Marilyn's Photos - Sep 22 2026 - Stuff vs Things

 

Isn't that so interesting!  Can you say one stuff, two stuff, three stuff more.  No.  But you can count "things" - one thing, two things, and so on.  So stuff is more general - uncountable and collective.  An undefined mass or mixture of objects, materials, or tasks. That's why there is an academic project to catalogue all the physical objects - it is called things-initiative.org and there's nothing for that mass and jumble of miscellaneous items. It makes me think thats why we often see what we own as being referred to as stuff.  A moving company would know how much "stuff" we have - between 1,500 and 3,000 individual items beyond clothes, books, and kitchen drawer stuff for two adults in an apartment.  That would translate into about 500 to 1,000 cubic feet of volume and fit in a standard 10 foot to 15 foot moving truck.   Make that a detached house and there is now 3,000 to 5,000 individual items. Your garage alone has between 100 to 300 items for lawn care, cleaning, and so on.  Now add two children and you have 10,000 to 15,000 individual items. There are 9.000 to 14,000 pounds of belongings.  There's a category named hidden storage - garage, basement, closets - which accounts for 30% of total volume. My guess is garages hold more than 300 items.  Equipment and gear sound like they have purpose.  But consider hobbies like collecting vinyl records, model cars, vintage items.  A collection of 13,201 frog-related items makes collecting stuff an activity that gets one fame in the Guinness Book of Records. That's a small collection compared to the Guinness Records for other things - 60,000 Star Wars Memorabilia collection.  Or video games - over 24,000.  Someone has more than 18,500 Barbie Dolls.  How do you store the largest fossilized poop collection?  There are 1,277 pieces.  And they have to be catalogued and photographed so become "things" being managed. The distinction of "stuff" is that it resists being counted, being discrete and individual.  "Things" are discrete and individual and possess an identify.   Here's the joke to sum up this topic: I went to a seminar on how to organize my things. Halfway through, I realized I didn't have organized things—I just had an overwhelming pile of stuff. George Carlin spoke wonderfully on the subject - the link is HERE.  And when I did a search for "stuff" in my picture database this image came up - file it under "funny stuff."   Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Sep 21 2026 - What about my hair?

 

There's a headline in the New York Times this morning and it indicates that there was a shooting near Ontario, Canada.  I found this a humorous moment.  There's an awful lot of places near Ontario, Canada. Let's ask AI what's near Ontario, Canada.  It says Manitoba, Quebec, James Bay and Hudson Bay, and then Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. Those are the land masses.  Then it goes on to include The Great Lakes - Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, and then it identifies inland waters like the Ottawa River and Trent-Severn Waterway.   That last bit seems strange - why would it have inland waters like the Trent-Severn Waterway? It connects Lake Ontario to Lake Huron and is entirely inside Ontario.   It seems to me that we shouldn't count on AI to complete primary school homework. AI accuracy on factual questions is supposedly over 90%.  It seems a low number to me that after scouring all the dictionaries and encyclopedias, it remains at this level.  The Encyclopedia Britannica has an error rate of near 5%, so why not just get the answers from the Encyclopedia? The Canadian Encyclopedia got the answer of what's near Ontario correct, so why not just reference it?  I ask too many questions when I am looking for answers. So back to our memorable New York Times place reference.  The actual location of the synagogue attack was in Belleville.  I wonder what place the New York Times considers Belleville near to - it has to a place that Americans would relate to.  And the only place would be Toronto.  We were in Belleville last year - it is a very pretty town east of Toronto.  I visited a heritage home/museum.  I took this picture because it was so strange to me - it is made of human hair from members of a family and the hair is woven into pretty shapes such as flowers and butterflies - a common practice in Victorian times.  Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Sep 20 2026 - Put Your Money Where...

 

Didn't Canada have a week awash with excitement!  We had the EU invitation to dance - some new sort of association with them. There was the Investor Summit with Mark Carney looking for a trillion dollars in investment from private capital sources, and promising tax breaks, and speedy response.  Airport privatization was on the agenda.  And our cold climate was a selling point - for AI data centres.   These were excellent distractions and responses to  the new US tariffs coming into effect on Tuesday. There's more to come. Next week it is the United Nations General Assembly where sovereignty and the economy will be every-present.  Add to that Parliament resumes with legislation ready for debate and discussion.  That will include Pierre Poilievre. He will be able to lead off the daily Question Period.   The alternatives in the headlines are far less appealing.  There's the loss of access to the White  House by key members of the press.  There's the fixation over the athlete who soiled herself during a race and wouldn't stop (soiling or competing).  That headline swirled everywhere and seemed hysterical.  There are numerous cases of marathon diarrhea.  It makes sense to me given how overwhelming the sport is on the human body.  I asked what percent might soil themselves, and studies indicate that between 30% to 90% experience cramping or diarrhea. A small fraction actually have leakage.  Maybe the headline last week was because the soiled athlete won her race.  And that it as an indoor event with messes everywhere.  So she went through all that for a win that she then forfeited.  Ouch.   That's why we're sticking with Mark Carney news this week.   Here's an innocent happy butterfly.  Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Sep 19 2026 - Ladybug Dresses

 

Isn't that an Alice in Wonderland costume?  It is a runway dress this past week, by Thom Browne.  There was a butterfly dress as well.  I think there might have been more bug-themed outfits given the show's theme was based on "A Bug's Life". What an idea.  One's wardrobe with a ladybug theme.  Here's the Thom Browne outfit. Here's another idea - a black dress with bug feet sticking out the sides.   And there's a "Lady Mantis" sort of outfit. One can find ladybug blouses, pajamas, dresses, all kinds of outfits with a ladybug print or design.  I was especially fond of the ladybug print vintage bathing suit.   One can start very young wearing little love bug rompers for toddlers.  They move into ladybug costumes like little girls wear to fairy parties where they run around with their ladybug wings spread out.  If one goes to Pinterest and TikTok, one finds the make-believe world of "miraculous ladybug dresses" - these are beautiful fairytale evening gowns.  Are there still masquerade costume balls?  Yes there are - there's a Halloween Masquerade Ball in Niagara-on-the-Lake at Queen's Landing. This would be an excellent choice of costume. There are lots of Monarchs this year - all of theme heading south. Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Sep 18 2026 - American Muffins

 

I stumbled upon an article with the top picks for pastry shops in Paris.  The pictures are divine. And most of the pastry shops have yummy-looking things.  And then there's a few weird things thrown in.  This one particularly: would you crave an American-style muffin in Paris? What would Gene Kelly answer to this question? Muffins originated in Wales, and migrated to England.  They were originally food for the poor, made from leftover stale bread, biscuit dough, boiled and mashed potatoes.  A new dough was then made and fried on a large hot griddle in rings to keep the muffins shape.  This was a savoury muffin in which the English version used yeast.   Supposedly, the recipe made its way to America where baking powder became the rising agent. Cookbooks in the late 1800s had muffin recipes.  Creamed butter, milk, sugar and flour are the basics. I don't see this as a migration at all.  Others say the American muffin was invented by Samuel Bath Thomas in 1880.  By the time the Fannie Farmer Cookbook was published, there were recipes for quick bread muffins and English muffins.   Of course, what happened in the 1950s is that muffins became industrially commercialized.  And I assume that's when all the modifications came about - corn syrup, guar gum, and modified starches. So a long list of French pastry shops with flaky buttery textures filled with pastry cream and topped with chocolate interrupted with an American-style muffin bakery? I guess that would appeal to the tourists reading an article and looking for something to remind them of home.  Paris has over 1,200 traditional bakeries and patisseries.  Toronto has dozens. Paris' are ubiquitous.  Toronto's are scattered.  Toronto patisseries don't sell muffins.  Paris patisseries do - they are called 'le muffin" or as "Gamme Americaine" and treat them as a trendy, imported specialty, putting them next to cookies, brownies and donuts.   Read this interesting story by Marcy Goldman on her American Muffin Odyssey HERE.  Here's an example of Paris-style pastries below. And here's the Old Post Bakery in Beamsville - a Dutch specialty bakery. It seems to me there are no muffins in there at all. Pastries galore. Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com