Okay today is the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction. Note the emphasis on the word "disaster" That word can be a bit relative; were I to severely injure myself such that I was hospitalized for an extended period and then wound up seriously weakened and immobile I might consider it a disaster and the people next door might or might not consider it "a pity", there's no way I'd get any disaster relief. Accordingly, since this is obviously a UN holiday, we should only consider large scale disasters to qualify. Contemplating reducing the risk of natural disasters, however, takes us into strange territory. Time was that you could reduce the risk of nearby volcanic eruptions by making a sacrifice to the volcano god usually in the form of a human that you tied up and threw into the volcano. Similarly you could reduce the risk of a disastrous flood by tying somebody up and tossing them in the river to mollify the river god and you could placate Neptune by tying somebody up and tossing them into the ocean to prevent tsunamis but those are very specific disasters that have specific gods, but as far as I know there's no earthquake god to appease, so how can you reduce the risk of an earthquake?

Beyond all that, gods are pretty unreliable so it is better to seek human means. You can certainly reduce the risk of disastrous damage to a given coastal neighborhood in hurricane territory by not rebuilding the damn thing there after next hurricane knocks it down. Try not to build housing, offices, hotels, and shopping centers in river beds, floodplains, avalanche zones, unstable cliffs and desert washes. All in all, however, natural disasters generally seem hard to control. The risk of some man-made disasters like train wrecks can theoretically be minimized, but that is an illusion because the risk reduction runs afoul of Adam Smith's sacred invisible hand and the need to maximize profits vastly outweighs the mere desire to minimize risks. Then there are disasters like Macron, Ursula von der Leyen, and all the rest. For every elected or unelected leader there is an ample population segment which considers them to be a disaster. I don't see how the risk of disastrous leaders can be reduced, for leaders, both overt and concealed are unavoidable, and those who bubble up to the top are what they are.

It is also Indigenous Peoples Day and Native American Day. Indigenous people will be at risk of disaster so long as they remain free. I know of only one group of Indigenous people who are free from the trials and travails brought upon such people by invaders and outsiders. You know who you are and look what happened to the Native Americans for guidance. Don't let anybody land on your turf, shoot them if they run and stab hem if they stand, and don't trust anybody. Well, there is one exception. You can always trust the US Government, just ask any American Indian.

Did I mention that it is International Plain Language Day? Right. Look where it got Lenny Bruce.

[ There may be some snark in the above writing ]

On this day in history:

409 – Vandals and Alans cross the Pyrenees and appear in Hispania. No pump handles were involved.

1307 – Hundreds of the Knights Templar in France were arrested at dawn by King Philip the Fair, and later confessed under torture to heresy.

1710 – Port Royal, the capital of French Acadia, fell in a siege by British forces.

1775 – The Continental Congress established the Continental Navy (predecessor of the US Navy).

1792 – In Washington, D.C., the cornerstone of the White House was laid.

1821 – The Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire was publicly proclaimed.

1892 – Edward Emerson Barnard became the first to discover a comet by photographic means.

1908 – Margaret Travers Symons burst into the UK parliament and became the first woman to speak there.

1917 – The "Miracle of the Sun" was witnessed by an estimated 70,000 people in the Cova da Iria in Portugal.

1921 – Soviet republics signed the Treaty of Kars to formalize the borders between Turkey and the South Caucasus states.

1923 – Ankara became the capital of Turkey.

1943 – Marshal Pietro Badoglio announced that Italy had officially declared war on Germany.

1946 – France adopted the constitution of the Fourth Republic.

1972 – The flag of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, was officially adopted.

1976 – The first electron micrograph of an Ebola virus was taken at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

1983 – Ameritech Mobile Communications launched the first US cellular network in Chicago.

2010 – The mining accident in Copiapó, Chile ended; all 33 trapped miners arrived at the surface after a record 69 days underground.

Births

Some people who were born on this day:

Take away the right to say ‘fuck’ and you take away the right to say ‘fuck the government.

