Jan 23 2025 - Fun Countries

 

Canadian advice on how to respond to tariffs at the individual level is starting to gear up.  One is buy Canadian bourbon not U.S. Another is travel somewhere other than the U.S. - for warm winter weather choose Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, costa Rica, panama, and Ecuador.  Where will Canadians travel to for spring, summer and autumn vacations?  That's assuming a full depression hasn't started. What are the countries with the best "Fun Rating?"  It turns out Spain, Brazil, Thailand rate as the top 3 by US News.   Other services rate Canada as one of the top countries.  Maybe we should travel in Canada as the year progresses.  Canada is considered a desirable destination for adventure.  I assume you'll go west for that.  Then there's wildlife and nature. British Columbia is highlighted.  Toronto and Vancouver are considered top places. Wanderlust named Canada the second most desirable country after Australia.  What makes us fun?  We seem to have "very specific Canadian habits" that other countries don't understand and find funny.  What are they?  Here are a few. The rest are HERE.  "My favourite one is when people come across a mitten, hat, or scarf, and place it on the nearest pole so the owner can easily retrieve it, and everyone respects it." "Switching between metric and imperial depending on the situation..." "...or ignoring both altogether when it comes to driving distance, and just using time instead." "Our lack of standardization when it comes to dates. We use all three formats, anytime." "I thought 'shit disturber' was a universal term. Apparently it’s quite Canadian." "Calling electricity 'hydro.'"  "Using the barbecue in winter. I can't think it's a purely Canadian thing, but we had some Swiss people here, and they audibly gasped when it became known I was going to BBQ burgers and chicken in the backyard." "Backing into parking spots."     I found this puppy picture of Millie and turned it into a watercolour.

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Dec 10 2024 - Winingest One of Us All

 

The Fantasy of Trees finished on Sunday and the raffle draws were done on Monday.  As part of the team, there is lots of careful work - making sure all the tickets are out of the holder, stirring them up, a second person picking one ticket, the auditor watches to ensure no looking at numbers. The auditor receives the ticket, then gives the ticket to the caller - my role - who calls out the number, then the look-up person who makes a match in the lottery record book, the win recorder, the runner who takes the information to the telephone callers, who make the call - You've won! It's a lot, isn't it?  I didn't win anything.  I had lots of help putting tickets into trees and items- by various children of people I know who promised to take away the toys or chocolate decorations.   Such excellent odds of winning something, too.  So it got me thinking about Frank Selak, who we've read about before - he's listed as the luckiest man in the world.  Actually he is known as the luckiest and unluckiest together.  "Frano Selak, a Croatian man, miraculously cheated death seven times before eventually winning the lottery. Frane Selak, of Croatia, has a reputation as the world's luckiest man. Frane Selak, an elderly Croatian man, is known around the world for being the luckiest man alive." HERE's the full Wikipedia entry.   Note that none of his depictions of life and death events are verified. But he did win the lottery at 73, so that with his strange saga of death events has elevated him to the luckiest/unluckiest person in the world.  But really, we just looking at raffles and lotteries.  But the stories here are about people who hacked the system, beat the system or one that big powerball lottery in California - the one that is over $1 billion. "The largest gathering of lottery millionaires is 110 and was achieved by The National Lottery (UK), in London, UK, on 7 October 2015."   My guess is that Frank stays in the retrievals because of the novel story of life and death and lottery win.  Tracking multiple winners would likely make the gambling and lottery world jittery.  Gambling is considered a problem behaviour in humans.  Cheating and hacking the system seems to come with it and would be something we simple lottery players don't want to find out. The Fantasy of Trees takes place at the Grimsby Museum each year. This is the Museum entrance with Santa - taken a few years ago.

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Oct 17 2024 - Steep Losses

 

That's quite a steep loss - 96%.     "$100 in 1915 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $2,589.13 today, an increase of $2,489.13 over 109 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 3.03% per year between 1915 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 2,489.13%. This means that today's prices are 25.89 times as high as average prices since 1915, according to Statistics Canada consumer price index. A dollar today only buys 3.862% of what it could buy back then." ~ taken from in2013dollars.com  The notion in my mind is that I can remember when butter was 50 cents a pound.  But I seem to be slightly off.  It looks like it was almost 70 cents in 1959.  That's hoping I am reading the historical Statistics Canada listing of prices correctly. It says that butter was 69.6 cents in 1959.    And what about the price of butter back then?  It seems to me as we get older the farther back we go when we compare prices.  That makes the gap bigger every time the price goes up.     Following from yesterday's pictures, here's one with the little red koi in the shot.  I'll have to be satisfied with this version if I want them both in the image.

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May 30 2024 - Seti is a Must See

 

Now I am confused.  Was Seti (or Sety) the greatest king of the Egyptians or is he the greatest mummy of the Egyptians.  A program on television last night described his mummification as the most sophisticated of any.  The mummy is on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The methods used to make his face to look life-like are complex. His sarcophagus was alabaster.  Can you imagine?  I saw a picture of it in a British Museum.   All that lavish attention spent towards getting Seti into the afterlife in good shape.  What about the regular Egyptians?  Did they have an afterlife?  Here's one article on the subject:    "The dead had to negotiate a dangerous underworld journey and face the final judgment before they were granted access. If successful, they were required to provide eternal sustenance for their spirit. These things could be achieved if proper preparations were made during a person’s lifetime." Can you imagine being stuck preparing for your retirement, and then for your afterlife?  What a burden.  With all our social issues, this seems like we have a much brighter perspective on living and dying.  Here's more: "The dead were granted a plot of land in the afterlife and were expected to maintain it, either by performing the labour themselves or getting their shabtis to work for them. Shabtis were small funerary statuettes inscribed with a spell that miraculously brought them to life, enabling the dead person to relax while the shabtis performed their physical duties." And the afterlife is known as the "underworld" - this can't go very well.  And it goes into eternity, doesn't it?   “To die, to sleep – to sleep, perchance to dream – ay, there's the rub, for in this sleep of death what dreams may come…” Hamlet knew a thing or two about the Egyptians - even though everything we know about them came after the Rosetta Stone when their language could be interpreted.   Our picture today comes from an Australian cemetery.

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Apr 6 2024 - Alien Implants

 

There have been continuing reports for decades of alien abductions.  Last night one show included alien implants that the abducted people said they received. There was a NOVA article in 1996 about alien implants investigating what they were.  They did not get to document even a single case - not one person who claimed abduction would agree to x-rays, MRIs or similar test to investigate the evidence.   There still are so many headlines on alien implants.   Whitley Strieber is an author whose book Communion is about this alien abduction and implant.  There doesn't seem to be any further investigation or evidence around his implant - just the story. It is all so interesting and mysterious, and then goes no further.  What has been noted is by Joe Nickell,  an investigator who says that what has been described as implants turns out to be shards of glass, jagged pieces of metal and carbon fibre.  And then go to Wikipedia - Wikipedia's entry is short and sparse.  There isn't much to say without evidence.This is the stuff of story and opinion.   That summarizes all of our experience with aliens so far.  But it remains tantalizing and compelling - we really do want to know if we are alone in the universe.   This hand-painted plate was sent off to the lily auction a few years ago  - can you imagine the skill of painting on a plate?  It seems amazing to me.

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Sep 28 2023 - Neanderthals

 

We have considered Neanderthals our ancestors, and that we are related to them.  There are also the  Denisovans, an Asian people who are considered our direct ancestors.  Maybe because of the fossils we have a compelling interest in the Neanderthals.  Both fossils and DNA suggests that Neanderthal and modern human lineages separated at least 500,000 years ago. They overlapped for up to 5,400 years.   Professor Thomas Higham  published an article in 2023 on the mapping of DNA and concluded there was interbreeding: ‘Other recent studies of Neanderthal and modern human genetic make-up suggest that both groups interbred outside Africa, with 1.5%-2.1% or more of the DNA of modern non-African human populations originating from Neanderthals.  And it is East Asians who seem to have the most Neanderthal DNA. There was inter-breeding between Neanderthals and "modern humans." In that era the other humans were was Homo heidelbergensis, Homo intercessor or another species.  Neanderthals were named Homo neanderthalensis in 1864, so Neanderthal seems more of a short-form and nickname. Just like "modern human" is a nickname for Homo sapiens to my mind.  Neanderthals are our closets ancient human relatives, but we leave off the Human from their name. What are they missing compared to us that we are so clear about our difference.  It seems that research shows there isn't as much difference in their social and other behaviours.  They made art, jewellery, and tools.   But they didn't evolve over technically the thousands of years the way Homo Sapiens did.  That's why we named us sapiens for 'wise' or 'astute'. Which parts of the human genome have we inherited?  Thicker hair and skin - useful in colder climates.  Also immunity which would provide a quick fix against local infections. On the downside, diseases such as diabetes, lupus and Crohn's disease are inherited from the Neanderthal DNA. Another article says that our nose shape gene is inherited from Neanderthals. So likely there are more discoveries to come. How much of the Neanderthal genome has been sequenced?  In 2010 researchers had produced the first whole-genome sequence. The groundbreaking research was conducted by Svante Pääbo who established a new scientific discipline, Paleogenomics.  The article on his research being awarded the Nobel prize in 2022 is HERE. This picture of the family tree divergence with the Denisovans and Neanderthals comes from that article.  I look at that solitary figure in the far background. Could there be other human species that we haven't discovered?  Discover Magazine says it is possible.  Given how far we've come in understanding so that the Neanderthals are no longer considered inferior cave dwellers.    This is a bit of rust on the Calamus Winery shed.  I named it Cave Dwelling. at the time.

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May 5th 2023 - Nothing Today

 

When someone asks you if there's something your schedule today.  Don't you sometimes say "Nothing" - as though we could do nothing for a day. I wondered if we celebrate "nothing" given our propensity to celebrate things.  Yes we do.   National Nothing Day is an "un-event" proposed in 1972 by columnist Harold Pullman Coffin, and observed in the United States annually on January 16 since 1973, when it was added to Chase's Calendar of Events.   The unofficial holiday aims to provide people “with a day where they can just sit without celebrating, observing, or honouring anything. But it is honouring something and its nature makes this hard to do.  For example, here's advice for nothing day: Say nothing.  Take a day-long vow of silence, and don't say a word to anyone. Just carry your phone with an open web page like this one, and flash the explanation when your friends are confused. Here's another answer for the Do nothing day:  What is it called when you do nothing all day? Merriam-Webster's answer: sluggard. lazybones. couch potato. good-for-nothing. delayer. This day goes along with Un-Brithday and Buy National Nothing Day.  There must be more of these "not" days.  It is just hard to find them. Today, I'm just gonna do nothing... My friend replied: "But, you did nothing yesterday too!!"   Yeah, I know. I haven't finished it yet. When we see typos and do nothing the errorists win My feet were killing me yesterday. I bought some in-soles thinking they'd probably do nothing to help. Today I stand corrected. I can't believe I was arrested for impersonating politicians I was literally in my office doing nothing... A new prisoner in the gulag is asked..... "So how long are you in for?" He replies, "Twenty years." The veteran prisoner is surprised: "Twenty?? What on earth could you have done?" The new man replies indignantly, "I did nothing, comrade! Honest!"  The veteran says, "But the sentence for doing nothing is only ten years."   So when someone asks you what are you doing today, and there's nothing on your schedule - the response might be "having a national nothing day today." Graceful branches of Niagara blossoms today.  Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Apr 3 2023 - Rainbows

 

Hawaii has the most rainbows in the world. The Secrets of the Best Rainbows on Earth, has declared Hawaii the rainbow capital of the world. It has rainbow arcs on the license plates. The islands of Kauai, Maui and Oahu are the best places and the Moa Valley is known as the Valley of the Rainbows. Alaska and Yosemite National Park are the next two and then the fourth is Niagara Falls. A triple rainbow is possible there and also a 360-degree rainbow. The rainbow is seen in a circular formation instead of semicircular.  The Skyline Tower deck is the place to see a circular rainbow.  Australia and Ireland complete the list of top places to see rainbows.  What are the world records for rainbows?  The longest lasting rainbow was almost 9 hours in Taipei in 2017.  The most rainbows at once is covered in an article by Country Living and it was 5 rainbows.  That's a Supernumerary Rainbow.  This one was verified by NASA.  But the photo of 8 rainbows in 2014 was investigated by SNOPES and is false.   Which record would you prefer?  To see the longest lasting rainbow or to catch the biggest rainbow trout?  Or perhaps to see the smallest rainbow in the world.  This occurs on the butt of the peacock spider in Australia.   Here's an image retrieved from Pinterest. But it looks more photoshop than photo.  The second one comes with a blog post and appears authentic.    "After being up at Niagara Falls back in 14 I had to come back for more and wanted to be there when the lights on the Canadian side light up the falls. The night we arrived the light were turned up and got to see some amazing rainbows. The lights would change color and it was a sight to see a rainbow being different colors along its length. In addition to the floodlight bows I also got nice rainbows from natural sunlight and using the super wide angle field of view with my GoPro camera I got nice full circle rainbows. For anyone who is a waterfall or rainbow chaser. Niagara Falls is the place to go and falls are BEST on the Canadian side and this is the perfect bucket list item." Author: Michael Ellestad, Ohio, USA This reflection image comes from a few years ago in First Canadian Place.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Novf 11 2022 - Remembrance

 

Remembrance Day is a sombre day.  For the Commonwealth member countries, it is a minute of unity experienced across the nations.  The symbolism of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month is stark. I know that I am part of a particular social consciousness because I  wonder why countries do not commemorate Nov 11 at 11:00.  Russia, Israel, New Zealand,  Germany, South Africa and the Netherlands.  They have other days designated for Remembrance.   Some of the rationale seems to be a sorting between the First World War the Second World War.  And also remembering all civilians and soldiers who have died in conflicts.   Other nations have renamed it from Armistice/Remembrance.  However, it seems that Remembrance is the defining theme along with Lest We Forget. The particular date and time is symbolic.  The definition of the 11th hour: the latest possible time before it is too late.   "The phrase eleventh hour has a Biblical origin; it comes from a parable in Matthew in which a few last-minute workers, hired long after the others, are paid the same wage. Despite being brought on the job after eleven hours of hard vineyard work, they weren't too late. The meaning has shifted a bit over the years, but today doing something at the eleventh hour means you got in just under the wire." Here's our Remembrance Day wreath.  This is available for $50 with delivery in the Niagara area, in support of the Nelles Manor Museum.

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Dec v5 2021 - StoryPeople vs FlyingEdna

 

Something got my attention about StoryPeople and I knew there must be a complicated story here.  There definitely is. It started out as StoryPeople by Brian Andreas.  He and his wife, Ellen Rockne created the business in the 1990s. A promotional approach for his art is a free email subscription to the story of the day - a short story/poem (50 to 100 words) with a beautifully coloured and creatively drawn image.  Always heartfelt and caring in the world based on a sense of "magic in everything".  This was a tremendously successful business - books, art works, apparel, sculptures, ornaments and so on.  They were represented in over 200 galleries in the US, with more in the UK.  Andreas had been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his books.  There's a lot of success here. But go to the StoryPeople link and it isn't Brian Andreas anymore.  It is now run by his former wife and sons.  It is known as "The Brothers Andreas, Gabriel and Matthew, the newest generation of StoryPeople." "Raised by unconventional parents, they are well-suited for making things out of words and music and movement and color. They share a tendency to vacillate between existential despair and a wild, lilting hope that everything is going to turn out okay. Gabe makes our new stories, and Matthew creates the artwork. Who knew when they were little guys that they would end up being such seamless collaborators?" So what happened? Acrimonious divorce that took 9 years to complete. There was a lot of money at stake. Assets and investments were secretly held by Andreas and not disclosed.  Huge tax liabilities in the millions were not paid over a number of years.  More legal activities took place and eventually the assets/rights of StoryPeople became Ellen Rockne's and not Kai Skye's.   That explains how at one point, two emails a day started coming - one from StoryPeople and the other from Kai Skye now known as FlyingEdna, inviting me to hop on over there now.  Andreas had changed his name from Brian Andreas (he refers to this as his pen name) to Kai Skye and gained a new life partner, Wendy Saver, now known as Fia Skye.   I remember that Kai Skye denounced the divorce settlement in his story of the day emails. This was a few years ago. Fellow artists have defended him and decried the loss of intellectual property rights.  His  art purchasers and appreciators have publicly supported him as well.   But there is this quiet link on the StoryPeople website HERE.  It has the full text of the divorce decision at Appeals Court and the text of Brian Andreas lawsuit against his sons over a trust set up for them.  Why would they want this to be known? It describes Brian Andreas  diverting funds, his activities concealing assets and attempts to secretly undermine StoryPeople. The reading of the judgement is fascinating and contains a lot of information about Brian Andreas/Kai Skye's personality and behaviour.   So there is our complicated story.  Here is one of Kai Skye's own poems: “Brian Andreas Promise #1: Promises to Myself #1: I will tell the truth unless I get confused & I think I could get in real trouble if someone found out, in which case, I will lie as convincingly as possible for as long as I feel the need.”  ― Brian Andreas A Christmas story today for our picture.  It could be one of Skye's poems.

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April 17 2021 - It Jiggles

 

"If you ride in a car over bumpy roads holding a bowl of Jello on your lap, you can watch it jiggle until you reach your destination."  That demonstrates how to use "jiggle" in a sentence.   Jello is a part of North American culture. By 1930, there appeared a vogue in American cuisine for congealed salads, and the company introduced lime-flavoured Jell-O, to complement the add-ins that cooks across the country were combining in these aspics and salads. Popular Jell-O recipes often included ingredients like cabbage, celery, green peppers, and even cooked pasta. These are well-known childhood memories for most of us. One savory recipe collected by the Des Moines Register, published in Iowa, is for a tomato soup gelatin salad. The salad, served chilled, is made from lemon gelatin, tomato soup, cream cheese, stuffed olives combined with various other ingredients and seasonings. This is not a memory for me. Did you know that Jell-O is popular among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church)? The Mormon Corridor region, which has the highest Mormon populations, was nicknamed the "Jell-O Belt."  In 2002, the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City issued a commemorative pin featuring green Jell-O. And the Jello jokes: I was arrested for having jello in the shape of a gun in my bag The officers charged me for having a congealed weapon What's the difference between The Sahara and Jello One is an inhospitalble desert and the other is an in hospital dessert. Why is a box of Jello mix always substantially larger than the contents within? You need to allow some wiggle room. Did you hear the joke about jello? Took a while to set in but it sure gave me a jiggle Oh oh - the breaking news is that we're not supposed to travel far from home.  How far are the orchard blossoms?  Definitely Burlington isn't home so will I be able to visit RBG?  We missed the cherry blossoms last spring with the gardens closed.   Can I even drive through Niagara Falls?  I don't think so this year.  And all those daffodils and the Magnolia Allee to be missed another year. Is it essential to go to Harvest Barn or 13th Street Bakery in St. Catharines for cherry tarts? Here are a few more images from the John Street orchards for today's photos.   Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Jan 26 2021 - Bernie's Mittens

 

Bernie Sanders wore some BIG MITTENS to the inauguration. Something that would have been a gift from Mr. Rogers. The sight of those mittens has resulted in millions being "smitten".  The mitten maker was Jen Ellis:  "I made Bernie’s mittens as a gift a couple years ago. They are made from repurposed wool sweaters and lined with fleece (made from recycled plastic bottles). #BerniesMittens" See some of the creative places he has shown up HERE  - it is an endless scrolling of Twitter fun. at #berniesmittens Don't you want to participate? Swapping Sanders into new places got easier when NYU grad student Nick Sawhney created a website that lets users place the image in any Google Street View photograph. Sawhney told Wired magazine that the site took off well beyond his expectations, and he panicked as its popularity brought him increased fees. (He's accepting donations and made a deal with the cloud platform that hosts the site, and says he has enough cash on hand to keep the site alive for another week or so, Wired reports.)   Here's one of the fund-raisers. It is a Tobey Time Crochet doll being sold on eBy and the proceeds go to Meals on Wheels.  Bernie has his own storefront and the crew net sweatshirt is popular.  He's expecting to raise "a couple of million dollars".    This is another set of motion blurs - at Charles Daley Park on Saturday.  You can really get a sense of the Lake Effects clouds in these images.  Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca