Photography with Joe

YetiCon Attendance History: A Look at the Growth of Canada’s Mountain Convention YetiCon has evolved into one of Canada’s most unique fan conventions, blending traditional con programming with outdoor adventures at Blue Mountain Resort. Below is an updated chart with estimated attendance numbers for each year of YetiCon’s history. While exact figures may vary, these estimates reflect the general growth trend and available data. YetiCon # Year Notable Facts Estimated Attendance 1st 2014 Inaugural event at Blue Mountain Resort, introducing a unique blend of indoor and outdoor activities. ~500 2nd 2015 Built on early success with more activities and increased interest. ~700 3rd 2016 Expanded programming with more interactive outdoor events. ~900 4th 2017 Included cosplay contests, adventure sports, a...

When Interviews Meant Discovery by Ed Scholz with Ai Corrections "Interviews used to be a rough map into unknown territory.:" I said today in shock. You didn’t know what would be uncovered—neither did the artist. That was the magic. Two people in conversation, not just exchanging information, but exploring something. Listening. Reacting. Changing course midstream because a better question had just appeared. Today, to my surprise, I found out things have changed more than I realized. One of my clients had an interview lined up—and it was by email. The questions were sent. The answers were typed. That was it. No conversation, no voice, no real-time exchange. Just a text-based transaction. I sat there wondering if this was normal now—and apparently, it is. What we’ve lost is the moment after the moment—the one where someone says something surprising and you lean in: “Can you say more about that?” Those are the moments that can’t be scripted. They only happen live, when both s...

  Our Cousins, the Proto-Philosophers By Scholz It started with a television show. While watching  Humans , the sci-fi series on Amazon Prime, I was struck by a scene where synthetic beings — robots with human-like intelligence — calmly argued for their rights. Not just to move freely, but not to be  owned . Their communication was articulate, emotional, even moral. They weren’t asking for upgrades. They were asking for dignity. The scene lingered in my mind. What makes someone a person? Is it intelligence? Language? The ability to feel, or to make ethical claims? That’s when my thoughts turned not to machines, but to something far more real — our evolutionary cousins. Bonobos pressing symbols for “sad,” gorillas signing their names in mirrors, orangutans telling small lies. These aren’t imagined sci-fi futures. These are scenes from the lives of great apes. For centuries, philosophy has been framed as a distinctly human pursuit. To wonder, to reason, to ask “why” — these...

 : What a Coincidence, Sugoi guuzen (GOO-zen) da ne!  Japanese Study Conversation Summary 1. Saying  “What a coincidence” 偶然 (ぐうぜん, guuzen)  = coincidence Pronunciation tip: "guu" sounds like “goo” with a long "oo" like in "go" but stretched. Example: すごい偶然だね！ Sugoi guuzen da ne! What a great coincidence! 2. Simple phrase to say “Yesterday I spoke bad Japanese”: きのう下手な日本語を話した。 Kinō heta na nihongo o hanashita. I spoke bad Japanese yesterday. 下手 (へた, heta)  = bad/poor (at something) 日本語 (にほんご, nihongo)  = Japanese language 3. Asking “How long do you study? Why?” in simple Japanese: Polite: どのくらい勉強していますか？なぜですか？ Dono kurai benkyou shiteimasu ka? Naze desu ka? How long do you study? Why? Casual: どのくらい勉強してる？なんで？ Dono kurai benkyou shiteru? Nande? How long do you study? Why? 4. Saying “I had Japanese (class)”: Simple: 日本語があった。 Nihongo ga atta. I had Japanese. More specific: 昨日日本語があった。 Kinō nihongo ga atta. I had Japanese yesterday. 5. Asking “How long did you st...

"Ice, Ice, Tragedy: The Day the Mountain Said 'NOPE!'" By Not-A-Glaciologist, Just a Guy with Cold Feet Picture this: You're sipping cocoa in a cozy Swiss village nestled in the Alps, maybe yodeling a little, minding your own cheese fondue business , when suddenly—BOOM! The entire side of the Birch Glacier belly-flops down the mountain like a 10-million-ton ice cube cannonballing into your backyard. No, this isn’t a deleted scene from Dumb and Dumber Go Hiking —it’s real. It’s terrifying. And also...a little too on the nose for the climate disaster movie we’re all stuck in. So, what happened? It Came from the Glacier The glacier , tired of holding its form like a proper frozen citizen, decided to let it all go —Elsa-style. Let it goooooo! Can't hold it back anymoooore! And it didn’t. Ice. Rock. Mud. Enough weight to crush a small castle—or in this case, the village of Blatten . Boom. Splat. Squish. Blatten flattened. Plotten twist! Science Says: ...

