Jan 04 2025 - Lottery News in Art

 

I am looking for a good news calendar for 2025.  I find one, but the calendar is sold out, so I guess I am a bit tardy in my search. Instead, I happen upon weird things artists use to make art.  What made me wonder this is the strange tropical house plant made out of felt in the Globe and Mail.  What other materials do people use to make their sculptures?  Lauren Was and Adam Eckstrom's sculptures are made out of lottery tickets.  Dream Car made of $39,000 worth of lottery tickets to represent the retail cost of the new car in 2008, is a large-scale installation that ruminates on money spent on dreams and the risky behaviours that accompany these goals.  They also use afterworld money.  I find out that this is spirit money, a "a form of joss paper", (incense paper) an offering used in traditional Chinese ancestor worship. It is a burnt offering to the deceased so that they have money to spend in the afterlife.   The articles say the lottery tickets are discarded:  "We kept finding these lost lottery tickets littered all over the ground and we started picking them up thinking they were someone's lost wish; that they were this hope and dream that they had and then they tossed it away. We started thinking about what those dreams actually meant and what happens if you collected enough of those to make that dream into a reality." At the end of the article, it says:  More stories like this one.  I think one is enough for today.   Here's another one of my abstracts -  this is at the car wreckers yard.

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Jan 19 2024 - Sweater Weather Food and Fun

 

It is cold and there's snow falling.  There are a lot of recipes and ideas on the internet on what to eat for winter dinners.  I wonder where recipes falls in the list of most popular searches.  Looking at Google's list of most popular topics by category the most of the recipes are non-North American. Here's the list: Recipes 1) पनीर पसंदा (Paneer pasanda) 2) Bolo caseiro (Homemade cake) 3) Tuzlu kurabiye (Salt cookie) 4) Overnight oats 5) zimtschnecken (Cinnamon rolls) 6) Irmik helvası (Semolina halva) 7) панкейки (Pancakes) 8) Baba ganoush 9) Bulgur pilavı (Bulgur rice) 10) Pasta salad I wonder what the common link is in the recipes.  There doesn't look to be any to me - a wide range of topics from all over the world.  Looking through the searches, I am not sure that salt cookie is a food search - it looks more  like a character who is friends with Hero Cookie, Herb Cookie and more.   And how funny is any of the food in the list.  Not very many jokes on paneer, bolo and so on. In comparison, there are thousands of pasta jokes.  You don't even need to leave the search titles - 15 pasta puns that will have you ravelling on the floor. The most popular joke on the Scotsman website is a pasta joke:  "The joke in question, ‘I tried to steal spaghetti from the shop, but the female guard saw me and I couldn’t get pasta’, secured more than half the votes (52 per cent) in a survey of more than 2,000 people. Mark Simmons, who also made the shortlist back in 2017, took more than a third (37 per cent) of the votes thanks to his one liner, ‘Did you know, if you get pregnant in the Amazon, it’s next day delivery?’ The comedian and children’s author, Olaf Falafel, had two lines shortlisted, and came a close third with another culinary-themed joke: ‘My attempts to combine nitrous oxide and Oxo cubes made me a laughing stock.’ In eighth place was his deadpan remark: ‘I spent the whole morning building a time machine, so that’s four hours of my life that I’m definitely getting back.’ Mr Vine, a two-time winner of the award, was shortlisted for ‘I used to live hand to mouth. Do you know what changed my life? Cutlery’. Here's the rest of the list: 4. By my age, my parents had a house and a family, and to be fair to me, so do I, but it is the same house and it is the same family Hannah Fairweather  5. I hate funerals – I’m not a mourning person Will Mars 6. I spent the whole morning building a time machine, so that’s four hours of my life that I’m definitely getting back Olaf Falafel  7. I sent a food parcel to my first wife. FedEx Richard Pulsford  9. Don’t knock threesomes. Having a threesome is like hiring an intern to do all the jobs you hate Sophie Duker  10. I can’t even be bothered to be apathetic these days Will Duggan

This is a motion blur picture at the Niagara Falls Greenhouse - one of those croton plants with brightly coloured leaves.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Dec 28 2023 -Hopw big is a pillow

 

This is the start of hibernation.  The headlines include the best pyjama sets, all things cozy, comfy and sleep-inducing.  Here's one - guide to the best body pillows. "Whether you feel like you’re getting great sleep or not, a body pillow can make a dramatic difference. Don’t believe us? Just take a look at these benefits. They can help with recovery after an injury. They can relieve pressure on your joints. They can help support your spine. They can provide relief from arthritis pain. They can reduce snoring. That’s not even a full list. Plus, they’re just plain comforting." Casper.com tells us the benefits of the body pillow: Keep everything aligned properly at night Take the pressure off delicate areas of your body Stabilize your head at the right height Can help relieve conditions like sleep apnea Stop your nighttime tossing and turning Aid your blood circulation and blood flow "And recent studies have also shown that using a body pillow can help you relax better. This extra benefit comes from cuddling with them since hugging releases hormones like oxytocin that lower stress. Body pillows also provide the benefits you usually get from a great regular pillow, such as proper spinal and neck support, so you don’t pinch anything or wake up with aches and pains." There are types and fills - the U shaped pillow, the J shaped pillow, the hug body pillow.  Here's an expression I am unfamiliar with - the "loft." It is the height of the pillow - between 5 to 8 inches to accommodate side sleepers.   Casper's article completes with this excellent hibernation sign-off:   Have the Sleep of Your Dreams with Casper Pillows Isn't that so pleasant! Here's a mystery photo of the day.

A boxing day picture.  Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Jan 18 2023 - Pink for boys..no girls

 

I wondered how we got to pink for girls and blue for boys.  And what made us gender-rigid in this respect.  Here's a picture of Franklin Roosevelt in a white dress, party shoes and long hair.  This was the norm in 1884 - gender-neutral.   It was in the 19th century, though, that colours became gender signifiers.   This is different than what has been published as the U.S. history.  But then I think that is because the research in the 1980s by Paolettis and a book published in 2011 get referenced over and over, turning into an urban legend.  "The march toward gender-specific clothes was neither linear nor rapid. Pink and blue arrived, along with other pastels, as colours for babies in the mid-19th century." "For example, a June 1918 article from the trade publication Earnshaw's Infants' Department said, “The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.” Other sources said blue was flattering for blonds, pink for brunettes; or blue was for blue-eyed babies, pink for brown-eyed babies, according to Paoletti." Wikipedia has a long survey of countries showing that pink has been generally used for girls and blue for boys.  Then it chronicles pink for boys and blue for girls. The earliest references are pink for girls and blue for boys - starting in the early 1800s to 1941.   For the blue for girls and pink for boys, scroll to the end and see the US is where the reversal is revealed in the ads.

Another close-up in the Niagara Falls conservatory.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Nov 28 2022 - Mithra's Christmas

 

Mithra(s) was a Roman god, and the subject of the December 25th festival.  History says that Mithra was the first immaculate conception and born on December 25th - the son of the Sun God, so also known as son of God.  The creation of the world is central to the Mithraic mythology.   This was a significant god and a significant Roman religion with its mysteries.  There were many temples and sanctuaries to Mithra, and Mithraism is viewed as a rival of early Christianity.   It is generally held that the Christians appropriated the festival of Mithras' birth celebration on December 25th - the winter solstice - with similar light metaphors and correspondence between Christ and the sun. Considering they were rival religions, the Mithraists faced persecution from the Christians in the 4th century when Constantine ruled. This religious community disappeared.   What fascinates me is how successful the Christians were at banishing all other religions.  They termed all of them as 'pagan'.   As a definition, pagan was rustic, unlearned, bumpkin, villager, country dweller, and so on.  It became an all-embracing, pejorative term for polytheists.  It was us vs them. This approach worked, but It brings baggage. That means that when today's biblical historians are tracing the roots of various holidays and festivals they always find themselves in "pagan" territory.  Remember John Milton who as a Puritan was part of the banishment of Christmas based on its origins as a "pagan" festival.   So any time you read about the Christmas traditions in those" four things you might not know about Christmas" articles on the internet, you will inevitably find Mithras in the mix of the discussion.   This motion blur image of birch trees seems to have the right tones for this time of year Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Sep 27 2022 - Troipcal Storms

 

Storms are all around us - and all around the world.  They demand our attention and action.  Based on a 30-year climate period from 1991 to 2020, an average eastern Pacific hurricane season has 15 named storms, 8 hurricanes, and 4 major hurricanes.  An average of ten tropical storms develop over the Atlantic Ocean, Carribean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico each year. Many of these remain over the ocean. Six of these storms become hurricanes each year.  "Since the year 957, there have been at least 12,791 recorded tropical or subtropical cyclones in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, which are known as basins."  I haven't found any information about that typhoon in 957 which is listed to have killed 10,000 people.  I have found that the early recorders of typhoons were the Chinese: As early as the fifth century AD, the typhoon had been recognized by the people of southern China as a distinct meteorological phenomenon. A specific term, ju or jufeng, was accordingly coined, with rather accurate specifications given to it. A typhoon that struck the coastal city of Mizhou in Shandong Province of northern China in AD 816 is the earliest recorded tropical cyclone landfall in China, and perhaps also in the world. The typhoon as a weather phenomenon was frequently mentioned, described, and discussed in many works, including history books, poems and government documents, in the ninth century AD. What's the biggest storm that we know of?  It is the Great Red Spot on Jupiter.  It is a persistent high-pressure region in the atmosphere of Jupiter, producing an anticyclonic storm that is the largest in the Solar System. Located 22 degrees south of Jupiter’s equator, it produces wind-speeds up to 432 km/h (268 mph). Observations from 1665 to 1713 are believed to be of the same storm; if this is correct, it has existed for at least 356 years.

Here's a montage landscape image turned into an interpretation of a tropical storm.  Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Aug 25 2022 - DIY

 

DIY - Do It Yourself.  This had to start after the advent of television.  Before that, we did things ourselves.  We made things like clothes, furniture, canned food, and anything that could be done without paying money.  There wasn't surplus money for things.  In fact, there was rationing after the war in many countries.  So people did without many things. But the boom of the 50s and 60s saw the advent of consumerism where DIY gave status to the common person.  When I was young we sewed our clothes, canned food, made basic furniture.  Those were things that people who didn't have enough money did.  If we had enough money, we went out and bought most of those things. the self-worth and creativity of a person was demonstrated through their DIY .   Basic DIYs were taught to children in school.  They were called home-making and shop skills. There was no DIY phrase in home-economics when I was a child in the 1950s.  We passed or failed making aprons, skirts, dresses, and cooking mint peas and blanc mange.   My sense is that while DIY began in the U.S. in the 1950s, it was the 1960s counterculture with the "back to the land" movement that made it very popular in the media.  It was that Whole Earth Catalog in late 1968 that cemented the self-sufficiency ethic as a prestigious movement. The media got a hold of how to present home economics and shop as a DIY activity on steroids.  I think ofThis Old House and Martha Stewart.   None of us would do what Bob Villa did -  all those massive renovations. But it was fun to watch Bob explain them all.  Where did it go?  It evolved into blogs and websites  and everyday Hacks by the common man.  What insights do our DIY jokes bring?  Not many, and mostly mediocre, but here are a few: I wanted to buy some literature on DIY shelving.  Sounds easy, but try going into a book store and asking if they have "any books on shelves." I tried to build a DIY Stair Master...The instructions were only a few steps, but they went on forever. I bought a few pieces for my DIY orchestra today - some ensemble required. A man was doing some DIY work on his gas stove, when it all of a sudden blew up and sent him flying through his roof and up into the sky.  On his way up he passed a man falling down from the sky and asked him: “Hey, you know anything about gas stoves?” The guy falling responded, “Nope, you know anything about parachutes?”

These are canna leaves.  This is the time of year to find them and get abstract prints like these.  Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

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 22 2022 - Snowflakes vs Raindrops

 

Snowflakes vs raindrops. Snow is gusting past our front garden in little clouds.  Rain doesn't do that very often.  It makes me think how light snow is compared to rain.  I found a wonderful article Raindrops and Snowflakes by Dr. Orville Boyd Jenkins - these are excerpts: "The observed behaviour of rain as it falls fits the event referred to by the common verb "fall."  Rather than rain drops "dropping," we actually say rain falls.  Since the "drops" are discrete bits of falling water, we call them rain drops, but we still say the rain falls.  "Raindrops keep falling on my head."  We don't say raindrops are dropping on my head. Likewise, I believe you'll hear the same usage for frozen bits like sleet or freezing rain (which is a mix of frozen and unfrozen bits of H2O).  As the snow "falls" it is a fluffy, irregularly shaped particle.  The noun "drop" applies only to liquids. Thus the action pictured by "dropping" is not appropriate for snow.  The infinitely variable shape is referred to as a flake, due to the generally flat shape and individuality of the particles.  Like a "flake" of something sliced off the larger part, like a flake of soap. Upon arrival, each snowflake just nestles in among its mates, while waiting the arrival of more falling flakes.  The snowflake, likewise, is caught by drafts of air, and thus gravity acts differently than upon a solid compact bit of water or frozen water.  Think of a snowflake as a wind surfer that gradually comes to ground to rest. We don't say rain drops from the sky, but it falls. Note also that in the same way we do not say snow flakes from the sky, but the snow also falls. Thus the nouns for the physical form of the water in these cases, is not the same word as for the verb used in the action." from Raindrops and Snowflakes by Dr. Orville Boyd Jenkins I went in search of some funny snowflake jokes, and instead found many insulting political American jokes in which snowflake is a derogatory metaphor for a liberal.  They are easily distinguished by their hatefulness.      I find that GQ.com gives us the recent origin of this - a derisive term used in the movie Fight Club (You are not special.  You are not beautiful and unique snowflakes...).  The article indicates that the actual origins are the 1860s as a person who was opposed to the abolition of slavery.  Today the meaning has swapped and been taken on by the far right:  From cartoonist Ben Garrison:  "The special snowflake is a whining millennial who protests instead of getting a “real job” and cries sexism because she’s upset men don’t find her attractive enough. She believed the liberal arts teacher who told her being unique is a good thing. Have I mentioned that she’s unattractive?" And GQ's conclusion:  “snowflake” has become the go-to for enemies on the left. There is not a single political point a liberal can make on the Internet for which “You triggered, snowflake?” cannot be the comeback. It’s purpose is dismissing liberalism as something effeminate, and also infantile, an outgrowth of the lessons you were taught in kindergarten. “Sharing is caring”? Communism. “Feelings are good”? Facts over feelings. “Everyone is special and unique”? Shut up, snowflake. When I first looked through the snowflake jokes, I found one rebuttal joke: Republicans are the true snowflakes...they're white, they're cold, and if you put enough of them together they'll shut down public schools   Here are some birch bark macros I revisited yesterday.

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Oct 25 2021 - Cities Bursting with Billionaires

 

Do you want to know what a prop gun and a blank are or do you want to know how many billionaires live in each city/state of the US? I am going for the billionaires as a blank bullet doesn't look safe to me at all given a prop gun still is a gun.  Sounds good in theory, but there's still something inside the gun that gets projected out.  I attribute my lack of confidence in blanks to being Canadian.  In Canada there are 35 guns per 100 residents. In the US it is 121 firearms for every 100 residents.   That's the highest in the world.   So on to billionaires.  Money is widely reported on in all kinds of ways, so an article, outlining the richest people in each state is interesting - pretty pictures of each city, and then reporting on the resident with the top net worth.  The article is HERE.   I guessed New York, New York.   New York: New York | Billionaires residing in New York: 86 - Combined net worth of billionaires in city: $446.0 billion - Wealthiest billionaire in city: Michael Bloomberg ($54.9 billion) - Runner-up city: Oyster Bay (2 billionaires; net worth: $7.5 billion)  So then, where does Jeff Bezos' live?  In Medina, Washington - like Bill Gates.  Washington: Seattle | Billionaires residing in Seattle: 8 - Combined net worth of billionaires in city: $252.2 billion - Wealthiest billionaire in city: Jeff Bezos ($183.1 billion) - Runner-up city: Medina (2 billionaires; net worth: $129.6 billion)  Elon Musk?  He lives in Hillsborough, California - between San Francisco and Silicon Valley. His net worth is $220 billion. Mark Zuckerberg? In Palo Alto, California with a net worth of $120.9 billion.  California: San Francisco | Billionaires residing in San Francisco: 41 - Combined net worth of billionaires in city: $173.8 billion - Wealthiest billionaire in city: Dustin Moskovitz ($17.9 billion) - Runner-up city: Los Angeles (25 billionaires; net worth: $98.8 billion)  Oh well, I guess it doesn't add up when you look at the numbers, but it did seem fun. Here are two of nature's abstracts.

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