Stereophile
Full circle in Colorado
A hi-fi dealer's son, Matt Alterman has been in or near the business almost all his life. His dealership, Crescendo Audio, is coming full circle as he opens a new location in Boulder, Colorado, the town where he launched his first store 13 years ago.
3 min |
December 2025
Stereophile
Baby you can drive my car(tridge)
While I was coming to grips with this month's review subject, the idler drive Garrard 301 Advanced, I began to think about the various methods that have been used to spin turntable platters over the years. Since the transition a century ago from windup clockwork to electric motors, there have basically been three ways to spin a turntable platter: idler drive, belt drive, and direct drive. True, there have also been a few designs that go their own unique ways, such as the rare, water-driven Oasis made by David Gillespie of Saturn Audio in the late 1970s and the gear-driven H.H. Scott 710 I once owned and foolishly sold. But almost everything made since the 1950s uses one of the three main drive systems. Even the Omega Drive system, which was used by Wilson Benesch on their extraordinary GMT One turntable, is at its core a direct drive design.
10 min |
December 2025
Stereophile
Life in the emerald beyond
If you find yourself in Monaco on a Sunday night, make your way to La Note Bleue, a cozy restaurant and music bar on the beach by the Avenue Princesse Grace. There, you're likely to find a legendary world/fusion guitarist sitting in with a group of young jazz musicians eager to cut heads with the acknowledged maestro of inner awareness and otherworldly spirits. Forever known to some as “Mahavishnu,” you can call him by his birth name, John McLaughlin.
3 min |
December 2025
Stereophile
Lotti Golden
Her life became a whirlwind. Taking the train in from Brooklyn to Manhattan to pitch songs and experience the East Village scene, she landed a song-publishing deal at age 14. In 1968, at 18, after a chance meeting in an elevator, a legendary songwriter/record producer was interested in assisting her in making her debut album. Released on Atlantic Records in 1969, Lotti Golden's Motor-Cycle was wildly experimental and ahead of its time. Seemingly poised for success, the album and her career suddenly vanished.
4 min |
December 2025
Stereophile
Some marketing claims are true
None of the amps I build are better than the others,” Justin Weber of Ampsandsound told me not long after we met. “They are just different.” I may have smirked inwardly. According to his company’s website, Weber makes no fewer than 23 amplifier models, many capable of driving both headphones and speakers, ranging from the $2700 Kenzie OG to the $38,000 Arch Monos. Are they really all equally good?, I wondered. Surely this was just a clever Buddhist ploy to distract us from some of his amps’ high prices. Doesn't the extra $35k spent on the Arch Monos buy you something more desirable than the performance offered by the little Kenzie? Writing for an audio magazine means I hear a lot of marketing claims, some more risible than others, and I have learned to take them with an entire seabed worth of salt.
10+ min |
December 2025
Stereophile
Midpriced phonography
My mother Lily Mae was a Lutheran from Norway. She sent me to Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran School so that I'd become a well-mannered, tea-with-her-friends choirboy, with starched white shirts and a secret penchant for wildness that was nurtured by those freethinking Catholic girls at the elementary school next to ours.
10+ min |
December 2025
Kiplinger's Personal Finance
A GUIDE TO LAUNCHING A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS AFTER 50
Age can be an advantage for older entrepreneurs looking to extend their careers or supplement income in retirement.
10+ min |
December 2025
Kiplinger's Personal Finance
21 SMART MOVES TO MAKE BEFORE YEAR-END
These steps can help trim your tax bill, boost your savings, lower your health care costs and set you up for financial success in 2026.
10+ min |
December 2025
Kiplinger's Personal Finance
Same Story, Different Year
WHAT does the Federal Reserve's rate-reduction initiative mean in the short run for your fixed-income holdings? You'll recall that one year ago, the Fed cut three times, starting by hacking its benchmark overnight funds rate by 0.50 percentage point in September. The year ended with bond markets and fund returns in retreat. It's wishful thinking that cheaper short-term credit and falling money market yields will spark a general bond-buying binge and propel your 2025 total returns toward 10% by year-end.
2 min |
December 2025
Kiplinger's Personal Finance
New Ways to Use 529 Funds
Tax-free withdrawals from these plans could help you sharpen your job skills.
2 min |
December 2025
Kiplinger's Personal Finance
Grab a Deal on a Winter Getaway
In the early months of the year, travel demand dips-and so do prices.
5 min |
December 2025
Scoop USA Newspaper
Independence Blue Cross offers variety of options as Open Enrollment for individual and family health plans begins
Independence Blue Cross (IBX), the hometown health insurer for the Philadelphia region for over 85 years, is introducing a variety of health plan options for individuals and families for 2026.
3 min |
ScoopUSA, Volume 65 - Number 47
Kiplinger's Personal Finance
WHAT'S AHEAD FOR SOCIAL SECURITY
Bipartisan collaboration on a mix of reforms will likely be needed to keep the system solvent and benefits intact.
3 min |
December 2025
Kiplinger's Personal Finance
TO TIP OR NOT TO TIP?
If you're weary of widespread prompts to leave a gratuity, follow these guidelines on when it's customary—and when you can skip it.
3 min |
December 2025
The Oprah US
The Long Game
Can a pill help reverse hair loss? Do those red lights really work? And what's all this talk about plasma? We've untangled the web of options to guide you toward a fuller, lusher mane.
9 min |
Holiday 2025
The Oprah US
The SIREN CALL of VIETNAM
The country will ask you to listen closely. Vietnamese is largely monosyllabic, and each syllable carries three parts that guide the word's meaning: the single consonant sound that begins the syllable; the rhyme; and the tone. Consider the word ma. Depending on the accent and tone, it can have seven different meanings: ma, or rice seedling; má, or mother (often used in the south); ma, or ghost; mã, or horse; mà, meaning that, which, or who (a relative pronoun); mà, meaning but or however; and mà, a particle used to emphasize or persuade. Decoding the language is a metaphor for A COUNTRY THAT'S AS WELCOMING AS IT IS MYSTERIOUS.
6 min |
Holiday 2025
Scoop USA Newspaper
Dancing through challenges while lifting people up—That’s Shirladelphia
With all the craziness happening in the world, it sure is nice to hear about someone who does nice things for others. That’s Shirla Smith.
3 min |
ScoopUSA, Volume 65 - Number 47
Scoop USA Newspaper
Free MRI brain scans for Philadelphia residents
The Brain Tumor Foundation (BTF) has announced that it will offer free early detection brain tumor MRI screenings for residents of Philadelphia and the surrounding areas.
2 min |
ScoopUSA, Volume 65 - Number 47
Scoop USA Newspaper
DCBS Annual Symposium "Ending Educational Apartheid"
\"The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth.\"
3 min |
ScoopUSA, Volume 65 - Number 47
Scoop USA Newspaper
Independence Blue Cross offers variety of options as Open Enrollment for individual and family health plans begins
Independence Blue Cross (IBX), the hometown health insurer for the Philadelphia region for over 85 years, is introducing a variety of health plan options for individuals and families for 2026.
3 min |
ScoopDigital, Vol. 6, No. 39
Scoop USA Newspaper
Senate is poised to take the first steps to end 40-day shutdown
The Senate is voting on the first steps to end the 40-day government shutdown Sunday after a group of moderate Democrats agreed to proceed without a guaranteed extension of health care subsidies, angering many in their caucus who wanted to continue the fight.
5 min |
ScoopUSA, Volume 65 - Number 47
Scoop USA Newspaper
"Tiffany Haddish Goes Off” travels to the Motherland
Step into a world of twinkling lights, falling snow, and holiday magic as the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet's beloved production of \"The Nutcracker\" returns to the Upper Darby Performing Arts Center, 601 N.
3 min |
ScoopUSA, Volume 65 - Number 47
Scoop USA Newspaper
Another Election Day Behind Us
I, for one, am so glad that November 4, 2025, is behind us.
3 min |
ScoopUSA, Volume 65 - Number 47
Scoop USA Newspaper
One Philly, A United City Citywide Cleaning Program continues
The Office of Clean and Green Initiatives is advancing Mayor Parker’s One Philly, United City Cleaning Initiative by continuing the One Philly, United City Citywide Cleaning Program.
3 min |
ScoopDigital, Vol. 6, No. 39
The Oprah US
Beach, Pray, Love
Thirty no-fail, keep-everyone-happy reasons why it's totally possible to have the perfect beach getawayand then some.
10+ min |
Holiday 2025
The Oprah US
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR BRAIN
EVERYTHING WE KNOW NOW, AND WHAT WE HOPE AND PRAY IS COMING.
10+ min |
Holiday 2025
Scoop USA Newspaper
Moments that matter: Redeeming time to build a legacy
Time. It's the one thing we all have in common— and the one thing we can never get back once it's gone, whether rich or poor, young or old, time remains life's great equalizer. It doesn't slow down for our struggles, nor does it speed up for our success.
4 min |
ScoopUSA, Volume 65 - Number 47
The Oprah US
HAPPY BIRTHDAY To Me
My 40th birthday might have been the impetus for dragging 30-odd friends to Venice for a series of experiences that culminated in a black-tie masked ball at the Venice Venice Hotel. But my real reason for the celebration was to honor creativity, culture, and connection, opening a channel to the divine within.
5 min |
Holiday 2025
Writer’s Digest
What Is Your Story Question?
When a story isn't working—when you know it's not quite coming together, when beta readers and critique partners confirm your fears but can't put a finger on why, or you're not getting offers from agents or publishers—savvy authors start trying to diagnose the issue by examining its component parts, like characterization, plot, and stakes.
6 min |
Yearbook 2026
Writer’s Digest
Write It Out
Writing prompts to boost your creativity.
1 min |