A Rare Look: The Secret Service at Work

A huge job...

President Obama with a Secret Service detail.

Though it's certainly had its scandals, the U.S. Secret Service still carries the huge responsibility of protecting U.S. presidents and their families, Chris McGonigal reports on huffingtonpost.com.

Photojournalists like Jacquelyn Martin of The Associated Press get to tag along and photograph the work the service does in the background, McGonigal wrote.

"In my time covering the White House the U.S. Secret Service and its visual alphabet of dark suits, sunglasses and earpieces has fascinated me," Martin wrote on a recent AP Images Instagram post.

For a slide show of some of Martin's work over the years that offers a rare look at the Secret Service on the job: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/instagram-secret-service-photos_55e07391e4b0b7a96338a38c?ir=Technology&section=technology&ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000067

For a documentary, Inside the U.S. Secret Service:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHkvtmEyas8

It's Back to School Time

School days...

Bye.

The start of the new school year reminds me of a few reflections on education by some famous people.

I thought you might enjoy them as the new school days begin: 

An old school view:

-- I'm not a Twitter, I'm not a twerker, I'm not a Facebooker, I'm not nothing.  I'm old school.

    -- Michael Jordan 

A great view:

-- I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework.

    -- Lily Tomlin

A thoughtful view:

 -- We don't stop going to school when we graduate.

    -- Carol Burnett 

An irreverent view:

 -- I won't say ours was a tough school, but we had our own coroner.  We used to write essays like: What I'm going to do if I grow up.

    -- Lenny Bruce 

A Yogi view:

-- I'm not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia.  Let them walk to school like I did.

   -- Yogi Berra

A funny lady's view:  

-- Smartness runs in my family.  When I went to school, I was so smart my teacher was in my class for five years.

    -- Gracie Allen

Musical Moments, Bocelli, Time to Say Goodbye

School vacation ends...

Paepalantus at sunset

As kids bid summer vacation days goodbye, this wonderful Andrea Bocelli piece seems fitting: 
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2048262210690389164#editor/target=post;postID=6932306266802158578;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=6;src=link

Closings, Price Changes, Accepted Offers Head Latest Darien Real Estate Results

Weekly update...

New London tug boat.

Nine closings, five price changes and four accepted offers headed 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, and

-- No properties going under contract.

Summer vacations seem to continue to contribute to a slower August real estate market.

For more:

Doves in Space: Tiny Satellites with Amazing Cameras

New eyes in the sky...

Dove satellites being launched in space

Doves are flying in Earth's orbit, but they're probably not the kind you're thinking, Ramy Inocenio reports on bloomberg.com.

These doves, by San Francisco-based Planet Labs, are tiny satellites that snap photos of the planet each day to help businesses and others.

For a fascinating video about Doves and their capabilities:  http://bloom.bg/1IfEZUc

Blurb: Publishing Made Easy

Ah, writing...

A good editor can be a writer's best friend...

Make a book, blurb, the online publishing services suggests.

Leave your mark, they add, and turn your ideas into professional print books, magazines or ebooks for iPad and Kindle.

For an interesting video on blurb: http://bloom.bg/1NTYRkP

About Your New, Smart Credit Card

Dud?  Flop?

New credit cards on the way

A notice recently from my insurance company about new credit cards with chips coming this fall stimulated my interest and the reason behind them.

I've read about similar cards in use in Europe for a while, and it looks like the U.S. is finally about to catch up.

But it turns our new cards are more than a little controversial.

A huge, $33 billion upgrade is coming to the American credit card system this year, cnn.com reported.

But it looks like a dud, and there's a bumpy road ahead for everybody, the web service added.

Just this week, cnn.com reported:  A big problem with your new credit cards.

For more of the cnn.com report on the upgrade:  http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/25/technology/credit-card-chips-hackers/

And for more on the problem with new cards: http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/20/opinions/dodge-credit-cards-chip-and-pin/index.html

Whatever happens, it looks as though the new cards are coming whether we like it or it or not.

I'm sure, though, that we'll muddle through...with a little patience.

It's Time for the Two Moons Hoax...Again

Baloney...

 The Moon

Oh for Ares’ sake. This again?, Phil Platt asks on slatecom.

