We have a new reason “to despise Facebook,” says Jay Barmann of SFirst.com. (“Talking Points,” The Week, October 3. 2014 pg. 16) The company has long had a policy that requires users to subscribe under their real names. But what’s in a name some Drag Queens are beginni
One of my blog readers sent me a writer’s comment on the art of blogging. Barry Ritholtz has been producing a financial blog, Big Picture for over 10 years. As chief investment officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management and the author of Bailout Nation, the writer has credentials whi
One of my blog readers sent me a writer’s comment on the art of blogging. Barry Ritholtz has been producing a financial blog, Big Picture, for over 10 years. As chief investment officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management and the author of Bailout Nation, the writer has credentials wh
Yesterday a friend called and by her hesitant manner, I knew she wanted a favor. Eventually, she got to her point. She wanted me to have coffee with her friend who was writing her first book and who wanted my advice on how to proceed. I agreed to meet this friend, of course. A
During a recent lunch date with my mother, who is 98, she admitted to a growing sense of vulnerability. Her memory was fading and she had difficulty finding the words she needed. This loss of self, she admitted, was a cruel penalty for having a long life. Stunned by her candor
Nearly a year ago, I wrote a blog about a group of scientists who decided to break the stranglehold research journals have in deciding whose work receives public recognition and whose work doesn’t (Blog 1/1/13) What emerged was a suite of journals covering all areas of science a
A small news item with huge potential consequences appeared in the press the other day. It touched upon the unified theory of everything, the quest for an understanding that would explain how electromagnetism, strong and weak forces in nature and gravity work together. (Blog 10/21/1
I have a friend who in his youth belonged to a comedy improvisational group. Their performance involved asking the audience to supply plots or characters which the actors would turn into extemporaneous skits. What resulted always ranked somewhere on a scale between funny to hilari
Cries of alarm, protest and horror rattled New York elites recently when Aby Rosen, the man who owns the Seagram’s building, wanted to remove a wall hanging, originally a ballet theater backdrop, purportedly painted by Pablo Picasso. The performance ended, the hanging landed as a
Whenever my co-host, Susan Stoner, and I sit down to discuss the venue for another of our YouTube book review series Just Read It, the air crackles with good vibes. Collaboration is something novelists seldom get to experience and while I enjoy the contemplative times of writing a