“To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you’ll be lonely often… But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” --Rudyard Kipling 

Birthdays:

Benedetto Giacomo Marcello (1686 –1739):  Sonata no. 1 in F major, Largo-Allegro

WASN'T IT OSCAR WILD WHO ONCE SAID, "A THING IS NOT NECESSARILY TRUE BECAUSE A MAN DIES FOR IT."?:  Data Show California Is a Living Example of the Good Intentions Fallacy

Birthdays:

Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi (1834 - 1904)

SOUNDS SUSPICIOUSLY LIKE THE VOICE OF REASON: My Covid Cri de Cœur

Birthdays:

August Kühnel (1645 – ca. 1700):  sonate en mi mineur

"A major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that... it gives people what they want instead of what a particular group thinks they ought to want. Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself." —Milton Friedman

Birthdays:

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 – 1822)

Louis Armstrong (1901 – 1971): Blueberry Hill

THE LARGER PICTURE: Which Diseases Are on the Rise As We Fight COVID-19? 

Birthdays:

Guillaume Du Fay (1397 – 1474):  Vergine bella

Guy de Maupassant (1850 - 1893)

Neil Armstrong (1930 - 2012)

I LIKED THE MOVIE BETTER: The Gaslighting of the American People

Birthdays:

Barbara Strozzi (1619 - 1677):  Che si può fare op. 8

Johann Christoph Schmidt (1683 – 1763)

Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809 - 1892)

Albert Fuchs (1858 - 1910)

Alexander Fleming (1881 - 1955)

Jon Postel (1943 - 1998)

Book update: other projects took precedence this past week. I've just been too plumb busy. For what it's worth that also includes busy taking care of...

THE BIGGER PICTURE: Europe's Top Health Officials Say Masks Aren't Helpful in Beating COVID-19

ARE DOCTORS ALLOWED TO USE THIS IN THE UNITED STATES? There's a Mountain of Evidence That Hydroxychloroquine Is an Effective Treatment for COVID-19

Birthdays:

Henry Litolff (1818 – 1891): Scherzo

Louis Leakey (1903 - 1972)

Birthdays:

Cécile Chaminade (1857 – 1944):  "Scarf Dance" Op. 37

Birthdays:

Johann Michael Bach (1648 - 1694):  Halt was du hast

Amedeo Avogadro (1776 – 1856)

Birthdays:

Girolamo Giacobbi (1567 – 1629):  Anonimo sec.XVII

Edward L. Doheny (1856 – 1935)

Alexander Glazunov (1865 – 1936):  Violin Concerto in A minor, Op 82

Birthdays:

Martin Gerbert (1720 – 1793):  Offertory - Quoniam praevenisti eum

Marilyn vos Savant (1946 -      )

SHE'S NOT WRONG: 

Compulsory Schooling Laws Aren’t Progressive, They’re Inhumane 

'Education freedom begins when government compulsion ends.'

Birthdays:

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644 - 1704):  Passacaglia

Birthdays:

Salomon Jadassohn (1831 – 1902):  Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 Op 89 in C minor

Alfred Hitchcock (1899 - 1980)

Book update:  The IIBA-OC and preparation for two speeches took up all available bandwidth this past week. The coming week looks far more promising.

"Science and civilization require skepticism and a demand to follow the evidence, relentlessly, without mercy, without emotion, wherever it might lead. If our culture stops doing this, we will no longer be able to find truth at all, as we will instead be consumed by our fantasies, based on limited knowledge. Like centuries of past societies that were convinced the Sun orbited the Earth, because it appears to do this in the sky, we will be trapped by false theories based on limited...

Birthday:

Nicola Porpora (1686 – 1768):  Salve Regina in fa maggiore (Dantone)

Abram Chasins (1903 – 1987):  Fairy Tale

WHAT? EVEN IF THE PATH WE ARE GOING DOWN IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS?  Fear Is a Viral Monster

Birthdays:

Antonio Salieri (1750 – 1825):  Sinfonia Veneziana

Brian W. Aldiss (1925 - 2017)

Birthdays:

John Dryden (1631 - 1700)

Antonio Tonelli (1686-1765) - Sonata in sol 

Orville Wright (1871 – 1948)

Georges Enesco (1881 – 1955):  Rumanian Rhapsody No. 1

Malcolm Forbes (1919 – 1990)

Birthdays:

Jacopo Peri (1561 – 1633):  Lamento di Iole

Josef Strauss (1827 – 1870):  Fireproof!

Book update: had a great conversation with one of the main editors. Otherwise I have been physically run down by the heat wave (combined with a failure of the AC), worries about the blackouts (planned as well as unplanned), and scope creep and unexpected problem cascades on every project I am currently working on. We shall see if these issues continue or not.

WHAT A GOOD IDEA - AUG 22, 1:30PM PACIFIC: The Ray Bradbury Read-a-thon

FAKE IT 'TIL YOU FAKE IT?  Governments Are Faking It, and Copying Each Other

Birthdays:

Josep Prades i Gallent (1689–1757):  Concierto

Thank you James Clear...

The author and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry on motivating others:

"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the people to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast endless sea."

Source: Citadelle

Birthdays:

Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918):  DAPHNIS et CHLOÉ

Dorothy Parker (1893 – 1967)

Ray Bradbury (1920 – 2012):  Fahrenheit 451. First scene (from the movie, directed by...