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For over 40 years, Tom Bishop’s dollhouse miniatures show has been the gold standard for serious collectors and hobbyists alike.
Teri of Teri’s Mini Workshop pretends to sip from a tiny Route 66 mug.Credit...
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(Video) Universe Size Comparison | 3d Animation Comparison | Stars Real Scale Comparison
By Emma Orlow
Photographs by Evan Jenkins
CHICAGO — Moments before 10 a.m., a security guard thanked the crowd for being cooperative.
When the clock struck the hour, it became clear why: The doors of the Marriott Chicago O’Hare conference center opened, and hundreds of attendees, a majority of whom were over the age of 60, bee-lined as fast as they could to the booths.
Many had studied the color-coded map ahead of time listing each booth’s location and came prepared with a shopping plan — a scene that could easily be mistaken for a Black Friday sale. Instead, it was the Chicago International Miniatures Show.
Despite the gathering touting itself as “the World’s No. 1 Dollhouse Miniatures Show,” there aren’t many actual dollhouses. Attendees instead sift through thousands of tiny objects that fill these tiny homes: miniature sponges, chocolate fondue fountains, rocking chairs, barbecue sets, Tupperware containers or fly swatters.
The Tom Bishop show, as many attendees call it, is considered by its founder, Mr. Bishop, to be the largest dollhouse miniatures event in the world. Numbers appear to support that claim. This year, over 250 vendors traveled from 21 countries and 35 states.
More than 3,000 people attended, filling three large conference rooms, with hallway spillover. The weeklong event, from April 24 to April 30, included ticketed workshops with themes like “Lobsterfest” (focused on making miniature lobster boil accouterments); trade shows; and three days of ticketed shopping for the public.
Mr. Bishop estimates he has done over 500 miniature shows around the world, though in recent years he has downsized to only Chicago, which has been a continuous stop for nearly 40 years. Even the hotel itself is personal for Mr. Bishop: It’s where he and his wife, Leni, 77, spent the first night of their honeymoon.
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In 1977, the duo relocated from Chicago to Margate, Fla., where they opened their dollhouse store, Miniland, before closing it in 1984 to focus their attention on traveling conventions. Mr. Bishop, who also worked for American Airlines for 17 years, was inspired to create his own show after attending others that “weren’t run very well,” he said.
“The largest miniature dollhouse convention” may sound like a silly distinction to some, but it is no joking matter for the sellers. For many, the Tom Bishop show is where they hope to make the bulk of their annual sales.
Teri, 77, of Teri’s Mini Workshop, who declined to give her last name, said she wouldn’t have been able to showcase her miniature nacho cheese machines, plates of gefilte fish or medical supplies (about $10) had a booth not dropped out last minute. She hoped her soft power would be her low pricing, in contrast to some other tables, where pieces can go for hundreds of dollars a pop.
If a collector wants something one of a kind, it might sell out on the first day, said Becky Evert, 68, a customer who had traveled from Denver with friends for the event. “Did I come with a budget? Yes,” she said. “Did I stay to it? No.” Of her seven years in attendance, it was the largest crowd she had ever seen.
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Beth Pothen, 42, who runs Mountain Creek Miniatures and is a full-time postal worker, is a second-generation miniaturist, making items like goth furniture and Christmas cookie trays (she got her start at a Girl Scouts craft fair). She drove from Spokane, Wash., for the convention and hoped to recoup the cost of travel and labor, and then some, she said. Individual tables cost $325, and some opt to have two at their booth, according to Mr. Bishop.
While there’s value in breadth like that of Ms. Pothen’s, others distinguish themselves with a more niche focus. Kristin Castenschiold, 41, of Heartfelt Canines in Green Village, N.J., made a name for herself selling miniature dogs on Etsy — “I get some of the hair from a friend who is a pet groomer,” she said — and has since expanded to all kinds of furry friends, miniature light-up aquariums and trompe l’oeil cat litter boxes.
Margie Criner, 53, of Chicago’s Itty Bitty Mini Mart, makes miniatures as part of her full-time fine art practice (she’s currently on display at the traveling show “Small is Beautiful”), but wanted a way to make her work more accessible. Her tiny items, which include translucent Jell-O and teensy records from the rock band Television, are inspired by items she had growing up.
Ms. Criner is a part of a new generation of miniature makers, following in the footsteps of artists like Laurie Simmons, bringing the genre out from the home, into the gallery — with designs more modern and cheeky than the antiquarian selections that once came to define the miniature world.
While it can be hard to stand out, everyone described the world of miniature selling and buying as quite collaborative and joyful, and there are many reasons people have become obsessive collectors and makers.
Anita Hobson, 63, a customer from Belleville, Ill., said she came to the Tom Bishop convention with her husband to find items to add to the dollhouse her mother had started before she died. She became giddy over a working clothespin sold by Maria Fowler from Toronto’s The Little Dollhouse Company.
Meanwhile, Morgan Cressey, 30, was one of the convention’s youngest adult customers in attendance. Ms. Cressey, who works as a nanny and a server, had traveled from Spokane alone that weekend to stock up for her collection, a pastime she became fascinated with through her mother’s childhood miniatures.
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A sense of community is a huge draw for people. Veronica Morales of Vero’s Miniatures said that the show was her big chance to show in the United States, which has a more robust miniature market than Mexico City, where she is based. For Tom Bishop this year, Ms. Morales sold miniatures — which she makes with her whole family — of an ofrenda, an altar for deceased relatives, and piñatas, among other items.
The current state of the miniature scene is encouraging, according to Barbara Davis, 76, a retired principal who is now the director of the school for the International Guild of Miniature Artisans, where many of the convention’s makers had either taken courses or taught.
“There’s a surge of people doing such a variety of creative miniatures,” said Ms. Davis, who attributed the change to younger and more diverse makers entering the industry today. She added that I.G.M.A., in Castine, Maine, had its largest enrollment last year in the school’s more than four decades in existence last year.
Mr. Bishop said he had already signed an agreement for the next two years with the Marriott Chicago O’Hare. But it remains up in the air whether his children — Rachel, 48, and Rebecca, 51, neither of whom currently works in miniatures professionally — will want to take the reins when Mr. Bishop, 82, is no longer the showman.
In the meantime, Mr. Bishop is excited by the current state of affairs. As he prepared for this year’s convention, he recalled telling his wife that he “hardly knows all the attendees anymore. They’re all new,” he said. “It’s growing again.” One tiny item at a time.
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FAQs
What is the meaning of The Last Question by Isaac Asimov? ›
The story asks the question of humanity's fate, and human existence as a whole, highlighting Asimov's focus on important aspects of our future like population growth and environmental issues. "The Last Question" ranks with "Nightfall" (1941) as one of Asimov's best-known and most acclaimed short stories.
Who were Alexander Adell and Bertram Lupov? ›Alexander Adell and Bertram Lupov were two of the faithful attendants of Multivac. As well as any human beings could, they knew what lay behind the cold, clicking, flashing face -- miles and miles of face -- of that giant computer.
Can entropy be reversed Asimov? ›"We both know entropy can't be reversed. You can't turn smoke and ash back into a tree." "Do you have trees on your world?" The sound of the Galactic AC startled them into silence.
What did gravity create when 99% of the gas and dust materials were gathered into the center of a flattened disc during the formation of the solar system? ›Approximately 4.6 billion years ago, the solar system was a cloud of dust and gas known as a solar nebula. Gravity collapsed the material in on itself as it began to spin, forming the sun in the center of the nebula.
What is the message in The Last Question? ›The Last Question, by Isaac Asimov, is a short story about the evolution of humanity and technology, a single question, and the inevitable end of the universe due to increasing entropy. The Last Question also explores the relationship between humans and technology.
What is the moral lesson of the fun they had by Isaac Asimov? ›MORAL The author's message is one of warnings against the dangers of computerized homeschooling which keeps away the children from the benefits of the personal interactions between students and teachers , which help develop social skills as well as many more things.
What is Multivac and how does it function? ›In all cases, it is a government-run computer that answers questions posed using natural language, and it is usually buried deep underground for security purposes. According to his autobiography In Memory Yet Green, Asimov coined the name in imitation of UNIVAC, an early mainframe computer.
What is insufficient data for meaningful answer? ›"Insufficient data for meaningful answer" is the response that, time and time again, all those who ask the supercomputer of their time, first Multivac, then Microvac until they reach the Cosmic AC, about the inevitable reversal of the universe: entropy.
Who is the character in The Last Question by Isaac Asimov? ›“The Last Question,” a short story by Isaac Asimov, starts in the month of May of year 2061. A conversation occurs between two men, Alexander Adell and Bertram Lupov, both attendants of the Multivac. Multivac is a giant computer that can perform extremely complex computations beyond any human's capability.
Can humans stop natural entropy? ›Of course, we could reduce the entropy of any system by transferring it out to other systems, but we cannot “completely reduce” the entropy of all interacting systems, since there is no way to destroy entropy locally nor temporarily—entropy is always generated (i.e., overall increased).
Will the universe end due to entropy? ›
Following the increase of entropy, the dissipation of matter and energy goes on until our universe becomes so infinitely disordered that entropy can no longer increase and events come to an end. This is called the heat death of the universe. Some say that, because things cannot get any worse, nothing happens at all.
How do you escape entropy? ›The only way to escape entropy is to intentionally put yourself in entropy. To seek entropy. This means seeking to expand our comfort zone and try new things. It is only through these experiences that we will grow and live the best life we can.
What is the nebular theory of Laplace? ›Ans: The Nebular Theory of Laplace is a theory that explains the formation of our solar system. It states that a large cloud of gas and dust (the nebula) collapsed under its own gravity to form our sun and planets.
What is the dust cloud theory? ›Currently the best theory is the Nebular Theory . This states that the solar system developed out of an interstellar cloud of dust and gas, called a nebula . This theory best accounts for the objects we currently find in the Solar System and the distribution of these objects.
What is the Oort cloud believed to have been formed by? ›In short, gravity from the planets shoved many icy planetesimals away from the Sun, and gravity from the galaxy likely caused them to settle in the borderlands of the solar system, where the planets couldn't perturb them anymore. And they became what we now call the Oort Cloud.
What is the message of the story? ›A story's message, or theme, is what the author wants to teach you through his or her writing. Some stories have a specific kind of message called a moral, or a life lesson. You can find the message of a story by looking at the characters' actions and focusing on what is repeated throughout the story.
What did the hermit reply to the three questions at the end? ›Answer: The hermit's answers to the three questions were: There is only one time that is important and that time is 'Now'. It is the prominent time as it is the only time we get to act on.
What does the last line of the story mean? ›Last lines teach us lessons, give us memorable images, and provide the note that carries the reader away from the story and back into his or her world. If ever there were a place to make every word count, your last line is it.
What is the saddest aspect of society Isaac Asimov? ›“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” ~Isaac Asimov, Isaac Asimov's Book of Science and Nature Quotations, 1988 A quote from a man who knew more about our society today than we do now.
What is the main idea or the moral or lesson of the story? ›The main idea is what the book is mostly about. The theme is the message, lesson, or moral of a book.
What is the moral lesson that the story teaches? ›
The moral of a story is the lesson that story teaches about how to behave in the world. Moral comes from the Latin word mores, for habits. The moral of a story is supposed to teach you how to be a better person. If moral is used as an adjective, it means good, or ethical.
What did the men do to the data fed to MultiVAC? ›John Henderson, Multivac's Chief Programmer, admits that he altered the data being fed to Multivac, since the populace could not be trusted to report accurate information in the current situation.
Is MultiVAC a good project? ›✅In terms of the core team, MultiVAC is relatively strong compared with similar projects at the same industry, especially around technical expertise and background experience.
Does MultiVAC have a future? ›Bullish Multivac (MTV) price predictions range between $0.004742 and $0.008957 by 2030. Market analysts believe MTV could reach $0.003688 by 2025. Bearish Multivac market price prediction for 2023 is $0.000843.
What is an example of insufficient data? ›Insufficient data in the application field:
So for example, if the three-way TCP handshake completed and there was one data packet after the handshake but that one data packet was not enough to match any of our signatures, then user will see insufficient data in the application field of the traffic log.
- Identify trends with the available data.
- Wait for more data if time allows.
- Talk with stakeholders and adjust your objective.
- Look for a new dataset.
In computer network communications, the HTTP 404, 404 not found, 404, 404 error, page not found or file not found error message is a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) standard response code, to indicate that the browser was able to communicate with a given server, but the server could not find what was requested.
Who is the main character in True Love by Isaac Asimov? ›The story “True Love” by Isaac Asimovincludes two active characters, Milton and Joe, which we will help you characterize next.
Who is the main character in the story what is the answer? ›What is a protagonist? The very short answer is that the protagonist is the main character.
Who is the main character in all the answers? ›What if it had all the answers?” Ava, the protagonist in the fiction story All the Answers by Kate Messner, is looking for a pencil to bring to school in order to take her math quiz.
Do we age because of entropy? ›
Entropy is a measure of order and disorder. If left alone, aging systems go spontaneously from youthful, low entropy and order to old, high entropy and disorder.
What is a real life example of entropy? ›Melting ice makes a perfect example of entropy. As ice the individual molecules are fixed and ordered. As ice melts the molecules become free to move therefore becoming disordered. As the water is then heated to become gas, the molecules are then free to move independently through space.
What is entropy in simple words? ›entropy, the measure of a system's thermal energy per unit temperature that is unavailable for doing useful work. Because work is obtained from ordered molecular motion, the amount of entropy is also a measure of the molecular disorder, or randomness, of a system.
Will there be a heat death of the universe? ›This is the timeline of the Universe from Big Bang to Heat Death scenario. The different eras of the universe are shown. The heat death will occur in around 1.7×10106 years, if protons decay.
What is the opposite of entropy? ›Negentropy is the inverse of entropy. This indicates that things are becoming more ordered. Order is the opposite of randomness or disorder, implying organization, structure, and function. Negentropy can be seen in a star system like the solar system. The inverse of entropy is negentropy.
What is the law of energy never dies? ›This law, first proposed and tested by Émilie du Châtelet, means that energy can neither be created nor destroyed; rather, it can only be transformed or transferred from one form to another. For instance, chemical energy is converted to kinetic energy when a stick of dynamite explodes.
Does life fight against entropy? ›Actually, the entire course of our bodies' existence, from birth to death, is spent in a nonstop battle to maintain low entropy. The moment we die, entropy starts increasing as the body's organization gives way to decay. No wonder life is tough.
How does life reverse entropy? ›It is a chemical reaction called photosynthesis. As you probably are aware, it is the chemical process by which a plant turns the energy in sunlight into a sugar molecule. This simple chemical reaction has allowed every living thing to be created and to overcome the decay inherent in entropy.
Is entropy the same as chaos? ›In short, we can define entropy as a measure of the disorder of the universe, on both a macro and a microscopic level. The Greek root of the word translates to “a turning towards transformation” — with that transformation being chaos.
What is the interstellar hypothesis? ›Interstellar cloud hypothesis
In 1943, Soviet astronomer Otto Schmidt proposed that the Sun, in its present form, passed through a dense interstellar cloud and emerged enveloped in a cloud of dust and gas, from which the planets eventually formed.
What is the Chamberlin and jeans theory? ›
Chamberlin. According to this theory, a star narrowly missed colliding with the Sun and, in its passing, drew away from the Sun stellar debris that condensed to form the planets. Jeans applied mathematics to problems in thermodynamics and radiant heat and wrote on other aspects of radiation.
What is Kant's gaseous hypothesis? ›The Gaseous Hypothesis suggests that the Solar System formed from gas and dust orbiting the Sun. The theory was developed by Immanuel Kant and published in his Allgemeine Naturgeschichte und Theorie des Himmels ("Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens"), in 1755.
What is the Russell's binary star hypothesis? ›H.N. Russel hypothesized in 1937 that the sun was a binary star or twin-star system. It indicates that the sun has a companion star. Now, if an intruding star approached the Sun's companion star, the tidal filament (and planets that originate from it) created by the sun's companion at a large distance from the sun.
Which theory says that the moon formed from the dust? ›What is most widely accepted today is the giant-impact theory. It proposes that the Moon formed during a collision between the Earth and another small planet, about the size of Mars. The debris from this impact collected in an orbit around Earth to form the Moon.
Why did the interstellar gas and dust collapsed? ›Stars form from an accumulation of gas and dust, which collapses due to gravity and starts to form stars. The process of star formation takes around a million years from the time the initial gas cloud starts to collapse until the star is created and shines like the Sun.
Where is the heliopause? ›The heliopause is the boundary between the Sun's solar wind and the interstellar medium. The solar wind blows a "bubble" known as the heliosphere into the interstellar medium. The outer border of this "bubble" is where the solar wind's strength is no longer great enough to push back the interstellar medium.
What is the main factor that makes Earth more geologically active? ›Why is Earth geologically active? Internal heat drives geological activity. – Larger the planet, more heat retained. – Circulation of liquid outer core creates Earth's magnetic field.
Why is Pluto no longer considered a planet? ›Answer. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) downgraded the status of Pluto to that of a dwarf planet because it did not meet the three criteria the IAU uses to define a full-sized planet. Essentially Pluto meets all the criteria except one—it “has not cleared its neighboring region of other objects.”
What is the point of view of The Last Question? ›The story is written from a third person objective point of view. The only intelligence remaining in the universe at the end of the story was AC. However, AC can't be the narrator as by literary convention the point of view should have switched to first person when it became a character in the story.
What is the saddest aspect of life Asimov? ›“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” ~Isaac Asimov, Isaac Asimov's Book of Science and Nature Quotations, 1988 A quote from a man who knew more about our society today than we do now.
What did Isaac Asimov mean when he said the saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom? ›
As Isaac Asimov once said, “The saddest aspect of society right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” Unlike information, it cannot be dispensed via blogs and Internet chatter. Since we are drowning in an ocean of information, the most precious commodity in modern society is wisdom.
What was the purpose of Multivac? ›Description. Like most of the technologies Asimov describes in his fiction, Multivac's exact specifications vary among appearances. In all cases, it is a government-run computer that answers questions posed using natural language, and it is usually buried deep underground for security purposes.
What is the point view in the story? ›Point of view is the writer's way of deciding who is telling the story to whom. Establishing a clear point of view is important because it dictates how your reader interprets characters, events, and other important details. There are three kinds of point of view: first person, second person, and third person.
What is the point of view in summary? ›The term point of view, or POV for shorthand, refers to who is telling a story, or who is narrating it. The narration of a story or novel can be told in three main ways: first person, second person, and third person. To determine point of view, ask, 'Who is doing the talking?'
What does Asimov think about how we get ideas? ›Echoing Einstein and Seneca, Asimov believes that new ideas come from combining things together. Steve Jobs thought the same thing. What if the same earth-shaking idea occurred to two men, simultaneously and independently? Perhaps, the common factors involved would be illuminating.
What is the theme of reason Isaac Asimov? ›“Reason” is the first of several stories hinting that the advancement of the robots will lead to humans losing control over them. In this story, Cutie starts to become curious as to his own creation and existence, which is unprecedented for a robot. The more advanced he becomes, the harder to control he is.
What is all the troubles of the world by Isaac Asimov about? ›It receives a precise set of data on every citizen of the world, extrapolating the future actions of humanity based upon the personality, history, and desires of every human being, leading to an almost complete cessation of poverty, war and political crisis.
What is the best quote from Foundation Asimov? ›“Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.” “Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” “It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety.” “To succeed, planning alone is insufficient.
What specific problem does Asimov focus on in his essay The Nightmare life Without Fuel? ›Asimov focuses on a specific problem that will arise by the lack of fuels. This whole world is run by different resources such as petrol, diesel, water, wood, etc. We cannot imagine this world without the use of fuel. In comparison to the past days, we are now facing the problem of scarcity of fuel resources.
What is the meaning of Isaac Asimov? ›Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) was a science fiction author best known for his "Foundation" series of novels, as well as the "I, Robot" collection of short stories. Asimov formulated the Three Laws of Robotics in the latter, which continues to influence researchers in robotics and artificial intelligence (AI).
What did the men do to the data fed to Multivac? ›
John Henderson, Multivac's Chief Programmer, admits that he altered the data being fed to Multivac, since the populace could not be trusted to report accurate information in the current situation.
What is the plot of The Last Question? ›In the story, the development of highly advanced Automatic Computers first leads to the harnessing of solar energy, which appears infinite at first but eventually, runs out, leading to the necessity of interplanetary, intergalactic, and finally, hyperspatial travel and fusion with the last remaining AC.
When did Multivac start? ›Unmatched Experience: MULTIVAC US was established in 1987 and is the #1 daughter company of MULTIVAC Global. There are currently more than 8,000 active US based packaging machines, with growth of more than 250 new machines sold annually.