Dec 17 2024 - Under the Microscope

 

Things in the science news are quite astonishing.  Here's an item:  The world's fastest microscope was introduced in August 2024.  It snaps images at attoseconds.  That is a billionth of a billionth of a second.  It is called attomicroscopy.  That means they can see things no one else has seen before.   It is described HERE at Science News.  I had to look up attosecond.  Here's the definition:  An attosecond is equal to 10^-18 or 1/1,000,000,000,000,000,000 (one quintillion) of a second. It is an extremely short pulse of light, lasting 0.000000000000000001 of a second. Attosecond physics allows scientists to study the very smallest particles at the very shortest timescales We are just getting used to billions with the rich billionaires in the world.  Next will come trillions - again the stuff of budgets and stock evaluations.  I wonder when we  will we read the first quintillion? There currently are no quintillionaires.  How could someone become a quintillionaire?   build a galactic corporate empire invent matter replication discover infinite energy own the first general artificial superintelligence What would a quintillionaire do with that money? buy the entire planet earth - we are only worth $300 trillion now purchase 16 million tons of gold at $60 billion per ton give every human on earth over $100,000  buy out every major company int he world construct millions of life-size cities This fascinating information came from Resto NYC HERE. So looking at this beach - what do you think in terms of quintillions?  Determining the number involves wide variations in size of beach and conditions. One site says that an average beach would have 7.5 quintillion grains of sand.

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Feb 7 2023 - Caution with Swear Words

 

Can this be the case?  That 80-90 words a day that a person speaks are curse words.  First person plural pronouns make up 1% and curse words 0.5% to 0.7%.   Here are google questions:  What is the D word? What is the F word? What is the E word? What is the J word? Bing answers the question right away 44 and then 35 English swear words that you should use carefully.  To explore further  these are the headlines: Rare and amusing insults, the alphabet of swearing, 21 amazing forgotten curse words, 21 vintage curse words, 77 of the best dirty words from around the world.  Wikipedia says:  Words currently considered curse words or profanity were common parlance in medieval English.  the use of shit in English is much older, rooted in the Proto-Germanic word skit-, then evolved in Middle English to the word schitte, meaning excrement, and shiten, to defecate. Another profanity, damn, has its origins in Latin, with the word damnum meaning 'to damage, hurt or harm'. There is a big paragraph of swear words in the Urban Dictionary.  Their definition says that swear words are words that can be used to piss people off. And below that definition it says they are words people use when they are not smart enough to think of anything better:  why kids aren't as intelligent these days. Wikipedia in its analytical way says there are five possible types rather than just one  - abusive, cathartic, dysphemistic (conveys that the speaker thinks negatively of the subject matter) , emphatic and idiomatic.   But what is it about Croatia and the  J word? There are so many that they call it the J family. 1) Jebote Translation: f*ck Meaning: oh c'mon / what the f*ck / I can’t believe this / are you hearing this? 2) Jebemu Translation: f*ck it Meaning: this sucks / I’m so sorry / hang in there / sh*t.  3) Jebiga Translation: F*ck it. Meaning: eh / what can you do And so on. There are 10 in all HERE.   The Wiktionary has an alphabetical list of English words HERE.  It seems decidedly incomplete to me.    I was colourizing Florida sand pictures yesterday - they look like aerial shots of landscapes to me.  Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Feb 4 2023 - Sad Dog Day

 

