Category: Leon monologue

Saturday: Hili dialogue

August 18, 2018 • 6:30 am

by Grania

[Update from Jerry:

News from the pond: Honey seems to have disappeared from the pond again and may be gone for good. I am sad as I didn’t get to say goodbye, and I don’t know if she was ready to migrate.]

[Update of an update: Honey’s back, so reports Anna. More details later. Honestly, this is better than a daytime soapy – Grania]

It’s the birthday of Patrick Swayze (1952-2009), Robert Redford (1936) and lots and lots of footballers: 1980 – Bart Scott, American football player; 1980 – Jeremy Shockey, American football player; 1981 – César Delgado, Argentinian footballer; 1981 – Dimitris Salpingidis, Greek footballer and the list doesn’t stop there.

American trumpet player and bandleader of New Orleans Rhythm Kings Paul Mares died on this day in 1949. His group was an influential jazz band in 1920s Chicago .

More existentialism from Hili this morning.

Hili: What are flies for?
A: This is a badly formulated question.
Hili: You are right. Who finds them tasty?
Hili: Po co są muchy?
Ja: To jest źle postawione pytanie.
Hili: Masz rację. Komu one smakują?

Leon is reorganizing the laws of physics. What a thoughtful cat.

Leon: I will purr a bit while going uphill. It will be lighter for you.

Bits ‘n pieces from Twitter this morning:

Seen on the river Lee in Cork yesterday

Run, Forrest, run!

RoooooAAAR

https://twitter.com/AMAZlNGNATURE/status/1030131322486972417

Germination

https://twitter.com/ZonePhysics/status/1029812124443467776

And a coffee shop that is taking a stand against the oppression of Forin Terms.

https://twitter.com/YouHadOneJ0B/status/1030371151627702272

London in 1924 apparently

Manchester humor

Parody account so good that it still fools people and news agencies

A joke by a very patient prankster

Waterford Whispers is an Irish parody publication, much like the Onion, but apparently also still fools people on a regular basis. This one is referencing the upcoming and highly controversial visit by the Pope.

https://twitter.com/steonalewis/status/1029860532055097344

Below are some of the reasons why the Pope is less welcome than one would think in a country where over 80% of the population identifies as Catholic.

Hat-tip: Matthew.

TGIF: Hili dialogue

August 17, 2018 • 6:30 am

by Grania

Welcome to Friday and happy birthday to Robert De Niro.

Although De Niro had nothing to do with this song, it was one of those iconic songs of my teen years, so that’s all the justification I need to put it up today.

It’s also the birthday of Mae West (1893), Russian chess player and engineer Mikhail Botvinnik (1911), and French footballer Thierry Henry (1977). (There’s always a footballer.)

Botvinnik gets honored (along with all the other chess champions) in the Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Tim Rice musical Chess number here; or you can listen to the original 1984 studio version here which is cleaner and without dialogue. It’s by no means the best number in the musical, try Merano and the rest of the introduction for a taster or this one.

Also notable in history today was the landing and founding of Roanoke Colony in 1585 in what was destined to become one of America’s first Unsolved Mysteries. And of course in 1998 Bill Clinton took his swan dive and admitted his part in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. In 1908 Fantasmagorie, the first animated cartoon by Émile Cohl, was shown in Paris. Interestingly, although the cartoon appears to feature chalkboard figures, the film is actually the negative of black-on-white drawings. In the US it is Black Cat Appreciation Day. Research by the ASPCA shows that black cats are the least likely to be adopted from shelters of any type of cat for reasons of human stupidity.

Life continues in a bucolic vein for the felids of Poland today.

Hili: In the morning fog the world is foggy.
A: Indeed.

In Polish:

Hili: W porannej mgle świat jest zamglony.
Ja: Zaiste.

And Leon is mocking religion (I think):

Leon: I’m hurrying to see what miracles happen in the Holy Stream.

 

Matthew sent this one in:

This is what over-sharing on the internet looks like. Still, could be worse.

It puts me in mind of this song.

