Month: January 2021

Readers’ wildlife photos

January 29, 2021 • 8:00 am

Today’s photos come from a contributor whom we haven’t seen in a while: Richard Bond. His notes and IDs are indented, and you can click on the photos to enlarge them.

Kenya is rightly famed for the mammal populations in its many wildlife reserves, but the extensive bird life tends to be overlooked. My ancient field guide to the birds of East Africa notes that 1033 species have been seen in Kenya alone, which makes this relatively small country worth the attention of anyone interested in birds. A big problem in photographing birds there is that it is often difficult to get close to them: the reserves (correctly) try to enforce the rule that safari vehicles keep the the tracks, leaving wide open spaces effectively inaccessible. An elephant at 100 metres is obvious; a kestrel at the same distance is a blur. These photos, though not particularly good by WEIT’s usual standards, make that point and perhaps provide some guidance for people other than serious birdwatchers, who already know this stuff, who would like to take photos of birds. They also show a bit more of the birds’ environments than better photos would!

They were taken well over a decade ago with a camera that marked my first step away from film photography. The camera boasted 5 megapixels and a zoom to 410 mm equivalent, but this modest capability replaced all of the functionality of a large briefcase stuffed with camera backs, lenses and motor drives. I think that the important lesson is that one needs a zoom lens at least twice as long and far more pixels. I am much better equipped these days, and have been planning to revisit Kenya, but the long aftermath of a serious illness followed by the pandemic enforced postponement. Anyway, here are the birds, mostly from SE Kenya.

Yellow-necked Spurfowl, Francolinus leucoscepus Very common, at least where I was, but solitary. Apparently they are heavily hunted for food.

Egyptian Goose, Alopochen aegyptiaca. These seem to be much commoner now than indicated by my rather ancient field guide.

Grey Crowned Crane, Balearica regulorum (and Egyptian Goose?). Very handsome birds. Described as endangered; I must have been lucky, or they were locally common, because I have seen them quite frequently. The hippos give the scale. In checking some facts about them, I came across this short video of one facing up to elephants. I think that the bird in the right background of the second photo is an Egyptian Goose.

Kori Bustard, Ardeotis kori. I suppose the best that can be said about this photo is that it demonstrates the effective camouflage of these large birds. The background is quite nice, and typical of large parts of Tsavo East.

Striated Heron, Butorides striatus. The light and shade were not ideal for a good photo of the bird itself, but I like the effect for the photo as a whole. Note the head of a Crowned Crane sneaking into the photo.

Woolly-necked Stork, Ciconia episcopus. Easy to see how this bird got its name! They are widespread in Africa and tropical Asia; I have seen them in Cambodia.

Marabou Stork, Leptoptilos crumeniferus (and Yellow-billed Stork, Mycteria ibis). I am reluctant to describe any bird as ugly, but… The black and white birds in the background of the second photo are Yellow-billed Storks.

African Sacred Ibis, Threskiornis aethiopicus. I often take a group photo first then try to follow up with a portrait of one bird. My attempt at a close-up here came out with camera shake, which only showed up later on my computer screen. Another lesson for safari photography: I realised that in twisting round to get a closer shot of the bird on the left, my left arm was jammed against the door pillar with the car engine still running. The guide/drivers are usually very good about stopping their engines if you ask, but I had forgotten.

Hadada Ibis, Hagedashia hagedash. A few days later I saw a flock of literally hundreds of these handsome birds on an exposed sandbar in a creek on the coast, but too far away to photograph.

Unidentified geese? Domestic?  Despite referring to Mackworth-Praed and Grant’s bible on African birds, I could not identify these, and I suspect that they were some domestic breed. My interested was piqued, however, by the chicks: is that sexual dimorphism straight out of the egg? Perhaps they are merely hybrids, or (even more boringly) a mixed flock of two breeds.

JAC: These may be muscovy ducks.

Unidentified beetle. I could not resist this beautiful beetle as a lagniappe. I have no idea what it is. The wood on which it is perched was about 20 mm thick. Perhaps someone can identify it?

Friday: Hili dialogue

January 29, 2021 • 6:30 am

Good morning on Friday, January 29, 2021: National Corn Chip Day.  I do like a titer of corn chips beside a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  It’s also National Carnation Day, National Puzzle Day, and, in honor of your host, Freethinkers Day and Curmudgeons Day (designed to coincide with the birthday of W. C. Fields, one of the original curmudgeons). And, in Kansas, it’s Kansas Day (see below).

News of the Day:

A well know science-and-health reporter for the NYT, Donald McNeil, Jr., was disciplined by the paper for blatantly racist remarks, including the use of the n-word but also because “he did not believe in white privilege” McNeil denies the charges, and it’s unclear what “discipline” he got. But other Times staffers have been fired outright for much less, including op-ed editor James Bennett (he published Tom Cotton’s editorial) and Quinn Norton, who was accused of making racist tweets. The Times apparently retains those writers who are most useful, and fires the others. (h/t William)

I will not write about the GameStop fracas, as I find it far more boring than the news seems to. I doubt it will bring down Wall Street.

What got me more excited was the appearance on Wednesday of a snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus) in Central Park, Manhattan—the first time the species has been seen there since 1890. Of course the local birders, alerted by their  Internet sources, showed up in droves, but so did crows and hawks, harassing the predator, and even a drone trying to get an overhead shot. Disturbed, the owl stayed just a day and then buggered off.  What’s going on there: first a Mandarin Duck in 2018-2019, and this year a Snowy Owl? Could it be climate change, or just the Zeitgeist?  Here’s a photo:

NYT photo by Maryté Mercado

You want real news? The Chicago Teachers Union is still at odds with the School District about opening schools to live instruction (teachers are wary of infection; the School Board says it’s safe). Classes were supposed to start on Wednesday but only a third of the teachers showed up. This is going to get nasty.

Oy gewalt! The BBC reports on the travails of one Bandit the Ferret from Leeds, who went through an entire 100-minute cycle of a washing machine and still survived. It was touch-and-go at first: the poor guy had bruises and a collapsed lung, and was given only a 1% of survival by the vet. But the intrepid mustelid soon took a few steps, and now he’s going to be fine.

Here’s poor Bandit resting at home; he looks knackered!

Reader Jez, who sent me the ferret story, had his own near-misses; as he recounts (with a photo):

Our foolish cat Tilly (sadly no longer with us) had a penchant for sitting in the washing machine (photo attached), but fortunately never went for a spin. And yes, she had a crazy moustache (and a goatee, too, although that isn’t very visible in the shot).

The lesson is to always check your washer and dryer for mammals before you insert the clothing.

The actress Cicely Tyson died; I was stunned to realize that she was 96. Perhaps you remember her great performances in the movie “Sounder” and the television film “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman“.

Finally, today’s reported Covid-19 death toll in the U.S. is 433,174, a big increase of about 3,800 deaths over yesterday’s figure. We are likely to exceed half a million deaths in less than a month. The reported world death toll stands at 2,202,672, an increase of about 16,200 deaths over yesterday’s total, or about 11.2 deaths per minute.

Stuff that happened on January 29 includes:

  • 1819 – Stamford Raffles lands on the island of Singapore.
  • 1845 – “The Raven” is published in The Evening Mirror in New York, the first publication with the name of the author, Edgar Allan Poe

Here’s Gustave Doré’s engraving of the poem’s subject:

And here’s Poe, who died of unknown causes, but while delirious, at age 40:

  • 1850 – Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 to the U.S. Congress.
  • 1861 – Kansas is admitted as the 34th U.S. state.
  • 1886 – Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile.
  • 1891 – Liliʻuokalani is proclaimed the last monarch and only queen regnant of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

The queen reigned for just two years. Here she is:

Here they are: Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth, and Honus Wagner.

Over 350 million Cubes have been sold, making it one of the best-selling toys of all time—and making Ernő Rubik a rich man. Here he is, still with us (born in 1944):

  • 2002 – In his State of the Union address, President George W. Bush describes “regimes that sponsor terror” as an Axis of evil, in which he includes Iraq, Iran and North Korea.
  • 2009 – Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich is removed from office following his conviction of several corruption charges, including the alleged solicitation of personal benefit in exchange for an appointment to the United States Senate as a replacement for then-U.S. president-elect Barack Obama.

Blag was pardoned by Trump. He’s an odious and slippery piece of work.

Notables born on this day include:

  • 1688 – Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedish astronomer, philosopher, and theologian (d. 1772)
  • 1843 – William McKinley, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 25th President of the United States (d. 1901)
  • 1860 – Anton Chekhov, Russian playwright and short story writer (d. 1904)
  • 1880 – W. C. Fields, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter (d. 1946) [see above]
  • 1888 – Wellington Koo, Chinese statesman (d. 1985)
  • 1923 – Paddy Chayefsky, American author and screenwriter (d. 1981)
  • 1939 – Germaine Greer, Australian journalist and author
  • 1954 – Oprah Winfrey, American talk show host, actress, and producer, founded Harpo Productions

Those who croaked on January 29 include:

Lear looked as you would have expected him to. Here’s a portrait taken a year before his death; his arm was supposedly bent because he was holding his cat, which “leapt away”:

This is claimed to be a drawing by Sisley, “The Cat” (1870):

 

  • 1934 – Fritz Haber, Polish-German chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1868)
  • 1956 – H. L. Mencken, American journalist and critic (b. 1880)

I haven’t been able to find a video of Mencken, one of my heroes for his writing abilities (but a horrible racist towards blacks and Jews); you can find an hourlong interview with him here.

  • 1980 – Jimmy Durante, American entertainer (b. 1893)
  • 2002 – Harold Russell, Canadian-American soldier and actor (b. 1914)
  • 2015 – Rod McKuen, American singer-songwriter and poet (b. 1933)

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is disdainful of Kulka’s romps in the snow:

Hili: She never gets enough of the snow.
A: Do you want to go out as well?
Hili: No, thank you.
In Polish:
Hili: Ona nigdy nie ma dość tego śniegu.
Ja; Chcesz też iść na dwór?
Hili: Nie, dziękuję.

From Donna, and I bet this is real because it’s too twisted to make up (plus the names are effaced):

From Facebook, a cartoon from Dan Piraro:

From Mark. It took me a while to figure this one out, but yes, it’s a real photo:

Titania goes after segregation:

And some self-flagellation (the “confession” is real):

From Jez (h/t his wife): A dog discovers the joys of a nose flute:

Tweets from Matthew. This seems more like a Fifties dinner party than a Seventies one. I’d totally nom it, though.

As I said when I retweeted this, the article is very cool (Africans drank milk as adults before the spread of the lactose-tolerance gene), but I don’t think “explosive diarrhea” is the inevitable outcome of lactose intolerance!

I’ve posted about Hypno-Cat before, but it’s worth seeing again. Be sure to read the caption of the newspaper article, and if you want more information on The Amazing Puffy, go here.

I may have posted this recently, but you can’t see it too often:

Here’s a snippet of a longer video at the YouTube link. A must-see for spaceophiles:

 

New Zealand tourist campaign against social media

January 28, 2021 • 2:00 pm

Count on the Kiwis: they don’t take themselves—or anybody else—too seriously. In this case, they’re mocking tourists who visit New Zealand and spend much of their time taking shots for Instagram and other “socials”. This campaign, mounted by New Zealand’s tourist agency, excoriates those who miss the scenery so they can show themselves in it (and I share that scorn).  As the Guardian reports:

New Zealand’s tourism agency is seeking to edge out influencer-style photoshoots at tourism hotspots with a tongue-in-cheek campaign against “travelling under the social influence”.

In a video, the comedian Tom Sainsbury stars as a lone ranger in the “social observation squad”, chiding tourists for perpetuating tropes such as a hat-wearing woman in lavender field, a man quietly contemplating on a rock, and “a classic one in these parts: the summit spreadeagle”.

Here’s the main ad: “Travelling under the social influence”:

The call by Tourism NZ to skip the cliche social media shots and “share something new” follows the launch in May 2020 of its Do Something New campaign to boost domestic tourism while borders remained closed to international visitors.

Travellers were encouraged to share their creative travel shots with #DoSomethingNewNZ to go into win a $500 domestic travel voucher.

“We noticed that the same pictures or poses kept coming up, time and time again, no matter the location,” Bjoern Spreitzer, Tourism NZ domestic manager, was quoted as saying by Stuff. “There are so many incredible things to do in New Zealand, beyond the social trends.”

Two short supplemental ads: “Man on a rock:

Instagram has driven the popularity of a few scenic spots in New Zealand, including the tree in Lake Wānaka and the day hike to Roys Peak nearby.

In 2018 a photograph of the “social media queue” on the track went viral for showing the behind-the-scenes of the “summit spreadeagle” shot.

. . . and “Run me over risk” shot. I have to admit that I’ve spent a fair amount of time in the middle of roads taking pictures like the two at the bottom. But I didn’t intend to be in the shots! Besides, there’s hardly any traffic out of the cities.

Two of my “middle of the road shots”: Kea and Kiwi (crossing)

And yes, a lavender field, not fully in bloom (it’s owned by a member of Heather Hastie’s family). But no fedora!

I can’t believe it’s been nearly four years since I visited! I want to go back very badly.

Jacinda: I’m vaccinated now. Will you let me in?

h/t: Jez

Big-time cognitive dissonance!

January 28, 2021 • 11:00 am

This article recently appeared in Quillette. Given its title, I naturally read it: I was the one experiencing cognitive dissonance! (Click on screen shot.)

It’s a sad story. Author Edie Wyatt was sexually abused for years by someone who lived in her house, a situation exacerbated by Wyatt’s alcoholic, ill, and dysfunctional parents and problematic siblings. Naturally, Wyatt’s life fell apart, but she got herself together sufficiently to go to college. There she became a Marxist, but Marx didn’t save her. And then Wyatt found Jesus:

Under the belief (delusional, as it turned out) that the problem was rooted in my drug and alcohol use, I gave up both. Unfortunately, without that self-medication, I found myself face to face with the underlying pain and paralysing fear. One night, I collapsed on the floor, crying and in such physical pain that I could barely move. I picked up a Bible and read a passage from 2 Corinthians 5—Awaiting the New Body—that left me completely undone.

Not long after, I walked into a suburban Baptist church, full of strange, unfashionably dressed, conservative Christians. I was a Marxist, a feminist, foul-mouthed, a chain-smoker, and desperate. The love I received in that place is the reason that I will defend the rights of fundamentalist Christians to my dying breath. They were the kindest people I’d ever known. They loved me, on principle, and in doing so saved my life.

People who advocate for a world without religion have no idea what it is like to find the relief that I found at that time. My purpose here is not to describe my “Amazing Grace” moment, but to explain why I have no patience for militant atheists. In the face of my evangelical Christianity, progressives (mostly men) have called me every unholy thing imaginable—including, of all things, a paedophile apologist.

No patience for militant atheists because she found Jesus! Do all militant atheists need Jesus? Or should we just shut up about religion?

The prudishness of Christanity also appealed to her:

. . . Objectively, I had seen that by reading the Bible, living cleanly, and changing the company I kept, my life had really improved. It was in relationship with God that I found peace, purpose, and joy. I found I could forgive, I could breathe, I could sleep, and my fear had disappeared.

Looking back, though, I do see why certain practices of evangelical Protestantism were attractive to me. Spaces in churches often are separated by sex. Physical contact between young single men and women is not encouraged. My favourite was the “Billy Graham principle”: Men in the church would not visit me alone as a single woman. The pastor would only meet me in his office with the door slightly ajar, so other staff could see in. I know that churches have been places where many people have not been safe. But the corner of Christianity I’d stumbled upon happened to be genuinely devout (to my knowledge) and serious about holiness. That’s what I liked about it. That’s what I still like about it.

What about white privilege? Well, she said that, like Marxism, it failed her:

My “white privilege” didn’t save me from childhood sexual abuse. Sexual violence almost killed me. It ruined my childhood, made me homeless, and left me with enduring scars. I can debate and theorize about politics as much as the next person. But ultimately, the politics of the modern Left is dominated by its fixation on power. And children have no power.

There’s more discussion of postmodernism and its failures, and of the biological rather than ideological basis of sex. But you can read that for yourself.

All these stances appeal to Quillette, of course, but Wyatt’s story, sad and tortuous as it is, doesn’t cohere as a political statement, which I think Quillette wanted it to be. I’m very glad that Wyatt found solace and peace in Christianity, but she wasn’t saved by God, for God doesn’t exist. He’s like “white privilege”: a phantom concocted to leverage power. She was saved by a group of people who believe in a mythical deity, and that’s fine for those who need it. But the part of evangelical Christianity that seems to be most attractive to Wyatt—the segregation of men from women and the abnegation of sexuality—may have helped her because of Wyatt’s past sexual abuse, but it’s surely not a healthy attitude in general.

What we have here is a self-help story that Quillette has adopted (and possibly helped edit) so comes off as a blow against the concept of white privilege. (And against atheism to boot!) But any white person who has a troubled life, as Wyatt did, could write an article saying that “white privilege didn’t save me.” The problem is that even the purveyors of that gutted concept don’t claim that it always gives white people a great life!

And as for the God part, well I hope that Quillette is not going soft on religion. It’s okay to write about people’s religious experiences, but not okay to claim that God can act where the tenets of social justice can’t.

The final bit:

Because of my experiences, and the newly fashionable denial of reality being promoted by progressives, I find myself sitting with the politically homeless. For now, we are all retreating to old-fashioned liberalism with unlikely new friends—an exodus to a land none of us can see.  This divergent group of progressive dissenters won’t find a land flowing with milk and honey, but we might find a place to speak the truth, to cling to those who belong to us, and protect the vulnerable. I’m not sure there is any higher purpose to politics anyway.

Nor is there a “higher purpose” to anything! 

In a “reckoning with America’s racist past”, San Francisco school board strips names from 44 public schools, including Lincoln, Washington, Roosevelt and Feinstein

January 28, 2021 • 9:15 am

First they came for Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis, and now they come for George Washington, Abe Lincoln, Dianne Feinstein, and an Unknown Roosevelt. Yes, the San Francisco Board of Education, in a 6-1 vote, just decided to strip the names off 44 public schools because those names are ideologically incorrect. You can read about this decision in the two articles below from U.S. News and World Report (via the AP) as well as the San Francisco Chronicle (probably paywalled, but you can inquire judiciously). Click on the screenshots to see the carnage:

I wrote about this proposal on October 25 of last year, noting that a committee of 12 “community members” was appointed to vet all the school names, and that their “research” consisted of using their own methods, including looking at newspaper articles and Wikipedia. Professional historians or “diverse ethnic communities” were not consulted. But research appears to have been a bit lax. For instance, as you’ll see in the list below, the committee didn’t even know if the “Roosevelt” who gave his name to Roosevelt Middle School was F.D.R. or Teddy. You could just barely confect a reason to discard Teddy, but what if it was Franklin? Doesn’t matter—they shared some genes, so best to strip the name off!

And who is the Noriega who’s also being erased?  Not Manuel for sure, but the committee didn’t even know. About 1/3 of all the public schools in the city are being renamed.

According to the AP, the criteria for deep-sixing a name were these:

The committee was asked to identify schools named for people who were slave owners or had connections to slavery, colonization, exploitation of workers or others, and anyone who oppressed women, children, queer or transgender people. They also sought to change names of schools that honored anyone connected to human rights or environmental abuses or espoused racist or white supremacist beliefs.

. . . . “I want to ensure people this in no way cancels or erases history,”** San Francisco Board of Education President Gabriela Lopez said, commenting specifically about Feinstein and the wider group as well. “But it does shift from upholding them and honoring them, and these opportunities are a great way to have that conversation about our past and have an opportunity to uplift new voices.”

**Coyne Twitter-like correction: This is a lie.

There’s a list of names below that will be changed. Presumably Washington and Jefferson will go because they had slaves, while others were bigots (many just reflecting the views of their era). “El Dorado” goes because it presumably conjures up the conquistadores, but I’m not sure about many of the rest—people like Paul Revere and Daniel Webster. Presumably they did at least one bad thing, something that outweighs the rest of their contributions.

Abe Lincoln, who freed the slaves, should surely stay, right?  But no, Abe’s down the drain because of his “treatment of Native Americans during his administration.” If you want to read about that, go here.

And what about poor Dianne Feinstein, now 87, who’s so much for California? She was mayor of San Francisco for ten years and has served the state in the Senate for 28. As far as I know, she didn’t have slaves, but she did something almost as bad:

The committee that selected the names included Feinstein on the list because as mayor in 1984 she replaced a vandalized Confederate flag that was part of a long-standing flag display in front of City Hall. When the flag was pulled down a second time, she did not replace it.

She did not replace it! Doesn’t matter: erase her.

Now I suppose some of these names deserve replacement, but surely not all of them. You be the judge:

School Names to be Changed (the miscreants getting erased were put in bold by the Chronicle)

Balboa High School, Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa
Abraham Lincoln High School, U.S. president
Mission High School, Mission Dolores
George Washington High School, first U.S. president
Lowell High School, poet/critic James R. Lowell
James Denman Middle School, founder of first S.F. school
Everett Middle School, Edward Everett, American statesman
Herbert Hoover Middle School, U.S. president
James Lick Middle School, land baron
Presidio Middle School, S.F. military post
Roosevelt Middle School, Theodore or F.D., both U.S. presidents
Lawton K-8, U.S. Army officer Henry Ware Lawton
Claire Lilienthal (two sites), S.F. school board member
Paul Revere K-8, American Revolution patriot
Alamo Elementary, a poplar tree or the site of Texas Revolution battle
Alvarado Elementary, Pedro de Alvarado, conquistador
Bryant Elementary, author Edwin Bryant
Clarendon Elementary Second Community and Japanese Bilingual Bicultural Program, Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, English politician
El Dorado Elementary, mythical City of Gold
Dianne Feinstein Elementary, U.S. senator and former S.F. mayor
Garfield Elementary, James Garfield, U.S. president
Grattan Elementary, William Henry Grattan, Irish author
Jefferson Elementary, Thomas Jefferson, U.S. president
Francis Scott Key Elementary, composer of “Star Spangled Banner”
Frank McCoppin Elementary, S.F. mayor
McKinley Elementary, William McKinley, U.S. president
Marshall Elementary, James Wilson Marshall, sawmill worker at Sutter’s Mill
Monroe Elementary, James Monroe, U.S. president
John Muir Elementary, naturalist
Jose Ortega Elementary, Spanish colonizer
Sanchez Elementary, Jose Bernardo Sanchez, Spanish missionary
Junipero Serra Elementary, Spanish priest
Sheridan Elementary, Gen. Philip Sheridan
Sherman Elementary, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman
Commodore Sloat Elementary, John Sloat, Navy officer
Robert Louis Stevenson Elementary, author
Sutro Elementary, Adolph Sutro, S.F. mayor
Ulloa Elementary, Don Antonio de Ulloa, Spanish general
Daniel Webster Elementary, U.S. statesman
Noriega Early Education School, unclear
Presidio EES, S.F. military post
Stockton EES, Robert F. Stockton, Navy commodore

The schools have until April to come up with new names, and you can guess what kind of names they will be. The cost of this whole process, which of course involves changes in signage, stationery, websites, and so on, is  estimated at around $1 million—in a district where there’s already a deficit of $75 million.

According to Coyne’s criteria for renaming, to retain a name, a statue, or an honor, the person originally depicted or honored has to meet two criteria:

a.) The name or honor was bestowed for something good that the person did

b.) On balance, the person’s life made a positive difference to the planet.

I would guess that many of these people, like John Muir or The Unknown Roosevelt, would meet those criteria, and I’m sure that Dianne Feinstein and Thomas Jefferson would as well.

This frenzy of renaming in San Francisco, with citizens having no strict criteria except some vague guidelines, and left to do their research on Wikipedia or in newspapers, is simply insane. But it’s going to continue, and, mark my words, will get worse under Biden, who’s clearly following the advice of some woke aides. (Remember, though that this process started in 2018, under Trump.)

Take a last look at George Washington High:

Soon to be gone: George Washington High School in San Francisco AP Photo by Jeff Chiu

h/t: Ben

Readers’ wildlife photos

January 28, 2021 • 8:00 am

Please send in your good wildlife/street/landscape photos.

Today we have travel photos from Joe Dickinson. Joe’s captions are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

Here for your consideration is the first of two sets of photos I’ll just call “Street Scenes”

This is a well-known pub in Edinburgh called Bobby’s Bar, named, I believe, for the faithful dog of a regular patron.Bobby reportedly hung out by the pub for months after his owner died.

JAC: I went to this pub fairly often when I did my sabbatical in Edinburgh. This is also the only pub where I found the wonderful Fraoch Heather Ale (made with heather flowers) on tap.

You will recognize this as a famous site in Chicago, the skating rink at Millennium Park with the “bean” in the background.

This is a view of the people lined up to take the elevator up the Eiffel Tower seen, I believe, from the first platform.

A refreshment stand in Lhasa, Tibet.  The fellow second from the right is multitasking by spinning a prayer wheel.

Also in Tibet, an industrial size prayer wheel installation allows highly efficient prayer while on the way, for example, to market.  Just hold your right hand at about shoulder height and give each cylinder (hexagon?) a twirl as you go by.

Still in Tibet, this is the Jokhang Temple, sort of the mother church for Tibetan Buddhism.  The idea is to process around the temple complex.  The common theme here and preceding is that prayers are activated when set in motion.  Two of my prized possessions are a prayer wheel and an elaborately decorated conch shell “trumpet” obtained in the gift shop at that temple.  Think about how, historically, conch shells made it to Tibet and you can understand why they were valued.  Similarly, we saw women at some festival proudly wearing large beads fashioned from coral. 

This is the gate to a little cottage that we rented a couple of times when attending the Indian Market and the Opera in Santa Fe.  Conveniently, those two events overlap.

These next two are the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, one at sunset and the other at night.

This is the first village first village, Manarola, when walking the  Cinqua Terre in Italy in the usual direction.

This is the front of the Pantheon in Rome. Generally, I avoid getting strangers in photos of historic or scenic views, but I think this young couple adds some interest.

This is Volendam in the Netherlands.  Again, the children playing in a boat adds some human interest.

Thursday: Hili dialogue

January 28, 2021 • 6:30 am

Good morning on Thursday, January 28, 2021: National Blueberry Pancake Day. It’s also Data Privacy Day and International Lego® Day.

News of the Day:

The Department of Homeland Security has issued a rare alert warning of domestic terrorism. They weren’t specific, but warned that terrorists, emboldened by the Capitol siege, will pose a threat for at least several weeks to come. My own guess is that some loon will try to kill one or more Democratic politicians.

Cloris Leachman died yesterday at 94. She was in many good shows, but I liked her best in my favorite American movie, “The Last Picture Show” (1971), in which, playing Ruth Popper, the long-suffering wife of a boorish high-school coach, she has an affair with the young Timothy Bottoms.  For that role she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

Here’s her soliloquy at the very end of the movie, when Sonny comes back to see her after a long absence when he was dallying with Jacy (Cybill Shepherd).

This famous Bernie Mittens crocheted doll, created by Tobey King, just sold for $20,300 on eBay after the auction began at 99.  Awesome, for all the money went to Meals on Wheels America, one of Bernie’s favorite charities. Here’s the famous doll, which came complete with the bench:

Meanwhile, over at HuffPost, here’s what you need to know:

Finally, today’s reported Covid-19 death toll in the U.S. is 429,312, a big increase of about 4,100 deaths over yesterday’s figure. We are likely to exceed half a million deaths in less than a month. The reported world death toll stands at 2,186,400, an increase of about 17,000 deaths over yesterday’s total, or about 11.8 deaths per minute.

Stuff that happened on January 28 includes:

  • 814 – The death of Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor, brings about the accession of his son Louis the Pious as ruler of the Frankish Empire.
  • 1521 – The Diet of Worms begins, lasting until May 25.

That is a long time to subsist on worms!!!

(I’ll be here all year, folks!)

Here’s King Edward at age 13:

Have a look at the story and how they found her “devil’s mark”.

A first edition of this great novel, in three volumes, will run you $40,000:

  • 1896 – Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent, becomes the first person to be convicted of speeding. He was fined one shilling, plus costs, for speeding at 8 mph (13 km/h), thereby exceeding the contemporary speed limit of 2 mph (3.2 km/h).

Remember that a decent walking speed is 3 mph; you could be ticketed for driving faster than you walk!

  • 1909 – United States troops leave Cuba with the exception of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base after being there since the Spanish–American War.
  • 1933 – The name Pakistan is coined by Choudhry Rahmat Ali Khan and is accepted by Indian Muslims who then thereby adopted it further for the Pakistan Movement seeking independence.
  • 1935 – Iceland becomes the first Western country to legalize therapeutic abortion.
  • 1956 – Elvis Presley makes his first national television appearance.

The appearance was on the program “Stage Show”, and heeeeere’s Elvis performing “Shake, Rattle and Roll”:

  • 1958 – The Lego company patents the design of its Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today.

Here are copies of the patent drawings; you can buy this reproduction on Etsy:

  • 1965 – The current design of the Flag of Canada is chosen by an act of Parliament.

Here ya go, eh?

Here’s the explosion (it begins at 1:36). I remember watching it live:

Notables born on this day include:

  • 1873 – Colette, French novelist and journalist (d. 1954)
Colette. © La Maison de Colette
  • 1912 – Jackson Pollock, American painter (d. 1956)
  • 1929 – Acker Bilk, English singer and clarinet player (d. 2014)
  • 1929 – Claes Oldenburg, Swedish-American sculptor and illustrator
  • 1954 – Rick Warren, American pastor and author
  • 1968 – Sarah McLachlan, Canadian singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer

Here’s the Divine Sarah (Sarah Silverman’s been demoted) singing one of her most famous songs. It’s a terrific live performance:

  • 1972 – Amy Coney Barrett, American jurist, academic, attorney, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice 

Those who croaked on January 28 include:

  • 814 – Charlemagne, Holy Roman emperor (pleurisy; b. 742)
  • 1547 – Henry VIII, king of England (b. 1491)
  • 1939 – W. B. Yeats, Irish poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)1986 – Space Shuttle Challenger crew
    • Gregory Jarvis, American captain, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1944)
    • Christa McAuliffe, American educator and astronaut (b. 1948)
    • Ronald McNair, American physicist and astronaut (b. 1950)
    • Ellison Onizuka, American engineer and astronaut (b. 1946)
    • Judith Resnik, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1949)
    • Dick Scobee, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1939)
    • Michael J. Smith, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1945)
  • 1996 – Joseph Brodsky, Russian-American poet and essayist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1940)

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, editor Hili is getting in the way on Andrzej’s desk:

A: Could you find another place for yourself?
Hili: I’ve already been in another place and now I have to sit here.
In Polish:
Ja: Czy możesz poszukać sobie innego miejsca?
Hili: Byłam już w innym miejscu, teraz muszę tu siedzieć.

From Nicole, yet another Bernie meme, and one of the cleverer ones. Soon he’ll pupate and become a curmudgeonly Berniefly:

From Stash Krod:

Another Bernie meme, this time from Diana MacPherson:

Ilhan Omar, who pretended she didn’t support BDS when running for office, has apparently changed her mind (e.g., finally told the truth). But she’s still pretending that the organization doesn’t want to eliminate the state of Israel:

Here’s when she was lying before she took office, and then issued the new Big Lie. Below that, one of the founders of BDS lets the mask slip.

The so-called “right of return” would create, under BDS’s “one state solution” and its own estimates, a country with 9 million Arabs and 6 million Jews (there are already Arab citizens of Israel). Of course the number of Jews would then decrease as the genocide began under this “solution.”

From Facebook, Indy does a risky move:

People have a lot of time on their hands during the pandemic. Too much time. (h/t: Barry)

From Simon: a cool illusion:

Two tweets from Matthew: Sound up to hear the froggies call!

And look at this amazingly cryptic spider: