Tuesday, July 21, 2026

Day 5079: Leaving LV --> OC & Yellowstone Buffalo.

"Left-handed flowers": ink, acrylics

Want music?

Click: Al Green, For the Good Times.

2GN2S

Day 15.

Watched Sumo Day 9 this morning at 9:30 am on NHTV, some surprises today, as always. Tomorrow I will watch it at 4:30 pm at home. I fly home tomorrow at 10 am. It will take me a while to get back in to my regular routine.Lucky for me, Cheryl, aka Daughter #2 will meet my flight and I will be home around noon.

Before noon Monday, WW drove us to Summerlin fur our last shopping trip this trip. She had a return at Nordstrom and I bought new sunglasses ... I wore my old sunglasses here but they have since disappeared, and since they didn't show up in 15 days, I got new.

We stopped at Narata Japanese store on the way home, WW needed some ingredients for tonight supper and I spotted Yakisoba, so I had that for lunch. WW is cooking one of my favorites for my last supper tonight, rice, Portuguese sausage, eggs, broccoli and green onion. Oishi! It has been a great trip again, I always feel like I am at a spa.

A special thank you to Bassel, aka SM, Erin, aka WW, Zack, aka GH#3, Jordan, aka GH#1, Granddaughter, Raquel, Tina and Larry . You all made my trip so special.

Yellowstone has reached its decision, and the bull bison that flung 71-year-old grandfather Carl McDaniel eight feet into the air gets to keep living wild. McDaniel was out walking with his grandson near Bridge Bay Campground on July 10 when the animal suddenly charged. It caught him with a horn and sent him spinning through the air before he hit the ground, breaking his femur on impact.

He's now recovering from surgery, and he knows exactly how much worse it could have been."He was right on top of me," McDaniel said. "He could have stomped on me, he could have gored me. He could have done almost anything to take my life, and he didn't."

Speaking to CNN, McDaniel explained that he and his grandson had been roughly 100 yards from the bison, well back, when it came at them with no real warning at all. After looking into what happened, park officials chose not to put the animal down. Their thinking was straightforward: it was simply behaving like a wild bull in the middle of rut season, the time of year when bison grow especially restless, unpredictable and fast to charge. They weren't about to punish a wild animal for being wild.

For his part, McDaniel says he's just thankful, for the strangers who ran to help him, and for the fact that he's still here to tell the story.Still, his ordeal is a stark reminder. Even a sensible, respectful distance is no guarantee of safety when a 2,000-pound animal decides, in an instant, to move.

A 6 minute video, Rollin' Wild, here.

Just because ...

Variegated Laughingthrush

Tuesday's Smiles ...

by Moe Notsu

Hoping you feel all the good things in your day.

Monday, July 20, 2026

Day 5078: Sunday in Henderson & Dr. Xu and Histotripsy.

"Decisions": junk papers, drawing collage.

Want music?

Click: Isley Brothers, For the Love of You.

2GN2S

Day 14.

Sunday we went to church, WW and SM had to be there early, for their jobs, Greeting and Security respectively, but GH#3, Zack drive us a little later. A lovely service, but for this old Grandma the music is loud, I had to take my one hearing aid out (I only have one ear, actually two but one has nerve damage so I only need one aid), sorry, TMI? I rode home with WW and she picked up sandwiches, for them, I chose the leftover pasta rigatoni. TMI again? Then it was time for the World Cup final. Did you watch it? I was for Spain, I like Lamine Yamal. They liked Argentina, and Messi, except Zack doesn't like to watch soccer, so he disappeared for the duration. I was so amused by granddog, Duke, who does like to watch soccer, for short periods of time. WW captured a picture for me, for you.

He loses interest when they stop for penalties, he likes the action and follows the ball most of the time. It was Duke's 10 month birthday yesterday, he celebrates in someway every day! WW also gave me these photos.

You can see the size difference between Duke at 10 months, and Zoey at 8 years.

Zack is our dog whisperer.

SM & WW took pizzas, wings and salads to their good friends the Domaracki', and we eight had a wonderful long supper together, talking after a great meal. Then we went outside to enjoy their view. They live up above Las Vegas, with a fantastic view of the lights in the distance.

Tina, mother of Raquel, my granddaughter! ;o)

Another great day!

Dr. Zhen Xu

A revolutionary new cancer treatment called Histotripsy is showing incredible promise by literally liquefying tumors using focused sound waves—no surgery, no chemo, and no radiation needed.

Developed by pioneers Dr. Zhen Xu and the late Dr. Charles Cain at the University of Michigan, this FDA-approved technology is now being used at leading hospitals like Johns Hopkins and the Cleveland Clinic.

How it works:
- A robotic arm delivers precise high-intensity ultrasound waves straight to the tumor.
- These waves create tiny gas bubbles inside cancer cells that rapidly expand and collapse.
- The mechanical force destroys the tumor cells, turning the mass into liquid debris that the body naturally clears away.
- It also appears to stimulate the immune system to better recognize and attack remaining cancer cells.
- Because it relies on mechanical disruption rather than heat or radiation, it spares healthy surrounding tissue.

Patients often undergo the quick outpatient procedure and go home the same day. It is currently treating liver tumors, with trials expanding to kidney and brain cancers.

This could be a game-changer in the fight against cancer.

A 1+ minute video, Sloth babies lunch, here.

Just because ...

Ring-necked Pheasant

Monday's Smiles ...

Hoping you feel all the good things in your day.

Sunday, July 19, 2026

Day 5077: Artist, Helena Minginowicz & Metamorphosis does not erase memory.

"George x3": postage stamps, digital collage.

Want music?

Click: Aretha Franklin, Bridge Over Troubled Waters

2GN2S

Day 14.

Artist Helena Minginowicz creates Paper Towel Paintings

All photographs by Helena Minginowicz

“Civilizations are remembered through their monuments, but understood through the things they throw away,” says artist Helena Minginowicz, whose sensitive paintings interrogate our understanding of value. Using airbrushed acrylic, which can be built up in lightweight, translucent layers, the artist takes one of the most quotidian household items as a starting point: paper towel.

With its machine-embossed, moisture-wicking patterns, the absorbent paper comprises an instantly recognizable substrate. The precise, textured flourishes are aesthetically pleasing, and yet it’s hard to completely separate them from our associations with mass-produced paper products that are designed for one-time use and disposability. This dichotomy sits at he heart of Minginowicz’s practice, in which she explores “how changing the hierarchy of materials can reshape the way we perceive value, dignity, and the human experience,” she says.

Minginowicz’s embossed pieces from everyday domestic material are one facet of a broader multimedia approach to materiality in which she creates paintings on canvas and also painstakingly embosses delicate tissues. The paper towel works, in addition to some that are made on supermarket-style plastic bags, are then presented between thick slabs of acrylic, transforming them into objects with substantial heft and dimensionality.

“Every civilization constructs its own hierarchy of values,” the artist says. “It decides what deserves to be preserved, admired, and passed on to future generations. Monuments, works of art, symbols, and myths preserve an image of humanity as we wish to remember it—strong, beautiful, enduring, and heroic. Yet every monument has its reverse.”

Minginowicz’ imagery draws on the style of Renaissance paintings, especially focusing on expressiveness, intimacy, and the idealized female figure. One might think of Sandro Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus” or aristocratic portraiture of the era. “For centuries, painting monumentalized what civilizations wished to remember: saints, heroes, gods, victories, myths, and ideals. I use that same language to ask a different question: Who deserves to be remembered with dignity? Not only heroes. Not only the victorious. But every human being.”

Minginowicz is currently working toward a solo exhibition at Galerie Primain Paris, which is slated to open on October 8. Follow updates and see more on Instagram.

Jo Nagai was raising swallowtail butterflies at his home in Kobe, Japan, when he noticed something odd. The ones he had looked after as caterpillars seemed to recognise him. Wild butterflies fled. His didn't.

He was in second grade. He wrote a four-page letter to Dr. Martha Weiss, an entomologist at Georgetown University who had studied whether moths could retain memories through metamorphosis. He asked if she could help him design a version of her experiment for butterflies.

She said yes.

Using a muscle therapy device, Jo trained caterpillars to associate the scent of lavender with a mild vibration. When the caterpillars became butterflies, 70 per cent of them still avoided the lavender. Their brains had been completely rebuilt during metamorphosis. The memory survived anyway.

Then he bred them.

The offspring, which had never been trained, also avoided lavender. So did their grandchildren. Without ever experiencing the vibration, two generations of butterflies inherited an aversion to a scent their grandmother had been taught to fear.

Jo documented it all in a 33-page research paper and presented his findings at the International Congress of Entomology in Kobe in 2024. He was 10.

A second-grader wrote a letter to a Georgetown professor, and together they found evidence that butterflies can pass memories down through generations

A 4+ minute video, Standbeest Evolution, here.

Just because ...

Crested Partridge (Rollulus rouloul)

Sunday's Smiles ...

Hoping you see all the good things in your day.