THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

“There are books in which the footnotes, or the comments scrawled by some reader’s hand in the margin, are more interesting than the text. The world is one of those books.”

— George Santayana

BIRTHDAYS:

1770 Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer and pianist of the late Classical and early Romantic eras, renowned for expanding musical forms and expression through his innovative compositions. Symphony No 9 ‘Ode to Joy’

1775 Jane Austen, English novelist whose witty and realistic portrayals of domestic life among the provincial gentry in Regency-era England form the core of her enduring literary reputation.

1776 Johann Wilhelm Ritter, German physicist, chemist, and philosopher renowned for his pioneering contributions to electrochemistry and optics, including the discovery of ultraviolet radiation in 1801 and the invention of the first dry-cell battery in 1802.

1863 George Santayana, Spanish-American philosopher, poet and humanist.

1882 Zoltán Kodály, Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher best known for pioneering the collection and integration of Hungarian folk music into classical compositions and for developing the Kodály method, a globally influential approach to music education emphasizing singing, folk songs, and sequential skill-building from early childhood. Esti dal, and Tänze aus Galánta

1905 Piet Hein, Danish polymath recognized for contributions spanning mathematics, invention, industrial design, literature, and poetry.

1917 Arthur C. Clarke, English science fiction author, futurist, inventor, and undersea explorer whose prescient ideas and imaginative storytelling profoundly influenced perceptions of space exploration and technology.

1928 Philip K. Dick, American science fiction writer whose prolific output examined the fragility of perceived reality, the essence of human identity, and the interplay between technology, authority, and consciousness.

MISCELLANEOUS:

BEFORE THE NEW WORLD THERE WAS THE OLD WORLD. Profitable Business Funded the Shipyards and Built the Ships That Colonized America – Applied to Mars.

THE OLD WORLD. Ayo visto lo mappamundi (READ THE TRANSLATION)

REMINDER:

In the future, before locking things down again (including free speech and the freedom to assemble), the authorities might want to reacquaint themselves with the following:

Nuremberg Code

Disease Mitigation Measures in the Control of Pandemic Influenza

Great Barrington declaration