Reshaping the World

Ice melt...

Statue of Liberty in a flooded New York

We learned last year that many of the effects of climate change are irreversible, businessinsider.com reports.

Sea levels have been rising at a greater rate year after year, and could rise another meter or more by the end of this century, the website wrote.

As National Geographic showed us in 2013, sea levels would rise 216 feet if all the land ice on the planet were to melt, the website reported.

See how this would dramatically reshape the continents and drown many of the world's major cities in this video: http://www.businessinsider.com/what-earth-would-look-like-if-ice-melted-world-map-animation-2015-2 

Queen Moving Out of Crumbling Buck House

Needs TLC...lots of it...

Changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace

It’s not quite a tear-down, but Buck House, the nickname for Buckingham Palace, sure needs some work, Tom Sykes reports on thedailybeast.com.

The palace has been infested with mice, the roofs and walls are full of asbestos  buckets are used to catch rainwater and Princess Anne only narrowly avoided being killed by a falling chunk of masonry when she was stepping out of a car to visit her mother a few years back, Sykes wrote.

So it is high time that the place – which has not even been redecorated since the Queen came to the throne over 60 years ago - was given a thorough refurb, Sykes reported.

For more:  http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/06/24/buckingham-palace-is-falling-down-and-the-queen-s-moving-out.html?source=socialflow&via=twitter_page&account=thedailybeast&medium=twitter

For a BBC video on how the palace repairs are not just a weekend, do-it-yourself project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x96Uve7nwYY

Memorable Commercials

Keep smiling...

The Force

To start off the week...

GEICO: Unskippable:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSpGEjdIN1Y

VW: The Force:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R55e-uHQna0

United Airlines: Rhapsody in Blue:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XYtGYrQeV4

Audi: Tow Truck Driver:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUc5Dh5X4No

Pepsi: Ping Pong balls:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zX-gz1lRt0

Musical Moments: George Harrison's Something

Classic song...

Young George Harrison

Musical Moments features music and artists I've enjoyed over the years.

As part of a tribute to George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton joined together with Harrison's, Something, at London's Royal Albert Hall:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwKTXyF_6B8 

Closings Top Latest Darien Real Estate Results

Weekly update...

It's Tiger Lily season in Connecticut. Here they grace

Darien's Gorham's Pond, with Ring's End Bridge in the distance.

Sixteen closings topped the latest Darien residential real estate results for the week ending today.

Other results, according to the Darien MLS, were:

-- Four new listings of property for sale;

-- Seven price changes;

-- Two accepted offers, and

-- One property going under contract.

For more:

Climbing Yosemite's El Capitan with Google Street View

Amazing new vistas...

Tommy Caldwell scaling El Capitan as seen on Street View

For decades, El Capitan has been the most iconic rock climbing wall in the United States, if not the world, John Branch reports on nytimes.com.

From the first ascent by Warren Harding and others in 1958 to the Dawn Wall climb by Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson in January, 3,000-foot El Capitan has been the vertical domain of climbing pioneers, Branch wrote.

Everyone else mostly watches from below. 

 

Starting yesterday, Google Maps, increasingly taking its Street View technology off-road, is offering a different vantage point. In the same way that Street View allows web users to lurch down a city block one click at a time, pausing to look in all directions, viewers can now pull themselves up El Capitan, Branch reported.

 

For more, including a good illustration of a route to El Capitan's top:  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/25/sports/googles-street-view-takes-armchair-climbers-up-el-capitan.html?mwrsm=Email

For additional, amazing Street Views: http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2015/jun/25/google-street-view-el-capitan-yosemite-california

Merkle and the Queen: Power Meets Fame

State visit...

Chancellor Angela Merkle greets Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip today in Berlin

The world's most powerful woman welcomed the world's most famous woman with a handshake outside the German Chancellery today in Berlin, Amanda Macias reports on businessinsider.com.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who presides over the richest economy in Europe and is the central broker in the massive euro-bailout deal, is hosting Britain's Queen Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip, on a four-day state visit to Germany.

  

For more: http://www.businessinsider.com/angela-merkel-and-queen-elizabeth-meeting-2015-6#ixzz3dzYKkUYn

For an excellent Washington Post update by Anthony Faiola and Stephanie Kirchner:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/queen-elizabeths-german-journey-visit-with-merkel-and-her-royal-roots/2015/06/23/7ff3cd9e-18f3-11e5-bed8-1093ee58dad0_story.html

Carl Sagan: The Pale Blue Dot

A mote of dust...

Earthrise:  Earth photographed from the moon 

Carl Sagan's famous, the Pale Blue Dot  -- a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. 

I like Sagan's conclusion...This distant image of our tiny world underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the only home we've ever known...the pale blue dot.

For a video of the Sagan piece:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=923jxZY2NPI

With thanks to Regis McKenna for reminding me about this Sagan classic.

What was in Grand Central's Secret Basement?

Top secret...

Grand Central main concourse

A U-boat landing Nazi agents on Long Island.

Their mission:  Sabotage.

The specter of fifth columnists.

What was in Grand Central's basement, ten stories underground, that made it a prime World War II target?

See how this comes together in a recent video: http://www.slate.com/articles/video/video/2015/06/grand_central_station_s_secret_basement_learn_why_it_was_a_shoot_to_kill.html?wpisrc=seg_video

 Grand Central, Tony Cenicola/NY Times

Funny Monday GIFs

Lighten up...

Always surreal

To start off the week...

Double take.

The future is now, but needs work.

That does it.  I quit.

Oh, well, there's always next week.

They said all I had to do was stand there.

Musical Moments: Father's Day Special

Happy Father's Day...

  Dad and new daughter

This week's Musical Moments' selection

 -- Debussy's beautiful Arabesque #1

Piano Solo --

is dedicated to Dads everywhere:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6s49OKp6aE

Making memories

Price Changes, Closings Lead Darien Real Estate Results

Weekly update...

Washington Arch

Sixteen price changes and 12 closings led Darien residential real estate results for the week ending today.

Other results, according to the Darien MLS, were:

-- Seven new listings of property for sale;

-- Eight accepted offers, and

-- No properties going under contract.

For more:

IBM Ups the Game at Wimbledon

New features...

Serena Williams and her fifth Wimbledon title

   

IBM and The All England Club, Wimbledon, today revealed a combination of innovations for The Championships to mark the next step in the AELTC's award-winning digital strategy.

Making use of its latest technology advancements in cloud, analytics mobile, social and security, IBM and Wimbledon will bring tennis fans around the world closer to the prestigious Grand Slam event.
 

This includes unparalleled access to real-time live scoring, courtside action and insights via the redesigned wimbledon.com and advancement of the mobile app experience, IBM and Wimbledon said.
 

For more: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/wimbledon-ibm-push-digital-boundaries-130000648.html?.tsrc=applewf

Maria Sharapova, Wimbledon champ, 2004

How Maria Sharapova became the world's wealthiest female athlete, her competition with Serena Williams and her marketing savey: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-06-17/how-maria-sharapova-became-the-world-s-wealthiest-female-athlete

Curry vs. James: Who has the "Home" Advantage?

Star homes...

Stephen Curry vs. LeBron James

It's a dream matchup for the NBA, but who wins in the game of real estate?

On the basketball court, instant replays may help make the call, but in the real estate arena, there are no rules, trulia.com reports.

And when it comes to professional ballers LeBron James and Stephen Curry, it's not just an all-out battle in the NBA Finals -- it's also a war for the real estate crown.

In the spirit of competition, trulia took a look at which hoops star has the more stunning mansion: http://snip.ly/hpzI#http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2015/06/04/stephen-curry-lebron-house-home-advantage/

200 Years After Waterloo: Napoleon Still Wins by Losing

Vive la France...

Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte, also known as Frank Samson, a pudgy Paris lawyer who likes wearing gold braided uniforms and a black bicorne hat, won his last battle on Sunday in southern Belgium, Andrew Higgins reports on nytimes.com.

Feting the “glorious performance” of French troops in a field of thigh-high wheat, rented for the day from a farmer for a mock showdown between the armies of France and Prussia, he predicted that whatever the outcome of a forthcoming confrontation with the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo this week, he had already won the war, Higgins wrote.

“In terms of glory and of history, it is Napoleon who stays in people’s minds, not Wellington,” said Mr. Samson, relishing cries of “Long Live the Emperor” as he dismounted from his white horse after a restaging of Napoleon’s triumphant last day in the sun on June 16, 1815, according to Higgins.

For more on this momentus anniversary:  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/17/world/europe/200-years-after-waterloo-napoleon-still-wins-by-losing.html?smid=nytnow-share&smprod=nytnow

Flying Around the World at...40 MPH

Sun powered...

Solar Impulse and the Golden Gate Bridge

This is a different kind of aviation story.

It's not about trying to set new altitude records.

It's not about attempts to cover greater distances in a single flight.

And, above all, it's not about trying to break speed records.

Here's what it is about...

The flight into Chongqing, China, happened at night. No moon. Pilot Bertrand Piccard nosed his plane into strong headwinds, and the turbulence was bad—not knock-you-up-and-down bad, but blow-you-off-the-runway bad. At one point the wind was so strong the plane was actually moving backward, Tom Randall reports on bloomberg.com.  

A sudden cold front poses little threat to most planes, but the Solar Impulse 2 is no ordinary plane. It runs entirely off solar power, stored in four large batteries that allow it to fly through the night. Its solar-paneled wings stretch wider than a Boeing 747’s, but the ultra-light plane cruises at 40 miles an hour or so and carries just one traveler: the pilot, Randall wrote.

For more on how a small team is working to help Solar Impulse smash some records as the world's first solar plane to fly around the world, including a video: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-06-15/solar-impulse-sun-powered-plane-is-about-to-smash-some-records

Starting the Week With a Smile

Fun...

The ultimate driving machine on the ultimate racetrack

Kick-off your week with a chuckle or two:

Progressive: Following Flo on her Walk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCTnuNPB0Uk

 VW: Old Wives Tale:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZhGpZaLC10

 Allstate: Cheap Bungee Cord:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo7XYBiMRz0

GEICO: If You’re Dora the Explorer…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amy3mFmCDSU

BMW: Ultimate Racetrack:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFtUpMTs4vI

  

Musical Moments: Flying Over America

Honoring the flag...

 

Old Glory

 

Musical Moments features music and artists I've enjoyed over the years.

 

In honor of Flag Day tomorrow, here's a special salute to the American flag and the wonderful country it represents: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcuDdPo0WZk

 

Darien Sees Jump in Real Estate Results

Weekly update...

 

Beauty in motion at the Ox Ridge Horse Show in Darien.

 This year's show runs June 9-14

 

Darien saw a jump in residential real estate results in the week ending today, including 16 price changes, 15 new listings and 13 accepted offers.

 

Other results, according to the Darien MLS, were:

 

-- No properties going under contract, and

-- Three closings.

 

For more:  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti: Smashing Space Records

Back today...

Samantha Cristoforetti on the International Space Station

Three astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) returned to earth today, bbc.co reports.

Samantha Cristoforetti of Italy, one of the astronauts, even set a some world records.

She spent the longest time in space than any other woman on a single mission, according to the website.

Cristoforetti's flight is also the longest mission taken by any European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut, male or female, which is a record she broke by about a week.

For videos of some of the interesting things Samantha did during her extraordinary time in space: http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/33096620

For more:  Smasher of space records: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/06/11/three-cheers-for-samantha-cristoforetti-smasher-of-space-records/

This is My Whole Heart

Happy camper...

Rafting in Grand Canyon

Rowing a dory in the Grand Canyon is considered by some as the most coveted job in the world, says veteran boatman John Shocklee in a new video.

It can take 20 years of paying your dues to earn a seat, he says.  It's easier to get a PhD than to get a dory here, Shocklee says.

For 27-year-old Amber Shannon, that's the job she wants. This is my whole heart, she says.

Watch how she earns her oars in this inspiring video:  http://venturingangler.com/2015/06/08/video-rowing-the-grand-canyon-in-in-current/

Carl Sagan and the Baloney Detection Kit

Think...

 

Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan was many things -- a cosmic sage, voracious reader, hopeless romantic and a brilliant philosopher, Maria Popova reports on brainpickings.org.

But above all, he endures as our era's greatest patron saint of reason and common sense, she wrote.

In The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark -- the same volume that gave us Sagan's meditation on science and spirituality -- Sagan shares his secret to upholding the rite of reason, even in the face of society's most shameless untruths and outrageous propaganda, Popova writes.

In a chapter titled The Fine Art of Baloney Detection, Sagan reflects on the many types of deception to which we're susceptible.

For more of this intriguing report: http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/03/baloney-detection-kit-carl-sagan/

 

With thanks to my old friend Bill Goldberg for letting me know about this terrific report.

$195M Mansion: America's Most Expensive Listing

Mega-home...

 America's most expensive listing

One of the biggest homes in US history is rising on a Los Angeles hilltop, and the developer hopes to sell if for a record $500 million, Ramy Inocencio reports on bloomberg.com.

For a video of the new house and a tour of the Beverly Hills mansion that is the most expensive house on the market in America:   http://bloom.bg/1I8Euyv

Copper Beach Farm in nearby Greenwich, CT, which closed last year, was the most expensive house ever to sell in the US, according to forbes.com.  It sold for $120M, according for forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/sites/erincarlyle/2014/04/16/copper-beech-farm-for-120-million-is-americas-new-most-expensive-home-sale/  

Copper Beach Farm

For more about the Beverly Hill mansion when it first came on the market last year: http://kenallensforum.blogspot.com/2014/11/195m-asking-price-for-most-expensive-us.html

Fun TV Commercials

Enjoy...

 Oh, no!

 Something different to kick-off the week: A collection of fun commercials:

VW: Don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDkvGoUo46c

GEICO: Scapegoat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r2r0Cfs8DI

Chevy in-car electronics: Kids focus group:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkUKiE7Bb-o

Doritos: When pigs fly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D8tOG8GOFs

Allstate: Mayhem: Lost phone:

http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7iac/allstate-mayhem-lost-phone

Allstate: Downspout:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot8OmHTGUbU

Musical Moments: Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 4 Italian

Bellissimo...

Taranto's citta vecchia (old city)

Musical Moments features music and artists I've enjoyed over the years.

Today's selection is Felix Mendelssohn's bellissimo Symphony No. 4 Italian:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HX_jF1_Tgc

Reminds me of my time in Taranto, Italy while in the service.

Night view of part of Taranto's famous swing bridge over the channel connecting its inner and outer harbors and separating the city's old and newer parts

Taranto aerial, showing the old city left, with the channel and swing bridge and the new city on right.  My first apartment was in a building to the right of the bridge, up near to top of the photo.  Our building overlooked the docks where the four ships are tied up.

For more on Taranto, including some very good videos: https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2048262210690389164#editor/target=post;postID=4493151421116288698;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=2;src=link

For background on the Apulia Region, which includes Taranto: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apulia

For a quick video tour of the region: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfJUDFvZpLE

Darien Home Market Adds Listings, Adjusts Prices

Weekly update...

A quiet moment in the garden

Eleven new listings and 15 price changes led Darien residential real estate market activity in the week ending today.

Other results, according to the Darien MLS, were:

-- Seven accepted offers;

-- Three properties going under contract, and

-- Five closings.

For more: