Monthly Archives: January 2023
Too Much Bread
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 31st January 2023Man does not live by it alone, but too much makes him obese. Not just physically fat, but mentally flabby as well. Until about the last 80 years the main human activity was devoted to survival. Hobbes famous declaration that in a state of nature – ie, one without government – life would be solitary,…
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The Price of Time – Book Review
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 26th January 2023Edward Chancellor’s book , subtitled The Real Story of interest, starts with Hammurabi and continues to the present. He shows that interest is older than money and that the compulsion of governments to manipulate it is equally ancient. Interest has been seen as immoral by many religions, but has persisted because commerce is impossible without…
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Lina Bruna Rasa
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 19th January 2023The life of Lina Bruna Rasa (1907-84) is one of opera’s saddest tales. A phenom, she made her debut in 1925 at age 18. Her last performance was in 1942 when she was 34. She was one year younger than Zinka Milanov, yet the two sopranos seem of different eras. Milanov sang at the Met…
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Cancer Statistics 2023
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 16th January 2023At the start of every year the American Cancer Society issues the latest cancer statistics. This year the data were released in two publications, both of which are found at the end of this article. Some of the salient features of the data are discussed below. I’ll start with prostate cancer which seems to eternally…
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Fedora in HD
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 14th January 2023Umberto Giordano’s minor league opera Fedora was brought back to the Met after an absence of 25 years. The main reason for its reappearance, as far as I could, tell was to add novelty without the aural pain that the Met’s commitment to new operas has recently inflicted on its audience and box office. If…
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Verdi Requiem – 1982 Performance
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 12th January 2023Verdi’s requiem mass written to commemorate the first year anniversary of the death of the novelist Alessandro Manzoni is one of the peaks of Western Civilization. The video below was made more than forty years ago. It features Sopranos Jessye Norman and Margaret Price, tenor Jose Carreras, and bass Ruggero Raimondi. The London Symphony Orchestra…
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Prescription Opioids and Death
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 8th January 2023Effect of Prescriber Notifications of Patient’s Fatal Overdose on Opioid Prescribing at 4 to 12 Months is the title of a short paper on the JAMA Open Network. It describes what happens when a physician or physician extender receives a letter from the county medical examiner informing him that his patients has died from an…
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Leonore Overture #3
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 4th January 2023Opera was not Beethoven’s forte. He devoted a decade (1804-14) to tinkering with his only opera – Fidelio. Even its name changed. It was initially called Leonore; she’s the opera’s heroine and its focal point. The composer was an idealist who fervently believed in the triumph of justice over tyranny and and love over oppression….
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Damar Hamlin and Commotio Cordis
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 3rd January 2023Buffalo Bills defensive back Damar Hamlin collapsed last night after making a tackle during the Monday night football game. He is said to have suffered a cardiac arrest and is hospitalized in critical condition. All I have to go on are the press reports and the video of the event. Look at it below and…
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