Heather sent in some tweets:

https://twitter.com/EmrgencyKittens/status/1029801181734940672

 

USSR Poster from 1968:

Trump Employee Manual

 

Bat Rescue Lady:

Angry cat:

https://twitter.com/Elverojaguar/status/1029452722788028423

Aren’t you gorgeous?

https://twitter.com/EmrgencyKittens/status/1029393564587962370

Butterflies:

https://twitter.com/planetepics/status/1029246335093026816

Chipmunk rescue:

Vampire Cat:

https://twitter.com/AMAZlNGNATURE/status/1029471409666498560

Kitty goes to bed:

https://twitter.com/EmrgencyKittens/status/1029438911498596353

Hat-tip: Anne G & Heather, Matthew, Blue

Wednesday: Hili dialogue (and Leon monologue)

August 15, 2018 • 6:30 am

It’s Hump Day: Wednesday, August 15, 2018, the Ides of August. This morning I’m to the KentPresents in Connecticut, which I’ll try to report about as “boots on the ground”. I’ll be back Monday, and posting will be light until then, but Grania will be doing the daily Hili dialogues (thanks to her!). Please refrain from sending me any unnecessary emails until I return, as I’ll be busy, and if you have readers’ wildlife photos, hold onto them as well—until next week.

It’s National Lemon Meringue Pie Day, one of the better pies when made with butter, lots of lemon juice and fresh lemon zest. It’s Independence Day in India, marking the day in 1947 when Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act 1947. They’re celebrating with a national holiday in India.

On this day in 1057, the Scottish King Macbeth was killed at the Battle of Lumphanan. Although the Shakespeare tale is based on this man, the play is not historically accurate. On August 15, 1483, Pope Sixtus IV consecrated the Sistine Chapel. On this day in 1534, Ignatius of Loyola and six of his classmates took their vows, eventually leading to the formation of the Society of Jesus six years later. On August 15, 1843, Tivoli Gardens, one of the world’s oldest amusement parks, opened in Copenhagen (I’ve never been to either Tivoli or Denmark). On this day in 1914, the Panama Canal opened to ship traffic, with the first vessel passing through being the cargo ship SS Ancon.

On this day in 1935, both Will Rogers and Wiley Post were killed when their airplane, piloted by Post, crashed in Barrow, Alaska. Exactly four years later, the movie “The Wizard of Oz,” a great classic, opened at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Los Angeles. On August 15, 1962, the American soldier James Joseph Dresnok crossed the Korean DMZ heading north, defecting to North Korea. He was one of six America soldiers who defected to North Korea after the Korean war. Having spent 54 years in the SPRK, Dresnok died in 2016. On this day in 1965, the Beatles entertained about 60,000 fans at Shea Stadium in New York City, often seen as the birth of “stadium rock”, a genre I despise and have never attended. It was also on this day in 1998 that the  Omagh bombing occurred in Northern Ireland. In that terrorist incident, set off by a splinter group of the IRA, 29 people were killed and 220 others injured. Finally, on this day five years ago, the Smithsonian announced the discovery of the olinguito, a procyonid mammal from South America. It was the first mammalian carnivore discovered in 35 years.

Notables born on this day include Walter Scott (1771), Thomas De Quincey (1785), Ethel Barrymore (1879), Louis de Broglie (1892; Nobel Laureate), Julia Child (1912), Oscar Peterson (1925), Stephen Breyer (1938), Jimmy Webb (1946), Debra Messing (1968), Ben Affleck (1972), and Jennifer Lawrence (1990).

Those who died on August 15 include Macbeth (1057. see above), and Wiley Post and Will Rogers (1935, see above),

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili gets some biotech instruction from Andrzej:

Hili: How did spiders get the idea to make spider webs?
A: Start-ups are best at innovations but it wasn’t always so.
In Polish:
Hili: Jak pająki wpadły na pomysł robienia pajęczyn?
Ja: Najlepsze w innowacjach są start-upy, ale nie zawsze tak było.

Nearby, Leon, on a walk, has a dilemma that he expresses in rhyme:

Leon: Here or there? I don’t know myself.

(This rhymes in Polish: Tu czy tam, już nie wiem sam.)

Tweets found by Grania. This first one is pretty funny (except, perhaps, to devout Muslims):

Another bizarre medieval fantasy about cats:

More on the possibly anti-Semitic Jeremy Corbyn from Maajid Nawaz:

From Heather Hastie (via Ann German): a six-minute election campaign ad from Hillary Clinton in 2016 that looks remarkably timely now:

Also from Heather and Ann: the joys of wildlife photography.

Thirsty kittty! (video)

https://twitter.com/StefanodocSM/status/1028929602843029506

Chill cat going for a bike ride:

https://twitter.com/Elverojaguar/status/1029115417292361728

A seven pound pigeon? Who knew?

