April 8 2024 - The Eclipse of the Heart

 

Has the lead-up to the Total Eclipse been fun?  Yes, it has.   On Saturday's CBC radio, the interview with Bonnie Tyler was very entertaining.  Her speaking voice sounds used up and worn out, but she had a concert coming up this week, so she must be able to sing.  She had a lot of stories - and that's because it is over 40 years ago since the 1983 release of her famous Total Eclipse of the Heart song.   The song was written by Jim Steinman, and it is said that Meatloaf thought it should have been his hit. Likely that's true. The Wikipedia entry says that there were some differences over money and Steinman went off to other things.  This likely is a good turn of events as I don't know if we'd be singing it now if it had performed by Meat Loaf.  What do you think? And we do sing it a lot. In a 2013 UK survey, the song came first in a list of most popular songs to sing in the shower. Bonnie Tyler sings it in all kinds of circumstances - she sang "Total Eclipse of the Heart" live on board a Royal Caribbean cruise ship during the solar eclipse of 21 August 2017. It could be that she has performed the song more than all of us - she has performed it at all of her concerts/performances.  That's a lot more times than we've had solar eclipses of any sort. Will we sing it today - a love song to the total eclipse we may not get to see? That's because we are we cloudy out there.  It would break our hearts to not have a Total Eclipse.   Sometimes my own images  seem mysterious to even me.  This  is a metal sculpture in Toronto - looks like a jagged stab  at the sun.

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Aug 12 2023 - Blackout 20 year ago

 

It was 20 years ago on August 14th that the worst power blackout in North American history occurred.  The worst n history was in Southern Brazil. It was more widespread than the Northeast blackout of 1965. 30 million people lost power.  A 3,500 megawatt power surge headed towards Ontario at 4:10 pm.  More than 508 generating units at 265 power plants shut down during the outage.  In areas where the power remained off after nightfall, the Milky Way and orbiting artificial satellites became visible in metropolitan areas.  What a difference then to now - "complete strangers reached out to each other that day".  The news articles cover the blackout weddings that day with the storyline that people then felt the blackout brought out the best in Toronto.  From the CBC article on the topic: "In an effort to recapture the energy of that night, Amlani celebrates the anniversary of the blackout by helping to organize an annual gathering. Acoustic musicians come out to play and the lights are doused "to recapture that energy, that sense of community." "This year's celebration starts at Queen West and Callender streets in Parkdale at 8 p.m. and will be hosted by the Balkan folk band Lemon Bucket Orkestra." Here's one of my Flexify manipulations - it seems to match what happened to the power grid.

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June 22 2022 - Imposters and LookAlikes

 

More on the conspiracy theme.  What is a conspiracy?  A secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful.  Watergate was a true conspiracy, the moon landing is considered a false one.  There is even a conspiracy theory that the CIA invented the term "conspiracy theory".    Imposter stories seem to now be in the same bucket as conspiracy theories.  I suggest that  it has to do with the emergence of "clones" as imposters.  So deep government cover-ups get involved.  That aspect of conspiracy theories dates to 1967 when it is claimed that the CIA invented the term to disqualify those who questioned the official version of JFK's assassination.  But before imposters became part of conspiracies, what would be our most memorable and favourite  imposter story?   Paul McCartney died in a car accident in 1966 and was replaced by William Shears Campbell (Billy Shears) - a lookalike.  Billy had won a lookalike contest so was the candidate of choice.  And then Ringo Starr made reference to him, so it got developed further.   I found this at another website:  FACT Paul McCartney did have a minor accident on 26th Dec 1965 when he fell off a moped, split his lip and chipped a tooth. Embarrassed by his ‘fat lip’ he began to grow a moustache. Where imposter theories merge with conspiracies?  These relate to "believers" claiming various celebrities are clones.  Megan Fox and Britney Spears are two.  The imposters are believed to be multiple government clones/synthetics. For Megan Fox, the "clones" are called ‘Fegans’.  Every time she looks different – which would be explained by the process of ageing, or the fight against it – it’s a new clone.  Eminem is believed to be one, as is Taylor Swift.  She's considered to be a clone of renowned satanist Zeena LaVey. On to Katy Perry.  The theory goes that she used to be JonBenet Ramsey, the child pageant star who was killed in 1996. “Nobody died, nobody got hurt,” YouTuber Dave J exclaims in the video. “That sacrifice was in name only, and that was to get something, and that something was to become a star. JonBenet became Katy Perry, and that’s a fact.” Lookalikes have been around for a long time as  imposers. We can go to websites and hire them to market our product.  I checked out the video of Albert Einstein on Lookalike-USA and the lookalike appeared in an ad for tires.  Seems pathetic to me, but obviously gets attention.  "We have hundreds of lookalikes, doubles, impersonators, available nation-wide.  Impersonators of Britney Spears, Austin Powers, George W Bush,  Albert Einstein,  Tom Cruise,  Marilyn Monroe,  Elvis, and over 900 more! " From lookalike imposers to clones:  How did this happen?  Here's my theory:  Big events are mysterious, and big people/celebrities are mysterious. Looking for a simple explanation of the mysterious?  Blame something big - the government.  Today's image is created using Flexifly to modify a geometric abstract.  It seemed to be related to the topic.

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Jan 29 2022 - Do Birds Get Cold Feet?

 

When I look out at the birds on the feeder, I see those tiny little legs and funny little feet and want to know how their feet don't get cold.  Various sources tell me that they do get cold feet. "In the winter, as feathered friends flock to your feeders, it’s hard not to wonder about what happens to their little, unprotected feet, especially when they cling to snowy branches and metal feeder perches. Do songbirds get cold feet in the winter, and if so, are their toes in danger of frostbite? Or worse? The short answer is yes. However, unlike humans and other animals, cold feet don't pose a problem for birds. In fact, birds' feet and legs are designed to offer them some protection when the temperature drops. There are two main reasons that birds aren't affected by cold feet: 1. Blood circulates through the legs and feet of birds very quickly, and blood vessels in this part of the body are positioned closely together. Because of this, blood doesn't have a chance to cool enough in their legs to cause discomfort or distress. Due to this quick circulation, their blood is quickly warmed in their core before being sent back to the feet. 2. Bird legs and feet have very few pain receptors and little fluid. The surface is dry and scaly, with no moisture, which means they don’t have to worry about their feet freezing and getting stuck to metal perches, even on a cold and snowy day." That's from lyricbirdfood.com I do know that birds don't pee - instead they poop that white pasty messy stuff - it is uric acid. And as we now from having received a bird gift,  it doesn't dissolve in water easily to wash off. It sticks just like white plaster. In the meantime, these fascinating facts about Hummingbirds attracted my attention:  The average man would need to eat around 285 pounds of meat per day if they had the metabolism of a hummingbird.   hummingbirds weigh less than a nickel.  Hummingbirds are so small that they have fewer than 1,000 features - compare that to the Whistling Sea with 25,000 feathers.   They are the only bird that can fly backwards but they can't walk or hop. A flock of hummingbirds is known as a bouquet, a glittering, a hover, a shimmer or a tune. A hummingbird and a scientist walk into a bar... Nah, just kidding, hummingbirds can't walk. Two colourful abstracts today to distract from our white winter wonderland.

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The Absence of Evidence

Nine continues to be part of our investigations today.  We know that 'dressed to the nines' means to be dressed flamboyantly.   What is the origin of this phrase.  From phrases.org.uk comes this most interesting explanation "Nine is the most troublesome number in etymology. There are several phrases of uncertain parentage that include the word. Examples are,  cloud nine, nine days' wonder and the infamous whole nine yards. We can add 'dressed to the nines' to that list." There is no proof of the origins however frequent the repetition of the derivation of the phrase:  "One theory has it that tailors used nine yards of material to make a suit (or, according to some authors, a shirt). The more material you had the more kudos you accrued, although nine yards seems generous even for a fop." So the conclusion: "It seems clear that 'the Nine' that Rawlett was referring to were the Nine Muses. It is just as clear that 'dressed to the nines' is merely an extension of 'to the nine/s' and that we could equally well 'dance to the nines' or 'etymologise to the nines'. The search for the link between 'nines' and dress sense has unearthed no convincing candidates. Absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence, but I'll stick my neck out here and say, with this phrase and with the other 'nines' phrases, 'nine' doesn't refer to anything specific - it just means 'a lot'." Our pictures today bring together the Florida composites with reflections of the Toronto skyline buildings in a curved metal fountain at Victoria Street and Adelaide.  I've admired the sculptures in this area for many years.  As I was walking by on Wednesday, there were wonderful warped geometric abstracts. The first picture is a black and white version of one of the reflections.  This picture has been combined with the Florida composites from January. What would you call this series?