Algoma Equinox upstream

 

Algoma Equinox upstream, December 5, 2023, 1.30 PM. Just discovered my Micro SD card was counterfeit and only held 2 GB rather than the 32GB it had marked on it, and so had trouble getting this image off!

First snowfall

 

No, Elizabeth Taylor didn't have a 'double row' of eyelashes.

 

Elizabeth Taylor in classic eye makeup as Cleopatra

Actress Elizabeth Taylor was famous for her violet blue eyes and smoky eye makeup, but a claim has been circulating for several decades that she had a 'double row' of eyelashes on her upper and lower eyelids. Her lifelong friend Roddy McDowell said of her "Who has double eyelashes except a girl who was absolutely born to be on the big screen?” and in Slate in 2011 it was suggested that she had a mutation of the FOXC2 gene, which can cause this condition, called distichiasis.  It is associated with more serious conditions including congenital heart defects. Taylor died at 79 from congestive heart failure, but I could not find any reports it was due to a congenital condition. Close up photos of her eyes show only the usual single row of lashes. The second row of eyelashes in distichiasis grow from the meibomian glands that provide lubrication for the eyelids, and often grow inside of the eyelid, not outside, an uncomfortable condition that can require surgery. Medical article on the condition which has illustrations that may make some readers uncomfortable. 

Sally Morrison, Ms. Taylor's publicist, told me "...though the "double lash" story was widely repeated, I do not think it was true.  From my perspective it was likely propagated by a studio publicist early in her career!"

Last Pogo 1978-2023

Dany Laj, Stacey Case, me, Jeanette Dowling, Meaghan (sp?)

Riled up after watching The Last Pogo (1978).

Stacey showed a 16mm print of The Last Pogo - it was a punk show in 1978 at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, the last punk show for a while there that ended in a small riot. I was the only one in the room old enough to have gone to it! I think I even knew it was going on, but I didn't go.

 

Last passionfruit of the year

Last passionfruit off potted passionflower - I got four this year - I brought it indoors and let it ripen until it fell off. Tasted good. I don't know what variety it is - I bought it at Canadian Tire and it didn't have label.

 

Technology Memories - Pocket Fax

 In the early 90s I saw a CITY-TV news crew with this little cellular fax viewers - a small box like a slide viewer which were like this, but had a screen inside:

Credit: In Memoriam: Gilles Péris y Saborit,  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/

It probably worked like the Faxview, made by Bolton Engineering in 1997.

They could receive faxes from CITY-TV and read them on it. CITY-TV was big on cutting edge technology and had an online presence years before other channels.

Gynobfuscation

Women could gynobfuscate as a reprisal to mansplaining. "Sure, Rayleigh scattering explains why the sky is blue! But why does it taste minty?"