Marilyn's Photos - Aug 11 2026 - Yes - Big Brother is Watching You

 

The New York Times provides a free daily email of news headlines and short summaries.  I recommend that you sign up. There are advantages and disadvantages of seeing the New York Times point of view.  A major disadvantage is that we Canadians don't have the political election activity that is constant in the U.S. I admit that it has given me a negative view of what America spends its time and money on.  On the plus side, the New York Times has many news-breaking stories that are important in our world.  I found that to be the case yesterday.  Here's yesterday's summary and it is the topic of today's post.  These are called Flock Cameras.  They read license plates and supposedly assist law enforcement and municipal planning.   A few years ago in Ontario we remember the remote cameras that automatically read our speed and gave us speeding tickets.  There was a public outcry over these, and they were all removed.  But there are individual cases of police cameras being used - a case in Mississauga where the high-altitude pole camera pointed at a suspect's residence in a criminal case. Was it a Flock Camera at our corner of Brookside and Baker a month or so ago? There are Reddit posts asking about seeing flock cameras in St. Catharines.  The replies say that there weren't any records of government contracts so the implication might be that it isn't wide-spread.  In Canada the tracking systems are operated directly by police services rather than a private company, so a Flock Camera would be unusual here.   Compare this to the U.S. where the New York Times reports that there are 7,000 police departments with Flock contracts and that 20 billion license plates a month are scanned.  And the horror stories will likely increase:  Police surrounding cars in mistaken identity stories, families held at gunpoint by police, romantic tracking and harassment by police officers, and widespread discipline of police offices for serious misuse.  Then there are the immigration sweeps by ICE with immigration-related searches - over 15,000 of them. So back to the top of the post.  There are news items in the New York Times summary each day that we wouldn't consider applying to us.  And then we find that they do.   And find a bright spot - go to the bottom of the post - Ken Kesey's psychedelic bus is making a comeback. Happy poppies in a hand-blown glass vase. Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Aug 10 2026 - Energetics

 

We talk about energetic people - lots of energy - go, go, go!  And then what would the energetics industry be?  Today's Globe and Mail headline "From flax to firepower" was a surprise. "Energetic refers to chemical substances or mixtures that possess a large capacity for storing chemical energy, which can be rapidly released through reactions triggered by external stimuli such as mechanical or thermal shock waves." Who would guess that flax can be processed into products that end up being explosives, propellants, and pyrotechnics.  Normally we think of commercial applications. I  think of flax seed as a tasty addition to granola.  And also of flax being woven into fabric. The flax stalks are high in cellulose and are normally a waste product.   But they can be processed into solid biofuels in the form of pellets and then used as an alternative to traditional fossil fuels.   The Globe was highlighting that flax straw can be processed to derive nitrocellulose and this is an ingredient in propellants and energetics used for modern artillery shells.   There's a long history of the use of flax in fire and ballistics.  Flax fibres are strong enough that they were used to string bows and crossbows, and were woven together to be vest protectors against arrows and swords.   Who would guess there would be interesting stories of fax harvesting.  I found an Australian story from WWII where flax was harvested for coats, parachute harnesses, ropes and tarpaulins.  The Flax Mill had caught fire. The process of putting the fire out was described.  Here's what got my attention the most:   "to save further destruction two men mounted on motor cycles with a wire stretched between them, rode either side of the burning stacks, bringing them down." The full story is HERE.  Here's a battle scene:  Turtle vs water lily.  And the winner is... the turtle. Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Aug 9 2026 - Billionaires' Reading List

 

How many books do billionaires read?  Is it 5, 10, 15, 246? And what happens when I find out which books these are?  And then what happens when I read these books?  Mark Cuban says he has chosen specific books deliberately.  This comes from Blinkist, an app that gathers the key insights from nonfiction books into 15 minute reads and listens.  Each book is highlighted for its contribution and the reading time is indicated.   For example, Cuban's number 1 book is Principles by Ray Dalia, 15 minute reading time, "A landmark guide to decision-making from one of the world's most successful investors, built on the radical idea that clear principles, honestly applied, beat intuition every time.  Cuban has cited this as essential reading for anyone serious about building something that lasts." Doesn't it make you wonder what happened to Cole's Notes? Being a Canadian company, it is now owned by Indigo Books, and students who used to buy those yellow and black booklets (like wasps to me) now use SparkNotes and AI tools.  You can have a nostalgia moment and go find them on Amazon or Indigo Books online.   And then there were "For Dummies" series.  They were beginner-friendly books covering many topics.  But that seems to be gone now.  It is about money.  Of billionaires, by billionaires, for billionaires.  Become a billionaire. That is the model of the US government according to Bernie Sanders.   Lincoln said the government was supposed to be run that way - of the people, by the people, for the people - in the Gettysburg Address.  Today that we can get a real time list of Billionaires from Forbes who calls it the three-comma club. I suggest The Three-Comma Book Club is a good name for the billionaires' reading lists.  Another watercolour and pen drawing.  Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Aug 8 2026 - Earthworms are Cute

 

Earthworms are cute.  That's because they are small.  I saw one in the bottom of a pot that was filled with water and got it out, despite its substantial wiggling.  An earthworm can survive submerged in water for several days up to two weeks, provided there's enough dissolved oxygen.  They breathe by taking in oxygen through their skin via diffusion.  So I guess in my pond they can live longer as there is water flowing into it constantly.  In that pot, it wouldn't last as long.  Now consider the giant worm, giant Gippsland earthworm.  It can reach lengths of 3 metres or 10 feet, and there are reports of larger ones. It is native to Australia - and Australia has a lot of earthworms - more than 1,000 native species.  In comparison, there are 120 native species in the U.S. and Canada.   I took a screen shot and the first image was in the article I read. So this is the actual size of the worm. It is hard to know now what is a real picture and what is AI-generated - sometimes the pictures show earthworms that look like Anacondas - 30 feet long.  It looks like there are giant earthworms in South Africa as well.  The Australian earthworm only surfaces when there is heavy rainfall, which can drown it. It is known as a noisy worm.  It makes a gurgling sound as it moves quickly through its burrows, sounding like water draining out of a bath.  Wouldn't we jump if we heard a noise like that below our feet.  I found this image with the Jimmy Van Heusen quote.  I looked up his biography as this seems like a most delightful quote.  He says that he took song writing seriously when he discovered girls.  And like his close friend Frank Sinatra, he spent a lot of time chasing and being chased by women throughout his life.  Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Aug 7 2026 - Moon Crash

 

They figured out where the SpaceX rocket part crashed on the moon.  The picture has a little black spot with a white spot and a yellow arrow.  It is near the Einstein Crater.  The crash was "unintentional but full anticipated" - which sounds disconcerting.  The resulting crater was estimated at 60 feet wide and 12 feet deep.  With lower gravity on the moon the plume of debris was viewable through telescopes, and was observed for 5 to 10 minutes after the impact.   Scientists can now investigate the lunar dust and debris and the Moon's geology below the surface. There is also the expectation that a detectable seismic event occurred.  There aren't any instruments on the moon to record this.  That is a gap compared to the previous NASA era of crashing rockets into the moon on purpose. The astronauts placed seismometers on the lunar surface to record the moonquakes and vibrations of the rocket parts they crashed to the Moon.   The articles usually lead to commentary on the amount of junk in space.  How much junk space is there?  There's 13,000 tonnes of it in the area between the Earth and Moon. AI is now used to help satellite operators avoid collisions, which I gather is a very frequent possibility. This comes from the Painters' Palette Series where I took pictures of the watercolour palettes and then modified them into collages, etc.  Doesn't this look like a Moon Strike? Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com