Monthly Archives: August 2013

Bitter Pills

When former president George W Bush had a cardiac stent placed, I gave up. Nothing can stop them. Them being doctors who take care of the highest profile patients while simultaneously being clueless about what they’re doing. Bush had a stress test that was not indicated, then had a cardiac angiogram that was not indicated,…


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Richard Tucker’s 100th Birthday

Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Richard Tucker. Tucker is the only American tenor who is the equal of the greatest European tenors. America has had a number of great baritones, but among the greatest tenors Tucker is the sole American. His parents emigrated to the United State from Bessarabia in 1911….


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Largo al Factotum – Not the Usual Suspects

Everybody know Rossini’s aria, especially the cartoon makers. So I thought I’d present six versions of the piece without resorting to either an Italian or American baritone limiting my selections to singers not known for this role. The word are presented below, first in Italian and then in English. The Barber of Seville is almost…


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Commentary on Deuteronomy 15:4-11

The text of this section is below in italics. There shall be no needy among you, since the Lord your God will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as a hereditary portion. If only you heed the Lord your God and take care to keep all this instruction…


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Tolstoy On Medicine

Almost a century and a half latter medicine has not changed greatly from the way Tolstoy described it: “What would Sonya and the Count and Countess have done, how could they have gone on watching the weak and languishing Natasha, had there been nothing for them to do, had there not been those pills to…


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