May 21 2023 - Dog Zoomies

 

What are these things called dog zoomies?  "Pooch pals running frantic laps with a look of sheer glee in their eyes - it’s a case of the dog zoomies! Technically known as Frenetic Random Activity Periods (FRAPs), dog zoomies are sudden bursts of energy which cause pups to go from zero to 100 in a matter of seconds." "How often do dogs get zoomies? Some dogs have zoomies every day whilst others might only have them once in a blue moon. Keep an eye on your pooch if they start to go bonkers more often because there’s a chance they’re trying to tell you something.  You’ve finally got your mucky pup all clean and furry fresh, but then they dash around the house like they’ve escaped from the zoo! Bath time is particularly stressful for our pooch pals, and those post-tub zoomies are the stress reliever that we definitely don’t need! Does it have something to do with all that time sitting still? Is it because of the water? Maybe they’re just trying to dry off and get warm? Whatever the reason, you know it’s coming, so clear the way for your fur baby to let off steam safely! " And pooch pals - I hadn't thought of that as something to call Millie.

Millie having a snow zoomie

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May 7 2023 - The Day After

 

What was yesterday's Coronation highlight? "Over 100 dogs, who share the same name as the UK’s new King, participated in a pup parade after the coronation on Saturday 6 May." "A timelapse video shared by the Associated Press showed pet owners walk their spaniels down the famous West London road, to commemorate the beginning of Charles’ reign.  The lap dog was reportedly named after King Charles II, who favoured the toy breed in the 17th century." Twitter has the highlights.  Look at them all!  Lots of great pictures of Cavaliers.   One quote says "They are the most cat-like of the dogs".   So here's a cat's retort to that.  This fence in Queenston says:  Be Aware of the Cat.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Apr 16 2023 - Snubbed from the List

 

I guess if we have problems working out a wedding invitation list, then we couldn't expect the Royals to work out a Coronation invitation list.  Those who have not been invited and those who have been and have declined.  I haven't found a comprehensive list with the ins and the outs.  2,000 guests have been invited.  That is said to be slightly under the capacity of Westminster Abbey.   How many were invited to Queen Elizabeth's - - 8,000 guests attended (another article says that 5,000 attended).  There was special scaffolding set up to accommodate so many people.  That makes this coronation a much reduced version.  I wonder why that is. The report says Charles is looking to keep the palace budget as low as possible.   I would like to weigh in that this is NOT the occasion to be concerned about budget - this is a once in a life time.  I wonder if he realized that he will get crowned only once.   The dilemma of how big the royal family circle is now makes everything intense:  "What’s causing even more stress is that the invitations are being sent out in a two-stage process: a save-the-date email and then a paper invitation via snail mail. The recipients will have to acknowledge the email before they get that coveted invitation with the source calling it “a practical arrangement” for the palace. We at least know that Harry and Meghan have passed the first stage with flying colors, but it’s unknown whether they will choose to be in attendance for Charles’ big day." How "excruciating" the wait would be in March - finding out whether one was accepted or snubbed - that moment of whether one is "truly a part of the royal family's inner circle."   Who is out?  ... Fergie did not get invited to the coronation.  Her former and disgraced husband Andrew is expected to go. Here's her story on coronation day. "The Duchess of York previously acknowledged that she likely would not be asked to attend the event because she is no longer with her ex-husband, Prince Andrew. However, she still plans on celebrating the big day. “I personally will be having a little tea room and coronation chicken sandwich and putting out the bunting,” she said on ITV’s “Loose Women.”   So our weeping cherry tree was blossoming yesterday in Niagara and I took Millie to the park and got a few pictures of her.  She seems to have two expressions - a grumpy accusing look straight at me, and a noble look into the distance.  She's in the blooming blue Scillas.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Feb 18 2023 - The Wiggly Border

 

