Category: Leon monologue

Friday: Hili dialogue (and Leon monologue)

May 24, 2019 • 6:30 am

Professor Ceiling Cat here, with thanks to Grania for taking over Hili yesterday. It’s Friday, May 24, 2019: the end of another work week. It’s National Escargot Day, (I’ve had snails once and didn’t like them), and National Brothers Day, so fête your brother (I’m one!).

Today’s big news is that British Prime Minister Theresa May has resigned, never able to overcome the Brexit debacle nor offer an acceptable plan for leaving. Who will succeed her? Will it be Boris Johnson, the UK’s answer to Donald Trump? Stay tuned.

I’m visiting Salem today with my hosts, so posting will be thin. On the other hand, I’ll get some good pictures, as well as fried clams at Woodman’s of Essex, the greatest clam shack in New England, founded in 1914. Their fried clams come with chips and onion rings:

There’s a lot of news from this day in history. On May 24, 1607, 100 English settlers landed at Jamestown, Virginia, which became the first permanent English colony in America. 19 years later to the day, Peter Minuit bought Manhattan from the local Native Americans. It was a great bargain at the reported $23 in trade goods. As Wikipedia reports:

Minuit is credited with purchasing the island of Manhattan from the Native Americans in exchange for traded goods valued at 60 guilders. According to the writer Nathaniel Benchley, Minuit conducted the transaction with Seyseys, chief of the Canarsees, who were only too happy to accept valuable merchandise in exchange for an island that was mostly controlled by the Weckquaesgeeks.

The figure of 60 guilders comes from a letter by a representative of the Dutch States-General and member of the board of the Dutch West India Company, Pieter Janszoon Schagen, to the States-General in November 1626. In 1846, New York historian John Romeyn Brodhead converted the figure of Fl 60 (or 60 guilders) to US$23.The popular account rounds this off to $24. By 2006 sixty guilders in 1626 was worth approximately $1,000 in current dollars, according to the Institute for Social History of Amsterdam.

On this day in 1683, the world’s first university museum opened: the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. In 1738, John Wesley was converted to “Methodism” from the Church of England. And in 1830, the poem  “Mary Had a Little Lamb” was published; the author was Sarah Josepha Hale.

On May 24, 1844, Samuel Morse sent the telegraph message “What hath God Wrought” (Numbers 23;23): the first words sent over the first commercial single-wire telegraph line, which transmitted between Baltimore and Washington, D.C.  But of course God wrought nothing: Morse did.

On this day in 1883, the world’s most beautiful bridge, New York City’s Brooklyn Bridge, opened after 14 years of construction.  Here it is:

Source

On this day in 1935, the first night game in major league baseball was played, with the Cincinnati Reds, playing at home, beating the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1. On May 24, 1940, two things happened: Igor Sikorsky piloted the first successful flight of a single rotor helicopter, and the first (and unsuccessful) assassination attempt of Trotsky took place in Mexico City. The assassin, acting on orders of Stalin, escaped. But the second attempt succeeded: on August 20, Trotsky was whacked in the head with an ice axe and died the next day.

Here’s Sikorsky in his helicopter (although it was called “single rotor”, that was the main rotor; there was also a tail rotor):

Source: Connecticut Historical Society

On May 24, 1956, the first Eurovision Song Contest was held in Lugano, Switzerland. Does anybody remember who won? And exactly two decades later, the famous blind wine-tasting, the “the Judgment of Paris, took place in France, with California wines beating the best of France.

Finally, it was on this day 20 years ago the the International Criminal Tribunal in the Hague indicted Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Kosovo.

Notables born on this day include William Whewell (1794), Queen Victoria (1819), Jan Smuts (1870), Jane Byrne (1933),Tommy Chong (1938), Bob Dylan (1941), and Kristen Scott Thomas (1960).

I have to mention that yesterday, as his owner says, “Maru has become 12.” (The video is called “I am Maru 12.”)

In honor of the birthday of Maru, the world’s most famous Internet cat, here’s his owner’s celebratory video, showing highlights of the chubby Scottish fold’s last dozen years. And remember Maru’s motto, “When I see a box, I must enter.” (His second motto is “I do my best.”) Thanks to Grania for finding this:

Deaths on this day were thin on the ground; they include William Lloyd Garrison (1879), John Foster Dulles (1959), and Duke Ellington (1974).

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili got a real treat (Cyrus got one too):

A: I bought a nice piece of beef. I can share it with you.
Hili: An excellent idea.
In Polish:
Ja: Kupiłem ładny kawałek wołowiny. Mogę się z tobą podzielić.
Hili: Znakomity pomysł.

In Leon’s future home nearby, he wait for the sun (like My Cat Jeoffry, he loves the sun and the sun loves him):

Leon: The sun should be there by now.
Leon: Teraz tam powinno być słońce.

From reader Barry; look at this video of a playful squirrel!

Nilou sends a pair of affectionate ducklings:

Tweets from Grania. Well, if they say this is a first, I’ll take their word for it:

And look at the ears on these serval kittens:

https://twitter.com/MichaelGalanin/status/1130652981643370496

More adventures of a badger family that hangs around its staff:

Someone actually embroidered all the frames of a cartoon, and it’s a cat cartoon!

Tweets from Matthew. Look at this hybridization between ducks. But I’m not sure that the hybrids are fertile. If they are, and that’s what this figure what it implies, then they aren’t complete biological species, but they are close. If this reflects past hybridization and they no longer exchange genes, they are now full biological species.

I think this counts as real tool use:

What is this monotreme eating?

I may post this series of botfly videos, but I’m jealous because I don’t even have a photo of the one that was in my head.

Thursday: Hili dialogue (and Leon monologue)

May 9, 2019 • 6:30 am

It’s Thursday, May 9, 2019, and National Shrimp Day. It’s also Victory Day, celebrating the end of the war in Europe, including the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany (see below). This holiday is celebrated in Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

Nobody is reading the science posts and I am sad.

On this day in 1671, Thomas Blood tried to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. He failed and was caught, but, oddly, was not only pardoned but rewarded with land and money.

On May 9, 1926, according to Wikipedia, ” Admiral Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett claim to have flown over the North Pole (later discovery of Byrd’s diary appears to cast some doubt on the claim.)” It looks as if Byrd may have falsified his sextant data. If so, then the first to really succeed in this flight were Roald Amundsen, Umberto.Nobile, Oscar Wisting, and Lincoln Ellsworth, who flew over the Pole just a few days later: May 12, 1926.

 

On May 9, 1945, the final German Instrument of Surrender was signed at the Soviet headquarters in Berlin-Karlshorst, ending World War II in Europe. On this day in 1958, Alfred Hitchcock’s famous film Vertigo opened in San Francisco. Here’s the official trailer:

On May 9, 1960, the FDA announced that it was giving the first approval of an oral contraceptive: Searle’s Enovid birth-control pill. 14 years later, the House Committee on the Judiciary opened impeachment proceedings against President Richard Nixon. Nixon resigned on August 9 before the proceedings finished (they became moot at that point), and was later pardoned by his successor, Gerald Ford.

Finally, on this day in 1979, according to Wikipedia, “Iranian Jewish businessman Habib Elghanian [was] executed by firing squad in Tehran, prompting the mass exodus of the once 100,000-strong Jewish community of Iran.” There are very few Jews left in Iran now.

Notables born on this day include John Brown (1800), Howard Carter (1874), Mike Wallace (1918), Richard Adams (1920), Sophie Scholl (1921), Manfred Eigen (1927, Nobel Laureate), Albert Finney and Glenda Jackson (both 1936), Richie Furay (1944), and Billy Joel (1949).

And Matthew notes the birthday of one of his scientific heroes, Heinrich Matthaei, who is 90 today. Matthaei, as the tweet notes, was the first to see that a nucleotide triplet coded for a particular amino acid (UUU = phenylalanine). Matthaei should have gotten the Nobel Prize for this work along with those who did win for deciphering the code, but was shut out. A travesty! You can read more about him in the article cited by Matthew, which is in fact Matthew’s piece in the Torygraph:

Those who died on May 9 include Friedrich Schiller (1805), Albert Abraham Michelson (1931, Nobel Laureate), Ulrike Meinhof (1976), James Jones (1977), Tenzing Norgay (1986), Russell Long (2003), Lena Horne (2010), and Vidal Sassoon (2012).

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili gets fusses from a visitor:

Agata: Do you like to be petted?
Hili: Yes, but you may do it with greater intensity.
In Polish:
Agata: Lubisz jak cię głaszczą?
Hili: Tak, ale możesz to robić bardziej intensywnie.

And at his future home near Dobrzyn, the Dark Tabby makes a sage pronouncement:

Leon: The basis of every action is observation.

Leon: Podstawą każdego działania jest obserwacja.

