Author Archives: JMN

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About JMN

I live in Texas and devote much of my time to easel painting on an amateur basis. I stream a lot of music, mostly jazz, throughout the day. I like to read and memorize poetry.

Illustration of the Day

Posted on October 6, 2019 by JMN

(From Richard Reeves, “Now the Rich Want Your Pity,” NYTimes, 10-5-19) I don’t believe a picture is always worth several words. But this one is. (c) 2019 JMN

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Dallas Complaints Department

Posted on October 6, 2019 by JMN

“The complainant was found lying on the ground in the apartment parking lot with multiple gunshot wounds,” the police said. “Dallas Fire-Rescue responded and transported the complainant to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he died from his injuries. Several witnesses heard … Continue reading →

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Homepage | Dilbert by Scott Adams

Posted on October 2, 2019 by JMN

The Official Dilbert Website featuring Scott Adams Dilbert strips, animation, mashups and more starring Dilbert, Dogbert, Wally, The Pointy Haired Boss, Alice, Asok, Dogberts New Ruling Class and more. — Read on dilbert.com/ Parody Inversion Point

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The Dark Greys of Her Eyebrow

Posted on September 29, 2019 by JMN

Former PM David Cameron asked the Queen for “just a raising of the eyebrow even… a quarter of an inch” to convey opposition to Scottish independence in 2014. “I’ve already said perhaps a little bit too much,” he conceded recently. … Continue reading →

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Ways of Looking

Posted on September 29, 2019 by JMN

Benjamin Moser has published “Sontag,” a biography of Susan Sontag. This favorable review of it left me mulling the following remark: “Biography is a metaphor,” Moser said. “It’s not the person’s life; it’s writing about a person’s life. Just like … Continue reading →

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American Dream Nicked

Posted on September 26, 2019 by JMN

Someone recently stole a solid gold toilet from an exhibit at Blenheim Palace, the family home of Winston Churchill. Its Italian creator named it “America.” The toilet was functional. Its theft “caused significant damage and flooding.” Dominic Hare, the chief … Continue reading →

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Possum Mechanics

Posted on September 15, 2019 by JMN

Max Planck invented the term “quantum,” writes Deepak Chopra, a professor of family medicine and public health, in a letter to the NYTimes. He quotes a 1931 interview with The Observer of London in which Planck said, “I regard matter as … Continue reading →

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When Is Kill Not “Over”?

Posted on September 15, 2019 by JMN

The illustration made me read this essay by Michelle Goldberg (“Margaret Atwood’s Dystopia, and Ours,” NYTimes, 9-14-19). On first glance, the picture’s Dairy Queen Blizzard ™ of cartoon imagery made me grumpy. Whatever it purports to symbolize, I thought, this … Continue reading →

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Twice Broken

Posted on September 14, 2019 by JMN

Roberta Smith describes Ernst Ludwig Kirchner as “the best and most versatile of the German Expressionists.” Like many 20th-century German painters, Kirchner was twice broken, by World I, which resulted in his nervous breakdown, and the rise of Hitler, which … Continue reading →

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A Pioneer Gallerist

Posted on September 14, 2019 by JMN

In 1926, Edith Gregor Halpert (1900-1970), an émigré from Ukraine, opened the Downtown Gallery on West 13th Street. It was the first gallery in Greenwich Village and she was the city’s first female gallerist… Horace Pippin, Stuart Davis, Charles Sheeler … Continue reading →

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