by Grania
Good morning, I hope you all enjoy Sunday! It’s important to note that we have reached the apex of Coynezaa today.
Today in history was mostly a bloody day.
- 1649 – King Charles I of England is beheaded.
- 1661 – Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, is ritually executed more than two years after his death, on the 12th anniversary of the execution of the monarch he himself deposed.
- 1908 – Indian pacifist and leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is released from prison by Jan C. Smuts after being tried and sentenced to two months in jail earlier in the month.
- 1948 – Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu extremist.
- 1933 – Adolf Hitler is sworn in as Chancellor of Germany.
- 1948 – British South American Airways’ Tudor IV Star Tiger disappears over the Bermuda Triangle.
- 1956 – African-American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.‘s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
- 1959 – MS Hans Hedtoft, said to be the safest ship afloat and “unsinkable” like the RMS Titanic, strikes an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sinks, killing all 95 aboard. (Moral of the story, don’t call your ship unsinkable, you’re just asking for trouble).
- 1982 – Richard Skrenta writes the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot program called “Elk Cloner“.
Birthdays
- 58 BC – Livia, Roman wife of Augustus (d. 29)
- 1882 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, American lawyer and politician, 32nd President of the United States (d. 1945)
- 1899 – Max Theiler, South African-American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
- 1925 – Douglas Engelbart, American computer scientist, invented the computer mouse (d. 2013)
- 1951 – Phil Collins, English drummer, singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
- 1949 – Jerry Coyne, American biologist, known for his work on speciation and his commentary on intelligent design.
As we have a singer among the birthdays, here’s Phil Collins to serenade you into the day.
From Poland today there are birthday greetings from Hili, who may not quite understand the process.
Hili: Happy Birthday, Jerry, many happy returns of treats for me.A: Hili, You can’t say that.Hili: Down with political correctness!
Hili: Happy Birthday Jerry, życzę ci, żebyś mi przywiózł dużo smacznych rzeczy.
Ja: Hili, tak nie można.
Hili: Precz z polityczną poprawnością!
Fresh from Twitter today:
Humorous Twitter
This is a long but very funny thread
https://twitter.com/J_Dot_J/status/1078841165632466944
The perils of cosplay
— Rafael (@RafaTLS) December 26, 2018
Biological Twitter
https://twitter.com/LlFEUNDERWATER/status/1079338101997219840
https://twitter.com/rmartinledo/status/1079051829953118209
https://twitter.com/ThingsWork/status/1079081167461253121
https://twitter.com/41Strange/status/1079082293367427072
https://twitter.com/LlFEUNDERWATER/status/1079041706274611200
Felid Twitter
Also this idiot decided to go walkabout for 2 days until his prolonged and exasperated yowling inside a massive thorny bush enabled a rescue at 6.22am this morning.
He’s been asleep pretty much since then
He now won’t go outside at all…possibly ever pic.twitter.com/WRXRjih2Bj— Dr Gillian Kenny (@medievalgill) December 29, 2018
This week’s #Caturday scorecard:
Frank Souders: 0
Cat: 1
(Beatrice Express 1921, via @_newspapers) pic.twitter.com/Y2KyI0ScBs— Undine (@HorribleSanity) December 29, 2018
FYI Twitter
This is what Brussels sprouts really look like. (From a grocery store near Chicago.)
How old were y’all when you found out the ridges on the bottom of the salt/pepper shakers had a purpose? pic.twitter.com/5SXIbIHjBM
— EatThaCakeANNAmae (@LipBitinANNAmal) December 29, 2018
I could think of other reasons too
Questionnaires: Be sure you are measuring what you think you are measuring. pic.twitter.com/QsnJGtmiRS
— Steven R. Shaw (@Shawpsych) December 28, 2018
Unbearable Lightness of Being Twitter
https://twitter.com/MsMollyRachael/status/1078767908594032640
I have no idea who made this meme, but they are genius. #DisneyVsAnime pic.twitter.com/mZwxBk89lW
— Christopher Sabat (@JustChrisSabat) December 28, 2018
Some moments make me think I might be adopted. pic.twitter.com/Gh01efjzFN
— Dr. A.S. Barwich (@smellosopher) December 29, 2018
Weirdest 911 call ever. pic.twitter.com/xC4YrWoHRx
— The Dodo (@dodo) December 29, 2018
Engineering Twitter
Monorail junction in Japan.
Mesmerizing and Crazy!
🚂#Tech #Transportation #SaturdayMorning pic.twitter.com/Ig9FLklDyW
— Tom Hall ☘ (@TomHall) December 29, 2018
Yet another demonstration that precision is not the same as accuracy, not to mention the need for metric education in America. Do the maths. (From a pet shop in Wisconsin).
Hat-tip: Matthew, Greg
And now for something really stupid. You will never be younger than you are today.
My wife often reminds me that some of us are entering our second childhood.
1949 – Jerry Coyne, American biologist
That one is so tantalisingly familiar… I just hate it when you can’t quite place a name.
😀 😀 😀 Happy birthday, boss.
Whoever designed that Monorail is a Genius.
The software team pulled an all-nighter just before it opened to the public.
Start;
If train_x occupy( line_1)
And destination( train_x, gate_5 )
And if train_y not_occupy( line_1 )
Then
Go_for_it( train_x);
Else
Switch_line_2( train_x );
Else
…
Yes, I suppose that if they are forced to wait 10 min at our local railway crossing (a common situation), they’ll go mad.
Our Brussels sprouts still look like that.
Well, one of the stalks does, we ate the sprouts from the other one! The remaining stalk doesn’t have much longer to go; yum.
For the first time in years, I grew my own sprouts for Xmas. Jolly good they were too. Even the grandchildren ate one or two each.
Happy birthday Jerry. May your shadow never grow less!
Bravo!
We used to get all our veg from a farm shop about 1/4 mile down the road and produce like sweetcorn and sprouts was harvested as you bought it; happy days. The current farm shop is closer but the produce comes from further afield. It is still better than supermarket produce.
Ah, good for you! We have a couple of farm shops within 10 minutes’ drive – and others a bit further away, but they mainly concentrate on fruit – and I get most of our veg from them. As you say, whatever’s been harvested: pot luck.
Still have to get my bananas and oranges from Sainsbury’s, though.
We still have a bit of xmas veg left… definitely sprouts and swede with dinner tonight (31st December).
Our original chap stopped producing veg and switched to supplying the local log needs; bit of a shame, but it happens. The chap who took over the other farm actually buys all his produce in (mainly because the land is committed to horses) but it is as local as possible, and he carries excellent free range eggs. He does also stock the ice cream made at a farm a few miles further out, which is handy.
The day North Lincolnshire produces bananas and oranges the lower latitudes will be toast, literally 😀
OP:
Livia? Roosevelt? I guess I’ll never know who the singer is for sure. 🙂
Happy 69th* Coynezaa Prof!
* Includes the zero Coynezaa
Happy Birthday!🎂
From me as well!
8 feet is ~2.44 meters. So it is a bit off.
Well it does say underneath that it’s flexible 🙂
Someone in marketing finally achieved the Zen of Wrong as a three step process.
1) Incorrectly round 2.4384 to 2.43
2) Mistype 2.43
3) Get that puppy printed
It is nice to see, I wonder if they also make video tutorials for those of us not so gifted.
I always remember it as 2.43 metres, but you’re right, it is close to 2.44.
But so far as sloppy equivalents go, plumbing pipe sizes are the worst – 1/2″ (nominal) water pipe seems to have been transmuted into 15mm (with no change in the actual hardware).
cr
The 1/2″ pipe measurement refers to the internal diameter. 15 mm is the external diameter. They are almost identical.
Okay, that makes sense. I do have to say that ‘nominal’ sizes are a bit of a minefield.
cr
According to Wikipedia, the Hans Hedtoft went down on January 30, 1959.
That dancing ramp agent is Jahmaul Allen [American Airlines] @ Toronto Pearson International Airport.
https://youtu.be/zbxhxjJfVSQ
TBH – not cool. Am I Mr. Grumpy?
Mr Grumpy, I think… well, it made me laugh. Also, he would appear to be applying all of the correct signalling with his electric lollipops, and he did get it parked in one 🙂
the military seems to have frequent freestyle days, e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np1RXE1ym0c
Fun! 🙂
Happy birthday PCC(e) and may you have many more of them.
Happy Birthday!
Charles I was executed on January 30, 1648/49 (o.s.). I thought for a second I lost the whole month of January.
Okay, the Bobbitt worm is terrifying!
Happy Birthday PCC. What a nice place to celebrate.
I flatly refuse to click on the link. I want to be able to sleep tonight…
cr
Good call.
The worm is quite impressive – reminds me of Moray eels which have a worrying tendency for the snorkeller for grabbing and holding – but the seabed stability is a bit worrying too. That stuff is not going to take a lot to get moving, if there’s any sort of a slope. Having lived in the devastation area of the Storegga Slide for 30-odd years, you think about such things.
Happy Birthday from Kink the Cat and Q Bits the Kitten!
And here’s Patrick Bateman to deconstruct the Phil Collins oeuvre for you:
Is there more?
You mean, did Collins go on to make albums in addition to those discussed? 🙂
I was wondering more about the set up of the camera and when the director calls “action”. Michael has the answer to the albums question.
To keep your head, when Bateman zigs you zag, thus listen to…
Nothing by Genesis after 1975 & no solo projects by any of them.
The exception:
https://youtu.be/_OO2PuGz-H8
One of a small number of pop hits not in 4/4 time. (‘Turn it on Again’ would be another}
H a a a a ppy, Happy Birthday, Dr Coyne !
As my two – year – old granddaughter, Ms Ani Willow,
kept on singing .after. the usual conclusion
of the H B Song, this next “verse” of it:
” I don’t know but … … I’ve been told:
IF you keep on dancin’,
THEN you ‘ll n e v e r grow old ! ”
Blue
Happy Birthday!!
Happy birthday, Dr. Coyne.
Also, please note that FDR’s birthday is Jan.30
A Hawaiian Birthday!!! Can’t get any better than that! Enjoy your day – eat, drink and be merry…
Thanks for all the birthday wishes!
–PCC(E)
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday! From the land of the leafy sea dragon — it’s South Australia’s marine emblem.
On this day Charles Darwin packed his bags after nine days and left New Zealand onboard the Beagle headed for home.
That will be your tomorrow if your lucky enough to be in… let’s say, Hawaii.
I went to look at the cool Rafael Martín-Ledo tweet on Twitter. Discovered he’s blocked me! I don’t think I’ve ever even heard of him! What on earth could I have done to upset him? Maybe it’s the atheism?
Happy birthday, Jerry. 萬壽無疆 – wishing you ten thousand longevities of boundlessness!
Re: metric conversion
Partial credit for getting the sogn correct. Right?
Happy birthday, PCC(E)!
-Ryan
Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor 30 Jan ’33
Happy Birthday, Jerry!