From a cat’s diary, sent by reader Karl:

Another from Facebook:

A tweet contributed by reader Blue, and a pretty amazing display of strength and athleticism:

Reader Barry found this one, adding “Well, at least 57% of 22,531 people are idiots.”

A tweet from Matthew about Sir David’s birthday, which was yesterday:

More tweets from Matthew. Bad typo in this one!

But isn’t this what saints are for? To intercede for you?

This shows the profound gaps in the fossil record:

Tweets from Grania. I’m not sure whether this cat is normal:

https://twitter.com/AwwwwCats/status/1125746034318172161

This is quite a sneeze!

Seriously, is this a question even worth asking?

Paranoia ad infinitum: As far as I know, there have been exactly zero hyena attacks by the Zionist carnivore:

 

Tuesday: Hili dialogue (and Leon monologue)

April 16, 2019 • 7:00 am

It’s Tuesday, the Cruelest Day: April 16, 2019, and National Eggs Benedict Day, a dish that Anthony Bourdain advised you never to order at brunch, since it’s likely to be cobbled together from leftovers from the week. It’s also World Voice Day, a rather bizarre commemoration of the phenomenon of the human voice. Finally, it’s Foursquare Day, since April is the fourth month and 16 is four squared.

On April 16, 1818, the U.S. Senate established a demilitarized border with Canada by ratifying the Rush–Bagot Treaty. In 1881, in Dodge City, Kansas, sheriff Bat Masterson fought his last gun battle (he wasn’t hurt and lived to a ripe old age).  Here’s a picture of Masterson and another famous sheriff; it’s from Wikipedia but definitely looks pasted together:

(From Wikipedia): Deputies Bat Masterson (standing) and Wyatt Earp in Dodge City, 1876. The scroll on Earp’s chest is a cloth pin-on badge.

On this day in 1912,  Harriet Quimby, the first woman to get a pilot’s license in the U.S., also became the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel. She died in 1912 after being thrown from a two-seater plane. Here’s Quimby’s photo, this time not altered:

On April 16, 1917,  Lenin returned to Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) Russia from exile in Switzerland. He arrived at the Finland Station and gave a fiery speech calling for revolution. (You may have read Edmund Wilson’s famous history of socialism, To the Finland Station.) When I was in St. Petersburg a few years back, I made a special trip to the station to see the engine that pulled one of Lenin’s trains. Nobody spoke English, and the platform. where the car resides, was restricted, so I had to draw pictures of Lenin in a locomotive before they understood what I wanted to see.  Then they became very nice and let me see the engine. Here it is along with a plaque in both Finnish and Russian (translation please).

Wikipedia’s caption for its own picture (these one are mine) is “The engine that pulled the train on which Lenin arrived at Petrograd’s Finland Station in April 1917 was not preserved. So Engine #293, by which Lenin escaped to Finland and then returned to Russia later in the year, serves as the permanent exhibit, installed at a platform on the station.”

Exactly a year later, Gandhi organized an India-wide day of prayer and fasting in response to the April 13 killing of unarmed Sikh celebrants by General Dyer’s troops in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

On April 16, 1943, Albert Hoffman accidentally discovered that LSD was hallucinogenic while doing pharmaceutical research on the fungus ergot. Three days later he took the drug on purpose to verify its effects, and the rest is history. (I heard him lecture on this discovery when I was sitting in on Richard Schultes’s economic botany class at Harvard. He was a stiff, Swissy man who talked in a starched lab coat, not at all an acid head!)  Exactly two years later, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his famous  Letter from Birmingham Jail while locked up for protesting segregation. You can see the whole letter here.

On April 16, 1990, Dr. Jack Kevorkian, aka “Doctor Death”, helped in his first assisted suicide. After several more of these, he was jailed from 1999-2007.  Finally, on this day in 2007, 32 people were killed and 17 injured at Virginia Tech when Seung-Hui Cho, a mentally ill former student, went on a shooting rampage. He then shot himself in the head.

Notables born on this day include David Hume (1711), Ma Rainey (1886), Rudolf Hess (1894), Bernard Malamud (1914), I. M. Pei (1917), Fanny Blankers-Koen (1918), Carol Burnett (1933), Bobby Rydell (1942), and Melania Trump (1970). Remember this Rydell hit, “Swingin’ School”? OY!

Those who bought the farm on April 26 include John Wilkes Booth (1865), Arnold Sommerfeld (1951), Gypsy Rose Lee (1970), Count Basie (1984), Lucille Ball (1989), and Jayne Meadows (2015).

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Malgorzata explains Hili’s disgust: “Andrzej’s shoes really need cleaning – not of mud but of everyday dirt. They are simply dirty shoes which haven’t seen shoe polish for ages.”

Hili: I’m afraid you have to clean your shoes.
A: It’s none of your business.
In Polish:
Hili: Obawiam się, że musisz buty wyczyścić.
Ja: Nie twój interes.

And in his future home nearby, Leon asks about the exams that all Polish secondary-school students are taking:

Leon: Tell me about it. Was it difficult?

Opowiadajcie,jak było? Trudne?

A tweet from reader Barry, showing a cat getting a massage while hearing music. (Video; sound on.)

https://twitter.com/m_yosry2012/status/1117421211443695617

A tweet from reader Nilou, who thinks these baby ravens are adorable:

Two tweets from Heather Hastie. She said this about the first one: “How’s this for cute?” Be sure to watch the video:

https://twitter.com/AMAZlNGNATURE/status/1117281503283515392

I didn’t know, either. . .

https://twitter.com/LlFEUNDERWATER/status/1117444746463440896

Matthew shows the variation in the vernacular words for a fish across the UK. Things get a little hairy in northwest England. (You may have to download and enlarge the picture.)

A science “hoax” perpetrated by a good science Twitter site, @justsaysinmice:

The conflagration at Notre Dame was horrible, but it appears that a large part of the main cathedral has been saved. I got an email today from a childhood playmate I had about 60 years ago and had lost track of until very recently. He told me this:

I just happened to see your recent comment about the Notre Dame fire:
  “I’m just unspeakably sad. Yes, it was a religious structure, but that doesn’t detract from its historical significance, its beauty, and the emotional effect it has on many (including me).”
That comment sparked my memory of a conversation I had with your father many years ago.  He told me that when you were very young they took you on your first tour of Paris.  He said nothing much impressed you and you seemed pretty bored by the whole excursion.  Then you went into Notre Dame and he said you stopped in your tracks and appeared absolutely mesmerized and in awe of the place. He said he had never seen you react quite so intensely at any other place you ever visited when at that age.  I have no idea how that emerged from a deep burial in my memory bank but there it is.

Tweets from Grania. This one is inexcusable as the study reports results in MICE. And it was tweeted by Discover Magazine!

A man and his best friend, a muscovy duck.

A snow leopard pounces, but no living creatures were hurt in the making of this video.

https://twitter.com/meowlibrary/status/1116910777728815104

 

Monday: Hili dialogue (and Leon monologue)

April 15, 2019 • 6:30 am

The work week has begun anew as we wend our way slowly toward extinction. It’s Monday, April 15, 2019, and if you’re an American, your tax form is due today.  It’s National Ham Day, from which Jews and Muslims are excluded. It’s also these days, too:

In honor of World Art Day, here is some lovely art; I needn’t tell you the painter:

On this day in 1755, Dr. Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language was published in London. On April 15, 1783, long after the fighting had ended, a preliminary peace treaty for ending the American RevolutionaryWar was ratified, at least according to Wikipedia, though I can find that date nowhere else. The error-ridden site says this: “Preliminary peace articles were signed in Paris on 30 November, while preliminaries between Britain, Spain, France, and the Netherlands continued until September 1783. The United States Congress of the Confederation ratified the Treaty of Paris on January 14, 1784. Copies were sent back to Europe for ratification by the other parties involved, the first reaching France in March 1784. British ratification occurred on April 9, 1784, and the ratified versions were exchanged in Paris on May 12, 1784. The war formally concluded on September 3, 1783.” Where’s April 15?

On this day in 1865, President Abraham Lincoln died after he was shot the previous evening in Ford’s Theater by John Wilkes Booth. Vice-President Andrew Johnson became President.  On April 15, 1912, at 2:20 a.m., the RMS Titanic slipped beneath the sea after having struck an iceberg shortly before midnight.  On April 15, 1920, two security guards were murdered during a robbery in South Braintree, Massachusetts: the crime for which Sacco and Vanzetti were subsequently convicted and executed.

Again I find doubtful information in Wikipedia, which states that on this day in 1923, “Insulin becomes generally available for use by people with diabetes.” But I can find that date nowhere else. It is a fact, though, that on April 15, 1945, Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany was liberated by British and Canadian troops. Here are some of the happy women who survived and were liberated:

It was on April 15, 1947 that Jackie Robinson debuted at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming the first black man to play major league baseball.  Further, and again this is dubious, Wikipedia says that on this day in 1955, “McDonald’s restaurant dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois.”  Well, maybe the chain does, but look at this, also from Wikipedia:

The oldest operating McDonald’s restaurant is the third one built, opened in 1953. It is located at 10207 Lakewood Blvd. at Florence Ave. in Downey, California (at 33.9471°N 118.1182°W).

