Astute Owl Chatter readers who don’t drink too heavily may recall a discussion we had a while back about goat yoga. It’s yoga in which a small goat or several are introduced into the room for the calming effect they produce. (I see sessions are available in Milford NJ at the Mad Lavender farm. If you call, mention Owl Chatter and you’ll be charged an additional 10%, if you’re allowed in at all.)
Why am I dredging it up? Well, Emma Morton-Doe of the Dull Men’s Club (UK) posted about using the word “digs” to her 18-year-old college-boy son, in the expression “how are your digs?” only to discover that he had never heard of it. He thought she was making it up.
Dean Brown commented: “I don’t know why, but the word ‘digs’ gets on my goat.” Garreth Duckett then wrote: I can’t ignore your use of the phrase “gets on my goat.” It’s just “gets my goat.”
The meaning, of course, is that it angers me, and in the dull discussion that followed, it was explained how it came about. (And it relates to goat yoga!) Goats are believed to have a calming effect on animals (and people, apparently). So they were introduced on farms to help keep the rest of the animals calm. And if someone stole (got) your goat, the animals would get agitated. So “getting my goat” took on the meaning of “getting me agitated.”
OK, remember the math business from yesterday? Here’s the part of it I could follow: 73 is the 21st prime number, and its reverse, 37, is the 12th prime number, which is the reverse of 21. Interestingly, 21 is also the product of 7 and 3 (7 × 3 = 21).
Murray Atkinson posted: “But 21 is half of 42 which is what you get if you multiply 6 by 9, and which trumps any other number, obviously.”
This generated some consternation, since 6 x 9 is (generally) not 42. But Murray backed his position with this authority:
“What do you get if you multiply six by nine?”
“Six by nine. Forty two.”
“That’s it. That’s all there is.”
“I always thought something was fundamentally wrong with the universe”
(That’s from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams.)
Phil Rogers posted: 7 + 5 = 12, but 7 x 5 does not. Maths is amazing. [Note: In England they call math “maths.” (not kidding)]
Murray then came back with “But 1+2+3 = 1x2x3 = 3!
Do you get that one? (Judy?) At first Andy Spragg corrected Murray and noted 1+2+3 and 1x2x3=6, but then he saw what was going on. Do you?
3! is 3 “factorial.” The factorial of any number (indicated with a !) is the string of products from that number and the numbers below it. So 4! = 4x3x2x1 = 24. So what Murray said was correct: 1+ 2 + 3 (which is 6) equals 1x2x3 (also 6), which can be written as 3!
If you’re flummoxed by all of this, borrow this pretty girl’s goat for a bit, if she’ll let you. It’ll calm you right down.
BTW, in Murray Atkinson’s bio for the Dull Men’s Club (UK) he posted this photo of him and his wife. Clearly, a marriage based on “mutual assured destruction.”
It’s Abe Lincoln’s birthday today. He was born in Kentucky (not Illinois) in 1809. He shares his birthday with Charles Darwin. And Darwin’s great book on evolution was published the year before Lincoln became Prez.
This poem is called “February 12, 1963.” It’s by Jacqueline Woodson and is from The Poetry Foundation.
I am born on a Tuesday at University Hospital
Columbus, Ohio,
USA—
a country caught
between Black and White.
I am born not long from the time
or far from the place
where
my great-great-grandparents
worked the deep rich land
unfree
dawn till dusk
unpaid
drank cool water from scooped-out gourds
looked up and followed
the sky’s mirrored constellation
to freedom.
I am born as the South explodes,
too many people too many years
enslaved, then emancipated
but not free, the people
who look like me
keep fighting
and marching
and getting killed
so that today—
February 12, 1963
and every day from this moment on,
brown children like me can grow up
free. Can grow up
learning and voting and walking and riding
wherever we want.
I am born in Ohio but
the stories of South Carolina already run
like rivers
through my veins.
Did you ever follow a link to read an article, say in The Washington Post, and find that after the first few sentences they cut you off unless you subscribe? That’s called a paywall, and it was the theme in today’s NYTXW. Two shaded down answers were forms of pay: WAGE and SALARY. Then at 60A and 63A, for the clue “where some journalism is located” the answers were BEHIND A PAYWALL. Then three theme answers were DEFINITE ARTICLE, SPEAK ONE’S PIECE, and CINDERELLA STORY, with article, piece, and story all coming after (or behind) the wages/salary “wall.” Hard to describe, but pretty neat, IMO.
At 46D the clue was: “Ka ___ (southernmost point in the U.S.)” It was news to me that it’s Ka LAE. burtonkd says: “It is the southernmost point of Big Island, Hawaii and has a platform you can jump off to land in the water several meters down, then climb a rickety ladder back up. A guide warned us that if you get caught in a strong southerly current, the nearest body of land to the south is Antarctica.”
Here’s a treat! “Satirist Michael” turned out to be Michael PALIN. Here’s a taste of his work. Best to watch it three or four times to squeeze all the juice out of it. (Learning the piano!!??)
Here are some comments from the youtube posting:
My grandfather was one of the soldiers in this scene. Sadly passed away now but absolutely loved it whenever my nan, my dad or I reminded him of this hilarious scene. Know this scene off by heart and can’t help but laugh. RIP grandad, you’ll never be forgotten.
I’ve got a sergeant exactly like that in the RAF. We were doing drill as he suddenly goes today we will be marching up and down the square. Upon him saying this I burst out laughing, he strides over to me and says “why were you laughing??” I reply “don’t know sgt sorry sgt.” He then says “are you a MP fan?” me “yes sgt” then what shocked me the most was him going “good man my respect for you has gone up” and walked off.
I get the praise for the Piano lessons and book reading bits, but something about the mundane wholesomeness of Atkinson’s preference for spending the afternoon with his family instead of marching up and down the square and his willingness to admit that to the Sarge will always crack me up.
Would you now??!!
Palin is 81, with three kids and 4 grandkids. He is a co-founder of The Michael Palin Centre for Stammering. When it opened in 1993 Palin became Vice President of Action for Stammering Children. Palin’s awareness and understanding of stammering stemmed from his father’s experience as a person who stammers. Over the years Palin has provided support and connection to young people and families of people who stammer.
I had a few students who stammered, and it always broke my heart a little to see them struggling. If it was in my class of 80 students and a student with that difficulty raised his hand to speak, it seemed so courageous to me.
Ooops! Time to watch the Sirens! Gotta go. See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 