~~ Lenny Bruce

1821 – Rudolf Virchow, physician, biologist, and politician
1853 – Lillie Langtry, actress and singer
1862 – Mary Kingsley, explorer, ethnographer, and author
1870 – Albert Jay Nock, theorist, author, Georgist, and critic
1872 – Leon Leonwood Bean, hunter, businessman, and author, founded L.L.Bean
1880 – Sasha Chorny, poet, satirist, and author
1890 – Conrad Richter, journalist and novelist
1893 – Kurt Reidemeister, mathematician connected to the Vienna Circle
1900 – Gerald Marks, composer
1902 – Arna Bontemps, librarian, author, and poet
1909 – Herblock, author and illustrator
1909 – Art Tatum, jazz pianist
1921 – Yves Montand, actor and singer
1922 – Gilberto Mendes, composer
1923 – Rosemary Anne Sisson, author and playwright
1924 – Terry Gibbs, vibraphone player and bandleader
1924 – Moturu Udayam, Iactivist and politician
1925 – Lenny Bruce, comedian and actor
1925 – Gustav Winckler, Danish singer and songwriter
1926 – Ray Brown, bassist and cellist
1926 – Tommy Whittle, saxophonist
1927 – Anita Kerr, singer and arranger
1927 – Lee Konitz, saxophonist and composer
1929 – Richard Howard, poet, critic, and translator
1929 – Walasse Ting, painter and poet
1932 – Johnny Lytle, vibraphone player and drummer
1935 – Etterlene DeBarge, singer and songwriter
1936 – Chitti Babu, veena player and composer
1938 – Hugo Young, journalist and author
1940 – Chris Farlowe, rock, blues, and soul singer
1940 – Pharoah Sanders, saxophonist and bandleader
1941 – Neil Aspinall, record producer and manager
1941 – Paul Simon, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1944 – Robert Lamm, singer, songwriter, pianist, and producer[
1946 – Lacy J. Dalton, country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1947 – Joe Dolce, Asinger, songwriter, and guitarist
1947 – Sammy Hagar, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1948 – Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, musician
1950 – Simon Nicol, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1952 – Mundo Earwood, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1956 – Sinan Sakić, singer
1958 – Jair-Rôhm Parker Wells, bassist and composer
1959 – Marie Osmond, singer, actress, and television spokesperson
1960 – Joey Belladonna, singer and songwriter
1966 – Baja Mali Knindža, singer
1969 – Cady McClain, actress and singer
1970 – Paul Potts, tenor
1977 – Benjamin Clapp, drummer
1977 – Justin Peroff, drummer and actor
1980 – Ashanti, singer, songwriter, producer, and actress

Some people who died on this day:

We know how to win wars. We must learn now to win peace...

~~ Stephen Ambrose

1562 – Claudin de Sermisy, composer
1687 – Geminiano Montanari, astronomer, experimentalist, and lens maker
1822 – Antonio Canova, sculptor
1909 – Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, philosopher and academic
1919 – Karl Adolph Gjellerup, author and poet
1926 – Hans E. Kinck, philologist and authorBR>
1938 – E. C. Segar, cartoonist, created Popeye
1974 – Ed Sullivan, journalist and tv show host
1979 – Rebecca Clarke, viola player and composer
1987 – Walter Houser Brattain, physicist and engineer
1987 – Kishore Kumar, singer, songwriter, producer, actor, and director
2001 – Peter Doyle, singer and songwriter
2002 – Stephen Ambrose, historian and author
2003 – Bertram Brockhouse, physicist and academic
2005 – Vivian Malone Jones, activist
2013 – Tommy Whittle, saxophonist
2023 – Louise Glück, poet and essayist

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

International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction
Indigenous Peoples Day
Native American Day

Today's Tunes

Disaster Risk Reduction Day

Gerald Marks

Art Tatum

Yves Montand

Gilberto Mendes

Terrry Gibbs

Ray Brown

Tommy Whittle

Lee Konitz

Johnny Lytle

Chitti Babu

Chris Farlowe

Pharoah Sanders

Paul Simon

Robert Lamm

Lacy J Dalton

Simon Nicol

Marie Osmond

Peter Doyle

Tommy Whittle

It's all about that bass

Now play your own favorite 12 Paul Simon Songs

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

Cross posted from http://caucus99percent.com

Open Thread, Risk Reduction Day, Native American Day, Indigenous Peoples Day, Yves Montand, Ray Brown, Pharoah Sanders, Paul Simon, Lacy J Dalton, Marie Osmond