In the "They don't make em like this any more" category: foreign correspondent, dapper author, and WWII Allied spy Paul Hofmann is dead at the age of 96. He outlived Hitler by 63 years. Hofmann was born in Austria in 1912, went into journalism in his early 20s, and fled Vienna for Rome in 1938 when ...

At an emergency UN Security Council meeting, the Arab League pushed for a resolution requiring an Israeli ceasefire in Gaza, but the UK and the USA have rejected the idea. Meanwhile, a senior Hamas leader and much of his family were killed in an Israeli airstrike. In other news, Front Page Magazine ...

[Trying to crank this off before my flight, without my book or notes. May revise it in a day or two.] I find the portrait of Machiavelli by Santo di Tito (shown on the right, generously sponsored by Wiki-something) intriguing, and I'm evidently not alone, it graces most editions of The Prince on a b...

The most interesting of tonight’s news articles concerns the “Facebook invasion” by zealous mujahideen. It has been my repeated contention that in the art of information warfare the enemy remains far ahead of us. This story is yet another example of that fact: while we excommunicate one anothe...

1 ora e 27 minuti per Venezia-Padova di notte ? Non male per 35 km. O preferite Mestre-Bassano in due ore ? La Regione Veneto paga Trenitalia per i treni, e questa al posto dei treni mette dei bus. Meraviglioso. Dal Mattino di oggi: Venezia-Padova: sparisce il regionale feriale da Santa Lucia per Pa...

There are several stories tonight about a growing intolerance of non-Muslim religions in Malaysia, which used to practice a mild form of Islam and respect other religions. Times are changing. Also, notice the controversy about pigs in a Muslim-majority city in the southern Philippines. Thanks to C. ...

It looks like the Mumbai attacks are shaping up to be the Gavrilo Princip and Franz Ferdinand of the 21st century — only this time with nukes. India is saying publicly that the ISI — an organization which is part of the Pakistani military — was involved in the planning of and training for the ...

The lovely Taal Volcano, the smallest in the country, beautifully standing in the midst of Taal Lake. This view is taken from the view deck of the New Taal Vista Hotel building. Unfortunately this site which is the best site to view the Taal Volcano is no longer accessible to the general public. The...

Hello Everyone! Well you may or may not have noticed that there was an absent Vintages Value List coming at you two weeks ago. Rose & I started out with the best of intentions. But when we started walking over to the tasting room and the weather was so sunny and warm, we pulled a 180 and went do...

Well you may or may not have noticed that there was an absent Vintages Value List coming at you two weeks ago. Rose & I started out with the best of intentions. But when we started walking over to the tasting room and the weather was so sunny and warm, we pulled a 180 and went down to the lake a...