Something French would seem to be called for today. Also, I happen to have a thing about Broadway musicals. Okay, so should I riff on Les Mis ? No, I think I'll go further back than that. In 1973, a production of Candide trod the boards. This of course was a work of satirical prose fiction by Voltaire, adapted for Broadway by Hugh Wheeler, with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Richard Wilbur and Stephen Sondheim. I will quote some of those lyrics today, I trust within the limits of whatever counts as "fair use" of a 44 year old play. I don't know how the whole notion of "intellectual property" is going to survive the case of the monkey selfie, though.... Anyway, the below is from what is known as the "Lesson Song." The character of Pangloss is introduced as the house intellectual of a patron's castle. When we first see him, he is giving a lesson on his Leibnizian theodicy. PANGLOSS. PRAY, CLASSIFY PIGEONS AND CAMELS. P...