Equal Time for Felines

Fun...

An Internet hit.

Our two cats, Zara and Jasper, tell me felines deserve equal time after yesterday's item on man's best friend.

Here's a keeper.

Watch as two choir boys and their friends bring us the Duetto buffo due gatti (humerous duet for two cats):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0abfTrxjX-4

Jasper.

Zara.

Photos: K. Allen, Pinterest, YouTube.

Next time on The Allen Report:
Who Controls the Security of the Internet?

Man's Best Friend

Can dogs really show empathy toward humans?

That looks like fun.  Wow!  It really is!

Dogs quickly become part of the family, economist.com reports.

Tales abound of dogs celebrating joy in a household or commiserating when tragedy strikes, the news service wrote.

This may not seem surprising after 15,000 years of co-evolution, it added.

 But what hard evidence is there of dogs' empathy with humans? A new experiment suggests that behind all the waggy tails there really is something deeper going on.

For a fascinating report: http://www.economist.com/node/21557721?fsrc=scn/fb/te/pe/ed/mansbestfriend

Photos: Pinterest.

Next time on The Allen Report:

Equal Time for Felines.

Medical Alert: 15 Health Supplements to Avoid

Potentially harmful...

Some supplements can be health risks.

With the help of an expert panel of independent doctors and dietary-supplement researchers, Consumer Reports identified 15 supplement ingredients that are potentially harmful, consumerreports.org reports.

The risks include organ damage, cancer, and cardiac arrest, the news service wrote.

Our experts agree that none of these supplement ingredients provide sufficient health benefits to justify the risk, it added.

Even so, we found all 15 ingredients in products available online or in major stores such as GNC, Costco, CVS, Walmart and Whole Foods, the service reported.

For an excellent report and video: https://www.consumerreports.org/vitamins-supplements/15-supplement-ingredients-to-always-avoid/

Photo: Pinterest.

Next time on The Allen Report: 
Man's Best Friend.

Smile: Here Comes Your Brand New Week

Enjoy...

Splish, splash, rockin and rollin. *

For fun videos to start your new week:

-- Ally: Dream Home: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/w5jY/ally-bank-seriously-anything-dream-home

-- Smucker's: Smucker's name: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/7Vc1/smuckers-smucker-name

-- Smucker's: Greatness: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/AlJC/smuckers-greatness

-- Chevron: Doers and butterfly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnHdNH6Fmy8

-- Ally: Seriously Anything: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wWfv/ally-bank-seriously-anything-commute

* For a video of Bobby Darin's famous Splish Splash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KmKkV3ddAo

Photos: Tumblr.

Next time on The Allen Report: 

Medical Alert: Health Supplement Ingredients to Avoid.

U.S. Wins Olympic Gold in Curling, Hockey

Magical moments...

A curling stone landing in the sweet spot..

Team USA added two new gold medals to its record in the Winter Olympics this week with a first time in men's curling and America's first gold in women's hockey in 20 years.

The U.S. men's curling team capped off an unlikely run with a 10-7 upset over Sweden, Daniel Rapaport reports on si.com.

For more: https://www.si.com/olympics/2018/02/24/us-mens-curling-olympic-gold-sweden

Wake up, America, There's great news waiting for you.  While you were sleeping, something magical happened in a hockey game at the Olympics, Christine Brennan reported on usatoday.com.

For more on the U.S. women's hockey victory over Canada to end a 20-year gold-medal drought: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/brennan/2018/02/22/u-s-womens-hockey-gold-medal-came-great-olympic-game-made-even-greater-statement/362168002/

The U.S.women's hockey team celebrating Olympic gold this week.

For a wrap-up on the Olympics so far: https://www.cbsnews.com/live-news/winter-olympics-2018-02-23-latest-medal-count-results-live-updates/

Photos: Google.

Next time on The Allen Report:
Smile: Here Comes Your New Week.

Darien Ends a Slower Real Estate Week

Weekly update...

A soft afternoon shower. 

Darien ended a slower residential real estate week today.

Results, according to the Darien MLS, were:

-- Five new listings of properties for sale;

-- Five price changes;

-- One accepted offer; 

-- Thee properties going under contract and,

-- One closing.

For more:

Next time on The Allen Report:

U.S. Wins Olympic Gold in Curllng, Hockey.

Coming to Grips with Gun Violence

Preventing shootings...

Automatic rifles on display.

