It is Wednesday, a Hump Day (“Dzien Humpa”) in Polish, March 8, 2022. It’s International Women’s Day”, with Google Doodle (click to read):
I have landed, but it was a long journey to O’Hare, to Poland, and from Warsaw to Dobrzyn, The flight was uneventful but LOT, the Polish National Airline, was dire: the seat was too small, there was a fat man man of size beside me who flowed over into my seat. the food was AWFUL (a big piece of tough chicken breast that was virtually un-cuttable with the wooden utensils they gave us), the carpets on the plane floor were filthy, and breakfast was some kind of cheese sandwich slathered with undefinable sauce. At least the flight took off and landed on time.
I then took a taxi to the railroad station, and the process of buying my ticket to Wloclawek (the town nearest to Dobrzyn) took a LONG time. Very few people speak English in Poland, and my Polish is limited to “beer’, “good morning,” “thank you”, and “hearty appetite”! I had to change trains and got to Wlockawek about 7 pm, whereupon Mariusz and Paulina, the lodgers (Paulina takes the lovely cat pictures), picked me up and drove me the 40 minutes to Dobrzyn. It was good to see Andrzej and Malgorzata again; I think it’s been nearly three years. And this was also awaiting me:
HILI on my bed:
In loaf mode:
Hili this morning. She makes a lot of silent meows now; she can’t be bothered to emit any sound!
The other two kitties have also befriended me. Szaron in particular is very affectionate, and slept with me half the night. He is a dark tabby, but curiously, his underfur is white, as is his skin
Andrzej took this photo of Szaron and me this morning. If I didn’t push him aside, Szaron would be on my lap constantly. Cat paradise!
And don’t forget baby Kulka (at breakfast)!
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, it’s at the freezing point, and there’s snow on the ground. Hili is restive.
Hili: We should not be under any illusion.A: You are right. It’s still winter.
Hili: Nie powinniśmy ulegać złudzeniom.Ja: Masz rację, to nadal jest zima.******************
From Nicole:
From Malcolm. I don’t know how the guy does this:
From imgur via j.a. higginbotham. I like the smaller smartphones:
From Masih; the Google translation is this:
This year’s International Women’s Day has a different color, because the courage of Iranian girls and women has crossed the borders and caused the admiration of the world. Since the day when the name #ژینا shook the foundations of the most anti-women government in the world, nothing is the same, as if there is no way back. From the day when women became scouts, girls burned the scarves of captivity and boys and men stood shoulder to shoulder, the breaths of the child-killing government were numbered. What do women want? They want their dignity, freedom and life taken away. That’s why they shout #زن_زندگی_آزادی in the streets of Iran and the world. They will not stop until the day they break the Islamic Republic and its discriminatory laws and instead build a land based on human values.
روز جهانی زن امسال به رنگ و بوی دیگری است، چرا که شجاعت دختران و زنان ایران مرزها را درنوردیده و باعث تحسین جهانیان شده است.
از آنروزی که نام #ژینا پایه‌های ضدزن‌ترین حکومت جهان را لرزاند، دیگر هیچ چیز مثل سابق نیست، گویی راهی برای برگشتن وجود ندارد.
از روزی که زنان پیشاهنگ… https://t.co/WxadlGT9jf pic.twitter.com/cpAEtPUHOl
— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) March 8, 2023
Apparently God is an addict. But why?
From cesar. Elephants are wicked smart:
In Cambodia and Thailand, elephants have developed the ability to take advantage of their right of way by stopping sugar cane trucks in order to snatch a quick snack
[read more 1: https://t.co/al8BC5qdU9]
[read more 2: https://t.co/SIRMWawpRz]pic.twitter.com/5gxzhtjC2k— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) March 6, 2023
From gravelinspector. Apparently some Christian church in Kenya advertised for a “Christ,” and actually got one. Now they want to crucify him on Easter!
Self proclaimed "Jesus Christ" of Kenya claims his life is in danger after a section of residents said he must be crucified during Easter the same way Jesus was crucified. The residents have said he will resurrect on the third day. He has reported the matter to the police. pic.twitter.com/X9dXJeewwV
— African Hub (@AfricanHub_) March 7, 2023
From the Auschwitz Memorial, an infant gassed upon arrival. She was one year old.
7 March 1942 | A French Jewish girl, Claudine Ruben, was born in Paris.
She arrived at #Auschwitz on 20 July 1943 in a transport of 1,000 Jews deported from Drancy. She was among the 440 people murdered after selection in a gas chamber. pic.twitter.com/3ZLYD6kWBj
— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) March 7, 2023
Tweets from Matthew; the Google translation of this one is:
Mr. spot-billed duck You don’t want to slip down, do you?
“Mr.”?
カルガモさん ずり落ちるのはいやいやよ？ pic.twitter.com/r8Bye9Dyuy
— mochi(o (@mochico251) March 6, 2023
Unclogging!
the people who want to ban tiktok would think differently if they followed my favorite account, which is called @unclogging_drains pic.twitter.com/UQITvURxdN
— Scott Nover (@ScottNover) March 5, 2023
Matthew finds this tweet “stupid but droll”. Why waste good baklava?
This will remain one of my all-time favourite internet videos 🎥 pic.twitter.com/ya7niYqCIw
— CrimeGirl © (@CrimeGirI) March 4, 2023
Everyone needs to bring @unclogging_drains to the pub! Incredible!
… but why does @unclogging_drains have to be only on TikTok?
Glad you are safely back on the ground in Poland. I saw breadcrumbs indicating that you had landed with your late comments on yesterday’s Hili. Sorry about the poor amenities on the flights, but at least they fulfilled their main mission in departing and arriving…and on time yet. Long before Covid, I had given up on quality of amenities, and on-time arrivals, just hoping that I arrive safely and safe.
No nooz?
Crikey but the reader are demanding! I slept late because of jet lag. How much do you pay to read this site, and you want your daily news digest from me?!
Sorry! I just like your unique spin on things.
I think that it was U.S. President Roosevelt (the younger) who, as he worked to control the press through his direct White House briefings, said “There is no nooz today, gentlemen”.
On this day:
1775 – An anonymous writer, thought by some to be Thomas Paine, publishes “African Slavery in America”, the first article in the American colonies calling for the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery.
1782 – Gnadenhutten massacre: Ninety-six Native Americans in Gnadenhutten, Ohio, who had converted to Christianity, are killed by Pennsylvania militiamen in retaliation for raids carried out by other Indian tribes.
1910 – French aviator Raymonde de Laroche becomes the first woman to receive a pilot’s license.
1917 – International Women’s Day protests in Petrograd mark the beginning of the February Revolution (February 23 in the Julian calendar).
1966 – Nelson’s Pillar in Dublin, Ireland, destroyed by a bomb.
1979 – Philips demonstrates the compact disc publicly for the first time.
1979 – Images taken by Voyager I proved the existence of volcanoes on Io, a moon of Jupiter.
2014 – In one of aviation’s greatest mysteries, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, carrying a total of 239 people, disappears en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The fate of the flight remains unknown. [Nine years ago already!]
Births:
1822 – Ignacy Łukasiewicz, Polish inventor and businessman, invented the Kerosene lamp (d. 1882).
1841 – Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., American lawyer and jurist (d. 1935). [The anniversary of his death was listed here on Monday.]
1859 – Kenneth Grahame, British author (d. 1932). [Wrote The Wind in the Willows.]
1879 – Otto Hahn, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1968).
1922 – Cyd Charisse, American actress and dancer (d. 2008). [In the words of Fred Astaire, “That Cyd! When you’ve danced with her you stay danced with.”]
1943 – Lynn Redgrave, English-American actress and singer (d. 2010).
1945 – Micky Dolenz, American singer-songwriter and actor.
Joined their ancestors:
1723 – Christopher Wren, English architect, designed St. Paul’s Cathedral (b. 1632).
1869 – Hector Berlioz, French composer, conductor, and critic (b. 1803).
1944 – Fredy Hirsch, German Jewish athlete who helped thousands of Jewish children in the Holocaust (b. 1916).
1971 – Harold Lloyd, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1893).
1973 – Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, American keyboard player and songwriter (b. 1945).
1999 – Joe DiMaggio, American baseball player and coach (b. 1914).
2003 – Adam Faith, English singer (b. 1940).
2007 – John Inman, English actor (b. 1935). [“I’m free!”]
2016 – George Martin, English composer, conductor, and producer (b. 1926). [And “Fifth Beatle”, of course…]
2020 – Max von Sydow, Swedish actor (b. 1929).
if “Fat Man in the Bathtub” was good enough Lowell George and Little Feat, “fat man in the seat next to me” oughta still work for airplanes:
Glad to hear that our host arrived safely. (A shame about the terrible flight.)
Cat paradise! 😁
It wasn’t wasted if the authorities couldn’t identify him.
—
The Kenyan Christ has reminded me of a quite dark Harry Harrison science fiction short story in which a missionary arrives at an alien planet to preach the gospel. The aliens seem to be quite enthusiastic about the idea but decide they need to test the theology by crucifying the missionary to see if he will rise again, like Jesus.
Confusing baklava and balaclava was at one time a genuine mistake I have made! But maintained in faux-dumb mode for fun now and then.
Note that this came from an account called “Crime Girl” — just a letter off “Crimea” which would fit the origins of “balaclava helmet”.
Good example of the scientific method being used to separate imagination from reality. Give them credit for that.
To mark International Women’s Day, JK Rowling tweeted the link to a petition calling on the UK government to amend the Equality Act (2010) to make it explicit that sex means biological sex. If the petition reaches 100,000 signatures it will be considered for a parliamentary debate.
https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/1633401094414925825
Any British citizens can sign.
Glad you made it!
Regarding the drain-guy… . There’s something very satisfying about unclogging a drain and watching all the water rush down and away. I’ve experienced it!
Reminds me of the Lake Peigneur incident
My one experience flying LOT was in 1995 and completely different than what is described above. It was the same run, from Chicago to Warsaw. In these early post-communism days the airline had completely replaced their fleet with brand new airliners. I flew business class. It was clean, roomy, and the food was remarkable. Times have changed, sadly.
The photo trick is really simple.
He finds very small people to pose.
🙂
I am so glad you are finally back in Wloclawek among some of your favorite people and cats. Please greet them all from those of us here who follow them daily. I always love Andrzej’s and Paulina’s photos, but it is nice to get some “hot off the press” ones as well. And how lovely that Szaron chose to spend much of the night on your bed! That alone should have made the hassles of the trip worthwhile.
On Facebook, where you shared Andrej’s post of you sitting with a laptop and Szaron, FB provided a translation – and as part of that, respelled Szaron as Sharon!
Ohhh, now it all makes sense! I should have known that was the pronunciation, but all along have been thinking of Szaron as a version of Sauron!
Yes, it’s both a Hebrew word meaning “rose” and a Polish word meaning “gray”.
From my youth’s Southern Baptist upbringing I’m reminded of a hymn entitiled, “Sweet Sharon’s Rose.”
Congrats on arriving in Wloclawek! Enjoy your time with your adopted family. When does Kulka stop being a baby?
You’re definitely going to get your cat fix! I’m jealous. 🙂
I bet its nice being with your adopted parents again; it’s been too long. &#*@! Covid!
Oh, I’m so excited for you posts from Poland – always my favorite! So idyllic with the cherries and moggies and company. Wishing you the very best time!