Sad Day after the wonders of Groundhog Day. Fred la Marmotte was found dead before he could predict which way winer is going.  I wouldn't expect he died just before.   The assumption is that he died during hibernation.  Somehow the map still has a prediction for him.  That turns out to be quite the norm. Missing groundhog, human substitution. That was the fate of Wiarton Willie (IV) in 2020.  The Wiartons were the albino groundhogs.  It wasn't publicly announced until November 2021.  His replacement became the first brown groundhog to assume the role.  There have been quite a few "Willies" since the original died in 1999 after 22 years - a very long time for a groundhog.   Here's the Wiarton Groundhog Day reported origin: The story of Wiarton Willie dates back to 1956. A Wiarton resident named Mac McKenzie wanted to showcase his childhood home to his many friends, so he sent out invitations for a "Groundhog Day" gathering. One of these invitations fell into the hands of a Toronto Star reporter. The reporter travelled to Wiarton looking for the Groundhog Day event. None of the townspeople knew about a festival, but one suggested he check at the Arlington Hotel, the local watering hole. There the reporter found McKenzie and his friends partying and was invited to join them. The next day, the reporter lamented to McKenzie that he needed some kind of story to take back to justify his expenses. So McKenzie grabbed his wife's fur hat, which had a large button on the front, went out to the parking lot, dug a burrow in the snow and pronounced a prognostication (which no one remembers). The picture of Mac and the hat ran in the February 3, 1956 edition of the Toronto Star. A year later, about 50 people arrived for the festival. Half were reporters from various media, including the CBC and Canadian Press. Seizing on the opportunity, McKenzie invented a festival that has been added to over the years. In May 2003, two of Wiarton II's Wee Willies (successors in training) disappeared. They were found dead in the burrow where they resided with Willie. Because groundhogs are known to be territorial animals, Willie was suspected of killing the two, an allegation that was never proven. Francesca Dobbyn, who looked after the groundhogs, informed her immediate supervisor who chose not to inform the Wiarton city council of the incident, fearing bad publicity; the council agreed to allow Dobbyn to keep her job despite the scandal. Our picture today is ripples in the sand on the beach in Florida. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

July 11 2022 - Sand Art Summer

 

Look at that picture from the CBC article on Jim Denevan's sand art in Tofino, B.C.  The artist creates these to be washed away, but preserves the art with various pictures - especially from a helicopter.  There will  be satellite images to capture it too.   The intention was for this one to be washed away on the weekend.  There's the news story rush before it happens and then silence.  I assume the tides came in on time.  His website bio says he is an artist, chef, and founder of Outstanding in the Field.  "His life and art are the subject of the recently released film Man in the Field (2021), wherein director Patrick Trefz charts Denevan’s experiences over a period of eight years, exploring themes of process, grief, and discovery. Denevan lives in Santa Cruz, California." At the other end of the scale is sand artist James Sun in Toronto who uses a needle and a spoon to create sand art in glass jars.  His website is Fallinginsand.com and he showcases his work with time-lapse photography  of the creation of the art.  You can see this at tiktok.com/@fallinginsand.

You don't get to Niagara-on-the-Lake without crossing over the Welland Canal.  The bridge was up when I got to the Carlton Street bridge. The wait is usually 10 - 20 minutes. It is a long enough wait that there's a sign that says turn engine off.   So I got out of the car and went over to the fence to watch this boat come through.  I  turned around the car and went to the Lakeshore Bridge.  That's because another boat was coming the other way into the lock and it was going to take another 15 or 20 minutes before the bridge came down again.  That was garden tour in Niagara-on-the-Lake day, and no time to contemplate the Great Lake tankers. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

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June 16 2022 - Sand Dunes in Ontario

 

Are there Sand Dunes in Ontario?  The best known is Sandbanks Provincial Park in Picton.  The park is considered one of the best sandy beaches in Ontario and contains the largest bay-mouth barrier dune formation in the world. The 1,550.87-hectare (3,832.3-acre) park was established in 1970 and operates year round. Birdwatching, camping, cycling, fishing, and swimming are among the activities available in the park.  This sand dune came about 12,500 years ago, formed by glaciers. They drifted inland with timber cutting and poor farming practices.  In 1881, the West Point Road was buried under 30 metres (98 ft) of sand and the town of Athol, Ontario was forced to relocate after facing a similar event. In the 1920s, Sandbanks was the site of an intense reforestation project. The sand dunes extended over a further 34 hectares (85 acres). To recreate the Carolinian forest that had pre-existed there, the reforestation project used poplar to prevent the sand dunes from burying roads and orchards. The park has capacity limits and the Wikipedia entry says that these are commonly reached by 10 am.  You have to book a day use reservation to get in at all.  That's a busy place.  In the Q and A here's a question that got my attention: Q The beach is really busy.  What else can I do at the park? A  Try another beach, take a hike, go for a paddle. Ha ha! The next choice of sand dunes might be Sandhill Park is on the north shore of Lake Erie at Port Burwell.  It is under 2 hours drive compared to the over 3 hours to get to Sandbanks.  Closer, but less scenic.  Accessible without the warnings of of reservations.  Definitely worth considering. Our pictures today show Florida's sandy beach patterns and the sand dunes in Colorado.

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April 14 2021 - Feet of Art - the Art of Foot

 

So many ways to make art these days.  But then Simon Beck has been creating outdoor art in the snow since 2004.  Vast patterns in the snow in various mountainous areas - he lives in the French Alps.The article I read had him in the U.S. Rocky Mountains creating winter art for the town of Silverthorne.   "Days into his Silverthorne stint, Beck has only finished a couple of “drawings,” as he calls them. The wind has thus far wiped away everything he started, and on some days has even prevented him from going out altogether. But that’s the nature of the job, and he’s used to it."  That article is HERE - with its wonderful pictures of is work.  Another kind of art by foot is made by Stan Herd.  He is an American crop artist whose work is carved on the landscape as well as on fine art prints.  He received a lot of press last year with a crop portrait of Kama Harris.  His work is made from native plants and other natural materials.  His Young Woman of China contained marble, granite and the province’s natural stone. It also incorporates dirt, plants, rice paddies and other materials native to the region.  I wonder how long these last.   And then there are corn maze designers.  Dan Frantz is one of these.  The Amazing Maize Maze 2019 locations are listed with pictures HERE.  There don't seem to be any updates anywhere since then - there are many in the eastern U.S., and mostly New York state. And then there is sand art - the "most famous" is Sudarsan Pattnaik - he has received dozens of awards for his sea shore sand art.  He has his own sand art institute.  Many of his sculptures are three-dimensional.  Simon Beck, of snow fame above, has entered this realm as well.  Andres Amador, based in San Francisco is another sand artis who draws large-scale patterns in the ocean sand.  As you can imagine, these are temporary. Pictures of his work are HERE.  We started this journey with Nico Laan back in November.  His work is created in the sand at the sea shore. His website says:  "An anamorphosis is a representation that you have to look at from a specific point of view. With 3D objects this gives a spatial effect and with flat subjects a certain 'friction'. Later on I started to focus more on 'ordinary' drawings, which do not require a special point of view. The challenge lies in finding a camera position in which landscape and drawing reinforce each other." Our Niagara Blossom Trail has started.  The first two pictures are on Stewart Road - that's on the NOTL side of the Welland Canal just south of the Lakeshore Road.  I wonder if this orchard is Apricots as I have seen only a few early ornamental cherries in bloom in front gardens. Yesterday's sky was excellent - beautiful blue sky to the north and dark grey to the south.  I drove on Church Road, and found this uprooted orchard.  It looks like a horrible natural disaster to see these scenes.  But as the many transport trucks drive along Stewart Road, it is a reminder of the industrialization of all things.  Maybe that's what got me looking into the foot artists today - those who work in the landscape itself. Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Nov 2 2020 - Of Sand and Sea

 

Gerry found an artist who paints in the sand on the ocean shore.  He is Nico Laan.  His website says: "An anamorphosis is a representation that you have to look at from a specific point of view. With 3D objects this gives a spatial effect and with flat subjects a certain 'friction'. Later on I started to focus more on 'ordinary' drawings, which do not require a special point of view. The challenge lies in finding a camera position in which landscape and drawing reinforce each other."   Vast on the landscape, these transfix our attention.  His website is HERE. It includes a short video and images of how the drawings are used to guide the work, the grid is created and the trenches are dug for the lines.    In 2020 alone he's created 6 works.  The top one, Waterline is one of these, and the next one, Sandmen was created in 2019. The bucket is titled Water to the Sea and created in 2014. Today's picture is my Acer Palmatum Osakazuki out front - this year it has the reddest of red leaves as is the promise of this gorgeous Japanese Maple.  It too is transfixing.

April 8th 2020 - How Clean is Clean Enough?

There's a book with the title The Germ Code and the same author has written The Germ Files.  Jason Tetro is a microbiologist. The Germ Code's Amazon Intro: Since the dawn of the human race, germs have been making us sick. Whether the ailment is a cold, the flu, diabetes, obesity or certain cancers, the likely cause is germs. Our ancient enemies have four families - bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa - and many names: Ebola, E. coli, salmonella, norovirus, gonorrhea. Human beings are engaged in a "war on germs," in which we develop ever-more sophisticated weapons and defensive strategies. But it is a war we can never win. Our best plan for staying as healthy is to choose our battles carefully, and try to co-exist with germs as best we can.  In comparison, The Germ Files will answer your questions about everything from preventing flu to selecting probiotics, while constantly surprising you with revelations about the miraculous workings of the microscopic world. Here's some of the everyday advice we can take from him in an article HERE. Towels:  It depends on the room. Bath towels become loaded with bacteria (including staph and fecal) and if your towel doesn’t fully dry, that bacteria can grow. Plus, dandruff-causing fungi can also grow in them, Rapinchuk recommends swapping out bath towels every other day. Your kitchen towels collect bacteria every time you handle food and wash your hands. Tetro recommends washing those weekly, unless you handled raw meat. In that case, wash the towel immediately. Doorknobs:  Once a week (in some rooms). Though doorknobs accumulate a lot of bacteria, they need only need to be washed infrequently, says Rapinchuk. However, doorknobs in the bathroom and the kitchen are bound to catch a lot more bacteria, so disinfecting them at least once a week might be a good idea, especially if there’s an illness in the house. Sinks:  Every day. Even if they look clean, sinks can get really gross — Tetro says the bathroom sink accumulates fecal matter (from washing your hands after you use the bathroom). Also, bacteria from food, like E.Coli and Salmonella, can contaminate the kitchen sink, especially if you’ve been handling raw meat. When water splashes back up onto your hands, they’re contaminated, too. To stay on the safe side, wipe down your sinks daily. Today's picture comes from Fine Art America, where I have a gallery.  It was taken at Salt Spring Island, where sand and stone meet at the beach to create an abstract image.

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Dirty Art

Yesterday we looked at the simplest of shapes.  Today we look at the places where art occurs - simple places, mundane places - our cars. How do car windows intersect with art? We don't think of them as walls where we can hang canvases.  Scott Wade does.  He has become famous for his drawings which are created using the dirt found on car windows.  Being from Texas, there is lots of it there. He's known internationally as The Dirty Cart Artist.  Here is his story on how he began: "I lived on a long, dirt road in Central Texas for over 20 years. Since our cars were always dirty, I would often “doodle” in the dust on the rear windows of our cars. My father was a great amateur cartoonist and I must have picked that up from him, because my natural tendency was always to draw funny faces. I started experimenting with ways to get shading. At first I would use the pads of my fingers and brush very lightly to get “grey” tones. One time I was chewing on a popsicle stick, and I tried using the chewed up end as a brush. I liked the effect, so I started trying paintbrushes, and eventually developed the techniques I use today. Nowadays, I use a rubber “paint-shaper” tool and assorted brushes (and of course my fingers)." His site is http://www.dirtycarart.com  Here are some great examples of his work. There are a lot of people with Scott's creativity and innovation. I took a look for other mediums that people use to create art.  Here's the link - the pictures are essential to the STORY.  What kinds of things have been used to create art?  chewing gum jello garbage plastic carry bags medicine bottles vinyl records discarded lottery tickets pantone paint chips We have a Strasburg Train picture today, and it reminds me that there is 'smoke art'.

So Many Footprints in the Sand

These footprints are bigger than bird tracks in the sand.  We got to see repair work on stairs that go down to the shore. This was on the unit a few doors down.  How does something this large get onto the beach? Lucky for this house there is an empty lot a few doors down for access.  You can see the tracks up the incline.   While we face the sunrise, the sunset colours also show in the sky and water, and the last two pictures are from yesterday's sunset.