Sunday: Hili dialogue (and Leon monologue)

August 14, 2016 • 6:30 am

It’s August 14 (I’ve double checked), and tomorrow I start heading home. Today is Independence Day in Pakistan, when that country was declared an Official National following the partition by the British in 1947.  Also on this day, in 1975, The Rocky Horror Picture Show opened in London. After 41 years, it’s now the longest-running movie in cinema history. I have never seen it.

And it’s a happy birthday to French actor Emmanuelle Béart (♥), who becomes 52 today, once again proving how old I am. Finally, on this day in 2004 the Polish writer (later an American citizen) Czesław Miłosz died; he was a Nobel Laureate in literature. Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili and Cyrus are sad about the state of the world:

Hili: Did you read the news?
Cyrus: Yes, I did.
Hili: Me too.
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In Polish:
Hili: Czytałeś wiadomości?
Cyrus: Czytałem.
Hili: Ja też.

In Wloclawek, we’ve given Leon several of the Japanese “cat’s snacks” provided by Hiroko. Like Hili, he loves them, proving that Japanese and Polish cats have similar tastes.

Leon: Hmmm. Jerry knows perfectly how to make a cat happy.
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It’s worth looking back at Leon when he was a kitten, two years ago yesterday. This was one of his first monologues, and he was already grouchy:
Leon: Don’t call me “my little one.” I’m already 9 weeks old!
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Finally, courtesy of reader Robin, is one of my namesake cats, Jerry, who lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He’s said to be lovable but klutzy, and one time rolled off the kitchen counter into an open dishwasher (he was neither hurt nor washed):
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Gems from the PuffHo food section

August 13, 2016 • 2:30 pm

The Wall Street Journal reports that Arianna Huffington is leaving her odious website in about a year. Having never gotten anything but tsouris from it (and, I suppose, a lot of posts on this site), it can’t happen too soon for me, and I’m hoping that, as the most popular Regressive Leftist news aggregator, it will disappear:

Huffington Post’s practice of not paying many of its contributors—arguing that they were benefiting from exposure to the site’s large number of visitors—brought criticism. In 2011, the National Writers Union and the News Guild called for a boycott of the site.

Despite regularly drawing more than 100 million unique visitors a month, the site has failed to consistently turn a profit.

Arianna’s moving on to Bigger Things, like Life Improvement: a company devoted to “health and wellness” (is there a difference?). But I’ll shamefully admit that I still look at the site almost daily. It’s been a source of great merriment, and of course copious fodder for this site.

Here’s what I read at HuffPo:

1.) The religion section, so I can see the ludicrous lengths the site goes to osculate faith, like this (all screenshots have links if you must read the stuff):

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I also look forward to the daily pro-hijab post (on Arianna’s orders, there’s always one).

2.) The travel section. I’m always hoping to find good information on where to go, but I’ve almost never found any. Instead, there’s stuff like this:

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Well, the BBQ and fried chicken are good, but . . .

3.) The food section. Here I’ve derived occasional benefits from learning about new restaurants (usually through links), but the site has gone downhill since Arianna decided that it should deal largely with how to use leftover food. I went over there today, and here’s what I learned (again, screenshots have links):

They don’t know how to use apostrophes:

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That you can stuff cucumbers with things and make “sushi”, and it’s a “genius idea”:

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And finally, that we had better get used to a fork/chopstick combination called “chorks”. Or else!!

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The craziness of the Orthodox Jewish “hijab”

August 13, 2016 • 12:45 pm

Pious Muslims and hyper-Orthodox Jews share one tendency: various sects of each faith see men as hand grenades of of lust, ready to undergo a seminal explosion should they see an uncovered ankle, rosy mouth, or stray wisp of hair. Women are to be covered to retain their “modesty,” which means to avoid inciting the ubiquitous and uncontrollable concupiscence of the male.

Devout Muslim men can’t shake hands with women; neither can hyper-Orthodox Jews. In neither group can men dance with women, for that could incite lust. Many Muslim women can’t go out without a guardian, while hyper-orthodox Jews won’t sit next to women on planes. (There are of course exceptions.)

But in one way the Muslims are savvier than the hyper-Orthodox Jews. As we see in this video in which Oprah Winfrey experiences a Sabbath in a Hasidic Jewish home, the Jewish women, like hijabi Muslims, cover their hair. And they do it for the same reasons—for modesty!

But what do the Jews do? They cut their hair short and then cover their hair with—more hair! Wigs! Wigs undoubtedly made from the hair of other women! Not only that, but many of them, like this one, are attractive wigs! Even Oprah notices that.

Now tell me, if you’re covering your hair for modesty, and to avoid attracting men who aren’t your husband, why on earth would you cover your hair with an attractive wig that could attract even more men?

Such is the silliness of faith, and its tendency, since the days of Eve, to cast women as temptresses. In the case of Hasidic Jews, it’s a big FAIL.

More bad behavior at the Olympics: Egyptian judoka refuses to shake hands with Israeli opponent after losing; US soccer goalie Hope Solo talks trash about Swedish team

August 13, 2016 • 11:00 am

The Israeli athletes can’t catch a break at the Olympics: they weren’t let onto the bus by the Lebanese team, a Saudi judoka (judo competitor) forfeited her match rather than have to compete with an Israeli (the Saudis claim she was injured), and now, according to Sports Illustrated and many other sources, an Egyptian judoka refused to shake hands with his Israeli opponent after being defeated:

[Ori} Sasson defeated [Islam El] Shehaby in the Round of 32 in the over-100 kilogram division. Sasson approached Shehaby with his hand extended after the match, by Shehaby backed away, refusing to acknowledge his opponent.

Here’s a short video; there’s a better one, which I can’t embed, here.

 The Toronto Star via the Associated Press reported that the Egyptian was booed for his unsportsmanlike conduct:

Egyptian judo fighter Islam El Shehaby was loudly booed at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics after his first-round loss to Israel’s fifth-ranked Or Sasson, when El Shehaby refused to shake Sasson’s hand, in a major breach of judo etiquette.

Sasson defeated El Shehaby with two throws for an automatic victory, with about a minute and a half remaining in the bout.

Afterwards, El Shehaby lay flat on his back for a moment before standing to take his place before Sasson, in front of the referee. When Sasson extended his hand, El Shehaby backed away, shaking his head.

The referee then called El Shehaby back to the mat and obliged to him bow. El Shehaby gave a quick nod of his head.

El Shehaby refused to comment afterward.

Here’s a longer but low quality film of the winning throw (and the handshake refusal):

Finally, the Star reports that the Egyptian had been under both national and social media pressure to not fight the Israeli, but his government insisted otherwise:

El Shahaby had come under pressure from Islamist-leaning and nationalist voices in Egypt to withdraw entirely from the fight.

On Thursday, Mataz Matar, a TV host in Al-Sharq Islamist-leaning network urged el-Shehaby to withdraw.

“My son watch out, don’t be fooled, or fool yourself thinking you will play with the Israeli athlete to defeat him and make Egypt happy,” he said, adding “Egypt will cry; Egypt will be sad and you will be seen as a traitor and a normalizer in the eyes of your people.”

Hisham Hatab, head of the Egyptian Olympic Committee, was quoted by the daily al-Masry al-Youm as saying there will be no withdrawals, adding “Islam will play the match without troubles.”

Sadly, there were troubles. Now I suppose one could impute the Egyptian’s bad behavior to simply poor sportsmanship: the behavior of a sore loser. But given his history, and the fact that it’s Israel, you’d be a dupe to believe that. Nevertheless, I see the Regressive Crowd finding some reason why what the Egyptian did was okay, just as some (one on this website) claimed that the Lebanese wouldn’t let the Israelis on the bus because there was simply no room.

The only saving grace is that at least the crowd booed even though the Israeli was dissed.

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Now here’s a genuine sore loser. Hope Solo, who has a problem controlling her temper, and sometimes her words, behaved poorly after the U.S. Women’s soccer team (she’s the goalie) lost to the Swedish team in the Olympics in penalty kicks. The U.S team now goes home without a medal. As the Guardian reports:

Hope Solo has had an interesting Olympics to put it mildly. Before the Games had even started she had alienated many people in the host country by posing with anti-mosquito gear, a reference to the problems Brazil is experiencing with the Zika virus.

That led to the USA goalkeeper being taunted with cries of “Zika” at every goalkick by Brazilian fans during the World Cup. She then made two errors as the US drew with Colombia in their final group game of the tournament.

On Friday, she really stepped things up. As the US faced a penalty that would see them crash out of the tournament to Sweden in shoot-out, Solo claimed she needed to change her gloves. That forced Lisa Dahlkvist to wait a few minutes to take her spot-kick, an uncomfortably long time at such a crucial moment. The Swede scored anyway and the defending champions were out.

Solo did not take kindly to the defeat. “I thought we played a courageous game. I thought we had many opportunities on goal,” she said. “I think we showed a lot of heart. We came back from a goal down, I’m very proud of this team. And I also think we played a bunch of cowards. The best team did not win today, I strongly, firmly believe that.”

The glove-changing gambit is of course something done to unsettle the opponent—something that Solo did against Germany in last year’s World Cup final. It may have worked then, but not now, and it’s bogus.

Below is the full quote given by Solo when Sports Illustrated soccer writer Grant Wahl asked her, in a post-game press conference, what she thought of the game. The statement in parentheses is his query about why she called the Swedish team “a bunch of cowards”:

You can see Wahl’s thoughts on the game on the Sports Illustrated site, and here’s a news report featuring a former U.S. gold medalist.

The fact remains, however, that the U.S. lost. And the women’s soccer team, whose great success is held up as a role model for young women in sports, is diminished by someone whose behavior besmirches the whole team. As always, living well is the best revenge, as expressed by the Swedish coach:

There was widespread criticism of Solo on social media following her comments.She later admitted on Twitter that “losing sucks. I’m really bad at it.”

The Sweden coach, Pia Sundhage, led the US to gold and the 2008 and 2012 Olympics and was dismissive of Solo’s outburst. “I don’t give a crap,” she told reporters after the game. “I’m going to Rio, she’s going home.”’

What makes Solo’s kvetching doubly irritating is that the Swedish coach, Pia Sundhage, who dictated the winning strategy, was in fact the Amercan women’s coach (and of course Solo’s coach) at the 2012 Olympics, and knew that the Swedes would need to play a defensive game. Solo was, in effect, accusing her own coach, who had helped her so much, of being a coward.

Solo, a terrific goalkeeper with a pile of successes and records, needs to work on her losing behavior. Sweden played a smart, tactical game, and Solo called them “cowards” for doing what they needed to do to beat the U.S.

Spot Jones!

August 13, 2016 • 10:00 am

by Matthew Cobb

This tw**t by Chetham’s Library popped up in my feed. Can you spot Jones? [JAC: You can see Jones below the fold: click on “read more” at the bottom.]

Chetham’s Library (pronounced ‘Cheetums’, or at least that’s how I and many others pronounce it) is in Manchester and was founded in 1653. It is the oldest surviving public library in the English speaking world and is well known as a place where Marx and Engels would meet to discuss their work (Engels worked for him family’s company in Manchester). You can browse some of their collections here. In another tw**t, the Library contrasts their attitude to dogs and cats with that of another library, in Leiden University (I have studied some of the manuscripts that were collected by the Leiden library – an extraordinary place; the library building is still there, but the collection is now in a swish new building).

The Manchester Ship Canal connects Manchester and the Irish Sea. Nearly 60 km long, it was built between 1887 and 1894, and meant that Manchester – well inland – became a bustling port (technically the docks were in the adjoining city of Salford). When I was growing up in the 1960s, I remember seeing ships apparently moving through the green countryside as they went along the canal – a bit like that scene in Lawrence of Arabia when he stumbles across ships in the Suez Canal.

The docks are now closed and have been redeveloped – there are swish flats, a huge media centre (BBC, ITV and many small companies). And thanks to work begun by my colleagues at the University of Manchester, in particular Keith White, the water is now clean enough to swim in (though very cold and deep – swimming is strictly controlled for safety reasons). Sadly, they recently removed two of the last signs of the 20th century bustle that characterised the docks – a pair of rusty blue cranes that were used to unload ships in the pre-container era.

