Purity Ring

Take The Bangels Susanna Hoffs voice, make it 20 years younger, combine it with OMD's & New Order's synths, and sprinkle a heavy dose of ethereal, mystical, allure on it, and one can approximate Purity Ring's music.  No "auto tuned" vocals here.   They don't need it.

and

(just 8 Million hits)
and Belispeak

My  son told me about this band last weekend.  It's been playing through my head repeated this week in my hotel and in the office. It's not the traditional "music one can rock out to", no...  but it does have a nice beat and I could dance to it  =)

Hyatt is for short people

I've stayed at 2 Hyatts in 2 days - Greenville SC and Atlanta GA - and both have showers built for hobbits.   My chin and mouth are even with the shower nozzle's height.  I can look at where it comes out of the wall.  If I was in New Zealand and filming a Peter Jackson movie, ok, but I am just a normal 6ft tall human. 

Hyatt, you have nice rooms,  excellent service, reasonable prices, comfortable beds... why do you have showers for such short people only?

The x x Angels

Heard this on XM radio last weekend as I drove with my son for 14 hours through the Appalachians.  Her voice is beautiful. The x x. Angels.

Witamy Pana Romney

Witamy Pana Romney  (welcome, Mr Romney)

Yeah, Mitt's not running for "President of Poland", that's true.  But compare his bumbling in the UK, his "culture matters" bigotry in Israel, nearly causing a war with Iran, and his cool reception in Poland.  My, he's proving himself to be quite presidential.

Duck Hunters

This made me crack up  =)

Free Jazz vs Babies on Piano

This made me laugh.

Alluring Dance - Expectations vs Reality

This reality check, made me laugh, heartily!  Harry back & chest, hula skirt, mustache, pot belly, and thrashing, LOL!   It's a very silly gif.

Lost Wormhole

If you find it, be careful.

Meanwhile, in Japan

When I was a kid (like 5 years old), my mother knitted "bear pillows" for my brother and I, that looked like the face of a smiling bear, with floppy ears.  She made it out of old towels that were soft, and I remember sleeping with it through elementary school, but grew out of it before High School.  I guess in other cultures, you don't grow out of hugging your pillow.

Take The A-Train

This tune has been in my head since I heard it on KJZZ earlier this evening.

Duke Ellington, Take The A-Train

This Month's Big Number: 5.3

I had a battery of fasting labs done late last month, with blood drawn Just Prior to the liver exercises we did in Vegas, and got the results from my primary care physician this month after getting back from Vegas.  My hemoglobin A1C was down to 5.3, a tenth of a point down from the year before, and trending away from the 6+ it was years ago.  HDL Cholesterol was a we bit down to 58, but so was the LDL, to 99 which made my doctor very happy.

So when you use bacon fat to saute organic spinach, organic portabellos, and organic bell peppers, and then scramble up 2 or 3 pasture fed non-factory hen laid eggs and cover all of it with black pepper when you're done, for breakfast 6 or 7 days a week, eat mainly ham, bacon, steak, and some chicken here and there and a cell phone sized portion of dark chocolate everyday, avoid beer, drink Irish whiskey or cognac, and snack on Marcona almonds, organic celery and almond butter, or organic celery & double or triple cream brie, these are the kinds of healthy blood tests one can get?  hmmm.  

I think vigorously swimming (not lazily) nearly every day for 1/2 and hour, yoga 5 or 6 days a week, and an hour or two of stationary bike riding at maximum settings when it's too hot to go hike up a desert mountain and lose 5 pounds of water weight are probably helping the HDL number.  All the fancy flavored vodkas Dr Desert Flower is getting are (I am sure) loaded with sugar and artificial sweeteners that are working against my insulin... so I need to avoid those delicious libations.   I know several French octogenarians who have consumed cognac or red wine ever day (or nearly every day) of their adult lives, and are pretty healthy - so that's a best practice I need to continue to adopt. 

DirectTV Stops Carrying Viacom

Last Tuesday night, The Daily Show and Colbert Report started back up after the 4th of July break.  Dr Desert Flower and I thought that TDS and CR were on a two week hiatus, since there was no reruns or anything being DVR'ed from Comedy Central.

Well, DirectTV is blaming Viacom.  Viacom is blaming DirectTV. They're both being corporate money grubbing douche bags.   Viiacom also blocked ALL streaming of it's content on ColbertNation or The Daily Show website, so I really think that Viacom is being the greedier, more obstinate, evil corporation.  But, COX Cable still carries Comedy Central, so Monday morning, I will be giving DirectTV notice (putting them "On Notice", Colbert style) that they have until Friday to restore my Comedy Central, or, I will be dropping their service and moving COX.   I've heard lousy things about COX, but, they carry the shows I want to watch.

Dish Network carries Comedy Central, but no AMC, so Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, and Mad Men would be inaccessible (I don't care about Breaking Bad and Madmen, but DDF does).  And, Dish is still saddled with a damn Dish, that freaks out and stalls even during mild windy nights, like we had last Friday night, when my HD picture "pixelated".  grrrrr

I don't watch alot of TV, but dammit, when I do, I want it to be there, on a DVR, ready for me.  Daily Show. Colbert. Bill Maher. Game of Thrones. Walking Dead.  Dr.Who. PBS.  Sometimes Modern Family, Tosh.O, Office, or Parks & Rec.  That's really it.  When can I buy JUST THOSE and not all the other garbage the cable provider insists on bundling to me?

German Plumbers - Attraktiver als Du denkst

Who says the germans don't have a sense of humor?  Well... most of the world does, and they're often right.  But.. this German plumber company is pretty funny.  Attraktiver als Du denkst = More attractice than you think.

This is something you just can't "un-see"

We Are All Deaf & Blind

In the grand scheme of things

...we are all deaf & blind.  Having a hearing impaired life partner makes one keenly aware of these sorts of things.  A Predator can see into infrared, sure, but has those silly dread locks.  A dog can hear and smell better than humans, but most can't see too far ahead and will eat it's own feces.  A cat can see the ribs of a mouse moving and hear it's heart beating from across the room, and can see very well at night, but is nearly blind in direct sunlight. 

Eh...  what's that you say sonny?

Annie, Are You OK?

Annie, are you OK?

Are you OK, Annie?

Booby Yoga

What did you expect to see?  Hmmm?

Gator Beats Croc?

In a game of Rocks-Paper-Scissors-Gator-Croc, Gator beats Croc.

Though, in the wild, I think I'd always bet on the croc.  There's usually more crocodiles hunting together, than there are lone alligators (except in Florida freakish gator farms).

When Star Wars Geeks Picnic

Death Star Watermelon

Hydrofracking & Politics Explained, Simply

Mark Wilson at empirewire.com does excellent work.

Bastille Day

Today is Bastille Day in France.