Category: Leon monologue

Sunday: Hili dialogue (and Leon monologue)

April 7, 2019 • 6:30 am

It’s Sunday, April 7, 2019, and we’ve at least reached National Beer Day (there is NO chance that Google will have a Doodle for this). The reason for the holiday? As Wikipedia explains, it on this day in 1933 that

. . .  the Cullen–Harrison Act was enacted after having been signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on March 22, 1933. This led to the Eighteenth Amendment being repealed on December 5, 1933, with ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. April 6, the day prior to National Beer Day, is known as New Beer’s Eve.

Upon signing the legislation, Roosevelt made his famous remark, “I think this would be a good time for a beer.”

If I had been Roosevelt, I would have had a cool brewski by my side to drink immediately after I signed the bill, becoming the first person in the U.S. since January 17, 1920, to get a legal drink (that’s when Prohibition started).

It’s also World Health Day, sponsored by the World Health Organization, established on April 7, 1948. So don’t drink so many beers that you get sick!

Lots happened in history today. It was on April 7, 1141, that Empress Matilda became the first female ruler of England, keeping her position for 7 years; her title was ‘Lady of the English’. On this day in 1521, Ferdinand Magellan arrived in Cebu in what is now the Philippines. He was killed there twenty days later. On April 7, 1724, the first performance of Bach’s St. John Passion (BWV 245) took place in Leipzig. And on this day in 1805, Beethoven premiered his Third Symphony in Vienna.

On April 7, 1829, Joseph Smith began translating the “Book of Mormon” using Oliver Cowdery as his scribe. A whole religion was founded, as most of them are, on a lie.  On this day in 1927, the first long-distance and public t.v. broadcast took place: it was from Washington D.C. to New York City, and the image displayed was the bulldogish visage of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover. Not this picture, though, I’m just showing you Hoover:

As noted above, it was on this day in 1933 that prohibition was repealed, but only for beer of no more than 3.2% alcohol as well as wine. Full sale of booze began in December. It’s NATIONAL BEER DAY! On this day in 1948, the World Health Organization was founded (see above), and one year later Rodgers’ and Hammerstein’s great musical South Pacific opened on Broadway. It won ten Tony Awards and ran for 1,925 performances.  I’ll post below one of its songs, the still relevant “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught” from the 1958 movie version. The song was banned in Georgia for having the “Communist agenda” of approving interracial marriages!

Have a listen:

On April 7, 1955, Winston Churchill, plagued by ill health, resigned as the UK’s Prime Minister. He lived another ten years.  In 1968, race-car driver Jim Clark was killed in a Formula Two race in Germany.  On that same day in 1969, or so says Wikipedia, it’s “The Internet‘s symbolic birth date: Publication of RFC 1.” (Look at the links for an explanation.) On April 7, 1994, the Rwandan genocide began after the death of the country’s president in a plane attack. Tutsis were executed in Kigali, Rwanda, and ultimately 500,000 to a million of them were killed, about 70% of the population. Finally, it was on this day in 2003 that U.S. troops took Baghdad, and two days later Saddam Hussein’s regime fell.

Notables born on this day include William Wordsworth (1770), Walter Winchell (1897), Billie Holiday (1915), Ravi Shankar (1920), Daniel Ellsberg (1931), Jerry Brown (1938), Francis Ford Coppola and David Frost (both 1939), Joël Robuchon (1945), Jackie Chan (1954), and Russell Crowe (1964).

Here’s a tweet with a rare video of Holiday singing (sound up, please). She’s already worn down from drugs, alcohol, and a hard life, and she died two years later at the age of 44. But what a talent! (h/t: Grania)

Those who met their just reward on April 7 include this; and I’m just passing it on from Wikipedia:

  • AD 30 – Jesus Christ of Nazareth, (possible date of the crucifixion)(b. circa 4 BC)

Less dubious dates of death: El Greco (1614), Dick Turpin (1739), P. T. Barnum (1891), Henry Ford (1947), and Mike Wallace (2012).

El Greco didn’t paint any cats, as far as I know, but here’s a painting by El Greco’s son, Jorge Manuel Theotokopoulos, called “The family of El Greco,” in which the great painter, absent, is replaced by a cat. It was painted around 1605.

Versopolis/Review explains:

The only surviving painting by El Greco’s son is also displayed in the museum. This is an intimate family portrait, featuring the women in the house –  Jerónima, her mother and their servants, and a little girl, maybe El Greco’s daughter or granddaughter, most of them busy sewing, embroidering, weaving, knitting. These women are interconnected, constituting a world of their own, the foundation of the home economy, prosperity and peaceful everyday life. The head of the family is absent, he is probably at work in some church, providing for the future of the family. On his empty chair, a cat is perched: only the cat and the little girl are gazing at the onlooker.

The absent father is thus represented by his chair and replaced there by the cat, an ironic twist on the head of the family; clearly, he is not to be taken too seriously, he is a cuddly favorite, certainly not some male authority commanding the family by terror. Jorge Manuel never became a great painter, but he gave the cat a weird gaze similar to his father’s human figures – however sneering and ironic. Whatever the public image of the family – and it would seem that they did not appear very much in the public – the intimacy of their home was where a joke on the father and master was tolerated. At least, we know that El Greco’s family was full of cat lovers, and that superstitions about cats did not play a role among them. Being cat lovers, they appreciated their intimate world and protected their warmth from attacks from outside. The work by the female part of the household was appreciated in parallel to the father’s work outside. Among the possible meanings of this painting, we cannot detect hierarchy, although some Christian inscription is clearly there – modesty, dedication to work and the good use of time. The question remains whether it was necessary for the lady of the house to work, or whether it was a symbolic representation of what women are supposed to do. Whatever the interpretation of this modest painting, it is an exciting testimony of the warmth, intimacy and sense of humor among people who loved each other and were eager to preserve the encapsulated world they created.

El Greco rests among his paintings, in the church of Saint Dominic in Toledo. His coffin was identified, but has not yet been opened. There is a monument to El Greco in the city, as well. But the real memory of what he loved remains at his home, under the sneering gaze of a cat, reflecting the eyes of the figures from his paintings.

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili accepts no gods and no masters:

Hili: Do you really believe that humans are gods?
Cyrus: No, when it comes to some humans I’m agnostic.
In Polish:
Hili: Czy ty naprawdę wierzysz, że człowiek jest bogiem?
Cyrus: Nie, jeśli idzie o niektórych ludzi, to jestem agnostykiem.

And on the site of his soon-to-be new home—YES, rumor has it that the wooden house will be erected this summer!—Leon longs for prey:

Leon: Somehow no mice are visible.
Leon: Myszy jakoś nie widać.

 A tweet from reader Nilou. These aren’t really emotional support falcons: I think some Arabian airlines allow falconers to fly with their prized birds:

A talkative Pekin Duck (domesticated mallard) sent by Diana MacPherson. Sound up. And this must be a female, as only female mallards quack.

https://twitter.com/Duck_page/status/1108831081493598213

From reader Barry: Two bear cubs playing in the wrong place.

https://twitter.com/Koksalakn/status/1103402398851231755

Heather Hastie loves hedgehogs, and sent a video of one savoring a morsel of apple:

https://twitter.com/AMAZlNGNATURE/status/1111023765733830656

Tweets from Grania: A Scottish Fold tries to get a drink:

https://twitter.com/AwwwwCats/status/1114511698537459712

I have a hard time believing that these videos are real:

https://twitter.com/MichaelGalanin/status/1114561842939138048

Matthew Cobb even retweeted this one:

And three tweets from Matthew. The first shows a ninja cat getting pwned, demonstrating the amazing athleticism of Felis catus:

https://twitter.com/SlenderSherbet/status/1114047444877238278

Can you spot the iguana?

No wonder this cat is chubby!

 

 

Monday: Hili dialogue

April 1, 2019 • 6:30 am

by Grania

Good morning, welcome to a new week!

In history today:

Notable birthdays

Hili is being particularly acerbic today.

Hili: Did you read the latest statement by Pope Francis?
A: What statement?
Hili: That in the Church April Fool lasts for the whole year.

In Polish:

Hili: Czy czytałeś najnowsze oświadczenie papieża Franciszka?
Ja: Jakie oświadczenie?
Hili: Że w Kościele Prima Aprilis jest przez cały rok.

Leon is having a literary day.

Leon: What are we reading today?

 

From Twitter:

A different sort of grasshopper

A tweet that will spawn a host of “Well, actuallys”

https://twitter.com/ZonePhysics/status/1111816881399386112

I don’t know about cool. I think it’s more and more like lemmings after a population explosion.

A tweet that both Jerry and Matthew agree deserves your attention. Click through to the thread that follows it too. Photo by @CrawliesWithCri‬⁩

Something you don’t get to see every day.

https://twitter.com/MichaelGalanin/status/1112399661007020034

Click on the white arrow to play the video.

https://twitter.com/41Strange/status/1112406467712184321

I love this dog. Take your stupid tests and shove ’em.

https://twitter.com/humorandanimals/status/1112102103856701440

A hero for the people.

Something I bet you never thought you’d see.

Not-a-spider

A frog in the sand

A couple of political swipes about Brexit.

And finally, it’s April Fool’s Day, so watch out for silliness.

https://twitter.com/CuteEmergency/status/1111974648449826817

 

 

Hat-tip to Matthew.

Monday: Hili dialogue (and Leon monologue)

March 18, 2019 • 6:30 am

Yep, it’s Monday, March 18, 2019, and in one week I’ll be waking up in Amsterdam. Look for travel photos but not as much posting for about 12 days. It’s National Sloppy Joe Day, and if you don’t know what those are, go to the Wikipedia article, which describes this regionally variable sandwich of loose, cooked ground beef. It’s also Transit Driver Appreciation Day, so give your bus drive a big kiss.

Professor Ceiling Cat, though recovering from his Nasty Cold, is still a bit under the weather and is resting at home today. Posting today (after this one) will be either light or nonexistent. But, as always, I do my best. And donate to Feline Friends London if you haven’t yet.

Today’s Google Doodle honors Japanese inventor Seiichi Miyake, inventor of the “Tenji Block” in 1965, which made possible “tactile paving” to help the visually impaired navigate by detecting a series of bumps or raised lines in the pavement (you can see a video of its use and importance here).  You will be familiar with these as they’ve been installed in many train and subway stations. If you click on the Doodle’s screenshot below, you’ll be offered a number of sites to learn more about this revolutionary invention.

On this day in 37 AD, the Roman Senate proclaimed Caligula as Emperor; he ruled four years until he was assassinated. As Wikipedia notes, “All surviving sources, except Pliny the Elder, characterize Caligula as insane. However, it is not known whether they are speaking figuratively or literally.”

On March 18, 1892, former Governor General of Canada Lord Stanley donated a silver cup as an award for the best hockey team in Canada. It became the Stanley Cup, and can now be held by American teams. On this day in 1940, Hitler met Mussolini (one of their few meetings) at the Brenner Pass, and agreed to form an alliance opposing France and the UK.

On March 18, 1965, Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov left his space capsule, Voshkod 2, for 12 minutes, thereby becoming the first person to walk in space. Here’s a video of his spacewalk, which shows that it (and the rest of the mission) was pretty much of a cockup.

On this day in 1990, citizens in the German Democratic Republic voted in their first democratic election. Finally, it was on that very day (1990) in Boston that the largest art theft in U.S. history took place, with 12 paintings, valued in total at half a billion dollars, stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. These included works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Manet and Degas. The robbery has never been solved, and empty frames, marking the loss, still hang on the museum walls.

Notables born on this day include Mary Tudor (1496), Polykarp Leyser I (1552), Christian Goldbach (1690), John C. Calhoun (1782), Grover Cleveland (1837), Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844), Neville Chamberlain (1869), Wilfred Owen (1893), Ernest Gallo (1909), John Updike (1932), F. W. de Clerk (1936), Wilson Pickett (1941), Linda Partridge (1950), and Queen Latifah (1970),

Goldbach’s Conjecture has never been proven, though it’s simple. Here it is:

Every even integer greater than 2 can be written as the sum of two primes,

Those who died  on this day include Robert Walpole (1745), Laurence Sterne (1768), Johnny Appleseed (1845), Erich Fromm (1980), Fess Parker (2010), and Chuck Berry (2017).

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is hunting for underground prey:

Hili: I think I can hear a mole.
Cyrus: I think it’s just your imagination.
In Polish:
Hili: Chyba słyszę kreta.
Cyrus: Chyba ci się tylko zdaje.

And Leon is out hiking as the weather in Poland improves:

Leon: If there are stork nests there must be cat nests as well.

Leon: Jeśli są bocianie gniazda,to mogą być też kocie.

Tweets from Grania, with today being a special Grania Cat Edition. First, Larry, the Official Mouser to the Cabinet Office, offers to take over the Brexit mess:

The way things should be:

“I’m not a pet, dammit!”

This kitten is gonna have a sore butt:

https://twitter.com/AMAZlNGNATURE/status/1104995112780611587

Many people call it “kneading,” but I call it “making biscuits”:

https://twitter.com/EmrgencyKittens/status/1091376919885594624

Tweets from Matthew. The first is a classic Gary Larson cartoon of the Creation. (Why did Larson stop cartooning?)

One way to reach an unknown customer who accidentally left his jar of bees:

A sea otter sommelier:

And a series of videos of a big bee war. Dramas like this take place constantly under our noses but are rarely detected by humans:

Tuesday: Hili dialogue (and Leon monologue)

March 12, 2019 • 6:45 am

Professor Ceiling Cat is home in bed with a bad cold today, so posting will almost certainly be limited to just this Hili Dialogue (I had to drag myself out of bed to do this). As always, I do my best.

It’s Tuesday, the cruelest day, and March 12, 2019. It’s National Milky Way Day (my favorite American candy bar); how much did they pay to get their own day? And at sunrise begins the Aztec New Year, celebrated in parts of Mexico.

Finally, Google has a Doodle celebrating the 30th anniversary of the World Wide Web. As CNN notes, it was invented at CERN in Geneva by Tim Berners-Lee:

The computer scientist submitted his first proposal for an “information management system” on 12 March 1989 — plans that his boss called “vague but exciting.”
Say what you will about it, it’s still been a fantastic advance in disseminating information about and pictures of cats. The Doodle:

On this day in 1894, the first bottles of Coca Cola were sold by a confectionary magnate, Joseph A. Biedenham, in Vicksburg, Mississippi. On March 12, 1912, the Girl Guides, later known as the Girl Scouts of the USA, were founded. Exactly one year later, the future capital of Australia was christened Canberra, though the nation’s capital remained in Melbourne until they finished building Canberra in 1927.

Meanwhile in New Zealand, Elizabeth II remains Queen of the country.

On this day in 1930, Mahatma Gandhi began his 200-mile Salt March to the sea to protest the British monopoly of and tax on salt manufacture. Gandhi and a huge retinue who had joined the march reached a seaside village on April 5, and, as Wikipedia reports,

The following morning, after a prayer, Gandhi raised a lump of salty mud and declared, “With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire.” He then boiled it in seawater, producing illegal salt. He implored his thousands of followers to likewise begin making salt along the seashore, “wherever it is convenient” and to instruct villagers in making illegal, but necessary, salt.

Here’s a 4-minute documentary on the March:

On March 12, 1933, during the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt held his first radio “fireside chat” to Americans.  Five years later, the Anschluß took place as German troops poured into and occupied Austria, effecting a union of the two countries.

On this date in 1961, the first winter ascent of the Eiger’s North Face was completed after six days; the climbers were Toni Kinshofer, Anderl Mannhardt, Walter Almberger, and Toni Hiebeler. Here’s a video of what it’s like to climb the deadly North Face, and not in winter.

On this day in 1994, the Church of England ordained its first woman priests, and on March 12, 2009 the cheating financier Bernie Madoff pleaded guilty to securities fraud, mail fraud, and other crimes that had resulted in bilking investors of $18 billion. Now 80, he remains in jail in North Carolina, ineligible for release until 2139 when he will be dead.

Notables born on this day include George Berkeley (1685), Charles Boycott (1832), W. H. R. Rivers (1864), Vaslav Nijinsky (1890), Julia Lennon (1914), Jack Kerouac (1922), Wally Schirra (1923), Edward Albee (1928), Liza Minelli (1946), Mitt Romney (1947), James Taylor (1948), and Jake Tapper (1969).

Those who took The Big Nap on March 12 include Cesare Borgia (1507), George Westinghouse (1914), Sun Yat-sen (1925), Charlie Parker (1955), and Yehudi Menuhin (1999).

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is getting ready for spring chores:

Hili: We have to get ready to work the fields.
A: It’s high time.
In Polish:
Hili: Musimy się przygotwać do prac polowych.
Ja: Najwyższy czas.

And in nearby Wloclawek, Leon admires himself:

Leon: My left side is definitely better.
Leon: Lewy profil mam zdecydowanie lepszy.

Here’s the world turned sideways. The Americas turn into a DUCK! Coincidence? I don’t think so. (h/t: Amy)

And another groaner from Facebook; if you don’t understand it I don’t have the spoons to explain:

Besides the Green New Deal, we need the Fur New Deal:


Reader Amber (and others) have told me that there’s a good new show called “After Life”, featuring the inimitable Diane Morgan (whose performance gets good reviews). But it’s on Netflix, and I am a cheapskate who watches films only in movie theaters and doesn’t pay for television. That said, if you’ve seen it, weigh in below:

From reader Nilou, who is horrified that the Central Park Mandarin duck (nicknamed “Mandarin Patinkin” by NYers) is losing his looks. But he’ll come back even prettier after his molt!

From Heather Hastie, who had a spiritual moment watching this:

https://twitter.com/LlFEUNDERWATER/status/1104151828252553216

Tweets from Matthew There’s no doubt that something is seriously wrong with this guy. Who eats Kit Kats like this? In the Twitter comments many others share their feeling of “The horror! The horror!”

https://twitter.com/simonfromharlow/status/1105062314317938689

I notice that this tweet has now been removed, probably for fear of insulting the electrician, but the picture featured a half-eaten Kit Kat that resembled this one:

In the comments to that one, by the way, the readers urged Ms. Byrd to dump her boyfriend. Well, in all of these the idea may have been stolen, as Matthew found another:

Way too many movies and not enough copulation!:

I vote “twice a month”, but I’m not all that sure!

Matthew loves these illusions:

Tweets from Grania. This gorgeous kitten is making “the silent meow,” the most heartrending gesture a cat can make. There is in fact a book with that title.

https://twitter.com/EmrgencyKittens/status/1105132528296439808

Well, there goes “a fact the whole world knows” down the drain:

Like a glass-bottomed boat, but it’s a canoe!

https://twitter.com/MichaelGalanin/status/1103504693580451840

Who would have thought that a baby axolotl could be so endearing?

https://twitter.com/AMAZlNGNATURE/status/1104030579014590465

Friday: Hili dialogue (and Leon monologue)

March 8, 2019 • 6:35 am

It’s Friday again, and we’re all a week closer to death on this eighth of March, 2019.  It’s National Peanut Cluster Day (macadamias are better), and International Women’s Day  (the Twitter site is here). In honor of that day, Google has an animated Doodle (click on screenshot, which shows 14 sequential quotes from women of the world:

On this day in 1618, Kepler discovered the third law of planetary motion. A primer: First law = orbits of planets are ellipsoidal with the Sun at one focus; second law = area swept out by a line joining a planet to the Sun is equal for equal time intervals; third law: the square of the orbital period of a planet is directly proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit. How many of you knew that? On this day in 1775, the pamphlet “African Slavery in America,” calling for Americans to free their slaves and abolish the institution, was published, flummoxing the founding fathers, many of whom had slaves. The author is thought to have been Thomas Paine. On March 8, 1910, according to Wikipedia, “ French aviator Raymonde de Laroche becomes the first woman to receive a pilot’s license.” Here she is; sadly, she died in a plane crash in 1919:

International Women’s Day has been going a long time: on this day in 1917 (Feb. 23 in Russia’s Julian Calendar), protests in St. Petersburg initiated the February Revolution. A photo from the protests:

(From Wikipedia): A demonstration of workers from the Putilov plant in Petrograd (modern day St. Peterburg), Russia, during the February Revolution.

On March 8, 1965, 3500 U.S. Marines became the first U.S. ground forces to be marked for combat in the Vietnam War. Six years later, the “Fight of the Century” took place between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali in New York’s Madison Square Garden, with Frazier winning by unanimous decision (both fighters were undefeated before this). On March 8, 1974, the world’s worst airport, Charles de Gaulle (Heathrow is a close second) opened in Paris. And on March 8 1979, the first compact disk was demonstrated by Philips. Forty years on and they’re almost obsolete already.

Notables born on this day include Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841), Otto Hahn (1879, Nobel Laureate), Cyd Charisse (1922), John McPhee (1931), Lynn Redgrave (1943), Mickey Dolenz (1945), Carole Bayer Sager (1947), and Jonathan Sacks (1948).

Those who expired on March 8 include Hector Berlioz (1869), Millard Fillmore (1874), William Howard Taft (1930), Billy Eckstine (1993), and Joe DiMaggio (1999; where has he gone?).

Eckstine is a favorite of mine, and nobody remembers him. Here’s one of my favorites, with Eckstine on trumpet and vocals, accompanied by a panoply of jazz greats:

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is eager for Spring to arrive (two more weeks!):

Hili: This bush will have leaves in a few days.
A: It does look like that.
In Polish:
Hili: Ten krzak za kilka dni puści listki.
Ja: Na to wygląda.

Nearby, Leon wants to play with an uncooperative bird:

Leon: This swan doesn’t seem to be very sociable.

Leon: Ten łabędź wydaje się mało towarzyski.

Two tweets from reader Barry, who says about the first one (rightly), “Yep, that’s gotta hurt!”

https://twitter.com/WlLDNATURE/status/1103114632921673728

A lazy bird who, though he can fly, prefers to walk:

https://twitter.com/AMAZlNGNATURE/status/1092910762366926848

Tweets from Matthew. Look at the handsome wasp nest with a beautiful entrance:

Somebody read this paper and tell me what it’s about!

A pretty amazing diagram showing that a cockroach is mostly tracheal tubes for the passive diffusion of oxygen:

A wonderfully paternal frog moving his tadpole kids to the stream on his back!

Tweets from Grania. First, a stalking kitten:

https://twitter.com/EmrgencyKittens/status/1103754945852043264

Two loving snow leopards:

https://twitter.com/AMAZlNGNATURE/status/1103554659858362368

From James Lindsay, one of the three “grievance study” hoaxers:

Naima Lowe was one of the loony professors at The Evergreen State College who helped bring the university to its present low repute. This is a long video, and you’ll probably only be able to stand a few minutes.

 

Thursday: Hili dialogue (and Leon monologue)

March 7, 2019 • 6:30 am

Good morning; it’s Thursday, March 7, 2019, and National Cereal Day. I can’t remember when I last had cold cereal, though I enjoy a hot bowl of oatmeal now and then.

Today’s Google Doodle marks what would have been the 97th birthday of Olga Ladyzhenskaya (born 1922, died 2004). Although her father was arrested and shot by Stalin’s NKVD, she worked her way up to a distinguished career in mathematics.

Although comprehending her accomplishments is above my pay grade, here’s what iNews says about her.

Authoring over 250 papers, Ladyzhenskaya developed a stellar reputation for her work in partial differential equations and the field of fluid dynamics, with her work still highly influential today.

She is most celebrated for her work exploring 19th century ideas for explaining behaviour of fluids known as the Navier-Stokes equations, whose practical applications include predicting the movement of storm clouds in meteorology.

Parallels were drawn between her work in partial differential equations and John Nash, the American mathematician portrayed by Russell Crowe in the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind.

It’s a thin day in world history. On this day in 321, according to Wikipedia, “Emperor Constantine I decrees that the dies Solis Invicti (sun-day) is the day of rest in the Empire.” On March 7, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was given a patent for what he called the “telephone.” On this day in 1936, in a harbinger of WWII, and in violation of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany reoccupied the Rhineland.

It was on this day in 1965 (“Bloody Sunday“) that civil rights protestors in Selma, Alabama, after crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge on their way to Montgomery, were attacked by police with tear gas and billy clubs. They were brutally turned back but were allowed to pass two days later.

It was footage like this, from the March 7 incident, that helped turn the tide of American sentiment in favor of civil rights:

 

On this day in 1986, divers from a Navy ship located the crew cabin of the ill-fated space shuttle Challenger, which went down on January 28, killing all seven crew members. I didn’t know until yesterday that their bodies were recovered. The details are below but be warned, they are gruesome and may be upsetting. 

Inside the twisted debris of the crew cabin were the bodies of the astronauts, which after weeks of immersion in salt water and exposure to scavenging marine life were in a “semi-liquefied state that bore little resemblance to anything living”, although according to John Devlin, the skipper of the USS Preserver, they “were not as badly mangled as you’d see in some aircraft accidents”. Lt. Cmdr James Simpson of the Coast Guard reported finding a helmet with ears and a scalp in it. Judith Resnik was the first to be removed followed by Christa McAuliffe, with more remains retrieved over several hours. Due to the hazardous nature of the recovery operation (the cabin was filled with large pieces of protruding jagged metal), the Navy divers protested that they would not go on with the work unless the cabin was hauled onto the ship’s deck.

During the recovery of the remains of the crew, Gregory Jarvis’s body floated out of the shattered crew compartment and was lost to the diving team. A day later, it was seen floating on the ocean’s surface. It sank as a team prepared to pull it from the water. Determined not to end the recovery operations without retrieving Jarvis, astronaut Robert Crippen rented a fishing boat at his own expense and went searching for the body. On April 15, near the end of the salvage operations, the Navy divers found Jarvis. His body had settled to the sea floor, 101.2 feet (30.8 m) below the surface, some 0.7 nautical miles (1.3 km; 0.81 mi) from the final resting place of the crew compartment. The body was recovered and brought to the surface before being processed with the other crew members and then prepared for release to Jarvis’s family.

Finally, it was on this day in 2007 that the British House of Commons voted to make the House of Lords a fully elected body.

Notables born on this day include Luther Burbank (1849), Julius Wagner-Jauregg (1857, Nobel Laureate), Piet Mondrian (1872), Maurice Ravel (1875), Anna Magnani (1908), Willard Scott (1934), and Bret Easton Ellis (1964).

It was not a good (or bad) day for the deaths of notables. Those who bought the farm on March 7 include Thomas “Yes, the Bible is literally true” Aquinas (1274), Wyndham Lewis (1957), Alice B. Toklas (1967), Stanley Kubrick (1999), and Gordon Parks (2006).

