Tuesday: Hili dialogue

December 26, 2023 • 6:45 am

Good morning on Tuesday, December 26, 2023, Boxing Day and the Second Day of Coynezaa, as well as National Candy Cane Day. Archie McPhee in Seattle, home of many bizarre things, sells a variety of weirdly-flavored candy canes, including these:

It’s also National Whiner’s Day, Mauro Hamza Day in Houston, Texas which is plain weird because this guy, a fencing coach, was repeatedly fired for sexual misconduct. It’s also Mummer’s Day in Padstow, Cornwall, St. Stephen’s Day in Alsace, Austria, Catalonia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia and Switzerland.  Not to mention it’s the first day of Kwanzaa, celebrated until January 1  (a U.S. holiday stolen from me), the first day of Junkanoo street parade, the second day of the Twelve Days of Christmas, and Wren Day in Ireland and the Isle of Man.

Here’s Mummer’s Day in Totnes, Cornwall. Note the prevalence of blackface, a feature of the holiday. I’m surprised they still have it! (Actually, the blackface is a traditional part of guise dancing, meant to hide your identity.)

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this by consulting the December 26 Wikipedia page.

Posting may be light today as I have to take my 23-year-old Honda in for its oil change. (Regular changes help guarantee car longevity.) Also, there will be no “readers’ wildlife” post; we’ll resume those tomorrow. But if readers don’t send more pictures in, the feature will disappear within a week.

Da Nooz:

*We have yet another Middle East peace plan that’s a non-started. The details are laid out by the Wall Street Journal.

Israel’s war cabinet plans to meet on Monday night to discuss a three-step plan put forward by Egypt for ending the war in Gaza, Israeli officials said.

The Egyptian proposal, a copy of which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, is the most comprehensive peace plan to be proposed to the two parties in the 11-week-old Gaza war.

Some terms of the plan are expected to be strenuously resisted by both sides.

The deal calls for an initial pause in fighting to allow for the release of Israeli hostages including children, women and elderly in need of urgent medical attention, in exchange for the release of around 140 Palestinian prisoners. It would be followed by the formation of a transitional government for the Gaza Strip and the West Bank made up of various Palestinian factions, including Hamas.

Israel’s war cabinet is meeting as pressure mounts to bring home the remaining 129 hostages, including 22 dead bodies, held by Hamas. It also comes as the death toll among Israeli soldiers rises.

The fly in the ointment here is not the release of Palestinian prisoners, but the fact that Hamas will not surrender, but will persist, even becoming part of “a transitional government”. Is there anybody with more than a few neurons who thinks that Israel is going to allow Hamas a role in a new Gazan government? For Hamas has sworn to keep attacking Israel until it destroys it, and Israelis—at least I hope—aren’t in the mood to allow any Hamas say (or existence) near their borders.  Remember, Hamas vowed to repeat the events of October 7 over and over. Meanwhile, the U.S., equally brainless, is trying to find some way that the Palestinian Authority (rife with corruption and a supporter of terrorism) can govern Gaza.

*Russian dissident and political prisoner Alexei Navalny, facing up to 15 years of prison in solitary confinement had disappeared for a while, with the Russian government refusing to disclose his whereabouts. Now, however, he’s been found, and in not a very nice place:

The Russian opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny has been moved to a remote Arctic prison and “is doing well,” his spokeswoman said on Monday, ending a 20-day mystery over his whereabouts that had many supporters fearing the worst.

“We have found Aleksei,” the spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, said on social media. “His lawyer saw him today.”

Ms. Yarmysh’s announcement marked the end of a frantic search through Russia’s vast prison system for Mr. Navalny, who disappeared on Dec. 5. Mr. Navalny’s exiled allies said that they had found him in the remote penal colony in the Arctic after sending more than 600 requests to prisons and other government agencies.

. . .Mr. Navalny’s new penal colony, officially known as IK-3 Polar Wolf, is in the settlement of Kharp and is among the harshest and remotest prisons in Russia. Inmates endure long, dark, cold winters as well as clouds of mosquitoes in the summer. The penal colony is a successor to a Gulag labor camp, established there for prison workers building a railway across the Russian Arctic, ordered by Stalin, but never finished in full.

Mr. Navalny’s previous prison, in the town of Melekhovo, was only about 160 miles east of Moscow, meaning that his lawyers could drive there in a matter of hours. In contrast, the new prison is some 1,200 miles from the capital. A train to Kharp, called the Polar Arrow, departs Moscow every second day and takes 44 hours to reach the town.

“Aleksei’s situation is a clear example of how the system treats political prisoners, trying to isolate and suppress them,” Mr. Zhdanov said on social media.
Where is the condemnation of Russia by the U.N. for repeated violations for human rights? Oh, right: the Security Council can’t issue a condemnation because Russia would veto it.

 

*U.S, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is visiting Mexico to try to work out some deal on our migrant crisis with the Mexican government. In the meantime. a huge group of migrants is surging towards the U.S. border.

 A sprawling caravan of migrants from Central America, Venezuela, Cuba and other countries trekked through Mexico on Sunday, heading toward the U.S. border. The procession came just days before Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Mexico City to hammer out new agreements to control the surge of migrants seeking entry into the United States.

The caravan, estimated at around 6,000 people, many of them families with young children, is the largest in more than a year, a clear indication that joint efforts by the Biden administration and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s government to deter migration are falling short.

The Christmas Eve caravan departed from the city of Tapachula, near the country’s southern border with Guatemala. Security forces looked on in what appeared to be a repeat of past tactics when authorities waited for the marchers to tire out and then offered them a form of temporary legal status that is used by many to continue their journey northward.

“We’ve been waiting here for three or four months without an answer,” said Cristian Rivera, traveling alone, having left his wife and child in his native Honduras. “Hopefully with this march there will be a change and we can get the permission we need to head north.”

López Obrador in May agreed to take in migrants from countries such as Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba turned away by the U.S. for not following rules that provided new legal pathways to asylum and other forms of migration.

But that deal, aimed at curbing a post-pandemic jump in migration, appears to be insufficient as the number of migrants once again surges, disrupting bilateral trade and stoking anti-migrant sentiment among conservative voters in the U.S.

Here’s a photo from the AP along with the AP’s caption

Congress doesn’t look any too keen to deal with the record influx of immigrants, many of them entering illegally. Now they’re being put on planes and flown to cities like Chicago, to be ignominiously dumped on the streets.

*Despite their promises when the U.S. left Afghanistan, the Taliban is increasingly restricting girls’ and women’s education. Now they’re giving them an alternative that most surely don’t want: religious schools:

Bahara Rustam, 13, took her last class at Bibi Razia School in Kabul on Dec. 11 knowing it was the end of her education. Under Taliban rule, she is unlikely to step foot in a classroom again.

In September 2021, a month after U.S. and NATO troops withdrew from Afghanistan following two decades of war, the Taliban announced that girls were barred from studying beyond sixth grade.

They extended this education ban to universities in December 2022. The Taliban have defied global condemnation and warnings that the restrictions will make it almost impossible for them to gain recognition as the country’s legitimate rulers.

Last week, U.N. special envoy Roza Otunbayeva expressed concern that a generation of Afghan girls is falling behind with each day that passes.

Last week, an official in the Education Ministry said Afghan girls of all ages are allowed to study in religious schools known as madrassas, which have traditionally been boys-only. But Otunbayeva said it was unclear if there was a standardized curriculum that allowed modern subjects.

Yes, this brand of Islam sucks and should be mocked, satirized, and derided. Those who impose it on their daughters are reprehensible.

Look at this picture of girls in an Afghani religious school! It looks like Halloween.

(from the AP): FILE – Afghan girls attend a religious school, which remained open since the last year’s Taliban takeover, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 11, 2022. Afghan girls of all ages are permitted to study in religious schools, which are traditionally boys-only, a Taliban official said Thursday Dec. 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File

*If you want a Christmas puzzle, the Washington Post has a confusing picture in which are hidden 100 nutcrackers. You are timed and click on as many as you can.  Here’s a small part of the picture:

I found 36 in 3 minutes, but you have to form the search image of a “nutcracker”. Hint: they’re small and often have the telltale lines running down from the lower lip.

*And from the WaPo: “The most bizarre celebrity apologies of 2023.” One example:

Letting a “Wheel of Fortune” contestant go on a weird tangent about naked ghosts

Even after Pat Sajak’s 42 years at the helm of “Wheel of Fortune,” things on-set can still get away from him. In October, the host apologized after a stray comment to a contestant turned into a deeply weird exchange.