An adorable baby sloth (video):

https://twitter.com/CUTEST_ANlMALS/status/1029163081644105728

Here’s a cat who might learn to jump rope:

https://twitter.com/DAILYKlTTEN/status/1029177627792166912

From reader Barry; is this woman nuts or brave?

https://twitter.com/AwardsDarwin/status/1029298950371717120

 

Monday: Hili dialogue (and Leon monologue)

August 13, 2018 • 6:30 am

Rise and greet the new day: Monday, August 13, 2018: National Filet Mignon Day. I have to say that I never eat that cut of beef, because while it’s tender, it’s also relatively flavorless. Give me a rib-eye steak or a hanger steak any day! It’s also International Lefthanders Day, so lefties are welcome to flaunt their sinistrality in the comments.

I have a big radio interview this morning; details later. Posting may be light today.

On this day in 1521, Spanish consquistador Hernán Cortés and his forces captured the Aztec ruler Tlatoani Cuauhtémoc and thereby captured the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan near present-day Mexico City. It was a long and bloody siege, and is well worth reading about for many reasons.  Cortés had the king executed, and here’s a reconstruction of the scene: “The Martyrdom of Cuauhtémoc”, a 19th-century painting by Leandro Izaguirre:

On August 13, 1889, William Gray of Hartford, Connecticut, got a patent for the first pay phone, called “coin-controlled apparatus for telephones.” I am not sure that coin-operated phones even exist in the U.S. any longer.  On this day in 1918, women first enlisted in the Marine Corps, with Opha May Johnson being the first woman to enlist. She was a member of the Marine Corps Reserve and of course was assigned to a desk job.  On August 13, 1961, East Germany closed the border between East and West Berlin and began building the Berlin Wall. When I was a child I went through it at Checkpoint Charlie with my father, who had to wear his U.S. Army Uniform. We spent much of the day in East Berlin, and I found it scary!  Finally, on this day in 1964, two men, Peter Allen and Gwynne Evans, became the last people executed in the UK, having been found guilty of the murder of John Alan West.

Notables born on this day include Annie Oakley (1860), Bert Lahr (1895), Alfred Hitchcock (1899), Salvador Luria (1912, Nobel-winning molecular geneticist), George Shearing (1919), Fidel Castro (1926), Don Ho (1930), Kathleen Battle (1948) and Sarah Huckabee “I’m paid to lie” Sanders (1982). Those who died on August 13 include Eugène Delacrois (1863), Ignaz Semmelweis (1865), Florence Nightingale (1910), H. G. Wells (1946), Mickey Mantle (1995), Julia Child (2004), Les Paul (2009), Edwin Newman (2010), and Helen Gurley Brown (2012).  Here’s a nice painting by Delacroix, “A young tiger playing with its mother” (in French: “Jeune tigre jouant avec sa mère), first exhibited in 1831. Clearly, at least some artists had learned to paint cats by the beginning of the 19th century. But which one is the mother, and which the cub?

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili and Cyrus face a “choice,” though their path was already determined by the laws of physics:

Cyrus: We are at the crossroads.
Hili: Tell him to flip a coin.
In Polish:
Cyrus: Jesteśmy na rozdrożu.
Hili: Powiedz mu, żeby rzucił monetą.

Near Dobrzyn, Leon is off on another hike, but worries about the provisions.

Leon: Are you sure you packed up my treats?

A tweet from reader Barry:

A tweet from Matthew, showing one of his favorite topics—optical illusions:

Tweets from Heather Hastie (the first via Ann German). I don’t know if the first one is real, but it looks real.

Owl selfie! (Turn on video and sound):

https://twitter.com/AMAZlNGNATURE/status/1028141196797825024

Heather says, “How can they do this without laughing?” But it’s the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, a very solemn ceremony. Any spectator laughing would be admonished by the soldiers (I’ve seen that happen).

https://twitter.com/RaminNasibov/status/1028107568609144833

Tweets from Grania: kitty has trouble waiting for her turn:

https://twitter.com/EmrgencyKittens/status/1028598525012205568

One I found: backlash from the women-in-STEM movement as recounted by The Onion:

Grania and Orli both sent me what is apparently a real Facebook exchange, also highlighted on the parody Twitter account “The Mossad.” Jews control everything!
As lagniappe, click on this screenshot to go to an awesome video of mom and cub snow leopard in action (h/t: John):

 

Sunday: Hili dialogue (and Leon monologue)

August 12, 2018 • 6:30 am

It’s Ceiling Cat’s Day: Sunday, August 12, 2018, and a day for napping, eating, and lying in the sun. It’s National Julienne Fries Day, which on account of their thinness are a perversion of fries (or chips). In the UK it’s the “Glorious Twelfth,” marking the opening of the Red Grouse shooting season—a bird better left unshot.

Today’s Google Doodle is a gif that celebrates the life and work of Cantinflas, the stage name of the actor, producer, and screenwriter Mario Fortino Alfonso Moreno Reyes, who starred in innumerable movies and plays in Mexico and the US (he won a Golden Globe for his performance in Around the World in Eighty Days.) Cantinflas was born on this day in 1911 and died in 1993. The gif shows the variety of his role:

On this day in 1851, Isaac Singer was given a patent for his sewing machine. The rest is history. And on August 12, 1865, Joseph Lister performed his first antiseptic treatment of a patient—a boy with a compound fracture of the leg—and found that the fracture healed without infection. The rest is history. On this day in 1883, the very last quagga died at a zoo in Amsterdam.  Once thought to be a distinct species, the quagga is now formally recognized as a subspecies of the Plains Zebra, with the quagga’s designation being Equus quagga quagga. Here’s one in the London Zoo, photographed in 1870: the only picture of a living quagga:

On August 12, 1914, World War I further expanded as the UK declared war on Austria-Hungary, with the countries of the British Empire following along. On this day in 1950, in the Bloody Gulch Massacre, North Korean soldiers massacred 75 American prisoners of war, a Geneva Convention no-no. On this day in 1953, according to Wikipedia, occurred “the first testing of a real thermonuclear weapon (not test devices): The Soviet atomic bomb project continues with the detonation of “RDS-6s” (Joe 4), the first Soviet thermonuclear bomb.” On August 12, 1990, the famous T. rex fossil “Sue”, now in Chicago’s Field Museum, was discovered in South Dakota by Sue Hendrickson.  Finally, on this day in 1994, Major League Baseball players went on strike, resulting in the cancellation of the rest of the season and of the 1994 World Series.

Notables born on this day include Helena Blavatsky (1831), Klara Hitler (1860, Adolf’s mom), Christy Mathewson (1880), Erwin Schrödinger (1887, Nobel Laureate), Cantinflas (1911; see above), Norris and Ross McWhirter of Guinness World Record Fame (1925, twins), Buck Owens (1929) and mountaineer Rick Ridgeway (1949).

Here’s a clip of Cantinflas in a Mexican movie (English subtitles) in which he discusses his indolence and justifies it with theology:

 

Those who died on August 12 include Charles Martel (1295), William Blake (1827), William Jackson Hooker (1865), Thomas Mann (1955), Ian Fleming (1964), Henry Fonda (1982), William Shockley (1989, Nobel Laureate and miscreant), John Cage (1992), Les Paul (2009), and Lauren Bacall (2014).

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili learns some natural history:

Hili: Are there wild kangaroos in Poland?
A: No.
Hili: Maybe it was a hare.
In Polish:
Hili: Czy w Polsce są dzikie kangury?
Ja: Nie ma.
Hili: Może to był zając.
Leon: Don’t you think that the greenery highlights the color of my eyes?
Tweets from Grania. She says this probably isn’t humility, but misplaced altruism:

All I can say is: Good Lord!

A nice political cartoon:
More on the Canada/Saudi Arabia squabble later today:

IT FOUND WALDO!

There’s nothing more romantic or mesmerizing than fireflies on a summer night:

From Heather Hastie:  triple turtle rescue! (sound and video on). This is what our trash causes in the oceans.  What nice divers!

A cat plays fetch:

I found this creepy tweet, but wanted to throw it in here as it appears to be the Charles Manson of Nature [UPDATE: see comments below; this appears to be a bogus report, as I should have guessed!]

Finally, a cartoon sent from Heather Hastie which shares my take on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (see my post yesterday), and throws in Bernie Sanders—for whom I voted in the primaries—to boot.

Saturday: Hili dialogue (and Leon monologue)

August 11, 2018 • 6:30 am

It’s Saturday! August 11, 2018 is the date, and it’s a Yuppie Food Day: National Panini Day.

