Bard College has a remarkable summer program called SummerScape. Since 1991, each August the festival has featured a major composer. Not only is his or her music played, but works by other contemporaneous composers are also presented. In addition, each concert features a pre-performance lecture, with expert panel discussions
October had arrived, bringing Halloween and our annual tradition of turning our home into a welcoming stop for the local trick-or-treaters. My wife and I spent the afternoon preparing the treats. We liked to use those little paper bags and load them with treats such as Kit Kats,
A well-known saying is that news is what happens to news reporters. As someone who writes online, I guess this applies to me, too. The "news" in question is what has happened at my local movie theater. Years ago, well before COVID, the parking lot was filled
I had just finished middle school that summer during the 1973 Watergate hearings, and I remember the astonishment at the revelation of the tapes by Alexander Butterfield. But my memory of this event is comically wrong, and if you had asked me what I recalled before I researched this article,
It is a cruel twist of fate to be born at the wrong time. Some individuals are confronted with inspirations that are far ahead of their era (see my satire on Washington's Dream). One well-known example is Charles Babbage (1791–1871). He observed that calculating tables for
Perhaps the most memorable scene from Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol is the arrival of Marley's Ghost. Marley worked alongside Scrooge and passed away years before. Unfortunately for Mr. Marley, he was forced to walk the netherworld constricted by suffocating chains—the spiritual and moral debt
A Top Ten Firm is Frustrated Their Gen Z Staff Don’t Know How to Use Phones to Speak to Other Humans — Going Concern Headline, April 1, 2025 He was a tough guy. About 25 years old, the wiry suspect sat in the interrogation room of the police station, staring
Okay, you’re at a party and someone says to you, "You know, Sherlock Holmes didn’t use deduction; he used induction." You smile courteously because you already know that and politely dismiss it as being overly pedantic. But since you are not at a cocktail party dodging
One thing I always wondered was: if you win the lottery, aren’t you immediately in danger? The whole world knows you won, like, $500 million, so what’s to stop bad actors from showing up and forcibly collecting their share? Nothing, as we see below: * A 2016 winner of
The pandemic was six years ago—a somewhat faded memory, but not forgotten. It was a time of isolation and frustration as governments around the world ordered lockdowns. This hit musicians especially hard. Not only were gigs and concerts canceled, but a means of deeply personal expression was stripped away.
My friend Bill, a retired actuary, invited me to his garage workshop. He was excited about something and wanted me to come right away to see it. “No one in human history has ever done this!” he yelled over the phone. Balding with white hair on both sides of his
I have a special gift: I can read minds. Not only that, but in the right situation, I can sense the hopes and fears of the person I’m talking to, feelings often hidden from view. Yet, these feelings are absolutely clear to me. And the best part is that