Sep 15 2021 - Pope urban

 

I find that there was a Pope Urban.  Urban's Latin origin means "of the city". It turns out it was a regular sort of name into the 20th century.  One of Paul's epistles was named Urban.  There were seven popes with that name.  And there turn out to many people with Urban as a surname.   Ancestry.ca says there are 429,000 records for Urban.  It has all kinds of tidbits for someone researching the Urban family tree.  They include photos and records, the top occupations in 1921 (surprise!  it is farmer), geographical distribution, and member trees. There was a surge in DNA tests in 2018 and 2019.  "For consumers, the tests—which cost as little as $59—offer entertainment, clues to ancestry, and a chance of discovering family secrets, such as siblings you didn’t know about. But the consequences for privacy go well beyond that. As these databases grow, they have made it possible to trace the relationships between nearly all Americans, including those who never purchased a test." Over 30 million people globally have taken a DNA test.  The promoted benefits are awareness of genetic diseases, allowing a person to make more proactive steps about their health. With the rise in DNA tests, there has also been a rise in surprise family secret stories.   Great headlines abound:  The Christmas present that could tear your family apart or Your father's not your father, and 20 most shocking DNA test discovered. Even AARP weighs in on advice to consider. The train module that Gerry and the Maple Leaf Mafia group have built is going to a new home next week.  Here they are at the 2018 convention where I got this panorama and some shots of the layout.

Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Foggy Morning after Torontohenge

The fog descended on our house about 30 minutes ago.  The street light is barely visible, and where is the light in the window across the street?  I am witness to the alert in effect of 'near zero visibility in fog is expected or occurring.'  And a few minutes later, it seems to have passed through.   As I looked at the weather forecast, I discovered that this weekend had a remarkable occurrence. The sun's position in the sky lined up perfectly with some Toronto streets - this is called Torontohenge.  In Manhattan, it is called Manhattanhenge.   There's coverage of it here on the weather news network.   The article with the map of streets is HERE. Here's another blog - Dailyhive.com - what a great picture with everyone standing in the middle of King Street watching the sun and taking pictures.  There's even a picture of a person lying across the streetcar tracks taking a picture of cars coming towards him.  It is like Stonehenge with the magic of the reflections on the buildings and the street.  The next one is April 22/23, then August 19/20, and the final one for the year is October 23/24. And our pictures today come from Santa Fe.  The adobe colours show up everywhere, including the street curbs where peeling, crusted paint makes for colourful abstracts.  Our last image is the town's most famous Mexican eatery.  I took this picture well before 7:00am.  People were lined up for breakfast soon after.

Is that 9ty or 9tee?

How has written language evolved?  There was no formal learning of  words with letters and numbers together.  And yet, when personalized license plates became widely available, the creativity burst forth and all kinds of 'play-words' evolved to be seen on passing cars.  I took a look at Plates4Less: "We at Plates 4 Less love to get creative in looking for private number plates so that we can give your vehicle a splash of personality! Our expert search team have created this page especially for people looking for private number plates featuring the number 9. We have been as crafty as we can, trying out as many different combinations as possible to get the best matches available. We hope you find the masterpiece you’ve been looking for! " The plates4less search team.  What makes a license plate cost 33,000, 306,000 or 6,500 pounds?  Our brain has an innate ability to translate letters and numbers.  This is the title of a post at turnerink.co.uk "F1gur471v3ly 5p34k1ng? How your brain can read words made of numbers" Didn't that make you smile? At the Fun with Words site there are observations about numbers, as spelled out in English, as in "Eight is the first number alphabetically, zero is the last" or this: "Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice In Wonderland, once noted that "eleven plus two" and "twelve plus one" use the same letters and produce the same sum." To conclude, we look to letter and number humour on jokeomania.weebly.com: Why was the 6 sad? A: 7 8 9 What did the alphabet say when it fell down? A: I-M-O-K Which rock channel do they letters of the alphabet watch? A: M-T-V Where does Mr.Alphabet sit when he comes home from work? A: In his E-Z chair What kind of sale did the number store have A: 2-4-1 Which letter and number when put together mean victory? A: I-1 What monsters do you find in the haunted alphabet? A: Killer B's Which letters and what number tell you to be careful? A: B-4-WARNED! What to letters mean good-bye?  A: C-U

The March of Nines

A group or set of nine is an ennead - in ancient Egypt there was the group of 9 Egyptian deities known as the Ennead.  There are a number of cultures where nine is a significant number: In Indian culture, nine appears in Indian astrology where there are nine universal substances or elements in the Hindu philosophy:  earth, water, air, fire, ether, time, space, soul, and mind. According to yoga, the human body has nine doors - two eyes, two ears, the mouth, two nostrils, and the openings for defecation and procreation. In Chinese culture, nine is considered a good number, as it sounds like the word "long-lasting".  Nine is strongly associated with the Chinese dragon, a symbol of magic and power. There are nine forms of the dragon, and it is described in terms of nine attributes, has nine children, etc - all characteristics are multiples of 9.   In Greek mythology there were the nine Muses,  and the Romans had nine gods.  9 gods aliens is a tag for the notion that ancient astronauts have visited earth and made contact with humans in antiquity and prehistoric times. One claim is that deities from most, if not all, religions are extraterrestrial in origin.  The Erich Von Danker book Chariots of the Gods? was a best-seller on this topic. This idea is not taken seriously by academics. How important is the number 9?  The mystical numbers site had many references - some quirky and others intriguing.  There's a moment of humour on the website with a quote from Ronald Reagan:  The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, "Im from the government and I'm here to help." The site also describes an interesting mathematical attribute:  when multiplied 9 always reproduces itself 9x2 =18    1+8 = 9 9x3 = 27    2+7 = 9 9x4 = 36    3+6 = 9 9x5 = 45    4 + 5 = 9

There's a Paradox

What about Paradoxes?  Paradoxes have been a central part of philosophical thinking for centuries.  For example, Achilles and the Tortoise comes from the 5th century BC.  I went to Mentalfloss.com and browsed through the best-known paradoxes.  I chose the discussion on the Raven Paradox for today.  At buzzfeed.com  they're presented with cartoons, so are quite fun. THE RAVEN PARADOX Also known as Hempel’s Paradox, for the German logician who proposed it in the mid-1940s, the Raven Paradox begins with the apparently straightforward and entirely true statement that “all ravens are black.” This is matched by a “logically contrapositive” (i.e. negative and contradictory) statement that “everything that is not black is not a raven”—which, despite seeming like a fairly unnecessary point to make, is also true given that we know “all ravens are black.” Hempel argues that whenever we see a black raven, this provides evidence to support the first statement. But by extension, whenever we see anything that is not black, like an apple, this too must be taken as evidence supporting the second statement—after all, an apple is not black, and nor is it a raven. The paradox here is that Hempel has apparently proved that seeing an apple provides us with evidence, no matter how unrelated it may seem, that ravens are black. It’s the equivalent of saying that you live in New York is evidence that you don’t live in L.A., or that saying you are 30 years old is evidence that you are not 29. Just how much information can one statement actually imply anyway? Here is Wikipedia's summary of the Raven paradox:  Raven paradox: (or Hempel's Ravens): Observing a green apple increases the likelihood of all ravens being black. I was in Toronto yesterday, and found this reflective material on the side of the umbra store near Queen Street West.  I had thought I might find some pink water reflections, but this material created prism/rainbow reflections. The first picture shows the photo without adjustments, and the next few show the finished result, with the pavement turned to black.

Urban Attractions

Wikipedia says: Urban exploration (often shortened as urbex or UE, and sometimes known as 'roof-and-tunnel hacking') is the exploration of man-made structures, usually abandoned ruins or not usually seen components of the man-made environment. Photography and historical interest/documentation are heavily featured in the hobby... I found a website that identifies urban exploring sites in Toronto here.   However, as I scrolled through the list, so many of the abandoned buildings have been demolished and are gone.   Today's images might also capture urban components that will become lost.  Our Piano Keyboard in the first image has been added to the loading dock in recent times and brings a sense of delight to a back alley. It could disappear quickly with graffiti or demolition to make way for grander buildings. Our second image is a "preserved" painted billboard for Tip Top Tailors.  It is located on Richmond Street West - you can see the 'suits and coats' quite well.  I found a posting on it which says the building was once 5 stories with a small painted sign, and then become 6 stories, with the large sign painted over the first. As they have decayed, the original sign has shown through.

Cyber Song for Cyber Monday

I continued on the song theme today - so looked up cyber songs for Cyber Monday.  Here is the one that got my attention. THE BOOK In Cybersecurity and CyberWar: What Everyone Needs to Know, New York Times best-selling author P. W. Singer and noted cyber expert Allan Friedman team up to provide the kind of easy-to-read, yet deeply informative resource book that has been missing on this crucial issue of 21st century life. Written in a lively, accessible style, filled with engaging stories and illustrative anecdotes, the book is structured around the key question areas of cyberspace and its security: how it all works, why it all matters, and what can we do? Along the way, they take readers on a tour of the important (and entertaining) issues and characters of cybersecurity, from the “Anonymous” hacker group and the Stuxnet computer virus to the new cyber units of the Chinese and US militaries. Cybersecurity and CyberWar: What Everyone Needs to Know is the definitive account on the subject for us all, which comes not a moment too soon. SONG PLAYLIST If you are like us, sometimes you read a book, while also listening to music. Below is a recommended “playlist” for getting into the vibe of the book and its findings, with the certain lyric that resonated to the realm of cybersecurity and war. Guess which chapter and why! VISUAL SEELIST I thought the continuing rust theme an appropriate visual see-along.

So Many Top Tens

So many lists to help us along:  I looked up what might be the top 10 of things.  Here they are: 10 Most Expensive Things 10 Fastest Things Top 10 Everything of 2014 10 Amazing Things in Nature The Greatest Things in This World Top 10 - The World's Best Trips The 10 most important things in the world right now Top 10 Things You Can't Know Top 10 Things to Eat, See and Do Top 10:  Things Only Real Men Can Do 10 essential changes - better world shopper Top 10 products China manufactures most in the world The Top 10 of Anything and Everything!!! Oddee - Oddities, Weird stuff, Strange things of our world - 10 bizarre things eaten by man's best friend, 10 heartwarming Veterans Day stories...

Red Sky Voting

We voted for red skies yesterday looking for a new sunrise and a final sunset. We have completed our election voting in Canada and have a new majority Liberal government.  Our first Trudeau government generated so much excitement it was named Trudeaumania in 1968. There is an energy line to his son for sure. We voted him to a majority government yesterday.  Did you know that there was a board game in the 1980's - a satire on Canadian politics?  It was named "True Dough Mania". The images today have a festive look - with the red skies of the Liberal party colours, and perhaps a nod towards Christmas with the green in with the red.

Lavaland in St. Catharines

Today's images come from downtown St. Catharines.  These are a storefront window that has wear and tear on its window coverings.  The brilliant red made me think of lava - and so Lavaland came up as a title. Looking up Lavaland to check on the name brought forth a diverse group with lava lands all over the world - particularly the new world.  There is a Lavaland in Hawaii where there are tours of the active volcano.  There is a 's a Lavaland Elementary School in Albuquerque, NM. Alternately, one can go to the Lavaland RV Park in NM with the 'new platinum pull through' (ask about our new 135 ft long spaces). The one with the best pictures is 'Lost in Lava Land: The Church that Rose from the Ashes':http://www.messynessychic.com/2014/05/27/lost-in-lava-land-the-church-that-rose-from-the-ashes/ - located in Mexico.

Salvage in Sarasota

Sarasota Salvage

Sarasota Architectural Salvage  Just up the street from the house that we've rented in Sarasota are a few antique stores.  They are very large and full of wrought iron garden benches, arches, pergolas, etc.  There are a lot of old garden structures around here. The Sarasota Architectural Salvage (SAS) seems to find old everything from everywhere.  There are Spanish, Asian, nautical, farm themes in their furniture and accessories.  I enjoyed the former boat wood with many layers of peeling paint used for table tops and chair seats.  It was a whole warehouse of nicely posed peeling paint.  There are old pieces from the Ringling Circus, and columns from the Ringling Hotel that was demolished.  The Mermaid theme is abundant.  It makes one realize how long Florida has been in the tourism business. See more about them here: http://www.sarasotasalvage.com

Urban Abstractions - an Update

I look for abstracts to be found in the urban and rural landscape of decays, dents, peeling paint and paper, and any kinds of wear and tear.

Here are a few found in Niagara:

Dents on a sign at the Lake, Vineland Ontario.

"Abstract in Yellow"

Decay in cement:

"Red Moon Blue"

Glue remains on a wall in St. Catharines after the signs are gone.

"Even Strokes"

The Deep Blue Ocean

These two abstracts were found on a transport truck used for storage at Seaway Gardens, St. Catharines.

They have such deep water colours and the movements of the lines makes me think of waves and storms at the ocean shore and pier.

Sunset Landscape

From yesterday's little mushroom in the urban garden, we return to the abstract today with bright colours creating repeating patterns of a landscape.

The Urban Mushroom Found

I have taken photos of this little spot of grunge at Rosedale and Yonge before.  It was yesterday that I recognized it as an urban mushroom, some fantasy in grunge and garden.

Urban Extractions - What Pylons Say

Pylons don't lend themselves to much decay, wear and tear.  I did find a tear in one recently, and thought it have a story to tell.

I found a pylon in traffic in Montreal a few years ago, it it revealed a portrait.  This one is 'Vogue Model'.

This pylon was on Bay Street and Wellelsey near the beautiful Bistro 999 (which is gone and a condo is going up).  It had decaying reflective tape that told a story of friends.