Feb 14 2025 - Heart Transplant Love

 

It is Valentine's Day and the stories are about love and the origin of the celebration and ... more stories of heart transplant experiences  The CBC covered a story about a woman who received a heart transplant at 50, and then found herself feeling different. the article says that thoughts and memories of her loved ones used to feel warm and tingly, she said. Now, they feel logical or factual, or cold. "I love my husband, but I don't always get twitterpated anymore," she added, referring to the butterflies-in-your-stomach, love-at-first-sight feeling described in the classic Disney film Bambi." On the other side of things, Lindsay Ma met the family whose son's heart was transplanted to her.  They experienced a reunion-like meeting "There was a lot of laughter and joy at dinner that night, though it was mixed with tears and emotion, especially when Debbie got out a stethoscope to listen to Lindsay’s heart. Debbie’s son Tommy’s heart now beats inside Lindsay’s chest." These transplant stories are very curious, aren't they? So we celebrate St. Valentine's Day today.  I notice that St. Valentine's Day does not reference the word "pagan"  in the wikipedia entry.  - "It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a martyr named Valentine, and through later folk traditions it has also become a significant cultural, religious and commercial celebration of romance and love in many regions of the world." Of course there are other references that tell a different origin story: "Valentine's Day is steeped in pagan history and full of controversy and tragic violence. There is some evidence that this day was made to replace the pagan celebration of Lupercalia which had to do with celebrating fertility."

These hearts started out as images of a large digital mural in a U.S. mall - my own version of transplants Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Feb 13 2025 - Beavers Get It Done

 

There's a story of Beavers getting a dam job finished in the Czech republic.  It was a restoration project for a natural wetland.  There were delays for planning and permits, and little progress was made.  With all that time on their hands, the beavers constructed dams along the bypass ditch, initiating the wetland restoration process.  Here's the story at the dodo.  there are a few beaver stories at the website.  The next story was about a Canadian beaver dam that is visible from space - 2,790 feet long.  It is estimated that it took 20 years to build.  There are many heart-strings articles on this site about animals - the site is dodo.com - there are themes like dog wellness, cat wellness and happy corner.  All good-feel happy-ending stories.

Here's a heart in a Florida tree trunk. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Feb 1 2025 - The heart of the Matter

 

Did you know about this?  The Globe and Mail's article on children recalling past lives includes a reference to heart transplant recipients taking on characteristics of the transplanted heart donor. Here's a scientific study that reports on this: "Many different types of personality changes have been described following organ transplantation. These include changes in preferences for food, music, art, sex, recreation, and career, the experience of new memories], feelings of euphoria, enhanced social and sexual adaptation, improved cognitive abilities, and spiritual or religious episodes. These changes were generally described as neutral or positive. However, troubling changes have also been reported. As many as 30–50% percent of heart transplant recipients experience emotional or affective issues , while others experience delirium, depression, anxiety, psychosis, and sexual dysfunction." "A report in the lay literature describes the case of Claire Sylvia who reported changes in her personality, preferences, and behaviors following a heart and lung transplant at Yale-New Haven hospital in 1988. Following surgery, Sylvia developed a new taste for green peppers and chicken nuggets, foods she previously disliked. As soon as she was released from the hospital, she promptly headed to a Kentucky Fried Chicken to order chicken nuggets. She later met her donor’s family and inquired about his affinity for green peppers. Their response was, “Are you kidding? He loved them… But what he really loved was chicken nuggets”. Sylvia later discovered that at the time of her donor’s death in a motorcycle accident, a container of chicken nuggets was found under his jacket."  Scientific explanations proposed include psychological, biochemical and electrical/energetic hypotheses.  The second and third areas are the interesting ones to me. Do our organs store memories or other personality traits? Can the electromagnetic field of the recipient receive information from the donor's electromagnetic field?   This study goes on to survey transplant recipients. They were comparing heart and other organ transplant recipients.  The finding:  "The majority of participants (89.3%) who underwent organ transplant reported changes in their personality following transplantation." It is all so fascinating - here is The Study Link.  We are at the month of February when things of the heart are celebrated.  Who would guess we'd start with this story. I have posted this picture already, but doesn't it seem to be amazing for the heart transplant theme.  And below that a collage of the many hearts found.

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Nov 5 2024 - Tipping Point Politics

 

"Tipping Point Pennsylvania".  Can you imagine that as a tourist slogan?  What about us in Canada?  Do we have anything as drastic as this?   This from Eric Grenier in 2021:  "The concept is pretty simple: line-up all 338 ridings according to how likely a party is to win them, and the one that sits at the 170th spot is the tipping point seat needed for a majority government...it gives us an idea of the kind of seat each party needs to win the election. How that seat shifts around gives us an indication of how the electoral map is shifting around."  There are four seats on his 2021 chart.  That article was 2021 so I wonder if those tipping point seats can change over time. His article outlines swings within weeks - not at all like Pennsylvania which seems to score as the champion as the tipping point state in the US elections.   Our tipping points are individual seats - that was in 2021. In comparison to the U.S., this is a simple chart with the details HERE.  I expect our tipping point ridings shift about over time.  I guess Eric Grenier will give us an update when our next election comes.  He always has a current view of political parties now that we have an election in the near future. So many charts. We are locked onto politics in this moment-by-moment analysis. Was I not paying attention in the past?  What happened?  We know the answer.  Our sense of the United States election might be compared to California tumbling into the ocean from the big earthquake. How far will the tidal wave go? How long will it last?  Compelling but cataclysmic.  And of course:  more news with pictures at 10:00.

Here's an image that is a thought for Election Day USA.

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Jan 19 2023 - Yukon Gold

 

Are Yukon Gold and Yellow Potatoes the same?  Here's the answer: Yukon Gold, though yellow fleshed, is a cross between a yellow and a white potato.  The definition says that all three types of potatoes are similar and can be used in similar ways.  But Yukon Gold potatoes have a smooth, creamy texture.  Regular yellow potatoes have a waxy texture.  Waxy is good for a salad.  That's what eatpallet.com tells me.   It also says that adding cream of tartar can help to add flavour to both types.  When it comes to white potatoes, they are starch and lower in moisture.  That makes tm ideal for baking, frying and mashing.  Yukon, in comparison is higher in moisture and lower in starch. That makes them best for boiling and steaming.  And who named Yukon Gold potatoes?  It was developed in the 1960s by Garnet Johnston in Guelph, Ontario.  This is the story in McLean's Magazine HERE:  "The invention came from a male parent grown in North Dakota (considered male because it spreads pollen), and a female, yellow parent grown in Peru. After 14 years, on the 66th cross of 1966, Johnston created a variety known technically as G6666-4y (“G” for Guelph, 4 for the fourth selection from the cross, and “y” for yellow). Johnston originally named it after the Yukon River—his previous varieties included the Huron and the Rideau—but his colleague Walter Shy suggested adding the word “Gold” in honour of its yellow tint. Not to be confused with “new potatoes,” which are small, sweet spuds of any variety picked earliest in the season, the Yukon Gold has pink eyes and tan skin. Soon after Yukon Golds hit the market in 1980, chefs were serving it to presidents. “When I started at the White House, it became like the new kid on the block,” says former White House chef John Moeller. “I like the butteriness of it. I do a purée, with added parsnip purée and sweated-down leeks. It’s a nice smooth consistency. When you see a white potato, it just doesn’t look as appealing.” Moeller also cooks Yukon Golds au gratin with garlic custard, and he roasts baby Yukons to serve as marble-sized garnishing. “You can put one potato on your fork and eat it in one bite,” he says." Yukon Gold remains a top potatoes out of more than 150 varieties grown in Canada today.

I get one of these heart-shaped potatoes every so often.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Nov 4 2022 - What Next for Twitter

 

My guess is that Twitter will die.  It will be no more.  When might that happen? There are many headlines in the last few months and weeks along the lines of:   Can Elon Musk kill Twitter or cause Twitter to die?    The Atlantic October 27th had an article that asks: can Musk kill Twitter immediately?  The article's author thought that unlikely. The author then goes on to ask the next question: Can Musk "kneecap Twitter via inept management?" That was discussed in detail.  It seemed a more likely scenario.  The area of vulnerability is the two key teams of site-reliability engineers and the internal trust-and-safety team which handles content moderation. The article outlines what would happen if these teams lose engineers.  All kinds of risks are real - hackers/hostile foreign governments, dealing with government subpoenas or law-enforcement requests, fraudsters operating low-level scams on the platform are not stopped, inexperienced engineer "pushes some buggy code and part of the site's functionality goes down".   There's the possibility that Musk does roll back Twitter's content-moderation rules and reduces tools for monitoring and reporting abuse.  This results in a bad product with more radicalized communities, and so reduced users and advertising and a slow, dwindling death. We the public likely think like Musk  social media platforms are  "technology".  But moderating content requires intelligence.  "Those with trust-and-safety experience at the platform told me that a big percentage of the job is dealing with the messy edge cases that are difficult for a computer to decipher ... Language and the meaning of language always evolves, but on the internet, that happens a billion times faster,” she told me. “And if what online speech governance does is manage the harms of how people communicate, it has to be constantly working and changing. It’s not like an oil change.” i reference Warzel's article because it gets at the core issue/fact.  Social platforms aren't like the old world organization.   Their product is people interacting in communities. This makes the product  "living and breathing".   And what is Warzel's conclusion -  seems to me the likely scenario of Twitter's future: "Living, breathing things do one thing quite reliably: They eventually die, for all kinds of reasons. They die of natural causes, or because of direct harm. They die because of unforeseeable events. Musk very well could kill Twitter out of malice or hubris, or through calculated, boneheaded decisions. But one possibility seems more likely than others. If Twitter dies at the hands of this billionaire, the cause is likely to be tragically banal—neglect. Let's hope it is neglect and not malice/abuse which he seems to be good at.  Here's some wall art from a few years ago.  A good title might be "Love Found".

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Oct 23 2022 - Voting Tomorrow

 

We voted online for the municipal election earlier this week.  So simple, so easy, like magic.  But the headlines say there is a lack of provincial standards for online voting technology.  And the 2018 elections had problems, causing an extension of the hours for voting.  That doesn't seem to spark much cuiosity on my part. Look at the picture below - that got my attention!

The province's education minister having to ask for a professional review of teacher dress codes.  A viral social media post with this picture showed a teacher wearing prosthetic breasts - of a size beyond anything we've known before.   If I were a student what would I do?  This looks some kind of gender presentation issue to me. You can imagine that there have been numerous complaints and protests and that the Ontario Department of Education Minister has to figure things out.   It turns out that the teacher  is transgender.  Kayla Lemieux, (an exemplary teacher by all accounts), identified as male up until recently. According to reports, Lemieux transitioned over the summer, and now identifies as female. This year, she arrived at school wearing the aforementioned prosthetic, which one commentator described as “effectively a fetish outfit,” under a tight-fitting, form-revealing top.  I find this curious that it is being named an "attire" problem.  There's nothing wrong with the shirt to me - it is what is under it.  What if a female to male transgender starting wearing a giant penis in tight pants to work.   There's another scenario that is a challenge. No journalists so far have pointed this out.  No one wants to have to mention transgender issues.   I guess "attire" is also a code word for transgender body image presentation.   I head off to a scientific site to give me the transgender 101 information. "Often, as people are in the process of figuring out what feels most comfortable for themselves, they may experiment with styles and looks. They may later relax into more comfortable clothes, or clothes that reflect their own personal sense of style, rather than basing their choices on rigid cultural norms."  This from ovc.ojp.gov on transgender presentation.  "Body image can play a role in how people express their gender. Transgender people generally have an even more uncomfortable or negative relationship with their bodies than non-transgender people... Some create a literal armor to hide or alter their bodies or to create a different bodily contour: Some FTMs (or other people on the trans-masculine spectrum)— Bind their chests.  Wear baggy or multiple layers of clothing to help flatten the appearance of their chest. Wear self-made or store-bought penile prosthetics.  Use prosthetics to allow them to urinate while standing.  Slouch or intentionally gain weight to add mass to their midsection, altering their feminine contour. Some MTFs (or other people on the trans-feminine spectrum)— Use breast or hip forms to create a more feminine contour.  "Gaff" or "tuck" (i.e., pull back their genitals to create a smoother line).  Wear wigs. Dress in a highly stereotypical feminine way to create an outward appearance of undeniable femaleness. " So here we are - right in the middle of one transgender teacher's body image crisis.  News of the day:  voting machines vs transgender teacher body image crises.  Vote! Today's pictures are a random selection - based on a search for file number 0001. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

March 31 2022 - The Slap Trending Now

 

Let's say something in the news has got your attention. You could participate in moment by moment action on that topic given how news is delivered non-stop today. And wouldn't the news be  "The Will Smith Slap".  Or is it "The Will Smith Smack?" Everyone has weighed in with their opinions.   The latest is Whoopi Goldberg, on the Academy Board with the headline : "Will Smith 'overreacted,' according to Whoopi Goldberg, who believes the actor will not accept his Academy Award."   "Now, comedian Whoopi Goldberg has spoken out, stating unequivocally that Will’s award will not be rescinded by the Academy. The 66-year-old co-host said on Monday, March 28, on an episode of ‘The View,’ that Will Smith, who won the award for Best Actor for his performance in ‘King Richard’ shortly after abusing the host on stage, is keeping it. “We’re not taking his Oscar away from him,” she added." And so on...and on and on because she co-hosts the American "conversation" show The View. The impact on ratings of "The Slap" was another headline.  Viewership for the Oscars on ABC grew by 511,000 viewers during the 15 minute time span that featured Will Smith slapping... and then spiked to 614,000 viewers during his acceptance speech.  And how will this get monetized?  Absolutely - the Will Smith Slap Token - a newly-created cryptocurrency named "Will Smith Slap Token." And will this benefit Chris Rock?  Absolutely - Chris Rock's ticket sales doubled after the Will Smith Slap.  He received multiple standing ovations in his first appearance after "The Slap".  The report says:    "He spent much of the night skewering celebrities and politicians. Among them were the Duchess of Sussex, the Kardashians, as well as President Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and former President Donald Trump.   Outside the venue, a fan showed off a T-shirt featuring the “G.I. Jane” logo and Pinkett Smith’s face. Another had a shirt he made that showed Smith's face and displayed a crude joke about the couple's relationship." Such a tornado, a whirlwind, a tsunami of responses and coverage.  Is this the number 1 trend on Google?  No - that goes to the public announcement of Bruce Willis' diagnosis of Aphasia made public.   Will Smith's slap is now being referred to as "Slapgate." This seems to imply an ongoing situation to be investigated and analyzed for a long time to come.   I blasted apart some of my images of The Ladder - I found a filter on Flexifly that turns a picture in 72 pieces.  Then the two images were merged in Photoshop.  I like the effect - it seems to match the Slap story.  What do you think?

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Feb 13 2020 - The Shape of a Heart

Who would guess it?  The seed of a plant is considered the origin of the heart shape used to depict the human sense of love and romantic emotion. It was known as silphion, laserwort, laser, and used as a seasoning, perfume, aphrodisiac, and medicine.  It was used as a contraceptive by ancient Greeks and Romans.  It was critical to the Cyrenian (Libya today) economy, and their coins bore a picture of the plant.  Its seed/fruit was what we today call 'heart-shaped".   This is an extinct plant, so there are numerous theories as to how it became extinct since it was so important to the economies of countries at the time.  Then we speed ahead to the 1250s with the first depiction of a heart shape, presented by a kneeling lover who offers his heart to a lady. It is similar to a pine cone and is upside down. Researchers assume it is a heart. While much earlier Aristotle described it in ancient texts with three chambers and a dent in the middle, it was Middle Ages scientists who went about translating this visually.   The heart symbol became widespread in medieval art. It was in the 14th century that the heart was turned 'right-side up'. And then it gains traction everywhere.  It is easy to trace with trade - it reaches Japan between 1543 and 1614.  A samurai helmet dated 1630 has hearts on it. Today, the traditions are many and interwoven in our society completely. Take our scientific approach to things as demonstrated by Wikipedia.  It shows us an animation of a cardioid generated by a rolling circle.  It is one of a number of "parametrisations of approximately heart-shaped curves."  It is fascinating - take a look at the bottom the entry HERE.  Today's images - what else?  Hearts.

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Feb 6 2020 - Chocolate Day x 365

How many chocolate days are there in the year?  World Chocolate Day is July 7th. Or maybe October 28th, or December 28th.  And there's International Chocolate Day on September 13th.  Variants such as National Milk Chocolate Day, National White Chocolate Day and National Cocoa Day join the days.   EuroChocolate is an annual chocolate festival in Perugia, the capital of Umbria in Italy. It is such a good idea, that Rome and Turin also have chocolate festivals.  But Perugia's is huge: it starts on October 16th and ends of October 25th this year and has over one million visitors.  I guess chocolate is popular in Italy. I decided to find out if there are chocolate days all year long. If it is this popular in Italy, it is popular everywhere.  So the situation is that you can celebrate chocolate pretty well every week.  The list of chocolate holidays is HERE - there are celebrations every month - think things like National chocolate cupcake day or bittersweet chocolate with almonds day.  Don't forget Office Chocolate Day - that's the suggested day to give your colleague a vegan chocolate present.   What kind of candy is never on time? ChocoLATE What is a French cat's favorite dessert? Chocolate mousse! Why did the Oreo go to the dentist? Because it lost its filling  Today's Valentine was found in a back alley of Queen Street West.

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There's a Prequel and Sequel to Valentine's Day

Did you know that there's a valentine for each day leading up to the BIG DAY Feb 14th?     Did you know that Valentines week is followed by an Anti-Valentine week from the 15th to the 21st?  I didn't know about this at all.  Here are the days.     Huffington Post has 33 Anti-Valentine's Day Gifts for People Who Despise Valentine's Day.  Oh dear.  Such  spiteful sentiments being expressed.  How did it get to being this way? One is able to retrieve many entries for Valentine's Day battlefield. Of course, a number of these are titles - songs, books, games - lots of games. Here's a definition from cuepoint.com on the notion of the discordancy of Valentine's Day. "Valentine's Day is frequently a battlefield—not just for single people, but for people in general. If you're unpartnered, Valentine's Day is like some Noah's Ark-style party you're barred from attending; but if you're dating someone, it's all too often a compulsory party that fills you with a nameless dread. Having to prove your romantic devotion on an arbitrarily selected day can seriously backfire (ask any of your server friends about the carnage they witness while waiting tables on Valentine’s Day)." Here's our picture to match today's battleground story - a tarnished, worn and weathered boat.