THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

“The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what’s true. We have a method, and that method helps us to reach not absolute truth, only asymptotic approaches to the truth — never there, just closer and closer, always finding vast new oceans of undiscovered possibilities. Cleverly designed experiments are the key.”

— Carl Sagan

BIRTHDAYS:

1181 Francis of Assisi, Patron Saint of animals.

1791 Théodore Géricault, French painter and lithographer.

1849 Ivan Pavlov, Russian and Soviet experimental neurologist and physiologist known for his discovery of classical conditioning through his experiments with dogs.

1888 T. S. Eliot, a leading figure in English-language Modernist poetry where he reinvigorated the art through his use of language, writing style, and verse structure.

1898 George Gershwin, American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned jazz, popular and classical music. Summertime, and Swanee, and Ol’ Man River, and Cuban Overture

1927 Robert Cade, American physician and inventor of Gatorade.

1932 Vladimir Voinovich, Russian writer and dissident.

MISCELLANEOUS:

MOVE ALONG, PLEASE. Interstellar Comet 3I/Atlas is 1000 to 100,000 Bigger Than Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov

IN THE FUTURE BEFORE LOCKING THINGS DOWN (INCLUDING FREE SPEECH AND THE FREEDOM TO ASSEMBLE) THE AUTHORITIES MIGHT ALSO WANT TO READ THE FOLLOWING:

Nuremberg Code

Disease Mitigation Measures in the Control of Pandemic Influenza

Great Barrington declaration