Feb 21 2020 - When in Eataly...

Yesterday I visited Eataly at the Manulife Centre.  The Manulife $100 million dollar renovation is on display, mostly.  There are still sections under construction, but it is shiny and bright, full of white marble walls and floors. I wonder if they are the same marble or if it is new marble. It has the same pristine appeal. I wonder where Ashley's is when I look left and remember it's just down the street now in the Colonnade.  I took a 'virtual walk down Bloor Street' with this 2018 update from Urban Retail HERE. It is easy to understand now how the streetscape has changed and continues to change - everything has been up for renovation. What I wanted to experience is Eataly - the new food emporium that has Toronto buzzing.  It is massive (50,000 square feet (with 4 restaurants, 7 eateries and 3 bars) and amazing (10,000 local and imported).  My check on locally-sourced products was positive. As we move into a time of attention to climate change and travel, Eataly offers the visitor an Italian experience. No need to take a long plane trip to Italy to see Italian food or shop Italian. The copper pots in the entrance form the shape of Italy if you stand at the entrance below.  It boasts being  the largest Italian marketplace in the world.  It certainly feels that way.  I circled around a few times enjoying more each time.  It was early in the day before the crowds of lunch, so everything was accessible and viewable. Lots of staff making things orderly (300 people employed).  People were at the espresso bars enjoying a chat. There is still more to see and experience there.  It is a perfect match for Bloor Street West.  Holt Renfrew across the street is undergoing a big external facelift.  Must keep up with Eataly. If one has an overwhelm experience while there and can't decide on what to buy - here's an articleon the 12 foods to buy at Eataly Toronto.

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Feb 20 2020 is 0220 2020

Today is a great date when viewed in numbers.  It isn't as great as February 2, 2020 which is a palindrome day. Considering numbers, I hear people say "do the math", when they are adding two numbers.  This seems odd to me to equate arithmetic and mathematics.   However, it is accepted practice to refer to arithmetic as mathematics in simple conversations.  What is the difference between the two?  I looked for some answers  from the experts that might be interesting: "The most obvious difference is that arithmetic is all about numbers and mathematics is all about theory." "Arithmetic is to mathematics as spelling is to writing." "You can refer to everything at the zoo as an 'animal' because they all belong to the animal kingdom —reptiles, amphibians, even insects and invertebrates," says Dr. Math. "But you couldn't use a more specific word like "mammal" to refer to animals in general." Looking for fun arithmetic jokes is itself not fun:  there is general confusion between arithmetics, mathematics, and numbers.  As the likelihood of finding some funny jokes dwindles, I am drawn to the ridiculous headline at the bottom of the feed:   Baby has never eaten sugar or carbs and the result is incredible We know this is one of those lead-in headlines with some sort of punchline, and we're curious. The original article comes from the dailymail.co.uk in 2015 and has lists of what "Little Grace" of Brisbane, Australia eats in her paleo diet.  There is the claim that the baby never gets sick.  But there is one meal that has to be the punchline to the article.  Why?  Because it supposedly is breakfast: "Eggs fried in coconut oil with roast veggies including sweet potato, carrots, potatoes and steamed broccoli, plus a quarter of an avocado and a small scoop of sauerkraut." Can we imagine a baby eating sauerkraut?  That entertains me for the day. Today's image is an abstract of Grimsby Beach at night - that's the lighthouse light on the horizon.

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North Up

I have a bias that North is up and even that there is an up for world.  This has to do with the magnetic north pole and all the pictures of the world with the north pole at the top - real pictures and pictures we create - maps.  Somehow, intellectually, I realize this might not be the case - that this is our Western World view that continues to be bubblesome. Did you know that the Blue Marble photograph - the famous photograph of the Earth taken from on board Apollo 17 had the south pole at the top - and got turned around to match our familiar view? The Greek astronomer Ptolemy (90-168AD) set this in motion - that north is up.  In between much happened.  It got cemented by the European navigators using the North Star and the magnetic compass. Before that, the top of the map was to the East. It has never been to the West.  The West is traditionally a representation of death, where the sun sets.  Poor Australia, always represented at the bottom.  There are maps with Australia at the top - McArthur's Universal Corrective Map of the World is the great example.  There is a person named the Wizard of New Zealand who has made an imperial British upsidedown map. In the Ancient world, Arabia, put south at the top.  The explanation is that if you wake up and face the sun, south is on the right.  With the sea to the south of them, there was nothing "on top" of the country, so they predominated the map visually. (This is what maps are for - to show 'our position').  By definition, they are political, politicized. Buckminster Fuller created the Dymaxion Map - no compass direction consistently facing the same way - it is an unfolded icosahedron.  Didn't he reveal the global village - look how connected we are in this version! Then there is the Peters Projection:  "one of the most stimulating and controversial images of the world".  It is HERE.  It addresses the challenge:  which is bigger, Greenland or China?  It is described as an 'equal area' map. "When this map was first introduced by historian and cartographer Dr. Arno Peters at a Press Conference in Germany in 1974 it generated a firestorm of debate. The first English-version of the map was published in 1983, and it continues to have passionate fans as well as staunch detractors. " This map is used for world aid by charity organizations such as Oxfam.   The International Society for Global Inversion believes that flipping iconic world maps everywhere would be a symbolic ceremony to help mankind break its old thought patterns, and act in a more ecological way.  We conclude with the Guide to Unusual Maps on the Web HERE.  Flowers and Floyd Elzinga's metal sculpture are our images today.

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Where Time Goes

Dr. Seuss said, “How did it get so late so soon?”  We wonder WHERE time goes.  Isn't that so interesting:  we attempt to locate it somewhere as though it can be placed on a map.   I guess it can.  TimeMap is available from Lexis/Nexis. It is a way of transforming legal case facts into visual timelines.  I took a look at the functionality and the visual representations.  Time is a line with dates and boxes above and below.  In the boxes are "facts".  I would assume that facts are things that happened.  There are "versions" - versions according to people involved in the the case facts. That's interesting. Our non-case lives don't have to capture "versions."  We have simple calendars with days and time slots that we can fill in with things to do.  We call this time management.  The promise is that with the right time management techniques, we can take control of our time, making our work efficient, productive, and relatively stress-free.  Our social order espouses this view, but we've found limited satisfaction in it.  We even have bucket lists to demonstrate that we are in pursuit of ending our days with the sense of nothing left undone.   So let us go back - way back.  In the first century AD, the Roman philosopher Seneca wrote On The Shortness of Life. “This space that has been granted to us rushes by so speedily, and so swiftly that all save a very few find life at an end just when they are getting ready to live,” he said, chiding his fellow citizens for wasting their days on pointless busyness, and “baking their bodies in the sun”. "But the man who … organizes every day as though it were his last, neither longs for nor fears the next day…"   Today's image shows motion blur of the Toronto subway scene. Motion blur fascinates me as a representation of time passing.  And then the clocks from my Redbubble site - a hilarious commentary on our current approach to time.  Somehow Redbubble has randomly selected from each season.

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Feb 16 2020 - What Time is Sunday Dinner

Sunday Dinner used to happen after church in our house, That would have been around 1:00pm.  My brother and I were trying to figure out how it all worked.  The stove oven could be preset to start at a set time.  That made for the robust smell of roasting beef and potatoes when we came back from church.  That's a great Sunday dinner experience.  The Sunday Roast is a traditional British main meal to be eaten after church on Sundays.  My research says that a Sunday Roast should be served at 3:15pm in the afternoon. That information comes from a poll reported by House Beautiful in their article on Sunday Dinner.  The poll also reveals the meal itself:  There should be three slices of beef, four roast potatoes, and gravy all over the plate.  In Britain, one would have Yorkshire Pudding or stuffing as well.  There would be vegetables such as peas or brussel sprouts. And of course a dessert such as apple crumble.  Another UK poll found that Sunday Dinner is ranked second in a list of things people love about Britain.  Do you know what they ranked first?  The 'bacon butty' is number one - that's the name for a bacon sandwich (Hp sauce, worcestershire sauce, white bread, butter).  Number 3 was a cup of tea.  Doesn't this speaks for what the British love the most - food and their culture. Here are the top 20: 1. Bacon sandwiches 2. Roast dinners 3. Cup of tea 4. British history 5. BBC 6. Big Ben 7. Buckingham Palace 8. Countryside 9. Fish & Chips 10. Yorkshire Pudding 11. English fry up 12. British sense of humour 13. Cheese 14. Lake District 15. The Queen 16. Sunday lunch 17. Aston Martin 18. Cornish pasties 19. Stonehenge 20. National Heritage Harry Potter takes 38th place over Stephen Fry who is in 48th place.   But then James Bond took 32nd place. When I looked at this list reported in the dailymail.co.uk  I could immediately see how the British voted for Brexit.  I think of this as going beyond self-appreciation to the point of narcissism (it is called collective narcissism - a belief in national greatness).  My prediction for Britain after Brexit - the big surprise on finding out their nation's importance and true worth isn't what they decided it should or would be.  The Bacon Butty is going to cost more soon.  But then, we're on the topic of the tradition of the Sunday dinner and there's much to appreciate in the tradition they gave us.   One of Brian's Lilycrest Lilies is on show today.

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