Sajak, reading from a cue card, asked contestant Ronnie if he was involved in the paranormal. Ronnie’s responses started out fine: “You know, I was, about 15 years ago, I was a part of a team as a skeptic because I just don’t believe in ghosts,” he said. Then he went on: “I think they’re kind of weird, and somebody that haunts a place and wears a Victorian outfit, it just doesn’t make sense to me very much. If I were the ghost, I’d be a nude ghost.” The crowd gasped instead of laughing, and Ronnie attempted to steer into the proverbial skid. “Scaring people in more than one way,” he added.

Sajak replied, after a moment, “You know, I’m just really sorry I got into all this.”

****

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is plumping for agreement:

Hili: I wonder how a consensus is reached.
A: You probably want me to agree with you on something.
Hili: Yes, it would be a good consensus.
In Polish:
Hili: Zastanawiam się jak się osiąga konsensus.
Ja: Pewnie chcesz, żebyśmy się w jakiejś sprawie zgodzili?
Hili: Tak, to byłby dobry konsensus.

*******************

A Christmas card from reader Pliny the in Between’s site The Far Corner Cafe:

From Jay, a cartoon from Rupert Fawcett’s On the Prowl:

From Facebook:

Masih on “Meet the Press”:

From Luana; wait for the ending!

From Jon we get. . . CEILING CAT!

One I found on my feed (and may have posted before). This is simply MEAN!

From Jez, a very cute kitten interrupting work:

From the Auschwitz Memorial: a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses who survived the war:

Two tweets from Dr. Cobb. First, the late British actor Kenneth Williams displays a panoply of accents:

. . . and a really elaborate song from The Kifness:

23 thoughts on “Tuesday: Hili dialogue”

  1. Kudos on keeping your old car healthy with proper PM. Soon after arriving at NASA Langley Research Center, my mentor told me that I could always spot the Laboratory Director (formerly called Chief Engineer) as he drove the oldest car on campus. Back when merit mattered, the best engineer was obviously the guy who could keep his car running the longest!

    1. I note that your vehicle is a Honda. I bought our Element new in 2005 and it’s still going strong. Still a way to go to hit 23, though, but I think it will.

    2. No disrespect to your colleagues at NASA Langley, but I’m guessing that the engineers at JPL would win the NASA car longevity contest. These, after all, are the folks who built Voyager 1, which is still working after almost half a century in space, and with 15 billion miles on the odometer.

      1. Current management and leadership selection criteria, like those for university presidents, make null and void the old ideas of technical competence. But I do take your point that some years ago an inter-center comparison WOULD have been interesting!

  2. My father used to grease the bird feeder pole, too–but he would use Crisco, so that the squirrels wouldn’t get sick if they licked it off their paws and fur.

  3. “Because of their religious principles, pacifistic views & their organization’s international connections Jehovah’s Witnesses were persecuted in Nazi Germany.”

    But let it not be forgotten that the organisation attempted to head off this persecution with a letter to the Nazi leadership allying themselves with the regime against Jews. Their advances were rebuffed and their membership were subsequently thrown under the bus by the organisation itself. Edit: my mistake, it wasn’t in Watchtower. You still won’t find the publication online though!

    A tragedy, but it needs to be viewed in context; just don’t bother searching for that Watchtower on their website, you need a printed copy to read the letter. https://youtu.be/Jab12YLJGlw?t=3073

    1. Kenneth Williams was a regular on the BBC Radio 4 comedy panel game “Just a Minute” for twenty years. Contestants had to speak for sixty seconds on a subject given to them by the host, without repetition, deviation or hesitation. Williams often used his unique talent for accents and funny voices to get round the rules and win the round.

      He also starred in the “Carry On” series of comedy films. Perhaps his best line in those movies was as Julius Caesar, as the assassin strikes: Infamy, Infamy! They’ve all got it in for me! Here’s the scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBtOpA7x3LM

      1. Thanks, David😹😹I do remember that funny Just A Minute show which I sometimes heard on CBC radio in the car.

      2. Mr. Williams was the only contestant on the show I ever heard who got through the whole minute without being challenged. As the seconds remaining ticked down, even over the radio you could sense the excitement and tension building in the audience, as for a pitcher with a no-hitter going.

      3. The days of literate game shows and talk shows: Michael Parkinson, Frank Muir and Patrick Campbell appeared there alongside our Ken. Joyce Grenfell was another frequent participant. If you like classical music, search YouTube for early an 70’s game show, Face the Music, and prepare to be awed.
        Makes you feel rather sorry for what the BBC has become, and instead of such delights the poor buggers have to have Eddie Izzard instead.

