Marilyn's Photos -Aug 14 2026 - Best-selling Books in 1510

 

There is a comparison between California and medieval times that I didn't know about. until it got some press with an old interiew with Dan Akryod.  Maybe he's in the news because of the anniversary of the Blues Brothers movie.  Looking it up, the AI chat told me it was named after a best-selling book in 1510. And the book was a chivalric romance which was the most popular book at the time.  Here is the summary: Las sergas de Esplandián: Published in Seville, this Spanish chivalric romance was a massive commercial hit of the early 16th-century printing press. It famously featured an island of Black Amazonian women ruled by Queen Califia—the mythical tale that ultimately gave the state of California its name. What a magical and mythical beginning.  Doesn't it make sense with California's beautiful coastline, magnificent ancient giant forests, and exquisite mountains and valleys.   This comparison has been made in relation to climate history, cultural metaphors and speculative fiction.  That name originating in 1510 is perfect for vivid metaphors. It was urban theorist Joel Kotkin who made this a popular theme: Tech wealth concentration made it easy to see the split into: an oligarchy, a professional group equivalent to the clergy, and then the working class.  His book came out in 2018 where California was his case study and the phrase neo-feudalism was immediately picked up by demographers and social critics.   I wondered how many places have interesting origin stories. We recently read about the naming of Canada.  This field is called toponymy. I don't remember seeing anything on this in my work on Thesauri.

Here's a watercolour/pen image of breezy leaves.  Everything should float so elegantly.

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Marilyn's Photos - Aug 13 2026 - SunBound

 

Each eclipse of the sun becomes the best eclipse ever.  What made this one the best ever and so distinctive?  It is a rare European totality and crossing northern Spain and parts of Portugal during a dramatic sunset .  That hits all the markers for North American tourists in search of a bit of nostalgia of vacations past.  Being low on the horizon gave forth those beautiful shots of silhouettes of people in the foreground.  With the 2024 eclipse that we experienced, the sun was high overhead, giving a longer duration of totality and unobstructed by buildings, trees, and hills.  But it was farther from us. Yesterday's eclipse had an estimate of 15 million people living directly in the path or going to places to view it. There isn't an estimate so far of the total crowds of residents and tourists. For the North American eclipse in 2024, about 50 million people experienced totality with 44 million living directly under the path. The estimate is that 652 million people experienced at least a partial eclipse.   Almost half a million people travelled specifically to the viewing region yesterday.  In comparison Niagara Falls, ON alone got 200,000 people viewing the eclipse. Niagara Falls, NY got 45,000 people.  Do you know that 150,000 people watched Nik Wallenda walk a tightrope across the falls in 2012. Maybe he's some sort of equivalent to a natural wonder.  And then what record did the Guinness Book record that date?  The largest gathering of people dressed as the sun - 309 people with big yellow plastic sun tops. Here's the proof of what made yesterday's eclipse the best ever. Here are the latest sun and moon watercolour/ink pictures.  Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos -- Aug 12 2026 - The Blues Brothers

 

The Blues Brothers movie was on television last night.  It was released in 1980. It remains a hilarious comedy of crazy antics, wild car crashes, and stand-out music scenes with Aretha Franklin, Ray Brown, Cab Calloway, James Brown, and John Lee Hooker. What are those interesting facts about the movie that I likely don't know?  I've never thought to research the movie and its making. Dan Aykroyd's script was 324 pages.  Director John Landis turned it into a standard shooting script in three weeks. Dan Aykroyd and Carrie Fisher became engaged during the filming.  Aykroyd saved her from choking on a Brussels sprout using the Heimlich maneuver and this is somehow linked to their romance.  The story goes that she thought if she ever choked again, she'd need him there. There were 103 vehicles destroyed int he making of the film, a world record at the time that held for two decades. The Bluesmobile was actually 13 different Doge Monaco police cars. John Belushi went through hundreds of pairs of sunglasses, resulting in getting the nickname "The Black Hole." One of the stunt drivers was John Wayne's son - Ethan Wayne.  Paul Reubens, best known as Pee-wee Herman played a wait at Chez Paul restaurant. There were other notables playing small parts in the movie. An somehow John Belushi performed his own cartwheels and round-off moves.  And that was after he sprained his back and knee the day before the final concert sequence.  The backhand springs were done by a stuntman, wearing a pillow-stuffed fat suit.  Here's the surprise information.  There was push-back to the release of the movie.  Theatre owners said:  "This is a black movie and white people won't see it." Theatre owners didn't want black people in white areas, that's how strong the bias was - only 600 screens could be secured versus the normal 1,400.   With Cole's Water Pond store gone, I've lost easy access to water lilies.  This picture is from a few 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 11 2026 - Yes - Big Brother is Watching You

 

The New York Times provides a free daily email of news headlines and short summaries.  I recommend that you sign up. There are advantages and disadvantages of seeing the New York Times point of view.  A major disadvantage is that we Canadians don't have the political election activity that is constant in the U.S. I admit that it has given me a negative view of what America spends its time and money on.  On the plus side, the New York Times has many news-breaking stories that are important in our world.  I found that to be the case yesterday.  Here's yesterday's summary and it is the topic of today's post.  These are called Flock Cameras.  They read license plates and supposedly assist law enforcement and municipal planning.   A few years ago in Ontario we remember the remote cameras that automatically read our speed and gave us speeding tickets.  There was a public outcry over these, and they were all removed.  But there are individual cases of police cameras being used - a case in Mississauga where the high-altitude pole camera pointed at a suspect's residence in a criminal case. Was it a Flock Camera at our corner of Brookside and Baker a month or so ago? There are Reddit posts asking about seeing flock cameras in St. Catharines.  The replies say that there weren't any records of government contracts so the implication might be that it isn't wide-spread.  In Canada the tracking systems are operated directly by police services rather than a private company, so a Flock Camera would be unusual here.   Compare this to the U.S. where the New York Times reports that there are 7,000 police departments with Flock contracts and that 20 billion license plates a month are scanned.  And the horror stories will likely increase:  Police surrounding cars in mistaken identity stories, families held at gunpoint by police, romantic tracking and harassment by police officers, and widespread discipline of police offices for serious misuse.  Then there are the immigration sweeps by ICE with immigration-related searches - over 15,000 of them. So back to the top of the post.  There are news items in the New York Times summary each day that we wouldn't consider applying to us.  And then we find that they do.   And find a bright spot - go to the bottom of the post - Ken Kesey's psychedelic bus is making a comeback. Happy poppies in a hand-blown glass vase. Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Aug 10 2026 - Energetics

 

We talk about energetic people - lots of energy - go, go, go!  And then what would the energetics industry be?  Today's Globe and Mail headline "From flax to firepower" was a surprise. "Energetic refers to chemical substances or mixtures that possess a large capacity for storing chemical energy, which can be rapidly released through reactions triggered by external stimuli such as mechanical or thermal shock waves." Who would guess that flax can be processed into products that end up being explosives, propellants, and pyrotechnics.  Normally we think of commercial applications. I  think of flax seed as a tasty addition to granola.  And also of flax being woven into fabric. The flax stalks are high in cellulose and are normally a waste product.   But they can be processed into solid biofuels in the form of pellets and then used as an alternative to traditional fossil fuels.   The Globe was highlighting that flax straw can be processed to derive nitrocellulose and this is an ingredient in propellants and energetics used for modern artillery shells.   There's a long history of the use of flax in fire and ballistics.  Flax fibres are strong enough that they were used to string bows and crossbows, and were woven together to be vest protectors against arrows and swords.   Who would guess there would be interesting stories of fax harvesting.  I found an Australian story from WWII where flax was harvested for coats, parachute harnesses, ropes and tarpaulins.  The Flax Mill had caught fire. The process of putting the fire out was described.  Here's what got my attention the most:   "to save further destruction two men mounted on motor cycles with a wire stretched between them, rode either side of the burning stacks, bringing them down." The full story is HERE.  Here's a battle scene:  Turtle vs water lily.  And the winner is... the turtle. Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com