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:

Breakfast Around the World

Eye opener...

Breakfast is just about ready

What does the world eat for breakfast?

See how folks around the world start their day in this quick little video that has had more than 5.4 million views: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry1E1uzPSU0

For a slide show of breakfast in 22 countries: http://www.buzzfeed.com/ailbhemalone/breakfasts-around-the-world#.gnQMWb8m8

Julia Roberts' Moving Message on Nature

Thoughtful...

Julia Roberts

Julia Roberts' latest role in a deeply moving, conservationist video may just be the best in her career, dailylinked.com reports.

Roberts' message in this recent video may literally help save lives, the website wrote: http://www.dailyliked.net/julia-roberts-powerful-video/

New York's Newest Subway Nearing Completion

Engineering feat..

New Second Ave. subway making progress

New York's long-planned Second Avenue subway line is making progress, Jennifer Weiss reports on wsj,com.

MTA officials say the first phase of the project is 82 percent complete and on track to open by the end of 2016, Weiss wrote.

For more, including a video update on the project: http://www.wsj.com/video/update-from-underground-nyc-second-avenue-subway/6E8A3F5C-18E9-48FA-A0FB-5429E610AFE3.html

Blasting for new subway

Cutting through Manhattan rock

New Book on the Fall of BlackBerry

Five year tailspin...

 BlackBerry phone

How does one company go from controlling half of the world's smartphone market to less than one percent today, and from a profit of $1.9 billion to a gaping $5.8 billion deficit -- all within the space of five years, Parmy Olson asks on forbes.com.

It all started when Apple CEO Steve Jobs took the stage at the Macworld Conference in January 2007 and showed the world that he could download music, videos and maps from the Internet onto a little glass phone in his hand, Olson wrote.

For more on the new book on the fall of BlackBerry:  http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2015/05/26/blackberry-iphone-book/