Jan 12 2022 - A Fishy Story

 

The Globe and Mail had a story on page 2 yesterday - Goldfish learn to drive a robotic car on land.  You can go HERE to see the video of the goldfish.  This is the NBC story with the video and the story starts with this joke: Two fish are in a tank and one says, "Do you know how to drive this thing?" The camera in the “fish-operated vehicle” uses motion sensing technology to send a signal to one of its four wheels whenever a fish swims close to a side of the fish tank. Over time the fish learned that their movements would correspond to the movements of the vehicle. The Globe says:  Some fish are smarter than others.  This brings to mind the mention of the popular myth that a goldfish's memory lasts only a few seconds.  It reminds us of misinformation and disinformation that Snopes is in pursuit of reducing. While Snopes does not address the 3 second attention span of Goldfish, others do. From live science magazine HERE:  "In reality, goldfish have such impressive memories, they're often used as a common model for studying memory and learning in fishes, Brown said. As a result, "there are thousands of studies [on goldfish] that show fish have excellent memories," Brown said. "And the rate of which these studies are being published is growing exponentially." There is always something Snopes has on hand.  Here's their fact-checking item on goldfish:  A 9-pound “goldfish” was caught in a South Carolina lake during a routine electrofishing survey.  TRUE And compare that with a 280-pound catfish caught in Italy in 2015.  There are enough photos of that one to look like it is true.  Two goldfish are in a tank. One turns to the other and says “It’s a bit wet in here” The other says “Wow! A talking fish!” A man walks into a cafe with a goldfish under his arm He asks the owner “do you sell fish cakes?” The owner says no The man says “That’s a shame. It’s his birthday today.”   A railroad scene from Gerry's layout.

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May 15 2020 - Team Solo Sports vs Drive-Thru Zoo

eam sports at a distance can start soon.  Which are those sports? There's an article already for that.  Of course, we think of tennis. Then there's solo running, cycling and walking.  Fencing!  And beloved golf - the courses are set to open next week. Don't forget there's gymnastics.  We could join the circus now.   And what about this drive-through experience? The Toronto Zoo plans to reopen with drive-through experience.  That would be perfect as a giraffe was born this week - and there's nothing as cute as a baby giraffe.  Cute pictures are HERE. “The pre-booked driving route would allow guests to see the Zoo’s animals from the comfort and safety of their own vehicle along a 3.4 kilometres route,” the zoo said in a statement. They are also fund-raising to feed the animals - last month they raised over $500,000 - enough to cover six months worth of food for the 5,000 animals.  The animals have been getting bored, and the zoo has taken to entertaining them in special ways - taking the llamas for a walk, giving the hyena a bubble bath, and the penguins a field trip.  You can see these at #ClosedButCaring. There are posts from zoos all over the place (and a few other places using the hashtag.) Pictures fro the spring garden today - with the weeping cherry and the Japanese spirea bush.

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Continuing Flower Week with an Uber Ride

The Canada Blooms Show in Toronto is promoted as the largest garden and flower show in Canada - Philadelphia's is the largest in North America.  The trend, however, is that it continues to shrink each year. We toured it in less than an hour.  There were still a few 'Wows!' at the entrance.  The positive news is that the floral design section expands each year.  We saw some familiar faces in the judges' groups and got to say hello.   I wondered what others thought of the show - there are no reviews, just promotional articles explaining what to see.  Theresa Forte's article in the St. Catharines Standard on March 8th listed the workshops and speakers and avoided commenting on how small the show is.  There doesn't seem to be a major sponsor this year, and there were no garden centres represented in the marketplace.  I guess the show has decided to focus on workshops for the family as its main feature, rather than a showcase of garden design.  These are expensive ventures - pools and patios all created in a week and then taken apart after the two week show. We went searching for the Butchart Garden booth to say hello, but it was not present.   I wondered if they might bring news of the Victoria Flower Count.  It completed yesterday, but the total hasn't been announced yet. Our own excitement of the Canada Blooms show this  year was getting to and from the show.  We took Uber rather than driving.  We had three trips - a mix of people and vehicles - we were driven home in a huge Ford truck.  I had to 'fall out' to reach the ground. And the highlight was the amazing tiny restaurant at Spadina and Queen - Aloette - sitting at the bar, watching the chef organize each dish - often with tweezers.

Super Blue Blood Moon

Isn't it a Super Blue Blood Moon solar eclipse this month?  What a headline - go to space.com and it shows an animation of the moon's path through the shadow of the earth.  It gives all the information on how to see it. Here's the definition: "A Blue Moon is when two full moons happen in the same calendar month; lunar eclipses occur when the moon passes into Earth's shadow; and supermoons happen when the moon's perigee — its closest approach to Earth in a single orbit — coincides with a full moon. In this case, the supermoon also happens to be the day of the lunar eclipse". The best places to see the "Super Blue Blood Moon" are Alaska, the Hawaiian islands and the western part of North America.  It will take place in the early morning of January 31st between 4:51 and 6:08 PST.   In parts of the world the eclipse will happen at Moon Rise and for others at Moon Set.  For us in the east it will begin at 5:51am and at 6:48am the darker part of the Earth's shadow will begin to "blanket" the moon and create the blood-red tint.  The instructions are to get to a high place and make sure you have a clear line of sight to the horizon in the west-northwest.  Opposite from where the sun will rise. Today we're looking at some motion blur pictures, taken on our drive down to Longwood.