Aug 16 2023 - It's Countdown Time

 

We count down everything. So it makes sense that there is a TV show in the UK that has this name. It has been on since 1982.   On 26 March 2010, Queen Elizabeth II congratulated Countdown for amassing 5,000 episodes. On 5 September 2014, the programme received a Guinness World Record at the end of its 6,000th show for the longest-running television programme of its kind during the course of Series 71. It is a game show where contestants attempt to make the longest word possible from nine randomly chosen letters, four numers rounds in which contestant must use arthimetic to reach a random target figure from six other numbers and the conundrum, a buzzer round in which the contestants compete to solve a nine-letter anagram.  The show has a resident lexicographer.   During the series heats, the winning contestant returns the next day until they either lose or retire with eight wins as an undefeated "Octochamp". The best eight contestants are invited back for the series finals, which are decided in knockout format. Contestants of exceptional skill have received national media coverage and the programme, as a whole, is widely recognised and parodied within British culture. Wow!  That’s no North American TV show.  Neither Canadians or Americans would have any idea of what to make of an “Octochamp”. This is a wonderful game show with brilliant contestants and many of them children.  See the full description HERE at Wikipedia.  I hadn’t thought of the Outtakes Section where words deemed unsuitable are cut out.  But there are lots over the long history - particularly the “wanker” word. - A round in which Dictionary Corner offered the word gobshite - In 1991 contestants Gino Corr and Lawrence Pearse both declared the word wankers - A round where an anagram of the word fucked appeared on the board in the string "A U O D F C K E G", although neither player chose to use the word and Dictionary Corner was able to find two seven-letter words that could have been made from the board's offerings - On 2 February 2017, the board for the letters round was "M T H I A E D H S", and with both players offering sevens, Dictionary Corner found the word "shithead", which was bleeped out in the audio and censored on-screen with the poo emoji Don’t you think this image of the chessboard at the Bathurst Street Park seems on topic?

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Dec 5 2022 - Counting Celebrities

 

It isn't so much about counting things as finding ways of estimating the number of something,   One Wired article tried to figure out how many celebrities there were in the world.  It  looked to the category of Living People on Wikipedia.  There are 604,174 pages on notable people.  At the time the total global population was just over 7 billion so the fraction of living famous people was 0.000086.  If the calculation was just for English-speaking population the number comes out to between 1 in 10,000 and 5 in 10,000.   That's how many celebrities there are - a lot to track if you are in the celebrity-tracking business.  You might want to count other things besides our planet's population and celebrities.  I found the world meters  site and it is constantly counting things for us - current population, births, deaths, government spending, new books, newspapers circulated, emails sent today, blog post written, forest loss, undernourished people, overweight people, water used this year, energy used,, oil pumped, days to the end of oil, days to the end of coal, deaths caused by cancer, number cigarettes smoked today,  This is the site I was looking at:  https://www.worldometers.info/ We might wonder about  who were history's great "counters." In today's terminology it would statisticians.  It turns out that Florence Nightingale was one of them.  Nightingale was a member of the Royal Statistical Society and one of the first people to collect statistics on health policy.  Her work led to health policy reforms in 19th-century Britain and saved the lives of countless British soldiers.   She presented the  statistics of soldier deaths from preventable causes  (such as unsanitary conditions) in a graphical pie chart diagram, making the information instantaneously understandable.   The diagram is now called a polar-area diagram.  She was one of the first statisticians to represent data in diagrams.

This is a part of a screen installation located in downtown Toronto.   The second picture shows how it is installed along a walkway.

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Nov 17 2022 - Dog Barking

 

When I see dogs in other people's cars I bark at them.    I want to say hello. The experts don't encourage this: "One thing you have to bear in mind is that there is no such thing as an official dog language. When dogs communicate with one another it is through body language and tone. So, when you hear dogs barking at one another the key thing that they are listening to is the type and tone of the bark." And yet there so many videos on how to bark like a dog and have conversations with your pet.  Are we learning to distinguish the types and the tones of barking?  I haven't investigated this.  I go with this approach:  "if he starts wagging his tail, jumping up excitedly, and is clearly happy, the chances are he likes what you are ‘barking’ to him." And usually dogs getting a bark greeting in cars get excited so seem to like it. Sometimes Millie sits there with her head to one side - which is dog language for what is this supposed to mean?  - I do the same.  The would likely lead to double confusion.  But it seems fun at the time.  And Baxter? The experts say that cats do not meow at each other.  They meow at humans.  Here's the meow interpretation: The m- or mrr-sound is a pleasant sound that the cat uses for people it likes. If the e of the meow is stressed, it can signal physical discomfort, such as that the cat is hungry or cold. The meow that cats use most with humans has a long ah-sound. If the person doesn’t respond, the cat becomes frustrated and the ow-sound becomes more pronounced, almost like a howl. I remember that Baxter learned the last one when he was boarding at the vets one time.  He came back with a loud and prolonged set of meows that he now prefers. Another grunge abstract with numbers.  Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

April 13 2022 - So Many Luckies

 

The world of Mathematics is very active. Here is something that we didn't learn about in school because they were new ideas at the time I went to school.  The term is lucky number, and was introduced in 1956. I found it asking myself this question: What if I would like more than just the lucky number seven.? From Wikipedia:  In number theory, a lucky number is a natural number in a set which is generated by a certain "sieve". This sieve is similar to the Sieve of Eratosthenes that generates the primes, but it eliminates numbers based on their position in the remaining set, instead of their value (or position in the initial set of natural numbers). Wikipedia shows us how it works with an animation.  I've captured a screen shot just at the end of the elimination game.  You can go to the Wikipedia entry HERE to see the animation and read the process.  Wouldn't it be nice to have a lucky number set each day and find their occurrences.  1, 3, 7, and 9 today.  Would this be a sort of game of synchronicity?  Synchronicity describes circumstances that appear meaningfully related yet lack a causal connection.  There are more interesting named numbers - fortunate number (a person's name), abundant number, lucky numbers of Euler, Happy number, Harshad number are a few.

_______________________________________________________________ And what about today's picture?  I purchased a flat of Muscari, aka Grape Hyacinths on the weekend.  One of the flower stands on Fourth Avenue at Ninth Avenue sells them each year.  There is a field along Ninth on the south west side that is full of them blooming each year.  These are forced bulbs, so are ahead of the field.  Such a divine blue they are. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilync

Mar 14 2021 - I like the number 4

 

I realized that I was pleased to write today's date as it included the number four.  I seem to like that number.   It brings up the topic our preference for various numbers and how we respond emotionally to them. The headlines I've retrieved are fun:   Why do we respond emotionally to numbers:  7 ways to use them Odd vs Even number Psychology. Decrypting the psychology Why odd numbers are dodgy, evens are good, and 7 is... The way you use numbers can change customer behaviour 6 reasons you need to love numbers So asking why people like the number 4, I retrieve the teraphobia entry from Wikipedia in which people don't like the number 4 and avoid it.  The Chinese word for four is similar to the word for death.  Take Europe in contrast, four is a lucky number in Europe, North America and Australia. I like four because it visually translates into a rectangle and a square.  I seem to like those shapes.    Here are what other people like: Numbers ending 1, 2 or 3 are generally more excitable than the others, and even numbers are the most calm. "When people explained their choices in my favourite number survey, their reasons were varied and surprisingly tender, such as 2 because the respondent has 2 piercings, 6 because the sixth track on the respondent's favourite albums is always the best, 17 for the number of minutes the respondent takes to cook rice, 24 because the respondent sleeps with her left leg kicked out like a 4 and her boyfriend sleeps like a 2 on his side, and 1,000,000,007 because it is the highest prime number he can remember." There are all kinds of rules of thumb in marketing.  For example:  Odd and Even Numbers: Use Odd Numbers to Emphasize Masculine Qualities and Even Numbers to Emphasize Feminine Qualities.  This article is great fun.  It is HERE. And I forget there's that field of numerology.  But not now... I'll let that one pass. HEre's a happy green series.  With a little shamrock/Oxalis for St. Patrick's Day coming up this week. Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

May 8 2020 - Six Afraid of Seven

It would be a trying time for a real estate agent.  I saw a For Sale sign the other day and the agent's name is Guth3.  I wondered if I could find a dictionary of such words. I didn't but I did find out a little about numeronyms - a number-based word.  K9 for canine. There are also alphanumeric acronyms, numerical contractions and alphanumeric expressions - they have become wide-spread with computer languages. Instead of a list of words that would be fun to peruse, I found one joke that demonstrates the usage: Why was 6 afraid to go camping with 7? Because 7 ONEted TWO bring THREE knives FOUR surFIVEal, but 6 secretly knew that 7 hEIGHTed him, and didn’t have beNINE inTENtions. Once we are on to six afraid of seven jokes, we should add a few more: Why is six afraid of seven? Seven is a registered six-offender Why was six afraid of seven? Seven eight nine. Why was 10 always so afraid? Because he was in the middle of 9/11 But do you know why seven ate nine? Because you're supposed to eat three squared meals a day But did you know that seven ate two numbers? Let me tell you about six who seven eight. Why didn't the two 4's feel like dinner? Because they already ...8 This orchard faces the QEW in Beamsville.  It is a combination of promise with the blossoms and abandonment with the remnants of weeds around the trunks. And a beautiful display of dandelions.

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Feb 20 2020 is 0220 2020

Today is a great date when viewed in numbers.  It isn't as great as February 2, 2020 which is a palindrome day. Considering numbers, I hear people say "do the math", when they are adding two numbers.  This seems odd to me to equate arithmetic and mathematics.   However, it is accepted practice to refer to arithmetic as mathematics in simple conversations.  What is the difference between the two?  I looked for some answers  from the experts that might be interesting: "The most obvious difference is that arithmetic is all about numbers and mathematics is all about theory." "Arithmetic is to mathematics as spelling is to writing." "You can refer to everything at the zoo as an 'animal' because they all belong to the animal kingdom —reptiles, amphibians, even insects and invertebrates," says Dr. Math. "But you couldn't use a more specific word like "mammal" to refer to animals in general." Looking for fun arithmetic jokes is itself not fun:  there is general confusion between arithmetics, mathematics, and numbers.  As the likelihood of finding some funny jokes dwindles, I am drawn to the ridiculous headline at the bottom of the feed:   Baby has never eaten sugar or carbs and the result is incredible We know this is one of those lead-in headlines with some sort of punchline, and we're curious. The original article comes from the dailymail.co.uk in 2015 and has lists of what "Little Grace" of Brisbane, Australia eats in her paleo diet.  There is the claim that the baby never gets sick.  But there is one meal that has to be the punchline to the article.  Why?  Because it supposedly is breakfast: "Eggs fried in coconut oil with roast veggies including sweet potato, carrots, potatoes and steamed broccoli, plus a quarter of an avocado and a small scoop of sauerkraut." Can we imagine a baby eating sauerkraut?  That entertains me for the day. Today's image is an abstract of Grimsby Beach at night - that's the lighthouse light on the horizon.

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Jan 11 2020 - This Year has Numbers

2020 is an interesting year in numbers.  I went looking for combinations that will be interesting - like Feb 2nd 2020 will be 02 02 2020 and you could have time in there to be 02:02 02 02 2020 or 20:20 02 02 2020 with the twenty-four hour clock.  These are the weekend repeating dates. Sunday, February 2nd (02/02/2020) Saturday, April 4th (04/04/2020) Saturday, June 6th (06/06/2020) Saturday, August 8th (08/08/2020) Saturday, October 10th (10/10/2020) Saturday, December 12th (12/12/2020) The weekend repeating dates are listed because one seems to retrieve best wedding dates in 2020. The Guardian came to the rescue with this headline: Did you solve it? 2020 in numbers.   The article is here.  I've extracted two of the questions.  To get the answer for 3.1) you will want to visit the link as a few are presented. 2) Imagine 2020 is not a year but a rugby score, as I’ve scrawled below. This score spells out a word. Can you work out which one? Solution Wipe a tear from your eye. The word is ONION. Rotate the score by 90 degrees anticlockwise and you’ll see. The next question: 3.1) Fill in the blanks in the following ‘countdown’ equation so it makes arithmetical sense: 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 = 2020 You are allowed to use any of the basic mathematical operations, +, –, x, ÷, and as many brackets as you like. An answer might look something like (10 – 9 + 8) x (7 – 6 – 5)/(4 + 3 + 2 + 1) = 2020, but not this one since the equation is incorrect. To see a lot more in numbers for 2020 by mathematician Inder J. Taneja, go HERE.  The introduction says this short work brings representations of 2020 in different situations.  These representations are of crazy-type, running numbers, single digit, single letter... Then there is a revised version.  It is HERE.  It contains the addition of this: