Sunday: Hili dialogue

Welcome to Ceiling Cat’s Day: a day to rest, read, eat, and enjoy your favorite libation. It’s Sunday, October 25, 2020, and National Greasy Food Day. (You didn’t hear that from me.) It’s also World Pasta Day, Pumpkin Day, Sourest Day, apparently honoring sour sweets, and World Pizza Maker’s Day (oy, could I use a New York slice!).

News of the Day: The biggest news is the resurgence of the pandemic, which is taking place pretty much everywhere, but you all know about that, anyway. Anthony Fauci has suggested a national mask mandate, which I think is a good idea, but our “President” keeps saying, against all odds, that we’re “rounding the turn” on the pandemic. Now where are the data showing that?  And several aides to Vice-President Pence have now tested positive for the virus.

Over at the New York Times, the conservative columnist Ross Douthat has an inner dialogue with himself about the pros and cons of reelecting Trump. He calls it “The last temptation of Never Trump.” Douthat is, I believe, a Never Trumper who didn’t vote for the guy, but it always pays to see the best arguments of the other side.

This isn’t news, but the video below is one that Jimmy Kimmel’s wife made, and which he asked people to share. I think it’s worth sharing. It’s about the Affordable Care Act, and why we need healthcare that provides for people with preexisting conditions. Do watch it. (h/t: Marilee).

Finally, today’s reported Covid-19 death toll in the U.S. is 224,819, an increase of about 900 from yesterday’s figure. The world death toll is 1,155,334, an increase of about 5,200 over yesterday’s report.  

Stuff that happened on October 25 includes:

• 1415 – Hundred Years’ War: Henry V of England, with his lightly armoured infantry and archers, defeats the heavily armoured French cavalry in the Battle of Agincourt.
• 1917 – Old Style date of the October Revolution in Russia.

The date was the old Style; in the modern Gregorian calendar, the revolution began, on the modern calendar, on November 7.  Here’s part of the protestors in front of the Winter Palace (now the Hermitage Museum), courtesy of TASS:

• 1924 – The Zinoviev letter, which Zinoviev himself denied writing, is published in the Daily Mail; the Labour party would later blame this letter for the Conservatives’ landslide election win four days later.
• 1940 – Benjamin O. Davis Sr. is named the first African American general in the United States Army.

Davis’s son, with the same name but an appended “Jr.”, became the first black general in the U.S. Air Forces. Here’s Davis père in France, August 1944:

• 1944 – World War II: The final attempt of the Imperial Japanese Navy to win the war climaxes at the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
• 1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis: Adlai Stevenson shows the United Nations Security Council reconnaissance photographs of Soviet ballistic missiles in Cuba.
• 1971 – The People’s Republic of China replaces the Republic of China at the United Nations.
• 1983 – The United States and its Caribbean allies invade Grenada, six days after Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and several of his supporters are executed in a coup d’état.’

If you’re in your forties you probably remember the invasion. It lasted four days, was condemned by the UN, and resulted in the deaths of 19 Americans and 45 Grenadians.

Notables born on this day include:

• 1825 – Johann Strauss II, Austrian composer and educator (d. 1899)
• 1838 – Georges Bizet, French pianist and composer (d. 1875)
• 1881 – Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter and sculptor (d. 1973)

Like all good artists, Picasso loved cats, owned some, and did many paintings of them throughout his life (you can see a selection here). Here’s a Picasso painting of his wife from 1954, called “Jacqueline assise avec son chat.” (You can understand the French.)

And the painter with a real moggy:

• 1888 – Richard E. Byrd, American admiral and pilot (d. 1957)
• 1912 – Minnie Pearl, American entertainer and philanthropist (d. 1996)

Here’s Minnie (real name Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon) with her signature greeting: How-DEEEEE!

