text: Posted by Bryan Townsend at 1:44 PM
  Bryan, I always enjoy the Friday Miscellanea, but leading with a bit about a "hit and run" on a Frenchman and concluding with "Nice!", of all things, would be really tactless if it were intentional. I'm assuming it was not intentional...
  Oh, good grief! Sorry, this Friday Miscellanea was prepared a few days ago before the terrible events in Nice and I just didn't think to change it! So yes, completely unintentional.
  But Guy Damann's is a fine essay and very amusing in parts (was curious and Google's got the original post cached, of course). And it did prompt me to try listening to Vexations-- there are versions from three to seventy minutes on Spotify; I managed a couple. Of minutes, I mean. Is Damann right, do you think, that Satie's work "represents music's first decisive turn toward irony"? Hmm.
  And it is a good thing that the artist didn't title her three panels of white paint 'Empty Canvases for People to Draw On' because then visitors might take her at her word and draw on them-- in the way that the woman filled in the crossword puzzle in so and so's art, noted at Althouse... just yesterday: so much has happened in the last couple of days! [http://althouse.blogspot.com/2016/07/if-museum-didnt-want-people-to-follow.html]
  It was obvious to me that it was a coincidence, Bryan. I live relatively close to Nice, and I didn't take it badly. So no apologies needed!
  Maybe this bit will give you something to write about! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/taste-in-music-isnt-unique-study-says_us_5787c523e4b03fc3ee4fcbd2?section=
  Here's more: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-07/miot-wwl071216.php
  Thanks so much, Marc and Christine. I felt awful when I realized how perfectly inappropriate that bit was! And thanks for the link, I'll have a look.
  I figured it was just an unhappy coincidence!
  Yeah, but it meshed just too damn closely!
  I'm having to shop for new headphones. Any suggestions? I use them during the daily commute, chiefly, walking to and from and then riding the city bus. Had been using a Samsung wireless set with earbuds but the neck piece broke: I could spend thirty bucks to replace that or else move on to a new device altogether, and since these are at least a couple of years old, I'm thinking 'move on' is the better option.
  There are approximately 4,123 headphone &c &c devices available.
  My personal bottom line is, no worse listening experience than with the Samsung wireless: as long as I can manage that, I'll be happy. Am using a generic $12 pair of earbuds until I find a new device-- the Samsung wireless set produces a noticeably better 'aural experience' than these. And, no, I can't afford the $18,000 ones. :-)
  Oh wow! I did buy a set of headphones a while back, but I find I rarely use them. They were just for use at home: AKG Quincy Jones reference studio or something like that. Excellent headphones, but not for use while commuting probably. Can someone else offer suggestions?