Things that make you go "Hmmmm…"

[Batalov]

So, if you will see a label "chocolate cake" on a cat's litter box, which are you going to believe - the words or the actual object inside? Then why are you juggling not even words but even more meaningless things like 'given names'?

Always question authority. Question words. Question language. Think for yourself.

[kladner]

Originally Posted by Batalov

So, if you will see a label "chocolate cake" on a cat's litter box, which are you going to believe - the words or the actual object inside? Then why are you juggling not even words but even more meaningless things like 'given names'?

Always question authority. Question words. Question language. Think for yourself.

Word mashups are great fun. However, like the "chocolate cake" label on a cat box, they don't mean "sh!t."

Serge, I have come to see your current avatar as representing a cluster or migraine headache. I have had the former. The hand to the temple was a frequent gesture. Pressure on just the right spots could relieve some of the pain, at least momentarily.

[ewmayer]

So I'm doing a change of address at my online banking site, and in the personal-info window I see that even the Date of Birth field has an "update" widget next to it. Lending a possible literal new meaning to the expression "born yesterday".

[Batalov]

My mother changed her birthday. It happens!


She says that while for many years she was celebrating it on 6/30 (and so it was recorded in her papers), in the 1990s she learned from her mother that her parents wrote her into June to get an extra set of bread ration cards. The year was 1944 and arguably it made sense at the time (as the story goes, the family was getting the whole set of cards monthly). Anyway, since she learned that factoid, she started marking her birthdays on 7/01. Dunno if she went as far as to change her legal papers.

[Dr Sardonicus]

President George Washington "had two birthdays," due to the British Empire adopting the Gregorian calendar. As the the Wikipedia page on George Washington describes it,

George Washington was born on February 11, 1731 (Old Style) at his parents' Pope's Creek Estate near Colonial Beach in Westmoreland County, Virginia. At the time, the entire British Empire, including its North American possessions, was on the Julian calendar; the Empire, not being bound to the Catholic Church, had not yet adopted the modern Gregorian calendar that Catholic countries had adopted in 1582. Consequently, by the 1730s, the Julian calendar used by Britain and the Colonies was eleven days behind the Gregorian, due to leap year differences. Furthermore, the British civil year began on March 25 rather than January 1, so that dates in February (such as this one) 'belonged' to the preceding year. (See Dual dating). In 1752, The British Empire switched to the Gregorian calendar; since then, Americans born prior to 1752, including Washington, have typically had their birthdays recognized under what their birthday would have been under the Gregorian calendar ("New Style" dates). Since, during the 1700s, February 11 under the Julian calendar would fall as February 22 on the Gregorian, Washington's birthday has been generally recognized as February 22, 1732.

More recently, the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia is called either the October Revolution or the November Revolution, depending on the calendar of reference. And it seems that some branches of the Eastern Orthodox Church still use the Julian Calendar for the dates of some holidays such as Easter. Hmm, talk about having two birthdays...

[ewmayer]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

Hmm, talk about having two birthdays...

I like that idea - one for having one's cake and the second for "eating it, too."

[Batalov]

Not much eating to be had in 1944 or in 2044, in Moscow, that is.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

I like that idea - one for having one's cake and the second for "eating it, too."

The "Hmm" thought was that although Jesus's birth is celebrated as Christmas, Easter might be viewed as a "second birthday," it being the day that Jesus rose from the dead, and was thus "reborn." I can't recall anything in the Gospels about Jesus eating anything after being crucified. However, I am no expert on the Bible.

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

I can't recall anything in the Gospels about Jesus eating anything after being crucified. However, I am no expert on the Bible.

He did. There is one direct account and two where it might be inferred.

Luke 24:42-43 And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them.

Luke 24:30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.

John 21:12-13 Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise.

[Dubslow]

A certain forumite will be interested in this: https://www.reddit.com/r/CHICubs/com...until_the_end/



(I'll return to active duty shortly!)

[kladner]

Originally Posted by Dubslow

A certain forumite will be interested in this: https://www.reddit.com/r/CHICubs/com...until_the_end/



(I'll return to active duty shortly!)

Nice to see the Center getting positive attention in diverse places. Thanks for posting, Bill.