  5. On this day:
    1723 – Bach led the first performance of Darzu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes, BWV 40, his first Christmas Cantata composed for Leipzig.

    1811 – A theater fire in Richmond, Virginia kills the Governor of Virginia George William Smith and the president of the First National Bank of Virginia Abraham B. Venable.

    1825 – Advocates of liberalism in Russia rise up against Czar Nicholas I in the Decembrist revolt, but are later suppressed.

    1843 – The discovery of octonions by John T. Graves, who denoted them with a boldface O, was announced to his mathematician friend William Hamilton, discoverer of quaternions, in a letter on this date. [Multiples of onions continue to be discovered…]

    1860 – First Rules derby is held between Sheffield F.C. and Hallam F.C., the oldest football fixture in the world.

    1862 – The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took place in Mankato, Minnesota, where 38 Native Americans died.

    1871 – Thespis, the first Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration, debuts.

    1898 – Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium.

    1941 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.

    1941 – British Prime Minister Winston Churchill addresses a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress.

    1948 – The last Soviet troops withdraw from North Korea.

    1963 – The Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “I Saw Her Standing There” are released in the United States, marking the beginning of Beatlemania on an international level.

    1966 – The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach. [I’m not sure when Coynezaa was first celebrated.]

    1972 – Vietnam War: As part of Operation Linebacker II, 120 American B-52 Stratofortress bombers attacked Hanoi, including 78 launched from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, the largest single combat launch in Strategic Air Command history.

    1975 – Tu-144, the world’s first commercial supersonic aircraft, surpassing Mach 2, goes into service.

    1980 – Witnesses report the first of several sightings of unexplained lights near RAF Woodbridge, in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom, an incident called “Britain’s Roswell”.

    1991 – The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union, ending the Cold War.

    2004 – The 9.1–9.3 Mw  Indian Ocean earthquake shakes northern Sumatra with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). One of the largest observed tsunamis, it affected coastal and partially mainland areas of Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Indonesia; death toll is estimated at 227,898.

    2004 – Orange Revolution: The final run-off election in Ukraine is held under heavy international scrutiny.

    2012 – China opens the world’s longest high-speed rail route, which links Beijing and Guangzhou.

    Births:
    1526 – Rose Lok, businesswoman and Protestant exile (d.1613).

    1618 – Elisabeth of the Palatinate, German princess, philosopher, and Calvinist (d. 1680).

    1780 – Mary Somerville, Scottish mathematician, astronomer, and author (d. 1872).

    1791 – Charles Babbage, English mathematician and engineer, invented the Difference engine (d. 1871).

    1863 – Charles Pathé, French record producer, co-founded Pathé Records (d. 1957). [His death was noted here yesterday.]

    1891 – Henry Miller, American author and painter (d. 1980).

    1893 – Mao Zedong, Chinese politician, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (d. 1976).

    1900 – Evelyn Bark, leading member of the British Red Cross, first female recipient of the CMG (d. 1993).

    1914 – Richard Widmark, American actor (d. 2008).

    1921 – Steve Allen, American actor, singer, talk show host, and screenwriter (d. 2000).

    1937 – John Horton Conway, English mathematician, known for Conway’s Game of Life (d. 2020).

    1939 – Phil Spector, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2021).

    1945 – John Walsh, American television host, producer, and activist, created America’s Most Wanted.

    1956 – David Sedaris, American comedian, author, and radio host.

    1963 – Lars Ulrich, Danish-American drummer, songwriter, and producer.

    1971 – Jared Leto, American actor and musician.

    Be prepared mentally for some amount of chaos and failure. Waste and frustration often attend the earliest stages:
    1530 – Babur, Mughal emperor (b. 1483).

    1890 – Heinrich Schliemann, German-Italian archaeologist and author (b. 1822). [He discovered the remains of Troy, then enthusiastically kept on digging.]

    1925 – Jan Letzel, Czech architect, designed the Hiroshima Peace Memorial (b. 1880).

    1929 – Albert Giraud, Belgian poet (b. 1860).

    1931 – Melvil Dewey, American librarian and educator, created the Dewey Decimal Classification (b. 1851).

    1972 – Harry S. Truman, American colonel and politician, 33rd President of the United States (b. 1884).

    1974 – Jack Benny, American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, and violinist (b. 1894).

    1977 – Howard Hawks, American director and screenwriter (b. 1896).

    1987 – Dorothy Bliss, American invertebrate zoologist, curator at the American Museum of Natural History (b. 1916).

    1996 – JonBenét Ramsey, American child beauty queen and prominent unsolved murder victim (b. 1990).

    1999 – Curtis Mayfield, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1942).

    2001 – Nigel Hawthorne, English actor (b. 1929). [ “Yes, Minister…”]

    2002 – Armand Zildjian, American businessman, founded the Avedis Zildjian Company (b. 1921). [Today, it is the largest cymbal and drumstick maker in the world. Boom tish!]

    2005 – Kerry Packer, Australian publisher and businessman (b. 1937).

    2006 – Gerald Ford, American commander, lawyer, and politician, 38th President of the United States (b. 1913).

    2012 – Gerry Anderson, English director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1929). [Thunderbirds Are Go!]

    2021 – Desmond Tutu, South African Anglican bishop, theologian and anti-apartheid and human rights activist (b. 1931).

    2021 – Edward O. Wilson, American biologist (b. 1929).

  6. With reference to the black face dancers in Totnes Cornwall UK. Should this be Padstow? I do not know of a Totnes in Cornwall, There is a Totnes in Devon, close to Torquay and about twenty miles from Plymouth Devon.

  7. In the 90’s, one of the retired TU-144’s was used by a NASA Supersonic Transport Program research pilot to get real flight data from a supersonic aircraft in flight to help develop and validate the NASA program’s flight simulator. A trip to Russia and observation of much of the dated infrastructure there had a real impact on our visiting pilot and engineering team. The Russian TU-144 flight and ground support crew was real “old school” (no frills) and excellent to work with.
    Sorry – I meant this as a reply to Jez’ 1975 TU-144 event…mea culpa.

    1. No apology needed, methinks!
      Thank you for sharing the story. Can you tell a bit more on the nature of the impact the NASA staff felt, all the while working well together with their Russian colleagues?

      1. I will try. It’s been too many years for my old memory. But a few things still stick out. The first thing they all did on arrival was be hosted at-a dachau where they drank quite a bit of vodka. Several of my guys had learneda bit of Russian before going which was not needed though appreciated. The elevator in the engineering building/hangar had no memory capability and could only be sent to one floor at a time. The dials in the cockpit were almost unreadable due to being covered in cigarette smoke residue and the pilots and crew still smoked on-board at that time. Each functional leader had full authority of his area so in the pre-flight readiness brief, it was a simple “around the table” yay or nay for going ahead….controls, propulsion, etc. there was no FOD (foreign objects and debris) walk and weeds were growing on the concrete paddock…the engine intakes were protected by screens i think. Thats it hopefully i recalled the stories correctly.

        1. Great vignettes, thank you! As with many activities, there’s more than one way of doing them.

  8. The U.S. Senate: A safe haven for the superannuated and confused. There’s a place for everyone. Love that piece about Grandpa!

  9. I disagree about the woman greasing the bird pole. Anyone who has ever had bird feeders knows that squirrels can be an awful nuisance, especially when they chew up the feeders. Some years ago I had squirrels who not only destroyed the plastic ones, but also managed to gnaw through metal ones. That gets expensive! I now have a very effective baffle that keeps them off the feeders and on the ground, where there is plenty of seed.

  10. I don’t think we can rule out the Egyptian proposal as the start of a negotiation process. UPI reports that the Israelis have not ruled it out of hand: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2023/12/25/studies-Egypt-sponsored-peace-proposal-vows-intensify-Gaza-war/8921703513278/.

    The Egyptian proposal will not be the solution, but there are elements that can form the basis for negotiations. If Israel thinks it has done enough to nullify Hamas or if it thinks that it is on a near-term trajectory to do so, the Israeli leadership may be ready to flirt with negotiations in some form. The war will still go on until rules of negotiation are set—giving Israel more time to erase Hamas. International opinion will improve if Israel participates, even if the negotiations eventually fail, and U.S. support will hold. We’ll see.

  11. WRT Kwanzaa, how was it possible for its originator Maulana Karenga (nee Ronald McKinley Everett) to get a faculty job at Long Beach State (and become department chair)? If I had felony convictions for assault I could not get hired into my job to work with students at a public university.

  12. “U.S, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is visiting Mexico to try to work out some deal on our migrant crisis with the Mexican government. In the meantime. a huge group of migrants is surging towards the U.S. border.”

    I thought this, plus Operation Fly Formula, was Kamala Harris’ remit assigned to her by President Biden.

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