Don't fly for me, Argentina!

Two Argentinian pilots have been fired for inviting model Victoria Xipolitakis — who has posed for the Greek edition of Playboy magazine — into the cockpit, and letting her fly the plane.

Austral Líneas Aéreas, a domestic Argentinian carrier, announced in a statement about the firings that Xipolitakis would be banned from the airline for five years.

In addition to firing the pilots and banning the model, Austral announced forthcoming criminal proceedings against the three "for putting the flight’s safety at risk." There were 36 passengers on the Embraer jet.

From Austral's statement:

In relation to the events that took place during the Austral flight 2708 on Monday June 22, Aerolineas Argentinas and Austral state that the pilots Patricio Zocchi Molina and Federico Matias Soaje were removed from their activities on this day and will be dismissed as well as the rest of the staff with responsibility in this event ... the passenger will be prevented from flying for five years on Aerolineas and Austral flights by virtue of the right of admission available to the company.

Xipolitakis spent most of the flight from Buenos Aires to Rosario, Argentina, in the cockpit with pilot Zocchi and copilot Soaje. She took six videos during the flight, which have been leaked.
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Damien's note: I would apologize for my title to this post, but it was  inevitable.

Crystal exclusivity

Om d'eon is a contemporary jewelry brand based in Europe since 2013. 'Om d'eon' translates to 'resonance of eternity', a tribute to the ancient crystals which are used in their work. All crystals are used in their original morphology, preserving the highest molecular frequency which optimizes the performance of transmuting the electromagnetic fields, and adds the attribute of exclusivity to each piece.

 

Damien's note: Because one would not want anyone else to have the same high molecular frequency optimizing the performance of their electromagnetic fields, would one? 

This example normally sells for $188.00. Exclusively.

Everything old is new again

"Professional mourners" were once a fixture in many cultures. In the Spain of the sixteenth century, for example, one of the duties expected of children housed in orphanages was that they would walk in the funeral procession of important benefactors. It is even mentioned in the Bible: "Call for the wailing women to come; send for the most skillful of them." (Jeremiah 9:17)

You may have thought, however, that this is one of those crafts that has disappeared, but this is not the case. For example, visit the website of Rent a Mourner, an English firm in Essex. They are available for funerals and wakes by appointment and claim to work with agents throughout the country. They typically help increase visitors to funerals where there may be a low turnout expected. This, according to the website, can usually be a popularity issue or being new to an area. They have a significant number of mourners to call upon when the need arises.

Professional mourners exist in other places in Europe, Africa and Asia. 

In the United States, we usually call them reality television stars, lifestyle reporters or politicians looking for a bit of publicity to jump start a sluggish campaign. In the case of the last mentioned, this is especially important if it is a case of a high-profile murder or something remotely connected to religion. 

Heads up

The Nativity of St. John the Baptist (or Birth of John the Baptist, or Nativity of the Forerunner) is a Christian feast day celebrating the birth of John the Baptist, a prophet who foretold the coming of the Messiah in the person of Jesus, whom he later baptized. Because the Baptist was believed to have been born six months before Jesus -- based on an interpretation of the first chapter of Luke, which says Elizabeth (John's mother) was six months pregnant when Gabriel announced to Mary that she would give birth to the Messiah -- the feast is kept six months before Christmas, that is, today, June 24.

John's beheading is commemorated on August 29.

And it is of that head that we speak.

Here is the alleged relic of John's head that is venerated in the Cathedral of Amiens, some 75 miles north of Paris.

Muslims, however, believe the head is kept in the Ummayad Mosque in Damascus. The Church of St. Sylvester in Rome also claims to have the head in its possession. And there are other claimants ...

Without suggesting that any of these skulls is the head of John, I note that the scriptural accounts of the beheading say that the skull was given to Herodias by her daughter. It was not uncommon for political leaders to keep the skulls of defeated enemies as a sign of their victory over them, and it is at least conceivable that the authentic head was passed down in some way and made its way into the possession of Christians who might have been followers of John before embracing the cause of Jesus. This does not resolve the question of whether that skull still exists or which, if any, of those now venerated by the faithful is the real thing.

John's imprisonment and execution is mentioned in the The Antiquities of the Jews, composed by Josephus around 93 CE, some 60 years after the event.

