<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Buttle&#039;s World]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://buttle.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[clgood]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://buttle.wordpress.com/author/buttle/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Pearls]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p>What would happen if <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html?hpid=artslot">Joshua Bell set up to play his Strad</a> in a Washington, D.C. metro station?</p>
<p>I like to think that I <em>would</em> have stopped to listen. But I was fortunate to grow up near San Francisco in the 70&#8217;s when some street musicians were actually members of the symphony on a lark. SF had some very good street music in its day.</p>
<p>Nothing about government bureaucrats walking blindly, deafly by is surprising. But reading how a government &#8220;computer expert&#8221; was buying lotto tickets makes paying taxes even more painful than it is now.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a sad commentary on the rampant innumeracy and lack of critical thinking skills in our nation that lotteries, astrologers, chiropractors, accupuncturists, and a laundry list of pseudo-sciences thrive &#8211; let alone exist.</p>
<p>We <em>need</em> to teach skepticism to our kids. The schools won&#8217;t do it.</p>
<p>And we also need to make sure that, even if they don&#8217;t know who Josuah Bell is, they recognize unusual beauty when it hits them.</p>
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