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.

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.

On this day in history:

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, why is it nobody ever sees the lack of any linkage here?)

1987 – The United States Navy attacked two Iranian oil platforms in the Persian Gulf.

2005 – Our one-time great buddy Saddam Hussein went on trial in Baghdad for crimes against humanity, some of which we enabled.

Some people who were born on this day:

“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

Some people who died on this day:

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.

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

Rainforest Day

Multicultural Diversity Day

LGBT Center Awareness Day

Today's Tunes

MUSIC GOES HERE; FIRST ARTIST

Rainforest Day

Multicultural Diversity Day

Dave Guard

Larry Chance (Philly doo wop)

George McCrae

Peter Tosh

Keith Reid

Patrick Simmons

Isham Jones

Son House

John Holt

Phil Chess

Image is public domain

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