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.
“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
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.