Lastest Stories by Colman Andrews

Disasters caused by human error — oil spills, bridge collapses, forest fires ignited by a carelessly discarded cigarette — can be devastating, but natural disasters are often even worse. They...
When a panel of 179 music experts chose “The Greatest Singers of All Time” for Rolling Stone in 2008, Aretha Franklin — who died of pancreatic cancer on August 16 at the age of 76 — took...
“Sa-a-a-d movies always make me cry,” sang Sue Thompson in her 1961 hit song of (almost) the same name. In her case, as it turned out, it wasn’t really the movie that brought tears to her eyes...
Watermelon is summer. Or at least it’s one of the season’s brightest, juiciest, most delicious symbols. Never mind that it’s available all year long these days. In summertime, watermelon really...
The restaurant business is a tough one. The average lifespan of a restaurant is five years and by some estimates, up to 90% of new ones fail within the first year. There are, however, some very...
Weather events, such as tornadoes, hurricanes, thunder and lightning storms, blizzards, and more, can be devastating, even deadly, but they can also be stunning to look at — from a safe distance or...
Summer is hot. That’s the whole point. It’s the season of pool parties, beach trips, backyard barbecues — of T-shirts, shorts, and flip-flops. We crank up the AC in summer, turn on the fans,...
There are no rules for naming towns. Some are christened, reasonably enough, after their founders or early patrons. Others are named for monarchs or political figures, or for saints — for instance,...
What is a city? How is it different from a town? Is it a question of population, facilities, public services, government? Merriam-Webster defines a city as “an inhabited place of greater size,...
What is a city? Definitions vary, but it is generally agreed that, at minimum, it’s a permanent human settlement — something more than a nomadic encampment. Most would probably add that it must...
Cuisines all over the world adapt foods and techniques from other cultures. One of the most typical dishes of Japanese cooking, for instance, is tempura. But the Japanese learned how to deep-fry...
Beer rules. It’s the third most consumed beverage in the world, after water and tea. It’s also our favorite form of alcohol: A Gallup poll last year found that 40% of American drinkers prefer...
Pablo Picasso, the rapper Prodigy, and the fourth president of the United States have something in common: They all died while eating. There’s an old Catalan proverb that says “The table kills...