The exhilarating story of an art fraudster’s downfall, by his former friend and partner In 2020 Inigo Philbrick was arrested by the FBI on the Pacific island of Vanuatu and brought to Manhattan in handcuffs. He was wanted for his part in one of the biggest art frauds in history. Still only in his early…
High winds, rains, winter storms and tropical cyclones accounted for 80% of power interruptions over the last 20 years Power outages in the US are surging, as climate-related extreme weather strain an already burdened energy grid. Over the last decade, severe storm outages increased by 74% compared with the previous 10 years. Continue reading…
Rep. Ilhan Omar’s, D-Minn., daughter Isra Hirsi claimed over the weekend that she and fellow anti-Israel protesters faced “physical harm” from opponents spraying “chemical weapons” while protesting at Columbia University. Columbia University has been engulfed in protests over Israel’s ongoing military operation in Gaza. Hirsi was suspended from Barnard College, one of Columbia’s undergraduate schools,…
I thought finding Karma – yes, that is the cat’s name – would make me beloved and cherished by my neighbourhood. Unfortunately, not so much A couple of weeks ago I went to go see a woman about a cat. The woman was my neighbour (we’ll call her L) and she had lost her tabby,…
When organizers announced their plans for an open swim in the Chicago River in September, residents across the city raised their eyebrows. The days when the river was a dumping ground for the largest slaughterhouse in the world are long past. And, sewage that once flowed directly into the river is now funneled through wastewater…
When a friend reminded me that it’s almost time for the Democratic National Convention, I wanted to say, “That’s OK, I’m good with the last one.” But, I didn’t. I’m too much of a political junkie to ignore this level of political history while it’s being made. As a matter of historical importance, it’s not…
The creative life can be, to borrow some words from the musical “Annie,” a “hard knock life,” or, as writer Maya Angelou once put it more gently, “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” Few people I know have more energetically devoted their life and talents to creating than…
Over 300 Iranians stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, on Nov. 4, 1979 — taking 66 Americans hostage. The embassy had been attacked and occupied in February of that same year but had been quickly returned to U.S. control. Rising from the chaos of the Iranian Revolution and loyal to Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, the…
