Monday OT: Oct 19 - Rainforest Day

October 19 is day 293 of the Gregorian Calendar year,
Boomtime, Bureaucracy 73, 3186 YOLD
And let us not forget 3.0.7.16.19 mlc (the Mayan Long Count)

Amazon Rainforest Journey

Amazon Rainforest Journey

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THAT

is what is wrong with the world today!  I searched a picture sharing site for "Rainforest" and THAT came up as responsive.  Worse yet, a large number of people "faved" it.  We are so self centered, so completely all about ourselves, our doings, our possessions and our style that we can't see the forest or the trees!  I  wonder if anybody on that "journey" actually set foot in so much as the outer margins of the forest, a meter off of the paved pathway or stopped to examine a bug, flower or leaf. The rainforests drive our ecosystem, and like it, they are dying, but to far, far too many they are but a photo op, a place to display goods and acquisitions and perhaps take some selfies.  Hell, this is closer to being a rainforest than that is, at least it is outdoors, even if it is in a desert.

032012coyote1

032012coyote1

Of course, that could well be where we are heading, especially with respect to that very amazon rainforest:

Amazon near tipping point of switching from rainforest to savannah – studyhttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/oct/05/amazon-near-tipping-...

/rant off

NB - I considered going with Multicultural Diversity Day, but there is something horribly wrong linguistically there.  I mean, as opposed to what? Multicultural uniformity? Multicultural homogeneity? It just doesn't work.

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On this day in history:

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202 BC – The Romans beat Hannible at the Battle of Zama ending the Second Punic War
439 – The Vandals took Carthage
1386 – The Universität Heidelberg held its first lecture
1469 – Ferdinand II of Aragon married Isabella I of Castile, leading to the unification of Spain, The Spanish Inquisition, Columbus' voyages, and a host of other horrors.
1781 – The siege of Yorktown came to an end.
1789 – John Jay was sworn in as the first Chief Justice of the United States.
1812 – Napoleon began his retreat from Moscow.
1900 – Max Planck discovered Planck's law of black-body radiation.
1912 – Italy took what is now Libya from the Ottoman Empire.
1935 – The League of Nations placed economic sanctions on Italy for its invasion of Ethiopia.
1943 – Streptomycin was isolated by researchers at Rutgers University.
1944 – A coup was launched against Juan Federico Ponce Vaides, beginning the ten-year Guatemalan Revolution. This led to a brief period of democracy which, of course, forced the US to stage a coup against it because there is nothing the US hates more than actual democracy abroad.
1960 – The US imposed a near-total trade embargo against Cuba.
1973 – Nixon rejected a Court decision requiring him to turn over the Watergate tapes.
1987 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 22% (But the real economy kept on going, hmmmmm)

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Born this day in:

“Rise and demand; you are a burning flame.
You are sure to conquer there where the final horizon
Becomes a drop of blood, a drop of life,
Where you will carry the universe on your shoulders,
Where the universe will bear your hope.”

--Miguel Angel Asturias

879 – Yingtian, empress of the Khitan Liao Dynasty about which most us were taught absolutely nothing, like where, when, or what it was
1688 – William Cheselden, surgeon and anatomist
1784 – Leigh Hunt, poet and critic
1810 – Cassius Marcellus Clay,  journalist, lawyer, and diplomat
1850 – Annie Smith Peck, mountaineer and academic
1858 – George Albert Boulenger, zoologist and botanist
1868 – Bertha Knight Landes, academic and politician
1879 – Emma Bell Miles, writer, poet, and artist
1882 – Umberto Boccioni, painter and sculptor
1895 – Lewis Mumford, historian, sociologist, and philosopher
1899 – Miguel Ángel Asturias, journalist, author, and poet
1907 – Roger Wolfe Kahn, bandleader and composer
1909 – Marguerite Perey, physicist and academic
1910 – Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, astrophysicist, astronomer, and mathematician
1910 – Paul Robert, lexicographer and publisher
1916 – Jean Dausset, immunologist and academic
1916 – Emil Gilels, pianist
1916 – Minoru Yasui, soldier, lawyer, and activist
1917 – Sharadchandra Shankar Shrikhande, mathematician
1917 – Walter Munk, oceanographer, author, and academic
1922 – Jack Anderson, journalist and author
1926 – Arne Bendiksen, singer, songwriter, and producer
1926 – Joel Feinberg, philosopher and academic
1927 – Pierre Alechinsky, painter and illustrator
1931 – John le Carré, spook and author
1934 – Dave Guard, folk music singer, songwriter, arranger, and musician
1936 – James Bevel, civil rights activist and minister
1940 – Larry Chance, singer and songwriter
1944 – George McCrae, singer
1944 – Peter Tosh, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1945 – Divine, Divine
1945 – Gloria Jones,  singer and songwriter
1945 – John Lithgow, John Whorfin, actor
1945 – Jeannie C. Riley, singer
1946 – Keith Reid, songwriter and lyricist
1948 – Patrick Simmons, singer, songwriter ,and guitarist
1951 – Demetrios Christodoulou, mathematician and physicist
1957 – Dorinda Clark-Cole, singer, songwriter, and pianist
1957 – Karl Wallinger, singer, songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
1960 – Ayuo Takahashi, singer and songwriter
1960 – Dan Woodgate, musician, songwriter, composer, and record producer
1962 – Bendik Hofseth, saxophonist and composer

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Died this day in:

When a great genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign: that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.

--Johnathan Swift

1745 – Jonathan Swift, satirist and essayist
1897 – George Pullman, engineer and businessman
1937 – Ernest Rutherford, physicist and chemist
1943 – Camille Claudel, sculptor and illustrator
1944 – Dénes Konig, mathematician
1945 – N. C. Wyeth, painter and illustrator
1950 – Edna St. Vincent Millay, poet and playwright
1956 – Isham Jones, saxophonist, songwriter, and bandleader
1988 – Son House, singer and guitarist
1995 – Don Cherry, trumpet player
1997 – Glen Buxton, guitarist and songwriter
2005 – Ryan Dallas Cook, trombonist
2007 – Winifred Asprey, mathematician and computer scientist
2013 – John Bergamo, drummer and composer
2013 – Ronald Shannon Jackson, drummer and composer
2014 – John Holt, singer and songwriter
2014 – Raphael Ravenscroft, saxophonist and composer
2016 – Phil Chess, record producer.  In its heyday, Chess Records had a huge stable of top notch musicians such that any performer could, if they got lucky, have a backing band including folks like Willie Dixon, Otis Spann, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers, Little Walter and the like. It was really a place like no other.

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Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:
Rainforest Day

Multicultural Diversity Day

LGBT Center Awareness Day

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Music goes here, iirc, well, With apologies Wink

Dave Guard

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Larry Chance (Philly doo wop)

 

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George McCrae

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Peter Tosh

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Keith Reid

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Patrick Simmons

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Isham Jones

 

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Son House

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John Holt

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Phil Chess

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Image is public domain

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It's an open thread, so do your thing

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Open Thread, Rainforest Day, Max Planck, streptomycin, Johnathan Swift, Peter Tosh, Son House, Phil Chess

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magiamma's picture

et al

Thanks for the ot, el. Wonder when the rain will come.

With dry La Niña conditions, persistent Western drought looms large in winter outlook

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-10-16/with-dry-la-nina-con...

The official outlook from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, released Thursday, favors warmer, drier conditions across the Southern tier of the U.S. and cooler, wetter conditions in the north, consistent with an ongoing La Niña.

A La Niña occurs when the sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific are below average...

.
One of the most amazing rainforests is in New Zealand. I walked through it many years ago now.
.
[video:https://youtu.be/HRpgTXEncSk]
.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiordland#Ecology

The area has been categorised as the Fiordland temperate forests ecoregion, having a variety of habitats and due to its isolation a high number of endemic plants. Much of Fiordland is heavily forested except for locations where surface rock exposures are extensive. The natural habitats are almost completely unspoilt.

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Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

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@magiamma hi, I edited my comment to say "or anyone" but you were the first person I thought of when reading the Serapium Forest stories, a kind of path forward. A naturally artistic endeavor. I have been reading too much Malthus lately, who reaffirms the idea I was literally born with inside my head... there are too many humans on earth since three hundred years ago already. Hah! Human beings being humans. There will always be something. Good luck.

Peace and Love

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magiamma's picture

@eyo

Egypt has managed to plant trees in the desert using wastewater, as part of plans to preserve the environment, reduce pollution and optimize the use of natural water resources. The Serapium Forest, which has boomed despite the drought and rainfall deficit, consists of 200 hectares (494 acres) of trees planted in Ismailia city, in northeast Egypt. The forest has been a vital project that set a precedent for other projects to reduce water pollution and unemployment. ...

The project, of which only 15% has been completed, stretches over nearly 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles). It is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2030. The forest will extend over 100 million hectares (247 million acres) at an estimated cost of $8 billion.

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enhydra lutris's picture

@magiamma
the Milford Track. Never been there, suspect I never will, but looks to be magnificent. I did get to venture into the outer edges of Australia's Eastern rainforest back in the early 80's, but that's as close as I got to NZ (well, Sydney, technically closer). Still, one for down under.

Not seeing any rain in the moderately near future, but it is cooling and looks to cool even further starting Friday, so, at lest less heat stress on the thirsty plant and animal life.

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

National Weather Service issues North Bay wildfire weather watch starting Monday

As of Sunday evening, Pacific Gas and Electric had not marked the region as being on a Public Safety Power Shutoff watch.

Woo hoo! Edit: to add link quote in case ya don't get the celebratory shout: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kincade_Fire

... but a compulsory report shows that the fire started when a 230,000 volt transmission line failed near the point of origin, just before power was about to be shut off in the area.[8] On October 26, PG&E began shutting off power in an attempt to prevent additional fires, leaving an estimated three million people without power.[9] On October 28, the California Public Utilities Commission announced an investigation into the shutoffs.[10] "Despite the latest shutdowns, PG&E admitted last week that its equipment may have started the Kincade fire," said the San Jose Mercury News in an editorial condemning the utility's practices and calling for regulatory action.[11]

Impact
The fire "chewed through more than 100 sq mi (260 km2) and destroyed or damaged over 120 buildings."[12] Eighty thousand more structures were threatened by the fire, and PG&E said it had cut off power to more than a million customers.[12] According to the Federal Communications hundreds of cell phone towers were down because of power shutoffs.[13] The Soda Rock Winery in Healdsburg was destroyed and the Field Stone Vineyard was heavily damaged.[14]

That was last year. This year the Glass firestorms wiped out more.

Earlier today I searched for "serapium forest caucus99percent.com" to see if magi or anyone had reported on it in the "past", but no I got this instead:

c99socialized.jpg
"We found that Caucus99percent.com is poorly "socialized" in respect to any social network."
Woo hoo!
TL;DR too long;didn't reads:
2016: Sewage effluent fights desertification in Egypt
2020: How Egypt is growing forests in middle of the desert
Ob-la-di Ob-la-da

Good News Everyone!
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRCzEqkCoiM width:420]

If some body can sit through 8 minutes of that nonsense, then it can shirley sit through 4 minutes of... you know.. The Thing!

5th Dimension "The Declaration" LIVE 2/22/70
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSDqS9jlOYw width:500]

Moi ballot still sits upon the shredder pile, but there is a lot of local stuff beckoning me to vote NO again. There is still time, or maybe there isn't. Good luck.

Peace and Love

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enhydra lutris's picture

@eyo

"good news".

Story of my life:

"We found that Caucus99percent.com is poorly "socialized" in respect to any social network."

Except the lingo, of course. In my day it was "does not play well with others", then "does not work well with others" and/or "not a team player"; not to be confused with "has problems with authority figures". Bwahahaha

The Thing - pretty radical statement, especially given what it became.

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

magiamma's picture

@enhydra lutris

"does not play well with others", then "does not work well with others" and/or "not a team player"; not to be confused with "has problems with authority figures"

Afuckinmen...

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Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

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bacon scented face masks
free from Hormel (makers of Spam)
while supplies last
hurry, get yours today!

https://www.breathablebacon.com

bfce6355-2234-4cda-a367-ed550ae20153-WideShot.png.jpeg

pork futures soared at the Chicago Merc exchange in response

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enhydra lutris's picture

@QMS

to make one hungry the whole day through just in time for fall/winter. Amazing.

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Lookout's picture

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ky2DaCJv5w]
30 sec

https://amazonwatch.org/news/2020/1006-the-amazons-frontline-defenders-a...

For decades, the Amazon debate has been dominated by the "conservation" versus "development" dichotomy. But the future of the Amazon may rest on the world's ability to pilot a Third Way that seeks to change the financial calculus for the forest's destruction. Amazon 4.0, an initiative started by Nobre and other preeminent Brazilian scientists, seeks to invest in sustainable, commercializable forest products and technology solutions. Yet as these scale to market, the proven conservation solution of protecting indigenous lands and communities needs more support to hold the line. The Amazon Emergency Fund, an emergent indigenous and NGO-led effort, is doing some of this urgent work to prevent the loss of more lives and literal ground on the frontlines.

We were fortunate to visit a rainforest last Feb. on Costa Rica's Osa...

IMG_0250.jpg

Thanks for the OT. Have a good one everyone!

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9 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

enhydra lutris's picture

@Lookout

Costa Rica, and a lot of coastal mangrove "swamps" too. Great place.

be well and have a good one.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

The rainforest stories are too depressing, and your'e right, the woman in the fancy scarf is just salt in the wound. It does make you wonder what is wrong with these people. Simply boggles the mind.

Thanks for the Chess Records idea. I plan to listen to those as I undertake some indoor chores.

Annie Smith Peck was a mountaineer and academic in 1850? Who knew that was even possible, three cheers for her. It sounds like a fabulous life.

Have a good one.

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enhydra lutris's picture

@randtntx
about the rain forests, especially as decimated for consumerism and resource exploitation.

One can play stuff from the Chess collection all day and night. For a while they put out these boxed sets of CDs called Chess Boxes and a grabbed a few that weren't too duplicative of stuff I already had. Willie Dixon and Bo Diddley come to mind.

Ms. Peck just jumped out at me. My reaction was much as yours.

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

dystopian's picture

Hi EL,

You didn't think you would find tree or forest pictures searching for 'rainforest' did you? Hard to watch fools excise the lungs of earth, rainforests. For cheap neolib burgers and
palm oil. A lot of the Amazon appears to have gone savannah already. I'd swear we are at war against the environment. The two most destructive weapons of mass destruction are the bulldozer and the chainsaw. Inventions of a species that should have been named Homo destructus or perhaps Homo ignoramus.

===

I vaguely recall a humor bit, I think it might have been Dick Smothers or George Carlin... They went through names of magazines to show how we went from being about externals to completely self-infatuated ego-centrics. From LIFE, LOOK, and TIME, to PEOPLE, then US, and WE, finally arriving at the rather prescient I magazine for the totally self-absorbed.

No kiddin' on Chess records, it would take days and nights, weeks of them, to get through all the great stuff they put out.

In the last few days after a big front with strong northerlies a bunch of winter birds arrived here. First of season Hermit Thrush, White-crowned Sparrow, Pipit, Flicker (orange-winged intergrade), Meadowlark, Vesper and Savannah Sparrow. The stuff winter is made of here.

Have a good one EL!

Play it safe all!

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

enhydra lutris's picture

@dystopian

the burgers and palm oil, as they drive the dozers and saws, but then again, I can still recall when it was the lust for mahogany, rosewood, coco bolo and such and gold, or course, toujours gold.

Love the joke.

I think one year for Phil Chess' birthday, or similr event, I did a whole column of nothing but Chess records. IIRC it was very difficult winnowing it down to a column's worth.

Quite a group of birds. Our hermit thrush hasn't appeared yet this year. We do get pipits (American), but I've never seen one other than at the shoreline, and never think of them when trying to ID mystery birds elsewhere. Some sort of mental set blindness type of thingie. We get savannah sparrows, speaking of the rain forests, but not vespers, at least afaik. Our hermit usually arrives, or is first spotted by us, in late November.

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

dystopian's picture

@enhydra lutris Once I was standing around with a bunch of the socal bigshot birders and someone pulled an Am. Pipit specimen out of their pocket, passed it around asking what it was. Every LBJ - little brown job - in the book was suggested, only a couple got it right. They are one of the the great mystery birds. When you see one bobbing at the edge of the mudflat 200 feet away, no problemo, bare-eyed. Hand one to someone, and out of habitat and without behavior, it becomes an ID challenge.

I was totally befuddled by them first time I saw them in breeding plumage on the breeding grounds at 11,000' in the Rockies. Wink

btw, love your coyote pic!

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3 users have voted.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein