Apr 5 2025 - Wayne Gretzky Deposed...Almost

 

I know lots about hockey but nothing about playing the game.  I know about players, playing rights, owning rights, contracts, how much penalties cost players, how their salaries are calculated.  I worked on the NHL Player's Association database in 1999-2000.   Wayne Gretzky has hit the spotlight for two things.  We won't go into the first reason.  The second is someone reached his career goal record.  Alex Ovechkin tied Wayne Gretzky's record of 894 career goals.  The news was on low mode a few weeks go - that this was a possibility, then turned to a probably, and now the headlines. Alex Ovechkin skated over to his son Sergei, and then bowed to Wayne Gretzky in one of the suites.  Gretzky was "so proud" to be on hand.  It says he followed the games to be on hand for the event. If there's an 895, he will be in the building to witness more history. Sunday is the next opportunity. It seems ironic that Ovechkin plays for the Washington Capitals.   Here's something.  Ovechkin's goal song is "Shake, Rattle & Roll by Big Joe Turner.  That's been played 41 times this season.  More from Wayne: "The integrity of the game," Gretzky said. "When I was breaking Gordie Howe's record, he was there. And I said two years ago that if Alex gets close to my record, I'll be here. That's the National Hockey League, right? (Jean) Beliveau to Howe, (Bobby) Orr, (Mario) Lemieux, (Mark) Messier, you pass it down. If somebody breaks Alex's record, I hope Alex is there to shake his hand. But, right now, I hope Alex enjoys it and he deserves all the credit and accolades he's getting." "My dad told me that same night, ‘Be as proud of the guy that breaks your record,’" Gretzky said. That's quite a dad.

here's some advice for the rest of us. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Apr 4 2025 - Roll Over Rover

 

I wonder what makes dogs do things so well. Things like catch, roll over, shake a paw, and sit.  Do dogs learn faster than humans?   AI compares a dog to a 2-year-old child in terms of intelligence.  Then skip to Quora. Quora can be counted on for hilarious responses to questions.   How do dogs think so quickly compared to humans?  Short answer:  Dogs appear to think faster than humans because they have less to think about.  Back do dogs learning so fast.  There is a puppy socialization guideline called the rule of sevens.  By the time a puppy is 7 weeks old, it should have: Been in at least 7 different locations (backyard, garage, kitchen, neighbor’s yard, etc.) Eaten from at least 7 different containers Been held and petted by at least 7 different people Taken at least 7 one-mile car rides Been in a crate at least 7 times Played with at least 7 different kinds of toys Walked on at least 7 different substrates (grass, gravel, concrete, etc.) Been taken somewhere alone, without mom or littermates, at least 7 times Been exposed to at least 7 challenges (climbed on a box, gone through a tunnel, climbed up steps, etc.) And then what?  You will socialize them and they will learn more about the world around them.   I assume they will learn faster, too. It is proposed that this rule of sevens approach is as crucial as kindergarten is for a human child. I wonder if we have a rule of 7 for 2-year-old children.  Is there a 7-7-7 rule?  Yes, there is.  It goes like this:  Play with them for the first seven years, teach them for the next seven, and then advise them for the next seven and beyond.  I vote for the dog rule of 7 - more fun in a shorter time.

Tulip time is starting in a few weeks - towards the end of April and then finishes the middle of May.  We have Tulip Festival Fields now in Niagara.  Little did I guess that the display last year would be so pertinent this year.  This is at Seventh and Fourth Avenue in St. Catharines.  Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Apr 3 2025 - The Golden Age of Airplanes

 

Something that seems signficiantly different now compared to 70 years ago is air travel.  It might have evolved slowly, piece by piece. Take a look at the milestones in air travel history.  The milestones are jet engines going over 300 mph, the Concorde taking its first flight at 1,354 mph, and jumbo jets carrying more people.   What are the passenger's milestones?  We don't see it that way - going faster.   It is more how we feel it.  Squeezed and squashed - narrower seats and denser cabins, with difficult walk spaces.  And with all that squeezing and squashing, dealing with other passengers - some are loud and aggressive, some are loud because they are screaming, crying babies.   Here's a picture of the difference in a Boeing 747.  Those inches difference between the 80s and 2010 seemed to have ruined comfort.  We're going to protest that there's more that has changed.  We're in a closed space with nothing much to do for a few hours, and so eating seems important. There was a meal on a plane back then.  With cutlery that functioned.  There's a picture of 1960s service with the chef servicing and greeting first-class travellers.  There's another picture of passengers in the 1970s being served coffee in china cups.  That article says that flying was such an important occasion that passengers came in their finest clothes.  And there were lounges on board planes.  And then people were smoking in the lounges, so a little low bit there.  Low-fare flights "took off" into the 1990s. I consider that the real milestone for passengers.  Price pressure changed everything. With the lower prices, came huge volumes of people flying, larger airports with huge numbers of gates to walk to. Everything now seems an ordeal when it comes to flying.

This was supposed to be a comparison of meals then and now.  I suggest we in North America should remove the right hand picture.  That seems reserved for Asian airlines. I found a website where people post their airline meals - the site is HERE. You can read the reviews of people saying things like - the pastry was tasty and would have been better if they had heated it up.  As we move past the Asian airlines and into British Airways, the ratings vary all over "the map."  I can't image what they are for U.S. airlines.   Here's a cottage picture from a few years ago.  Now there's something that has changed in 80 years - cottage living.  No more outhouses, water from wells or brought in from the spring, wood-burning fireplaces for heating, no showers.  That trajectory is the opposite of airline travel.  Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Apr 2 2025 - Changing Your Mind

 

The expression comes to mind with all the political activities going on:  "Change your mind."  As if you can order up a new brain.  Or some part within the brain?  But really what the science article says is that the mind uses the brain, and the brain responds to the mind.  Well, the question immediately gets into what is consciousness.  The scientific articles say something like: the mind is energy and the mind generates energy through thinking, feeling and choosing.  We build thoughts, which are physical structures in our brain. And then it gets very complicated, very quickly. We've been changing our mind for a long time. The Oxford Dictionary show the expression showing up around 1500.  English has evolved a lot since then. Here's the entry for 1475: My mynde is now nott most vppon bokys. J. Paston in Paston Letters & Papers (2004)  vol. I. 484 Isn't that a double negative sentence?  And what is "bokys? Looks like the plural of bok - any collection of sheets or leaves, bound or unbound.  Our current word is book. OK, old and middle English is too hard, too.   Turning to something straight-forward, I wonder about is why Sophie, our cat, eats the brush when you brush her.  The answer says this:  "Your cat might bite the brush during grooming due to overstimulation, discomfort, or a negative association with the brush or grooming process."  There's another answer - she enjoys it. Quite happily chewing away on the plastic bristles.  And she's purring.  But then purring isn't particularly well understood either. It does seem that trying to find the plural of an old english word "book" is not an easy search.  I should look up the celebrity of the day - Val Kilmer's obituary, and join the millions who have searched on his name.

Here's another of the reflection pictures of the Canadian Tire store.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

A-ril 1 2025 - the Non-Joke Day of the Decade

 

Jokes and joking only work when people know each other and trust each other.  Isn't it so uncomfortable to be in a U.S. economic war and think we can enjoy a joke together.  This makes things difficult. And then, the notion of "real fun" has been fading.  McDonald's and various brand do these things for publicity and sales.   Maybe luxury companies think distraction is a good strategy for the current situation.  A Mercedes vertical car, a McDonald's "McGettigan's" opening the Ibn Battuta gate (in Dubai), and Sofitel announced a spa membership that comes with a yacht - that's in Dubai, too.  I guess Dubai doesn't need to think much about the U.S. economic war.   The BBC asked if we are too suspicious now for a prank  They reference the spaghetti from trees story that has been heralded for 68 years.  Well, that is after the Second World War in 1957, when things were calmer than in the previous decade.  They indicate that one year the Guardian ran a pull-out guide to a fictional Indian Ocean island. This doesn't seem so funny in 2025.  We could easily wake yup with every ocean being renamed "America."  or "Trump."  And then everything has changed - now with social media, all kinds of fake stories abound every day, making it April Fool's all the time - and not a fun one.  "Silly you to believe that story!"  Or "There really is a pedophile ring at a pizza shop in New York!" Welcome to the thousands of instagram, youtube and facebook posts that google is displaying - 35 pages of them, with their concluding message:  "In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the 328 already displayed. If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included." I must have just scrolled through over 3,000 stories.  And that's my April Fools 2025.

I found this picture taken in 2011 - it is a reflection in front of the Canadian Tire store.  They didn't pave the parking lot very evenly, and it was quite the lake for a week or so. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca