Smile: Your Brand New Week's Here

Enjoy...

Tricky team.

For fun videos to start your new week:

-- GEICO: World Series Ball: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wPGB/geico-yankees-world-series-ball-gets-destroyed

-- GEICO: Presentation on World Domination: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/w97W/geico-evil-villain-reveals-plans-again

-- Amex: Take on the World: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wvjf/american-express-take-on-the-world?autoplay=1

-- IBM: Smart Security: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wvkG/ibm-smart-security

-- Rocket Mortgage: Infinity War: https://www.bleedingcool.com/2018/04/03/watch-infinity-war-rocket-mortgage-ad/

-- Progressive: Big Jim and Jamie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXYA89Axqoc

Photo: Pinterest.

Next time on The Allen Report: 
California's Economy Leaps Ahead of the UK's.

Musical Moments: Tan Solu Tu

A Cinco de Mayo special...

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

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, here's Alejandra Guzman and Franco Da Vita and a wonderful Tan Solu Tu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfOsu6Lvi6A

Photo: Giphy.

Next time on The Allen Report: 

Smile: Your Brand New Week's Here.

Darien Sees a Surge in Real Estate Activity

Weekly update...

A touch of spring.

Darien saw a surge in residential real estate activity in the week ending today.

Results, according to the Darien MLS, were:

-- 21 new listings of property for sale;

-- 26 price changes;

-- Six accepted offers;

-- One property going under contract, and

-- Seven closings.

For more: 

Next time on The Allen Report:

Musical Moments: Cinco de Mayo, Tan Solu Tu.

The Odd Case of the Missing White House Tree

Emmanuel Macron's gift disappears...

Only a small patch of yellow grass is seen where the sapling was planted.

A sapling presented to President Donald Trump by French President Emmanuel Macron last week has disappeared from its new spot on the White House grounds, bbc.com reports.

The pair planted the young tree, taken from the site of a World War One battle in northeast France, during Mr. Macron's state visit last week, according to bbc.com.

Mr. Macron said the tree would be a reminder of "these ties that bind us."

But a Reuters photographer on Saturday took a shot of only a yellow patch of grass on the White House south lawn where the tree once stood.

For more on the odd case of the missing tree: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43941146

The Trumps and Macrons at last week's planting of a gift sapling from France.

Photos: bbc.com.

Next time on The Allen Report: 

The Latest Darien Real Estate Update.

33 News Outlets Promote Quality Journalism

World Press Freedom Day...

On Thursday, 33 news outlets, ranging from The New York Times to The Economist to National Review to CNN to NPR to Rappler, are running ads promoting quality journalism, Brian Stelter at cnn reports.

The effort known as the World Press Freedom Day campaign, has been spearheaded by UNESCO and the creative Droga5, Stelter wrote on his blog.

"Don't just read The New York Times," the NYT's print ad says, listing off 20+ of its rivals.

The point?  There's strength in numbers, according to Stelter.

NYT Co. COO Meredith Kopit Levien has been championing the campaign, Stelter added.

"The more time you spend with rigorous, fair sources of journalism, the more sustainable those news organizations become," Levien wrote.  "Hand-wringing and bellyaching doesn't protect great newspapers -- or our democracy.  Your eyeballs and dollars do."

Levin added: "The news organizations joining this campaign are united in their commitment to excellence, but they're diverse in many other respects.  They're based in different cities and countries, publish in different languages, express themselves in different formats, specialize in different beats.  And while we all share common values, we often give our readers, viewers and listeners different perspectives on the same issues.  That diversity is critical at a time when people are retreating to echo chambers that confirm and reinforce preconceived notions."

Photo: UNESCO.

Next time on The Allen Report: 

The Odd Case of the Missing White House Tree.

Cambridge Analytica to File for Bankruptcy Amid Facebook Scandal

Up to 87 million people's information compromised...

Exploiting people's information to influence elections.

The embattled political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica announced on Wednesday that it would cease most operations and file for bankruptcy amid growing legal and political scrutiny of its business practices and work for Donald J. Trump's presidential campaign, Nicholas Confessore and Matthew Rosenberg report on nytimes.com.

The decision was made less than two months after Cambridge Analytica and Facebook became embroiled in a data-harvesting scandal that compromised the personal information of up to 87 million people, Confessore and Rosenberg added.

For more: https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/us/politics/cambridge-analytica-shut-down.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur

Cambridge Analytica's business wasn't data; instead, it was election manipulation.

Photos: Pinterest.

Next time on The Allen Report: 

33 News Outlets Promote Quality Journalism.

What You Should Know About Cataract Surgery

Improving vision...

A patient undergoing cataract surgery.

Editor's note: I've had cataract surgery on both eyes, 
and it makes a world of difference.  

About 24.5 million people in the U.S. have cataracts, a vision-blurring cloudy spot on the lens of the eye, Lindsey Konkel reports on consumerreports.org.

"When you're young, the lens is clear, like a raw egg white," says Uday Devgan, MD, a cataract surgeon and professor of ophthalmology at UCLA, Konkel wrote.

"But over time, it becomes opaque,"  Devgan noted, according to Konkel.

Surgery to replace the cloudy lens with an artificial one can improve vision, Konkel noted.

For more about choices when considering cataract surgery: https://www.consumerreports.org/cataract-surgery/cataract-surgery-what-you-should-know/

Photo: Pinterest.

Next time on The Allen Report:
Cambridge Analytica to File for Bankruptcy Amid Facebook Scandal.