Today's Bing has the Eben Ice Caves in Upper Michigan and as I looked at the map I noice a lot of wiggling in the border line at Rainy River.  See it below.    It is fine to be straight in the water, but what about on land.  Isn't that messy for the inhabitants? The current shape came about on April 11, 1908 with the Treaty of 1908.  You can imagine all the disputes along the way.  These have been between Great Britain (U.K.) and the U.S.   There has been so much surveying since then that I guess all these wiggles are well marked.   Things seem to me to be clear in terms of borders. There is one land dispute active today.  It is over Machias Seal Island (off the coast of Maine).  There are four maritime disputes in the Arctic and Pacific.   The current disputes are listed HERE. The Alaskan Panhandle dispute still causes grief today with nearly 800,000 sockeye salmon caught in Alaskan territory, but of Canadian origin. And then there are pink salmon, steelhead, and chum, and so on.  Canadian fisheries were shut down to protect the diminishing number of salmon and steelhead returning to Canada.  So it seems that boundary disputes that are resolved politically - which is the acknowledged case in the Alaska Boundary case - can have long and lingering issues.   But what about that wiggly part of the border at Rainy River?  I haven't found any issues identified there.  That's because the border is the Rainy River. I guess paddling there could be an international experience.   Today's picture is a little Millie moment.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Sep 26 2022 - Oktoberfest

 

This is Oktoberfest time - it goes from Saturday September 17th to Monday October 3rd this year in Munich.  It is usually a 16 day event.  This is a festival that started in 1810 in Munich, with Bavarian traditions of Munich-only beer.  Only 19% of visitors come from outside Germany.  One of its claims to fame is a scientific connection - Albert Einstein once worked as an electrician and helped to set up one of the beer tents in 1896.   The pictures show a midway for children with ferris wheels, roller coasters and similar rides.  And just in case, there is a lost and found children office at the festival.   With over 6 million people participating each year, the Oktoberfest Lost and Found office every year has thousands of abandoned goods - about 4,000 every year.  Statistics for 2013:  1056 passports, 520 wallets, 320 mobile phones, 300 bags and rucksacks, and 50 cameras.   There have been  peculiar finds, such as two wedding-rings, a hearing-aid, a set of false teeth, a tombstone shaped like a pencil and a Segway.  Also of note?  A tuba, badminton racket set, car license plate, wheelchair and crutches.    "Objects lost by the millions of foreign visitors to the world's biggest folk festival are transferred to their respective embassies and consulates.  Where's the second most-popular Oktoberfest in the world?  In Kitchener-Waterloo and it is on right now too.  We have perfect timing as the festival concludes with the Thanksgiving Day Parade - floats, entertainers and marching bands.  This festival has over 700,000 visitor.   Just the parade alone has 150,000 spectators.

Here's Millie in the kitchen.  It seems to me that all of our kitchen floor, wood flooring, rugs and furniture match with Millie.  Very convenient for photos. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

June 27 2022 - She did it herself

 

What about those DIY tricks on amateur YouTube videos.  There seem to be a lot of them.  Some of them are silly, others are misinformation, and a few are remarkable.  There's one that made the news in the"Good News This Week" site.  Nikki Coles has stayed busy over the last two years. At the beginning of the pandemic, the 37-year-old mom of two from Essex, England, decided if she was going to be inside, she might as well do a few projects around the house. At the same time she was studying for law school, Coles began watching DIY videos on YouTube, and soon, she was upgrading each room in her house. With her new skills, Coles recently revamped her kitchen — she retiled the floor, changed out the countertops, and applied fresh paint to the cupboards and walls, doing everything herself. She went to thrift shops and found items for free on Facebook, so it only cost her £200 ($245) to get a stylish new kitchen. "It kind of started with a little bit of tweaking here and there, and then I really got the bug," she told The Independent. Coles is working on her final project — redecorating a bathroom — and said it "just goes to show what you can do even as a busy mom on a budget — and if I can inspire other mums in any way, shape, or form, then I'm happy." One of the articles references the British equivalent to our Dollar Store - it is called  "Poundland".   Today's picture is Millie.  This seems to be her typical pose for the camera - the worried little Cavalier look.

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June 23 2022 - Brubeck vs Dog Licking Legs

 

There's a famous American Jazz name.  His 100th anniversary concert would have been 2020, but for us it was last night with his two sons The Brubeck Brothers.  We were treated to a mixed media presentation with videos of the family and Dave Brubeck and his Quartet.  It was a wonderful tribute to a great musician, cultural diplomat and human. I hadn't remembered that he was a Pacific cowboy and that many of the rhythms he brought to his music were learned   from the rhythms of horses' hoofs as they run.   "He recalled the rhythms he heard while working as a boy on cattle drives at the northern California ranch managed by his father. The first time he heard polyrhythms - the use of two rhythms at the same time - was on horseback. "The gait was usually a fast walk, maybe a trot," he said. "And I would sing against that constant gait of the horse. ... There was nothing to do but think, and I'd improvise melodies and rhythms." This was in one of the videos in which he demonstrated the horse rhythms on his chest.   Millie, our dog, seems to blocking everyone.  Is it salt on their skin?  She doesn't like my legs.  Supposedly is releases endorphins and leaves them with a comforted feeling. Supposedly they do it as a sign of love.   Another site has this to say:  Dogs may lick your legs to get your attention, communicate their feelings, gather information about you or where you’ve been, or simply because they taste something they like.  So we have a few curiosities today - the origins of Dave Brubeck's polyrhythms and dogs licking legs.  Here's Millie looking up at light on the wall, another curiosity of dogs.

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Jan 31 2022 - Obscene Vintage Ads

 

Today's question is: How and why are there now "Obscene Vintage Ads" ads popping up on astronomy and science sites.  What is Gazillions selling?   You can see the two ads on the astronomy site.  I am interested in that pulling object in space - every 18.18 minutes. Gazillions is a site of tabloid celebrity news labelled as entertainment, lifestyle, and money.  And there are lots of ads on it.  I guess to get your attention, it has found that advertising obscene ads works. I was wondering what kind of site it was so it must work.  It does have a lot of images of obscene ads when you do a query.  I guess people are curious about this as  there are lots of articles and pictures on banned old ads, obscene ones, sexist ones, hilariously offensive ones and so on. Bored Panda has them, Comedy.com has them, Pinterest has lots.  These include Cocaine Toothache Drops, Doctors smoke Camels, and Start Cola earlier (picture of baby). They move on to Train your wife variations such as  Keep her where she belongs, along with wife-savers.  Then it moves on to the sexual ones with titles like Orgy.  They never stop scrolling, so there must be a lot of them.  Do a search for images on "banned obscene old ads" and they eventually evolve to most controversial sex-ed books and books that you would ban.  You can find dirty boat names so offensive and rude... - with this search.   Curiosity is a universal human characteristic. And posed as the question:  How bad is it?  - well that's a hook that is hard to resist. So how bad/obscene can old ads be? There are lots of examples to choose from.   This is Millie last week.

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Dec 25 2021 - The Next Countdown is here!

 

