Category: Theo

Thursday: Hili dialogue

January 25, 2018 • 6:30 am

Good morning: it’s Thursday, January 25, 2018. It’s National Irish Coffee Day, and that’s one “sissy drink” that I like. The best version I’ve ever had was in some bar in San Francisco on a cold, foggy day, and it was the best Irish coffee I’ve ever had. (The place was apparently famous for the drink.) It’s also Dydd Santes Dwynwen, the Welsh Valentine’s Day (read the story).

I am feeling low in spirits and energy, and have no idea what I’ll write about today. We shall see; like Maru, I do my best.

On this day in 1533, Henry VIII secretly married his second wife, Anne Boleyn.  She was queen for three years and then, failing to produce a son, she was summarily beheaded (the cooked-up charges were adultery, incest, and treason). On January 25, 1755, Moscow University was founded on the religious holiday of Tatiana Day. On this day in 1858, Mendelssohn’s “The Wedding March” was first played—at the wedding of Victoria (daughter of Queen Victoria) and Friedrich of Prussia. We’ve all heard this composition, and you can listen to it here. In 1909, Richard Strauss’s opera Elektra opened at the Dresden State Opera, and exactly six years later, Alexander Graham Bell made the first transcontinental telephone call, speaking from New York to the famous Thomas Watson in San Francisco. On this day in 1924, the first Winter Olympics opened—in Chamonix, France. On January 15, 1961, John F. Kennedy held the first televised (and live) Presidential news conference.  Exactly a decade later, Charles Manson and three of his female “family” were convicted of the Tate-LaBianca murders (1969). On this day in 1996, the last person hanged in the U.S., convicted murderer Billy Bailey, took the five-foot drop. He chose hanging over lethal injection. Finally, on this day in 2011, the Egyptian revolution began with country-wide riots, strikes, and rallies.

Notables born on this day include chemist Robert Boyle (1627), Robert Burns (1759), W. Somerset Maugham (1874), Virginia Woolf (1882), Corazon Aquino (1933), biologist Paul Nurse (1949), and Alicia Keys (1981).

To honor the 136th birthday of Virginia Woolf, there’s a Google Doodle today:

Some of her letters (and one from her inamorata), found by Grania on Twitter:

Those who died on January 25 include Lucas Cranach the Younger (1586), Al Capone (1947), Ava Gardner (1990), Fanny Blankers-Koen (2004), and Mary Tyler Moore (2017).

Capone is without doubt the most famous gangster in American history. Here’s a very short video biography:

And here’s his grave, at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois, near Chicago. He died from complications of neurosyphillis.

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, the snow lies thick on the ground. Hili does not like it, but at least knows why it’s there:
Hili: I’m starting to understand.
A: Understand what?
Hili: That all this is a result of revolving around the Sun.
In Polish:
Hili: Zaczynam rozumieć.
Ja: Co?
Hili: To wszystko są skutki tego kręcenia się wokół słońca.

Note that if you’re in London on February 7 (Darwin was really born on February 12), Matthew Cobb and Aiofe McLysaght (of Trinity College Dublin) will be doing a joint presentation at London’s Natural History Museum (you may recognize that the poster below is a satire of this one):

Another tweet found by Dr. Cobb:

From Grania, tweeted by Tom Nichols. (You may have heard of the supposed “secret society” of the FBI. Here the Simpsons mock it.)

Another tw**t from Seth Andrews, found by Grania. The Woo ticket!

From reader Gethyn:

https://twitter.com/BabyAnimalsPcs/status/954760968164134912

As a special treat, here’s a video produced by Gethyn, showing Theo, the black cat staffed by Gethyn and Laurie. Be sure to enable the subtitle (there’s only one) by clicking on “CC” at the bottom. It’s meant to convey the proof that Theo has EYES, something I didn’t believe because they never showed in his photographs.

Theo occasionally licks up the remains of Gethyn’s espresso (as well as licking plastic); both behaviors are shown in this video. I don’t recognize the music, but I am ignorant.