Mar 8 2025 - 51st of Anything

 

I wonder this question about being 51st.   As a ranking, what if the U.S. is 51st at various things in the world?  You know, those economic and social surveys that show where the countries stand in comparison to each other - education, health, housing, and so on.  It would be ironic to find all the places where they rank 51st. But instead one retrieves all the 51st State stories.  How Canada would rank as the 51st state.  I think 51st has made its mark and will become a metaphor for a long time. So let's take a look at the things that have named themselves 51st. What are we competing with? The number 51 retrieves Chinese characters.   The 51News client is a mobile news client created by 51.com  Its goal is to provide Canadian Chinese users with a brand-new mobile reading experience.  There are a few more Chinese apps with 51 in the name.  51 is a lucky number, so a very popular name. In mathematics, fifty-one is a pentagonal number as well as a centred pentagonal number and an 18-gonal number.    Brings the Pentagon to mind, doesn't it? Another website is the51.com - "building the financial feminist economy.  Content and events, news and discounts, members-only networking opportunities.  this is a Canadian organization."  All the principal directors are listed with their resumes, but there doesn't seem to be a description on how the name originated. There doesn't appear to be any association with the Chinese-Canadian community.  And then the dark side of things - Area 51 Air Force base - this looks like a movie.  "Welcome to the future". We conclude with the mundane - take bus route number 51 - that's Leslie Northbound.  Wouldn't that be ironic for there to be a metaphorical Highway 51 - for Americans escaping north. Wouldn't it be great to be in Victoria at Butchart Gardens, counting the spring flowers in the Annual count.  Mind you, there's a severe weather warning for Salt Spring with an atmospheric river of rain coming.  Avalanche danger in B.C.  But for now, we can enjoy Butchart's brilliant summer display.

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

Dec 29 2020 - YamChops the Vegan Butcher

We're coming to New Year's Eve where the traditional fare is beef tenderloin and lobster - a feast of flesh. So my attention was drawn to a headline that had vegan butcher in it.  It hadn't even occurred to me to want to have the word butcher associated with Vegan.  But that seems to be me thinking too literally about the definition.  It urns out there are lots of Vegan Butchers with catchy names: The Herbivorous Butcher The Butcher's Son No Evil Foods Monk's Meats Cena Vegan YamChops This one from B.C. came up:  The Very Good Butchers and this is their home page: THERE'S A NEW BUTCHER ON THE BLOCK And we're doing things differently. Our minimally-processed, vegan meats are handcrafted in British Columbia, Canada with whole-foods you've likely got in your kitchen; beans, grains, vegetables, herbs and spices. We’re on a mission to show that making good choices doesn’t mean sacrificing flavour. We want to make plant-based eating as approachable, nutritious and delicious as possible by creating food that’s Very Good for people, animals and the planet (while having a little fun along the way).  Fed up with the overly-processed meat alternatives available, our founders knew they could raise the plant-based bar. As trained chefs with years of experience, they set out to make the most delicious and nutritious plant-based meats they could, and in our humble opinion, they nailed it!. After selling out the farmers markets on Denman Island, BC, our bean butchers knew they were onto something. They brought their magic beans to Victoria and opened the Canadian West Coasts’ first plant-based butchery. " This got me thinking about another variation we learned about last year and the latest update at the beginning of December.  This is about  "real meat" that isn't butchered: Singapore has given U.S. startup Eat Just the greenlight to sell its lab-grown chicken meat, in what the firm says is the world’s first regulatory approval for so-called clean meat that does not come from slaughtered animals. Demand for alternatives to regular meat is surging due to consumer concerns about health, animal welfare and the environment. Plant-based meat options, popularized by Beyond Meat Inc. and Impossible Foods, increasingly feature on supermarket shelves and restaurant menus. But so-called clean or cultured meat, which is grown from cells outside the animal, is still at a nascent stage. “The first-in-the-world regulatory allowance of real, high-quality meat created directly from animal cells for safe human consumption paves the way for a forthcoming small-scale commercial launch in Singapore,” Eat Just said on Wednesday.   And what will it be?  Chicken Nuggets!     Here is yesterday's Amaryllis reworked with more colour variations and brushstroke additions.  I consider this one a celebration to the year passing, with its moody colours.  Which one do you like best?   Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca