Oct 4 2024 - Goat Runs Half-Marathon

 

I saw this article yesterday - a pumpkin patch goat left the patch and joined the run in a half-Marathon in the Town of Conception Bay South in Newfoundland.  It ran 3 miles, at times in the lead position.   He joined the race when runners went past his home, Taylor's Pumpkin Patch. He has a full-time job, greeting visitors.  But this looked special, so he broke free from his tether and joined the racing crowd.  He was covered on Facebook live.  His owners realized what had happened.  He'd been so popular that they let him finish the race.   The Mayor awarded him a medal, and pictures were taken with the runners.  Joshua has been invited to the Saturday hockey game to drop the puck. Here's a Magnolia flower macro image.

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May 4 2024 - The Celebration Begins

 

Despite the silly questions on Google about May the 4th celebrations, this is a wonderful unofficial holiday.  We created it.  That's because a literature society who enjoys language can create celebrations independent of authority figures and groups.  We did it with Pie/PI day too.   At the official Star Wars Day site, there are Star Wars Day Recipes such as Jump to Hyperspace with a Cold Corellian Iced Coffee.  This isn't some cynical marketing - it wasn't a promotion originated by Lucasfilm. Wikipedia says:  "The first recorded reference of the phrase being used was on May 4, 1979, the day after Margaret Thatcher was elected as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Her political party, the Conservatives, placed a congratulatory advertisement in the Evening News saying "May the Fourth Be with You, Maggie. Congratulations." The first organized celebration of Star Wars Day took place in Toronto in 2011.  That's when the games became entrenched forever.  The Lucasfilm's marketing information now says that the days is related to Geek Pride Day.  That seems odd as the Geek pride Day doesn't refer back to Star Wars.  But Geek Pride Day does reference science fiction.  So here we are 47 years after the release of the first movie in the series. That seems like a long time to me. I expect other people will remember the opening as thought they were there yesterday.     All those little blossoms on the ground instead of making peaches on the tree.

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May 1 2024 - Universities vs Corporations

 

Can a student be suspended from a University for protesting?  That question came up in my mind yesterday as I read the articles on the protests across the U.S. and Canada.  But then I realized how complicated this research would be, so I have turned my attention to the Merry Month of May.   Joke of the Day:  A roman walks into a cafe holds up 2 fingers and gets 5 coffees.   Joke of the Day for Work:  Someone has stolen my Microsoft Office and they are going to pay for it... You have my Word.  Joke of the Day for the elderly:   An old man and a 20 year old are paired together at a golf tournament. They’re playing a long par 5 that dog legs around some tall trees. As the 20 year old sets up his tee shot to hit onto the fairway the old man notes “when I was your age we used to hit over the trees - not around to the side.” So the 20 year old readjusts and tries to hit over the trees - but can’t clear them and loses his ball. He tries again and loses that one too… Then the old man says “of course, when I was your age, the trees were only 6 foot tall.” Joke of the Day for elementary schoolers:   Why did the kid cross the playground? To get to the other slide.   Isn't this amazing?  I found this yesterday on Martin Street in Vineland.  This is the best ever combination of blossoms on the trees and on the ground.

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Apr 24 2024 - Cliffhanger Endings

 

We so enjoy great stories and we so enjoy suspense. I makes me wonder why I haven't I read any of the best cliffhangers of all time? I looked up the list of the top cliffhangers and don't seem to have read any of them:  Rose Gold by Walter Mosley One Day by David Nicholls The Maze Runner by James Dashner Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi Only a Monster by Maya Motayne Twin Crowns by Catherine Doyle & Katherine Webber Blade Breaker by Victoria Aveyard Oprah thinks the best one is Winter's Bone even though  it isn't on the list. It does come up in other lists.  Here's the description from the Oprah site: The Premise: In this literary page-turner, Ree Dolly's meth-cooking dad has skipped bail. If he doesn't show up for his next court date, then 16-year-old Ree, her two younger brothers and her mentally ill mother will lose their house. The search to find him involves poking into secrets that dangerous, neighboring families in the Ozarks would rather keep hidden.   Why the Ending Is a Stunner: Woodrell simultaneously resolves this heart-pounding—and heart-breaking—story and leaves you wondering what will happen next. But the real hook? Ree's acts of courage that leave you astounded by what a young girl will risk to save her family. — Dawn Raffel The summary itself doesn't have enough interest to make one want to read it. That's compared to first page first line where the writing is so compelling, one wants to read on.   A happy Camellia portrait today.

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Aug 19 2023 - In the Pink with Barbie

Since the Barbie Movie launched into our foreground, we've been treated to PINK.  To a specific Barbie Pink:   "The colour barbie pink (Pantone) using hexadecimal colour code #e0218a is a colour of magenta-pink. In the RGB colour model #e0218a is constituted of 87.84% crimson, 12.94% green and 54.12% blue." While Barbie came about in 1959, the pink signature colour came about in the 1970s. There is so much pink used in the movie that a global shortage of pink paint resulted. Barbie Pink has power over supply and demand. Lots of fun and low controversy in the Barbie colour realm.   But look!  That nose on the horizon!  There are accusations of "Jewface" in the headlines over Bradley Cooper's prosthetic and hugely prominent nose (according to reporters) to represent Leonard Bernstein. The press is ignoring this more than whether a straight actor can take on a gay role, as Leonard Bernstein was gay as is represented in the movie.  But that prosthetic nose is far more compelling than whether non-gays should play gay roles, and so on.  Leonard Bernstein's children defend Bradley Cooper endlessly in the headlines.  Barbie Pink is good fun.  Leonard Bernstein's nose is juicy stuff. This Sakura watercolour was combined into a montage with a textured image.  I don't see any Barbie Pink in this image - I just overlaid #e0218a and it is vividly magenta. Actually screamingly magenta - like a big prosthetic nose.

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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

May 2 2023 - Poodles in Everything

 

There are so many cross-breeds of dogs with poodles.     Aussiedoodle - offspring of an Australian Shepherd and a Poodle Cockapoo - offspring of a Cocker Spaniel and a Poodle Labradoodle - offspring of a Labrador and a Poodle Maltipoo - offspring of a Maltese and a Poodle and these: Cockapoo. A firm family favourite, the Cockapoo is a cross breed between a Cocker Spaniel and a Poodle Labradoodle Cavapoo Maltipoo Pomapoo Yorkie Poo Shih-Poo Bernedoodle There are over l40 different types of Poodle mixes or doodles.  Check them out here at the Martha Stewart article - they shed less so are popular with people who have allergies. And the inventor of this crossing?  It was Wally Conron and here's his conclusion:  "I opened a Pandora Box and released a Frankenstein monster. " Here are two of the blossom blur pictures. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

May 1 2023 - Throuples it is

 

The New York Times had a headline on the right way for a throuple to break up.  What is a throuple?  Spellcheck, like me, doesn't know - it thinks it is throttle or trouble.  I figured that was a good guess. Taylor offers this definition: “A throuple is a relationship between three people who have all unanimously agreed to be in a romantic, loving, relationship together with the consent of all people involved.” You may also hear a throuple referred to as a three-way relationship, triad, or closed triad. This is where those Frequently Asked Questions come in handy: What are the rules of a throuple? Do throuples sleep in the same bed? What's the difference between polyamory and throuple? Is it illegal to have a throuple? Can a throuple have a baby? I actually don't want all the answers, or even most of the answers.  There are full guide books to throuple relationships, as though a how-to book is needed.  Maybe that's because the answer to "How common are throuples?" is this:  one in six people express interest and one in nine have engaged in it at some point. That explains all the articles on stars who've been in throuples - there are so many that Cosmopolitan had an article on 11 celebrities who've "opened up about non-monogamy".  Those are the ones who want to talk about it. There are the "hottest celebrity throuples", "famous throuples in history", famous throuples on tiktok". So now that I am aware of this form of relationship, I look back at how I got here.  What got my attention was the word itself - a portmanteau word - blending two or more words.  Somehow throuple doesn't show up in the list on grammary.com HERE.   The word that did get attention and was fun is threepeat (three + repeat) – a situation or event with the same outcome three times, typically in reference to a sporting event, like a championship. So a person could have a threepeat throuple. This orchard is in Jordan and if you look at the far end - that's the QEW with trucks racing by.  I  stopped for some pictures because the trees were such interesting shapes.

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Mar 8 2023 - Pink for International Women's Day

 

The Bing picture today is the Madrid City Hall lit in pink for International Women's Day.  That now seems funny and ironic, given how pink and blue were interchanged colours to represent babies/children over the centuries.   And so it does seem amusing that the celebration of women should come with all kinds of associations.   I find out from a 2017 article that in China, "Little Pink" was a term for cyber-nationalists. This seems a complicated story.  We are aware of pink as the colour of Breast Cancer Awareness month, during which people wear a pink ribbon to honour survivors and those who have died of the disease. What about "Pinkwashing?" -  a term used to describe practices that appear to promote LGBTQ+ rights or breast cancer awareness to downplay negative aspects of a corporation or political entity. The term "pink tax" is also used to describe the fact that women often pay more for products marketed specifically for women.  Did you know that?  Go over to the men's shampoo and find it cheaper.   Sports teams sometimes paint the opposing team's locker room pink to keep the players passive and less energetic. The Iowa Hawkeyes have a pink visiting team locker room at their Kinnick Stadium conceived by Iowa coach Hayden Fry, who had majored in psychology at Baylor University. He believed that the all-pink room would mess with the minds of the opposing teams.  And there we are with some of the possibilities of pink on International Women's Day. There are lots of pink lilies. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Feb 23 2023 - AI is Coming and it terrifies me!

 

The New York Times had an article last week on an AI chatbot named Sydney and called it weird and creepy.  Sydney is "acting unhinged." Today it is Businessinsider.com and the author, Emily Senkosky is "terrified." Last year she was a writer for a company that was licensed to use the GPT-3 - its latest version is ChatGPT.   Her task in 2021 was to write an article in which she wrote a paragraph and the AI wrote a paragraph.  People were to guess which was which. Fast forward to the new version, she thought she'd assess where ChatGPT is now. And what terrified her?  "It was able to draw conclusions from the draft and write, dare I say, original ideas based on it, also using tactics for writing well, such as varying the length of the sentences. It even used some humanlike phrases to describe things, and most impressively, it was able to intuitively explain the limitations of its own abilities." So could we expect more creativity in the regurgitation of articles in the future? That's what I experience across the internet when researching a topic or story.  Today one can read the same paragraphs across all the publications that have reported on the story.  Lots of times the same mistakes get repeated - mistakes of fact, grammar and spelling.  That would be a benefit if the errors were corrected. What about this headline?  Russian hackers are trying to break into ChatGPT.  And this one:  Fraudsters are using machine learning to help write scam emails in different languages.  And this:  Business email compromise (BEC) gangs who pose as your boss, colleague or supplier and request urgent or important financial transfers to be made. One such scamming group is named Midnight Hedgehog and uses executive impersonation to deceive recipients into making payments for bogus services. But then I use Flexify to create abstracts like this one out of  pictures like the second one and think that's ok and even fun. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Feb 12 2023 - Super Bowl

 

What is the difference between dangerous sports and violent sports?  Is ice hockey more violent than football? Dangerous sports seem to me to entail deadliest.  Deadliest is countable.   When I look at this chart comparing danger, what should I think?  I laugh because it is hilarious to have fishing on the chart.  A non-contact, mostly non-competitive sport? Fishing injuries seem to be to be self-inflicted from poor use of a knife or simple falling.    The explanation for basketball on the top of the list is because of the many paediatric injuries, particularly the ankle.  But wouldn't football be more dangerous and violent given it ranks high on concussions?  Cycling is up there due to falls and collisions.  I wonder what the comparison of a fishing fall is to a cycling fall?  Again, a laughter reaction to fishing.  I wonder about this as today is the most popular and most-watched show on American screens.  Football.  The Super Bowl.   Guess what seems to be the Number 1 topic?  Surprise me - it is Betting.  The Half-time show - Rhiana.  It is expected to take longer than the minutes of play - likely 14 minutes compared to average of 11 minutes of play. The show's elapsed time is 4 hours.  How long is the national anthem at the Super Bowl?  Will it be short - at a minute and 34 seconds, or long as in two minutes and 35 seconds?  I find it an unmusical melody so am not a fan of having to listen to a long version.   And other things to know about the Super Bowl: 1. second-highest food consumption day 2. advertisements very expensive - this year's top advertiser is a Christianity group with Jesus Gets us at $20 million  3. high numbers watching - often the most watched show of the year 4. why those Roman numerals? they think it is less confusing (!) So many things to consider on this monumental sports day. We're coming up to Valentine's Day - here's a flowering heart.  Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

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Jan 18 2023 - Pink for boys..no girls

 

I wondered how we got to pink for girls and blue for boys.  And what made us gender-rigid in this respect.  Here's a picture of Franklin Roosevelt in a white dress, party shoes and long hair.  This was the norm in 1884 - gender-neutral.   It was in the 19th century, though, that colours became gender signifiers.   This is different than what has been published as the U.S. history.  But then I think that is because the research in the 1980s by Paolettis and a book published in 2011 get referenced over and over, turning into an urban legend.  "The march toward gender-specific clothes was neither linear nor rapid. Pink and blue arrived, along with other pastels, as colours for babies in the mid-19th century." "For example, a June 1918 article from the trade publication Earnshaw's Infants' Department said, “The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.” Other sources said blue was flattering for blonds, pink for brunettes; or blue was for blue-eyed babies, pink for brown-eyed babies, according to Paoletti." Wikipedia has a long survey of countries showing that pink has been generally used for girls and blue for boys.  Then it chronicles pink for boys and blue for girls. The earliest references are pink for girls and blue for boys - starting in the early 1800s to 1941.   For the blue for girls and pink for boys, scroll to the end and see the US is where the reversal is revealed in the ads.

Another close-up in the Niagara Falls conservatory.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca