~~     clover1

A WEEDis a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, "a plant in the wrong place".  (Wikipedia, also traditional).  Dandelions, for example are largely considered to be a weed, but you can buy the leaves at my grocery because many eat them.  Some other edible "weeds" are mustard and fennel.  An herb, in reality, is merely some weed that some folk have determined to have culinary or medicinal uses.  Other weeds, like Hemp, have industrial uses.   Wildflowers, of course, are also weeds, even though many are important to keeping pollinators alive and healthy.

The weed pictured is clover which is not remotely a weed and which used to be a sought out addendum to grass seed because it adds nitrogen to the soil.   It also feeds bees and possibly other pollinators.  A currently prominent lawn seed provider long ago actually touted the fact that their seed included clover which made lawns grown from their products self-fertilizing.  However, they eventually began to include a poorly designed "weed killer" (2,4-D) in their products, which they advertised as keeping their lawns "weed free".  Unfortunately, that product also killed clover so they began a sleazy propaganda campaign to get the populace to identify clover as a weed or equivalent.  That campaign succeeded fantastically and they still advertise that their products kill or eliminate clover.  One example of their misrepresentation is

Scotts Weed Control for Lawns kills over 200 types of weeds, including the toughest weeds like dandelion and clover.

 
The only reason they identify clover as a "weed" is because their so-called "weed killer" kills it.  That is exactly bassackwards, but such is the marketing game.  "Truth in advertising" is, quite simply, an oxymoron.

On this day in history:

1776 – Juan Bautista de Anza chose a site for the Presidio of San Francisco.

1842 – First concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Otto Nicolai.

1854 – France and Britain declared war on Russia.

1871 – The Paris Commune was formally established in Paris.

1910 – Henri Fabre became the first person to fly a seaplane, the Fabre Hydravion

1920 – Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1920 hit the Great Lakes region and Deep South states.

1939 – Generalissimo Francisco Franco conquered Madrid after a three-year siege.

1965 – An Mw 7.4 earthquake in Chile set off a series of tailings dam failures, burying the town El Cobre and killing at least 500.

1970 – An earthquake struck western Turkey killing 1,086 and injuring 1,260.

1978 – The Supremes handed down 5–3 decision in Stump v. Sparkman, a controversial case involving involuntary sterilization and judicial immunity.

1979 – A coolant leak at the Three Mile Island's Unit 2 nuclear reactor led to the core overheating and a partial meltdown.

1994 – In South Africa, African National Congress security guards killed dozens of Inkatha Freedom Party protesters.

1999 – Serb paramilitary and military forces killed 146 Kosovo Albanians in Izbica.

2003 – Two American A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft attacked British tanks participating in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, killing one soldier.

2005 – An earthquake shook northern Sumatra with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI (Strong), leaving 915–1,314 people dead and 340–1,146 injured.

2006 – Massive protests were mounted against France's First Employment Contract law, meant to reduce youth unemployment.

Born this day in:

Mark this: as long as people are afraid, they will rot like the birches in the marsh. We must grow bold; it is time!

~~     Maxim Gorky

1472 – Fra Bartolomeo, painter
1483 – Raphael,  painter and architect
1638 – Frederik Ruysch, botanist and anatomist
1760 – Thomas Clarkson, activist
1793 – Henry Schoolcraft, geographer, geologist, and ethnologist
1795 – Georg Heinrich Pertz, historian and author
1819 – Joseph Bazalgette, architect and engineer
1868 – Maxim Gorky, novelist, short story writer, and playwright
1890 – Paul Whiteman, violinist, composer, and bandleader
1892 – Corneille Heymans, physiologist and academic,
1895 – Ángela Ruiz Robles, teacher, writer and inventor, pioneer of the electronic book
1902 – Jaromír Vejvoda, fiddler and composer
1903 – Rudolf Serkin, pianist and educator
1904 – Isabel Cuchí Coll, author and journalist
1904 – Margaret Tucker, author and activist
1906 – Murray Adaskin, violinist, composer, and conductor
1909 – Nelson Algren, novelist and short story writer
1910 – Frederick Baldwin Adams, Jr., librarian and art collector
1913 – Toko Shinoda, artist
1914 – Edward Anhalt, screenwriter and producer
1914 – Kenneth Richard Norris, entomologist and academic
1915 – Jay Livingston, singer-songwriter
1917 – Claude Bertrand, neurosurgeon and scholar
1922 – Grace Hartigan, painter and educator
1923 – Paul C. Donnelly, scientist and engineer
1923 – Thad Jones, trumpet player and composer
1927 – Theo Colborn, zoologist and academic
1927 – Marianne Fredriksson, journalist and author
1930 – Jerome Isaac Friedman, physicist and academic
1933 – Tete Montoliu, pianist
1934 – Lester R. Brown, environmentalist, founded the Earth Policy Institute and Worldwatch Institute
1936 – Mario Vargas Llosa, writer, politician, journalist and essayist
1948 – John Evan, keyboard player and songwriter
1948 – Milan Williams, keyboard player
1955 – Reba McEntire, singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
1958 – Elisabeth Andreassen, singer
1969 – Rodney Atkins, singer-songwriter and guitarist
1971 – Orfeh, singer, songwriter and actress
weed appreciation day
1976 – Dave Keuning, singer-songwriter and guitarist
1986 – Lady Gaga, singer-songwriter, dancer, producer, and actress

Died this day in:

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.

~~     Virginia Woolf

1563 – Heinrich Glarean, poet and music theorist
1566 – Sigismund von Herberstein, historian and diplomat
1687 – Constantijn Huygens, poet and composer
1818 – Antonio Capuzzi, violinist and composer
1874 – Peter Andreas Hansen, astronomer and mathematician
1881 – Modest Mussorgsky, pianist and composer
1910 – Édouard Colonne, violinist and conductor
1917 – Albert Pinkham Ryder, painter
1929 – Katharine Lee Bates, poet and songwriter
1934 – Mahmoud Mokhtar, sculptor and educator
1941 – Virginia Woolf, novelist, essayist, short story writer, and critic
1943 – Sergei Rachmaninoff, pianist, composer, and conductor
1958 – W. C. Handy, trumpet player and composer
1974 – Arthur Crudup, singer-songwriter and guitarist
1974 – Dorothy Fields, songwriter
1979 – Emmett Kelly, clown and actor
1982 – William Giauque, chemist and academic
1985 – Marc Chagall, painter and poet
1987 – Maria von Trapp, singer
1994 – Eugène Ionesco, playwright and critic
2001 – Moe Koffman, flute player, saxophonist, and composer
2012 – Harry Crews, novelist, playwright, short story writer, and essayist
2012 – Addie L. Wyatt, labor leader
2013 – Hugh McCracken, guitarist, harmonica player, and producer

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

Natiional Something on s Stick Day
National Black Forest Cake Day
Respect Your Cat Day
Weed Appreciation Day

Music goes here, iirc, well, With apologies

Paul Whiteman

Thad Jones

Tete Monteliu

John Evan

Milan Williams

Antonio Capuzzi

Modest Mussorgsky

Sergei Rachmananoff

WC Handy

Arthur Crudup

Moe Koffman

Hugh McCracken

Please Note: Please do not post any Covid-19 related commentary in the comments. Thank you. There is a separate OT, aka The Dose, where all such material is welcome. Thanks again.

Ok, it's an open thread, so it's up to you folks now. So what's on your mind?