First of all, IT'S RICHARD WAGNER'S 199TH BIRTHDAY! Celebration here typically involves listening to two cd's that I have had with me since forever - the "golden disc" which is Karajan's Ring Highlights single cd, and then an old '41 recording of Max Lorenz in Rienzi. Hurrah!

Geoff is back on the grad school application train, so I get to do another week of vamping for the story that I'm in the process of writing up. Mid-to-Late 17th century London is one of my all time favorite eras to splash about in, precisely because of the contrast between just appalling fortune and unspeakable genius. Plus, if you've never wanted to draw Charles II's moustache and wig, you're hardly a human.

And our drive to help the brave teenagers putting together Castro Valley Pride 2012 in the face of a community which would much prefer them to be quiet or not exist at all continues! $10 for a good cause and a bit of art to put on the wall! What better way to say I Love You than with the gift of a picture of Charles XII fighting Soda Popinski?

Was Newton this radically more optimistic before getting slapped down by Hooke after his first theoretical submission to the Royal Society? All evidence points to no, but that's hardly any fun, is it? On a side note, the Oxford Parliament is my go-to counterexample to the notion that Charles II was, in essence, a roving penis in a Very Fine Hat. Cause that was some pretty crafty politics right there.

- Count Dolby von Luckner