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Humans have been baking and eating bread for at least 5,000 years. But it wasn’t until the 20th century that anyone figured out a fast and easy way to cut it into thin, precise pieces. Then Otto Rohwedder, who had been working on the project for 16 years, produced a machine that cut a loaf […]

Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) was called “the most famous actress the world has ever known.” She did a few films in the early days of the cinema, but most of her work was in the theater. At age 70, she played the role of the 13-year-old Juliet in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. I commend her on […]

I used to have an acupuncturist who, as she poked me with needles, liked to talk about her understanding of Chinese medicine. Once she told me that every human being needs a “heart protector,” which is a body function that’s “like a holy warrior who serves as the queen’s devoted ally.” But the heart protector […]

Two-thirds of people surveyed said they would rather look good than feel good. I hope you’re not one of them. The ironic fact of the matter is that if you put the emphasis on looking good in the coming week — creating favorable impressions, acting dishonest in order to curry favor, wearing uncomfortable but attractive […]

In some of the newspapers that publish my horoscope column, my carefully wrought text is buried in the back pages amidst a jabbering hubbub of obscene advertisements for quasi-legal sexual services. For readers with refined sensibilities, that’s a problem. They do their best to avert their eyes, narrowing their focus down to a tight window. […]

Self-help author Barbara De Angelis wrote a book that offers to help us learn “how to make love all the time.” Maybe I’ll read it someday, but right now I’m more interested in your take on the subject. How would you make love — not have sex, but make love — with your sandwich, with […]

To place yourself in smooth alignment with planetary rhythms, do conscientious work on the foundations of your life. Take extra care of the people who take care of you. Make sure you have a good supply of the various resources that keep you strong and steady. Check to see if maybe you need to rev […]

If you’re bogged down in the trance of the humdrum routine, astrology can open your mind and illuminate fascinating patterns that have been invisible to you. It can reveal the big picture of your life story, sweeping away the narrow ideas and shrunken expectations you have about yourself. And it can purge your imagination of […]

Temple Grandin is a successful autistic person. Diagnosed at an early age, she nevertheless went on to earn a PhD in animal science and became a bestselling author whose work has led to notable improvements in the humane treatment of livestock. Although she acknowledges that her autism has caused her problems, she also believes it […]

One of the best new bands of 2009 was the Girls. Spin magazine selected their debut CD “Album”as the fifth best album of the year. After touring for months and selling scads of records, the band came back home to San Francisco in February to do a sold-out show at the Great American Music Hall. […]