March 3 2025 - Job Titles

 

Job titles - these are interesting things.  Boris Spassky's obituary in the Globe and Mail listed him as Grand Master. I think there are other places where Grand Master occurs - fraternal orders like the Freemasons and the Odd Fellows.  Maybe the Knights of Columbus.  It is "a title of the supreme head of various orders, including chivalric orders such as military and dynastic orders of knighthood." How interesting that the Chess World chose such a title.  Supposedly it was used initially to describe a player who was better than "just a master".   So then Grand Master became the highest title/ranking that a chess player could achieve.   Go check out chess ranking systems and it is much more complicated.  There's lots of history here.  It got particularly active around the 1950s.   There's the Ingo system, started in 1948 and then the Harkness system in 1950.  The Elo rating system is the one with Grandmaster (GM) then International Masters, then FIDE Masters, Candidate Masters, Experts, and then Class A, category 1 through to Class E, category 5.  And at the bottom are Novices.  There are scores for each level. And then there are complicated calculations for where a person fits into the rankings.   The new world champion will be determined in 2026 - the defending champion is Gukesh Dommaraju.  He won in 2024.    I found a site with chess jokes that can be voted up or down.  I decided this one was worth repeating: Should I call 911 because of my constant chess pains? .

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Mar 2 2025 - Wayne Gretzky Damage Control

 

Remember when Wayne Gretzky cared so much about his image that he had pictures of his curly hair style removed from everywhere?  That was a time of damage control of his image.   I can remind you with the pictures below.  He was copying Darryl Sittler and Bobby Clarke back then.   It shows up in articles like "24 Mullets that changed the world."  The pictures were on obscure hockey cards, and a few other places.  All eventually making their way to the internet decades later. The image that Wayne Gretzky still has - that sleek hair, suit, and demeanour.  There he is with Andy Warhol. He's spent a lot of time with Americans since we can remember.  So here we are now observing another damage control situation.

We Canadians seem to be sentimental.  We think that a person who started here stays here in some way.   You might think that the headlines where U.S. President Donald Trump "is doing damage control for Wayne Gretzky" are Canadian only. That they are geared to our sentimental attachment to the Great One.  He's such a big figure that many news outlets picked it up.  And then they can repeat that Trump suggested Gretzky would make a great Canadian leader of the 51st state. Don't you wonder what Greta's response would be on Canada Files?  That's the Canadian show that interviews notable Canadians - it is the last question that is asked on the show.  What does being Canadian mean to you?   And today's picture - a wild-petaled orchid at the Orchid Show last weekend.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

April 25 2020 - Message in the Sky?

Skywriting could return to the UK for the first time in 60 years.  What did they write in the sky?  WASH HANDS.  Skywriting was banned there in 1960 due to safety concerns. I can't remember seeing any skywriting in my adult years.  However, there are a number of companies who do this:  Aeogram says they are Canada's leader in aerial advertising since 1984.  Another is Flysigns Aerial Advertising operating in Toronto for more than 20 years. Pricing is by square meter of the billboard.  There's even something called sky typing. What is there to learn about this interesting activity? Most sources attribute the development of skywriting (1922) to John C. Savage, an Englishman. In that year, Captain Cyril Turner wrote “Daily Mail” over England and “Hello USA” over New York. The American Tobacco Co. then picked up the technique for their Lucky Strike cigarettes. A letter can be as high as one mile and take 60-90 seconds to create. A message can stretch up to fifteen miles. The best conditions of course are few clouds, little or no wind, and cooler temperatures. Then the letters may be seen for 30 miles in any direction and can last 20 minutes. Writing occurs usually at altitudes from 7,000-17,000 ft. The paraffin oil vaporizes at 1500° in the heat of the plane’s exhaust and is environmentally safe. The skywriting that appeared in the movie, “Wizard of Oz,” was done by special effects in a tank with an oil and water mixture. One company in New York “writes” more than 50 marriage proposals a year in the sky.   I was at the Orchid Show in February at the Royal Botanical Gardens this year.  The poor lighting conditions and crowdedness of the plants and people are always challenges. This isn't like visiting Longwood Gardens and being able to photograph at one's own pace.  Somehow there always is a lovely shot to capture amidst the excitement and appreciation of this wonderfully diverse flower.

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Feb 24 2020 - Dogs on Train...Seats

This is the last week of February.  Knowing our popular and unpopular months, there's a little cheer! Here's a satirical article in the press covering the reactions to a dog sitting on the seat in a train to Paddington.  Being TV news host Emily Maitlis' dog, it got some attention.  The attention of this writer takes a satirical twist.  It was in theguardian.com - outlining the rules of train travel int regards to seats.  The basic rules is that pets are allowed on trains. Should pets be allowed at all? "Yes – as long as you remember that not everyone likes being on trains with animals, even their own pets. If you see me on a train with my dog, you can assume that something has gone badly wrong with my travel plans. I know my dog is adorable, but I am only prepared to talk about that for a limited amount of the journey. Getting an adorable pet was not my idea. Because my dog is also small and needy, it will probably insist on spending some time standing on my lap. This is not the same as a dog on a seat, and again, it will not have been my idea. I go on trains to take a break from my dog." What about children? "I have travelled with small children, and in my experience most passengers would rather sit next to a dog than a toddler. On a crowded train, you should give up your seat for a toddler if you have for some reason come to dislike the person you are sitting next to. Older people should be offered your seat, depending on how old they seem, and not how old they are. Do not ask for ID." Is it ever acceptable to put a bag on the seat? "No. A bag on a seat is worse than a dog on a seat. At least the dog is enjoying the ride. Even worse than bags is feet on seats. Any attempt to cushion yourself from the possibility of having to sit next to someone is both antisocial and prone to backfire – you end up sitting next to someone who hates you and they will give up their seat to the first toddler to come along." Should you chat to your neighbours? "It is almost never acceptable to make eye contact with a stranger on a train, even if you are facing them across a table for a five-hour journey. I am very sorry my dog does not understand this." This made me think of how a context can make "the" difference. In comparison, dogs sit on seats at the animal hospital I go to with Dezi. Most of them, like Dezi, would rather hide under the seat and disappear. The orchid today won't be for sale at the vendor table at the RBG orchid show this coming weekend.  This is an exotic and rare lady slipper orchid typically sold between expert growers only.

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May 22 - Please the Fans Finale

The Elevator mystery is unsolved after almost 300 episodes, but the ding of its arrival is a completion for the Big Bang Theory. Once that door opened, the series was allowed to complete.  I had not realized that the most enduring question is Penny's surname.  It remains a mystery.  The show seemed to have a traditional set of resolutions, the highlight being Sheldon finding grace.   I saw part of an episode of the Lucy Show a few weeks ago. The finale of The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour mirrored their real-life circumstances - Wikipedia says it wasn't intentional. In the show Lucy and Ricky were about to divorce and end the show. Edie Adams was the guest star and chose the song to sing without knowing the plot - "That's All".  It is considered prophetic. While the show's finale divorce didn't happen, their real-life divorce was final and they only reconciled many years later. Viewership of finales is very important. The BBT viewership 'grew' to 23.44 million viewers, up from the 18 million who watched it live.  This makes it the most watched non-sports series program of 2018-19.  But it falls far short of the most watched television series finales of all time: M*A*S*H // 1983. 105.9 million viewers Cheers // 1993. 80.4 million The Fugitive // 1967. 78 million Seinfeld // 1998. 76.3 million Friends // 2004. 52.5 Magnum, P.I. // 1988. 50.7 The Cosby Show // 1992. 44.4 All in the Family // 1979. 40.2 Family ties // 1989. 36.3  Home Improvement //1999. 35.5 million Can you imagine these numbers?  The M*A*S*H episode drew 77% of those watching televisions at the time. Only the 2010's Super Bowl XLIV had 106 million viewers. The Cheers episode was watched by between 80.4 million and 93.5 million, with the rise of cable television. We look at a Miltonia orchid today.  Also known as the Pansy Orchid.