Today’s big news is that PHOEBE (the runt duckling still in the pond) FLEW!!! Yesterday Anna observed Phoebe effortlessly flying over the lily pads to get to where the food was being dispensed. Usually a flight like this is followed the next day by emigration, so I’m not sure if Phoebe will be there for this morning’s feeding. But it’s still good news, as I want her to be healthy enough to leave and join her fellow fowl.  Honey, of course, is still molting, and will be with us for a while until her flight feathers grow in. As I recall, she left last year at the end of August. I hope she returns, but, as always, my ducks are on temporary loan from the Universe.

On this day in 3114 BC. according to Wikipedia, “the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations, notably the Maya, [began].” On August 11, 1858, three men made the first ascent of the Eiger in the Bernese Alps. The deadly North Face of the mountain, however—also known as the “White Spider”—wasn’t climbed until 80 years later. Here’s the mountain showing the North Face:

On August 11, 1929, Babe Ruth became the first major-league baseball player to hit 500 home runs in his career, poling a four-bagger at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio. Babe’s lifetime total was 714, putting him in third place behind Barry Bonds (762) and Hank Aaron (755). On this day in 1965, the Watts race riots began in Los Angeles after a black woman driver was pulled over, got into a fight with police, and the (false) rumor spread that the cops had injured a pregnant woman.  On this day in 1972, the last U.S. ground combat unit left South Vietnam. What a stupid war, and a useless waste of lives! Finally, on August 11, 1984, Ronald Reagan, running for re-election, quipped “We begin bombing in five minutes” as a voice test into an NPR microphone.  His full quote was, according to Wikipedia, this one:

My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.

The joke was a parody of the opening line of that day’s speech:

My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you that today I signed legislation that will allow student religious groups to begin enjoying a right they’ve too long been denied — the freedom to meet in public high schools during nonschool hours, just as other student groups are allowed to do.

His quip wasn’t broadcast, but it leaked, resulting in the Soviet Army being put on alert for 30 minutes.

Notables born on August 11 include The Great Agnostic, Robert G. Ingersoll (1833), Alex Haley (1921), Jerry Falwell (1933, buried in a matchbox), Steve Wozniak (1950), and Hulk Hogan (1953). Those who died on this day include Hans Memling (1494), Hamnet Shakespeare (Shakespeare’s son, born 1585, died 1596), John Henry Newman (1890), Edith Wharton (1937), Jackson Pollock (1956), photographer and mountaineer Galen Rowell (2002), and Robin Williams (2014).  A few memoria for those having anniversaries today.

Ingersoll:

Memling, “Virgin with Child between St. James and St. Dominic (painted 1488-1490):

And one of Galen Rowell’s mountain photos. He’s my favorite mountain photographer, and was also a great climber and great writer (read In the Throne Room of the Mountain Gods to see all three skills on tap). This was taken with Kodachrome before the days of Photoshopping, so I think the image is unmanipulated. It looks like the Sierra Nevada near Rowell’s home in Bishop, California:

 

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili’s words are a bit obscure, as is often the case lately. Malgorzata explains: “If you buy something and it disappears almost immediately, you have to go out and buy it again. It’s not worth the bother. Distasteful cat food lasts for ages but tasty sausages just disappear. Of course, as Hili rightly says, this is an alternative logic.”

A: Buying cat sausages is pointless. You eat them immediately.
Hili: This must be some alternative logic.
in Polish:
Ja: Nie ma senstu kupowanie ci tych kocich kiełbasek, od razu je zjadasz.
Hili: To chyba jakaś alternatywna logika.

And nearby, with their new home almost finished, Leon and Elzbieta go for a hike:

Leon: Go, go, I’m protecting the rear.

Some tweets from Grania:

It’s ships all the way down!

https://twitter.com/NateLanxon/status/1027314148810604547

This anniversary was two days ago, but it’s still worth seeing the letter. I imagine it’s worth a lot, but it’s probably in the National Archives or the Nixon Library:

All you can say to this is “OMG, where did the gull get that?”

https://twitter.com/_youhadonejob1/status/1027787206134562816

It’s a narrow talent, but a deep one:

Meatball cat (turn sound on):

https://twitter.com/EmrgencyKittens/status/1027721751306940417

Wonderful mother cat brings a fish to her kittens:

From Matthew; why we say “dead as a dodo”:

This is amazing! WHO’S a good boy?

https://twitter.com/m_yosry2012/status/1027859184853889024

From Heather Hastie, a case that is NOT affirmative consent:

Thursday: Hili dialogue (and Leon monologue)

August 9, 2018 • 7:00 am

It’s Thursday, August 9, 2018, all my ducks—both of them—are in a row, and I just got a new shipment of mealworms. All is well with the world—for the nonce. It’s National Rice Pudding Day, too—one of my favorite desserts. Sadly, the best version in the world, at L’Ami Jean in Paris, has declined precipitously, and now I don’t know where to get it. It’s also National Book Lovers Day, which I think covers most of us (e-books not included!).

Today’s Google Doodle celebrates the birthday in 1908 of Mary G. Ross (she lived 100 years), the first known Native American female engineer and a designer for Lockheed, specializing in interplanetary space travel:

As you know, yesterday was International Cat Day, which I wrote about at the time. But it was all in vain in light of this tweet (from Grania):

On August 9, 1173, the Leaning Tower of Pisa (formally known as the “campanile [bell tower] of the Cathedral of Pisa” started being built. It wasn’t done for two centuries, and the tilt began in the same century.  It’s now been stabilized and will last for at least 200 years. Get there before it topples! On this day in 1854, Henry David Thoreau published his famous book Walden. On August 9, 1930, in the cartoon Dizzy Dishes, the character Betty Boop first appeared. Here’s that cartoon, which I put up every year. It’s freaky! Cartoons in those days were dark and scary, not like the feel-good pablum of today.  Boop makes her appearance at 2:30, but be sure to see the dancing cats at the beginning and the dancing headless chicken at 3:56.

On August 9, 1936, Jesse Owens, a black man, won his fourth gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Berlin. This greatly angered Hitler, who thought that Aryans should win.  And on this day in 1945, the atomic bomb “Fat Man” was dropped on Nagasaki, killing 35,000 people instantly.  On this day in 1969, the Manson Family committed the Tate Murders, which were formally on August 8 and 9 since they continued over midnight. On August 9, 1974, Richard Nixon resigned the Presidency at noon, becoming the first American President to resign from office. I remember how overjoyed many of us were. But of course Gerald Ford (not a crook) took his place and pardoned Nixon.  Finally, on this day four years ago, 18 year old Michael Brown, a black man, was shot by a policeman in Ferguson, Missouri, leading to protests and riots.

Notables born on August 9 include Izaak Walton (1593), John Dryden (1631), Jean Piaget (1896), Philip Larkin (1922), Bob Cousy (1928, still alive at 90), Melanie Griffith (1957) and Anna Kendrick (1985). Here’s a clip of Kendrick doing her famous “When I’m Gone” cups song and routine in the 2012 movie “Pitch Perfect” (song starts at 1:24):

Even more impressive is her spontaneous performance on Letterman (starts at 1:00):

Notables who died on this day were few, including only Chaim Soutine (1943) and Jerry Garcia (1995). Here’s a lovely Soutine from Chicago’s Art Institute: Landscape at Cagnes (1923):

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili makes a literary joke. As Malgorzata explains, “You may not remember, but Winnie the Pooh always had eleven o’clock on his watch. This is just a variation on the Winnie the Pooh theme.”

Cyrus: Do you think it’s eleven o’clock already?
Hili: It depends on how you look at it.
In Polish:
Cyrus: Czy sądzisz, że jest już jedenasta?
Hili: To zależy jak na to patrzeć.

Leon is here, too, and makes a funny:

Leon: Do you want a second cat? Here you are – I’ve cloned myself.

From reader Gethyn, the old tale of a very brave and protective cat:

Tweets from Grania. The article in Quillette to which Pinker refers was also discussed on this site, but read the Quillette piece by the much maligned Heather MacDonald:

Another tweet by Pinker, this time reporting a little known case of progress:

From the wonderful Shappi Khorsandi (former President of the British Humanists), reporting, with some humor, that she’s alone. . .

Noooo! Tell us it ain’t so, Italy!

I’m sure I’ve posted this before, but you can’t see this baby kangaroo video too many times:

Terry Gilliam has a new film! Choose the poster for “Don Quixote” and tweet it to Gilliam:

I love that old Cardinal too! The article from Audubon is here.

Nichols has a point here. . .

Monkeys in tanks! Monkeys in tanks!

https://twitter.com/YouHadOneJ0B/status/1026898268414992384

Via Matthew. I just in fact went through the same dilemma King had, and the correct answer is “lay”:

And a cartoon from Merilee: