04/27 Open Thread - Crow and Raven Appreciation Day
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~~ Common Raven
It is actully International Crow and Raven Appreciation Day because our corvid buddies are known and appreciated world 'round.
Crows and ravens have been with us since ancient times. Some people like them, some people admire them, some hate them, and some even fear them. Ask Tippi Hedren. After all, we do call a group of crows a murder of Crows? There is a great deal of mythology surrounding these particular birds in a great many cultures. Odin has araven on each shoulder, their names are Huginn and Muninn. To many of the Indians of the USA's Pacific Northweat the Raven was a trickster compatable to Coyote, though some, such as the Chinook, reserve this role for the Blue Jay. This leads one to wonder if it was mere coincidence that Carlos Castaneda died on this date in 1998. Who knows?
As a birder, I suspect that the aforementioned "Blue Jay" was/is a "Steller's Jay" or a "Scrub Jay", because true Blue Jays are rare up there. That doesn't really matter, however, because they are all corvids The ravens and crows are part of a family known as the Corvids which includes crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, magpies, jays, nutcrackers, and something called a chough plus some others. The common raven is Corvus corax. The American crow is Corvus brachyrhynchos. All the corvids are highly intelligent birds. Every time we think there's something special we do that no other animal does, it turns out that there's some crow, magpie, or raven who does it. They use tools they fabricate or modify tools they recognize individuals not just of their own species but of other species such as humans and they associate certain characteristics such as whether or not they are trustworthy with specific individuals. They appear to teach their young. It seems that they may mourn their dead. (No wonder some people find them spooky.) Their language seems to have context. They have been known to lead predators to prey so that they then can share in consuming the kill. They're somewhat notorious for following wolves around and pushing their luck on just how much they can get in on the resulting kill and feed right there while the wolves are feeding as well.
They also feature in a certain logical paradox called the Raven Paradox (also known as Hempel's Paradox). One can apply the rules of deductive logic to the statement "all crows are black" in such manner as to show it to be equivalent to the statement "all non-black objects are non-crows". Accordingly, each observation of a non-black thing that is not a crow increases the probability that the statement "all crows are black". This is not only not a paradox, but is actually a fallacy as I have discussed at least once elsewhere. Most people simply suggest not using any such method, but do not refute the logic underlying the so-called paradox, which, technically, calls the entire structure of logic into question. The error lies in applying deductive logic to infinite sets and declaring the result to be equivalent to a theorem pertaining to a finite set. Each actual crow observed is a determinable fraction of "all crows" whereas each non-crow observed is not a determinable fraction of "all non crows"
Today is also Morse Code Day, named after Samuel F. B.Morse, who was born on this day in 1791. We celebrate this day even though Morse Code is no longer with us and no longer used.
It is also Marine Mammal Protection Day, something that still goes on.
And lastly, it is the day of Russian parliamentarianism, or parliamentarism, as the case may be. Which probably comes as a surprise to most U.S. Citizens and residents because most of us do not realize that Russia has a parliament or congress or legislative body by any other name.
On this day in history:
711 – Moorish troops led by Tariq ibn Ziyad landed at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus).
1521 – Ferdinand Magellan was killed by natives in the Philippines led by chief Lapulapu.
1539 – Official founding of the city of Bogotá, by Nikolaus Federmann and Sebastián de Belalcázar.
1565 – Cebu was established becoming the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines.
1667 – Blind and impoverished, John Milton sold Paradise Lost to a printer for £10
1805 – United States Marines and Berbers attacked the Tripolitan city of Derna
1861 – American President Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus.
1906 – The State Duma of the Russian Empire met for the first time.
1936 – The United Auto Workers (UAW) gained autonomy from the American Federation of Labor.
1945 – Benito Mussolini was arrested by Italian partisans in Dongo, Italy. Nonetheless, his political movement still thrives in the US and elsewhere
1978 – The Saur Revolution began in Afghanistan, ending the following morning with the murder of Afghan President Mohammed Daoud Khan and the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.
1986 – The city of Pripyat and surrounding areas were evacuated due to the Chernobyl disaster.
1987 – The U.S. Department of Justice barred Austrian President Kurt Waldheim and his wife from entering the US, because they had been NAZIs. Um, Werner Von Braun, et. all? Hello?
1992 – The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, comprising Serbia and Montenegro, was proclaimed.
1992 – Betty Boothroyd became the first woman to be elected Speaker of the British House of Commons in its 700-year history.
1992 – The Russian Federation and 12 other former Soviet republics became members of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
1994 – The first democratic general election in South Africa in which black citizens could vote. The Interim Constitution went into force.
2005 – The Airbus A380 aircraft had its maiden test flight.
2006 – Construction began on the Freedom Tower (later renamed One World Trade Center) in New York City.
2007 – Israeli archaeologists discovered the tomb of Herod the Great south of Jerusalem.
2011 – The 2011 Super Outbreak devastated parts of the Southeastern United States. Two hundred five tornadoes touched down on April 27 alone, killing more than 300 and injuring hundreds more.
2018 – The Panmunjom Declaration was signed between North and South Korea, officially declaring their intentions to end the Korean conflict.
Some people who were born on this day:
Whatever fosters militarism makes for barbarism; whatever fosters peace makes for civilization
~~ Herbert Spencer
1593 – Mumtaz Mahal, Mughal empress buried at the Taj Mahal
1654 – Charles Blount, deist and philosopher
1755 – Marc-Antoine Parseval, mathematician and theorist
1759 – Mary Wollstonecraft, philosopher, historian, and novelist
1791 – Samuel Morse, painter and inventor, co-invented the Morse code
1812 – Friedrich von Flotow, composer
1820 – Herbert Spencer, biologist, anthropologist, sociologist, and philosopher
1861 – William Arms Fisher, composer and music historian
1880 – Mihkel Lüdig, organist, composer, and conductor
1891 – Sergei Prokofiev, pianist, composer, and conductor
1894 – Nicolas Slonimsky, pianist, composer, and conductor
1896 – Wallace Carothers, chemist and inventor of nylon
1899 – Walter Lantz, animator, producer, screenwriter, and actor
1909 – Lim Bo Seng, businessman, resistance fighter of Force 136 and war hero of Singapore
1913 – Irving Adler, mathematician, author, and academic
1917 – Roman Matsov, violinist, pianist, and conductor
1920 – Mark Krasnosel'skii, mathematician and academic
1923 – Betty Mae Tiger Jumper, Seminole chief
1927 – Coretta Scott King, activist and author
1931 – Igor Oistrakh, violinist and educator
1932 – Casey Kasem, disc jockey, radio celebrity, and voice actor; co-created American Top 40
1936 – Geoffrey Shovelton, singer and illustrator
1942 – Jim Keltner, drummer
1944 – Cuba Gooding Sr., singer
1944 – Herb Pedersen, singer, songwriter and guitarist
1947 – Pete Ham, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1947 – Ann Peebles, soul singer and songwriter
1948 – Kate Pierson, singer, songwriter, and bass player
1951 – Ace Frehley, guitarist and songwriter
1954 – Mark Holden, singer, actor, and lawyer
1956 – Bryan Harvey, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1959 – Sheena Easton, singer, songwriter, actress, and producer
1959 – Marco Pirroni, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1966 – Yoshihiro Togashi, illustrator
1967 – Tommy Smith, saxophonist, composer, and educator
1973 – Sharlee D'Angelo, bass player and songwriter
1976 – Isobel Campbell, singer, songwriter, and cellist
1984 – Patrick Stump, musician, singer, and songwriter
1987 – Wang Feifei, singer and actress
1988 – Lizzo, singer and rapper
Some people who died on this day:
When the politicians complain that TV turns the proceedings into a circus, it should be made clear that the circus was already there, and that TV has merely demonstrated that not all the performers are well trained.
~~ Edward R. Murrow
1521 – Ferdinand Magellan, sailor and explorer
1813 – Zebulon Pike, general and explorer
1882 – Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet and philosopher
1915 – Alexander Scriabin, pianist and composer
1932 – Hart Crane, poet
1936 – Karl Pearson, mathematician and academic
1938 – Edmund Husserl, mathematician and philosopher
1965 – Edward R. Murrow, journalist
1992 – Olivier Messiaen, organist and composer
1992 – Gerard K. O'Neill, physicist and astronomer
1998 – Carlos Castaneda, anthropologist and author
1999 – Al Hirt, trumpet player and bandleader
2007 – Mstislav Rostropovich, cellist and conductor
2013 – Lorraine Copeland, archaeologist
2015 – Alexander Rich, biologist, biophysicist, and academic
2025 – Jiggly Caliente, drag performer, singer and actress
Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:
Day of Russian Parliamentarism (Russia)
Freedom Day (South Africa)
Morse Code Day
Marine Mammal Rescue Day
International Design Day
International Crow and Raven Appreciation Day
Today's Tunes
Crow and Raven Appreciation Day
Mumtaz Mahal
Friedrich von Flotow
William Arms Fisher
Mihkel Lüdig
Sergei Prokofiev
Nicolas Slonimsky
Igor Oistrakh
Jim Keltner
Cuba Gooding Sr
Pete Ham
Ann Peebles
Kate Pierson
Ace Frehley
Sheena Easton
Alexander Scriabin
Olivier Messiaen
Al Hirt
Mstislav Rostropovich
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, Crows and Ravens, Russian Duma, Samuel Morse, Sergei Prokofiev Jim Keltner, Ann Peebles, Alexander Scriabin, Al Hirt
Comments
Crows are really smart...
