THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

“The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.”

— Dorothy Parker

BIRTHDAYS:

1401 Tommaso Masaccio, Italian painter.

1616 Pietro Andrea Ziani, Italian organist and composer, born in Venice, Republic , and of Venice. Capriccio, and Exultate Gaudete, and Sonata VII and 3 in D

1628 Samuel Friedrich Capricornus [Bockshorn], Czech baroque composer, and kapellmeister (Stuttgart, 1657-65), born in Žerčice, Kingdom of Bohemia. Ciaccona for violin, viola and continuo

1815 Thomas Couture, French history painter and teacher.

1922 Paul Winchell (Wilchinsky), American ventriloquist, comedian, actor, voice artist, humanitarian, and inventor, best known for his long-running ventriloquist act with dummy Jerry Mahoney and for providing iconic voices in animated productions, including Tigger in Disney’s Winnie the Pooh franchise.

1940 Frank Zappa, American composer, guitarist, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and bandleader.

MISCELLANEOUS:

GOING TO THE MOON. Trump commits to Moon landing by 2028, followed by a lunar outpost two years later

ATTENTION STARGAZERS. Night sky tonight and the weekend: See the winter Milky Way shine in a moonless sky

ATTENTION COLONISTS. Starship success, a private moon landing and more: The top 10 spaceflight stories of 2025

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