Author Archives: Neil Kurtzman
Autonomous Cars VS Autonomous Drivers
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 22nd November 2023The problem with human intelligence is that its normal range is too broad. The difference between the lower limit of normal compared to the upper point of the normal range is so wide that the average comes in at such a low number that the ordinary performance of typical human functions is beyond the capacity…
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Finale 38 – Dialogues des Carmélites
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 21st November 2023Dialogues des Carmélites (Dialogues of the Carmelites) is an opera in three acts with music and libretto by Francis Poulenc. It is the story of the Martyrs of Compiègne, Carmelite nuns who, in 1794 during the closing days of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, were guillotined in Paris for refusing to renounce…
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Malcolm X in HD
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 18th November 2023X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X was telecast today. As a piece of sophisticated parochialism it will grip the hearts of Upper West Side New Yorkers who regularly attend the Met. If you seek a work for the lyric theater that touches a spark common to all men you will not find it…
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Florencia en el Amazonas – Initial Impresssion
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 17th November 2023Last night the Met presented its first performance of the late Daniel Catán’s opera Florencia en el Amazonas. It takes place on a boat traveling down the Amazon to Manaus. Florencia is a legendary opera singer who’s lost her lover. I will have to wait for the telecast to comment on its staging so my…
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Estimated Lifetime Gained With Cancer Screening Tests
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 11th November 2023The title of this piece is that of a paper published by JAMA Internal Medicine [JAMA Intern Med. 2023;183(11):1196-1203. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.3798]. It is available at the end of this article. If you are a long time reader of this site, you will appreciate that I have long been skeptical about the utility of screening for cancer….
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Health as a Human Right: A Position Paper From the ACP
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 5th November 2023The American College of Physicians, the country’s premiere organization devoted to Internal Medicine, has issued a position paper describing its commitment to health as a “human right”. It’s appended below so you can read it independent of my comments about its worth and coherence. The ACP and the authors of the paper are serious both…
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Justin Peck – Choreographer
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 31st October 2023Opera and Ballet have a lot in common. Both are performing arts typically presented in a theater with an orchestral accompaniment. They both typically tell stories and have sets and costumes. Yet modern opera struggles to survive while new ballets thrive. The disparity is easily explained. Opera, obviously, has both music and words, but the…
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Transthyretin Cardiac Amyloidosis.
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 26th October 2023Transthyretin amyloidosis, also called ATTR amyloidosis, is a progressive and fatal disease that affects multiple organs. It comes in two versions – genetic and wild (spontaneous and not hereditary). ATTR Amyloidosis is caused by the accumulation of a genetically variant form or even the normal form of the protein, transthyretin, into amyloid fibrils. Transthyretin is…
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Dead Man Walking in HD – Another Technical Screwup
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 21st October 2023The Met’s first HD telecast of this season ended with a whimper – actually a dead screen and no sound. The transmission stopped when the murderer De Rocher was strapped to a gurney and was being executed. After that nothing. No reprise of the hymn-like song sung by Sister Helen, no applause, no curtain calls,…
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Salvatore Fisichella
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 17th October 2023Salvatore Fisichella was born in 1943 in Catania Sicily to a noble family distinguished in diplomacy, jurisprudence, philosophy, and theology since the 17th century. He was opera’s leading bel canto tenor for the last 30 years of the last century and into the first few years of the 21st century. Known for the elegance of his singing as well…
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