Yup, it’s August, and that means it’s time for the annual “two Moons in the sky” Facebook hoax. Maybe you’ve seen it; it starts to go viral around this time of the year. It’s also sometimes sent around with a note saying, “Mars will be as big as the Moon,” Platt reports. 

Let’s get this out of the way immediately: No. It’s baloney. It isn’t true this year, it wasn’t true in 2013, or 2009, or 2008, or 2007, or 2006, or 2005, or even when it first began back in 2003, he writes.

For more:  http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2015/08/11/mars_big_as_the_moon_not_in_2015_or_ever.html

 NASA on the hoax:  Bummer: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/news/mars-20090609.html

EarthSky:  No double moon in 2015, or ever:  http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/double-moon-on-august-27

Encore Fun: Juggling for Presidents With Michael Davis

Watch out...
 

 Juggling 101

Today's Encore Fun features Michael Davis, a master juggler and very funny comedian.

I hope you'll enjoy Davis as much as several presidents did: https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2048262210690389164#editor/target=post;postID=3690757471139743128;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=1;src=link

Musical Moments, Scheherazade

Superb...

Scheherazade

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

Today's feature is Rimsky-Korsakov's superb Scheherazade.

I hope you enjoy it:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQNymNaTr-Y

Home Buyers Lead Slower Darien Real Estate Week

Weekly update...

Summer sunset

Five accepted offers led Darien residential real estate activity ending today as buyers continued drive the market in 2015.

Results in other categories, according to the Darien MLS, were:

-- Three new listings of property for sale;

-- Three price changes;

-- One property going under contract and,

-- Three closings.

August vacations before school starts later this month probably helped slow Darien real estate activity during the week.

For more:

Best U.S. Home Sales Since 2007

Momentum in housing...

A little music to go with today's good news

Purchases of previously owned homes unexpectedly rose in July for a third straight month to reach the highest level since February 2007, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed Thursday, Sho Chandra reports on bloomberg.com. 

The gain was driven by stronger sales of single-family houses even as the share of first-time buyers shrank, Chandra wrote.

A limited number of available properties is keeping prices elevated, giving homeowners the financial flexibility to trade up as their housing equity improves, Chandra added.

The data and a recent report showing the strongest rate of residential construction since 2007 are consistent with the Federal Reserve’s view that the industry is making progress, according to Chandra.

“Demand is solid,” said Brian Jones, senior U.S. economist at Societe Generale in New York, Chandra noted.

For more:  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-20/best-u-s-home-sales-since-2007-shows-momentum-in-housing-market

Another Rip, Roaring Winter Ahead for the East Coast?

Get ready...

Here we go again?

I know, I know, it's in the 80's out there, and with the humidity it seems even hotter.

But buckle up, East Coast snow lovers -- there's a lot more on the way this winter, Eric Holthaus reports on slate.com.

To see the coming winter forecast and what El Nino has in store for the country:  http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/08/18/winter_weather_preview_thanks_to_el_nino_we_know_what_s_coming.html

Stunning: National Geographic 2015 Winning Photos

18,000 entries...

Romanian frosty landscape

Winners of the 2015 National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest were selected from a pool of 18,000 submissions from all over the world, William Boot reports on thedailybeast.com.

The Grand Prize other than bragging rights? A week-long National Geographic Photo Expedition to Costa Rica and the Panama Canal. 

See the Grand Prize winner, titled "Whale Whisperers," showing a humpback whale and her newborn calf cruising around Roca Partida Island, in Revillagigedo, Mexico, and more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2015/08/04/see-the-world-via-nat-geo-photo-contest-winners.html?source=socialflow&via=twitter_page&account=thedailybeast&medium=twitter

100 of the World's Most Beautiful Cars at Pebble Beach

Beauties at the beach...

Getting ready for a spin in a steam-powered 1907 White at the 2014 show.

Bloomberg Pursuits takes you up close to 100 of the most beautiful cars in the world shown yesterday at The Pebble Beach 2015: Concours d'Elegance in just three minutes: http://bloom.bg/1TMl5Hh

Now, if I can just remember which lever to push...or pull...we might be on our way.

Encore Fun: The Dopey Dentist

Hilarious...

Ouch, I stuck myself

Today's Encore Fun features Tim Conway and Harvey Korman in their hilarious Dentist Skit.

I hope you'll enjoy this masterpiece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z64Sqms-zmc

 

Musical Moments: Rachmaninoff, Rhapsody

Wonderful...

 A rhapsody of beauty 

Today's Musical Moments selection is Rachmaninoff's wonderful Rhapsody.

I hope you'll enjoy it:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgtEUr_n9vM

Closings, Accepted Offers Lead Darien Home Market Results

Weekly update...

Fireflies dancing in the woods

Eleven closings and seven accepted offers led Darien residential real estate results for the week ending today.

Results in other categories, according to the Darien MLS, were:

-- Four new listings of property for sale;

-- Five price changes, and

-- One property going under contract.

For more:

Ask Martha: Household Preventive Care

Handy tips...

Martha Stewart

The most important cleaning technique is prevention, says Martha Stewart.

Take steps to ensure your belongings don't become dirty or damaged in the first place. 

For more: http://www.marthastewart.com/275303/household-preventive-care/@center/277000/homekeeping-solutions#165761

The Man Who Gave Air Force One a Lift

Symbolizing freedom...

President John F. Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline arriving on Air Force One in Houston the day before the president was assassinated.

Next time you see an image of Air Force One taking off, think Coca-Cola and Lucky Strike, historian Michael Beschloss writes on nytimes.com.

The look of today’s presidential plane, emblazoned with “United States of America” on the blue-and-white fuselage, originated with a quiet collaboration between President John F. Kennedy and Raymond Loewy, who was perhaps the most accomplished commercial image and design expert of the post-World War II era.

When the first jet, a Boeing 707, was added to the presidential fleet in 1959, Dwight D. Eisenhower was content to let the plane’s nose and tail be painted with the Air Force’s easily visible “international orange” and the sides with the block-lettered label of an obscure bureaucracy: Military Air Transport Service.

But his successor, John F. Kennedy, and Kennedy’s wife, Jacqueline, were far more attuned to how symbols could enhance a leader's image.

For more:  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/upshot/the-man-who-gave-air-force-one-its-aura.html?smid=nytcore-iphone-share&smprod=nytcore-iphone&abt=0002&abg=0

For a tour of Air Force One:  https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2048262210690389164#editor/target=post;postID=7896041344898901006;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=10;src=link

Cute Kids Critique Haute Cuisine

It's delicious...

Chef Daniel Boulud welcoming his guests

For the New York Times Magazine's fall Food issue, we treated six second graders to dinner at Daniel, one of the fanciest restaurants in New York City, where the six-course tasting menu goes for $220 per person, Jeffery Blitz reports on nytimes.com.

Their critiques are great, ranging from, Looks like eel; No, snake to Fish eggs - disgusting to This looks strange to This is really good, and I can't wait for dessert.

See how the kids rate some courses as awesome but would prefer macaroni and cheese next time instead of some others:  http://www.nytimes.com/video/magazine/100000003166834/small-plates.html

Keeping Skyscrapers From Blowing in the Wind

House warming idea...

New 111 West 57th St. will have a dampener to reduce wind forces 

Fueled by a scarcity of land and by demand from multimillionaires willing to pay record prices for helicopter views of Central Park and beyond, Manhattan developers are building ever taller, ever thinner apartment buildings on ever tinier lots, Michelle Higgins reports on nytimes.com.

Clustered mostly in and around West 57th Street, these skinny skyscrapers are reaching heights of more than 1,000 feet, she wrote.

One consequence of beanstalk proportions: The higher and slimmer buildings get, the more they tend to sway at the top.

For more about how builders are dealing with problem:  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/realestate/keeping-skyscrapers-from-blowing-in-the-wind.html?smid=nytcore-iphone-share&smprod=nytcore-iphone

Makes you wonder if New York real estate agents are considering motion sickness pills as house warming gifts for clients who buy aeries in ultra high-rises. 

Fun Kick-off for the Week

Smile...

Nice rain caught some by surprise, but they love it.

Whoa!  What was that?

Wow.  That was close.

What's so funny?

Our intrepid, unflappable, on the scene reporter just got photobombed.

Musical Moments: Mendelssohn, Overture to A MidSummer Night's Dream

Marvelous...

 Midsummer Eve, Edward Robert Hughes, c.1908

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

Here's Felix Mendelssohn's marvelous Overture to Shakespeare's A MidSummer Night's Dream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUDvZaMl4RU 

16 Closings Cap Latest Darien Real Estate Results

Weekly update...

Always glad to see hummingbird season

Sixteen closings capped a busy week for Darien residential real estate ending today.

Other results, according to the Darien MLS, were:

--  Seven new listings;

--  Five price changes;

--  10 accepted offers, and

--  Four properties going under contract.

For more: 

New Book on The Dakota, a New York Icon

Very exclusive...

The Dakota, legendary New York apartment building

The website for 432 Park Ave., the tallest residential spire in the Western Hemisphere and latest Manhattan investment for the super rich, boasts the building’s amenities: a billiards room, a spa, and apartments with marble panels and extraordinary views, James Tarmy reports on bloomberg.com.

Sounds great. Too bad another New York icon has had those beat … for the past 131 years, Tarmy wrote.

The Dakota, located on the corner of 72nd Street and Central Park West, was one of the first luxury apartment buildings in New York and certainly the most lavish, he reports.

The list of features included in historian Andrew Alpern’s coming book, The Dakota: A History of the World’s Best-Known Apartment Building, would make the average New Yorker weep: tennis courts, marble staircases, oak- and mahogany-paneled dining rooms, 14-foot ceilings, ornate fireplaces, and, of course, those Central Park views.

The book is loaded with original floor plans, historic images of the interiors, and profiles of the building’s many notable residents through the years, Tarmy reports.

For more, including some wonderful photos:  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-05/the-dakota-inside-new-york-s-most-extravagant-apartment-building

NASA Rover Marks Third Anniversary on Mars

Looking for signs of life...

Curiosity Rover's selfie from Mars

NASA's Curiosity Rover will celebrate its third anniversary on Mars tonight.

The car-sized robot landed on the red planet at 1:17 am ET on August 6, 2012, and has learned a lot about its new home, including the existence of ancient water flows, Loren Grush reports on theverge.com.

Later this year, the rover could solve a big mystery that has plagued the scientific community for half a century: does Mars have methane in its atmosphere?

For more: http://www.theverge.com/2015/8/5/9097883/nasa-curiosity-mars-rover-methane-life

Google Honors First Electric Traffic Light

101 years ago...

Anniversary of first electric traffic light

If you're wondering what today's Google Doodle is all about, Joanna Plucinska writes that it

offers a glimpse of what American traffic would’ve looked like 101 years ago, when the world’s first electric traffic light was installed.

The device, the predecessor to what is used worldwide today, was installed in Cleveland, Ohio, on Aug. 5, 1914, at the corner of 105th and Euclid, Plucinksa reports on time.com.

The lights offered respite to policemen who had previously been forced to direct cars and horse-drawn wagons in the middle of crowded highways, even in the throes of a midwestern winter.

For more:  http://time.com/3985080/when-was-the-first-traffic-light-installed/

For a video of today's Doodle:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GShQN61UOxQ

Like some other things, traffic lights multiply when we aren't looking.

This is one intersection I plan to avoid.

If you know where it is, please let me know.

New Sub: Navy's "Most Lethal Warship"

Joining the fleet...

 Sailors at attention during commissioning of USS John Warner on Saturday

It's 7,800 tons, 337 feet and $2 billion worth of steel and stealth, with war-fighting controls that look like a big arcade video game, Brad Lendon reports on cnn.com.

That new-boat smell may have worn off a bit during sea trials, but the man in charge was pumped with pride as the U.S. Navy's newest submarine joined the fleet in a commissioning ceremony at Norfolk Naval Station on Saturday, Lendon wrote.
 

"The shiniest and coolest thing I've ever seen in my military career," Cmdr. Daniel Caldwell, a 22-year Navy veteran and the first captain of the USS John Warner, told CNN. "It's going to make whatever I do next anti-climactic."
 

For more on the amazing new sub: http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/04/politics/new-navy-sub-uss-john-warner/index.html  (Back-up link for video if needed:   http://www.msn.com/en-us/video/news/inside-the-uss-john-warner/vi-BBlmMJ2)