  -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ERICA, PIXEL QUEEN Watashi no Nihongo wa subete abekobe de gozaimasu. Taihen go-shinsetsu ni shite itadaki, makoto ni osoreirimasu. Kokoro yori fukaku kansha mōshiagemōrimasu. 「我々は美を求めて彷徨するのではない。美の中に沈潜していくのだ。」 “Wareware wa bi o motomete hōkō suru no de wa nai. Bi no naka ni chinzen shite iku no da.” New Photo of the day. @faesu_ Erica the artist, RPG video game maker, half Japanase fluent in ENglish and Japanse. Thought polymath was a polyamourus! Somniforious she is not! Busy in the Sun of Edward Gardens Gavey, workign with phone, lapton and harddrive on her hobby, the making of RPG. She worked as a background artist for the Star Trek show "Below Decks" she it was a real treat to meat her. She loves a varity of music, and enjoys Japanese puns.  Watashi no Nihongo wa subete abekobe de gozaimasu. Taihen go-shinsetsu ni shite itadaki, makoto ni osoreirimasu. Kokoro yori fukaku kansha mōshiagemōrimasu. ...

  Appendix: English — The Language of Lazy People and Shortcuts English didn’t get famous for its precision. It’s the language of shortcuts, snappy phrases, and colorful idioms that let people say a lot with just a few words. Why say “water causes wetness” when you can just say “water is wet” and be done with it? That’s efficiency at its finest! English inherited a ton of fancy grammar rules from Latin, French, and Germanic languages—but instead of keeping all those complicated verb endings and case markers, English tossed a lot of them out the window. Who has time for that? English loves shortcuts so much, it gave us gems like: “Gonna”  instead of “going to.” Because why bother with the full phrase when you can just squish it? “Wanna”  instead of “want to.” Sounds cooler, feels easier. “OK”  — a mysterious abbreviation that took over the world because it’s short, simple, and anyone can say it. “Hang on”  — literally telling someone to “hang” while you figure th...

A band I know just got signed to a label! Major bonus! We discussed what they do. I think the band things they have far more input than you think.  A traditional music label functions like a publisher–editor hybrid : 🎧 As a Publisher : Financing : They fund recording, production, marketing, videos, tours, and sometimes living expenses. Ownership : They often own the master recordings (at least temporarily) — like how a book publisher owns distribution rights. Distribution & Reach : They get your music onto major platforms (Spotify, Apple, radio, film, etc.) and use their network to amplify reach. Marketing Muscle : They run PR campaigns, place ads, book media appearances — they’re in charge of the "launch" machine. Legal & Business : They manage contracts, royalties, licensing, sync deals, and more. 🎚️ As an Editor : Creative Input : They give feedback on songs, album structure, track selection, pacing — refining, not rewriting. Matchmakin...

  Tegan Basista – Superstar on Wheels 💊💉✨ Tegan Basista leaves North York General like it’s a red carpet, not a hospital hallway. Hospital policy says wheelchair, but her glow says Factory Superstar. Exploratory surgery? Just another backstage pass to the inside of the human body. She smiled. The nurse smiled. The fluorescent lights hummed in approval. This was medicine as image, bravery as brand, and a rare day when the system wasn’t broken. A perfect little coscomi fluck™ in Canadian healthcare. Smile for the Polaroid, Tegan — you're in the gallery now. 🩺❤️🖼️ #BasistaAsIcon #15MinutesOnWard3 #GreatguyTV, #Scholx, #Scholz, #NorthYorkGeneral, #CitizenCanada, #WarholHealth, #CanadianPopCare In the soft hospital light, Tegan’s gentle smile holds the world still. There is strength in vulnerability, beauty in healing’s quiet moments. She teaches us that every step, every smile, is a victory — a story of light in  https://joe-average123.blogspot.com/2025/06/tegan-basista-supers...

  I just realized something that’s been sitting with me for years—quietly ironic and maybe a little tragic. Back in school, I had a literacy teacher devoted to political correctness long before it became the norm. She rarely pushed it openly; instead, she used favored students as vessels to voice the “right” ideas, supporting them quietly. If someone said something unapproved, they were corrected. But if a favored student made sweeping, moralizing statements, she nodded, smiled, and gave them the floor. As Milton wrote in  Paradise Lost , “The mind is its own place, and in itself / Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.” In her classroom, the mind was shaped to favor one place—her ideology. She knew her English literature well. We read the canon—Chaucer, Milton, Spenser, Shakespeare—and she treated it like sacred ground. Yet she refused to let us wrestle with those texts honestly, preferring group discussions that rewarded moral performances, not genuine learning. It rem...

  June 4, 2025 – Edwards Gardens, Toronto https://joe-average123.blogspot.com/2025/06/june-4-2025-edwards-gardens-toronto.html TITLE: Youth in Tuxedos (Business Edition) Suits crisp, futures loaded. Western. U of T. Capitalism meets corsage. Neon ties, quiet thunder. The garden blooms — so do they. #PopProm #ModernIconography #StreetArtVibes #CapitalYouth #EdwardsGardens #GreatguyTV #Scholx #Scholz https://joe-average123.blogspot.com/2025/06/june-4-2025-edwards-gardens-toronto.html June 4, 2025 – Toronto TITLE: Two in Bloom First warm day. Last of the flowers. Garden nearly empty — two don’t mind. Western. U of T. Dates waiting. Even the breeze is proud. Toronto prom trivia: 🎉 It’s “grad” not “prom.” 🚗 Party bus over limo. 💸 Average cost: $600 👞 Tux or Timbs — style is plural here. #NeoPop #PromPoem #WarmBloom #StreetIcons #EdwardsGardens #GreatguyTV #Scholx #Scholz Under the warm June sun at Edwards Gardens, the Western-bound grad steps forward, a bouqu...

  Work 7494 TITLE: Cosplay Contrast Subtitle:Anime North, May – Toronto Two worlds in black and white, back to back — strength and style intertwined. Costumes crafted, characters alive. A moment frozen between panels of a manga page. Energy sharp, details bold — in the midst of the crowd, they stand apart. \ #CosplayContrast #AnimeNorth #BlackAndWhite #TorontoCosplay #GreatguyTV #Scholx #Scholz

TITLE: Cosplay Contrast Subtitle: Anime North, May – Toronto Two worlds in black and white, back to back — strength and style intertwined. Costumes crafted, characters alive. A moment frozen between panels of a manga page. Energy sharp, details bold — in the midst of the crowd, they stand apart. #CosplayContrast #AnimeNorth #BlackAndWhite #TorontoCosplay #GreatguyTV #Scholx #Scholz

 From George and Cleo I had the honour of hearing Marc Garneau speak once — I think it was at a Hot Docs lecture — and I’ve never forgotten the clarity and quiet strength in his voice. He spoke not just as an astronaut or politician, but as someone deeply committed to service, to curiosity, and to the future. Learning of his passing hit me harder than I expected. Marc wasn’t just the first Canadian in space — he was the kind of person who made you believe that excellence and humility could go hand in hand. He didn’t set out to be an astronaut, but he became a symbol of possibility for a generation. And he carried that same sense of duty into public office, where he served with grace and intelligence for over a decade. What struck me most was how others spoke of him. His wife Pam said he faced his final days with the same strength and clarity that defined his life. And astronaut Dave Williams reminded us that the dreams of today’s kids — to one day reach space — are part of Marc’s l...

Theory (not Practice) "Who wins in a knife fight: a middleweight gladiator or a ninja with night vision?" Let’s pit your trusty Canon Rebel X7i (APS-C, 2013) against some full-frame heavyweights from 2014 onward , and throw in the Sony Alpha mirrorless beasts for spice. Spoiler: it’s not a fair fight—but it is an educational one. ⚔️ Sensor Arena: APS-C Rebel vs. Full Frame & Sony Alpha 🎞️ Canon Rebel X7i (APS-C, 2013) Sensor : 18MP APS-C (1.6x crop) Processor : DIGIC 5 Max Native ISO : 6400 (expanded to 12800) High ISO Noise : Noticeable at ISO 800–1600 , chunky by 3200 , mushy by 6400 🛡️ Canon Full-Frame Models Released After X7i 🧙 Canon 6D (2012) – still relevant in 2014 Sensor : 20.2MP full-frame Processor : DIGIC 5+ Max Native ISO : 25600 (expandable to 102400) Noise Performance : Clean to ISO 3200 , good even at 6400 , surprisingly usable at 12800 ISO vs. X7i : About 1.5–2 stops cleaner , especially in shadows ⚔️ Canon 5D Mark III (2012) Sensor : 22.3MP full-...