April 18 2023 - Scientists are worried

 

They are worried that the galaxies they keep finding with the James Webb Space Telescope shouldn't exist.  The scientist warned us.  The galaxies were as mature as our own Milky Way and they come from the beginnings of the universe.   There's billions of celestial objects - sounds like an overwhelming panic. And worse: We may be missing some fundamental information about the universe.  Galaxy formation is under the "microscope". There might be something wrong with the dark energy and cold dark matter paradigm that has been guiding cosmology for decades.  Just how do you go about changing your understanding of the cosmos and how galaxies grow?  That's an exciting proposition. Other headlines?   Why do some James Webb Space Telescope images show warped and repeated galaxies?  Does the sun really belong in its family? Astronomers get to the bottom of stellar identity crisis There's a lot going on in this field.   It's a train day today. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Apr 6 2023 - Really Weird Rocks

 

I checked into the good news network and found an article on weird floating rocks.  I seemed to have lost the original video which was very commercial yet fascinating with its pictures of precariously balanced massive stones. The  one I looked up is the famous Japanese floating rock - it isn't actually floating, but it is an arresting sight.   "The Ishi-no-Hōden is made from tuff and is surrounded on three sides by unprocessed bedrock. With a weight estimated at 500 tons, it measures 6.4 meters wide by 5.7 meters high by 7.2 meters in thickness. In shape, it is carved in the form of two flat rectangular parallelepipeds oriented vertically and sandwiching a small rectangular parallelepiped. One of the sides has a protrusion shaped like the top of a pyramid. The space between the surrounding bedrock and the megalith is wide enough for one adult to pass through, and it is possible to go around (admission fee is required). The monolith is situated in a large depression, which forms a pond at its base. The monolith is carved with a pillar at the center of its base, which is not visible at eye-level, so the monolith appears to be floating above the pond." Here are two of the internet pictures. This is the best-known megalith in Japan although they have numerous strange rock formations above ground and below the sea.   Here's our own experience with the Balancing Rock at Garden of the Gods in Colorado.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Sep 9 2020 - Mixed Weather Ahead

 

This is the month of negotiating the weather.  We want the temperatures to be a little cooler - but not that cold.  And definitely some rain after a dry August - but not that much rain.  And of course, there is lots of wind in the autumn in Niagara - the Monarch butterflies are flittering their way south - over the escarpment edge.  Look up in the sky and you can see vultures and hawks. We don't have to negotiate snow in September.  There was a weather surprise in Colorado yesterday.  Denver was 101 degrees F on Monday and the temperature dropped to 32 degrees on Tuesday.   With snow - 12 inches in the foothills and mountains and three to six inches around Denver. And it looks like possibly more snow today with a winter weather advisory. We experienced a snow storm on one of our trips to Durango in September.  I am thinking it was in the late 1990s.  We had to drive over the mountain pass on completely snow-covered roads that snaked around the edges of mountains.  It was a very tense experience.  When you go off the road in Ontario, you call CAA.  When you go off the road in Colorado, you plummet a few hundred or a thousand feet.  And there is snow on the mountain tops by the middle of September there - but the mountains are in the 4,000 metres and above range. Our pictures today are in Silverton, Colorado.  Given the cold blast that came through, there could be snow there today  - it is located at an elevation of 2,840 metres. The winter storm warning says snow accumulations of 8 to 12 inches expected - mainly above 9,000 feet.

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

Black Fly Blood Feeding

What will we do after the Olympics?  They've taken a fair amount of our attention and time. We can turn to the Listings in Now Online.  Along the top and bottom of NOW's display are advertisements for marijuana creams.  This is the first time I've seen ads for marijuana rather than news articles.  The listing is very long - there are many things to do in Toronto this weekend.  Which ones could take our attention away from the Olympics? The Sinners Choir at The Rex Naked Yoga for Men at Awaken Studio Dancing with Parkinson's Jitterbug Social Black Fly Blood Feeding Evolution at U of T I am curious about the Sinners Choir.  I find that they will be at the Toronto Jazz Festival this year June 22nd - July 1st.  "The Sinners Choir is a trio comprised of three generations of seasoned Toronto sidemen with a deep understanding of a broad spectrum of Roots/Americana, The Sinners Choir have a fresh sound that still pays homage to the music that shaped it". Perhaps more arresting is the headline of the Toronto Entomologists' Association talk by Mateus Pepinelli on Black Fly Blood Feeding Evolution: "Black flies are a generally despised and greatly misunderstood group of insects. Known mostly for their biting abilities, black flies are the remarkable end-product of a long period of evolution. While adult females are generally feared for their bloodsucking activity on birds and mammals, the larvae are important parts of the streams and rivers in which they live". Today's pictures are scenes from Colorado.

Niagara's Old Smokey

Niagara is home to many wineries but Rosewood is special - it produces honey and mead along with wine.  The family has been beekeeping for three generations.  This story was in their newsletter yesterday - a story worth sharing. The result of a series of (un)happy accidents, Old Smokey began as liquid honey & with a quick slip of the hand it was accidentally completely burnt.  In the spirit of experimentation we decided to ferment it dry. Following fermentation it was matured in tank for over 1.5 years before the refrigeration truck it was being stored in malfunctioned, dropping the internal temperature to Arctic like conditions - completely freezing the mead. Thinking we were going to completely discard it after thawing, we were curious to taste this enigma. To our surprise, the mead tasted better than ever! We transferred it into french oak barriques for several months to allow the journey to continue. To finish, it was aged in freshly emptied Kentucky Bourbon barrels for the last 6 months. Bottled at 19% abv, unfined and unfiltered, we expect this mead to continue aging gracefully for many years to come. Old Smokey can be purchased at $60/500 ml with a 2 bottle maximum per person.  Find out more at rosewoodwine.com. Our pictures today are from our Colorado visit.

Don't Pinch the Salt

The headline today says 'tube' and we know that means London, England.  In Toronto and N.Y. we use 'subway'. British usage uses subway for an underground pedestrian road crossing. And we hear about the Paris or Washington metro - which can refer to any train system, not just subterranean.   Here are some facts and fancies The station with the most escalators is Waterloo with 23.about the London system: The busiest Tube station is Waterloo, which was used by around 95 million passengers in 2015. In 2014 Oxford Circus took top spot, in 2009 it was Victoria, and in 2005 it was King's Cross,  Aldgate Station, on the Circle and Metropolitan Lines, is built on a massive plague pit, where more than 1,000 bodies are buried. The TARDIS, (Dr Who’s transport) can be found outside Earl’s Court station. Or at least an old police call box can. The station with the most escalators is Waterloo with 23. The American talk show host Jerry Springer was born at East Finchley during the Second World War: his mother had taken shelter in the station from an air raid. The inaugural journey of the first Central line train in 1900 had the Prince of Wales and Mark Twain on board. Every week, Underground escalators travel the equivalent distance of going twice around the world. These come from the telegraph where there are many more. Our pictures today were taken from the golf course patio in Durango.  Can you imagine this view every day?

Don't Pinch the Salt

We have such a love of salt in our food.  Where does this love come from?  Is it a natural affinity or deficiency?   "The human body contains many salts, of which sodium chloride (AKA common table salt) is the major one, making up around 0.4 per cent of the body's weight at a concentration pretty well equivalent to that in seawater. So a 50kg person would contain around 200g of sodium chloride - around 40 teaspoons." What is the purpose of salt in our bodies?  Quora.com so often answers these questions:   "Every neuron in your body uses salt to conduct electricity...  And salt regulates water content (and therefore osmotic pressure) "If you eat too much salt, your kidneys pump it into the bladder, and you pee it out. Even at highconcentrations, a properly functioning kidney will dump excess salt into the bladder. This is such an important function, it's probably why we have two kidneys to do it.  However, if you eat too little salt, or lose too much (sweat, vomit, diarrhea), a condition called hyponatremia, you'll have major problems.  Water will flow into your cells, which will now have a higher salt concentration than your blood.   This is because water flows through a membrane (like a cell membrane) towards higher salt concentrations.   Your cells will swell and may, at high enough concentrations, burst.  Bursting cells = bad news. So, why do we love salt?  We love salt because, evolutionarily, eating too much salt is far more advantageous than eating too little." Today our pictures show the Silverton Shop with the box cars and antique cars in the yard.

Steamed at Chama

Chama still seems like a remote village in New Mexico.  It remains rustic with a dusty street of a few stores and places to eat.  But it is home to the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad - which I call the Chama Yard.  You are allowed to walk around everywhere and check out the equipment being stored or restored. There is a web forum and regular images of the yard - one from two days ago showed that Colorado is a winter wonderland.  Here's the webcam link. View this email in your browser

Remember the Trains

Today is an historic day.  Just as people remember where they were when John Kennedy was assassinated, so people remember where they were when the twin towers were attacked. However, we are looking at a different story today.  We're on the railroad.  Our second photo shows Gramps tank cars.  These are famous tank cars in the modelling realm. The name is said to come from the nickname of the oilfield owner William Hughes.  To please his grandchildren, he had is name painted on the tank cars of the Union Tank Car Company. There is also reference to known Gramps Oil and Refining - perhaps he was on a roll with the name,  The tanks were shipped to Alamos, Colorado for transfer to the narrow gauge.  Then they were on to the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad. This bought them their spot in history.  I can think of no railroads more beloved to modellers than those in Colorado.