remove a rock inscribed with the Ten Commandments from the lobby of the Alabama Supreme Court building.
- 2004 – Versions of The Scream and Madonna, two paintings by Edvard Munch, are stolen at gunpoint from a museum in Oslo, Norway.
These paintings have been recovered. There are actually four versions of “The Scream”, two in pastel and two in paint. It’s a much-satirized painting:
- 2007 – The Texas Rangers defeat the Baltimore Orioles 30–3, the most runs scored by a team in modern Major League Baseball history.
Notables born on this day include:
- 1862 – Claude Debussy, French pianist and composer (d. 1918)
- 1880 – George Herriman, cartoonist.
Herriman was the creator of Krazy Kat, one of the most innovative comic strips in history. Matthew and I both love it, and here’s a celebratory tweet:
Today is George Herriman's 140th birthday and I made a present for you Krazy Kat fans. All the comics discussed in Krazy: George Herriman, A Life in Black and White are now online along with unseen art and rare documents, right here: https://t.co/CIQKJ5BCk6 pic.twitter.com/p85izpu64R
— Michael Tisserand (@m_tisserand) August 22, 2020
- 1893 – Dorothy Parker, American poet, short story writer, critic, and satirist (d. 1967)
- 1902 – Leni Riefenstahl, German actress, film director and propagandist (d. 2003)
I was preparing this post yesterday when I got interested in Riefenstahl again and wrote my post on “Triumph of the Will.” Here she is with Hitler and Goebbels; the propaganda minister also is seen speaking in the movie:
- 1920 – Ray Bradbury, American science fiction writer and screenwriter (d. 2012)
- 1935 – Annie Proulx, American novelist, short story writer, and journalist
Those who died but didn’t meet their Maker (since there is no Maker) on August 22 include these two:
- 1974 – Jacob Bronowski, Polish-English mathematician, biologist, and author (b. 1908)
- 1989 – Huey P. Newton, American activist, co-founded the Black Panther Party (b. 1942)
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili mocks the Offense Brigade:
A: Are you coming home?Hili: No, I’m going to seek a safe space.
In Polish:
Ja: Wracasz do domu?Hili: Nie, idę szukać bezpiecznej przestrzeni.
From Meanwhile in Canada:
From reader Charles:
I love misheard song lyrics. This one was posted by reader Gregory on Facebook:
I made a tweet based on a remarkable case of mimicry tweeted by the Tokyo Bug Boys and sent me by Matthew:
This is a moth, Uropyia meticulodina. mimicking a dead, rolled-up leaf. Nothing is rolled here: the illusion is pure camouflage based on color and pattern. To see it move, watch the video at https://t.co/4p7Dq66UrL https://t.co/AkmQwxAFpO
— Jerry Coyne (@Evolutionistrue) August 21, 2020
From reader Barry. This is so cute that I can barely stand to watch it.
Am I the only one who has never seen a baby kangaroo?
— ༺🦋༻ᗰᗩƳᖇᗩ༺🦋༻ (@LepapillonBlu) August 21, 2020
From Simon, who notes that the Business Insider tweet can be misread. Can you see how?
I thought he killed Bin Laden for the whole 9/11 thing. https://t.co/TUhTRpmfQ6
— Benjamin Dreyer (@BCDreyer) August 21, 2020
A tweet from Dom, not especially laudatory about the competence of sheep. Click on each picture individually:
For anyone that doesn’t work with sheep… here’s a summary pic.twitter.com/c2In5bvTdT
— Richard Brown (@Brownsvilleted) August 21, 2020
Tweets from Matthew. First, SPOT THE FROGS! I couldn’t, but the answer is in the thread.
let’s play #FrogSpotting!!! if you find these two Gulf Coast toads I will be proud of you!! pic.twitter.com/v0vGmnro88
— Gina Zwicky (@GinaGoesOutside) August 21, 2020
Matthew wondered if I would post on this, but of course I will: these are all mainstream movies, most of them good. And I’ve seen every one except for #21, #24, and #25. I was glad to see “Y Tu Mama Tambien” on the list, a wonderful movie that is often overlooked.
I was charged with making a list of the 25 most important sex scenes in history. Here is what I chose. https://t.co/etC6IKF8Jt
— Matt Singer (@mattsinger) August 21, 2020
These are not terrible pandas—they’re just babies, and their antics are adorable.
It’s a lovely day in the enclosure and you are a horrible panda pic.twitter.com/XS22AkPpI6
— Kate Neilan (@Magic_Kitten) August 21, 2020
Matthew’s having a bit of fun with this tweet, but this is another fantastic example of camouflage: a moth that mimics a broken twig. No, their natural habitat is not near a Coke can.
Astonishing camouflage, you can barely see it. https://t.co/LQNn6EVBHo
— Matthew Cobb (@matthewcobb) August 21, 2020
In the 1970s, the UK BBC TV had his 13-part series “Ascent of Man”, which was a tour de force & beautifully done coverage of science, mainly evolution.
See: http://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02010-y
Like the neurologist Oscar Sacks, he was mesmerising to listen to.
Ha – “Oliver Sacks” (deserving of an Oscar!)
Re flu shots: Some older readers might not be aware of it, and I wasn’t until recently, a stronger flu vaccine formulated for older people is available, so if one isn’t a spring chicken, ask for it.
Yes, very important, it is called the High Dose (or Trivalent), with four times the antigenic content of the standard flu vaccine. It is formulated specifically for those over 65.
Thanks to both of you. I was not aware of the availability of a stronger dose. I’ve put this on my calendar for late September when I make my appointment. No flu for us guys!
I got mine yesterday. A bit earlier than I usually do, but I figure it is close enough to September. This year it is especially important to stay flu-free.
With all the masks, social distancing, hand washing and sanitizing, I figure the flu risk should be low for me this year.
Re:misheard lyrics. My two favourites are “save the whales” from Enya and “she came to me in a submarine” from The BeeGees.
I went for years hearing Edgar Winter’s lyric “come on and take a free ride” as “come on and think and be right”.
I am not proud of this.
I have no idea what song those lyrics are from!
Ok, I know you are a professional writer, but how are you able to produce so much material almost every day?
Dude, I could write an entry about thought conversations in my head, I could do that everyday, but it would suck. Narrative entries are harder and after two days in a row I have to take a break. How are you able to be so productive?
I got the left frog but I don’t know if I have the one on the right.
And all this time I thought cherry pie was your favorite.
Well, let’s just say the two are pretty much neck and neck.
A mondegreen is a mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase in a way that gives it a new meaning. Mondegreens are most often created by a person listening to a poem or a song; the listener, being unable to clearly hear a lyric, substitutes words that sound similar and make some kind of sense. Wikipedia
Before you go out celebrating National Eat a Peach Day, please be aware there has been a recall due to risk of salmonella poisoning:
https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/primar-wawona-recalls-bagged-peaches-due-possible-salmonella-risk
What better excuse do you need to find a good pecan pie or torte instead?
American:
Rolls up sleeves.
“Nobody tells me I can’t out a door.”
Drunk Canadian male:
Rolls up sleeves.
“I think I can take that goose.”
+mucho
Then do I dare to guess about J. Alfred Prufrock?
That’s okay, Paul Simon was on the wrong block anyway. Back in the day, the hookers were on 42nd Street and EIGHTH AVENUE, just west of Times Square, at the edge of Hell’s Kitchen, on the strip known as “The Deuce” (or so I’ve been told by the old-timers who were so lonesome they took some comfort there).
One question I would like to ask before spending time on a “spot the…” photograph is will this be one where, when I finally spot it no matter how long it takes, I will say “Aha, I’ve found it” or will it be one when it is finally revealed I will say “If you say so.”
Number 21 was the subject of a legendary feud (and subsequent reconciliation) between director-star Vincent Gallo and Chicago’s own late sweater-wearing, thumb-wielding critic, Roger Ebert. When Brown Bunny premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, Ebert panned it as the worst film in the festival’s history. Gallo subsequently re-cut the movie, and Ebert adjudged it first-rate. Goes to show the crucial role editing plays in the film-making art — or, as Ebert put it, “editing is the soul of cinema.”
The controversial scene in the movie involved a particular act (what the French, I think, refer to as faire une pipe) involving Gallo and actress Chloë Sevigny (with whom Gallo had a prior romantic relationship). There was much controversy at the time as to whether the act was unsimulated or involved a prosthesis.
I remember I was watching a (different) ball game in Montreal when Nolan Ryan struck out his 5000th batter. The local sportscaster, Ron something, who was not an ex-player, ended his announcement by saying “5000 strikeouts … I just can’t believe it”. To which the colour commentator, Ken Singleton, who was an ex-player, replied “That’s because you’ve never tried to bat against Nolan Ryan, Ron. If you had, you’d believe it”.
In my experience, the one thing sheep are really good at is dying. Dying in new and stupid ways, sometimes as a result of stupidly persisting in behavior they have been rescued from repeatedly.
On a Christmas Day seven or eight years ago, a car hit a kangaroo outside my house, and drove away. I heard the thump. The kangaroo was not dead, but it was severely injured, so I phoned the police and asked them to come and shoot the poor thing, which they did.
About five minutes later, back in the house, I wondered if the roo was a female, so I went back and yes, there was a joey, just about as well developed as the joey in the twitter post.
I left the joey in situ and got some old blankets and threw them over the kangaroo’s body to maintain as much heat as possible until wildlife rescue arrived to look after the little one. The wildlife people spray-painted a big fluorescent “X” on the dead kangaroo to indicate to passing drivers that they need not stop to inspect her for young. I had often wondered why dead kangaroos were so ornamented.
The policeman who put the kangaroo out of her misery had left the scene of a triple-fatality vehicle accident to come and help – a Christmas Day made memorable for many 🙁
I’m glad I’ve survived until today so I can see the moth, Uropyia meticulodina. What if I’d been hit by a bus on Friday evening at 8:00? Sad.
With regard to misheard lyrics, you have probably heard of the child who thought the hymn ‘Gladly the cross I’d bear’ was really ‘Gladly, the cross-eyed bear’.
A bit like “Olive, the other reindeer.”