So, Sibling Day, seems fraught with peril. It would seem that sibling rivalries are as old as siblinghood itself. Whose idea was this anyway?

Of course, in my clan it was "we can will and do thump each other about but you all better back off. This, of course, promotes bigger brawls and even feuds. Guess that's what the "brotherhood of man" is all about, or we wouldn't act that way.

It's Dyngus Day in Poland and Ukraine, but you really don't want to know about it, trust me. Maybe stick with the sibling thing.

Heh.

Formally known as “The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction”, the Convention was negotiated by the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament in Geneva, Switzerland. It opened for signature on 10 April 1972 and entered into force on 26 March 1975. The BWC supplements the 1925 Geneva Protocol, which had prohibited only the use of biological weapons.

States Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention undertook “never in any circumstances to develop, produce, stockpile or otherwise acquire or retain:

microbial or other biological agents, or toxins whatever their origin or method of production, of types and in quantities that have no justification for prophylactic, protective or other peaceful purposes;
weapons, equipment or means of delivery designed to use such agents or toxins for hostile purposes or in armed conflict.”
BWC States Parties have strived to ensure that the Convention remains relevant and effective, despite the changes in science and technology, politics and security since it entered into force.

https://www.un.org/disarmament/biological-weapons/

On this day in history:

0837 -- Halley's Comet made its closest approach to Earth

1606 -- The Virginia Company of London was established to colonize North America

1710 -- The Statute of Anne regulating copyright went into effect in Britain

1864 -- Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg was proclaimed Emperor of Mexico, a Juan Guaido prototype of sorts

1866 -- The ASPCA was founded

1872 -- The first Arbor Day was held

1904 -- Aleister Crowley transcribed the third (last) chapter of The Book of the Law of Thelema.

1912 -- The Titanic sailed

1919 -- Emiliano Zapata was ambusehed and killed.

1925 -- The Great Gatsby was published

1941 -- The Axis powers created the Independent State of Croatia with the fascist Ustase in power

1957 -- The Suez Canal reopened

1963 -- The Thresher sank

1970 -- Paul McCartney quit the Beatles

1972 -- 74 nations signed the Biological Weapons Convention, which the US implemented in 1989 but still didn't comply with.

1972 – Tombs containing bamboo slips, among them Sun Tzu's Art of War and Sun Bin's lost military treatise, were accidentally discovered by construction workers in Shandong.

1998 -- The Good Friday Agreement was reached bringing peace to Northern Ireland

2019 – Scientists from the Event Horizon Telescope project announced the first ever image of a black hole.

Some people who were born on this day:

The people are what matter to government, and a government should aim to give all the people under its jurisdiction the best possible life.

~~ Frances Perkins

1389 -- Cosimo de' Medici, ruler of Florence
1583 -- Hugo Grotius, philosopher and jurist
1827 – Lew Wallace, general, lawyer, politician, and author
1829 -- William Booth, founded the Starvation Army
1847 -- Joseph Pulitzer, journalist, publisher and founder of Pulitzer, Inc.
1865 -- Jack Miner, conservationist
1880 – Frances Perkins, Asociologist, academic, and politician
1903 -- Clare Turlay Newberry, author & illustrator of children's books
1910 -- Paul Sweezy, founded the Monthly Review
1917 – Robert Burns Woodward, chemist and academic,
1921 -- Sheb Wooley, singer
1924 – Kenneth Noland, painter
1927 – Marshall Warren Nirenberg, biochemist and geneticist
1930 – Claude Bolling, pianist, composer, and actor
1930 -- Dolores Huerta, activist, co-founded the UFW
1934 -- David Halberstam, author
1936 -- Bobby Smith, singer & spinner
1941 -- Paul Theroux, writer
1947 -- Bunny Wailer, singer, drummer, songwriter, wailer
1949 – Eric Troyer, singer, songwriter, keyboardist and guitarist
1950 -- Eddie Hazel, guitarist
1959 -- Babyface, singer, songwriter and producer
1959 -- Brian Setzer, singer, songwriter and guitarist
1960 -- Katrina Leskanich, singer, songwriter & guitarist
1965 -- Tim Alexander, drummer and songwriter
1967 – David Rovics, singer and songwriter
1970 – Kenny Lattimore, singer and songwriter
1972 – Priit Kasesalu, computer programmer

Some people who died on this day:

Seek justice from tyrannical governments not with your hat in your hands but with a rifle in your fist.

~~ Emiliano Zapata

1813 -- Joseph-Louis Lagrange, mathematician and astronomer, who had his points.
1823 – Karl Leonhard Reinhold, philosopher and academic
1909 -- Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet
1919 -- Emiliano Zapata, general, revolutionary,
1931 -- Kahlil Gibran, poet
1947 – Charles Nordhoff, author
1938 -- King Oliver, cornet player and bandleader
1958 -- Chuck Willis, singer and songwriter
1966 -- Evelyn Waugh, writer
1981 -- Howard Thurman, author and civil rights activist
1986 – Linda Creed, singer and songwriter
1993 – Chris Hani, activist and politician
2003 -- Little Eva, singer
2007 -- Dakota Staton, singer
2012 -- Barbara Buchholz, theremin player and composer
2013 – Binod Bihari Chowdhury, activist
2013 – Olive Lewin, anthropologist, musicologist, and author

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

Dingus Day (Poland, Ukraine)
Feast of the Third Day of the Writing of the Book of the Law (Thelema)
Siblings Day (International observance)
Safety Pin Day

Today's Tunes

Paul McCartney

Sheb Wooley
b

Bobby Smith

Bunny Wailer

Eddie Hazel

Babyface

Brian Setzer

Katrina Leskanich

Tim Alexander

David Rovics

King Oliver

Chuck Willis

Little Eva

Dakota Staton

Barbara Buchholz

Bonus:

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

Cross posted from http://caucus99percent.com