Aug 2 2024 - That's Just Weird

 

This is a new oft-repeated phrase.  It is so often repeated that I compare it to when they started keeping tabs and began a formal list of Trump's lies,  false or misleading statements. And you can go to Wikipedia and see them all. Is there a similar site that is now tracking "That's Just Weird" by the Republicans, along with Trump, Vance and Fox News?   I expect it to get into place soon.  It may be harder to fact-check weird things., or maybe not.  Here's one:  A Fox News commentator was reported by the Globe to claim that no man should vote for a woman and when they did, they would transition into a woman.   "And to be a man and then vote for a woman just because she’s a woman is either childish — that person has mommy issues — or they are just trying to be accepted by other women,” Watters said. “I heard the scientists say the other day that when a man votes for a woman, he actually transitions into a woman.” And then could a person "happen to turn a colour"? Donald Trump recently said that Kamala Harris "happened to turn Black" a few years ago.  There are things that aren't fact-checkable, but are odd ideas.  JD Vance says Americans without children should “face the consequences and the reality” and not get “nearly the same voice” in democracy Vance: “Let’s give votes to all children in this country, but let’s give control over those votes to the parents of those children.” Here are some quotes of weird things that have been said by Republicans - some can be fact-checked and others would be logic-checked: “Is there some thought being given to subsidizing the clearing of rainforests in order for some countries to eliminate that production of greenhouse gases?” — Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (Calif.) "If businesses are forced to pay women the same as male earnings, that means they will have to reduce the pay for the men they employ...simple economics. If that happens, then men will have an even more difficult time earning enough to support their families, which will mean more Mothers will be forced to leave the home (where they may prefer to be) to join the workforce to make up the difference." Utah Republican James C. Green ''The only way to reduce the number of nuclear weapons is to use them.'' —Rush Limbaugh Here's a list highlighting weird things of the past.  This article calls them "craziest Republican quotes of the 21st century" - it seems surreal when one looks through it  I had no idea they have claimed so many illogical and false things for so long.  Here's to whoever starts the "weird" list. Here's a gnarled tree trunk.

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Mar 27 2023 - Ugly Nature

 

"Breathtaking", "beautiful", "nature's wonders" - aren't we used to these expressions?  There seem to be unlimited articles with pictures of nature's most beautiful places, birds, animals and flowers. What about the ugliest animals? Definitely the Turkey Vulture would pop up on the list in my neighbourhood. They fly overhead every day and if you see one at the side of the road, it is a bit of a shocking sight in such contrast to the beautiful flying and soaring overhead. Then the list goes through the expected candidates - star-nosed moles, mole rats, proboscis monkey, snake necked turtle, bats - particularly the horseshoe bat, and what about elephant seals? There's an ugly frog, the warthog, and the hyena.   They don't seem so ugly as something towards a bit strange.  But then consider the blobfish - it is often considered the ugliest. It looks more like a grumpy Bob-fish.  And the Monkfish - that is a bit prehistoric and so for me falls into ugly land. I think we would run from the Japanese spider crab - a crab-sized spider would be creepy.  There are pictures of them all HERE. And we haven't started on the insect world at all.  These ugly animals were on the good news website called goodgoodgood.co.   And what about those ugly flowers? They seem to think that Pitcher plants, and corpse flowers such as Titan Arum are the ugly looking flowers - but they stink worse than they look.  I have seen a Black bat flower in bloom and thought it was beautiful rather than alien/ugly.  And I've seen the Dutchman's Pipe plant blooming and it is strange looking. All of these dark flowered plants seem to also be stinky. And that seems to make for the experience of ugly.  Dad: When you are in a garden, which flower will you pick? Little Johny: The ugly ones This is my candidate for ugly flower.  It is a fasciated lily - everything gone wrong in terms of a symmetrical  blooming stem.  Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Feb 8 2023 - Smells like Spring

 

It smells like Spring.  We're only at the beginning of February, so this is a fleeting experience.  When we smell soil, what we smell is bacteria.  And more specifically, Geosmin. Scientific America tells me this:  Two of the chemicals responsible for that earthy perfume are geosmin and 2-methylisoborneol (2-MIB). Geosmin is made by many organisms — including, unsurprisingly, beets — but particularly by bacteria in the genus Streptomyces.   Author Jennifer Frazer says: "One of the most exciting and unexpected discoveries I made in college occurred the day I opened a Petri dish of soil bacteria. There was no soil in the plate — just opaque patches of bacteria called colonies — but it smelled just like a cave. I had discovered that dirt doesn’t actually smell like dirt. It smells like bacteria." "Perfumiers have found geosmin an irresistible component of some of their concoctions, either as a purified commercially available product (as a 1% solution) or, as in the case of a more traditional potion, Mitti Attar, by distilling sun-baked earth with sandalwood (it is said to resemble the smell of the first monsoon rain on parched soil). For example, in the perfume The Smell of Weather Turning by the cosmetics company Lush, “geosmin is supported by oak wood, hay, beeswax, nettle, English peppermint, mint and Roman chamomile”.  What would you think if this perfume was on the retail shelf?  I would say that is true retail therapy.   I found some palm bark close-ups and gave this one a spring makeover.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Dec 31 2022 - Weird Snow Right Here

 

There's weird snow.  And some of it is right here.  These are things like snow rollers, frost flowers, pancake ice, rabbit ice, penitentes, needle ice, and brinicles.   There are Ontario pictures of ice volcanoes, snow towers,  snow balls , ice caves, crop circles, light pillars, ice pancakes, and so on in the Narcity article HERE.  The article on Treehugger.com describes how they are formed.   There's even better formations from recent storms.  Look at the pictures below.  These came from a lake-front cottage in Dunnville, on Lake Erie in January 2022.  These are formations around Jack's neighbours lamp posts.    For traditional ice formations, the Bored Panda article has beautiful photos of snow formations is HERE.   This next picture comes from that article. I haven't found where this one is located.  So far, the pictures are from Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and Lake Michigan.   Our recent storm has resulted in Port Stanley making the news with winter sculptures on the pier.   That was only 3 days ago.  Those pictures are HERE on the CBC website.  And Crystal Beach, just a half hour drive away also made the CBC news with its lakefront homes encased in ice from the same storm.   That picture story is HERE.  These are the Crystal Beach lakefront houses.  They look like they've been painted with Benjamin Moore's Ice Formations 873. And our picture today shows graceful Japanese Forest Grass. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Dec 10 2022 - Newfoundland's Old Coin

 

We definitely know the meteorite is older than the gold coin found this summer in Newfoundland.   Edward Hynes, a well-known local amateur historian reported it to officials - it dates from the 1420s and the reign of Henry VI.   It was found on the south coast.   In 2021, a silver coin minted in the 1490s, was found at Cupids Cove Plantation Provincial Historic Site.  At that time, it was considered the oldest English coin ever found in Canada.   "There's been some knowledge of a pre-16th century European presence here for a while, you know, excluding Norse and so on," he says. "The possibility of perhaps a pre-16th century occupation would be pretty amazing and highly significant in this part of the world." "That’s about 70 years before John Cabot landed on Newfoundland’s shores in 1497 after setting sail from the English port of Bristol.  But the coin’s age doesn’t mean someone from Europe was on the island before Cabot, Brake said. For example, it could have been part of a later settler’s collection. It’s unlikely that it was in circulation when it was lost, he said, adding that it was worth quite a lot of money in the 1400s." How much was a significant amount? I search to find out what it might be, but so far don't think 1 shilling 8 pence in the 1420s is only worth 4 days wages.  I used the national UK archives to convert it.   We know that this artifact can have a home in a Canadian museum without controversy of repatriation. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Jan 27 2022 - The Awe Quiz

 

The proof is there - there are  "four protections for well-being" hat come from immersing oneself in natural environments and green spaces.  The scientists have the metrics: 1. being with nature seems to cause improved heart rate and breathing, both of which are signs of reduced stress levels. 2. being with nature gives the mind a chance to rest, aiding "attention restoration" and thereby restoring mental acuity. It also seems to cause brain waves associated with calmness and daydreaming to synchronize. 3. being in natural settings seems to break cycles of thought "rumination," a behavior linked to depression and anxiety. 4. being in nature is known to induce happiness—naturally! See the full story with all the studies identified HERE.  The site is the Greater Good Science Center.  This is an interesting site with a number of quizzes.  For example, the Awe Quiz asks how much awe do you experience in your life?  I was very impressed to see this question in the quiz: Isn't that so excellent to be in the quiz. To take the quiz go HERE Which Niagara Falls would we be in awe of?  The first is the view from Beamer Point in Grimsby, with the cloud of the Falls on the left.  The second is the view on a misty day, and the third is a tourist getting a photo-worthy view on a sunny day.  Our last one with all the lights on the Falls at night was taken on January 1st, 2019.

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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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Nov 26 2021 - Humans are Square, Nature is ...

 

Are there squares in nature? Not very many. Salt crystals would be the recognizable with the human eye.  Pyrite has amazing cubic crystal shapes that are very visible.  It is an abundant crystal and was produced in Italy in Elba. The Greek called it "fire" or pry.  Was it inspirational? The Egyptians calculated square roots using an inverse proportion method as far back as 1650BC.  Chinese mathematical writings from around 200BC show that square roots were being approximated using an excess and deficiency method.  I assume they were figuring out the volume of a pyramid.  They used a lot of mathematics for calculating distance as well, also for taxes and wages, things often paid in volumes of beer and wheat..  What was the interest in developing squares and square roots?   It is thought that the knowledge of square roots originally came from dividing areas of land into equal parts so that the length of the side of a square became the square root of its area. The Babylonians and Greeks have been credited with the discovery of Heron’s method, the precursor of Newton’s iterative method, although Indian mathematicians are thought to have used a similar system around 800BC. In relation to nature, I wondered what the most common shape might be.  The Hexagon!  A hexagon is the shape that best fills a plane with equal size units and leaves no wasted space. Hexagonal packing also minimizes the perimeter for a given area because of its 120-degree angles. With this structure, the pull of surface tension in each direction is most mechanically stable, which is why even though bees make their honey combs with circular units, the end result when the wax hardens into place is hexagonal.  So it isn't that far off from a square.  Can you imagine our neighbourhoods where we have hexagonal properties forming a community shaped in a hexagon? I found lots on google.   Here's a wonderful joke to conclude: The guru was happily teaching math to the students at his home. He said "5 sides --> pentagon" "6 sides -->hexagon" "8 sides -->octagon" ...then suddenly, the guru got a sudden heart attack, he fell onto the ground making a loud "thud" sound and died on the spot. Hearing the sound, his wife came running from the other room and asked "what happened ?" and the students replied:  "--> gurugon" Today's image is a little fun with Flexifly, the Flaming Pear software that returns square things into naturally shaped things.  The original image was a windshield that was smashed.  If this was an object of nature, I wonder what it might be.

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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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Mar 4 2020 - How to Name a Currency

The headlines today include South Korea's measures for the coronavirus.  Here's the headline: South Korea compiled an 11.7 trillion won ($9.85 billion) supplementary budget on Wednesday to strengthen anti-virus measures and prop up its economy as its coronavirus cases topped 5,600. Initially, I couldn't make sense of "won".  To me, it is a verb not a noun.  That got me looking for unusual currencies and I offer these - they come from moneyversed.com HERE. Rai stones: On the island of Yap in Micronesia, if someone asks you for change, you might need to get a slightly larger coin purse. These massive limestones are between five and 20 feet in diameter… and their value may be determined by how many people perished while transporting them. Katanga cross: You’ll find this currency in the Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. For a short period time, it was used as the primary form of currency. Good thing it was for only brief amount of time, however, seeing as how each one weighed a hefty two pounds! Manchukuo yuan: The Manchukuo yuan was used by Japanese Imperial forces when they occupied Manchuria. These coins were actually made out of cardboard since metal was in short supply during the war. German wooden dollars: In Germany after World War I, inflation was out of control and this led to some towns making their own money out of wood. They called this currency not geld, which literally translated to mean “not gold.” So as we look forward for what will happen in currencies, given our digital journey.  The Moore Global says:  Whilst sovereign fiat currency in the form of physical cash remains the only universally acceptable form of public money, innovations in cryptocurrencies and stablecoins can offer more effective forms of transactions and will continue to disrupt the finance industry. I sure have a lot of images of tree bark.  These are from our trip to Colorado a few years ago - that wonderful pine bark with its rich colours and curving shapes.

Above and Beyond

Along with a new mayor and councillors, the municipal elections bring in new board members for all of the municipal organizations, such as the library, committee of adjustment, museum, planning and development, and so one.   A friend applied for one of the committees and in the interview was asked this question: "When have you gone above and beyond the call of duty?" Surprisingly, it is the Medal of Honour that comes up the most.  It is the United States highest and most prestigious award.  It is awarded for those with service above and beyond the call of duty, along with acts of valour.  It is an interesting topic.   "...After the war, it was commonplace for veterans to lobby their congressmen for the medal of honour. Combat veterans, however, resented the easy way the medal was given out to men 'who were only doing their duty' and pressed the War Department to make changes. One reform came in 1890, when the armed services declared that an individual could not nominate himself for a medal. Finally, in 1916, (U.S.) President Woodrow Wilson signed a law requiring the War Department to set up a commission of distinguished generals and admirals to review all previous medal awards. At the same time, the services created a series of lesser medals to honor acts of courage. The Medal of Honor would only be awarded for actions 'above and beyond the call of duty' and in actual combat..." Today the 'above and beyond' phrase is a catchy one.  Like 'call of duty' there is drama in the expression.  It brings to mind professions such as police, fire, doctors, and other emergency and life-saving professions. At the other end of jobs - there's not much personal sacrifice and risk in the world of municipal boards, or in corporate jobs.  Can you imagine going 'above and beyond' in a call centre? There is a video game named "Call of Duty".  You can actually have a "Call of Duty" job -the company is hiring. Here's the snow-covered Magnolia tree from the Toronto garden.