The canal still wends its way through the Lancashire and Cheshire countryside, and very occasionally ships pootle up and down, but the canal is far too small to be commercially viable, although the current owners are optimistic. If I recall correctly, it never made any money, despite its influence on the region. If you want to know more about the Canal, the Wikipedia article is pretty good.

Continue reading “Spot Jones!” →

Caturday felid trifecta: People try walking their cats, a new movie on the cats of Istanbul, and a London tube station to be festooned with cat art

August 13, 2016 • 9:00 am

As usual, we have three cat-related items for this Caturday. The first is a short video in which people attempt to walk their cats on leashes. As we know with Baihu and Leon, this is possible, but the cat must be trained early and properly. What we see below, except for Bubba’s cat, are FAILS. The Big Truth: as Bubba says, “We live to serve our cats.”

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There’s a new film out called “Kedi,” which is the Turkish word for “cat.” You can see the details here, and I’ve put the trailer below.

I’ve been to Istanbul three times; it’s a glorious city, full of wonderful sights, friendly people, and good food. And CATS! As the trailer implies, the city is crawling with felids, and most that I’ve seen are in pretty good condition, as the locals take care of them.

Further, most of the mosques I visited are also full of cats, who, I believe, are taken care of by both worshipers and clerics. I don’t know if that has to do with the apocryphal story of Muhammad and his favorite cat Muezza.  If you don’t know that story, visit the link.

Great are my differences with Islam, but I’ll say this about it: it has more reverence for cats than any other faith except, perhaps, that of ancient Egypt. In fact, there’s a whole Wikipedia article on “Islam and cats.” Felines are repeatedly extolled in the hadith, and Wikipedia adds this:

In Islamic tradition, cats are admired for their cleanliness. They are thought to be ritually clean, unlike dogs, and are thus allowed to enter homes and even mosques, including Masjid al-Haram. Food sampled by cats is considered halal and water from which cats have drunk is permitted for wudu. Furthermore, there is a widespread belief among Muslims that cats seek out people who are praying.

At any rate, I’d love to see Kedi; if you have, weigh in below.

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Finally, as Matthew pointed out to me, and as described in a BBC article, starting on September 12 the Clapham Common Tube station in London will be taken over for two weeks by ad-free pictures of cats:

Almost 700 people helped the Citizens Advertising Takeover Service (Cats) raise £23,000 to buy the advertising space at Clapham Common station.

The cats will appear on advertising boards for two weeks from 12 September.

The aim is to provide a “relaxing, fun and light-hearted” space free from commercial adverts, Cats said.

James Turner, from the collective, said: “It’s really caught people’s imagination – everyone loves cats.

“The idea of a relaxing and peaceful space just with pictures of cats is appealing. People are interested because there’s no brand, no commercial reason for doing it.”

The images will be around the turnstiles (which the collective are calling cat flaps), down the escalators and leading up to the platform. The aim is that, wherever people look, there will be cats.

The adverts will be word-free apart from one which will highlight the work of Battersea Cats and Dogs Home and Cat Protection charities.

So, if any reader cares to take some photos of the station during that two-week period, I’ll be glad to post them.

h/t: Ivan, Richard S., Matthew Cobb

Lazy days in Dobrzyn

August 13, 2016 • 7:45 am

Tomorrow, Sunday, is my last day in Dobrzyn: on Monday I take the train to Warsaw, and then a cab to the airport hotel, across the street from where I’m leaving Tuesday morning. I’ll be sad to leave my friends, my adopted cat, and, of course, the pies. I’ve relaxed a lot, written my children’s book (only 1500 words; the heavy lifting will be done by the illustrator, Kelly Houle), read Ali Rizvi’s new book, and am halfway through Sean Carroll’s new book The Big Picture.

Speaking of pie, we had a small pie a few days ago, made to use up some leftover crust. But that doesn’t mean I was pie-deprived, because Malgorzata has made good on her promise that I will have cherry pie every day of my visit. (I don’t think I had any in the U.S. since my last visit here a year ago!)

2. Small cherry pie

Lunch: baked Tatra mountain smoked cheese (oscypek), served with salad (I also had blackcurrant juice):

1. baked smoked cheese lunch

Dinner consisted of Elzbieta’s homemade pickles and a Polish dish of kasha (buckwheat groats, popular in Poland) cooked with sausages, cheese, mushrooms, and diced onions. Americans should make more stuff with kasha, as it’s delicious.

3. Kasha

We washed it down with a bottle of “Schweik” beer. You might recognize the figure, taken from from the famous novel The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek:

4. Schweik beer

An afternoon smooch with The Princess. Most of the day she sleeps beside me while I sit on the couch, reading or working on the computer:
5. Smooching with Hili

Afternoon walkies by the Vistula. Cyrus gets his exercise:
 7. Cyrus by river

Later we made another pie. All of us cracked hazelnuts for the crust; we needed 125 grams, and they’re tough little buggers to crack. It took a while:

8. Cracking Hazelnuts for pie

I had picked the cherries earlier in the day, and after they were cooked and the crust was made, Malgorzata filled the bottom crust and then grated the remaining dough for the top:

9. Filling pie

10. Grating dough on pie

The finished product: a culinary masterpiece. As you see, it’s already been nommed.

11. Pie

We each got a small glass of cherry juice, left over from pitting the cherries:

11a. chery juice

Dinner was another Malgorzata invention: braised beef tenderloin that was shredded and baked with mushroom sauce. It was served with Elzbieta’s garden beans, potatoes, and two types of beer: Zubr (“Bison”) beer, our regular tipple, and Warka Premium Strong Beer, weighing in at 6.5% alcohol:

12. Dinner, beef & mushrooms

Yesterday was errand day: visits to two grocery stores, the bank, the butcher’s, and the post office. Here’s the small local grocer that Andrzej and Malgorzata like to patronize because it’s losing business to the newer supermarkets. “Sklep” means “store” in Polish.

13. Small grocery store

We went to the butcher’s to get meat for dinner (the beef dish above), but I also got a nice hunk of beef for Cyrus, who loved it. (I also buy Hili gourmet cat food in the supermarket.) Look at all those sausages! This is typical of Polish fare, for Poland is Sausage Paradise.

14. Butcher's

A market in a nearby parking lot, where cheap goods are sold that come from Russia and Eastern Europe:

15. Market

Three girls at the market, quaffing their sodas. Every child in Poland seems to be blonde!

16. Polish girls at market

Inside the supermarket. The most popular alcoholic drink is, of course, vodka. There are many brands and sizes, and you can buy it cold, too:

17. Vodka

Hili got a ration of milk after a long day roaming the orchard.

18. Hili drinking milk

After her milk, Hili demanded fusses, which makes it hard for Malgorzata to work on the computer:

19. Hili and M.

Goodnight!

6. Hili sleeping

Saturday: Hili dialogue

August 13, 2016 • 6:30 am

It’s a rainy Saturday here in Dobrzyn, but we need the rain to alleviate this year’s drought. And it’s August 13, meaning that summer has flown by quickly.  August 13 happens to be International Lefthanders Day, celebrated since 1976 to draw attention to the “special needs” of lefthanders, like proper scissors. There are festivities everywhere (well, in a few places); here’s one in the UK:

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I’m surprised that left-handed students aren’t issuing demands for special accommodations in U.S. universities. We don’t talk enough about Right Handed Privilege.

On this day in history, in 1876, Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen premiered at the new Bayreuth Festspielhaus. I have friends who are fanatics about the Ring Cycle, traveling all over the world to see it, but Wagner doesn’t do much for me.

On this day in 1899, Alfred Hitchcock was born, and, on August 13, 1910, Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, died at the age of 90. Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, I’m seeing whether Hili likes the new cat snacks that were bought for her (they’re also supposed to clean her teeth). Needless to say, she nommed them with relish.

Jerry: Look what I have here.
Hili: You must be curious about whether I’m going to like it or not.
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In Polish:
Jerry: Popatrz co ja tu mam.
Hili: Pewnie też jesteś ciekawy, czy mnie to będzie smakowało.

And here are some “before and after” shots of Gus in Winnipeg (he now has a license to sleep in his box). In the background you see the remnants of the Ikea box he nommed to destruction, but for some reason he doesn’t chew on his new box.

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