Mar 23 2022 the Buzz

 

Have you seen bees yet? There are small spring flowers in bloom so they are about.  But mostly we know spring by the sound of bees in the air - that buzzing in the background.  That's the sign the dandelions are in full bloom. How did the sound of bees come to mean excitement, hype, cool gossip, thrill, joy, exhilaration, and tantalizing? The Merriam dictionary says it means "pleasant sense of intoxication."  And how early has it been recorded?  "Buzzing" is from the late 14th century, and "buzz" was noted in the late 15th century.   "a busy rumour" [Rowe], 1620s (earlier "a fancy," c. 1600), figurative use from buzz (v.). Literal sense of "a humming sound" is from 1640s. A "buzz" was the characteristic sound of an airplane in early 20c.; hence verbal sense "to fly swiftly," by 1928; by 1940 especially in military use, "to fly low over a surface as a warning signal" (for example that target practice is about to begin). The meaning "pleasant sense of intoxication" was first recorded 1935. The children's game of counting off with 7 or multiples of it replaced by buzz is attested from 1864 and is mentioned in "Little Women" (1868). To give (someone) a buzz (by 1922) is from the buzz that announced a call on old telephone systems (1913). Buzz bomb "V1 rocket" is from 1944. And how many tones and sounds of buzzing are there in nature? Cicadas hit the top as the source of buzzing sounds. I just found a youtube video with a buzzing insect and turned up the sound and now Millie is poking around the desk trying to find it. She knows buzzing.  And I listed to a bee buzzing and Millie is looking outside to find that one.  I realize how little descriptive language we regular people use for buzzing sounds.  You can go HERE to "see" the sounds of bees buzzing.  But hear the sounds?  That takes $9.00 to download. I found this collage of bees in Lavender - now there's a visit I look forward to this summer - to get to visit the Lavender farms again.

Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

April 12 2021 - Exclusive!

 

Exclusive is something that took on marketing meaning in the 20th century. It can be traced back quite a ways -  so as to exclude cgoes back to the mid 15th century.  Unwilling to admit outsiders comes from 1822.   But the meaning of special - a news story from only one source or the 'exclusive deal' and 'exclusive rights'.  These are something we've become accustomed to in our time.   Almost 100 years later the word has a different meaning. What does it mean in the 2020s?  It means dating one person.  Here are a few examples of the headlines: Break free of the relationship purgatory of exclusive but not official relationship Exclusive dating isn't a relationship The benefits of being exclusive - mindspin studio Should I bring up being exclusive or just let it happen? Do you know about situationships?  These are ambiguous relationships with no label on them.  People who are essentially dating but don't say they're dating or refer to the other person as their boyfriend/girlfriend/partner.   During COVID marriage and divorce rates dropped. Stuart Wolpert reports in the newsroom.ucla.edu on a study published in October 2020 .  Here are some of the predictions and insights:  It is predicted that birth rates will drop post-pandemic.  People who are single are less likely to start new relationships.  There could be a backslide in gender equality with women providing child care and schooling at home.  And a general shift toward social conservatism. His article is HERE.   My own conclusion is that it may be that situationships are around for a long time to come.  I saw the first dandelion in a front lawn yesterday, and thought this image would be appropriate.   Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Facebook Twitter Website Email Share Tweet Forward

une 18 2020 - Does a Bee See the Window?

What makes a bee hit the office window?  Bumph! And then it flies away.  Why does it hit the window and then not get injured?  Is it somehow related to bees seeing ultraviolet wavelengths and using these as landing strips.  We don't see ultraviolet so  article authors seem to be most jealous. There are many, many articles on this question. Some are conversational and others are scientific studies. One posits that it is queen bumblebees looking for a suitable nest site.  Other articles say it seems they are attracted to the shade when looking for a place to nest. Another rationale is that these are males defending their territory and they are attacking their reflections, like birds do.   As the article headlines continue, they go off-course or into other species bumping behaviour.  What about this one:  fish more inclined to crash into each other than bees.  So we make our way into the territory of bees bumping into each other. There's a youtube video of bees bumping into each other and making a whoop noise:  it a vibrational pulse produced by honeybees' wings now considered to be an expression of surprise.  You can hear the little honky whoop noise HERE.   Today we are looking at the bark of a palm with some colourizing.

Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://www.blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

June 5 2020 - Bee Culture

We don't think much about bees even though they are out there now buzzing away on the flowers in the garden.  I wondered what world records involve bees.  That turned out to be a shock.  The records in the Guinness Records seem unpleasant at best, and at worst fearful and just plain creepy.  Here are the headlines:  "Man covered in 1.1 million bees sets record" "Longest duration with head fully covered in bees" "Heaviest mantle of bees" "A Toronto man just broke the bee beard world record" So we will make a u-turn to the fun of bee jokes.  These come from a bee blog: What’s black and yellow and flies at 30,000 feet? A bee on an airplane. What buzzes, is black and yellow and goes along the bottom of the sea? A bee in a submarine. What do they call a bee that can’t quit talking? Blabb-bee. What is a swarm of really small queen bees called? The royal wee. The bees’ favourite guns?  BeeBee guns, I suppose. What do unionized bees ask for? More honey and shorter working flowers. Question: Wanna listen to some music?  I've got bee-bop, Beethoven, Bee-yonce, the Bee-Tles, Bee-stie Boys, Cros-bee, Stills and Nash, Justin Bee-Bee. Response:  Do you have anything from Sting? And our helper on the scanner is Baxter.

Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://www.blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Bees at Notre Dame

Amongst the daily headlines is this one about Notre Dame:  180,000 bees were living on top of Notre Dame when the fire broke out - and they survived.  They have a beekeeper, so this isn't a surprise hive.  In fact, there were 3 beehives, and they are still intact.  The beekeeper is Nicolas Geant.  They were found to gathered together in the crevice of a gargoyle sculpture. How did they survive?  CO2 makes them drunk, and puts them to sleep.  You can imagine that the wax in the hives might melt with the intense heat from the flames.  Do you know that bees don't have lungs?  So there would be no possibility of dying from smoke inhalation.  Nicolas feels that it is a miracle. The hives have been there since 2013, an initiative to boost declining bee numbers in Paris.  This sculpture at the National Art Gallery seemed like an engineering feat to me.  How quickly the landscape has turned to spring.  Here's the upcoming meet and greet this Sunday in Hamilton on Dundurn St. S.

BC or BCE?

The Oldest Country in the World?  Is it China, Japan or Iran? What about Greece, Rome and Egypt? I read in Thoughtco that the makeup of these ancient empires largely consisted of agglomerations of city-states or fiefdoms, which overlapped jurisdictions with the imperial government.   I wondered when our modern nation-states/countries came about.  The answer: in the 19th century - today's nation-states came about from the dissolution of empires, around communities that shared a common geography, language, or culture. The thoughtco article says that the Republic of San Marino is one of the world's smallest countries and is the world's oldest.  It was founded on September 3, 301 BCE.  It wasn't recognized as independent until 1631 by the pope, who controlled much of central Italy politically. San Marino's constitution is the world's oldest dating from 1600.   Japan is the next being founded in 660 BCE.  In the eighth century Japanese culture and Buddhism spread across the islands.  Modern Japan came about in 1868. China is the third with the first recorded dynasty existing more than 3,500 years ago. China celebrates 221 BCE as the founding of the modern country, the year Qin Shi Huang proclaimed himself the first emperor of China.  In the third century the Han dynasty unified Chinese culture and tradition.  in the 13th century, the Mongols invaded, decimating the culture. The Repulic of China came about in 1912, and the People's Replic of China was created in 1949. Here are the more founding dates: France (CE 843) Austria (CE 976) Hungary (CE 1001) Portugal (CE 1143) Mongolia (CE 1206) Thailand (CE 1238) Andorra (CE 1278) Switzerland (CE 1291) You noticed that the terminology used is now BCE and CE - Before the Common Era and Common Era.  I read a few rationales for this - from accuracy to the removal of Christian context.  It is part of the ISO 8601 standard which came about in 1988.  Here's the section on CE/BCE: "To represent years before 0000 or after 9999, the standard also permits the expansion of the year representation but only by prior agreement between the sender and the receiver. An expanded year representation [±YYYYY] must have an agreed-upon number of extra year digits beyond the four-digit minimum, and it must be prefixed with a + or − sign instead of the more common AD/BC (or CE/BCE) notation; by convention 1 BC is labelled +0000, 2 BC is labeled −0001, and so on." Isn't this a great spring image?  A lawn full of dandelions - everything a bee could desire!  If you look, you can see the little leaves in the lawns.  They are ready!

Beenormous

The biggest bee in the world has recently been seen.  The last sighting in the field was 1981.  While there have been numerous attempts to rediscover it, there were no results.  It is known as Wallace's giant bee, Megachile pluto. It has jaws like a stag-beetle.  Here is the picture to show how big it is.  This bee lives in Moluccas, an archipelago within the Banda Sea, Indonesia.  Here is the comparison shown in the article that's on the weather network site.   There are more big bugs - really big bugs.  For example, the largest beetle is Titanus giganteum.  It is 6.6 inches long, so is the size of a human hand.  It can easily snap a pencil in half.  The longest insects on the planet are stick insects.  They can grow as long as 2 feet in Southeast Asia where the longest variety lives.  I consider it lucky that we did not see a Giant weta in New Zealand.  They can weigh more than a sparrow and are among the heaviest insects in the world.  They are about 4 inches long. Their name means "God of the Ugly Things'.  While they are really ugly, another big insect is the beautifully marked black and white Goliath beetle.  They can grow to over 4 inches.   A wing span of 1 foot and a total wing area of 60 square inches is what an Atlas moth's size is.  They have cocoons that are occasionally used as purses in Taiwan.  Grown for their fagara silk, all that has to be done is install a zipper. In comparison to this month, the largest butterfly is Queen Alexandra's birdwing - it has a wingspan of more than 1 foot, and is found in Papua New Guinea.  If you want to see pictures of all of these the MNN (Mother Nature Network) site has them HERE.  One that isn't covered in the article is the longest earthworm.  It is native to the southeaster state of Victoria in Australia, and is 3.3 feet long and 2 inches in diameter.  They can live 5 years, so have been known to grow to 9.8 feet long.  And what about when they stretch?  The 3 foot worm can stretch up to 12 feet. Our picture today is a pretty swallowtail butterfly in the garden.

Bees Come Done

We think we're the only ones who understand that zero is less than one.  Livescience.com (which brought the exploding rotten fish art story) says that dolphins, African gray parrots and nonhuman primates understand "zero".  And that bees are considered to understand zero - with a brain of less than a million neurons  (compared to our 86 billion neurons). 'The researchers set up two cards, each of which had a set of symbols on them, like triangles or circles. Then, they trained a group of the bees to fly to the card with the lower number of symbols. (The bees quickly learned what the humans wanted them to do to get their delicious, sugary rewards). The trained bees were then shown a card that was empty versus one that had symbols on it. Without any prior training, the bees flew more often to the empty card — thereby demonstrating that they understood that "zero" was a number less than the others, according to the study, which was published Thursday (June 7) in the journal Science. Although they flew more often to an empty card than to one that had one symbol on it, it became easier for them to differentiate when the symbols' card increased in number. For example, they more often flew to the zero when the other card had four symbols than when it had one, according to NPR.' Today's pictures show our newest restaurant in Grimsby - Casa Toscana.  The beautiful turreted house in the middle of the downtown section used to be a real estate office and now is a lively patio/restaurant.  Luca Vitali is pictured with Therese de Grace, the chef previously with The Good Earth.  Now we can savour fine food along with the finest extra-virgin Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar imported from his mother's farm in Tuscany. I planted the little herb garden for him out in front of the porch.

Earth Day Turns 48

Yesterday was Earth Day.  Google's contribution is a doodle made in partnership with Jane Goodall. The founder of Earth Day was Gaylord Nelson, who wanted to make the environment a political issue in 1970.  Remember the rivers burning? We never guessed then that the environmental issue this year would be plastics.  The measure being used for the crisis is that there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050. Earth Day marked a new Guinness World Record set in Dubai - with the longest line of bottles to spread awareness about plastic pollution.  That was 58,477 bottles and the line was 3,842.5 metres long. If you were in Toronto, you could have gone to the Earth Day Festival at Downsview Park, and made Garlic-Mustard pesto! Its new shoots are edible in cool weather.  It turns bitter with the warm weather like many greens. In British Columbia they celebrated by broadcasting 24 hours of wetland noises. The UN News site had various articles. Of interest was  the coverage of new agricultural heritage sites:  farming in harmony with nature.  The article is HERE.   Their coverage of climate change is HERE.   Our pictures today feature purple flowers - Verbena Bonariensis at the Denver Botanical Garden and Wisteria with bees in it.  Purple is the flower colour of the year in 2018.