Peter Murmann

Until today I believed that the current elections in the U.S. are calm and civil compared to places like Ukraine where the opposition candidate became very sick in the weeks leading up to this coming Sunday’s fateful election because he was apparently poisoned by the incumbent party.  But then I read this short report about [Read More]

I discovered Harold Bloom last year and have become a big fan of his literary criticism. Even when he writes about authors I know quite well, he brings a fresh perspective on the material. Many of his 100 creative minds I have not had the chance to read in detail, but my appetitive for their [Read More]

Peter Parker a.k.a. Spiderman once again finds himself with too many heroic acts on his daily calendar. This prevents him from excelling at his studies at Columbia University and making sufficient money to pay his rent. New York needs a fulltime Spiderman just to keep the city functioning. Again Spiderman battles a mad scientist who [Read More]

From The Economist print edition, Sep 23rd 2004, p. 95 New Evidence that people have been promiscuous for a long time. LOTHARIOS everywhere will be pleased to hear that monogamy does not appear to be a natural human state. That, at least, is the conclusion of a study conducted by Michael Hammer at the University of Arizona [Read More]

Last Sunday a fantastic new series started on the WB Channel. It follows how a teenage boy become president of the USA in 2040. The writing is clever and insightful. One has the feeling that Washington insiders have written the script. In the middle of a presidential campaign, it is all the more fun to [Read More]

SHARON BEGLEY has filed this interesting report about the connection between wealth and happiness in today’s WSJ. It seems like justice is valued highly all over the world. But what is less clear is what people are willing to pay for it.  Wealth and Happiness Don’t Necessarily Go Hand in Hand On a scale of 1 [Read More]

Given that most people seem to know that the divorce rate in contemporary America is about 50 percent for first timers (the odds for 2nd and 3rd marriages are even worse), I was curious whether some people would feel a little bit queezy about uttering the promise Till Death Do us Part. SAM [Read More]

During the first thirty minutes of the movie I wanted to scream out after every sentence of the dialogue: Brilliant!!! The rest of the movie is excellent as well. Woody Allen could (perhaps should) have stopped writing, acting and directing movies after Annie Hall (1977), and he would have deserved to be inducted into the [Read More]

D. D GUTTENPLAN filed this interesting report from Britain in today’s NYT. I have one recommendation for British vacationers in Spain and Portugal, age 18 and above, who are thinking about seeing a psychotherapist. Look up the local catholic priest. He does not charge any money for a talk therapy. LONDON, May 28 – Who [Read More]