We are on the next countdown - the twelve days of Christmas - traditionally starting on Christmas Day and ending January 5th.  January 6th is sometimes considered the twelfth day with the start December 26th.  The twelve days is called Christmastide or Twelvetide. Today is St. Stephen's Day.  Another feast day, as in 'The feast of Stephen'. We know it by the Christmas song with King Wenceslas.  Originally in Antiquity these days were taken up with saints' days and the first three days of the year were for prayer and penance.  Lots of heads-down activities.   Fast forward to England in the Middle Ages and this period was one of continuous feasting and merrymaking.  Twelfth Night will be forever in our social consciousness because of William Shakespeare and his wonderful play.   And where do we land with Twelfth Night now?  In New Orleans.  This is Twelfth Night taken to a different level of festivity.  January 6th is the day when King Cake Parties happen.  It is the first night of Carnival, as in 'Farewell to the Flesh'.  It goes from Twelfth Night to Fat Tuesday (that's right, Mardi Gras is  Fat Tuesday in French, to reflect the practice of eating rich, fatty food before Lent when fasting begins).   "Originally, King Cakes were a simple ring of pastry dough (brioche to be exact) with a small amount of colored sugar as decoration. Inside the original King Cakes was a tiny porcelain or gold baby, representing Jesus. If a person received a piece of cake with the baby they were declared King for the day... The top of the cake is covered with sugar icing in traditional Mardi Gras colors: Green, purple and gold." And reflecting on Christ in swaddling clothes, I just saw an ad for Pampers Swaddlers for active babies.  Perfect for this time of year.  Swaddling is a technique of wrapping infants in blankets or similar cloth so that the movement of the limbs is tightly restricted.  Probably something parents appreciate Pampers creating for active babies the day after Christmas. Here's a perfect Millie moment.  I don't know what she saw on the feeder outside, but her second reaction looks like it is coming right at her.  She is on the doggie bed on top of the desk.

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Oct 2 2021 - TikTok

 

TikTok is considered to be a revolutionary technology with algorithms that power its "For You" feed.  It has changed the way people become famous online.  The ability of new creators to get a lot of views very quickly—and the ease with which users can discover so many kinds of content—have contributed to the app’s stunning growth. Other social media companies are now trying to reproduce these features on their own apps. There are many ideas about how the TikTok showcasing algorithm works.  Is it hashtags or no hashtags?  Is it text on your video or no text? And so on. And then the drive to be famous must mean you make a lot of money.  Here are the high-earning TikTokers: Addison Rae: $5 million.  Charli D'Amelio: $4 million.   Dixie D'Amelio: $2.9 million. Loren Gray: $2.6 million. Josh Richards: $1.5 million. Michael Le: $1.2 million. Spencer X: $1.2 million. Addison Rae is 20 years old, Charli D'Amelio is 17 years - according to Google.  So I guess that explains the mass drive of young people to become TikTok famous.  The algorithm is a lottery and can catapult a post to fame in a moment.  This is the stuff that young people dream of - becoming famous in a flash.  Stars like Addison Rae have been at the 'show business' game for years and started competing in dance competitions at the age of 6.   Dreaming, though, is a great activity for the young.  I expect TikTok to be around for a while.   Here's a picture of Millie from last week.   I assume it is the camera clicking noise that bothers her - she often has this expression for the camera.  It does show off the Cavalier eyebrows.  There's no mistaking her accusing look of irritation here.

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April 6th 2021 - Dog Town and Kitty City

 

There are a lot of Dog Towns. Real places, most of them nicknames in California.  And then there are towns with the note, formerly Dog Town - all of them in California, too. The nickname likely has to do with surfing and skateboarding, as this was a well-known documentary movie about skateboarding in the 70s. A real dog town is where prairie dogs live. They also have coteries and clans, and they do a lot of kissing and grooming.  Common usage today is for canine pet grooming, animal rescue and computer games involving dogs. Don't be alarmed for cats, though.  Their residence is Kitty City.  While there don't seem to be skateboards, movies, or novels with the name, there are games and all manner of products.  There seems to be a lot of furniture for cats. There are many comparisons of dogs vs cats.  I will highlight their personality differences with the "bar" joke. A dog walks into a bar. The dog says, "Gimme a beer." The bartender says, "Wow! You can talk! You should get a job at the circus!" The dog says, "They're hiring electricians at the circus?" A cat walks into a bar.  The bartender says, "what'll you have?" The cat says, "A shot of rum." The bartender pours the cat his drink. The cat slowly pushes the shot off the table. "Another." Today is Millie Day! Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca