Marilyn's Photos - Aug 7 2026 - Moon Crash

 

They figured out where the SpaceX rocket part crashed on the moon.  The picture has a little black spot with a white spot and a yellow arrow.  It is near the Einstein Crater.  The crash was "unintentional but full anticipated" - which sounds disconcerting.  The resulting crater was estimated at 60 feet wide and 12 feet deep.  With lower gravity on the moon the plume of debris was viewable through telescopes, and was observed for 5 to 10 minutes after the impact.   Scientists can now investigate the lunar dust and debris and the Moon's geology below the surface. There is also the expectation that a detectable seismic event occurred.  There aren't any instruments on the moon to record this.  That is a gap compared to the previous NASA era of crashing rockets into the moon on purpose. The astronauts placed seismometers on the lunar surface to record the moonquakes and vibrations of the rocket parts they crashed to the Moon.   The articles usually lead to commentary on the amount of junk in space.  How much junk space is there?  There's 13,000 tonnes of it in the area between the Earth and Moon. AI is now used to help satellite operators avoid collisions, which I gather is a very frequent possibility. This comes from the Painters' Palette Series where I took pictures of the watercolour palettes and then modified them into collages, etc.  Doesn't this look like a Moon Strike? Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marily n's Photos - Aug 6 2026 - The Library of Alexandria

 

There's an address for the Library of Alexandria in Egypt.  It is located at 6W49+PQ7, Al Azaritah WA Ash Shatebi, Bab Shar', Alexandria Governorate 5423021, Egypt. There's a myth that the library was destroyed in a single fire and that event plunged humanity into the Dark Ages.  Wikipedia tells me a different story: Ceasar's Fire in 48 BC burned thousands of scrolls in a warehouse at the docks.  In the 3rd Century the Romans damaged the royal quarter where the main library stood.  Then Christian leaders destroyed the Seapeum temple in 391 AD. The Islamic Conquest Myth was that the Arab leader burned the books to heat baths - this is considered a false story.   There's a legend that we would be centuries ahead in our technological world if the library had remained.  Now, historians don't think that the library held secret advanced knowledge to prevent the Dark Ages or propel us sooner into space with advanced technologies and scientific knowledge. The prevailing theory is that the library decayed over centuries due to lack of interest, reduced funding and shifting politics: Egypt became a Roman province, moving political power and funding away.  There was a shift from classical pagan scholarship toward Christian theological debates by the 4th century AD, and commercial survival predominated over an expensive, royal research archive. I see a parallel today.  Trump and the MAGA movement in the U.S. today have an anti-education, anti-science, anti-intellectual bias that can dismantle all the education and technology institutions.  This doesn't seem that unlikely many centuries later.  How long does it take to now for something to fall into decay and disappear? The size and scale of the library is so substantial. Somewhere between 400,000 to 700,000 papyrus scrolls is the estimate of the collection - containing famous epic poetry, the ancient Greek plays, science, mathematics, astronomical charts, engineering and medical information, philosophy and history and even foreign translations of Persian, Hebrew and Indian works.  Absolutely nothing remains of the Library.  No architecture, columns, foundations.  It is believed that the library is beneath modern Alexandria or submerged in the harbour.  There are no intact scrolls or documents.   But that doesn't mean that the works were all lost.  Ancient texts were regularly copied and shared with other locations - Constantinople, Rome and others.  That is the most predominant explanation for why historians consider the world would be similar to what it is today with or without this ancient library.   The address above?  It is the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria.  It does seem comforting to know there is a physical place for this legend. I don't have any images tagged with library, and only a few with book.  I did like this picture - a blank slate moment. Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Aug 5 2026 - More Old People News

 

Clint Eastwood, 96,  made the elderly news recently with an official announcement to retire. That was in June.  It is a remarkable achievement to work and contribute for so many decades.  I wondered if there is more news like this about and for the elderly.  We can go to the UK Independent to see a full news section dedicated to Elderly People.  There are sections on Health, Americas, Home News, Europe, Lifestyle and so on.   I wouldn't call these stories "news-breaking" - very chatty and short.  There are a few crime stories about abuse in care homes and scams.  That's the news in Britain.  Canadian news covers healthcare issues, housing costs, social issues with high rents, and the disproportionate number of old people in Canada.  The National Post has an interesting headline:  "Badly hurt grandfather was reportedly joking after being tossed in the air by a bison."  While it was reported in the Canadian News, the event occurred at Yellowstone National Park.  There was a video of it, so it is travelling around all the news feeds. The distinction of being old and being athletic makes the news. The Guinness Book of Records has athletic records like marathon, yoga, curling, and dead hangs. That last one was achieved by a 99 year-old in 2026.   I expect we will see more news oriented to old people - Canada is expected to join the ranks of "super aged" countries in 2030.  Japan leads this group with 28.2 percent aged 65 plus. Finland, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Bulgaria are in the category as well. There are actually over 40 countries.  In 25 years as many as 2.5 million Canadians will be over 85, more than double the 2021 census number.  Searching for pictures on the topic, I found this one from the past.  I don't remember who the 78-year-old comedian is. In comparison, we enjoy old trees - here's the Comfort Maple - the oldest Sugar Maple tree in Canada.  It doesn't look this good anymore - this is about 10 years ago. Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Aug 4 2026 - So Old That...

 

In the land of "Old Celebrities" it seems there are a few really old ones.  Who is the oldest? Caren Marsh Doll is the oldest at 107 years - she was in The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind.  Next is Eva Marie Saint at 102.  She's followed by Mel Brooks at 100, Dick Van Dyke at 100, William Daniels at 99, James Hong at 97, and William Shatner at 95.   The list doesn't show Clint Eastwood who is 96, and he turns out to be a celebrity that the MSN News Feed is always covering.  I wonder what that is about.  So I asked the question of what makes some celebrities covered so often.  The answer includes these items:  the mystery factor caused by stars not using active platforms to give fans updates, their versatility for memes with old movie scenes, facial expressions. There's the generational contrast with old celebrities having a toughness and traditional privacy, and finally viral hoaxes with out-of-context quotes, satirical claims, and fake accounts.  That's the case with Clint Eastwood who seems to be present and elusive.  He released a film in 2024 so there are pictures of him on the set to contrast with the pictures of him through the decades.  We are fascinated with time and aging, aren't we?  Who can possibly demonstrate aging better than Clint Eastwood.  Here's the short YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/uc55a6k3MKw It is a compelling video with seamless transitions that make it possible to imagine a final transition where Clint Eastwood becomes a mythical being.  This seahorse statue in one of the decorative ponds at Winterthur Museum gives the sense of this as it floats between sea and sky.  Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

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Marilyn's Photos - Aug 3 2026 - Graduating Grammar

 

Graduate college or graduate from college.  The New York Times has somehow embraced casual grammar. I noticed this as this looked like a typo to me.  I hadn't heard the expression graduate college.   As Mirriam-Webster puts it, the school grants the degree to the student, so the student graduates from that school.   Another form that is used is "I was graduated from college."  It sounds like a long journey of many small steps, as though one gets a degree by passing through many small increments of degrees. This is the transitive and intransitive debate that occurred during the 1800s.  It is now normal to say "I graduated from college." It is too late at this point to help out those Spring graduates writing their resumes.  Never mind, it probably worked out with CHAT AI  recommending the graduated from version.   Here's a version that gives rise to laughter:  one site says it is incorrect to "pass out of school" and that one should use "finished his schooling" or "completed his school education."   Here's the Laura Secord Public School in Queenston.  This is where the Secord Homestead is located.  This is no longer a public school. It is now a school of restoration arts.  That Laura Secord name, though, is an important one to the War of 1812, so seems to make sense to be maintained.   More of the predominance of the War of 1812 in the Niagara region's naming of schools - here's a little moment from Brock University. Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com