February 2 is World Wetlands Day, marking the adoption of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat on February 2, 1971. The convention was all about conservation and sustainable use of so called "Ramsar sites" or, more simply "wetlands". Wetlands day was established to raise awareness about the value of wetlands for humanity and the planet.

Wetlands play an important role in earths ecology, filtering water, providing coastal and riparian floodplains and flood mitigation zones, fish, mammal, amphibian, bird, plant and other habitats and nurseries and more. Something my cursory look into Wetlands Day did not turn up was any reference to mangroves which are a very important and integral part of many coastal wetlands, providing all of the other wetlands habitat benefits plus ad added layer of erosion, storm surge and tsunami protection and control. As a fan of and frequent visitor to wetlands of all types, I feel conpelled to toss in a plug for the Mangrove Action Project; https://mangroveactionproject.org/

The Picture above is of Elkhorn Slough, one of 2,531 wetlands recognized as being of international importance. If you ever get out to California's Monterey Bay, you'll find the estuary at Moss Landing, 19 miles north of the town of Monterey. There are aquatic tours of the wetlands there and, as of this writing, it's also a good place to watch endangered southern sea otters (enhydra lutris lutris).

According to da wiki;

Elkhorn Slough is a 7-mile-long (11 km)[2][3] tidal slough and estuary on Monterey Bay in Monterey County, California. It is California's second largest estuary and the United States' first estuarine sanctuary.[4] The community of Moss Landing and the Moss Landing Power Plant are located at the mouth of the slough on the bay. The Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve and Elkhorn Slough State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) are in the area.

Elkhorn Slough harbors the largest tract of tidal salt marsh in California outside the San Francisco Bay and provides much-needed habitat for hundreds of species of plants and animals, including more than 340 species of birds. It has been designated as a protected Ramsar site since 2018 >BR?

On this day in history:

1536 – Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founded Buenos Aires, Argentina.

1653 – New Amsterdam (later renamed The City of New York) was incorporated.[6]

1709 – Alexander Selkirk was rescued after being shipwrecked on a desert island, inspiring Daniel Defoe's adventure book Robinson Crusoe.

1725 – J. S. Bach led the first performance of his chorale cantata Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin

1848 – The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed.

1850 – Brigham Young declared war on Timpanogos by way of the Provo River Massacre

1868 – Pro-Imperial forces captured Osaka Castle from the Tokugawa shogunate and burned it to the ground.

1881 – The sentences of the trial of the warlocks of Chiloé were imparted. Go figure

1887 – In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the first Groundhog Day was observed. Why this obvious witchcraft was not punished is beyond me.

1899 – The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne decided to locate Australia's capital city, Canberra, between Sydney and Melbourne. I guess that's "centrism"

1901 – The funeral of Queen Victoria. [this is here to set up music, below]

1913 – Grand Central Terminal opened in New York City.

1920 – The Tartu Peace Treaty was signed between Estonia and Russia.

1922 – James Joyce's Ulysses was published and declared pornographic by US customs

1925 – Dog sleds reach Nome, Alaska with diphtheria serum, inspiring the Iditarod race.

1934 – The Export-Import Bank of the United States was incorporated.

1935 – Leonarde Keeler administered polygraph tests to two murder suspects, the first time polygraph evidence was admitted in U.S. courts, which was not good since it is scientifically unreliable

1942 – The Osvald Group was responsible for the first active event of anti-Nazi resistance in Norway

1943 – The Battle of Stalingrad came to an end

1959 – Nine experienced ski hikers in the northern Ural Mountains died under mysterious circumstances.

1971 – Idi Amin replaced President Milton Obote as leader of Uganda.

1971 – The international Ramsar Convention for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands was signed in Ramsar, Mazandaran, Iran.

1987 – After the 1986 People Power Revolution, the Philippines enacted a new constitution.

1989 – The last Soviet armored column left Kabul.

1990 – F. W. de Klerk announced the unbanning of the ANC and promised to release Nelson Mandela.

2005 – The Government of Canada introduced the Civil Marriage Act, legalizing same-sex marriage.

2021 – The Burmese military established the State Administration Council, the military junta, after deposing the democratically elected government in the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état. It was not US backed.

Some people who were born on this day:

Good people, you are mistaken; I am the Protestant whore.

~~ Nell Gwyn

Life is too short to read a bad book.

~~ James Joyce

1457 – Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, historian and author
1502 – Damião de Góis, diplomat, musician, philosopher, and historian
1522 – Lodovico Ferrari, mathematician and academic
1551 – Nicolaus Reimers, astronomer
1600 – Gabriel Naudé, librarian and scholar
1650 – Nell Gwyn, actress and mistress of King Charles II of England
1669 – Louis Marchand, organist and composer
1677 – Jean-Baptiste Morin, composer
1695 – William Borlase, geologist and archaeologist
1714 – Gottfried August Homilius, organist and composer
1786 – Jacques Philippe Marie Binet, mathematician, physicist, and astronomer
1802 – Jean-Baptiste Boussingault, chemist and academic
1829 – Alfred Brehm, zoologist and illustrator
1829 – William Stanley, engineer and philanthropist
1851 – José Guadalupe Posada, illustrator and engraver
1875 – Fritz Kreisler, violinist and composer
1877 – Frank L. Packard, author
1882 – James Joyce, novelist, short story writer, and poet
1883 – Johnston McCulley, author and screenwriter, created Zorro
1883 – Julia Nava de Ruisánchez, activist and writer
1912 – Burton Lane, songwriter and composer
1923 – James Dickey, poet and novelist
1924 – Sonny Stitt, saxophonist and composer
1924 – Elfi von Dassanowsky, singer, pianist, producer
1925 – Elaine Stritch, actress and singer
1927 – Stan Getz, saxophonist
1929 – John Henry Holland, computer scientist and academic
1932 – Arthur Lyman, jazz vibraphone and marimba player
1933 – Orlando "Cachaíto" López, bassist and composer
1937 – Tom Smothers, comedian, actor, and activist
1938 – Gene MacLellan, singer and songwriter
1939 – Mary-Dell Chilton, chemist and inventor; one of the founders of modern plant biotechnology
1940 – Alan Caddy, guitarist and producer
1941 – Cory Wells, pop-rock singer
1942 – Graham Nash, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1944 – Andrew Davis, organist and conductor
1944 – Ursula Oppens, pianist and educator
1948 – Al McKay, guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1949 – Ross Valory, bass player and songwriter
1950 – Bárbara Rey, singer and actress
1952 – Ralph Merkle, computer scientist and academic
1957 – Phil Barney, singer-songwriter
1963 – Eva Cassidy, singer and guitarist
1966 – Robert DeLeo, bass player, songwriter, and producer
1971 – Michelle Gayle, singer, songwriter, and actress
1977 – Shakira, singer, songwriter, producer, and actress
1981 – Emre Aydın, singer, songwriter
1981 – Michelle Bass, model and singer
1982 – Kan Mi-youn, singer, model, and host
1983 – Alex Westaway, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1987 – Faydee, singer
1987 – Mimi Page, singer, songwriter, and composer
1998 – Shiho Katō, singer and model

Some people who died on this day:

Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.

ALSO

It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this.

~~ Bertrand Russell

1446 – Vittorino da Feltre, Italian humanist
1512 – Hatuey, tribal chief, traveled by canoe to cuba to warn the Taino
1594 – Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, composer and educator
1712 – Martin Lister, physician and geologist
1723 – Antonio Maria Valsalva, anatomist and physician
1907 – Dmitri Mendeleev, chemist and acade
mic
1909 – Carlo Acton, pianist and composer
1913 – Gustaf de Laval, engineer
1970 – Bertrand Russell, mathematician, logician, and philosopher
1972 – Natalie Clifford Barney, author, poet, and playwright
1979 – Sid Vicious, singer and bass player
1980 – William Howard Stein, biochemist and academic
1983 – Sam Chatmon, singer and guitarist
1987 – Alistair MacLean, novelist and screenwriter
1996 – Gene Kelly, actor, singer, dancer, and director
1999 – David McComb, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
2002 – Paul Baloff, singer and songwriter
2007 – Billy Henderson, singer
2007 – Joe Hunter, pianist
2007 – Eric Von Schmidt, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
2014 – Bunny Rugs, singer
2015 – Joseph Alfidi, pianist, composer, and conductor
2023 – Butch Miles, jazz drummer

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

Groundhog Day (parts of US)
Victory of the Battle of Stalingrad (Russia)
World Wetlands Day

TAGS

Today's Tunes

Queen Victoria's Funeral

Louis Marchand

Gottfried August Homilius

Fritz Kreisler

Burton Lane

Sonny Stitt

Stan Getz

Arthur Lyman

Orlando "Cachaíto" López

Tom Smothers

Gene Mclellan

Cory Wells

Graham Nash

Ursula Oppens

Al McKay

Ross Valory

Barbara Rey

Eva Cassidy

Shakira

Sam Chatmon

Billy Henderson

Joe Humter

Eric Von Schmidt

Butch Miles

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, Queen Victoria, Sonny Stitt, Stan Getz, Tom Smothers, Graham Nash, Shakira, Joe Hunter, Butch Miles