It’s Sunday in Cambridge, MA this September 19, 2021: National Butterscotch Pudding Day. It’s also International Talk Like a Pirate Day, National Wife Appreciation Day, and National Women’s Friendship Day.
The weather here has been lovely (tee shirt temperatures) with sun, some clouds, but only a little rain yesterday. Today’s predicted high in Cambridge is 74°F (23°C).
News of the Day:
Once again I’ve been oblivious to the news, and don’t even know how the Rally for Trump (surely made up of some “very fine people”) went yesterday. please fill me in below.
* Today’s reported Covid-19 death toll in the U.S. is 673,367, an increase of 2,012 deaths over yesterday’s figure. The reported world death toll is now 4,701,438, 4,694,219, an increase of about 7,200 over yesterday’s total.
Stuff that happened on September 19 includes:
- 1778 – The Continental Congress passes the first United States federal budget.
That budget was $639,000.
- 1796 – George Washington’s Farewell Address is printed across America as an open letter to the public.
You can read the farewell address here. He never spoke it; it was in the form of a letter. At the end of his first term as President, Washington had James Madison prepare an earlier version, but then George decided to run for (and won) a second term. The later letter was a revision of the first with the help of Alexander Hamilton.
- 1881 – U.S. President James A. Garfield dies of wounds suffered in a July 2 shooting. Vice President Chester A. Arthur becomes President upon Garfield’s death.
Here’s a depiction of the assassination, with Garfield shot twice in a railroad station depot by Charles Guiteau, who was convinced that Garfield would destroy the Republican Party. As you see, Garfield lived a considerable time after the shooting—79 days—and died of “sepsis” (infection). He could have been saved with antibiotics.
- 1893 – In New Zealand, the Electoral Act of 1893 is consented to by the governor, giving all women in New Zealand the right to vote.
This made New Zealand the first self-governing nation in the world to allow women to vote. Here are some suffragettes in New Zealand, whose symbol was the white camellia:
- 1940 – World War II: Witold Pilecki is voluntarily captured and sent to Auschwitz concentration camp to gather and smuggle out information for the resistance movement.
Only a very brave man would voluntarily get himself arrested and sent to Auschwitz (his intake photo is below). Pilecki, a Polish military officer, escaped in April, 1943, after surviving 2.5 years, and he had gathered lots of information about the camp, but he buried his report and it wasn’t revealed till after Pilecki’s death. Ironically, he was executed by the Communists in 1947.
- 1952 – The United States bars Charlie Chaplin from re-entering the country after a trip to England.
Chaplin was born in London, made his name in Hollywood films, and when he was touring Europe, long since world famous, the U.S. barred his re-entry because he was a political dissident, an accused Communist (he wasn’t), and not a U.S. citizen. He returned to the U.S. only once thereafter, to receive an honorary Academy Award in 1972. Here’s a photo of the aged Chaplin getting that award from Jack Lemmon:
- 1982 – Scott Fahlman posts the first documented emoticons 🙂 and 🙁 on the Carnegie Mellon University bulletin board system.
- 1985 – Tipper Gore and other political wives form the Parents Music Resource Center as Frank Zappa and other musicians testify at U.S. Congressional hearings on obscenity in rock music.
- 1991 – Ötzi the Iceman is discovered in the Alps on the border between Italy and Austria.
Ötzi, who died between 3400 and 3100 BC, is Europe’s oldest “natural mummy”. Extracted from the ice in 1991, it’s thought he was killed because he had an arrowhead embedded in his shoulder (he may have been a ritual sacrifice). He had ibex meat and grain in his stomach, suffered from whipworm, and was emblazoned with 61 tattoos! To see him you have to visit the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, South Tyrol, Italy.
Here’s a photo of Ötzi as found in the ice:
And his head and chest:
A reconstruction of him with his equipment (also found):
- 1995 – The Washington Post and The New York Times publish the Unabomber manifesto.
- 2011 – Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees surpasses Trevor Hoffman to become Major League Baseball’s all-time saves leader with 602.
Here’s Rivera setting the all time save record:
Notables born on this day include:
- 1867 – Arthur Rackham, English illustrator (d. 1939)
Here’s Rackham’s “Puss in Boots”. It’s hard to make out Puss.
- 1911 – William Golding, British novelist, playwright, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1993)
- 1913 – Frances Farmer, American actress (d. 1970)
- 1932 – Mike Royko, American journalist and author (d. 1997)
- 1934 – Brian Epstein, English talent manager (d. 1967)
- 1941 – Cass Elliot, American singer (d. 1974)
- 1949 – Twiggy, English model, actress, and singer
Here name now is Dame Lesley Lawson (birth name Lesley Hornby), and she’s just about my age. In her glory days:
Those who became dead on September 19 include:
- 1881 – James A. Garfield, American general, lawyer, and politician, and the 20th President of the United States (b. 1831)
- 1942 – Condé Montrose Nast, American publisher, founded Condé Nast Publications (b. 1873)
- 1965 – Lionel Terray, French mountaineer (b. 1921)
A great climber and a member of Herzog’s team that climbed Annapurna (Terray didn’t attain the summit), Terray died during a rock climb at age 44.
- 1995 – Orville Redenbacher, American businessman, founded his own eponymous brand (b. 1907)
- 2004 – Eddie Adams, American photographer and journalist (b. 1933)
- 2004 – Skeeter Davis, American singer-songwriter (b. 1931)
Davis had one great and classic song, which she performs below live:
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, it’s hunting season for Hili. She must be trying to lay on the fat for winter.
Hili: It’s a great ecosystem but something is lacking.A: What?Hili: Something fat.
Hili: Wspaniały ecosystem, ale czegoś tu brakuje.Ja: Czego?Hili: Czegoś tłustego.
And a picture of Kulka by Paulina:
From Facebook. For the backstory see here:
A FB post from Helen Pluckrose, one of the “Grievance Study” perpetrators:
From Jesus of the Day:
A tweet from Masih. Apparently girls in Afghanistan still aren’t allowed in school:
In 21st-century this
young girl is asking"why are we banned from going to school?"
Today Schools reopened in Afghanistan but just for boys. So simply women of Afghanistan are backed to the dark ages. Who is responsible for this and who is going to have an answer for this girl? pic.twitter.com/t1gsuvzjG0— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) September 18, 2021
From Barry. This cat is either dumb or extraordinarily charitable, but it’s surely not hungry!
From the Auschwitz Memorial:
19 September 1865 | A Jewish man, Abraham Joseph Zousman, was born in Bardichev. He emigrated to Belgium.
He arrived at #Auschwitz on 26 October 1942 in a transport of Jews deported from Malines / Mechelen. After the selection he was murdered in a gas chamber. pic.twitter.com/lfz4IKci23
— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) September 19, 2021
Tweets from Matthew. First, a comfy bodega cat:
— Bodega Cats (@Bodegacats_) September 18, 2021
Not a bodega cat:
HELLO HOW ARE YOU DOING, ANYWAY THIS CAT WAS IN MY YARD AND I GOT PHOTOS pic.twitter.com/qFijDTwejm
— Jeff Bartlett (@jbartlett79) September 18, 2021
These are apparently the real Beatles:
Love this. Top photobombing. pic.twitter.com/TZDCKMNwwZ
— Johnnie Johnstone (@tnpcollection) September 17, 2021
This is a clever cat, and I’ve put a video of his machinations belowl
This happens at least once a day. https://t.co/wZNMlYwBrt
— The Dodo (@dodo) September 19, 2021
See for yourself! I’ve tried to embed a “Tik Tok”:
@mrmilothechonk This happens at least once a day 😂 #foryou #foryoupage #lol #comedy #viral #cats #catsoftiktok
A nether eructation from a crab:
How good is it when you just have to fart like this crab @DaniRabaiotti #rockpools pic.twitter.com/tl0U3HnTRU
— Dr. Vincent Raoult (@sawsharkman) September 19, 2021
How did Tom Cruise get onto the Hardy Boys cover?
As long as Agfhanistan is ruled by the Taliban, hewing to the ideology of such strict Islam, it will never be able to be a modern nation. Women and girls have proven that they always belonged in all the functions of a nation, and to deny them access to public life is not only harmful to the female majority it is harmful to the rest of society by suppressing their economic contributions, intellectual contributions, and their insights into human relationshiips. This was clear to me when I was a kid, when I started listening to the femininsts my sister was reading such as Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Angela Davis, and others.
The invasion and war in Afghanistan by the US and allies was more to do with the “War on Terror” than to liberate women, and had the positive side effect of liberating women to a certain degree, and certainly educating girls (even though this remained hazardous for many girls.) The hope for Afghanistan is that the men who saw the positive effects of women in public life decide to join women’s fight for emergence and overthrow these mediavlists now in power.
I have a feeling that the Taliban leadership has decided to let women and girls go to school, separated from men and boys and fully covered, but that they lack control over the rest of the Taliban who continue their old ways. It is possible, given time, the leadership will be able to get the rest to toe the line but equally possible the leadership are just pandering to the modern world and will go back to the old ways when they think no one is looking. Of course, with cell phones and the internet there is always someone looking. Change might be brought about by accusing the leadership of not exerting sufficient control over their underlings and/or welching on their promise to allow girls and women to go to school.
We can still hope. In the 1990s, the Taliban didn’t really run the country but act as a kind of morality police force. Now they have to run the country, keeping the lights and internet on, and dealing with other countries, they will have less time and inclination to do their moral policing.
Many of the grey bearded turbans in charge of Afghanistan now are the exact same maniacs who ran it the first time so don’t hold your breath for change. Luckily as we know Islam has been perfect for 1300 years so I’m sure the girls will be OK.
D.A.
NYC
“Once again I’ve been oblivious to the news, and don’t even know how the Rally for Trump (surely made up of some “very fine people”) went yesterday. please fill me in below.” – A poor turnout, with more cops than protesters, apparently. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-58612965
And more press than protestors as well.
Oh, and while I am here, Jerry. I sincerely thank you for putting up the pictures of from the Auschwitz Memorial. The number, 6 million, is very hard to humanize and we tend only to think of those murdered masses as they were when the survivors were being liberated. These photos show the people as they were in happier times, to better understand the lives that were taken from their friends, their families, and from all of us.
George Washington lived only a few short years after leaving office as the 18th century medicine caught up with him. The guy that was first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of some of his country men. Washington had high standards for himself and others and had little to say about Adams, and nothing good to say of Madison, Jefferson or Monroe. If you crossed him you were pretty much done and his early close friend and neighbor, George Mason soon found that out after turning against the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Some tried to replace him as Commander of the colonial army during the revolution but they got nowhere. Even Hamilton once learned you do not fool around with the boss and come out of it well.
I don’t know if crabs fart. Perhaps it was clearing air out of the gill chambers under the carapace. But that would be less interesting.
Oh, and “Arrrrh”
Tidal pools are known to be low oxygen environments. It looks to me like the crab is breathing by passing air over it’s gills. Notice the surface disturbance near it’s mouth parts.
That’s what I thought too. Crabs produce a lot of bubbles from their mouth, and it looked like bubbles were coming from this crab’s mouth as well. But yeah, less interesting. 🙂
Yes, for sure, clearing air that’s trapped in the gill chamber under the carapace. No, not farting, and definitely not breathing air. Aquatic crabs don’t breathe by passing air over the gills. Even terrestrial crabs keep water in the gill chambers. Aquatic crabs pass water over the gills, using some of the mouthparts as a pumping device (more like a paddle than a pump, but whatever). Little grapsid crabs like that one are often out of the water, some air gets in the gill chambers, and then they have to replace the air with water when immersed again.
Also tide pools with abundant algae and cyanobacteria in full sunlight – like the one in the video – often have very high dissolved oxygen concentration.
Whenever I travel I feel totally cut off from the news. Usually this is because I am in meetings a good part of the day, and normally I would check the news throughout the day. The worst was back in 1982. We went on a school trip to the Soviet Union with no news. We landed back in Paris, and I made my way to a news-stand, and bought a copy of The Times of London, which had the headline “Fleet Sails for Falklands.” I’d missed the beginning of the Falklands War.
Charlie was also in a bit of bad odor when he left the US because he had a thing for jailbait. He hooked up with playwright Eugene O’Neill’s daughter, Oona, when she was just 17 (and he, 53); they eloped right after she turned 18. In some inspired casting, their daughter, actress Geraldine Chaplin, played her own grandmother — Charlie’s mom — in the 1992 Hollywood movie Chaplin.
Like many things, that was held against him at the time. According to Wikipedia, “[t]he couple remained married until Chaplin’s death, and had eight children over 18 years”. By all accounts both were happy with the marriage.
Note also that the age of consent has varied quite a bit over time and place. In many (most?) places at many (most) times, a 17-year old woman having sex is no big deal, not even with a 53-year-old man.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_consent
I was with you there, right up until the last bit. History if full of accounts of young women hoping to not be married off to a significantly older man, across many cultures. So while the 53 year old men might have thought it was no big deal, I’m quite sure the hypothetical 17 year old did.
I think it’s entirely possible for a 17-year-old and a 53-year-old to be in love and have a long and happy relationship (as Charlie and Oona did, by all accounts). It’s also entirely possible that the 17-year-old is acting under undue influence and that the relationship is not entirely consensual. Plus, let’s face it, most people find it a bit gross.
I’m a firm believer in what I’ve always understood to be “the French rule” — half one’s age plus seven years is the lower boundary for a romantic partner. If you think about it, it ensures things remain legal and tasteful for pretty much any ages between 17 and 70.
“The French Rule” is a good one. I keep thinking of the Matchmaker, Matchmaker song
There was a time when most people found homosexuality gross. That can’t be the criterion.
I wasn’t passing judgment, merely taking note of the general consensus.
I’m not much for bourgeois’ sensibilities, though I do see a need for bright-line age-of-consent laws.
I observe more judgmental attitudes over time about young women-older men relationships. Even when it’s legal and consensual it is seen as somehow immoral and/or rapey. Interesting as it bucks the trend towards permissiveness about sex.
It should go without saying that it must be voluntary for all involved (as it apparently was with Chaplin).
Milo”s narrator has a really annoying voice, not to mention all the “LAID downs”.
I suppose it depends on your interpretation of ‘self governing’ but the Isle oi Man (oldest continuous parliament in the world) gave women the vote in 1881. Note there was no specific need for any form of Women’s Suffrage act as there wasn’t full democracy for Tynwald elections until 1881. The Manx simply allowed all adults to vote as, if you’re pushing for democracy you might as well go the whole hog.
There are some who view the idea of extending the franchise to all adults as an obstructive measure against the idea of a fully democratic government as they perhaps hoped that people would object to women voting.
We continue to extend the franchise as 16 year olds can all vote (from 2006)
Regards,
Ross
And another sad record has been passed. Not too long ago you were reporting that daily deaths from COVID in the USofA were about 300. Today you report that over 2000 died in one day. That, I think, is a record that nobody wanted to see again.