Monthly Archives: July 2024
Remembrance of Things Past – A Fragment
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 31st July 2024It didn’t take a bit of cake dipped in tea, rather it oozed from my memory like an elderly snake as I paused between steps halted by the accumulation of years. A piece of the past, it came back to me in all its vivid complexity. I was a minor officer for a large medical…
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Shostakovich Symphony #13- Babi Yar
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 27th July 2024Shostakovich’s Symphony #13 was composed in 1962. It was written for bass soloist, bass chorus, and large orchestra. It consists of five movements, each a setting of a poem by Yevgeny Yevtushenko. Commonly called the Babi Yar Symphony after the first poem set to music, it resembles a dramatic cantata more than a symphony. But…
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LDL Cholesterol in China
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 23rd July 2024Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol, Cardiovascular Disease Risk, and Mortality in China is a study published in the JAMA Open Network. It is remarkable for the number of subjects studied – 3, 789, 025 participants! They were categorized into low-risk, primary prevention, and secondary prevention cohorts based on their medical history and ASCVD (atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease) risk. The primary…
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Polybius and Government
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 17th July 2024Edward Gibbon wrote, “History is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.” His great predecessor the Greek historian Polybius (c. 200 – c.118 BC) seems on close analysis by the reader to have believed that history was little more than the register of different people doing the same things over…
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John McCormack
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 11th July 2024John McCormack (1885-1945) was an Irish tenor active from about 1909 to the early 1940s. Born to Scottish parents who had emigrated to Ireland, his interest in singing began as a child. In 1903, he won the coveted gold medal of the Dublin Feis Ceoil. A friend of James Joyce, who was two years older than…
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Making Life Better
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 6th July 2024Those passionate about improving things but without the wit to do it are the most dangerous humans on the planet. One sees this everywhere. Its most virulent form is the complex system. Solitary pursuits are the least affected. Those most committed to improving whatever slice of life has seized their attention invariably turn to the…
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Casa Verdi
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 2nd July 2024The Casa di Riposo per Musicisti (Rest Home for Musicians) in Milan is almost always referred to as the Casa Verdi after the titan of opera who built and paid for it. Verdi’s operatic career was over; he was in his eighties when he decided to build a home for retired musicians. Working closely with the architect…
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