Capital of the World

A number of people I know went to Italy this year.  Overall their impressions were positive.  The reasons for their trips varied.  Some cousins proudly announced their journey was purely epicurean – food and wine was their goal and only Naples and Gaeta...

Politics as Usual 

Anyone following this year’s U.S. presidential run can’t help notice that two Americans of Indian descent, Biotech CEO Vivek Ramaswamy and former South Carolina governor/UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, are running on the GOP side. A few Dem pundits have already...

An Empire of Sex

The A & E cable channel has done a documentary on Bob Guccione, the founder of Penthouse Magazine and his short-lived global empire. Older folks followed the Guccione saga in real time starting in the 1970s when he challenged Hugh Hefner’s Playboy empire. ...

Almost Our Queen

History has many twists and turns.  Nations and cultures can be shaped by a single event. A Roman battle fleet September 2nd marked the anniversary of the Battle of Actium in 31 B.C.  Julius Caesar had been assassinated thirteen years before, setting off a...

IF YOU CAN’T STAND THE HEAT, SAY SOMETHING!

Summer is still with us, especially in Europe, where hot weather continues to flourish. On Wednesday, August 23rd, for example, the city of Milan hit 33 Celsius (close to 92 Fahrenheit), one of the hottest temperatures since 1763, the year in which weather temps began...