Off Topic #1: Even though it was constant background music in the house, I never cared much for Mozart growing up. And when I went for my musical training (originally piano, then later flute), I was interested in earlier baroque, Bach-centered music. In short, I was a Bach snob.
But when you play Mozart, you really appreciate his work. It wasn’t until much later that I worked on my first Mozart piece, the Romance from the Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, that I finally saw Mozart’s magic. (I recently heard a snippet of one recording of this particular movement that I thought was done incorrectly — slow and sweeping. The piece plays for the pianist in a more spirited manner — you can almost feel his sense of mischief coming through the keys. It’s a lot of fun for the musician.).
Anyway, today is the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birthday. NPR has a great site with a bunch of great interviews and specials on the life of this musical genius. Link here.
Off topic #2: Amidst all this hullabaloo about Google censoring results for its Chinese search engine, one critical fact has been left unsaid: They’re filtering Guiness.com.
The revolution starts today, people.
Off Topic #3: Ok, I get to plug someone, but it’s family. My brother, Marc Eckelberry (a futures trader), has started what is turning into a pretty nice blog on futures trading.
Check it out, including this fun multimedia look at yesterday’s market. I have absolutely no idea if he’s wrong or right on his advice (and his advice is only for pros) but it all looks impressively technical and there’s lots of pictures.
Personally, I’ll stick to software. And on that note, I’m going back to work.
Alex Eckelberry