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is thoroughly sick of winter and decides that it’s over:

Hili: I’m announcing the spring.
A: According to the calendar it’s still winter.
Hili: I’m not a stickler for rules.
In Polish:
Hili: Ogłaszam wiosnę.
Ja: Kalendarzowo to nadal jest zima.
Hili: NIe jestem formalistką.

It’s getting warmer in Poland, and Leon and Elzbieta are out for a hike:

Leon: Do you think we are going in the right direction?
Leon: Myślisz, że zmierzamy we właściwym kierunku?
Grania reported this church notice celebrating yesterday’s Catholic holiday with a misspelling, though this is almost too good to be true. I suspect it’s a fake, but I may be wrong.

Dictionary.com responds to a worshipful article in Forbes about Kylie Jenner who, thanks to the credulity of the American people, is now a billionaire:

From reader Paul, who says this is his favorite animal video of all time. Is that Snowball on the right?

https://twitter.com/stevosideways/status/847742734542659584

Tweets from Grania. This is Ireland for you: a waterfall that falls UP:

Clearly somebody can’t do simple arithmetic:

https://twitter.com/stonecold2050/status/1103123600251346944

I love this pensive philosopher cat (watch the video):

A sad case of canine logophobia:

https://twitter.com/wawinaApr/status/1103272190525337600

Tweets from Matthew, who’s off doing Resistance broadcasting in Paris with the BBC. First, cat cosmology (lower tweet has a video):

First exorcism in the Vatican and now cannibalism?

Binna Burra is in Queensland, Australia, and a land mullet is a skink (reptile):

Finally, the scariest road I know. I’ve ridden over many roads in Nepal but, thank Ceiling Cat, not this one:

 

 

Wednesday: Hili dialogue (and Leon monologue)

February 27, 2019 • 6:30 am

by Grania

Good morning and welcome to the middle of the week. Jerry has guests at the moment, so his time is a little limited. He’ll be joining us later.

First, some recommended reading; Heather Hastie’s new post on her website, “The benefits of a single-payer healthcare system.” [JAC: as I’m largely out of action here till Sunday, this will substitute for a post on WEIT.”

Today in history:

Notable Birthdays today:

I don’t particularly like Josh Groban’s music, but he does have a good sense of humour and while he was in the UK he endeared himself to audiences during his appearances on Never Mind The Buzzcocks.

Hili and Cyrus have carefully made their plans for today:

Hili: Look, it’s so interesting over there.
Cyrus: Let’s take a nap and then go out again later.

In Polish:

Hili: Patrz jak tam ciekawie.
Cyrus: Prześpimy się i wyjdziemy znowu.

Hili’s friend and associate Leon also has something to share this morning.

Leon: I just wish it were spring!

Reader Jerry Piven, who teaches philosophy at the university level, sent this photo noting,  “A student of mine drew this on the board before class today….as we were about to discuss section 125 of Nietzsche’s The Gay Science…” He added that the student’s name was Tyler Chang (given with permission).

.Finally, on to Twitter’s offerings du jour. As always, a little white arrow indicates a short video that you need to click on to view.

Heart-warming stuff:

https://twitter.com/AwwwwCats/status/1100130983133802497

Capybaras in Japanese zoos get special onsen treatment: hot showers and baths!

https://twitter.com/InfinityLoopGIF/status/1100427321016795138

The return of auto-tune cat.

Humanity’s at its less than finest:

An entitled student:

And the weird and wonderful world of animals and critters. A belly tickle, and the snake plays dead.

https://twitter.com/Bob_Animal/status/1100087086382764032

Practicing, but not ready for prime time:

https://twitter.com/KaptanHindustan/status/1100026017643667458

Jerry wrote about a similar species the other day:

https://twitter.com/LlFEUNDERWATER/status/1099548910970781697

And finally, an old take on a 21st century meme.

(. . . . this one, in case you are wondering)