Apr 8 2023 - Sliding In

 

Did changing the baseball rules get the results they wanted?  There were dozens of articles on what the rule changes are so I became very familiar with what was about to transpire.   I thought I'd find out what the results are and found one article - from Sports Illustrated on the results.  Given they are the sports source, it was a great article. And they say the new rules make the game more exciting.  Which is what they wanted. The first benefit was that the Dodgers and Angels game took just over two hours instead of three hours. The pitch timer cut 25 minutes of dead time out of minor league games.  And another big question?  Would they sell less in concession sales with those big dollar beers?  They had no significant decline.  Fans had already been leaving the game early before the end.  Now the game is ending on time. There were more good results from the changes, too. The article says that the game has returned to its aesthetic best - that was in the 198os. The article is HERE.  I have to think there might be hope in America - if baseball can make changes, think what might be possible next!   This is a bit of scuffed and scraped street curb and I have it a spring colour makeover. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

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Dec 29 2022 - goodgoodgood

 

There are a few good news websites, and I guess there are quite a few.  I found this one -goodgoodgood.co - it must have had trouble find a "good" website name. What was the good news of 2022?  I found it hard to figure out so abandoned that when I saw these children's t-shirts for the nth time in the last few days.   They are creepy optical illusions, I suppose. There are good news websites, and I guess there are quite a few.  I found this one -goodgoodgood.co - it must have had trouble find a "good" website name. What was the good news of 2022?  I found it hard to figure out from the website.  I abandoned that when I saw these children's t-shirts for the nth time in the last few days.   They are creepy optical illusions or perhaps the latest in aliens arising.    This may be the new t-shirt trend.  Will it become on the the top seller in 2023?  What are the most imports T-shirts historically.  Here they are: Kiss Me, I'm Irish‍. I “Heart” NY. I'm With Stupid. Keep Calm and Carry On. The Rolling Stones. Vote For Pedro. Jurassic Park / Ghostbusters‍ Charlie Brown‍ What about those Kevin t-shirts I see around?  Which Kevin is this?  Is it one of the 25 famous people named Kevin - e.g. Kevin Hart, Kevin Durant, Kevin Gates, Kevin Alvarez, or Kevin Joans.  Lots named Kevins.   Could it be Kevin's Famous Chili?  This is a popular scene from The Office.   But I suspect this Kevin falls a distant third to the most famous fictional Kevins.   I  think the contest for the top Kevin is between Kevin in Home Alone vs Kevin the Minion in Despicable Me.   Kevin in Home Alone has a fashion designer for a mom and a securities company executive for a dad (or maybe a day trader).  There's a Home Alone family tree.  That's how important Kevin is.  He's like Royalty. Kevin the Minion has the occupation of "henchman".   His family tree is listed as the Gru Family.   That's the father and children - I guess the Despicable One Family.  What about the Minion Family - they are a males species of fictional yellow creatures.  Can they have a family tree?  How important is Kevin, the Minion?  While we know they left their home country of Switzerland in favour of a new life in America during the late 1960s,  they have in fact existed since the beginning of life on Earth. Which t-shirt to get - the creepy puppy t-shirt or a Kevin  t-shirt? This is a carved  stone pathway at Bellevue Botanic Garden, outside Seattle.  I colourized the sections to bring out the surface textures.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Sep 27 2022 - Troipcal Storms

 

Storms are all around us - and all around the world.  They demand our attention and action.  Based on a 30-year climate period from 1991 to 2020, an average eastern Pacific hurricane season has 15 named storms, 8 hurricanes, and 4 major hurricanes.  An average of ten tropical storms develop over the Atlantic Ocean, Carribean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico each year. Many of these remain over the ocean. Six of these storms become hurricanes each year.  "Since the year 957, there have been at least 12,791 recorded tropical or subtropical cyclones in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, which are known as basins."  I haven't found any information about that typhoon in 957 which is listed to have killed 10,000 people.  I have found that the early recorders of typhoons were the Chinese: As early as the fifth century AD, the typhoon had been recognized by the people of southern China as a distinct meteorological phenomenon. A specific term, ju or jufeng, was accordingly coined, with rather accurate specifications given to it. A typhoon that struck the coastal city of Mizhou in Shandong Province of northern China in AD 816 is the earliest recorded tropical cyclone landfall in China, and perhaps also in the world. The typhoon as a weather phenomenon was frequently mentioned, described, and discussed in many works, including history books, poems and government documents, in the ninth century AD. What's the biggest storm that we know of?  It is the Great Red Spot on Jupiter.  It is a persistent high-pressure region in the atmosphere of Jupiter, producing an anticyclonic storm that is the largest in the Solar System. Located 22 degrees south of Jupiter’s equator, it produces wind-speeds up to 432 km/h (268 mph). Observations from 1665 to 1713 are believed to be of the same storm; if this is correct, it has existed for at least 356 years.

Here's a montage landscape image turned into an interpretation of a tropical storm.  Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

April 9 2020 - Volcanoes Erupting

The Japanese Sakurajima volcano erupted on April 6th sending plumes of ashes into the sky.  I didn't even see it in the news.  There were 15 explosions between the 2nd and the 6th of April. It was in a report of weekly volcanic activity on the website Volcano Discovery.  What a website - packed full of stuff.  It does not have the look and feel of other websites, so I checked it out.  This is what it has to say about itself: "www.VolcanoDiscovery.com is a complex website with many facets:  - First of all, it represents the (very) small private tour operator company, founded by Dr. Tom Pfeiffer back in 2004, which offers geologic-interest walking and study tours and expeditions to active volcanoes world-wide.  - In addition, this website has grown a lot with a large section about volcanoes, volcano news, volcano photos and recently, earthquakes all over the world." I find out that there are 20 volcanoes actively erupting on any particular day in the world.  So far there have been 49 confirmed eruption during 2020 from 49 different volcanoes.  They are in France, Costa Rica, Ecuador, the Philippines, Japan, United States, Russia, and so on. While it seems a lot, volcanic activity hasn't not been increasing over time. The authority on the subject is the Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program - which is HERE.  They maintain a database of volcanoes along with activity.  While the Sakurajima eruption isn't listed on the activity page, the site message is that due to COVID-19 they are working from home.   I wonder about volcano jokes.  I can't imagine a topic without its own jokes.  Here are three for volcanoes. A man phoned to find out whether he could get insurance if the nearby volcano erupted. They assured him he would be covered. Scientists say that the Yellowstone super-volcano is overdue for an eruption. Apparently the volcano has eruptile dysfunction. What kind of dessert comes out of a musical volcano? Bach Lava I went looking through my database for any volcano abstracts.  There is quite a selection -  rust, peeling paint and scratches on all kinds of surfaces.

Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://www.blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Wherefrom that Surname of Lightfoot

I wondered what the origin of Gordon Lightfoot's surname is.  We watched the documentary about him last night. The surname is derived from Old English and means light foot and likely an occupation as a messenger. The Lightfoot migration to Canada can be traced to Henry Lightfoot landing in Nova Scotia in 1749.  A subsequent record indicates Richard Lightfoot came to St. John NB in 1784. A Lightfoot family was aboard the ship "billow" in 1833.  Gordon Lightfoot has a busy tour schedule that shows dates into October 2020.  He was born in November 1938, so over 80 years old now. That makes another folk-rock/country music musician/composer who is still active.  Here we are at Christmas with the Poinsettias about to arrive at the Fantasy of Trees display.  What a comparison with the American  experience where Thanksgiving has yet to arrive. I found a few abstracts from past years to remind us of the textures and shapes of their 'leaves/petals'.

Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Eugene and Delilah

The name Eugene and the the field of eugenics trace from the same origin - Greek - to be 'well-born'.  This seems like a vintage name to me. Baby-naming trends remain somewhat stable: Liam and Emma continue to be the most popular names.  Noah, William, James and Oliver and then Olivia, Ava, Isabella and Sophia. But "vintage" names are moving up. Arthur has jumped back into popular names after almost 100 years since it was last listed.  There's Calvin,  Emerson, Amos, Edgar, Chester, Tucker for boys. What about Ada?  It started a comeback in 2018. Then there's Delilah, Ayla, Zoe, Margot and Felicity. Supposedly researchers had found that names influence the choice of profession, where we live, whom we marry, grades achieved, and so on.  The original study took place in 1948 and was widely repeated, always finding that unusual names were more likely to have 'flunked' out of Harvard or to have exhibited signs of psychological neurosis, and so on.   But the link between names and longevity, career choice and success, geographic and marriage preferences, and academic achievement has been questioned and disproven.  What has been proven is that names 'signal' things - like ethnicity, wealth, and country of origin and give a sense of economic status.  And then the receiver treats the person as such.   So the likely question parents should ask is:  What signals does this name send and what does it imply?    That would be useful for parents who name their daughter Delilah. Today's images are of driftwood on the beach in Salt Spring Island.

Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com

Surfacing Attention

Yesterday's picture became a topic of conversation.  The term I used for it is 'grunge'.  It describes abstract images based on everyday wear and tear - scratches, bumps, and bruises in the environment.  Peeling paint, rust and decay blossom into new forms.  To create these abstract images, one has to be on the alert in everyday places.  Often one has to use a macro lens and look really closely.  And there is the requirement to compose the image. Where are some of these places? The turquoise image is the edge of a donation bin box in my Toronto neighbourhood.  I found several of these boxes around Toronto, so have a mini series.  The one beside it is from the side of a transport truck.  What about the squares?  They are graffiti on a parkette chess table at Bathurst and Bloor.  The angel wings were on a Toronto city truck on Victoria Avenue.  I saw that truck a few times.  And the winter trees - a recycle bin that is bruised.  What about the Vogue Model?  She was on a pylon in the street in Montreal. The black, red and white peeling sign was a real estate sign in Grimsby.  The green bubbling paint was on a dumpster in Grimsby that had been set on fire.  Cement shows interesting wear, and the last image is a handicapped parking sign on the road.  The car wrecker's yard south on Victoria Street in Vineland had many old cars with good peeling paint, and the boat yard in Port Dalhousie has hulls with worn and weathered layers of interesting colours of paint.   The patterns of landscapes, trees, hillsides, clouds, and interesting curves and angles are consistent in the wear and tear.  Waves in the ocean and peeling plastic seem the same patterns.  Suns, moons and stars start to appear, along with rainbows on burnt metal.  Rust is its own topic - new rust makes the angel wings, so is highly desirable.  There are a number of rusty sheds in Niagara - particularly at Calamus Winery.  The Flat Rock Cellars has named one of its wines after its shed - The Rusty Shed. It has been an interesting exploration.  I named these series Urban Extractions and Surfacing Attention and wrote an article on the experience.  It is posted on my Redbubble site HERE.

On the Street Where You Live

We will all be travelling/driving a little more around Christmas time.  Shopping increases; there are more visits with friends; the family Christmas dinner brings people together from different areas. I was driving in my little town of 30,000 people and came across the corner of Ontario and Adelaide Streets - made me think of Toronto as it has that intersection.  Street names can follow us in our travels.  We moved from Toronto's Sunnylea area to Grimsby's Sunnylea Crescent. In Toronto we lived in The Kingsway - we can drive on Kingsway Crescent in Grimsby. There is the intersection of Victoria and Front Street in Niagara-on-the-Lake, like in Toronto.  There is a Yonge Street on the escarpment, but sadly no Yonge and Bloor intersection.   So I went in search of the authoritative guide to the most common street names in Canada.  The article is at the10and3.com website.   This website's mission is to tell compelling and unusual stories about Canada through maps, interactive charts and other interesting visualizations, so I encourage you to read the story on street names. I am familiar with street names in Ontario.  However, the article notes: "there are 7,204 kilometers between Victoria and St. John's Newfoundland, and 4,529 Kilometres between Alert, Nunavut in the north and Windsor, Ontario in the south".  So my Ontario experience is limited - every Ontario town has an Ontario Street. The most popular/common street name:  Second. That turns out to be the most popular street name in America as well.  Numerical street names are six of the top ten street names.  The Canadian distinction?  Maple! Statistics Canada's Road Network Files for 2015 were the data source for the analysis - and the popular categories of street names were: numbers, nature, people, royalty, and other. Why isn't First the most common street name?  They tell us it is because Second Street will often come after whatever serves as a city's primary thoroughfare.  Front Street  and Main Street are common for the primary street. What's the distinction of 50th Avenue and 50th Street - it originated in Alberta and serves as the midpoint of many urban municipalities in the province.  It was a popular and easy navigation system in earlier times.  "It comes as little surprise that names of royal descent appear on the list before those of famous Canadians. Victoria (501), King (479) and Queen (371) are more common than any historic Canadian, a testament to our enduring if not complicated ties to the British monarchy. After all, Queen Victoria has 501 streets named after her and a federal holiday to boot, while Canada’s first Prime Minister, John A. MacDonald, didn’t even make it onto the list". Sometimes we worry over our complicated world - perhaps we can insert some simple pleasures - street names would qualify in my books. Our pictures today feature nature and man - the back of a tropical leaf and the back of a transport truck.

Surfacing Attention

Surfaces and Textures are an interesting theme for photography.  There are so many kinds of surface structures, details, shapes, and textures as the subject of the image. The photographer's task is to showcase the surface and texture itself.   There are so many places to find these - everywhere - in the grain patterns of wood, the surface of stones, crystals of snow and ice, water, fabric, metal, leaves, sand, woven objects, clouds.  Included are urban decay surfaces such as rust and decay where scratches and dents create surface structure, texture, detail, and colour. Textures can occur at all level – including aerial photography and landscape views. The types of surfaces and textures include: rough, ragged, gritty, bumpy, spiky, sharp, fuzzy, slimy, slick, slippery, smooth, soft, silky, scaly, coarse, burl, knot, slub, abrasive, scratchy, shaggy, bristly, prickly, spiny, thorny, burnished, glossy, polished, powdery, and fine grain. So I went to two of my own portfolios to see what was there - Surfacing Attention and Nature's Impressions - and clipped the thumbnail image displays.  We see the array of surfaces and textures all around us.