Crows : Documentary on The Intelligent World of Crows (Full Documentary)
(53 min)
As a teen I learned Morse code, but don't remember many letters these days.
Hope all is well, and things are good in your world. We finally got 0.5" of needed rain, and a couple more inches predicted this week.
Thanks for the OT and all the music!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
good morning LO, thanks for posting that video.
I too once learned Morse Code, now all but gone, progress, but also a loss and still potentially useful in some situations. Ah well, such is life.
be wll and have a good one
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 --
"Spring is coming"
EL, your OT reminded me of the South Korean "Spring is Coming" campaign for better relations with North Korea. This song below is one from the concert of the same name in Pyongyang, earlier in the month of April, 2018, iirc. (It's one I haven't posted before). The April 27 Moon-Kim summit at the Peace House in the Joint Security Area, was a historic breakthrough that ultimately foundered.
The picture I've been using here for my icon, is from a later summit that same year, between President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-eun. Their wives are with them, as they stand in front of Heaven Lake at the Baektusan summit, just on the south side of the Chinese border. The location is the symbol of the founding myth of Korea. This symbolic meeting took place one day after 9.19 military agreement between North and South governing activities in and around the DMZ and Maritime Northern Limit Lines, to prevent military provocations, and lower tensions between the two Korean states. Impeached president Yoon (Bye Bye American Pie) later deliberately encouraged violations of the agreement, loudspeakers, propaganda balloons, military exercises, etc., and carried out drone incursions of North Korea in the fall of 2024. He intentionally cast the military agreement aside causing renewed instability with the tacit approval of the US. There were of course, reciprocal NK provocations and threats.
The song below is the South Korean singer. Kang San-ae, telling the story of a son and his father. The latter, always wished he could return to his hometown in Hungnam, a port on the coast of North Korea (north of Wonsan, on the East Sea, aka Sea of Japan). This is also known commonly as the family separation issue. Father did not want to die, without being able to return to see his kyo hyang (in North Korea) at least one more time.
The laconic reaction of the North Korean audience, to the moving song, politically appropriate I'm certain in the repressed dictatorship. Too bad, the opening slammed shut in February 2019 at the Trump-Kim Hanoi summit, in accordance with neocon desires. Trump nevertheless went on to imitate Moon Jae-in's sensational summit with Kim Jong-un one more time at Panmunjom, June 30, 2019.
Kang San-ae - 'Raguyo' @Spring is Coming20180405
Spring is Coming Concert Pyongyang
Trump recently said the Korean Conflict lasted "seven years." The active period of continuous overt military combat lasted a little over three years, from June 20, 1950, to the signing of the Armistice, July 27, 1953. It did not formally end the war. Eisenhower expressed hopes for a final peace settlement looking toward reunification, but it was expected to be on US terms. South Korean President Syngman Rhee refused to sign the agreement wishing to continue the devastating conflict until the peninsula was united by force. So South Korea didn't sign the armistice. Later, South Korean overtures toward the North were never really encouraged by the US. The peace on the DMZ has been uneasy marked by outbreaks of violence from time to time. The DMZ and maritime Northern Limit Line, is not really a border, it is a demilitarized zone between enemy forces.
Has it really been eight years? Time flies, it is said (raguyo).
Thanks for the reminder and OT, EL!
己所不欲，勿施于人。
Good morning Soryang, thanks for the information and the
video. We seen to be the inheritors of the UK's role as eternal pot stirrers. Perhaps those daya are ending.
be well and have a good one
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 --
Other birds
In an email I got from Tess Lawrie, MBBCh, PhD., there’s a report on chemistry of contrails. It includes a long statement by an airline mechanic who explains how he discovered that they’re release from commercial planes. When she sees an apparent contrail, she opens this app (some on this site probably know about it), flightradar24.com, to see which airliner it’s coming from. This app shows every plane that’s in the sky. You click on a plane and it gives all flight info. I tried copying the link to the contrails report but it took up 56 lines of this comment.
Anya
P.S.
Maybe www will make it clickable:
www.flightradar24.com
Anya
Good morning Anya, thanks for the information, I do use
flightradar now and then to check out what's going on up above. I'll keep an eye out for the mechanic's report on contrails.
be well and have a good one
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 --
Nevermore.
Someone hadda say it... (;-)
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Good morning UFS. Been waiting for it, Now I can relax.
be well and have a good one
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 --
newest Lego fun
https://x.com/ExplosiveMediaa/status/2048565562305822736?s=20
Still trying to figure out how to post the video directly onto c99%
"Kamala Harris would probably have been elected president if she had less time, not more” -- Yasmin Nair
Here's the trick...
go to the upper right of the post with the 3 dots and click on that.
Then you are given a choice of embedding just the video or the whole clip
Here's the video option.
Hope that helps...
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
@Lookout
"Kamala Harris would probably have been elected president if she had less time, not more” -- Yasmin Nair
Thanks, Cass. Don't get x myself, so have no idea what to do
to embed it.
be well and have a good one
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 --
Thanks for the explanation and the video, Lookout. n/t
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 --
Those LEGO vids
are game changers.
So funny and relevant, and they cut to the bone.
Love it.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Ouch! Trump has a hissy fit.
The rest of the tweet:
Heh. The fact tht he tells such a blatant lie i lieu of mere
denial somewhat sully's his implicit denial.
be well and have a good one
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 --
Good afternoon, el!
This morning, I settled a divorce case at mediation on really good terms, not that I'm crowing about it...
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Glad to hear it. Way to rebound from a long weekend
be well and have a good one
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 --
Australia says criticism of Zionist war crimes is itself a crime
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/australias-antisemitism-envoy-makes
Good afternoon Lotl. The Aussies seem to have dived headfirst
off the deepend. It seems like the AusUKUS taint is a bit uniform, prolly due to Balfour.
be well and have a good one
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 --
Good evening el
Storms rolled through here most of the day, strong winds, driving rain, and about two minutes of hail which was deafing on the back porch with its tin roof. Needed the rain but didn't care much for the hail.
After many decades of feeding birds we finally had an American crow come in to our feeders a couple years ago. Shortly after that a second one joined. One thing lead to another as they usually do and the following spring we had mom, pop, and three kids showing up regularly.
We were pretty excited to get them as yard birds since they are still legally hunted and treated as "varmints" here in Missouri, so understandably are extremely wary of humans.
I suspect that the first one to come in did so only after watching the other birds at the feeder for a long time before deciding to take a chance. Just speculation but pretty likely it went something like that.
Anyways very happy to have them. Watching hopefully for some new kids on the block soon. Only see one at a time most days at feeders lately so suspect they're sitting eggs or more likely feeding young right now.
We also have Fish crows but other than flyovers seldom see or hear them around home. Big flocks on the Mo. River though.
Here's a couple pics of our Corvid neighbors.
All I want is the truth. Just give me some truth. John Lennon
We call the crows 'sky police' around here
.
as whenever a raptor takes to the wing, the crows go nuts
flocking around the hawks and screaming their calls. Fear of
an invader or? Warning the ground critters? Don't know. The
crows out number the raptors and make a big fuss. Some of
the crows are almost the size of a chicken when seen on the
ground. There used to me an underground comix which depicted
crows as black bros. Can't find it but -
Zionism is a social disease
They call it mobbing behavior.
They harrass all the Hawk species around here too, every chance they get.
But Owls in particular seem to really get them fired up. Any owl that's unfortunate enough to be caught outside during daylight hours is guaranteed to be harrassed without mercy by every crow within hearing.
I suspect it's just a natural reaction to any dangers in the neighborhood. I'll bet hawks and owls both dine on crow eggs and/or immature crows at every opportunity. And I'm sure crows are intelligent enough to know that. So chasing them from their home range just shows good sense.
All I want is the truth. Just give me some truth. John Lennon
Good morning, Cap'n Q. Thanks for dropping in.
Looks like a fun comic book there.
ce well and have a good one
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 --
Good morning burnt out, thanks for the pics. They can raid
crops so farmers hate them, but they can also prey on mice, field mice, rats, voles and the like, so there is a trade off.
be well and have a good one.
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 --
In my youth,
crows were the bane of corn fields. So, my family had a battery operated "record player". Recordings of mating crows, feeding crows, etc..., and friends, family, and neighbors would gather, hide under the trees to blast them as they came to the sound. Somebody shot a crow that fell on my head. That was my one and only hunt.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Good morning otc. Sounds like a rather grim experience.
be well and have a good one
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 --