As a reporter, I have become eerily attuned to this horrible American ritual.  I do the same thing every single time we get news of a mass shootings: verify reports, write a "what we know" article, and then begin to update our old pieces on guns, German Lopez reports on vox.com.

There are signs that the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, which killed at least 17 people and injured at least 14 others could have a different outcome, Lopez wrote.

But I remain skeptical.  The federal government did nothing after 6- and 7-year-olds were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, where a gunman killed 20 children, six adults, and himself in 2012, Lopez added.

Since then, there have been more than 1,600 mass shootings, killing more than 1,800 people and wounding 6,400.  

Many of these events led to protests and calls for action, but Congress refused to budge every time, Lopez reported.

For more, including five solutions to consider: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/21/17028930/gun-violence-us-statistics-charts

For more on gun laws vs. gun deaths:  https://www.safehome.org/resources/gun-laws-and-deaths/

Photos: Safehome, Vox.

Next time on The Allen Report:

The Latest Darien Real Estate Update.

The Education of Kim Jong-Un

A profile of the leader of a hermit kingdom...

Kim Jong-Un.

Jung H. Pak, a former CIA analyst now at the Brookings Institute, offers a fascinating, in depth look North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.

Despite all the chest-thumping and bad behavior, Kim is not looking for a military confrontation with the United States, Pak reports on brookings.com.

He is rational, not suicidal, and given his almost-certain knowledge of the significant deficiencies in North Korea's military capacity, he is surely aware that North Korea would not be able to sustain a prolonged conflict with either South Korean or the U.S., Pak adds.

We can still test Kim's willingness to pursue a different course and shift his focus toward moves that advance denuclearization.  We can do so through strengthening regional alliances -- especially with South Korea and Japan -- that are demonstrably in lockstep on the North Korea issue.  We  can also increase stresses on the North Korean regime by cutting off resources that fund its nuclear weapons program and undermine Kim's promise to bring prosperity to North Koreans, and ramp up defense and cyber capabilities to mitigate the threat posed by North Korea.  

We should also intensify pressure on the regime through information penetration, raising public awareness of Pyongyang's human rights violations, and create a credible, alternative vision for a post-Kim era to encourage defections.

Kim Jong-Un is still learning. Let's make sure he's learning the right lessons, Pak wrote.

For more: https://www.brookings.edu/essay/the-education-of-kim-jong-un/?utm_source=FB&utm_medium=BPIAds&utm_campaign=EssayKorea&utm_term=NoNoCtyUS-18%5E65-NoListNoCAnoBHV&utm_content=145495073

Kim Jong-Un watching a missile test launch in North Korea.

Photos: Brookings, Pinterest.

Next time on The Allen Report: 

Coming to Grips with Gun Violence.

Key Points: Mueller's Case of Russian Meddling in U.S. Election

Multi-faceted effort...

This advertisement, which ran on Facebook, was released by the House Intelligence Committee in November along with other samples of Russian-purchased ads.

Thirteen Russian nationals have been charged with illegally trying to disrupt the American political process, according to an indictment filed by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election.

For key points of the Mueller indictment by Andrew Harris on bloomberg.com: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-16/mueller-s-case-of-russian-meddling-in-u-s-election-highlights

For what we know about Russian operatives meddling in the U.S. election by Nick Miriello and Alex Liautaud on vice.com: https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/9kzqpd/everything-we-know-about-the-russian-operatives-accused-of-meddling-in-the-us-election

Today, Mueller filed a new indictment in his Russia probe, this time against a Dutch lawyer who was formerly with an American law firm.  The lawyer pleaded guilty in Federal court in Washington:  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-20/skadden-arps-lawyer-is-charged-with-role-in-u-s-russia-probe

President Trump responds to Mueller indictment news: https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/17/politics/white-house-responds-mueller/index.html

Photo: Google.

Next time on The Allen Report:

The Education of Kim Jong-Un.

A Cartoon That is Breaking People's Hearts

March for our lives...

Hero's Welcome.

"I saw this earlier, and sat in front of my students and cried," one teacher tweeted on Friday.

"And then I showed it to them, and they cried, too.

"Very powerful.  The most beautiful thing I've ever seen," Samantha Smith reports on washingtonpost.com .

"When I saw your drawing, I cried hysterically for a half-hour and I couldn't stop," another person posted on Twitter, Smith wrote.

Pia Guerra, who created the cartoon, even said she heard from a parent of a girl who died in the Sandy Hook shooting, Smith added.

