May 11 2024 - There's a New Dr. Who who is one of Them

 

There's a new Dr. Who and they call him They/Them.  That's right, gender neutral or perhaps alien unidentifiable. Then what would make the show have his side-kick be a cute She/Her.  It seems to mock the gender neutral identify and undermine it so that  character can be considered a He/Him.  "Time" will tell how well that goes. "The original run of Doctor Who spanned 1963 to 1989. Since the show was revived in 2005, the Doctor has been played by Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant and Matt Smith, in addition to Capaldi and Whittaker. Other stars, such as Karen Gillan and Billie Piper, have made their names on the show as the Doctor's "companion." It makes sense that with the last Doctor being a woman, then next one had to be a "whatever" ir nature a "Who Knows".   Who should play the gender-neutral character?  Hard to know. It seems that television content is a direct reflection on our everyday social mores and thoughts. Even a "television series" about far-distant planets and time travel.  Did television replace religion as the guide for everyday living?  Maybe Roger Silverstone's 1994 book "Television and Everyday Life" has some wisdom on this.   Famous words in a Sydney, AU garden.  Little did Darwin know he words would apply to science fiction television drama.

Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

May 10 2024 - Things You Should NEVER Do

 

There are a lot of articles that give advice on what to do and what not to do.  There seems to be an accumulation of articles on things you should never do.   How about this one:  Never be dull and gloomy unnecessarily How would you know someone who is like this (or maybe yourself)? Quora says (or rather probably taken from a Psychology Today article on the subject) that the traits of a dull person are: negativity, superficial, impassive, self-centred and predictable.  But they keep using the word boring rather than dull.  In fact, Assistant Bot says a lot about dullness:  Lack of enthusiasm Limited interests Poor conversational skills Low energy Lack of humor Predictability Resistance to change There's a correlation between dull and boring dull is a characteristic of the person and born his the effect the person has on you.  That works quite well, doesn't it. One of the important things in life is supposedly for us to never be dull or boring.  I consider some of the following much more important.  "Never" : wear cheap shoes that don't fit never call young women "aunty" never smile at strangers in Russia  never drive the golf cart ahead of the group never touch and move things around in someone else's house never cut your food into bite-sized pieces all at once never arrive late for a funeral or leaving before the end of the service never arrive more than 30 minutes early to a wedding (supposedly they are still getting ready) and never dress like the bride/bridesmaid on purpose There  are lots and lots of things that we can do wrong and be really sorry for. These are just a few items.  Soperhaps life's advice is to forget the big things like never "lie to yourself", "neglect your health" or "be scared to love again". Should never be dull or boring be included in the list? You get to decide.   Can you ever be in trouble wearing the wrong tie?

Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

May 9 2024 - Cracking the Code

 

I was looking up information about poached eggs and got to wondering if cracking the code comes from something related to egg cracking.   The 'crack' part of the phrase does refer to breaking so 'breaking the code'.  There are lots of definitions online.  But who knows the rest, given all the crazy retrievals on google.  And the only article with some sense of origin is from usdictionary.com so is dumbed down - for example where does the expression come from?  It has its roots in cryptography, with no dates or first references.  So we'll leave the eggs and crack the code and visit the tulip field.    Definitely a Dutch connection in this growing field.

Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

May 8 2024 - Apron Belly

 

Bing keeps showing a headline on how to eliminate "Apron Belly" - so here are more:   beer belly breadbasket gutbucket love handles middle-age spread paunch spare tire pot belly muffin top pot gut corporation bay window beer gut That's a lot of variations to account for.     More of the tulip field.  This tulip display has half a million tulips.

Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

May 7 2024 - Generation Naming

 

Have we always named generations?  When did we start?  Thoughtco.com tells me that it is generally agreed to have started in the 20th century.  It also tells me that generational theorists Neil Howe and William Strauss wrote the1991 book on this titled Generations" and get credit for the names.  I found these sources along the way: Gertrude Stein named the Lost Generation 1883 - 1900.  Tom Brokaw named The Greatest Generation 1901 - 1924.   Time Magazine named the Silent Generation in 1951 in an article.  The first recorded use of "baby boomer" is in a January 1963 Daily Press article by Leslie J. Nason describing a massive surge of college enrollments approaching as the oldest boomers were coming of age. The term Generation X was popularized by Douglas Coupland in an article for Vancouver Magazine in 1987. He later said that he had adopted the term from Paul Fussell's book Class: A Guide Through the American Status System, published in 1983. "The easy solution was Gen Y, because, of course, Y comes after X. Just like baby busters, though, Gen Y didn't stick. Neil Howe and William Strauss' 2000 book Millennials Rising named the generation born in the years following 1980 after the new century, and millennials was the label that endured." Xennial: Jed Oelbaum credits Sarah Stankorb with the term. The earliest traced usage comes from the 2014 Good article, which Stankorb pitched including the term Xennial. Gen Z: The 'Z' in the anemia means "zoomer' - but no one is given credit for its name.  Maybe it goes back to Douglas Coupland who is credited with Gen X. Gen Alpha: Social researcher Mark McCrindle coined the term for the most recent generation to denote a “new start” after Gen Z. McCrindle theorizes that they will be characterized by more diverse family dynamics, higher racial diversity and higher economic inequality than previous generations.     Tourist Tulip Fields are popping up everywhere in Niagara.  There was one in Fenwick last year - TASC.  Now there's another nearby.  And this one is on Seventh Avenue just north of Fourth Avenue.  Drop into 13th Street Winery for your butter tarts and then walk the fields - they are just around the corner.

Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca