Tony's Garden

“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a…

“All The Woulda-Coulda-ShouldasLayin’ In The Sun,Talkin’ ‘Bout The ThingsThey Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda Done…But All Those Woulda-Coulda-ShouldasAll Ran Away And HidFrom One Little Did.” ― Shel Silverstein BIRTHDAYS: 1683 Jean-Philippe Rameau, French composer. La Cupis 1765 Michał Ogiński, Polish politician, violinist, balalaika player, and composer. Polonez Ogińskiego 1785 George Pinto, British violin prodigy, keyboard virtuoso, and composer. Grand…

“This is slavery, not to speak one’s thought.” ― Euripides BIRTHDAYS: 1501 Girolamo Cardano, Italian polymath whose interests and proficiencies ranged through those of mathematician, physician, biologist, physicist, chemist, astrologer, astronomer, philosopher, writer, and gambler. 1859 Julius Klengel, German cellist and composer. Hymnus für 12 Celli, op. 57 MISCELLANY: HARSH BUT FAIR. Ten Examples Where…

“Governments never learn; only people learn.” ― Milton Friedman BIRTHDAYS: 480 BC Euripides, Greek Playwright 1591 Michael Lohr, German composer. “Ach, mein herzliebes Jesulein” 1642 Giovanni Maria Bononcini, Italian composer and violinist. Per la gloria 1768 William Wallace, Scottish mathematician. 1861 Robert Bosch, German engineer, inventor (automotive ignition device), and industrialist MISCELLANY: NOTHING TO SEE…

“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: 1733 Anton Filtz, German composer. Trio in sol maggiore (allegro moderato, tempo di minuetto) 1767 José Maurício Nunes Garcia, Brazilian classical…

“We should strive to welcome change and challenges, because they are what help us grow. With out them we grow weak like the Eloi in comfort and security. We need to constantly be challenging ourselves in order to strengthen our character and increase our intelligence.” ― H.G. Wells BIRTHDAYS: 1706 Jacob Wilhelm Lustig, German composer.…

“People think of education as something they can finish.” ― Isaac Asimov BIRTHDAYS: 1593 Gottfried Scheidt, German composer and organist. Bergamasca, and Galliarda la Battaglia, and Variations on a Gagliarda by John Dowland MISCELLANY: DOES ANYONE APOLOGIZE FOR ANYTHING? No One Apologizes for the Theft of Time “NEVER ATTRIBUTE TO MALICE THAT WHICH IS ADEQUATELY…

“I don’t want to believe. I want to know.” ― Carl Sagan BIRTHDAYS: 1749 Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre, French mathematician, astronomer, historian of astronomy, and geodesist 1806 William Dyce, Scottish painter and educator. 1922 Damon Francis Knight, American sci-fi author 1932 Mike Royko, American journalist (Chicago Daily News) and author MISCELLANY: DON’T WORRY – YOU’LL…

“Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.” ― Bruce Lee BIRTHDAYS: 1587 Francesca Caccini, Italian singer, composer. O che nuovo stupor, and Chi desia, and Antri gelati 1636 Pietro Sanmartini, Italian composer. Concerto à Flauto solo, e Basso in F major, I. 1684 Johann Gottfried Walther,…

“The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.” ― Plutarch BIRTHDAYS: 1677 Stephen Hales, English physiologist, chemist and inventor (first person to measure blood pressure) 1730 Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, Prussian military officer and a Founding Father of the United States 1743 Marquis de Condorcet, French philosopher and…