For the story behind a powerful cartoon by Pia Guerra about last week's school shooting: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/02/20/this-single-cartoon-about-school-shootings-is-breaking-peoples-hearts/?utm_term=.8a9f8d1f865c

Photo: Google.

Next time on The Allen Report:

Key Points in Mueller's Russian Election Meddling Case.

Ruff Takes: Behind the Scenes at Westminster

Best in show...

Bravo.

If you like dogs and have ever wondered what it would be like to go to the annual Westminster Kennel Club show in New York, don't miss this wonderful ruff take: https://youtu.be/3NomrfqM1M0

Photos: Tumblr.

Next time on The Allen Report: 

A Cartoon That is Breaking Hearts.

Not One More: Remembering the Victims of Mass Shootings

"We are going to change the law."

Ellie Branson, a teenager, at the Not One More rally in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Saturday.

They shouted into a microphone until their voices became hoarse.  They waved handmade signs.  They chanted, Julie Turkewitz, Matt Stevens and Jason M. Bailey report on nytimes.com

And sometimes, in the middle of it all, they choked up, they wrote.

At the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, students -- including many of the very people who had to endure the trauma of a shooting on campus -- continued to speak out about guns, they added.

Since Wednesday, when a gunman killed 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., they youthful voices have resonated where those of longtime politicians have largely fallen flat.

For an excellent report and moving videos: https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/02/18/us/emma-gonzalez-florida-shooting.html?referer=http://m.facebook.com

Photo: nytimes.com.

Next time on The Allen Report:

Ruff Takes: Behind the Scenes at Westminster.

Smile: Your New Week's About to Begin

Enjoy...

Don't try this at home.

For fun videos: 

-- Ring: Casual Crimefighter: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wngj/ring-floodlight-cam-ring-presents-casual-crimefighter

-- IHOP: Fork in the Road: http://creativity-online.com/work/ihop-wanderer/53878

--IHOP: Pilots: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDNd1xtIo1k

-- GEICO: The Great Penguin Migration:  https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wEkf/geico-the-great-penguin-migration

-- GEICO: Running of the Bulldogs: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wqVp/geico-running-of-the-bulldogs

Photo: Giphy.

Next time on The Allen Report:
How to Game Next Year's Taxes Now.

Musical Moments: Wonderful Tonight

A great favorite...

Eric Clapton.

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

Today's selection is an great favorite, Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUSzL2leaFM

Photo: Pinterest.

Next time on The Allen Report:
Smile: Your New Week's About to Begin.

Darien Finishes Busy Real Estate Week

Weekly update...

Happy Chinese New Year.  Hope you have a wonderful Year of the Dog.

Darien finished a busy residential real estate week today.

Results, according to the Darien MLS, were:

-- 19 new listings of property for sale;

-- 12 price changes;

-- Six accepted offers; 

-- Three properties going under contract and,

-- Three closings.

For more:

Photos: Tumblr, Pinterest.

Next time on The Allen Report: 

Musical Moments: Wonderful Tonight.

Mikaela Shiffrin's Olympic Gold Rush

Giant slalom gold...

Mikaela Shiffrin roaring down the slope.

At the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Mikaela Shiffrin won the slalom, but in her only other event, the giant slalom, she finished fifth, Bill Pennington reports on nytimes.com.

"The next Olympics I go to," she said at the time, "I'm sure as heck not getting fifth," Pennington wrote.

On Thursday, Shiffrin's celebrated quest for multiple gold medals at the Pyeongchang Olympics finally began.  And she emphatically lived up to her prophercy with a stirring, authoritative, come-from-behind victory in the giant slalom.

For more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/14/sports/olympics/mikaela-shiffrin-giant-slalom.html

Mikaela Shiffrin, one of America's latest Olympic gold medalists.

Photos: Buzzfeed, Pinterest.

Next time on The Allen Report:

The Latest Darien Real Estate Update.

Shaun White Soars to Olympic Gold

Team USA win...

Shaun White flying down the halfpipe.

American snowboarding champion Shaun White soared to Olympic Gold yesterday in South Korea.

For more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/14/sports/olympics/shaun-white-gold-medal.html

For a terrific video of White in an earlier competition: https://www.reddit.com/r/gifs/comments/7qd3xr/perfect_100_sends_shaun_white_to_pyeongchang/

Shaun White celebrating his win yesterday.

Photos: Giphy, Tumblr.

Next time on The Allen Report: 
Mikaela Shiffrin's Olympic Gold Rush.

Team USA's Golden Snowboarding Run

Big wins...

Chloe Kim soaring down the pipe yesterday for her Olympic gold.

Chloe Kim's only competition for gold on Monday night was herself after she bested her gold-medal winning run on her last trip down the pipe, while Arielle Gold earned the bronze for Team USA, cbs.news reports.

It wasn't a sweep, but there's no denying that the American women rule the women's snowboard halfpipe, cbs wrote.

The big win for the American women comes a day after Jamie Anderson won Olympic gold again in slopestyle when she stomped her first run in a shortened women's final where winds had their with the women's field on a bitterly cold day.

For more, including an Olympic Medal Tracker: https://www.cbssports.com/olympics/news/winter-olympics-medal-tracker-team-usa-continues-its-golden-run-in-snowboarding/

Chloe Kim with her new Olympic gold medal.

Photos: Tumblr.

Next time on The Allen Report: 

Shaun White Soars to Olympic Gold.

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

Never give up...

Simone Biles, an American gold-medal winner at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

Freidrich Nietzsche, a German philosopher, once stated that there was a universal tendency to see success as the result of innate talent, rather than effort, economist.com reports.

Today, it is still common to think of a straight-A pupil as having a "gift" for learning, or the sports star as miraculously skillful, the news service wrote.

Angele Duckworth, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, believes that talent is overrated.

More important, she suggests, is a blend of persistence and passion -- or "grit."  

"Our potential is one thing," she writes.  "What we do with it is quite another."

For more about talent, effort and Duckworth's book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance: https://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21699890-why-never-giving-up-worthwhile-goal-character-driven?fsrc=scn/fb/te/bl/ed/characterdriven

Simone Biles, a Gold Medal star of Team USA in Rio.

Photos: Pinterest.

Next time on The Allen Report: 
Team USA's Golden Snowboading Run.

Boeing Unveils Concept to Replace the SR-71 Blackbird

A Mach 5 hypersonic jet...

A Boeing concept to replace the legendary Blackbird spy plane.

Boeing recently unveiled a conceptual model for a new hypersonic jet that would replace the SR-71 Blackbird, according to Aviation Week Aerospace Daily, Daniel Brown reports on businessinsider.com.

The conceptual model was displayed at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics SciTech forum in Orlando, he wrote.

The "airplane concept and associated technology are targeted for a hypersonic ISR (reconnaissance)/strike aircraft that would have the same type of mission as the SR-71," Boeing spokeswoman Sandra Angers told Business Insider in an emailed statement. "In that sense it could be a future replacement for the SR-71," Brown added.

For more: https://amp.businessinsider.com/boeing-unveils-sr-71-conceptual-hypersonic-jet-design-2018-1

The record-setting SR-71 Blackbird.

Photo: businessinsider.com, Pinterest.

Next time on The Allen Report: 
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance.

Smile: Enjoy Your New Week

Fun ahead...

Taking drilling down to the next level?

For fun videos to start your new week:

-- Allstate: Mayhem resolutions: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wWPB/allstate-mayhem-resolutions

-- Allstate: Mayhem road flare: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wWcV/allstate-road-flare

-- esurance: Rescued by road side assistance: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wFKj/esurance-rescued-by-roadside-assistance

-- Ally: Baby names; https://www.ispot.tv/ad/Ailf/ally-bank-baby-names

-- Capital One: Mona Lisa: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wFE4/capital-one-mona-lisa

-- Capital One: Louisiana Purchase: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wFFG/capital-one-louisiana

Photo: Pinterest.

Next time on The Allen Report: 
Boeing Unveils Concept to Replace the SR-71 Blackbird Spy Plane.

Musical Moments: Both Sides Now

An old favorite...

Joni Mitchell.

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

Today's selection is an old favorite -- Joni Mitchell's famous Both Sides Now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCnf46boC3I

Photo: Pinterest.

Next time on The Allen Report:

Smile: Enjoy Your New Week.

New Listings, Price Changes Top Darien Real Estate Results

Weekly update...

Winter beauty.

New listings and price changes topped Darien residential real estate results in the week ending today.

Results, according to the Darien MLS, were:

-- 27 new listings of property for sale;

-- 13 price changes;

-- Two accepted offers; 

-- Two properties going under contract and,

-- Two closings.

For more:

Next time on The Allen Report: 

Musical Moments: Both Sides Now.