One of my blog readers emailed an article from the New York Times to me, recently. His note said, “the parts I read sounded as though you might have written them.” I could see why. I’d covered the story of J. K. Rowling’s recent mystery novel, The Cuckoo’s Calling in a recen

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love was recently interviewed for her upcoming novel, The Signature of All Things. The book, out in October, is a story about the life a 19th century woman, the overeducated daughter of a Philadelphia plant trader. Similar to my novel, Gothic Sp

I know it’s hard to feel empathy for bankers and Wall Street brokers, but Roger Parloff makes as good a case as anyone can for why falling into criminal behavior is easier for these folks than for others. (“The Gray Art of not quite Insider Trading,” by Roger Parloff, Fortune, 9

The term, the Last Mile, doesn’t refer to a death march. It refers to the point where a consumer purchases access to the internet through a service provider. AT & T and Comcast are two of the best known providers and they buy their air wave access from the federal government. Th

In an earlier blog (8/28/13), I poked fun about NSA spying. But, at heart, I don’t find the subject funny. As an older person, I feel obligated to remind the young, who may know little of life before “virtual reality,” that walking into the world wide web is fun and convenient,

As prehistoric as it may seem, I’m considering the purchase of a fountain pen. When I was in grammar school, my stepmother used to lend me her special pen to do my homework. The nib was the size of a needle’s point, yet it allowed the ink to flow across the paper with a smooth mov

In the closing chapters of her best seller, Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg makes the following observation about her generation’s attitude toward feminists.  In our defense, my friends and I truly, if naively, believed that the world did not need feminists anymore. We mistakenly thought

Sometimes I feel like I’ve dropped to earth from another planet. The impression is strongest when I discover scientific conclusions that run counter to my personal experience. I felt that way, recently, after reading an article on how to study in Scientific American Mind. As Septemb

I dropped by the community library box in my neighborhood the other day and among the offerings, I found the 1997 best seller, The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. I’d always meant to read the novel, so I scooped it up and brought it home.  The story is about Dinah, a woman in Biblical

Just want readers to know, I goofed in my dating, September 18.  So, no blog today.  Look for me again tomorrow. First time in almost four years. Sorry