A Cup to Measure By

Pyrex came along in 1908.  Corning introduced it for a line of clear, low-thermal-expansion borosilicate glass used for laboratory glassware and kitchenware.  Pyrex is a purely arbitrary word, devised as a trade-mark. This glass is used in astronomy applications.  Corning cast the mirror for the California  Institute of Technology's Palomar Observatory project during the same time period.  It took a year of cooling after it was cast.    It was the the shape of the measuring cup that my attention was focused on.  It has remained the same for a long time.  I have a measuring cup that is more than 50 years old.  It looks like new, yet it seems that there would be better designs that are more accurate.  It is hard to measure small amounts of liquid. You can see one here at kickstarter.com.  The design has 2,748 backers and has reached $129,159 of its $30,000 goal.  The estimated delivery is May 2018.  The product information says:  "We're tech nerds with a passion for cooking, and we've created a better measuring up.  Euclid's patented shape delivers a level of accuracy that no traditional measuring cup can match."   What is that shape? It made me think of the pretty Calla lilies in today's pictures.

The Best of the Best

What is this website Best of the Best? I was looking for the top number 1 'things' and I found this British site,  It is a lottery for winning cars on a weekly basis.  The caption is:  Choose your dream car tickets.  This was started by William Hindmarsh in 1999, who says he loves cars. He grew up around his father's cars - Lotus Elite, Frog Eye Sprite and even an E-Type. There's a dream car winner every week so here's the latest winner story.  "THE STORY As a centre-forward for FC Le Mont in the Swiss football second division, Jorge Reixa knows a thing or two about challenging defenders for headers – which comes in handy when looking at the Dream Car Comp Spot the Ball photos! Jorge has been entering online for a while after seeing BOTB in Gatwick and last week he played for the half-price Ford Mustang GT. Christian was waiting for Jorge in the arrivals hall of Schipol airport earlier this morning with the incredible news that he was the 356th winner, taking him straight down the local Ford dealer to show him his new pride and joy. Jorge was ecstatic, particularly after getting the double delight of £10,000 in cash too - congratulations Jorge!" This is the way one wins: One has to identify the x y coordinates of a ball in a picture.  There is a panel of judges who are experienced football referees and ex-international players who use their expertise to decide where the centre of the ball is.  Game Credit is awarded for doing well in Dream Car Competitions, depending on how close you are to the winning position. It seems complicated, but extremely successful. The site says that  20 million pounds worth of cars have been won since it started.  There's an extensive array of all kinds of cars to be won.  I noticed a McLaren, a Maserati, and an Aston Marton as I scrolled down.   And there are cars with exotic names - a Vuhl, Caterham, and a Radical.  So in my search for the best of the best I seem to have found an example of that very thing. There are amazing things happening around us that are a testament to creativity in action.

What do the Oldest People accomplish?

Do you remember the 96 year old man who ran the marathon to become the oldest person to finish a marathon?  That was in 2015. There are others in that age range who have completed physical activities that most people would not be able to contemplate let alone to complete.   I found list25.com with all the oldest people accomplishments - bungee jumping at 96, visiting the north pole at 89, sail around the world at 77, release a new music album at 92, oldest practicing pediatrician at 103, and oldest doctorate at 97, and so on.  I could not predict this one, though.  It came via a headline in December in the Toronto Star:  Notorious 86-year-old jewel thief strikes again in Atlanta, police say "Doris Payne, who was the subject of a 2013 documentary, faces another shoplifting charge, this time for slipping a $2,000 diamond necklace into her pocket. Payne told the AP she realized a simple distraction could make it easy to slip out with a fancy trinket in hand after a friendly store owner let her try on watches as a child and then forgot she had the jewelry on. Her career was born in her 20s when she got the idea that she could support herself by lifting jewelry." I wonder if she has applied to the Guinness Book of Records to be the oldest practicing thief, 86. Or does the Guinness Book 'recognize' achievers without requiring an application? I was in the Watering Can in St. Catharines this week, and took these photos of calla lilies.