”What is progress? You might think that the question is so subjective and culturally relative as to be forever unanswerable. In fact, it’s one of the easier questions to answer. Most people agree that life is better than death. Health is better than sickness. Sustenance is better than hunger. Abundance is better than poverty. Peace is better than war. Safety is better than danger. Freedom is better than tyranny. Equal rights are better than bigotry and discrimination. Literacy is better than illiteracy. Knowledge is better than ignorance. Intelligence is better than dull-wittedness. Happiness is better than misery. Opportunities to enjoy family, friends, culture, and nature are better than drudgery and monotony. All these things can be measured. If they have increased over time, that is progress.”

— Steven Pinker

BIRTHDAYS:

1464 Robert Fayrfax, English Renaissance composer (Courts of Henry VII and Henry VIII). Ave Dei patris filia

1564 William Shakespeare, English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist.

1623 Jan Adam Reincken, Dutch-German composer. Fugue in g minor, and Toccata in G

1649 Andreas Kneller, German composer, born in the Free Imperial City of Lübeck. Partita “Nun komm der Heiden Heiland”

1715 Johann Friedrich Doles, German composer, pupil of J. S. Bach. Jesu, meine Freude

1857 Ruggero Leoncavallo, Italian composer (I pagliacci/Zaza), born in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Recitar!… Vesti la Giubba (Pagliacci)

1891 Sergei Prokofiev, Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who later worked in the Soviet Union. Romeo and Juliet, No 13 Dance of the Knights

1895 Ngaio Marsh, New Zealand detective writer and producer.

MISCELLANEOUS:

ATTENTION STARGAZERS. Asteroid Vesta Now an Easy Catch in Binoculars

NOT SUPRISING IF PATIENTS WERE CALLED CUSTOMERS. Study finds vision loss fear may keep some from having cataract surgery

MAYBE I WON’T NEED TO EMIGRATE TO THE UNITED STATES AFTER ALL. Steve Hilton, former David Cameron adviser, to run for California governor

THE COVID 19 INJECTIONS AND LOCKDOWNS BEGAN ON MARCH 15, 2020. THE TRAGEDY THAT ENSUED WAS ENTIRELY AVOIDABLE. TO ANYONE CONSIDERING DOING THIS AGAIN IN THE FUTURE – HERE IS YOUR READING ASSIGNMENT:

Nuremberg Code (1947)

Disease Mitigation Measures in the Control of Pandemic Influenza (2006)

Great Barrington declaration (2020)