Marilyn's Photos - June 24 2025 - Pictures of the Universe

 

The world's largest digital camera - what does that mean?  "In just a few hours of test runs, the observatory recorded millions of galaxies, thousands of asteroids, and cosmic phenomena we’ve never seen before. Perched in the Chilean Andes, Rubin will scan the entire Southern sky every few nights, helping scientists unlock the mysteries of dark matter, dark energy, and planetary defense. It’s a breathtaking scientific leap—and the camera at its heart is a true marvel." Here's the video from SciTechDaily.  I don't have a grasp of 10 million galaxies or of the 20 billion galaxies the Rubin Observatory will capture during its 10--year survey of space and time.  And this is the picture in the article - it combines 678 images.  So you can imagine how excited astronomers are.  The NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory will capture more information about our universe than all optical telescopes throughout history combined.   The telescope is finding never-before-seen asteroids.  There's a demonstration in a short video of how much brighter the results are.  This is their demonstration photo below. How big is the data avalanche to come?  They will generate 20 terabytes of data per night.  The catalog database is 15 petabytes, and in 10 years, there will be around 500 petabytes.  There will be billions of objects and trillions of measurements.  Were you asking the question I was?  What is a petabyte?  It is 1,024 terabytes.   And you knew that a terabyte was 1 trillion bytes.   Given this exciting adventure, it is time we learned the "Byte Chart" Let's start at the story of storage:  "640 kilobytes ought to be enough for anyone" said Bill Gates in the mid-80s.  That was the general consensus of mathematicians.  As an information retrieval professional with library training, I thought that was a strange thing to say then.  I even thought it was dumb.  These were mathematicians and not librarians saying these things.  Maybe they never went into their libraries, storing up to hundreds of thousands of books.   So here we are now with computer technology storage units of measurement based on the byte:   Name Equal To Size (In Bytes) 1 Bit 1/8 Byte 1 Nibble 4 Bits 1/2 Byte (rare) Byte 8 Bits 1 Kilobyte 1,024 Bytes 1,024 Megabyte 1,024 Kilobytes 1,048,576 Gigabyte 1,024 Megabytes 1,073,741,824 Terabyte 1,024 Gigabytes 1,099,511,627,776 Petabyte 1,024 Terabytes 1,125,899,906,842,624 Exabyte 1,024 Petabytes 1,152,921,504,606,846,976 Zettabyte 1,024 Exabytes 1,180,591,620,717,411,303,424 Yottabyte 1,024 Zettabytes 1,208,925,819,614,629,174,706,176 Isn't that such a lovely chart!  And where can the pictures of the universe take us?

I go to an information watercolour class each Monday.  Yesterday were were to make a floral design.

Then I did some "splots" in pastel colours, put them through the Flaming Pear Flexifly filter to get the abstract below.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Mairlyn's Photos - June 23 2025 - Hair Stands Straight Up!

 

This is a picture that got my attention  Strange white hair all sticking up.  The headline was about what to do if your hair suddenly sticks straight up.  The answer is:  "move indoors as quickly as possible as lightning ice about to strike you.  It is known as "electrostatic induction" where the buildup of static electricity causes your hair to rise.  A person will also feel a tingling sensation       What are the other headlines in this site - it is indianexpress.com that gave the information about the electrostatic induction.  Here are their click bait headlines:   This mosquito bracelet is a Canadian best-seller Wrap foil around your doorknob when alone, here's why Always keep a bread clip in your wallet (here's why) Eat 1 teaspoon every night, see what happens a week later Your joints will be as good as new.  Do it in the morning 15 worst unhealthy breakfast foods to avoid in the morning I wonder which one of these gets the most clicks. "A 2023 study analyzed over 100 million articles to determine which headlines drove the most shares. Phrases like “for the first time!,” “you need to…,” and “…of all time” were responsible for generating the most engagement." "Clickbait headlines are designed to evoke strong emotions, making people more likely to click on the link to satisfy their desire for quick entertainment or information. Our brains often can’t resist the temptation!" I like how silly the headlines are - read more examples HERE.   And where did they get that picture of the hair on end.  Here's the full picture. It doesn't intrigue like the first one, does it?

This is one of the Whistling Gardens' peony displays.     Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Marilyn's Photos - June 22 2025 - We Love Peonies

 

How much do we love peonies?  We have North America's largest collection of peonies at Whistling Gardens, and another large one at the Oshawa Peony Garden.  We seem to love them a lot.  There are 1,300 varieties of herbaceous, intersectional, tree and species peonies at Whistling Gardens.   The peony that we are most excited about is the Itoh peony.  Dr. Toichi Itoh, a Japanese botanist crossed tree peonies with herbaceous peonies.  The resulting plants have the best traits of the parents, hardiness and herbaceous growth along with gorgeous flower colours and forms of the tree peony AND they don't fall over - they have the tree peony strength of stem.  Itoh's hybridization took place in 1948, with seeds germinating, and then there was a decade of seedling oversight before the hybrids bloomed.  Dr. Itoh died in 1956, so it was his family who oversaw the process.  American Botanist Louis Smirnow, brought them to the USA where the Itoh name came about and hybrids first patented. i don't know what makes them so expensive - at least $50.00 a plant.  So let's find out.  That amount is now inexpensive compared to the days prior to tissue culture.  Prior to that they were only available by division and a small root could sell for $300.  It took many attempts at tissue culture for a breakthrough, and today tissue culture is used for mass production.  Peonies grow at a slow pace, so the costs are significantly reduced, but won't likely get 'cheap'. A mature plant can produce 30 or more blooms each season. And they are big flowers, very showy in the garden. While there are no blue peonies, they come in white, yellow, orange, pink and red with variations.   Our world of plants and flowers has grown and changed significantly in the last twenty-five years with tissue culture.  I've wondered what will happen when it becomes easy to produce humans via tissue culture.  There are applications of human cell culture now. Can you imagine replications existing?  It is curious at best and a horror tale at worst. Leet's stick with plants and peonies: it is a wonderful story of abundance and beauty.

Here's the small peony collection at Winterthur with the bee hive gazebo as a focal point.

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Marilyn's Photos - June 20 2025 - Blue Nails

 

As I grow older, I become more adverse to makeup - to bright lipstick and bright finger nails.  I seem to notice a lot of light blue nails this summer.  Fingers waving in the air with these little light blue tips getting my attention.  I started to wonder about manicures, and checked online - one of the salons has published its manicure prices as ranging from $35 to $45. Especially if you aren't buying the nail polish.  It seems that nail polish is one of those things that soars above the sun when it comes to pricing.  "Red Carpet Manicure Amor 24 Polish gained global attention when it was worn by pop star Rihanna at the 2012 Grammy Awards. The metallic gold polish, which complemented the singer’s custom Armani gown, was the perfect finishing touch to her glamorous look. It is priced at $5,000."  I assume U.S At $5,000, that is the low end of the high cost of premium nail polish.   "The high price tag of $250,000 per bottle makes it the most expensive nail polish in the world, and a manicure using this polish can cost up to $25,000. Azature’s Black Diamond Polish is considered the most expensive manicure in the world. This luxurious nail polish is made with 267 carats of black diamonds, giving it a unique, shimmering effect. However, it costs a whopping $250,000 per bottle, and a manicure using this polish can cost up to $25,000. The high price is due to the rareness and high cost of black diamonds, known for their beauty and rarity. The polish has been worn by celebrities such as Kelly Osbourne and has become a symbol of luxury and opulence in beauty and fashion." Here's the promo picture - the finish reminds me of formica countertops from the 1950s - black with little flecks in them.  I don't think that's what we're supposed to be associating these nails with.

Here's one of the gazebos in the RBG Rose Garden.  Such a pretty structure that goes with the roses wonderfully.  I expect it cost less than the bottle of nail polish.

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Marilyn's Photos - June 19 2025 - Summer Solstice

 

The summer solstice is tomorrow, Friday, at 10:42 pm.  Is it PM, pm, or p.m.  I see a number of variations.  I don't know if it because there are competing style books, or if it because it is now a free-for-all and anything goes.  I vote for the latter.  So I thought I might check on what the official style book would say.  Wikipedia is a good enough source.   Wikipedia says:  The Latin abbreviations a.m. and p.m. (often written "am" and "pm", "AM" and "PM", or "A.M." and "P.M.") are used in English (and Spanish). "Before midday" comes from the Latin ante meridian and :after midday' comes from the Latin post meridian.  Twelve hours - so symmetrical.   So whether the Summer Solstice  is at PM, pm, or P.M. or p.m. we are cheated a bit in North America as it isn't much of a celebration here.  I assume we lack the ancient sites that have magic and wonder in them.  Stonehenge, for example, compels the world's attention at the solstices each year.  The estimate is between 12,000 to 15,000 people will be at the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge this year.   So onwards to Summer which will pass like a blink of an eye.  William Shakespeare said "Summer's lease hath all too short a date."

A multiple exposure image of Alliums at the Royal Botanical Garden - a watercolour version and the original.

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