• 1930 – Hannah Holborn Gray, historian, educator, and ex-President of the University of Chicago, 1978-1993. (h/t: Jack)

Gray, the 18th President of the University of Chicago, was the Prez for the first seven years of my job here. Here’s a photo (she’s a historian of politics). She’s ninety today.

• 1941 – Helen Reddy, Australian-American singer-songwriter and actress (d. 2020)
• 1941 – Anne Tyler, American author and critic
• 1969 – Samantha Bee, Canadian-American comedian and television host
• 1984 – Katy Perry, American singer-songwriter and actress

I present for your delectation (or not), Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg with “California Gurls”. It was a big hit for her. It has over half a billion views. I won’t comment further except to say that I do like Snoop in it. Check out his suit.

Those who went West on October 25 include:

• 1400 – Geoffrey Chaucer, English philosopher, poet, and author (b. 1343)
• 1921 – Bat Masterson, American lawman, buffalo hunter, and sport writer (b. 1853)

Masterson, who actually went West early in his life was a gunfighter turned sports reporter in his later life. He was played on television in the eponymous show (1958-1961) by Gene Barry. Here’s the real Bat, whose real name was Bartholemew William Barclay Masterson. He was born in Canada.

• 1989 – Mary McCarthy, American novelist and critic (b. 1912)
• 1993 – Vincent Price, American actor (b. 1911)

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili and Szaron are still not getting along, and, given Hili’s temperament, I doubt they ever will:

Hili: You are lying on my blanket again.

Szaron: Let’s call it a blanket which likes all cats.

Hili: Znowu leżysz na moim kocu.

Szaron: Nazwijmy go kocem, który lubi wszystkie koty.

Here’s Paulina showing Kulka (outside) to Szaron (inside):

From Bruce, a 2020 meme from Bizarro.com

From Jesus of the Day:

From Seth Andrews. I agree 100%: my aversion to artificially flavored paraffin is well known, and I love Reese’s peanut butter cups as much as I detest candy corn.

From Titania.  I would add that yes, all people with periods are biological women, though they may adopt the gender of “man”.

The term” female” is outdated and disrespectful.

From now on, I demand to be referred to as a bleeder. https://t.co/7jUwBVjPNk

— Titania McGrath (@TitaniaMcGrath) October 24, 2020

From THE BERN; sound up.

Last night, Trump attacked “socialized medicine.” 

Funny. I didn’t hear him complain when he received the best socialized medical care in the world for free at a 100% government-run hospital. pic.twitter.com/RHZ8Ro2ZG9

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) October 24, 2020

From Olen: A tiny kitten with big courage meets a huge d*g:

https://twitter.com/planetpng/status/1319862507444621315?s=21

From Barry. I want to know how the hunter detected its prey:

Vicious microscopic hunter, the single-cell organism, Lacrymaria olor, hunting and attacking another organism#Narure #Awesome pic.twitter.com/YacfuiIsJb

— Nature Inc. (@Nature_Incorp) October 24, 2020

Tweets from Matthew. This first one is a very excellent tweet:

Once you see the worried man wearing headphones you cannot unsee him!!! @flygirlNHM https://t.co/e95QvQeenN

— Joseph Williamson (@JoeWilliamson93) October 23, 2020

Is Trump hiding something?

TRUMP’S EYES WHEN BIDEN SAID “COCAINE!” Omg! 😳 #DebateTonight pic.twitter.com/wNJNsHmeOl

— Melissa Cruz (@MelissaWrites22) October 23, 2020

I may have posted this before, but you may not have seen it. It’s wonderful to find someone else who loves raising ducks. Sound up, please:

This duck mom's been raising her babies in a woman's pool for the past 2 months 💗 pic.twitter.com/HXDh2AfBF8

— The Dodo (@dodo) October 24, 2020

Sound up on this one, too. Mama Cat is talking back:

If what you need in your week is a cockatoo introducing himself to some 19 day old kittens, I have that for you. pic.twitter.com/gldS38afZM

— Nancy Parmalee (@nparmalee) October 22, 2020