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.

An Interesting Painting

Posted on February 1, 2019 by JMN

This painting by Frida Kahlo appears in the article by Rebecca Kleinman, “Frida Kahlo Was a Painter, a Brand Builder, a Survivor. And So Much More,” NYTimes, 1-31-19. It’s interesting on many levels, not least for its depiction of the … Continue reading →

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Remarkable Insights from Working with Translators

Posted on February 1, 2019 by JMN

nyti.ms/2UzwdPr A connection between languages On this day in 1786, a Briton living in India delivered a discourse on a little-known proposition: that Sanskrit, Persian, Latin, Greek and other languages might have a common source. The commentary set off the … Continue reading →

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Planck’s Comment (from Reddit)

Posted on January 30, 2019 by JMN

TIL Max Planck was told by his professor not to go into physics because “almost everything is already discovered.” Planck said he didn’t want to discover anything, just learn the fundamentals. (r/todayilearned) Me. Ditto. Music. That guitar. (c) 2019 JMN.

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What’s Done

Posted on January 30, 2019 by JMN

What’s done is dung and cannot be undung. (Karl Ove Knausgaard. Quoted by Dwight Garner in his review of Chris Christie’s “Let Me Finish,” NYTimes, 1-28-19) (c) 2019 JMN.

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Opinion | Warning! Everything Is Going Deep: ‘The Age of Surveillance Capitalism’ – The New York Times

Posted on January 30, 2019 by JMN

Deep learning, deep insights, deep artificial minds — the list goes on and on. But with unprecedented promise comes some unprecedented peril. — Read on http://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/29/opinion/artificial-intelligence-surveillance.html … Deep trust and deep loyalty cannot be forged overnight. They take time. That’s … Continue reading →

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Fixing To

Posted on January 30, 2019 by JMN

[Drawing by Tom Jones] I’m fixing to get back into the swing of things blogwise. Since November I’ve been immersed in a Mediterranean voyage of discovery and recovery in the family nature of things. “Fixing to” (the “g” is silent) … Continue reading →

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The Prado Turns 200

Posted on January 28, 2019 by JMN

nyti.ms/2S6Mi1u The exhibition, called “A Place of Memory” and running through March 10, shows how, right from the beginning, the Prado navigated the often choppy waters of Spanish politics, as the country went from being an imperial power to a … Continue reading →

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Study suggests wood type has little effect on guitars’ sound

Posted on January 27, 2019 by JMN

According to many musicians, in order to have the best sound possible, an acoustic guitar has to be made from the “right” type of wood. Unfortunately, such wood often comes from endangered, unsustainably-harvested trees. A new study, however, suggests that … Continue reading →

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Follow the Money

Posted on January 27, 2019 by JMN

http://www.artorbiter.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Pat-Steir-Facebook.jpg “It was unimaginable to everyone around me that a small girl — not even a big strapping girl — could live a life as an artist and stay alive and committed,” Ms. Steir said. Her father had gone to … Continue reading →

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Looking Through Viral Writing

Posted on January 24, 2019 by JMN

The lesson here is really to question, what is the genuine source of this content and how is it being frames [sic]. And then, how is that framing elevated by the the news media that you’re looking through?” said Louis … Continue reading →

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