Marilyn's Photos - Nov 6 2026 - Counting to Trillion

 

I was counting from 1 by adding zeros.  1...10...100... 1000... 10000... 100000... 1000000.... 10000000.  I was doing it in my head visually.  So I thought I would do it on virtual paper today.  Don't those zeros start to jam together?  They need the commas don't they?   When we go from 1 to 10 it is very easy - just an increase of 9.  Like glasses in the cupboard, or forks in the drawer. These are everyday small quantities. Even 1 million is ok - 1000000 or 1,000,000. Lottery win that would get you half a house in Toronto. But look at 1 billion - 1000000000 or 1,000,000,000 and then 1 trillion 1000000000000 or 1,000,000,000,000.  It starts to visually curve to me - like the earth.  The comparison is made in time so we can get a sense of the scale of it: 1 second vs. 10 seconds: Just a few heartbeats apart. 1 million seconds: About 12 days. 1 billion seconds: About 31.7 years. 1 trillion seconds: Over 31,700 years (going back to the last Ice Age).  It says that our human brains evolved to track physical, linear amounts - fruit on a tree or animals in a field - which is why our intuition breaks down when faced with the exponential leaps of large numbers.   There are even huger numbers that scientists work with - think quadrillion or the distance of a light-year.  My focus is  the billions and trillions becoming common numbers, which is what is happening with our government spending and individual worth of the ultra-wealthy.   Here's my point:  how many people making $100,000 a year would it take to reach $1 trillion.  It would take 10 million people.  I got to thinking about the level of disparity in society - with the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.  I guess it came into sharp focus during the mid-term American elections.   Take our Elon Musk trillionaire with 10 million people's worth of income/money and then the 989 billionaires that Forbes says there are in the U.S. They would account for 9,890,000 people at $100,000  if each billionaire was worth only $1 billion each.  We're now at almost 20 million people.  Could that be some sort of disparity metric? Anyway, these are such big numbers that I think I'll go back to counting spoons and forks in the drawers. This popped up and made me laugh - we need some humour around the time change, don't we? I would like to be counting the forks in this kitchen.  This is at Pearl Morissette.  Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Nov 5 2026 - Strong Words

 

Strong words have been going around over the U.S. elections.  There's particular glee in using these words in the press.  It seems to start with the "Blue wave" which sweeps, rolls over, and covers the U.S.  The definition of "Shellacking" is: a complete, lopsided defeat and is used predominantly in sports and politics. Then there's thumping and disaster. And theres "Crushing midterm rebuke" vs "massive rebuke. " And we wouldn't want to let "Trumped" not be told.  Don't forget "rout."  And the party who loses?  They "suffer" a defeat of some kind.  It could be stunning, or landslide.  There are personal attack strong words:  "Lame Donald Duck" and  "Trump dumped." Then there are the more literary references. The Independent 's headline says the result "delivers a direct strike against the administration's military escalations in Iran." There are references to Bruce Springsteen with "Reborn in the U.S.A."  In media coverage and political analysis strong words count - they get attention and readers start to read.  That most common verb this time?  "Flip" - rather than changing seats.  You can feel the physicality of flip, can't you? And then the thumping and shellacking vs switching sides.  What a difference between everyday language and political and media language.  That's because weak words are considered fillers and strong words are vivid and "punchy" (interesting using a strong word to describe a strong word).  In everyday language here's the comparison that is given: weak:  very good vs strong:  excellent, superb weak: very bad vs strong: terrible, atrocious Up pops up Larry Bell's 12 Powerful Words - they are designed to help students understand test questions, close achievement gaps and boost their academic performance.  They are: trace, analyze, infer, evaluate, formulate, describe, support, explain, summarize, compare, contrast, predict. When we look at the strong vs weak words, it is as though we are writing a novel and need to use vivid language.  When we look at the powerful words, these are the words of investigation and fact-finding. We will move on to that step next in the headlines.  The analysis, the evaluations, the descriptions, explanations, and so on, and finally the predictions for the next two years. Here's my version of wave of blue - the Meconopsis Himalayan Poppy display at Longwood a few years ago.   Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Nov 4 2026 - Humour in Elections

 

Did you notice that there was no humour in the U.S. elections?  The opposite is what one would say.  Tense and difficult.  I read that it was a mood that was sour, dissatisfied, eager for change.  It also says there was a mood of rebuke and referendum.  So many negatives.  Maybe we should go on the hunt for a bit of humour to start a realignment of our social Zeitgeist. If the Republicans win the election, I will leave the United States If the Democrats win the election, I will leave the United States This is not a political post, I just want to travel After the election, I'm moving to Greenwich, England I don't know what I'll do in the mean time. As they say during election season in Transylvania... Every Count Votes I'm upset about the election SNL will have to go back to political satire instead of news. Here's our Weeping WIllow at Charles Daley Park. Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Nov 3 2026 - How Many Times?

 

When we learned about time, we learned about the round clock with the dial and the two hands, and that was the clock we are to pay attention to.  I am told that sometimes the only test for an 80 year old to renew their drivers license is to read the time on a clock. But it turns out that the debate over DST and ST is about the many impacts on the body's clocks when DST switch is made, and even moreso when DST becomes the standard time.  We likely all know the term circadian rhythms and that the body's master clock regulates our 24-hour cycles through the exposure to light, whose timing is crucial.  When we're exposed to light controls our body temperature, blood pressure, and chemical reactions in our body. Live Science says we have trillions of body clocks throughout the body.  I only thought of the centre clock in the hypothalamus region of the brain - but to realize every cell in every organ has its own clock.  That's in the 17 - 36 trillion range. Morning light is when the clock is reset.  And then things go into action: here's a great chart showing the milestones by time.  We seem to know a lot about the body clock and how it all works.  Well doesn't that bring up the question of what makes and compels us to perpetuate Daylight Savings Time and to even switch to it as the standard?  The answer is "Social Time." You know what that is - work, school, government, and so on. In an interview on CBC yesterday morning, the time expert said that when jurisdictions have gone with DST as the permanent standard, it has been reversed after a few years.  That is because of the later morning light in the non-summer months.   We wonder what the case will be in British Columbia, Alberta, and Manitoba who have permanently stopped shifting their clocks to remain on DST.  Will the clock get corrected in a few years? I got to thinking about this - take Edmonton, on New Year's Day, the sun will rise at 9:50am.  That seems like an ouch to me.  The Weather Network has kindly shown us the chart comparison below.   And with those artificial Time Zones there is added complexity.  it is fine to have a standardized approach.  The impacts to those on the eastern edge of a time zone mean that the sun rises and sets earlier relative to the clock.  People wake up earlier, get more sleep and align more closely with natural dauylight.  Live on the western edge and the opposite happens - it is called social jet lag - a mismatch between the internal biological clockk and societal schedules.  I had never thought about all of the body coordination that goes on.  So fascinating.  And who would guess that social time and moving the clocks would become emotional and political? On the other hand, when you start the countdown to Christmas, all seems fine.  Look at this cute Santa clock from a few years ago decorating one of the Fantasy of Trees.  That's just a few weeks away.   Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Nov 2 2026 - The Lowly Pencil

 

There's an article in the Globe and Mail this morning on how much money the mid-terms have brought in from billionaires.  Are you ready?  It has been over $1.7 billion (some articles say more than this) from 172 billionaire families.  And then including corporations, it is $2.77 billion.  Can you imagine there are 172 billionaire families? There were 1,135 individual billionaires in 2024.  Compare that to Canada where the last election totalled $95 million raised and it was a full election. This mid-term election, one Texas Senate candidate has raised $146 million.  But that's a low number compared to the rest of us millions who are middle to upper class.  We are the ones exposed to the stories about the most expensive things that billionaires buy for billions of dollars. The latest most expensive thing that I saw?  The pencil.  Yes, the stupid pencil. That's the instrument that I use during choir practice to mark the music where I should pay attention.   The world's most expensive pencil is the Graf von Faber‑Castell Perfect Pencil Limited Edition (specifically the Limited Edition Whitegold or Ultimate edition), priced at $12,800 USD.  A body crafted from rare, 240-year-old olive wood An extender, cap, and trim made from 18-carat white gold (White Gold Palladium) Three diamonds mounted beneath the Faber-Castell coat-of-arms on the cap  Maybe it is that built-in sharpener and eraser that makes it all worthwhile.  Supposedly they are highly sought after by collectors and enthusiasts.  There's only one  "enthusiast" who wants us to know they purchased the pencil, and it turns out to be the Mont Blanc Imperial Dragon Pencil.  An imposter! And I can't get the video to play, which is normal these days. I wonder about this world of pencils,  Is this just about how much the rich might pay for things - meant to fascinate us non-rich? There are no owners listed for the pencil, there are no photographs of a hand touching the pencil let alone some collector or enthusiast identified as owning the pencil. What about us millions of active instrumentalists and vocalists?  Isn't there a collector amongst us? It says No.  What it does say is that the cult-classic Eberhard Faber Blackwing 602 was THE PENCIL. John Steinbeck, Truman Capote, E.B. White, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, John Williams, Nelson Riddle and Quincy Jones used it.   Stephen Sondheim was a collector of the cult-classic Eberhard Faber Blackwing 602. His personal vintage Blackwings sold for over $4,000 to $6,400.  So if you have a musician in the family, a perfect Christmas present would be an individual Blackwing 602 on an auction site like eBay - I see a used one for only $7.99 and a set of 3 for $55.79.  Expensive vs exclusive, there's the moment. I was at Sheridan on Southdown Road last week and remembered the beautiful Koi images I took way back.  That little pond is long gone, and I was told that was because the Koi were dinner one winter - taken by a nearby otter or mink from their winter tanks.  The Southdown Road location is near Lake Ontario... These Koi aren't from that visit - these were at Marie Selby Garden in Florida.   Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com