Dec 24 2024 - Small Talk Time

 

Sometimes I am shocked by the advice we receive by the "experts."   A question like:  "Can you give me advice on" seems to me to be a potential exploding bomb in one's face.  So much for some of the experts.   But here are phrases that are definitely in the small talk sphere - and the most prevalent is none other than - THE WEATHER: I’ve Been Keeping Busy with ... How’s It Going with You? What Have You Been Up to Lately? How Was your trip to Portugal, cruise up the Nile …? How Has Your Week Been? It’s a Beautiful Day, Isn’t It? Can You Believe All the Rain We’ve Been Having? The Weather’s Not Looking Great This Weekend. Do You Have Any Plans? Have You Got Much Planned for the Weekend? Have you read any good books, seen good movies, tried new restaurants ... ? However, won't we be with our family tomorrow, so some of these questions are inappropriate or just plain dumb.  Instead, let's look further into the weather. It is like the lilies in the field, so simple, and so easy to observe and appreciate. We can really "mine" the weather if it is such an easy topic.   Head over to the scientific community What questions do they have about the weather?  Much more interesting and fun, but not really a small talk starter.  Here are a few: Why does it smell different when it’s raining? Why are thunderstorms more common in the afternoon and evening? Can you tell the temperature by counting cricket chirps? Why do worms show up after rain? Can wildfires cause tornadoes? Do frogs forecast rain? Can you tell how far away lightning is by counting the seconds between thunder and lightning?  So if you want to have fun with the weather conversation tomorrow, here are the answersHERE.    This is to guide us away from the Christmas conversation topics tomorrow that will want to fall into the deep volcano of current political events that are truly remarkable and compelling.  They overtake all pleasant conversation in seconds - the sort of seconds between the sound of thunder and the sight of the lightning bolt demolishing  the turkey in the kitchen.  Ask Stuart McLean's Dave what happened to his turkey in the kitchen. That's the perfect topic for tomorrow's dinner table. More on Dave and the Turkey tomorrow.

I find this picture fascinating - it looks like dancing figures or ancient calligraphy.  It is wet frost on the car windows, if I remember.  I've called it The Calligrapher's Story on Fine Art America.

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Dec 5 2024 - Snow Squalls and Bananas

 

This is today's weather - snow squalls - and the pictures are all over the screen.  So many bright colours and so easy to see if that snow squall is coming for you.  Well, maybe.  Look closely and most of the pictures are for snow squalls in the past.   I found the current forecast finally.  The legend of the colour codes at the bottom is most entertaining.   Didn't the six million dollar banana get eaten by the purchaser?   "Chinese-born crypto founder Justin Sun eats a banana artwork composed of a fresh banana stuck to a wall with duct tape in Hong Kong on Friday after buying the provocative work of conceptual art by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan at a New York auction for $6.2 million. "  "To be honest, for a banana with such a back story, the taste is naturally different from an ordinary one. I could discern a hint of what Big Mike bananas from 100 years ago might have tasted like," said Sun, the founder of the cryptocurrency platform Tron. Big Mike bananas — a common translation of the flavorful Gros Michel banana variety — were once ubiquitous and have now become virtually impossible to find.  Sun wrote that as thanks to Shah Alam — the 74-year-old Bangladeshi fruit stand employee who originally sold the banana for just 25 cents — he would purchase 100,000 bananas to be distributed for free to Alam's customers. This is not Sun's first venture into multimillion-dollar bids. In 2019, he won a $4.8 million bid to have lunch with Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett. In 2021, he put up $28 million to be among the first passengers on Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft, though that trip was ultimately canceled."  Other articles have him investing $30 million in Trump's crypto project after the election.   Little did we think that a snow squall could end in a lament over a bygone banana by what looks like a crazed 34 year-old crypto billionaire.

A colourized abstract of motion blur along the Highway.

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Feb 25 2023 - Why I Like the Weather

 

The weather is in the more benign range of news these days.  It does have the disadvantage of a lot of ads - particularly windows that pop up and squish out the actual weather news.  And it does have that strange scrolling "news ads" section at the bottom.  But what makes it in the benign range is that it doesn't have the comments section where people with low levels of grammatical literacy and spelling plow their rows of opinion into mountains of emotion.  What makes news sites have comments sections given these toxic levels of comments? Wikipedia says: "The comments section is a feature on most online blogs, news websites, and other websites in which the publishers invite the audience to comment on the published content. This is a continuation of the older practice of publishing letters to the editor." Editors-in-chief say this about commenting:  "Too often they devolve into racist, misogynistic maelstroms where the loudest, most offensive, and stupidest opinions get pushed to the top and the more reasoned responses drowned out in the noise.” Take away the comments, and traffic declines on sites without comments.  The Pynter.orgwebsite says it might be worse to have no comment section than to have one.  They say the New York Times has actually invested in online commenting - moderating comments is a required activity if news sites are going to have comments.   Moderation isn't a simple activity.  Take a look at the Guardian's articles with comments HERE. i picked the article "Ten years ago I won a trip to New York.  If this happened today I'd delete the email."  I took a screen shot of the two Guardian Pick comments. It is tantalizing, isn't it? What better way to get you to sign in to read more. And there we have it - the difference between free-for-all and "managed".   Our comment less forecast: We've got snow and rain ahead in the next two weeks.  Here's a rainy day picture below.  Driving rain against the windows of the bus along a Toronto street.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Dec 28 2022 - A Change in the Weather

 

Well, we arrive at a change in the weather.  We'll have above freezing temperatures for two weeks, with rain coming.   I wonder what that will do in Buffalo. I think of icebergs floating down main streets.  With this drastic "change in the weather" I wonder if  it one of the 12 common weather phrases?  It doesn't appear to be.  Here are a few: Under the weather - nautical Right as rain - Under debate but thoughts are straight as an arrow Take a rain check - American baseball game rained out Head in the clouds - before flight, considered impossible Every cloud has a silver lining - cloud formation   The calm before the storm - meteorology Red sky at night, sailor's delight - sailing Rainbow in the morning gives you fair warning - sailing When dew is on the grass, rain will never come to pass - meteorology Mares' tails and mackerel scales make tall ships take in their sails - sailing Dog days of summer - lazy dogs panting vs Greek dog star Sirius  It's raining cats and dogs "One of the best weather phrases there is… and one with many possible explanations. The most common, although with a few variations, is about a proliferation of stray animals. When homes featured thatch roofs, stray dogs and cats would often hide in them for shelter and for temperature regulation. But if it rained hard enough, these animals would either be washed out of the roof, or would jump out on purpose to look for better shelter. Along the same lines, in times when door locks weren’t as common, strays would push their way inside to get out of heavy rain. There is even a darker thought that strays would be washed away in the gulleys on the sides of old streets in a heavy rain, also contributing to the look of it actually raining these animals! Finally, there is some thought that within mythology, cats often had powers over storms, and dogs including the Norse god Odin had influence on storms and windy conditions, so people referenced the cats bringing the rain, and dogs bringing the wind!" They are all explained HERE at weloveweather.tv But wait, there are more - these from preply.com HERE  A tempest in a teapot A bolt from the blue Come rain or shine Raindrops in the drought Get wind of A ray of hope Railroad Day. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Dec 23 2022 - Christmas in the Air

There's definitely a lot of news of what's in the air just at Christmas 2022 - rain and snow.  But how would we know that "Christmas is in the air?"  What would it be?  It means in circulation, in people's thoughts.  Another interpretation is that it is coming very soon.   We're still in the rain here, so await the snow flurries.  Toronto is calling it a "bomb cyclone".  Others called it a "weather bomb".  Now there's a new weather word for me.  Aren't there so many new words all the time?  What is 2022's new expression Goblin mode?  Here's the OED definition:  “a type of behaviour which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations”.  It came about first on Twitter in 2009, but burst out of the pack in February 2022.  And then comes Gaslighting:  “manipulating (a person) by psychological means into questioning his or her own sanity”. And the big one is Permacrisis:  “an extended period of instability and insecurity”. CNN's article on the topic found these words peculiar or depressing.  CNN explains that normal words just won't do sometimes.   Here's the proof of that - a  humorous review of the new words of 2022 from Merriam-Webster: Because (conjunction) The new definition of “because” is “by reason of.” It’s often used comedically to explain complicated things vaguely. As in, “the sky is blue because science,” or “I don’t like her because reasons.” TBH (abbreviation) This abbreviation stands for “to be honest.” It’s often used in text conversations, as in “I don’t feel like going out tonight, TBH.” Fluffernutter (n)This word describes a sandwich that entails spreading peanut butter and marshmallow topping on white bread. Yum? Amirite (interjection)This is a combination of three words “am I right.” It’s used conversationally, often humorously. As in, “Writers and their love of words, amirite?” Copypasta (n)This refers to any type of data (including text) that has been copied and spread online. It can range from lighthearted memes to serious political messages.  Deplatform (v) Use this word to refer to taking any sort of speaking platform away from somebody. Specifically, it can refer to kicking someone off of a large communication platform, like social media. Whataboutism (n) This word refers to the act of responding to an accusation by saying that somebody else committed an offense that was the same or worse.  As in “sure, I was late to work but whatabout that guy who didn’t even show up today?” FTW (abbreviation)  These three letters stand for “for the win.” This abbreviation is often used in social media commentary or when stating approval for something. As in “Fridays off FTW.” And this is all copy pasta from me.

Today's picture s are more interpretations of the sculpture walls in front of the Butterfly Conservatory in Niagara Falls.

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May 22 - 2022 - Derecho in the Neighbourhood

 

I didn't know the word Derecho until it became a severe weather warning on our radios yesterday.  It made me point the car home. A derecho (pronounced similar to "deh-REY-cho") is a widespread, long-lived straight-line wind storm that is associated with a band of rapidly moving severe showers or thunderstorms known as a mesoscale convective system. High wind speeds, hurricanes and tornado-force winds are common in these storms.  No wonder we got the big alerts yesterday.  Most of the big derechos in the past have occurred in the U.S. Derechos can be hazardous to aviation due to embedded microbursts, downbursts, and downburst clusters.  Generally "bursts" are a big part of the storms. I guess we've been very lucky in Ontario in the past where our worst worries are too much snow and ice in the winter.   The storm yesterday was reported to have almost 1000 km of damage from Michigan to Quebec City. There were 4 reported fatalities - mostly by trees falling.  At one point the winds reached 132 km/h at the Kitchener airport.   The worst derecho in history was in June 2012 where the winds reached 146 km/h and tracked across a large section of the Midwestern US into the mid-Atlantic states. There was $2.9 billion in damage and 22 deaths. It went on for more than a day. That storm is described in Wikipedia HERE.  May is supposed to be reserved for flowers - particularly the lilac festivals. We salute the arrival of summer on the Victoria long weekend with public and private fireworks.   Public Fireworks are back on this year.  This Niagara Falls Summer Fireworks says:  "Fireworks every night" - that's the headline.  Summer has arrived! Gerry and I were in Toronto on Niagara Street last week for a Ryerson (now Toronto Metropolitan University) lighting certificate graduate anniversary get-together.  It took place at a lighting store.  You can see the front door to the left in the first picture, and the lighting sculpture on the wall.  The lighting sculptures were wonderful. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

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Copyrig

 

There has been much stormy weather over the OSCAR event on Sunday.  I wonder how the two participants will  "weather the storm"  Dictionaries say: "If someone or something weathers the storm, they successfully deal with a very difficult problem. Here are the first few of 60 weather the storm quotes whose purpose according to the website is "to encourage you". “Stay strong and weather the storm.”                “The greater your storm, the brighter your rainbow.” “There are some things you can only learn in a storm.” “Those that can bend with the wind, will weather the storm.”  What follows these quotes?  Rainbow after the storm quotes. “After the storm comes the rainbow.” “The sun always shines after the storm.” “The greater your storm, the brighter your rainbow.”  “You have to be willing to endure the storm to enjoy and appreciate the rainbow that follows.”       And what about storm weather  and rainbow jokes? "You can’t weather a tree, but you can climate." "A tree’s limbs fell off in a storm, now it’s an amputree." "Since the storm was late, it started rushing. And now it’s a hurry-cane." "Rainbows that break the law end up going to prism." "Judy Garland knew where to find out the weight of a pie. Somewhere over the rainbow, weigh a pie."                   I took this picture of the Cosy Restaurant on Lake Street while waiting for the car at the dealership just last week.  I can remember it from my childhood.  It started out in 1964 as a coffee shop and expanded from there.  Lake Street was a pretty simple mixed retail and residential street back then.  Not now - a busy multi-lane car dealership and plaza isort of street.  This restaurant stands as reminder of the past.

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March 27 2022 - Just Like Uncle Oscar

 

he Oscars are here tonight.  There are three hosts - all women considered comedians/comics. It has been a few years since there was a host and the viewings have dwindled with last year being an all-time low.   The big controversy is the failure to invite Rachel Zegler, the co-lead of West Side Story.  She wasn't nominated so no invitation to attend.  To solve the controversy she's been invited to present an Oscar.  She gets an Oscar grab bag actually called a swag bag valued at more than $100,000.  You can see the things/stuff in it HERE.  This year the highlights are plastic surgery and a plot (actually a "patch") of land in Scotland.   New this year is the "fan favourite film" that the public voted on.  There is also the "most cherry-worthy movie moment".  The voting happens by using the hashtags #OscarsFanfavorite and #OscarsCheerMoment on Twitter. The name Oscar has an urban myth sort of story.  You can buy a replica on Amazon for $92.10.  Look at it closely for me and tell me if you think it could resemble someone's uncle.  The Academy Awards librarian, Margaret Herrick, said the blank face and stern eyebrow reminded her of her Uncle Oscar.  That was in 1931.  I wondered this question:  "What is the condition/state of the Oscars this year?"  Headlines say it is returning to normal except for all the changes, so I guess we have to wait and see what the critics say.  Streaming is a dominant theme - streaming movies, streaming awards.   I wonder what a 'staggered start' is.  That's the code word for giving some awards out before the 'real start' of the event.  And the final award this year will be best picture rather than best actor.  Last year's winner wasn't there (Anthony Hopkins) so what a flop of an ending. And what is an Oscar party menu according to Epicurious? Caviar Puff-Pastry Stars Dill-Cured Pork Crostini with Sweet Mustard Sauce Herb and Lemon Goat Cheese Spread White Bean and Pesto Dip Coffee Chocolate Truffle Kisses Chocolate seems to be a common theme amongst the recommended snacks. I changed the wreath on the tool shed yesterday with spring flowers and today the snow furries have started.  I thought this before and after would be appropriate for today's pictures.

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Feb 25 2022 - Poorly Timed Weather Gets Undue Attention

 

Do you know that the Weather Network has determined that the snow today is "POORLY timed".  I am not accustomed to the "Weather" being subordinate to "Humans" when it comes to actions and events.  Is there a name for this kind of expression?  It must relate to Oxymoron.  In his book "Man vs. Weather"  Dennis Diclaudio exclaims that humans have the right to bear instruments.  He includes the thermometer, hygrometer, barometer, anemometer, the wind vase and a rain gauge. He goes on to explain how to set up your personal weather station.  The following chapter is titled:  "The difference between a meteorologist and a monkey in a blazer".  I expect that is the chapter that applies to whoever created today's forecast headline above.   In fact, poorly timed turns out to be a common turn of phrase in weather.  We had a poorly timed system on December 24 2021.  Another Southern Ontario forecast in February 2020 was labelled "poorly timed".  And a poorly timed storm dumped rain on Washington in November 2014.   Most poorly timed weather events involve snow. Poorly timed is equated to "unseasonable", that is: not suitable to or appropriate for the season or characteristic of the time of year.  However, I argue that  winter to be a seasonable time for snow storms.   If we combine poorly timed with undue attention (an excellent oxymoron), we can more fully enjoy one of last week's headlines. It had three men attempting to swim in New Brighton in Merseyside.  They were joined by the coastguards search and rescue team dressed in full survival gear urging them to leave.  Storm Eunice was getting started with gusts of up to 90mph expected.  It was a serious storm with death and property damage. Our expression of poorly timed definitely applies to their swimming adventure on several counts. New Brighton Beach water temperature is around 6 degrees C.  Perhaps the trio of swimmers was seeking "undue attention" as experienced in primary classrooms to describe children's disruptive behaviour. The underlying assertion is:  I belong only when you pay constant attention to me, and/or give me special service.   A search and rescue team and the national news turned out to be a lot of attention and special service for the swimmers.  Here's our version of Lake Ontario on a winter snowstorm day.

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