The voice speaking from the interior light . . .
Thursday, April 2, 2026. It's Thor's day . . . overnight thunderstorms have left Green County for the time being. Strong Southerlies are in the forecasts for TulseyTown with cloudy skies becoming clearer this afternoon in the mid 80's. More wind and rain chances tomorrow.
The knock at the door changes with the century. The censors wear different costumes. The machinery becomes more bureaucratic, more digitized, more deniable, more market-friendly. But the essential drama persists. Power wants compliance not only in action but in tone. It wants the joke blunted, the sentence softened, the analogy abandoned, the performance pre-edited. Against that pressure, the serious artist or comic does what [Christopher] Marlowe did first with such unnerving brilliance: he makes speech feel alive enough to escape. – Ray Pearcey, “The Dangerous Spark,” 3.30.26
Today is the birthday of Camille Paglia. She is 78. The outspoken feminist and cultural critic was born in 1947, Endicott, New York.
It's the birthdate of Max Ernst born in 1891, Brühl Germany. The painter and sculptor was one of the leading advocates of irrationality in art and an originator in the surrealist movement.
Juan Ponce de León was born on this day, we think, in 1460?, Santervás de Campos, Valladolid , León [Spain]. The Spanish explorer is credited with being the first European to reach Florida in 1513.
The unparalleled laureate British actor Alec Guinness was born on this day in 1914, London, England
2001: A Space Odyssey, was released on this day in 1968. It set the benchmark for all subsequent movies in the genre and consistently ranks among the top 10 movies ever made. The complex and thought-provoking film was directed by Stanley Kubrick and cowritten by Kubrick and futurist and novelist Arthur C. Clarke.
In case you missed it: The four Artemis II astronauts rocketed away yesterday On NASA's first lunar voyage in decades. Huff Post provided a replay link from NASA. It's four hours worth of superb insights and the lift-off.
PBS and NPR are safe for now, with a court-ordered restoration.\
In a related court action, another federal judge has blocked a massive merger of abc, cbs, fox, and nbc – at least for another two weeks.
There is a radical luxury to be found in the occasional purposelessness.
The fool isn't funny . . .
Wednesday, April 1, 2026. It's Odin's day . . . forecasts for Green Country indicate increasing rain chances with low 80's. Thunderstorm chances increase by late afternoon and are likely overnight and into tomorrow morning. The “Pink Moon” is full. It is also the “Paschal Moon.” It rises shortly after 9pm tonight, likely behind clouds and rain in TulseyTown.
The Jewish festival of Seder and Passover begins at sundown tonight.
Today is April Fools’ Day, a day for good-natured pranks, hoaxes, and general silliness. The earliest recorded association between April 1st and foolishness is in Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales in 1392, but playing tricks this time of year is centuries old.
Trump thinks it's his house. A federal judge just said “no, its our house.” – Joyce Vance in Civil Discourse,
The April “fool” wants out of the Iran mess he made, but still doesn't seem to know how. – Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An American.
Today is the 50th birthdate of Apple, Inc. No April Fool this.
Rachel Maddow is 53, born today in 1973, Castro Valley, California.
Czech author Milan Kundera was born on this day in 1929 Brno, Czechoslovakia. He is best known for his novels, especially The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which is also a worthwhile film, directed by Philip Kaufman with Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche and Lena Olin in leading roles.
It's the birthdate of the Russian composer/pianist Sergey Rachmaninoff. He was born in 1873 Oneg, near Semyonovo, Russia.
And, the psychologist Abraham Maslow was born today in 1908, New York. His work contributed the concept of The Hierarchy of Needs that contained an outline of self-actualization.
A student asked T'ou-tzu, “How about when I don't bring a single thing?”
T'ou-tzu said, “Where did you get this?”
Take thirty-minutes of power manifesting as beauty.
High as an elephant's eye . . .
Tuesday, March 31, 2026. It's Tiw's day … forecasts for Green Country and TulseyTown indicate another blustery-windy day. A slight chance for morning rain is to be replaced by a cloudy, windy afternoon in the mid 80's.
At some point, preparation becomes its own form of procrastination.
Just do the thing.
Today is the birth date of René Descartes. The French mathematician, scientist, and generally regarded founder of modern philosophy was born in 1596,La Haye, Touraine, France. His famous comment “cogito ergo sum” (I think, therefore, I am) underlined what is now called materialist duality and the “body/mind” problem.
Ukrainian-born Russian humorist, novelist, and dramatist Nikolai Gogol was born on this day in the Cossack village of Sorochintsy in 1809.
And, it’s Al Gore's 78th birthday today. The 45th vice president of the United States in the administration of president Bill Clinton, he was born in 1948 Washington, D.C. He was the grandson of Thomas Gore, an early day Senator from Oklahoma.
Speaking of Oklahoma . . .
Oklahoma! the musical first opened on Broadway in 1943, written by composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II—it was the first of 11 musicals written by the iconic team. widely regarded as a watershed in American musical theater history.
In 1998, The British National Theatre production revived the musical. It was directed by Trevor Nunn, then Artistic Director of the Royal National Theatre and stared a young Hugh Jackman in a stunning, break-through performance as “Curley.” Its latest renewal was in New York in a 2019 Tony Award staging. The Nunn/Jackman/National Theatre performance is available on video and worth experiencing.