If you’re nearby, go visit it! (Downey, of course, was where the Carpenters were from.) But if this is the case, and the Golden Arches were already in place in 1953, then the franchise’s founding date is bogus. 

And according to Wikipedia’s article on McDonald’s No. 1 Store Museum (see below), we see where the date comes from: “Ray Kroc’s involvement with the firm.” Who cares??? What a Kroc!

The McDonald’s #1 Store Museum is housed in a replica of the former McDonald’s restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, opened by Ray Kroc in April 1955. The company usually refers to this as The Original McDonald’s, although it is not the first McDonald’s restaurant but the ninth; the first was opened by Richard and Maurice McDonald in San Bernardino, California in 1940, while the oldest McDonald’s still in operation is the third one built, in Downey, California, which opened in 1953. However, the Des Plaines restaurant marked the beginning of future CEO Kroc’s involvement with the firm. It opened under the aegis of his franchising company McDonald’s Systems, Inc., which became McDonald’s Corporation after Kroc purchased the McDonald brothers’ stake in the firm.

The actual Des Plaines restaurant was demolished in 1984, but McDonald’s realized they had a history to preserve, so they built a replica.

I do remember when burgers, shakes, and fries were each 15 cents, so you could get a filling lunch for less than half a dollar. I grow old!

On this day in 1989, 96 Liverpool fans were killed during a human crush at Hillsborough Stadium in the FA Cup semifinal. This is known as the Hillsborough disaster.  Finally, it was on this day six years ago that the Tsarnaev brothers set off two bombs near the finish of the Boston Marathon, killing 3 and injuring 264.  One of the brothers was killed in the manhunt, while the other, Dzhokhar, was sentenced to death in federal court and is on death row in Colorado.

Notables born on this day include Leonardo da Vinci (1452), Guru Nanak (1469, the first Sikh guru), Leonhard Euler (1707), Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1772), Émile Durkheim (1858), Thomas Hart Benton (1889), Nikita Khrushchev and Bessie Smith (both 1894), Nikolaas Tinbergen (1907), Kim Il-sung (1912), Harold Washington (1922), Dodi Fayed (1955), Emma Thompson (1959; she’s 60 today), and Seth Rogen (1982).

Those who gave up the ghost on Tax Day include Abraham Lincoln (1865, see above), Matthew Arnold (1888), Father Damien (1889), the victims of the Titanic, including John Jacob Astor IV and Isidor and Ida Strauss (all 1912), Wallace Beery (1949), Jean-Paul Sartre (1980), Jean Genet (1986), Greta Garbo (1990), Pol Pot (1998), and Edward Gorey (2000).  Gorey, of course, loved cats and often drew them:

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is asking about the domestication of cats:

Hili: What actually united humans and cats?
A: I’m afraid it was mice.
In Polish:
Hili: Co właściwie połączyło ludzi i koty?
Ja: Obawiam się, że myszy.

And in nearby Wloclawek, it’s exam time for secondary-school students, and Leon wishes them luck:

Leon: Exam tomorrow? I’m keeping my claws crossed.
Jutro egzamin? Trzymam pazurki!

A gif from the CHEEZburger site, courtesy of reader Su. This cat would be a great goalie in the Feline League:

I found this one by looking at the Twitter sites that Matthew and Grania follow:

A tweet from reader Barry:

https://twitter.com/_youhadonejob1/status/1117109181402710017

Tweets from Matthew. I believe the first one is Kevin Richardson, aka The Lion Whisperer. Somehow he remains alive.

Oh man, that goose is a real jerk:

Progress in making robots is dramatic. Look at this one!

I don’t know what kind of kittens these are (Abyssinians?) but they’re adorable.

https://twitter.com/Mr_Meowwwgi/status/1116813347465375745

Tweets from Grania. The first one is muy heartwarming:

https://twitter.com/andrewfalloon/status/1117303245829885952

Poor lion! But he’s a good swimmer.

This should help you appreciate how small hummingbird nests and eggs are. You dare not eat that peach!

https://twitter.com/41Strange/status/1115677971891666944

The results of a human sneeze:

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: