Somedays I listen to particular composers and other days the very thought of their music is the very last thing I want to listen to. I have wondered what goes on in the brain with ‘moods’ and thoughts but \i have found I can always look into the poets and find enjoyment but even there…
Author: Daniel
National Games
There is something profound in the games the games that nations take on as their ‘national sport’. The most famous is cricket, a step-by-step team game with strict rules and a long playing cycle that can take days. If that doesn’t tell you something about England look at chess favored by the Russians – a…
Words Hurt
So Donald Trump does not like the acronym TACO because it points to a flaw in his character that makes a mockery of his office. he may even strike out at those who use it to teach them a lesson. I remember being called a few choice racist slurs when I was teenager an not…
Sometimes Say Nothing
People will chase down one’s beliefs and one’s good nature driving one to speak. It is never libel if it is the truth and you have proof it is the truth but even so, sometimes it is better to say nothing. Because to sink into the pit of lies and falsifications it to become less…
The Eyes Have It
I have looked with interest at the photographs I have taken at the same time and of the same subject (a dog) as my professional photographer friend. I have noticed that her photographs, the framing, taking into account the light, and repeating the shot many times, produce far better looking results than any of mine….
80th
I was just at the 80th birthday party of an artist friend and colleague with whom I have helped publish three art books to date. It was a gathering of over twenty people I have known for about twenty-five to thirty years, a few I have seen grow from babies, a few I seen age,…
Ridiculous Advice
Successful people say things like ‘never give up’, and most people never do but they still never get very far. Another thing they say is ‘you have to be lucky’ but people sleep with each other for success and many are related to someone who helps them. ‘You should go bankrupt once’ and many do…
AI is us
Humanity has created things throughout its history and all those things have had a good and bad outcome. Knives can be useful or deadly, books can contain wisdom or filth, cities can be rewarding or hiding places for murder; nothing we make is benign. So it is interesting that the models for AI in the…
The Sea and the Skylark
On ear and ear two noises too old to end Trench—right, the tide that ramps against the shore; With a flood or a fall, low lull-off or all roar, Frequenting there while moon shall wear and wend. Left hand, off land, I hear the lark ascend, His rash-fresh re-winded new-skeinèd score In crisps of curl…
Journalism
I am reading the much to be respected Douglas Murray’s new book ‘On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization’. His writing style reminds me of Upton Sinclair who charted the rise and fall of fascism in Europe from just before 1914 to 1956, though Sinclair couched his observations in fiction. I…