World Listening Day is somewhat recently invented with the intent that folks will take time to go listen to the world. According to Checkiday.com ( https://www.checkiday.com/fc1ba772b44badc8c64dca97d9c4971f/world-listening-day )

That's all well and good if you are out in nature or some quiet old neighborhood in some quaint little village or town, but if you are in an urban environment you are likely to find yourself up to the ears in serious noise pollution. We are surrounded by what I call "aesthetic pollution" of all kinds and attacking all of our sensory pathways. Who knows, maybe if this movement catches on we will at some point attack that issue, trivial though it may be. Perhaps if we did we'd all be less stressed, anxious, ill at ease, angry, belligerant, and all that.

It is Nelson Mandela International Day I do no't feel competent to do justice to the man, his life, hardships and achievements, so I will just let Mama Africa say something. All I can possibly contribute is to note that he responsible for that brief period when the US at least tried to pretend that it opposed apartheid, at least in South Africa, and even joined in a boycott against it.

On this day in 1982, two hundred sixty-eight campesinos were slain in Ríos Montt's Plan de Sánchez massacre. Rios Montt was one of those darlings of the US government, a brutal, fascist dictator who received support from the CIA and assorted other agencies. He graduated from the US run School of Assassins in Panama (now rebranded as "WHINSEC" at Ft. Benning) and cut his teeth in the 1954 CIA organized coup d'etat against then Predident Jacobo Arbenz Guzman. We always enthrone or support horrible dictators like this SOB in our alleged pursuit of "global democracy". Perhaps the political classes need new dictionaries.

On this day in history:

0064 -- The Great Fire of Rome burned for six days, destroying half of the city. 1290 -- King Edward I of England issued the Edict of Expulsion, banishing the Jews 1870 -- The First Vatican Council decreed the dogma of papal infallibility 1925 -- Adolf Hitler published Mein Kampf. 1936 -- An army uprising started the Spanish Civil War. 1942 -- The Germans flew the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet aircraft. 1969 -- Chappaquiddick 1982 -- Ríos Montt's Plan de Sánchez massacre 1994 -- The Rwandan Patriotic Front took control of Gisenyi and NW Rwanda ending the genocide. 1995 -- The Soufrière Hills volcano on Montserrat erupted and over time pretty much destroyed the island. 1995 -- Selena's Dreaming of You was released posthumously & became the best-selling Latin album in the United States. 2013 -- The Government of Detroit filed for bankruptcy.

Some people who were born on this day:

~~ Immanuel Hermann Fichte 1659 -- Hyacinthe Rigaud, painter 1670 -- Giovanni Bononcini, cellist and composer 1718 -- Saverio Bettinelli, poet, playwright, and critic 1797 -- Immanuel Hermann Fichte, philosopher and academic 1811 -- William Makepeace Thackeray, author and poet 1853 -- Hendrik Lorentz, physicist and academic 1895 -- Machine Gun Kelly, businessman, 1902 -- Jessamyn West, author 1903 -- Chill Wills, actor, singer, talking mule 1906 -- S. I. Hayakawa, academic, opponent of ethnic studies, and politician 1909 -- Harriet Nelson, singer and actress 1918 -- Nelson Mandela, lawyer and politician, 1st President of South Africa, 1921 -- John Glenn, colonel, astronaut, and politician 1922 -- Thomas Kuhn, physicist, historian, and philosopher 1929 -- Screamin' Jay Hawkins, singer-songwriter, producer, and actor 1937 -- Hunter S. Thompson, journalist and author 1938 -- Ian Stewart, keyboard player and manager 1939 -- Brian Auger, keyboard player 1939 -- Dion DiMucci, singer, songwriter and guitarist 1941 -- Lonnie Mack, singer, songwriter and guitarist 1941 -- Martha Reeves, singer, actress, and politician 1950 -- Glenn Hughes, singer, dancer, and actor 1954 -- Ricky Skaggs, singer, songwriter, mandolin player, and producer 1955 -- Terry Chambers, drummer 1957 -- Keith Levene, guitarist, songwriter, and producer 1962 -- Jack Irons, drummer

Some people who died on this day:

~~ Bartolomé de las Casas 1100 -- Godfrey of Bouillon, knight & Crusader. 1566 -- Bartolomé de las Casas, historian who chronicled atrocities against indigenous people 1610 -- Caravaggio, painter 1721 -- Jean-Antoine Watteau, painter 1792 -- John Paul Jones, Revolutionary War admiral, US diplomat, and Russian rear-admiral. 1817 -- Jane Austen, novelist 1890 -- Lydia Becker, journalist, author, and activist, co-founded the Women's Suffrage Journal 1899 -- Horatio Alger, Jr., American fantasy novelist and journalist 1938 -- Marie of Romania, punchline for Dotty:

1954 -- Machine Gun Kelly, businessman 1966 -- Bobby Fuller, singer, songwriter, and guitarist 1969 -- Mary Jo Kopechne, educator and secretary 2001 -- Mimi Fariña, singer, songwriter, and guitarist

Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such: Constitution Day (Uruguay) World Listening Day Nelson Mandela International Day  

I won't be around when this posts

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