Jan 09 2025 - Cumberpunning

 

It crosses one's mind right away.  Is the name Cumberbatch "made-up" - as it seems whimsical or nonsensical.   "Why is he named Benedict Cumberbatch? Benedict is called Cumberbatch because that is his last name. His full name is Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch. He is a British actor known for his roles in films and television, notably as Sherlock Holmes in the BBC series ``Sherlock'' and as Doctor Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe." '"English: habitational name from Comberbach in northern Cheshire named with the Old English personal name Cumbra (originally a byname meaning 'Cumbrian') or the genitive plural of Cumbre 'Britons' + Old English bæce 'stream in a valley'." I am not alone in amusement over his name.  I found this article in the Huffpost and here  is the start of it HERE: Benedict Cumberbatch Is Sick of People Using His Name as a Cumberpun   "I love you all, and cumberbless each and every one of you. But I have to get this off my chest -- I'm just a regular cumberboy. Every morning I get up from my cumberbed, eat my cumberbreakfast, cumberbrush my teeth and head to work.  But lately It's starting to really cumberbother me how a lot of you are cumberbantering about my name. I know, I have kind of an unusual name. But it's never fun to be the cumberbutt of the joke. This is in no way a new thing. I've been cumbombarded with puns my whole life. But since I became a huge actor this trend definitely got worse."  Hop over and enjoy this wonderful satire and play on word(s).  I found another icy fingers picture and thought the blue of winter vs the blue of summer would be a good comparison.

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Dec 18 2024 - Drones in the news at Christmas

 

Drones are in the news in the US.  The drone show in Mansfield Texas has set a Guinnes World Record with the largest aerial display of a gingerbread village made out of drones.  The show used 4,981 drones.   Who owns this many drones?  A drone company named Sky Elements Drones. That show isHERE.  Here's one of the amazing scenes in the sky.

There's a drone story of he opposite sort.  The story comes from the east coast in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania with hundreds of drones flying the skies at night.  Concern and confusion with calls for military intervention. This all started around November 18th - so a month of drones would be very wearying.   Military intervention is not so easy, is it?  Remember the big white balloon floating over North America?  Shooting down aircraft is a felony and a security threat. And who owns the security of the skies?  It isn't the local police, but federal authorities.  Who can fly a drone?  A licensed pilot only - not the public.  How many can a pilot maneuver at once?  Somewhere between 30 and 100 drones at once.   Everyone is involved - the military, the FBI, the state governors demanding action. Local police do not have any sky authority, so not allowed to do anything.  More than 5,000 reported drone sightings have come in.  They are now installing advanced detection technology and have sent trained visual observers. Especially not knowing a motivation.  And some aren't small - sedan-sized. Most of us can't imagine a "prank' going on this long and being this costly.  I don't know how Santa is going to navigate over that airspace. This ice image is from a few years ago - nothing so far in the freezing rain category.  Maybe today - we're supposed to get rain/snow.

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Nov 8 2024 - How many ocracies?

 

How many "ocracies" are there?  We only think of a few, don't we?  Presently for sure. In fact, there are 48 words in the chart.  Which one gets your attention?  adhocracy ergatocracy mobocracy punditocracy androcracy gerontocracy monocracy quangocracy aristocracy gynecocracy nomocracy slavocracy autocracy gynocracy ochlocracy snobbocracy chrysocracy hagiocracy pantisocracy snobocracy cottonocracy hierocracy pedantocracy squattocracy democracy isocracy phallocracy stratocracy demonocracy kakistocracy physiocracy technocracy despotocracy kleptocracy plantocracy thalassocracy dollarocracy mediocracy plutocracy thalattocracy doulocracy meritocracy pornocracy theocracy dulocracy millocracy ptochocracy timocracy I wondered about chrysocracy - is it about chrysanthemums?  No, it is the rule by the rich, or rule of gold or wealth. No flower power there.  Also none with Plantocracy - not the rule of plants, but of planters, eg. plantation owners of the West indies. Is timocracy some sort of rule by time?  No, it is a state where only property owners may participate in government.  Slavocracy is rule by slave owners, and dulocracy is rule by servants and slaves.   Is a demonocracy a government of demons?  Yes, I guess so if you believe in Hell.  Squattocracy seems to me to be about squatters rather than land owners.  It is the opposite - rich families who own large amounts of land.  Australian history has this as a play on aristocracy where sheep herders were "squatters"  and became wealthy exploiting illegally occupied Crown land.  And what about gynocracy and phallocracy - one is rule by women and the other by men.  The "sex" references is that each sex was thought superior and excludes the other from power.  So many possibilities, don't you think?

No ice yet, and in fact no hard frost yet in my garden.  I am most fond of ice and all its intricate shapes and textures.

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Aug 11 2024 - The Last Sporting Event

 

When is the last sporting event?  There seem to be so many left to go.   And the women's marathon is one of them.  That seems like it starts very early or maybe the closing event is very late. The closing event starts at 9:00pm, Paris time.  I guess that's to accommodate all of us on this side of the planet, vs the other half on the other side.  It makes me think of experiencing the New Year by flying around the world with the sun coming up.  It is very close between China and the US on gold medals - so let's see who has the most today.  But on the overall medal tally, it seems to be the U.S. without any challengers.  China has 90 compared to the U.S. 123. The Oscar Nominees all get loot bags worth thousands off dollars.  Do athletes get loot bags at the Olympics?  This year the gold medalists get $50,000 - first time ever.  There seems to be some controversy here as the argument is that it is unfair to sports that can't afford to offer prize money.  How interesting there is so much money to be made in sports yet it doesn't get to the performers.  Seeing Olympic events costs somewhere in the range of $5,000 to $6,000 to attend, according to a Time article.  Now that it is almost over, check out the schedules and prices HERE.  It is a vastly long list of things and expensive to me. On to the closing ceremonies to find out if they can outdo past closing events.     These mascots are on every schedule of every sport category.  Got me.   They are Phryges named after the Phrygian cap.

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Jan 14 2024 - Art Trends 2024

 

What do you think of what news there is in the art world today? There are 45 art magazines and publications listed for us to follow in 2024.  What do you think about the Hi_Fructose name? What about Art and Cake or Hyperallergic?  My knowledge is extremely low in this area so I wonder what is in the scope of an art magazine.  I think maybe visual arts.  But art has a broad scope -  not just painting but  music, literature, and dance.   Everything expressive.    I focused on traditional art - like visual art - painting, sculpture, etc. and what I find is that predicting 2024 trends in art is big business - just like Pantone and Benjamin-Moore predicting 2024 colours.  One site says colourful art - vibrancy beyond boundaries will take "centre stage in 2024" with "palettes that evoke emotions and spark joy."  Doesn't that sound like the patter of the Benjamin-Moore and Pantone sites.   It suggests that it is all about selling.  Expanding your art collection.   With the internet anyone can investigate the latests trends, ideas, and fashions.  So there are trends from the point of view of the museum and art gallery curators and from the point of view of art patrons and investors.  There are days worth of reading in this area. Something caught my attention:  What is considered vintage and antique? "New collectors are increasingly drawn to vintage and antique pieces that boast compelling backstories and originality—and for many, the works of the 20th century perfectly satisfy this interest."   This picture from our trip to Cuba caught my attention - as our street light was causing reflections on the street from the rain.  The temperature is dropping, though, and the clouds are racing by and soon to bring more rain and then snow. So maybe the next picture from January 2014 is what is in store - that was the polar vortex year and this was ice in the greenhouse. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Jan 6 2024 - Ice Heaves Near You

 

There's a headline about a kilometre long ice heave in Saskatchewan.  That's a heave of ice from an ocean or large lake onto the shore.   When we consider shoreline erosion, I guess one of the causes can be ice heaving.  It is also known as ice jacking and then what it does to the shoreline is known as ice ridges, ice pushes and ramparts.    Cracks form in the ice when there are different temperatures at the top and bottom of the ice, making for different expansions ages.   There's a fact sheet from the Kawarthas so this must be a common issue in Eastern Ontario.  I guess the big damage would be to docks on cottage lakes.  In Alberta there are also ice quakes: these are also known as cryoseisms. It is a seismic event that occurs naturally by the rapid movement of the ice occur when there is a sudden release of energy from ice under stress.  The shock waves are not significant, so maybe the name sounds more ominous than the actual event. Beyond this there are ice tsunamis - that was on Lake Erie a few years ago. And remember two years ago when there was a Lake Erie storm that whipped up snow and water onto the shore-front homes encasing them in ice a foot thick.  They did not give a name for this occurrence. The places where the conditions come together to make ice heaves near us are on the east end of Lake Erie around Buffalo.  But we are quite close to Buffalo, so there have been cases where the ice heave was a shove that made its way to the Canadian side. Here's the story: "Back in February 2019, a major ice shove on Lake Erie produced spectacular video as the ice encroached on the Canadian shoreline across from Buffalo. Using an ice thickness of 6 inches, it was calculated that there could have been in the neighborhood of 13.5 billion tons of ice covering the 225-mile-long lake, being pushed downwind by wind gusts up to 70 mph. That gives you some idea of the forces involved when Nature flexes its muscles."  There are videos at this site HERE.  Here's a look ahead to spring blossoms.

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Mr 14 2023 - How Thick

 

How thick...does ice have to be for cars to race on it?  The CBC had video of two cars sinking on the raceway made of ice.   The St. Lawrence River turned out to be a river and not a road. There was footage from a dash camera inside one of the cars that went under the ice.   "Partway through the competition, two cars are seen driving behind two other cars when they started to sink through the cracked ice. The drivers of the vehicle that captured the footage quickly got out of the sinking car. The driver, Patrick Renaud, was captured on video walking on top of the hood of the car to get to safety. Vincent Noel was the second driver who plunged into the river."  He got out too. Here's the footage.  It turns into  a big hole.   How thick should ice be? Destination Ontario tells us that for driving on the ice, you're looking for a minimum of 30 centimetres (12 inches) or more for a light vehicle, according to the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. They have this caution: remember this is 30 centimetres of blue ice, so double that thickness if the ice is white or opaque. There were many cars racing so I expect there would be a few calculations to know the needed depth. Articles talk about the speed of the vehicle - the formula explained in Wikipedia is the Gold Formula.  The Grimsby pier was extensive in the 1800-1900s, but got washed awaywith various lake events over time, and then  boats got replaced by road travel. This last little part of the Grimsby pier got washed away a few years ago so there won't be any more pictures like this - into the infinity of the lake.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwel.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Jan 20 2023 - Winter Golfing

 

This is a beautiful aerial view of the golf course in Niagara along the Niagara River located at the Whirlpool Rapids.  What a beautiful view.  No worries there about the water engulfing the golfers.  What caught my attention is their advertisement that they  have an all-year plan.  Does the course have snow golf?  Seems like the advertisement vs reality differ - it is open April 1 to October 30th on its website, rather than "golf in all the seasons". Winter golf is an official sport. The tips for winter golf include spending more time warming up.  Winter golf rules include allowing you to lift, clean and place your ball.  There can be so much mud on a golf ball that it would be difficult to play.  When it is cold or raining, the ball just isn't going to go as far.  The air is heavier when it is cold, so the advice is to take the club that's needed.   Southwestern British Columbia claims to be the only region in Canada that offers year-round golf.   But it isn't winter golf there - not Victoria or Vancouver.  I find that Hamilton Ontario offers winter golf at Cherokee on the Martin Course. There can't be any large accumulations of snow or rain and no freezing rain or icy conditions. It wouldn't be snow golf today, but I wonder if people will be out there golfing.  Their tips - winter mitts or pocket warmers, carry your bag, keep a ball in your pocket, winter golf gloves, waterproofs, don't layer too much, wear spikes, and so on. What about changing your expectations?  That's an obvious one.     This is more of what you are likely to find in the Niagara Falls area - it is colder and has a lot of  moisture in the air, so there is ice everywhere.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Winter Comes Fast

Welcome to Meterological Winter.  Notice the 'logical' in the word that doesn't seem fair - we didn't want this much winter so soon.  Meteorologists and climatologists start winter on December 1st.  They want consistency - they don't want a season that varies between 88 and 94 days.  That's a lot of extra work to make things comparable.  Meterological seasons have been tracked since the late 1700s.  The term for measuring the winter season is "meteorological reckoning".   And what happened in Niagara on our first day of winter?  We had rain, that formed ice, followed by power outages, and snow.  With scattered flurries predicted today, we could have more power lines felled from trees, and more power outages.   So I guess the start of winter this year has begun to fulfill the prediction of the Polar Coaster.  As I looked through the news articles, an expression caught my attention:  "the highway looked like a skating rink".  That seems to me to be particularly Canadian.  Other expressions we can expect in winter:  cold snap, snowed under.  And last year's term was "bombogenesis" - a powerful nor-easter affecting the East Coast that brought heavy snow to the Canadian Maritimes.  And there is a soft snowflake that looks more like sleet than snow - it is called "graupel".   I found The Outdoor Swimming Society website and they have 35 ways to say it's cold.  There are words in the list such as brumal and hiemal. Do you remember the expression snug as a bug?  I brought a wreath inside from the front door yesterday.  I wanted to put some decorations on it, and a fly few out of it, and then a walnut dropped off of it.  It seems the fly was no longer snug and the squirrel's secret stash is now gone. I took this picture of Robert Walhout, Grimsby Rotarian and actor.  He was in the Lamplighter Play this year, in the role of the School System Superintendent.  He came costume to the Fantasy of Trees Celebration evening.

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I put butter in my coffee...2019 diet trends

Google trending searches for 2018 included topics like actors, athletes, people categories. We are mostly obsessed with people.  Here's a search I wouldn't have imagined - magnetic eyelashes.  The magnets lock together between the natural lashes and secure the false lash along the natural lash line.  So ingenious! Google has a diet theme.  Here are the top searches on diets: keto - eliminate all the carbs and put butter in your coffee not cream dubrow - interval eating to confuse the "satiety centre" noom - an app focused on behavioural change carnivore - foods that walked, swam or flew and pretty well nothing else - aka anti-vegan diet mediterranean - plant-based emphasis, olive oil, herbs, limited red meat That was in 2018.  What are healthline's predictions for the diet trends that will dominate 2019? gut health - balancing the microbiome plant proteins - new this year - dandelion greens, rainbow carrots, beets and amaranth intermittent fasting - easy to follow  keto diet - spotlight in 2018 will continue in 2019 hemp - anti-inflammatory effects bitter food - asparagus, cucumbers, detox the GI tract un-dieting - futility of dieting trend And they conclude with an eighth one - intuitive eating - the practice of increasing one's awareness and experience of eating.   So many news organizations have been covering diets.  U.S. News ranked diets on January 2nd, right in time for the resolutions - they ranked 41 diets overall.  That's a lot of diets to choose from. They are HERE.  The top three are: Mediterranean, DASH, Flexitarian and MIND (tied with Flexitarian). A few more of our winter ice and fog pictures from a few days ago.

Weather Alerts Every Which Way

Which alert to look for?  A Warning (red) a Watch (yellow) or a Statement (grey).  If we were north of Toronto in Barrie, there is both a wind and snow squall warning.  Here in Niagara, it is a wind warning so our map of Southern Ontario shows red in Niagara.  The colour code of red for danger has been use for quite a while. The British newspaper ,The Telegraph has an article about it, written in 2008.  Red is take action.  Orange is be prepared,  Yellow is be aware, and Green no severe weather.   Yesterday's satellite radar image showed green rain flowing from the south to the north, except at Grimsby - pink and red for freezing rain. Code systems using colours are common in hospitals.  While hospital system codes vary between countries and provinces,  code blue inevitably means cardiac emergency.  Doctor codes - paging Dr. Sinclair - uses a doctor's name as a code word for a dangerous situation or a patient in crisis.  There are a lot of potential crises in hospitals - the codes vary from flood, fire, gang activity, bomb, child abduction and so on. In comparison, the U.K. hospital codes are numeric - 2222 crash call, 3333 security alert, 4444 fire alert. But mostly where safety is involved, there are color codes for labelling and communicating - this is universal in all industries and businesses with any kind of safety concerns. Back to our weather - it has been on alert for most of the week.  We had to cancel the big closing evening of the Fantasy of Trees last night because of freezing rain, high winds, and black ice warnings.  And add to that a freezing fog earlier.  I didn't even know there is such a thing as freezing fog. So our pictures today show the John Street orchards, covered in ice an inch or two thick.  Everything is white, like an infrared landscape.  It was a surreal landscape - white from top to bottom.

Weathering

I was asked by a student what makes photography distinctly Canadian.  I don't experience a distinct style in Canadian photography.  I think that perhaps the winter orchard and the winter vineyard might be unique to a few places on earth. So I started to consider the variations of winter here in Niagara - at the lake, and in the orchards and vineyards. I went out yesterday to the shore of Lake Ontario in St. Catharines at the foot of Geneva Street.  This is a landmark spot where the Lakeshore Drive-in was located in the 50's.  It was turned into a subdivision in the late 70's - named Evangelista Court for our Canadian supermodel.  There's a retirement home in the spot of the drive-in. We used to drive our bicycles to the lake and play on the sandy shore. The shoreline has now been protected from erosion and the beautiful sandy beach is replaced with massive rocks as the erosion barrier.  There's a lakefront walkway for dogs and  walkers like Dezi and I.   There's a nice view of Port Dalhousie to the west with its double lighthouses on the pier.  The view of Toronto to the north revealed a black cloud covering the skyline -  it was having a great snow fall. To the east it was hard to distinguish the horizon in the smooth grey-green.  A little ice is forming out there. As I walked towards the west, the light came through over Port Dalhousie, adding a little yellow-pink to the scene to distinguish the water from the sky.  I found a suitable quote for winter: “The problem with winter sports is that – follow me closely here – they generally take place in winter.” » Dave Barry