Tony's Garden

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “What we know is not much. What we don’t know is enormous.” — Pierre Simon De Laplace BIRTHDAYS: 1749 Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace, French mathematician, astronomer and physicist (stability of the solar system). 1910 Akira Kurosawa, Japanese film director, producer, and screenwriter whose innovative storytelling, profound humanism, and dynamic visual style…

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “It is right that we should stand by and act on our principles; but not right to hold them in obstinate blindness, or retain them when proved to be erroneous.” — Michael Faraday BIRTHDAYS: 1599 Anthony Van Dyck, Flemish painter (Charles I of England), born in Antwerp, Spanish Netherlands. 1700 Giuseppe…

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: ““Since 1849 I have studied incessantly, under all its aspects, a question which was already in my mind since 1832. I confess that my scheme is still a mere dream, and I do not shut my eyes to the fact that so long as I alone believe it to be possible,…

Happy Nowruz! THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “I am the poet of the poor, because I was poor when I loved; since I could not give gifts, I gave words.” — Ovid BIRTHDAYS: 43 BC Ovid [Publius Ovidius Naso], Roman poet famous for writing “Metamorphoses”, born in Sulmo, Italy, Roman Republic. 1741 Jean-Antoine Houdon, French neoclassical…

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “We know that the National Socialists were thoroughly collectivistic and strongly anti-individualistic. For them the relevant groups were the Germanic Aryans—and all the others. Individuals were defined by their group identity, and individuals were seen only as vehicles through which the groups achieved their interests. The Nazis rejected the Western liberal…

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “Nothing is more dangerous than a dogmatic worldview – nothing more constraining, more blinding to innovation, more destructive of openness to novelty.” — Stephen Jay Gould BIRTHDAYS: 1844 Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian composer. Scheherazade op.35 (52:08) 1915 Richard Condon, American author (The Manchurian Candidate). MISCELLANEOUS: Sic ’em, boy! Scientists Turn Bacteria Into…

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “Hatred and anger are the greatest poison to the happiness of a good mind.” — Adam Smith BIRTHDAYS: 1578 Francesco Albana, Italian painter. 1628 François Girardon, French sculptor. 1665 Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, French harpsichordist, organist, singer, and composer (Les pièces de clavessin; Céphale et Procris). Prélude & Chaconne “L’Inconstante”…

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “Just as in the sciences we have learned that we are too ignorant to safely pronounce anything impossible, so for the individual, since we cannot know just what are his limitations, we can hardly say with certainty that anything is necessarily within or beyond his grasp. Each must remember that no…

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “All that would be required to prevent the disease [cholera] would be such a close attention to cleanliness in cooking and eating, and to drainage and water supply, as is desirable at all times.” — John Snow BIRTHDAYS: 1813 John Snow, English physician and a leader in the development of anaesthesia…

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” — attributed to Albert Einstein BIRTHDAYS: 1692 Pieter Musschenbroek, Dutch mathematician and physician (Leyden jar). 1804 Johann Strauss the Elder, Austrian composer and…