Peter Murmann

As readers of this web diary know, I love the New Yorker magazine. It happens rarely that I truly dislike an article in what I consider the best magazine in the world. A few weeks ago, however, I was quite disappointed with Jane Kramer’s portrait of Pope Benedict. I felt that she was uncharacteristically off [Read More]

The reason why people who are convinced of the existence of God are called believers and not knowers is that there is so little direct evidence that God is in charge of our lives. If God appeared in the sky over Manhattan and announced for all New Yorkers to hear that he or she (God [Read More]

Donating money to the Red Cross over the internet with a credit card takes less than five minutes.

Click on the graphic to get to the Red Cross donating page.

A couple of weeks ago a friend raved about the TV show 24, which will start its fifth season in January. I rented the first three episodes of the first season from Blockbuster. The entire season takes place in 24 hours. Before I knew it, I had watched the entire season in a few days. [Read More]

In college I had the privilege of taking a yearlong reading and writing course that picked a new theme every quarter. In the first term we read books and wrote essays on the idea of love going back all the way to Plato’s Symposium. Although I was fully able to articlulate Plato’s view of love,  [Read More]

Sometimes one piece of writing changes one mind. Until today I thought that talk therapy was utterly discredited. But there appears to be strong evidence that a skilled therapist can help the brain to change its relationship to the world. Depression       From The Economist print edition (Apr 14th 2005) FOR almost a century [Read More]

WARREN ST. JOHN and ALEX WILLIAMS on today’s NYT provide good news for you night owls. The notion that early risers live more healthily and are more productive is a self-promotional myth. People need to find the sleeping patterns that suits them best! The Crow of the Early Bird Mr. Iger, who is married to the television [Read More]

I read for the first time today what Kennan wrote in 1946. I replaced in my mind the words “Soviet Union” with “Al Queida” and “communism” with “terrorism.” From this vantage point, the last paragraph becomes particularly insightful into our current situation. WORD FOR WORD | COLD WARRIOR The Man Who Took the Measure of the [Read More]

The Economist (print edition) Feb 12th 2004 published an interesting report about what scientists know about the chemistry of romantic feelings. I get a kick out of you Scientists are finding that, after all, love really is down to a chemical addiction between people OVER the course of history it has been artists, poets and playwrights who [Read More]

For the last 20 years I have taken almost daily refreshing power naps. Now the guardians of pseudo disclipine want to banish this smart daily routine from the work place. I fear that we may be returnig to the dark ages of knowledge about human productivity.  SUE SHELLENBARGER filed in today’s Wall Street Journal [Read More]