Category Archives: Featured

Shostakovich Violin Concerto #2 and Symphony # 7

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 5th June 2016

Tweet Disc 6 of Valery Gergiev’s Shostakovich cycle contains the 2nd Violin Concerto and the Leningrad Symphony (#7). It was recorded in performance in February of 2014. The soloist was Alena Baeva. The violin concerto, written and first performed in 1967, was the last concerto composed by Shostakovich. It was dedicated, as was the 1st,…


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Daisy For President

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 27th May 2016

Tweet Can a dog run for President of the United States? The answer is an unequivocal yes! Let me quote the Constitution: No person except a natural born citizen , or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adaption of this Constitution shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither…


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The Genetically Modified Organism in Your House

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 12th April 2016

Tweet Vermont in a spasm of enlightenment has mandated that all genetically modified foods sold in the Green Mountain State be so labeled. According to numerous polls 90% of the population of the USA thinks this a good idea. This is the same concerned and informed group that by an 80% margin supports labeling food…


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Cosmosapiens – Book Review

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 27th March 2016

Tweet Cosmosapiens by John Hands Subtitled Human Evolution from the Origin of the Universe, John Hands’ book attempts to explain the origin of the universe and our place in it; and he does so in less than 600 pages (about a quarter of a million words) including many tables and figures. Amazingly, except for a stumble…


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Verdi Chords

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 12th December 2015

Tweet One of the most distinctive characteristics of Giuseppe Verdi’s operas is his use of chords to resolve or punctuate the moments of greatest emotional and dramatic tension as his story reaches a crisis point. This simple device would seem within the grasp of almost any composer, but Verdi’s use of it is unique. Below are…


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A Clinical Vignette About Medical Journals

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 14th November 2015

Tweet A medical journal is supposed to be an unbiased and objective source of the latest and best medical information. Of course, since all journals (for now) are run by human beings the reality and the ideal are widely separated. Even so, you shouldn’t be able to tell the politics of the journal’s editor from its…


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The Doctors’ Loophole – Another Reason why this is Such a Wonderful Country

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 12th September 2015

Tweet Forty million Americans have a combined $1.2 trillion in student debt. Since the last recession this is only type of consumer debt that hasn’t decreased. As these loans are mostly guaranteed by the government they keep accumulating. Whether going into debt to get a college education is a good idea is not my subject….


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Suicide in Doctors

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 5th September 2015

Tweet One of the medical newsletters I receive describes the suicide of a 33 year old surgeon near the completion of his training. The sad story of this death was taken from an article that appeared in Time Magazine – Why The Toxic Treatment of Doctors Needs to Change. The authors of the piece are…


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Tutto Verdi: I Vespri Siciliani

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 15th August 2015

Tweet I Vespri Siciliani is the least performed of Verdi’s mature works. It was written for the Paris Opéra to a French text by Eugène Scribe and Charles Duveyrier (Les vêpres siciliennes). While the opera is occasionally performed in its original French version, it is typically presented in its Italian translation. Verdi just sounds better…


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The Medical Record – Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 30th July 2015

Tweet The medical record has been a problem ever since Hippocrates, in a moment of spite, invented it. Until the advent of the electronic record it had existed on paper and was stored in a variety of inaccessible locations by the Department of Medical Records, or by a similarly named entity. Once entombed in the…


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