Anent the copyright infringement of "Happy Birthday to You"

Okay, first of all, Paul McCartney does not own the rights to "Happy Birthday to You." Yes, that is a common claim. And like many such claims, it is wrong.

On the other hand, Summy-Birchard, a subsidiary of Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., the publishing arm of Warner Music Group, claims to be the sole owner of copyright to the song "Happy Birthday to You" and collects an estimated $2 million per year in licensing fees (a portion of which are paid to Association for Childhood Education International) on that basis, and they will continue to do so through at least the year 2030.

Does this mean that everyone who warbles "Happy Birthday to You" to family members at birthday parties is engaging in copyright infringement if they fail to obtain permission from or pay royalties to the song's publisher? No. Royalties are due, of course, for commercial uses of the song, such as playing or singing it for profit, using it in movies, television programs, and stage shows, or incorporating it into musical products such as watches and greeting cards; as well, royalties are due for public performance, defined by copyright law as performances which occur "at a place open to the public, or at any place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances is gathered." So, crooning "Happy Birthday to You" to family members and friends at home is fine, but performing a copyrighted work in a public setting such as a restaurant or a sports arena technically requires a license from ASCAP or the Harry Fox Agency (although such infringements are rarely prosecuted).

In recent years, some legal scholars have pointed out a number of potential problems with Warner/Chappell's claims to copyright ownership of "Happy Birthday to You," namely that there is little or no evidence that Patty Smith Hill actually wrote the lyrics to the song, that the first authorized publication of "Happy Birthday to You" bore an improper copyright notice (resulting in forfeiture of copyright protection), and that the copyright renewals filed in 1963 by Summy-Birchard covered only particular arrangements of the song and not the song itself.

In June 2013, a film company working on a documentary about "Happy Birthday to You" filed a class action lawsuit which seeks to invalidate Warner/Chappell's claim to copyright ownership of the song and force the company to return millions of dollars they have collected over the years for wrongfully asserting copyright owership. But that case has not been fully adjudicated, and unless and until a court invalidates Warner/Chappell's assertion of copyright ownership, the song "Happy Birthday to You" remains in a copyright-protected state. 

Read more at Snopes.

 

Oh, anent? An archaic word meaning about or concerning.

The First Song on the Planet

The answer: Happy Birthday.

The question: What was the first song ever played on the planet?

That doesn’t seem possible. The song “Happy Birthday” only dates back to about 1893, and even then, it had different lyrics. The Earth, putting aside some existential arguments about reality etc., definitely existed in 1892, and there are plenty of famous musicians who were long-dead by the time Happy Birthday first graced the ears of those in its first audience. 

But the question and answer above are correct, as far as we know. The trick?

The planet is Mars.

On August 5, 2012 (in the U.S., at least), NASA’s Curiosity rover landed on Mars. The rover’s ongoing mission on the alien planet is one of exploration, gathering data about Mars’ climate and geology. Because Curiosity’s voyage to Mars is intended to be a one-way trip -- we don’t yet have a way to launch interplanetary shuttles from Mars to Earth -- the rover acts as a mobile laboratory, able to perform varied experiments while on the Mars surface. Some of those experiments require geological samples, so Curiosity needs a way to collect the samples and then move them into the lab areas of its confines.

To do this, Curiosity is outfitted with a group of instruments known collectively as SAM, which stands for “Sample Analysis at Mars.” The SAM team, from Earth, instructs the rover to create a series of vibrations which manipulate the positioning of Curiosity's collection devices. In turn, those devices -- now moving at NASA's command -- collect samples from the surface and move the dirt into the analysis area of the device. As a side effect, like any other vibrations, the ones sent from the Earth to Mars result in a series of harmonics. Typically, the sounds are ear-jarring ones which could hardly be considered music. But August 5, 2013 was a special day.
 

On that day, as seen above, the SAM team sent a sequence of vibrations consisting of carefully planned with peaks and valleys. Those vibrations weren’t intended to collect samples from the Mars surface. They were sent to mark the fact that Curiosity had landed there a year prior -- in song. If you care to listen, that’s a screenshot from a NASA video available here, and you’ll immediately recognize the tune as that from Happy Birthday. 

So unless an advanced civilization lived on Mars long ago, or unless Elvis truly isn’t dead and instead relocated to a place a little further from the Sun, Happy Birthday was the first song every played on the planet Mars.

Source: Now I Know 

Not your Playboy Bunny

No, that's not a pet she is holding in her lap.

Mary Toft (née Denyer; c. 1701–1763), also spelled Tofts, was an English woman from Godalming, Surrey, who in 1726 became the subject of considerable controversy when she tricked doctors into believing that she had given birth to rabbits.

In 1726 Toft became pregnant, but following her reported fascination with the sighting of a rabbit, she miscarried. Her claim to have given birth to various animal parts prompted the arrival of John Howard, a local surgeon, who investigated the matter. He delivered several pieces of animal flesh and duly notified other prominent physicians, which brought the case to the attention of Nathaniel St. André, surgeon to the Royal Household of King George I. St. André concluded that Toft's case was genuine but the king also sent surgeon Cyriacus Ahlers, who remained sceptical. By then quite famous, Toft was brought to London and studied at length, where under intense scrutiny and producing no more rabbits she confessed to the hoax, and was subsequently imprisoned as a fraud.
The resultant public mockery created panic within the medical profession and ruined the careers of several prominent surgeons. Toft was eventually released without charge and returned home.

Because I haven't done any of these for a while

Nanoo, nanoo!

MARS, Pa. (AP) — Earth to Mars: Happy New Year!

That's the sentiment being offered this weekend in Mars, Pennsylvania, as NASA and other space enthusiasts gather to honor the red planet.

The Martian New Year occurs about every two Earth-years. On Friday and Saturday, NASA will sponsor exhibits and activities in the borough of Mars, about 20 miles north of Pittsburgh.

The agency hopes to encourage young people to study science and technology fields that will further NASA's goal of sending humans to Mars in the 2030s.

 Mars on Earth has a population of about 1,700 and a sculpture of a flying saucer in the heart of town. Its festival includes a science fiction costume contest.

The next celebration is scheduled for May 5, 2017.

Source: MSN News
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Damien's note: I realize that "Nanoo, nanoo" is Orkan, but I could not find the Martian greeting online. 

BTW

Happy Bloomsday!

Bloomsday is a commemoration and celebration of the life of Irish writer James Joyce during which the events of his novel Ulysses (which is set on 16 June 1904) are relived. It is observed annually on 16 June in Dublin and elsewhere. Joyce chose the date as it was the date of his first outing with his wife-to-be, Nora Barnacle; they walked to the Dublin suburb of Ringsend. The name is derived from Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Ulysses.

"I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes. "
~  Molly Bloom in Ulysses

Need a spot of color in the bathroom?

Indulge in the unexpected and discover why the globe's top entertainers demand Renova Colored Toilet Paper on their world tours. Vibrant and luxurious, this triple-layered colorfast bath tissue comforts and pampers the senses. Bold colors make a playful statement in the last place you'd think to look. 

Normally $46.00 for twelve rolls, they are available for a short time at the bargain price of $23.99 for twelve at Touch of Modern.

Damien's note: I see that for the same price, $23.99, you can get 48 double rolls of Quilted Northern Ultra Plush at Amazon.com. Or twelve Cottonell Ultra Comfort Care for $9.49.

But they are, of course, plain white. Which I suppose the globe's top entertainers would find too boring for their pampered bottoms.

Another argument for ... something

A Colorado Springs man told investigators he shot himself in the foot Wednesday night because he wanted to know what it felt like, according to police.

Adam Hirtle, 30, is suspected of prohibited use of weapons, reckless endangerment and child abuse in the shooting. Sgt. James Sokolik, a police spokesman, said Hirtle was served a summons in the case and released.

Officers were called to St. Francis Hospital about 7 p.m. on reports of a man injured in an accidental gun discharge. Hirtle, however, told police the shooting was completely on purpose. 

Hirtle told an officer he shot himself in his garage. 

"Hirtle stated he took his boot off and shot it, then placed his boot back on his foot and then intentionally shot himself in the foot," police say. "He did not sustain life-threatening injury nor was anybody else injured."

Source: The Denver Post

We all scream for ...

The Sydney Morning Herald, January 16, 1931

Damien's note: For a moment I thought, "Ice cream? January?"

And then I realized -- Australia.

But seriously -- "The Health Food of a Nation"?

And I make no comment at all about those Peters cones in the lower corner ...

Funny but ...

From an Australian version of The Onion: "In response to threats from a Canberra couple to divorce were equal marriage laws to pass, a local couple in a committed same-sex relationship have in turn threatened to absolutely not give the slightest shit were that to happen. Local couple Brett and Harry have said that while they are not heterophobic and do their best to be open to all different kinds of views if this divorce does go ahead they will have no choice but to go on with their lives completely unaffected by such a dumb stunt." (Tipped by JMG reader John)

The above is from Joe.My.God.

Damien's note: Amusing joke, but there may be a hint to an actual strategy. When pastors proclaim loudly that they will not marry same-sex couples no matter what the Supreme Court rules, same-sex couples can simply go on with their lives. I doubt any reasonable same-sex couple had ever intended to be married by one of these 'phobes. And as an act of political defiance, such a declaration by pastors is full of sound an fury, signifying nothing. No pastor is required to marry a heterosexual couple now, even though straight marriage is assured by law.

This is not the same as providing marriage as part of a secular, civil job.

A word for our times?

floccinaucinihilipilification

This was the word-for-the-day on Dictionary.com yesterday. 

Rare. the estimation of something as valueless (encountered mainly as an example of one of the longest words in the English language). 

It dates back to about 1740 and takes its origin, we are told from  the Latin floccī + naucī + nihilī + pilī, all words meaning “of little or no value, trifling” + -fication.

“These terms appeared next to one another in a widely used textbook called The Eton Latin Grammar, and were combined into this facetious combination."

 While it is said to be rare, and I am willing to wager a small fortune that the majority of the three people who visit this blog have never heard it or used it in a sentence – click here if you want to know how to pronounce it --, I think it may be a word whose time has come. 

Doesn't "the estimation of something as valueless" strike you as particularly descriptive of the Republican presidential nomination process unfolding around us, the so-called clown car? Please note that the clowns in the illustration are standing in front of a [Grand Old] Party Store.

I am also reminded of so many grandstanding filibusters. They really should be renamed floccinaucinihilipilibusters.

And just how widely used was this Eton Latin Grammar anyway?

Quick check-in

Well, all the brouhaha about the play and the ghost and the missing charter is over. Okay, maybe not over-over. But it is settling down and the more important mysteries are solved. I won't say more here, but Michael should be able to turn it into an amusing book. With a lot of guidance from me, of course.

More important to me and the cats, Daniel arrived safely home, though not in the best of moods. On the other hand, his trip was so deadly that he pretty much collapsed into bed upon arrival, and I was able to get Hank Pharr packed and off the premises before Daniel woke up, still jet-lagging but on the mend. We are in the process, so to speak, of catching up.

Classes are over, grades are submitted, my term pro tem with the Kappas is hastening to its conclusion and a brief break is at hand.

Sometimes life is pretty good.

Happy birthday!

June 1 is the birthday of Scotch whisky. Well, kind of.

John Cor is the name of the friar referred to in the first known written reference to a batch of Scotch Whisky on June 1, 1495.

“To Friar John Cor, by order of the King, to make aqua vitae VIII bolls of malt.”

 ~ Exchequer Rolls 1494–95, Vol x, p. 487.

Friar John Cor (Johanni Cor/John Kawe) was a Tironensian monk based at Lindores Abbey in Fife. He was a servant at the court of James IV. The King gave him a gift of 14 shillings on Christmas Day in 1488, and at Christmas time in 1494 Cor was given black cloth from Lille in Flanders for his livery clothes as a clerk in royal service. He was probably an apothecary.

Eight bolls of malt was over 1,275 pounds. 

The Tironensians were well regarded for their skills as alchemists and indeed Lindores Abbey is known as the 'Birthplace of Scotch Whisky'. Leading whisky writer Michael Jackson refers to Lindores in his book Scotland and Its Whiskies saying "For the whisky-lover, it is a pilgrimage". The monks were also well respected for their horticultural skills and it is in no small part, thanks to those skills, that Newburgh is famous to this day for its abundant and delicious orchard fruits.

Damien's note: Despite the above entry in Wikipedia, friars and monks are not exactly the same critters. Since John was at Lindores Abbey, which was a Benedictine foundation, he was indeed a monk. It is possible that he was a lay brother, in which case people may have called him Brother or Frater in Latin. In which case, it was a small step to the confusion of calling him a friar, which is based on the word for brother in the Romance languages with Latin roots. 

At any rate, if your doctor and your personal inclinations permit, have a dram in honor of the good brother.