Apr 26 2023 - Those Three Words

 

Are you the subject of sarcasm?  There's nothing like a "Harvard-trained etiquette expert" to guide you on how to reply.  What is Harvard doing training people in etiquette?  That's Sara Jane Ho's bio. It turns out her Harvard degree is an MBA.  She then went on to a Swiss finishing school.  And then on to an English degree, and now on to a Netflix series - Mind Your Manners.   So she's travelling in the professional realm that Emily Post made famous in the 1920s.  But there's no comparison between Emily Post and Sara Jane Ho to be found. There is lots written on her as she's quite the celebrity material. "Ms. Ho lives and runs Institute Sarita, the charm school she founded in 2012. With a curriculum that includes courses with names like “British Afternoon Tea,” “Pronunciation of Foreign Luxury Brands” and “Introduction to Expensive Sports,” Ms. Ho initially catered to nouveau riche Chinese interested in learning Western-style snobbery."   She's made a big impression in the U.S. with lots of coverage in the news.  What are those three words to reply to an insult?  They are:  "Are you okay?" Comparing her to Emily Post is possible as there is an Emily Post Institute with lots of advice:  "It’s OK to stand up to rude behavior as long as you don’t respond unkindly. Staying cool is the best way to make a point, and perhaps your good manners will be contagious. Here are some guidelines for responding to rude behavior—or not: Give the offender the benefit of the doubt Size up your announances Set a good example Encourage a positive response Laugh it off What I did notice at the Emily Post website is that one can get a signed copy of the NEW Emily Post's Etiquette Centennial edition.  Emily Post died in 1960.  More Cherry tree pictures today.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Diamond Time

Michael's sent me its first Fall Decor email.  We did not get out of the first week of August for the Back to School and Fall promotions. For some reason I wondered about the biggest diamond and what it is. The biggest diamond in the world is the Cullinan diamond - it is 3,106 carats and 1.3 pounds.  It was found in 1905 in the Premier Mine (now Cullinan Diamond Mine) in Pretoria South Africa by Thomas Evan Powell.  Today it is located in London and is on the head of England's royal Sceptre.  It is in the picture of Queen Elizabeth at her coronation.  You saw that a few days ago. This largest diamond became nine major stones and 96 smaller diamonds that were cut from it.  The Lesser Star of Africa is known as Cullinan II is part of the British crown jewels' Imperial State Crown.  These precious stones live in the Tower of London.  You can find out about Cullinan Mine diamonds - there are eight legends - HERE.  One of those stones is the Taylor-Burton Diamond given by Richard Burton to Elizabeth Taylor for her 40th birthday. The top 10 diamonds in the world are listed in this article HERE. The Cullinan shows up as number 3 worth 337 million euros.  At position 2 is The Sancy - considered priceless in that the diamond is so rare and expensive that an exact value is not known, and finally Koh-i-Noor - the finest white diamond discovered in 1294.  It means "mountain of light" in Persian and was 'confiscated' by the British East India Company and now the property of the British Crown.  The possible value is over 1 billion euro - that's almost 1.5 billion Canadian dollars. De Beers began a marketing campaign in 1938 that caused the diamond engagement ring craze. So diamonds have been popular ever since. The most diamonds set into one ring?  It would be 7,777 in India on May 7, 2019. It is the "Lotus Ring".  How about the biggest bling ever:  a $500,000 watch with 15,000 diamonds.  That's another Guinness record. In 2018, a Coca-Cola bottle-shaped handbag was covered with 9,888 diamonds.  It has the record for most diamonds set on a handbag.  And there is a Gibson guitar with 11,441 diamonds.  There are pages and pages of diamond jokes.  Here's an excellent example: A lady enters a jeweller's and says "You sold my husband a diamond ring yesterday but it's the wrong size". "No problem madam, we can adjust the finger size easily". "Oh, you don't understand, you sold him a one carat size, and I take a five carat size".

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Ermine for Sure

I had a dream last night and in it Queen Elizabeth II appeared in her Royal Robes.  In particular, I wondered about ermine and its white coat. Ermines are a type of weasel with white fur and a black-tipped tail - that's their winter coat.  The black-tipped tail takes on great meaning in heraldry. The Queen's coronation robes featured precious materials including: silk, mantua, satin, damask, sarsnet, cloth-of-gold and ermine. Needlework is of the finest detail.  An encyclopaedic knowledge of the symbolism and history of previous coronations ensures that the coronation robe embraces modernity whilst paying respectful homage to centuries of tradition. This comes from the website that supplies these special robes to Sovereigns, Peers, and others since 1689.   Ede & Ravenscroft says the tradition has barely changed in 1,000 years.  "Ede & Ravenscroft is proud to hold all three Royal Warrants, an honour shared by only a small number of other companies.  We are currently appointed as robe makers and tailors to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and robe makers for both His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh and His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales." Isn't this the most beautiful photo from their website?   And what transpires from all this pomp and circumstance?  It becomes the source of satire with Blackadder and his Ermine coat in the episode "Dish and Dishonesty". Here's the summary:  "Blackadder purchases an expensive robe which he believes to be made of ermine fur. Then, however, he discovers a feline's collar decorating the coat which is inscribed with the words "If found, please return to Emma Hamilton, Marine Parade, Portsmouth".  Infuriated, Blackadder announces that he is going to a costume party dressed as "Lady Hamilton's pussy!" Our flower of the day is Echinacea, with the common name Coneflower.  This one was at Cole's Garden Centre.

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June 6 - English vs Language Families

We in the English-speaking group don't think about other language families.  English seems to be dominant in so many areas that we might not even think about other languages. How many language families are there?  There are 141 language families and 7,111 living human languages within the 141 different families.   Membership of languages is established by comparative linguistics.  Just like plants - they are said to have a genetic or genealogical relationship.  We also don't think about which is the most-spoken language.  That's because English is dominant in many communications.  It's 983 million speakers fall behind Mandarin Chinese with 1.1 billion speakers.  Next is Hinustani at 544 million.  Another retrieval says that there are 1.121 billion speakers of English and 1.107 billion speakers of Chinese.  Or perhaps there are as many as 1.5 billion using English to some extent.  The native English speakers number 375 million. What would the scenario be like if Chinese surpassed English in Global speakers?  How would that change things?   When I worked in computers, the universal language for comments and descriptions is English - computer code is required to have English descriptors.  I worked on a project where the software was developed in Morocco and it was written in French, so it would not be allowed in a government department given it failed this mandatory requirement.  I wonder how many fields and professions require English for similar things. I would think that STEM would be the area that requires a common set of standards and practises.  The Oxford-Royale.co.uk side says this is the case - 80% of scientific texts are written in English.  Academia, Online businesses, Tourism, Diplomacy, management consultancy and finally Finance are the top areas that require good English.  So I guess that covers a lot of jobs around the world. Look at the 'trunk' on this bonsai azalea at Longwood.

Life Experiences with Elvis

If I were a younger person, would I use this service?  Lifexperiences.ca will help me find an 'experience' and send it as a gift.  If we look at the Lifestyle section, there are experiences such as: Axe Throwing in Saint Anns 30 Day Yoga Adventure - For Two Learn to Shop like a Pro Home-staging to sell OR Home-staging to stay My own idea is the following:  Did you know that there is a Niagara Falls Elvis Festival from April 20 - 22?  This is its second year.  There are gala shows, an Elvis Competition, delicious food, fun times and cool surprises, according to the website.  And then there is the Niagara Falls, with its thunderous water, flowers, and attractions. How many Elvis Festivals are there?  There's the Official Elvis Festival, at Lake George, New York.  There's one in Collingwood, Las Vegas, Texas, Georgia, and more.  Did you know that the largest festival is in Collingwood, Ontario?  It's in July.  If we were visiting Australia, the festival is January 9 - 13th next year.    There is an Elvis Week in Memphis in August.  It includes a candlelight vigil celebration.  Or watch the coverage here and see Elvis' comeback performance.  There's so much Elvis to go around that there is Elvis Radio - it is a station that plays Elvis 24/7.  That's a lot of Elvis music having been recorded.  Quora lists 523 albums and approximately 784 songs.   Some pretty pink lilies today.

I didn't know what epoch it was, then I met you

This news just in from the Guardian: The Anthropocene epoch:  scientists declare dawn of human-influenced age "Humanity’s impact on the Earth is now so profound that a new geological epoch – the Anthropocene – needs to be declared, according to an official expert group who presented the recommendation to the International Geological Congress in Cape Town on Monday. The new epoch should begin about 1950, the experts said, and was likely to be defined by the radioactive elements dispersed across the planet by nuclear bomb tests, although an array of other signals, including plastic pollution, soot from power stations, concrete, and even the bones left by the global proliferation of the domestic chicken were now under consideration. The current epoch, the Holocene, is the 12,000 years of stable climate since the last ice age during which all human civilisation developed. But the striking acceleration since the mid-20th century of carbon dioxide emissions and sea level rise, the global mass extinction of species, and the transformation of land by deforestation and development mark the end of that slice of geological time, the experts argue. The Earth is so profoundly changed that the Holocene must give way to the Anthropocene." And so our images today are of the 'spring' of our new age.

Romantic Flowers and Romance of the Railroad

Niagara seems to be spared the massive storm that has engulfed the Eastern U.S. At Grimsby Beach yesterday, the shore ice crowded into the beach, with the ducks and geese standing around instead of floating.  In some places there are ice banks forming between the water and the shore. In a typical year, there's 15 to 16 per cent ice coverage on the lakes.  There's almost no ice formation in the Lake so far this year. I found out that there are 16 types of ice.  They are labeled I through XVI.  Ice IV is the kind we have in our freezers.  Ice III is denser than water, and would sink if put in a glass.  I don't remember learning about this in school.  I wonder if any of you covered this. We all know, though, that ice is everywhere in space, and that it is a signal of possible life on a planet. Our pictures today show warmer times. I've included the cover and images of the Romance of the Railroad Calendar available on Redbubble. The site is listed in the bottom section of the email. There's also a Romance of the Railroad portfolio on my site there.