Leonard Bernstein, foreground, during an episode of “Omnibus” in the 1950s. He made seven appearances on the program, which ran from 1952 to 1961. Imagine this: you drop onto the sofa on a Sunday afternoon, switch on the TV and see a dapper young man with a baton standing before an orchestra and demonstrating the [...]
Archive for February, 2010
Bernstein on the Mystery Behind the Music
Posted in Arts and Entertainment on February 20, 2010 | Comments Off
Django Reinhardt, Omnipresent Icon
Posted in Arts and Entertainment on February 20, 2010 | Comments Off
When Apple Inc. announced the iPad last month, CEO Steve Jobs demonstrated the device with a surprising choice of music. The first notes publicly heard on the new device were not a snippet of cutting-edge contemporary pop—not Radiohead or Norah Jones—but a jazz classic recorded in Paris 73 years ago. It was “Swing Guitars” by [...]
Belgian coma ‘writer’ Rom Houben can’t communicate
Posted in Health, Living on February 20, 2010 | Comments Off
Rom Houben was hailed as a medical miracle A Belgian man who stunned the world last year by apparently communicating after 23 years in a coma cannot in fact do so, researchers say. The doctor who believed that Rom Houben was communicating through a facilitator now says the method does not work. Dr Steven Laureys [...]
Five Best Books on British Military Deception
Posted in Conflicts and wars, History on February 20, 2010 | Comments Off
The British talent for wartime trickery and misdirection is fully revealed by these books, says Nicholas Rankin 1. ‘Blinker’ Hall By David Ramsay Spellmount, 2008 As David Ramsay recounts in this fascinating biography, Britain’s Machiavellian director of naval intelligence in World War I, Reginald “Blinker” Hall, was a man whose talent for tricks and bribes [...]
Tiger’s Limited Hangout
Posted in Living on February 20, 2010 | Comments Off
Woods employs a tried-and-true political tactic Former CIA official Victor Marchetti did not have golf in mind when he defined the term “limited hangout” in a 1978 article in The Spotlight. But his definition sums up what we got yesterday from Tiger Woods. When a secret’s out and a bogus cover story won’t work, Mr. [...]
The French Connection
Posted in History on February 20, 2010 | Comments Off
Vietnam lessons the U.S. might have learned at Dien Bien Phu French paratroopers landing at Dien Bien Phu in November 1953. In November 1953, France was in its eighth year of war for control over Indochina. Things were going poorly—Vietnamese guerrillas, or Vietminh, held the upper hand—and at a strategy session in Saigon the French [...]
Israel and the Dubai Murder Mystery
Posted in Conflicts and wars, Editorials and opinion on February 20, 2010 | Comments Off
The circumstantial evidence all points to the Mossad, and the result is a diplomatic nightmare for the Jewish state. Israelis woke up Wednesday morning to pictures of 11 individuals plastered on the front page of every newspaper. The familiar guessing game began immediately: Don’t I know him? Didn’t we serve in the same army unit? [...]
Democrats Lose a ‘Tenacious Moderate’
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Politics on February 20, 2010 | Comments Off
Evan Bayh has been defined by two traits throughout his 24 years in politics: ambition and caution. Indiana’s junior senator discarded both this week by announcing he will not seek a third term in November. Mr. Bayh not only set aside his political aspirations—at least for now—but he also let loose what was for him [...]
Pepper…and Salt
Posted in Pepper and salt on February 20, 2010 | Comments Off
__________ Full article and photo: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703787304575076011657830850.html
A primer on political reality
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Politics on February 19, 2010 | Comments Off
The left has a political interest in defining the broad backlash against expanded government as identical to the worst elements of the Tea Party movement — birthers and Birchers, militias and nativists, racists and conspiracy theorists, acolytes of Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo and Lyndon LaRouche. This characterization fits a predisposition of some on the left [...]
It’s nonsense to say the U.S. is ungovernable
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Politics on February 19, 2010 | Comments Off
In the latter days of the Carter presidency, it became fashionable to say that the office had become unmanageable and was simply too big for one man. Some suggested a single, six-year presidential term. The president’s own White House counsel suggested abolishing the separation of powers and going to a more parliamentary system of unitary [...]
Old Habits Die Hard
Posted in Living on February 18, 2010 | Comments Off
What research tells us about making changes in our behavior. A couple of years ago, I managed to lose about 40 pounds over the course of a year. When friends asked how I did it, my stock answer was that I exercised very little, but I did try hard to follow the rules of a [...]
Going Postdoctoral
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Law on February 18, 2010 | Comments Off
The bizarre case of Prof. Amy Bishop. “Academic politics are so vicious precisely because the stakes are so small.” The adage is usually attributed to Henry Kissinger, though others apparently preceded him in the thought. Depending on how you look at it, the case of Amy Bishop is either a case in point or an [...]
Can Washington Meet the Demand to Cut Spending?
Posted in Economy and business, Editorials and opinion, Politics on February 18, 2010 | Comments Off
Americans have reached a consensus. What’s lacking is trust. President Obama’s decision to appoint Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson to his bipartisan commission on government spending is politically shrewd and, in terms of policy, potentially helpful. It is shrewd in that he is doing what he has been urged to do, which is bring in [...]
Prescriptions for Psychiatric Trouble
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Health on February 18, 2010 | Comments Off
The proposed new edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders could place large swaths of the population under the umbrella of pathology. Last week, the American Psychiatric Association unveiled the much-awaited blueprint for the next edition of its official handbook of diagnoses, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition, or [...]
Obama and Iran
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Politics, tagged Iran on February 18, 2010 | Comments Off
Engagement has failed. The President needs a new strategy. These have been busy days for Iran’s leadership. On January 28, the regime hanged two government opponents and sentenced 10 others to die. It has arrested and jailed some 500 opponents since December. Last week, it shut off access to Gmail and Google Buzz, as it [...]
Voters to Democrats: Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
Posted in Economy and business, Editorials and opinion, Politics on February 18, 2010 | Comments Off
Evan Bayh’s withdrawal from politics could be a harbinger of doom for the party—but it doesn’t have to be. Sen. Evan Bayh’s stunning decision to retire should serve as more than a wake-up call to Democrats. It should spur a fundamental re-examination and reorientation of the party’s policies, practices and approaches leading into the fall [...]
Man Indicted for Breaking Into Prison
Posted in Strange but true on February 18, 2010 | Comments Off
Being in prison can seriously hamper a relationship. Prison walls were no obstacle for a man in western Germany who was being separated from his love. But breaking into her cell every night turned out to be a very bad decision. Ah, love. It drives us to do the craziest things: climb the highest mountains, [...]
Netanyahu, continued
Posted in Conflicts and wars, Politics, tagged Israel on February 18, 2010 | Comments Off
Israel’s prime minister bluffs it out IT IS truly difficult to see how Binyamin Netanyahu can be surviving his latest debacle. A botched assassination attempt by Mossad agents on a Hamas official, Khaled Meshal, in neighbouring, friendly Jordan on September 25th has given new resonance to the doubts, even within his cabinet, about his fitness [...]
Oil and troubled waters
Posted in Conflicts and wars, Energy and Environment, Politics, tagged Argentina, Falkands on February 18, 2010 | Comments Off
Plans to drill for oil in the Falklands provoke angry words from Argentina EACH year a well-rehearsed performance takes place at the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonisation. Argentina’s government protests that Britain’s sovereignty over the islands it calls the Malvinas is a colonial injustice, and that the principle of territorial integrity demands that they [...]
A time to kill
Posted in Conflicts and wars, Politics on February 18, 2010 | Comments Off
Revelations in Dubai about a well-planned assassination of a Hamas man USING subterfuge to entrap and kill adversaries, in locations far from any battlefield, has been a feature of conflict for the past 3,000 years or so—at least since Jael, one of the warrior heroines of ancient Israel, lured the enemy commander Sisera into her [...]
Sarah Palin and the mutual loathing society
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Politics on February 18, 2010 | Comments Off
The Republican presidential nominee, an Arizona senator, was a maverick, which was part of his charm. He spoke and acted impulsively, which was part of his problem. Voters thought his entertaining dimensions might be incompatible with presidential responsibilities. For example, he selected a running mate most Americans had never heard of and who had negligible [...]
On Crete, New Evidence of Very Ancient Mariners
Posted in History on February 17, 2010 | Comments Off
HARDWARE Stone tools found on Crete are evidence of early sea voyages. Early humans, possibly even prehuman ancestors, appear to have been going to sea much longer than anyone had ever suspected. That is the startling implication of discoveries made the last two summers on the Greek island of Crete. Stone tools found there, archaeologists [...]
Malaria Is a Likely Killer in King Tut’s Post-Mortem
Posted in History on February 17, 2010 | Comments Off
King Tutankhamen’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings in 2007. Several pathologies have been diagnosed in the Tut mummy. King Tutankhamen, the boy pharaoh, was frail and lame and suffered “multiple disorders” when he died at age 19 about 1324 B.C., but scientists have now determined the most likely agents of death: a severe [...]
The Art of Being Ruled
Posted in Literature on February 17, 2010 | Comments Off
A political philosopher’s attempt to make peace in ‘the war of all against all.’ On Jan. 30, 1649, Charles I, king of England, mounted a hastily built scaffold. Thousands of his own subjects thronged before him, kept at bay by armed soldiers. After years of savage civil war against his own rebellious Parliament, Charles had [...]
Where the Tea Parties Should Go From Here
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Politics on February 17, 2010 | Comments Off
The power of the movement is its independence from Democrats and the GOP. There has been a lot of talk about combining the tea party movement with the Republican Party. And on a small scale, that seemed to happen last week in South Carolina after state GOP representatives agreed to create a “Tea Party Republicans” [...]
Ninth Rock From the Sun
Posted in Physical sciences on February 17, 2010 | Comments Off
It’s time for a new and improved definition of ‘planet’—one that restores Pluto to its former glory. I’m not a Republican and I’m not a Democrat . . . for years I’ve been a Plutocrat. —Clyde Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto The 2006 vote by a few hundred astronomers to strip Pluto of its planetary status [...]
What Sarah Palin Doesn’t Know
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Politics on February 17, 2010 | Comments Off
Her obsession with the politics of grievance puts her at odds with Ronald Reagan. From the day she turned heads at the 2008 Republican Convention—becoming at once an object of fevered controversy—one truth about Sarah Palin stood clear: She was fortunate in her antagonists. Those in the media, especially, would stoke a mighty sympathy backlash [...]
It’s the Spending, America
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Politics on February 17, 2010 | Comments Off
With voter anger at federal profligacy and states teetering on the verge of financial collapse, the moment is ripe for an historic reordering of American politics. Anyone who isn’t welded to the Obama-Pelosi-Reid ball and chain has their campaign issue for November’s election and 2012: spending. Republicans, Lieberman-Bayh Democrats, tea partiers, it doesn’t matter. Spending, [...]
A Lack of Healthy Boundaries
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Politics on February 17, 2010 | Comments Off
A creepy–but hilarious–look inside the Obama cult. Somehow we ended up on the email list for Tikkun, the Jewish-themed far-left magazine edited by Michael Lerner. (You may remember Lerner as the originator of the phrase “the politics of meaning,” for which then-First Lady Hillary Clinton had a brief enthusiasm around 1993.) Yesterday brought an email [...]
