Wednesday: Hili dialogue

November 18, 2020 • 6:00 am

Good morning on Hump Day: Wednesday, November 18, 2020: National Apple Cider Day. It’s also National Cabbage Day, National Cafe au Lait, National Indian Pudding Day (again!?), and National Acts of Kindness Day.

News of the Day:

First some good news about the Pfizer vaccine from CNN: it’s even better than reported:

A final analysis of the Phase 3 trial of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine shows it was 95% effective in preventing infections, even in older adults, and caused no serious safety concerns, the company said Wednesday.

The company counted 170 cases of coronavirus infection among volunteers who took part in the trial. It said 162 infections were in people who got placebo, or plain saline shots, while eight cases were in participants who got the actual vaccine. That works out to an efficacy of 95%, Pfizer said.
The data show Pfizer’s initial claim of a better than 90% efficacy — a claim that stunned and pleased health officials and vaccine developers last week — holds up.

For a break from the bad news, the NYT has an absorbing article about the fame and composition of “the Rolls-Royce” of blackboard chalk, Hagoromo Chalk, available only in Japan. Math professors in particular are said to love it; it even gives them confidence.  U.S. mathematicians hoard crates of the stuff and sell it to other professors. There’s a video about the chalk, too, which I’ve put below. It’s gotten over 18 million views in the last year and a half!

This really distresses me: President-Eject Trump, in the final hours of his Presidency, is asking for U.S. troop withdrawals from Afghanistan and Iraq, which in principle is a good thing but so precipitate that it may affect our foreign policy. More important, he’s making noises about bombing Iran, which would start an unnecessary war during the transition between Presidents—a dastardly thing to do

The Covid resurgence is large and widespread, even in Chicago, which has done very well compared to other large American cities. Cook County, which includes Chicago, has had more than 500 deaths since the first of November. We are under an “advisory” (nonbinding) lockdown, but regulations may get stricter. I can’t see any reason for this surge other than Americans loosening their guard in a time when it’s cold. But weather alone could be obviated if people would just observe the normal precautions. It’s Americans, Jake!

Things are especially bad in El Paso, Texas, where, despite a stay-at-home order having been overturned by the court, new cases appear at over a thousand a day. There are ten mobile morgues, and prison inmates (volunteers) have been enlisted to move bodies to the morgue; for this they get $2 per hour.  Here’s a photo (h/t: Jez):

And here’s the time course of U.S. cases reported per day from the Washington Post:

Finally, today’s reported Covid-19 death toll in the U.S. is 248,462, a big increase of about 1,700 from yesterday’s figure. The world death toll is 1,345,070, a huge increase of about 11,300 over yesterday’s report.

Stuff that happened on November 18 includes:

  • 1626 – The new St Peter’s Basilica is consecrated.
  • 1872 – Susan B. Anthony and 14 other women are arrested for voting illegally in the United States presidential election of 1872.

Here are two heroes of the women’s movement: Elizabeth Cady Stanton (seated) and Susan B. Anthony:

Here’s the famous cartoon. Mickey appears 30 seconds in.

I remember this well. Here’s one of the many pictures of the cult members lying dead around the grounds, having consumed a mixture of grape Flavor Aid with cyanide and other drugs:

  • Congressman Leo Ryan is murdered by members of the Peoples Temple hours earlier.
  • 1987 – King’s Cross fire: In London, 31 people die in a fire at the city’s busiest underground station, King’s Cross St Pancras.
  • 2003 – The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules 4–3 in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and gives the state legislature 180 days to change the law making Massachusetts the first state in the United States to grant marriage rights to same-sex couples.

Notables born on this day include:

Here’s a daguerreotype of Louis Daguerre in 1844 by Jean-Baptiste Sabatier-Blot. Daguerrotypes, made by exposing silver-plated copper to light and treating the plate with mercury vapor, were the results of the first photographic process.

  • 1901 – George Gallup, American statistician and academic (d. 1984)
  • 1906 – George Wald, American neurobiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997)
  • 1939 – Margaret Atwood, Canadian novelist, poet, and critic
  • 1970 – Megyn Kelly, American lawyer and journalist
  • 1974 – Chloë Sevigny, American actress and fashion designer

Those who went underground on November 18 include:

In 1969, Cooley implanted the first artificial heart in a patient awaiting a transplant. The artificial device (below) operated for 65 hours before the transplant, but the patient died shortly thereafter from rejection of the transplant:

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, the Hili dialogue gets an explanation from Malgorzata:

Hili is lying on my desk, squeezed between the phone and plenty other things I have there. It looked horribly uncomfortable. About sacrifice: Hili knows about religious people sacrificing their comfort for their gods: fasting, refraining from sex, torturing their bodies etc. As an atheist she will not make sacrifices to any gods, but somehow she likes the idea of making sacrifices for a cause. She just hasn’t defined her cause yet.

A: You can’t be very comfortable there.
Hili: I’m sacrificing myself for a cause.
A: What cause?
Hili: I don’t know yet.
In Polish:
Ja: Chyba nie jest ci tam wygodnie.
Hili: Poświęcam się dla sprawy.
Ja: Dla jakiej?
Hili: Jeszcze nie wiem.

Andrzej published a new book! And here it is (translated title: “What Israeli Soldiers Are doing to Palestinian Children”.), with Hili recommending it.

From Ian Bryan on Facebook, with the caption, “It is essential to properly prepare for a Zoom meeting.”

From Bruce: Two memes about Poland’s new and highly restrictive abortion law (i.e., abortion only when mother’s life is in danger; no exceptions for rape, incest, or deformed fetuses):

From Jesus of the Day:

A tweet from Su: a great catch by a tiger.

From Barry. You’d only see this in New York City:

Tweets from Matthew. First, his most recently acquired cat, the irascible Harry:

No, this is why you should have a kitten:

Sound up on this one:

I’m sure these are trained cats for a Cat Circus:

As Matthew says, “Not all cops. . . . ”  I hope the ducks made it to water (I don’t know the species:

I’m sure you can figure out this animated plot (press the arrow):

 

42 thoughts on “Wednesday: Hili dialogue”

  1. The chalk video is hilarious, even in the face of white boards being far superior to chalk boards.

  2. Amazon has Hagoromo chalk as an “Amazon’s Choice” for less than $25. There apparently is no shortage and widely available. I think I know what this is because I used it. It leaves no residue on the hands and says it is very low dust. It says it is made of very fine calcium carbonate and is compressed a special way and heat-treated. Heat treatment is important for some glass. There are colored chalks available too.

    I think the thimbnail is a prof. from Berkeley on Numberphile occasionally.

    BTW where is the button to get notified of replies?

  4. I had no idea that Shostakovich had done an arrangement of “Tea for Two” by Vincent Youmans.

  5. Trump said if an airliner cashed killing every we would forget about Covid the next day. If 1700 die from the virus in one day how many plane crashes is that. Like everything else about this moron math is not his thing.

  6. … prison inmates (volunteers) have been enlisted to move bodies to the morgue; for this they get $2 per hour.

    For comparison purpose, Rudy Giuliani — who embarrassed himself in a Philadelphia federal court yesterday by, among other things, arguing allegations that had been redacted from his amended complaint, forgetting the name of opposing counsel, asking the judge if he could remove his mask because it was fogging up his glasses, and being unclear on the meaning of the word “opacity” — is bilking Donald Trump for a cool $20k per day for his legal “services.”

    Nobody gets grifted like a grifter. Of course, the Donald is no doubt paying the grift forward by having his people text bomb his most loyal rubes to pitch in their dimes and quarters to his “legal defense fund.”

    Just another day in our Brave New Third-World Kleptocracy.

    1. If there’s a spot of justice left in the world, this time next year Rudy and The Don will be working side-by-side among the two-buck-an-hour inmates instead haunting this nation’s halls of power.

      1. This story was covered extensively on MSNBC last night. I realize this news network is too woke for many on this site but it actually gives you the real news and not in 30 second bites.

      1. Trump’s proclivity for stiffing law firms was one reason he couldn’t secure competent counsel during the investigation into Russia’s interference in our 2016 election — that and his refusal to follow sound legal advice as well as the need always to have at least two lawyers present at any attorney-client conference, so there’d be some corroboration when Trump later lied about what was said.

        1. Unfortunately there always seems to be some bottom feeders willing to represent him. Back to fortunately, many of the bottom feeders seem to be rather incompetent.

  7. I think you meant – troop withdrawals from Afghanistan and Iraq (not Iran). I hope we do not have troops in Iran.

  8. The ducks are Ruddy Shelduck, a North African and Asian species that have an increasing feral population in many parts of the world.

  10. … making Massachusetts the first state in the United States to grant marriage rights to same-sex couples.

    MA was the first of the contiguous 48, but, if memory serves, the Hawaiian state legislature beat it to the punch on SSM by a couple weeks.

  11. If Monsieur D. had gone on to invent the spy camera, would that have mane him a cloak-and-daguerreotype?

  12. … Poland’s new and highly restrictive abortion law (i.e., abortion only when mother’s life is in danger; no exceptions for rape, incest, or deformed fetuses) …

    Gotta punish the hussies somehow for indulging in promiscuous sex.

    1. This one is more of an “all-women” sexism and bigotry rather than being directed at hussies, since the state is going to kidnap and hold hostage married women whose fetuses have fatal birth defects, too.

      1. Re Poland’s laws, the Polish government don’t like EU trying to make them abide by rule of law, not trying to gain influence over its courts.

        Published on Wednesday 18 November at 21.00
        In Poland, there is now growing criticism from the opposition that the country, together with Hungary, vetoed the EU’s multi-year budget and corona fund. But the Polish government does not intend to back down from its veto on the EU budget.
        …
        It was the day before yesterday that Poland and Hungary vetoed the EU’s multiannual budget and recovery fund. The countries would together receive around 180 billion euros.

        However, in order to receive EU support, they must follow basic democratic rules as the rule of law, something that the Polish government does not intend to accept.
        …
        For several years, Poland has been criticized by the EU for trying to gain influence over its courts. Political scientist Marcin Zarowski believes that this is also the reason why this decision was made.

        – The government simply wants both EU support and continue to expand its control over the judiciary, he says.

        [ https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/7603001 ]

  13. The ducks, or geese, in Moscow should be Tadorna ferruginea. Checked in my field guide.

        1. Those are very cool looking ducks. Are they related to Rupert Sheldrake? After all, his name indicates he’s a male duck.

  17. Whoever’s in the rodent costume (Chuck E. Cheese?) with the pizza on the subway stairs is obviously not a native New Yorker. Otherwise, he or she’d know that the only way to handle a slice is to fold it in half lengthwise.

    1. Leading to the philosophical question: did Trump lose New York because it’s mostly blue, or because he ate a slice of NY pizza with a knife and fork on national TV?

    2. For me, the funniest part of that video was the guy who jumped over the rail as to not disturb the rat-man’s ascent. But iirc, the real rat carrying a slice of pizza was dragging it downstairs, not up.

  20. Niels Bohr was smuggled from occupied Denmark into neutral Sweden by the Danish resistance, and from there to the UK in the bomb bay of deHavilland Mosquito, in which he nearly died from oxygen deprivation.

    There’s a story that he was recognized by a fellow Dane on the street in London. The woman ran up to him exclaiming how happy she was “to see you Dr. Bohr.” He tried to damp her enthusiasm by saying she must be mistaken, but adding, “and how are you Mrs Janssen?”

  21. Let me be a bit Trumpian here, just for fun. Note that the COVID curve is starting to bend! We’re clearly rounding the corner as our Dear (soon to be ex) Leader is fond of saying.

  22. Hili is lying on my desk, squeezed between the phone and plenty other things I have there. It looked horribly uncomfortable.

    Malgorzata seems to have temporarily forgotten that cats are liquid. 🙂

  24. One of the few survivors of the Jones Town Massacre was a quack lawyer named Mark Lane. Known primarily as one of the original JFK conspiracist, he was defending Jim Jones from persecution from intelligence agencies, which were almost certainly figments of Jones’ imagination.

    Why do people believe this farfetched junk about the government? Not that government doesn’t do dastardly things, mind you.

    I see it as similar to the rejection of the election results currently going on by so many.

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