Peter Murmann

by Mary Dow Brine The woman was old and ragged and gray And bent with the chill of the Winter’s day. The street was wet with a recent snow And the woman’s feet were aged and slow. She stood at the crossing and waited long, Alone, uncared for, amid the throng Of human beings who passed her by Nor heeded the glance of [Read More]

The first half of the film was so painful to watch that I considered turning off the DVD player. Strangely enough when words on the screen announce that we are now entering HELL (this is after the two lovers Dan (Heath Ledger) and Candy (Abbie Cornish), according to earlier words of the screen, were in [Read More]

Here is a great story by Joe Flint in the LA Times about the challenges about starting and ending a romance with facebook. More than just Facebook friended Two longtime acquaintances connect on the website, and it’s like a whirlwind—it sweeps them up together and then hurls them apart. It was my first romance of the Facebook era. [Read More]

I definitely did not see it coming that the Democrats would lose Kennedy’s senate seat in Massachusetts. Here is the first solid information why the Republican candidate, Scott Brown, won the election. Click on More to find out who the man behind the stunning political upset is. Brown’s Massachusetts victory fueled by frustration with Washington, poll [Read More]

Health care reforms is hanging in the balance. This is not a good time to have to fly to Copenhagen to salvage even a minimal agreement to contain global warming. President Obama had to resort to some unusual diplomatic tactics: to crash private negotiations. The NYT provides details. The deal eventually came together after a dramatic [Read More]

Rarely do I see good short films. Two Cars, One Night is a sweat little film. I stumbled across it on home page of youtube. I have no idea how this film became so popular within little more than a week. I guess most of us appreciated the romance of childhood once we are adults. [Read More]

So your mother told you that one day you also can be president …She exaggerated a bit your chances of getting into the White House—nothwithstanding the recent episode with Michaele and Tareq Salahi. But today you can step into the presidential flight simulator and make a decision about how to handle the request of your [Read More]

Switzerland’s Invisible Minarets By PETER STAMM Winterthur, Switzerland THREE years ago I was invited to the Tehran International Book Fair; afterward I traveled around the country. The mosques I visited were so empty as to give the impression that Iran was as secular as Western Europe.It wasn’t until I took a trip to a place of [Read More]

  Crashing a party that you are not invited to takes guts. Crashing Obama’s first state dinner takes more than nerve. Before you decide to imitate Michaele and Tareq Salahi and crash the next state dinner, wait and see what happens to the couple. DOUGLASS K. DANIEL, Associated Press Writer, reports: WASHINGTON – Crashing [Read More]