The Loudest Sounds of Spring

Does every season have sounds?  What are the sounds of Spring?  They are bird songs!  You can find music to tweet to by the National Trust.  Or you can find websites that ask you whether you can hear these sounds and if not, it may mean you need hearing aids.  What are the sounds that are the signs of hearing loss? If human conversation is between 60 and 70 decibels, here are sounds that are the signals: 1. Birdsong  - decibels not available 2. Pattering rain - 50 decibels 3. Rustling leaves - 20 decibels 4. Spring peepers - decibels not available 5. Buzzing mosquitoes - 40 decibels 6. Noisy squirrels - 20 decibels  What is the decibel range of birds?  It turns out it is difficult to decide - some parts of their call are outside the range of human hearing. What is known is that the lyrebird of Australia or the American bittern are the loudest.  I would have thought  it must be over 135 decibels as that is what the Moluccan Cockatoo has been recorded at.  However, they are listed at 101 decibels. There was a Great Horned Owl calling in the night last week in our vicinity.  Did you know that the Great Horned Owl can be heard for over 2 miles? And if the forest turns out to be too quiet to hear, move to the ocean.  The loudest animal on earth is the blue whale and it can generate sound levels of 188 decibels. This can be heard for hundreds of miles underwater.  No hearing aid needed there. I haven't found any loud plants so far.  Here's an orchid.

Jan 7 - Lawrence Welk's Still Bubbling Along

OK, I actually watched the Lawrence Welk Show last night.  It was on PBS.  I was transfixed and fascinated.  People wearing formal jackets - all orange.  There are pictures of them all in green, all in yellow.  Here is one to prove I did see it. Lawrence Welk is 'classified' as old-fashioned, melodic music.  The first episode was July 2 1955, and it was decades later that the final episode aired on April 17, 1982.  It continues as a Memories show, with interviews after the show concludes.  This week it was with Norma Zimmer.  She was his 'Champagne Lady' from 1960 to 1982.  Her favourite memory  was singing backup on Crosby's famous version of White Christmas.   The Washington Post summary:  "From his origin in a polka band called L.W.'s Hotsy Totsy Boys, he gradually stapled the choppy syncopation of Wayne King and others onto the warbling, muted saxophones popularized by Guy Lombardo and produced a saccharine, bouncy sound vaguely reminiscent of the turkey trots of World War I."    In keeping with this, it isn't surprising to find the retrievals for Lawrence Welk bounced all over the analytical map.  There were straight-forward articles on the show and band members who went on to fame, and then strange references, many of which don't seem to show up in the articles. This turned out to be perfect.  It is a scientific article excerpt where Lawrence Welk music was used in a synthesis experiment:   "The dramatic percussion crescendi from Gustav Mahler’s second symphony have been synthesized using corpora of monkey and animal sound effects, a Muslim Imam chanting the Ko- ran, an hour of vocal music by John Cage, three hours of nostalgic Lawrence Welk, and all four string quartets of Arnold Schoenberg." And further: "A recording of American President George W. Bush has been synthesized by corpora of monkeys, alto saxophone, and Lawrence Welk, and Bach’s Partita for flute". And the next paragraph's first line seems like a fitting conclusion for today: "Specifying a target that is polyphonic understandably leads to trouble". We revisit Longwood's wonderful Orchid Show last January 2018.

Spring Ahead

Daylight Saving Time will begin tomorrow Sunday March 11 at 3:00am.  The question is regularly asked why don't we just stay with one timezone? The Washington Posts tells us that we like having later sunsets in the summer, and wouldn't be happy if the sun went down at 7:00pm. Who first conceived of DST?  It was Benjamin Franklin in the 1770s.  Many countries went onto DST during World War I, following Germany's lead. Then in 1918, time zones and daylight saving were established.  It got repealed in 1919, but continued to be recognized. In Canada, DST was first observed in 1908, and has been observed for 106 years. Saskatchewan, some locations in Quebec, and some areas of British Columbia don't use DST.   It is up to the legislation of each municipality in Canada to decide the use of DST.  Can you imagine how complicated this is?  So there are towns/cities such as Dawson Creek and Fort Nelson that do not follow the provincial norm.   Swedish researchers say there may be some health benefits to turning your clock back. They studied 20 years of records and found that the number of heart attacks dipped on the Monday after clocks moved back an hour. Moving clocks ahead in the spring had the opposite effect. There were more heart attacks in the week after springing forward — especially during the first three days of the week. Another milestone towards Spring will be achieved.  We moved into Spring on March 1st according to the meteorological clock.   The Miltonia orchid I bought at the RBG orchid Show is almost ready to bloom.  I can see it will be red, like this one.   It is known as the Pansy Orchid, and is beautifully fragrant.

Feb 26 - two six quarts today

The world of dry measures - pints, quarts, etc. have little poetry in them even though they have been with us for as long as we've transported food. Niagara has an intimate relationship with dry measures - we're the fruit belt. At the farmer's market in St. Catharines,  the apples and potatoes are displayed in the traditional wood veneer (or cardboard) baskets and bushels.  When we buy our 4 quart or 6 quart basket of potatoes, the transfer to a plastic bag happens. The basket goes back to the vendor to fill for the display. The sizes are half pint, pint, quart, 4 quart, 6 quart, half bushel, and full bushel.  During jam season, out come the trays that hold up to 12 quarts.  Walking around with a 12 quart tray of strawberries is almost as good as walking around with a puppy. These familiar baskets are still available from the original supplier - Vineland Growers Co-operative.  They have been selling these supplies for over 100 years - since 1913.  I drive by the corporate head office/retail store in Jordan Station and the retail store in Virgil on the East West Line.   They have the distinction of being the longest continually run co-operative in Ontario. From their website: "The history of Vineland Growers' Co-operative closely parallels the development of the co-operative movement in Canada. The original directors and those who have followed throughout the years have been steeped in the spirit of co-operation, coming as they did from hardy Pennsylvania stock that immigrated to Canada in the early 1800's, when barn-raisings and other co-operative activities were commonplace". The original directors have familiar Niagara names: Honsberger and Moyer.  The Honsberger Estate Winery is located in Jordan today.  Nearby in Vineland is Cherry Avenue Farms - the home of the Moyers family - in operation since 1799.   I drive by Cherry Avenue Farms on a regular basis.  They sell all kinds of fruit - fresh and frozen. Today's picture comes from the Royal Botanical Gardens Orchid Show on the weekend.  There were many beautiful specimens arranged together into garden-like displays.  While Longwood Gardens has the big display wow factor of hundreds of orchids in an arch or column, this show has the beauty of a miniature garden.  Both are wonderful experiences.

Snow in the Headlines

Today's weather headlines:   Blizzard barrels towards northeast Snowstorm slams northeast Here are more great headlines about snow: Ice Scream! Now, Melt! The Brrrfect Storm From snow to whoa Gee bliss - New York socked by snow Snow fly zone No-mageddon:  The Washington, D.C. snow hole Snow Maggetin' Gipped The Snow Must Go On S'no Foolin' BONUS:  Have You Been Plowed? How many snowflakes are in a blizzard?  Is there a number big enough to represent a snow storm's parts?  Of course there is, and someone has created a table to show us this at thealmightyguru.com.  Here's the introduction: "Ever wonder what a number with 228 zeros after it is called? No? Well who asked you anyway? Actually, it's called a quinseptuagintillion. Duh! Here is a list of all the big numbers up till the infamous centillion. Just some more incredibly useless trivia for you from TheAlmightyGuru." I scrolled to the bottom and clicked on Pointless to see a page with  "all the useless knowledge I've posted over the course of my page. I've been told many times that I know too much about everything, and not enough about anything. As you can see from this page, it's pretty much true. I'll continue to update this page with more and more pointless data just so you'll know all sorts of things you never really cared to know in the first place. I'm doing this as a public service. You're welcome."