Marilyn's Photos - June 16 2025 - Money is a Root

 

I had a dream in which there were rows of stacked white empty plates and rainbow light shining on them. That seemed like an interesting picture.   There were a dozens of pictures of white plates.  You can't imagine the variations until you see them all.   This is sort of what I was thinking of, but this is quite a close-up.

then I asked microsoft's co-pilot to create the picture. What do you make of co-pilot's responses cozy manner of responses?   Here you go—your stacks of white plates catching some magical rainbow light are on the way! I hope it’s as mesmerizing as you imagined. Let me know if you’d like to explore a different take on it or add a twist! 🌈🍽️ Hope it captures the dreamy, radiant look you’re going for. Let me know if you'd like more flair or a new vibe next! 🌈💡 These are the three versions - they seem to look like poker chips to me and the rainbow glow makes one think that this is the pot of gold that will solve one's problems.  So back to the expression of the day.  It isn't just money itself, but rather "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil"  and it comes from 1 Timothy 6:10 of the Bible.  Sometimes written as The love of money is the root of all Evil, as though explaining the origins of evil.   Here are some of my own rainbow versions of abstract images. Montages create the effects.

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Apr 18 2025 - The Joy of Little Things

 

The New York Times has a tantalizing article headline on tiny treats you can enjoy every day.  But without a paid subscription I have no access.  So let's go find some of our own.  My own version of the idea is that when you create your experiences every day to include things that give you "joy" and pleasure, then a more fulfilling life will be yours.   But that's not what I am finding.  The motivation in the articles is being frugal and financially responsible. The little everyday habits that make people "feel rich" without breaking the bank.  Here's one: "Using good ingredients. I am frugal, but I prioritize good ingredients. I always have heavy whipping cream on hand. Real butter. Good quality meat in the freezer. I buy good spices/herbs. I try to buy quality products and ingredients. I am not a 'luxury' person per se. I like just living a simple life. But little things like that are nice." Did you consider that whipping cream and butter are luxuries?  I consider them something to use sparingly, given the fat content, but they don't seem luxuries to me. So here are more ideas from the various articles: "opening a window to listen to the rain pouring" "using herbs from my perennial herb gardens" "clean kitchen with nice smelling candle lit" "giving the car a small makeover" "getting an electric  blanket" "fresh flowers" "pretty note cards" "perfumed soaps" I don't know - don't these things start to seem coy and cute? On one list was "write down three things you're grateful for each day".   I don't know what I was thinking on this topic.  Our social life is now complicated.  I think that the longing to be rich is very real for most people.  Being frugal is just another aspect of having money and wealth, and implicit is spending money. And I expect it might be more subliminal. Surveys show that being wealthy finished last in surveys on what people valued most.  Having enough free time to do things one wanted, being successful in a career and similar things were more important.  Don't these take money or produce money?  It seems to me that money plays out in endless ways in our lives. So I'll just have to wait to see what the New York Times Style writers come up with, when the paper comes my way later in the week.

Isn't this an excellent name for a telescope?

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Aug 7 2024 - Money Costs Too Much

 

The phone-in question last week on the CBC radio show was "Does money cost too much?"   This seemed confusing.  It turns out that it is Ralph Waldo Emerson who said this -money often costs too much.   That's a different statement to me, very different.   He was talking about how the pursuit of money can often come at a great cost to other areas of life, such as health, relationships and personal happiness. It is a philosophical statement about the potential negative impacts of prioritizing monetary gain.  That caution didn't seem to make a difference to our current society - the top money questions are about having and getting more:    How to invest   When can I retire   Can I save more   How good is my credit score   And for those who want to spend, you can find out which things do in fact "cost way to much" - and have notably gone up in price:  Trip to Disneyland  Visit to Disney World  Airfare  Hotels  Camping  All these luxury items don't feel like luxuries to people now.  Although the "cost too much" list moves on to the grocery list and continues with the basics of housing and transportation.   Today's mantra might be:  Everything costs too much. This has been at the top of mind for a long time: Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination. – Oscar Wilde Inflation is when you pay fifteen dollars for the ten-dollar haircut you used to get for five dollars when you had hair. – Sam Ewing The best way to teach your kids about taxes is by eating 30% of their ice cream. – Bill Murray A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don’t need it. – Bob Hope There are lots of money quotes - Forbes has a great list HERE.  I found some money...

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Dec 30 2023 - Taking pictures of money

 

Can you make money taking pictures of money?  I bet you can.  How many pictures of money are on the internet?  Getty says there are 2,731 Canadian money stock photos.  Pixabay says there are 10,000 plus money images and pexels says browse 5,000 plus best money photos.  iStock has 3,268,449 money photos. Make money?  There are so many of them that say "free for commercial use". I like the picture of paper bills folded into an airplane.  I would guess there are some "weird" money images.  What pops up?  Pictures of dogs and cats with money. There's weirder stuff:  man eating coins from a plate, man with dollar bills in mouth like a tongue hanging out, man vomiting money, man eating bills like a sandwich.  Moving on to pretty pictures with money in them - these are cute girls/women set against pastel backgrounds with paper money fanned out in their hands, or putting a coin in a blue or pink piggy bank. Photographing banknotes is complicated with legal requirements. It has both copyright and counterfeiting issues. You cannot reproduce a banknote at 75% to 150% of actual size and in colour and with both sides showing.  How does one get a hold of all that money for the pile of money pictures?  Does one scan in the money, then print it, and then photograph it? Maybe there's a props company who can rent out "piles of money". There is a pile of money in Breaking Bad, and Quora has entries on what the $ value of the pile of money - $80 million was the estimate.  Wiki gives the answer as well. That's a lot of props money.  Maybe there are some standard props for all the movies that want to have "piles of money" and they go and rent the piles: The Dark Knight and Joker are just two in the list.   The picture of the day is a result of trying out various photography creative software yesterday.  My creative filters from Topaz don't work on the new MAC operating system.  I find that what's available in filters/plugins are geared for iPhones and iPads.  They are unsophisticated.  This one did turn out nicely.  Another orchid picture.  Corel Draw is what looks like is next, and that's because everything else has been trialed.  Wish me luck.

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Sep 29 2020 - Sell That Meme

 

Can you sell memes?  And what is the Meme Economy?  You must be able to - that's because memes surpassed Christ in online popularity since 2016.  And the MemeEconomy (as it is known) has been with us for a few years already. Etsy tells us this: You can buy, sell, or trade your Memes, safe in the knowledge that ownership will be tracked securely – thus ensuring your memes are not plagiarized. On Etsy, you can sell whatever meme-inspired creation that you're able to whip up. In 2017, Reddit created a team to take on the Meme Stock Market: They called the trading tool NASDANQ, a cheeky financial system for an alternate universe where meme is king.  It is a system where you can buy shares in memes, betting on their success.  Go to the Meme Economy to buy, sell, share, make and invest in templates freely - scroll through the ads HERE on reddit.   I went to knowyourmeme.com where you can buy a lot of stuff considered best sellers.  I found it disconcerting that the most popular one is  'Epstein didn't kill himself' And you can scroll through the latest images of proposed memes.   I found Esquire's roundup of the best memes of 2020.  I think you have to scroll through yourself.  Find them HERE.   In retrospect, we had memes in our childhood - knock knock jokes and Alexander the Great jokes come to mind.  Here's how I know my age: the 6 oldest memes on the Internet came about in 2000.  They do reference the dancing baby of the 1990's.  Before that, we are part of history and fit into folklore.  How quaint! It was open house on the weekend at Floyd Elzinga's studio located in Beamsville.  He's the metal sculptor with the well-known pinecone sculptures.  Here's a small sample.

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Mar 3 2020 - The Moneyless Man

The Moneyless Man hit the news in 2010.  He is Mark Boyle, the founder of Freeconomy Community and the author of The Moneyless Man.  In an update in 2015,  he says it was to be a one-year experiment in ecological living.  It is said he started this on Buy Nothing Day, November 28th. At the end of the first year, he found himself "more content, healthier, and at peace".  He has gone on to lead many initiatives in this area. He is known as an activist and writer.  German Heidemarie Schwermer decided in her early 50s to leave her job as a psychotherapist and live money-free.  This has been documented in the film "Living Without Money."  She too decided to live one year without money.  "I only wanted to try to do an experiment and in that year, I noticed a new life," she said. "I didn't want to go back to the old life." "Her schedule is pretty strict. After a week, she's off to somewhere new, usually running the lecture circuit at speaking engagements around Europe and lately helping to promote her documentary. The only payment she accepts, however, is enough to cover her train fare. "I'm always thinking how I could make things better for life in the world," she says. "I am something like a peace pilgrim. I go from house to house sharing my philosophy." You can go to moneyless.org HERE. for all kinds of topics. The website is a social and experimental online project by Robino and Guaka about money and the disposal of that.  There's a motto on the site: Less is more Nothing is better Today's Series is Water.

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Can Bread be Wise?

Can bread be wise?  Wisebread is a frugal living financial advice website. "Stretch that dollar in style without sacrificing your... favourite luxuries." What about smartypig? Make. Dreams. Happen.  SmartyPig is a free online piggy bank for people saving for financial goals like holiday gifts, vacations, and even retirement.  Funny Money - this is a website empowering students with the knowledge they need to make good financial choices. It is live lecture tour - Steve Levine, James Cunningham and Denis Grignon are the three presenters.  Google says there are over 4.5 billion things indexed with the term money.  Can you imagine what all those things might include? Things like the top money advice: 1. Pay yourself first 2. Beware of lifestyle creep 3. Take advantage of an employer-sponsored 401(k) 4. Invest in the stock market, just don't try to time it 5. Build an emergency fund 6. Pay off your credit card balance in full every month ... and so on - there are variations on various sites. Here's something that popped up: a bank called Fifth Third Bank.  I initially thought it was a joke.  Its name is derived from the Third National Bank and the Fifth National Bank - they merged in 1908.  If you'd like to see other silly bank names click HERE. Here's a silly money joke: Q: What do you call a man with a head full of change? A: Headquarters.

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