Pritchard, Potts, Pavarotti and, uh, Bolton, Sing Nessun Dorma

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From that overseas show "Britain's Got Talent" many of you may have seen hotel waiter Greg Pritchard's male soprano rendition of Nessun Dorma a few weeks back.  Interesting but if you ask me, downright painful to watch.  Nessun Dorma, from Giacomo Puccini's opera Turandot, in English means "no one shall sleep."  I had a hard time doing so after seeing this.

So of course I couldn't stop there.  Paul Potts, my personal favorite Britain's Got Talent performer, belted out this version of the aria in his first audition in March 2007.

Here's the master Luciano Pavarotti singing Nessun Dorma.

Last but not least, Michael Bolton does a respectable job with Nessun Dorma in this performance.  Not my favorite, but not bad!

Hmm, no matter what Bolton sings, all I hear is "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You."

Videos of Low Flying Air Force One Photo Opp at Statue of Liberty on 4/27

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Boy, this really freaked out some New Yorkers on Monday and I can see why!  This Air Force One backup 747 was dispatched to the Statue of Liberty accompanied by an F-14 fighter jet for an airborne photo opp.  Only problem is, it was "classified" and nobody knew about it, even New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.  The White House apologized for the confusion and disruption after buildings were evacuated.  Not to worry...all's fine now.

 

 

An Amazing Infant Swimming Survival Video

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Anyone with young kids and a pool worries about pool safety. Too often we read about pool tragedies. A friend of mine sent me a link to this amazing video of an infant that was taught pool survival skills. As a parent it is hard to watch at first but is incredible (and you will see a very big smile on this cute little guy at the end of the video).

This infant was taught survival swim techniques through an Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) program. I visited the ISR website at www.infantswim.com and searched for local ISR-certified instructors in Ventura County. I came across a local instructor in Newbury Park at www.CaliforniaWaterBabies.com.

Of course the best approach to pool safety is prevention. Some common sense tips:

  • Put a fence around your pool.
  • Don't leave the little ones unattended.
  • Don't get distracted, as accidents can happen in a split second.
  • Put an alarm on your pool gate.
  • Put a lock on your pool gate and check it daily.
  • Don't leave toys in the pool that could entice a little one to jump in.

For more tips visit www.californiawaterbabies.com/prevention.html.

President Obama, Let's Ditch Daylight Saving Time! Please!?

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Please, oh please, President Obama, let's eliminate Daylight Saving Time!  Pretty please!?

Daylight Saving Time stresses me out.  Every year we lose an hour of sleep and, at least in my family, it takes weeks to get used to it.  Think about it.  At 1:59 a.m. on the 2nd Sunday of March, we lose 1 hour of sleep.  4% of our day is taken away from us.  That hurts!  It took a monumental effort to get the kids out of bed on Monday, and again on Tuesday.  Now everybody's tired and cranky.

Aside from the sudden sleep loss, the single largest annoyance is changing over the clocks...on 4 computers (well, 3 of the 4 changed on their own...thanks Microsoft), everybody's watches, the microwave, 3 wall clocks, the automatic sprinklers, the coffee maker, two alarm clocks and of course the car clocks.  Ah yes, those car clocks.  Why is it that changing the car clock is so difficult?  Toyota, you guys are smart, but why is the car radio so complex that I have to pull the manual out to figure out how to change time on the clock?  It takes me like a month to get to it.  And I know I'm not alone.

Daylight Saving Time does not "save" anything, it just shifts daylight.  We still have the same number of daylight hours.  Daylight Saving Time now lasts nearly 8 months out of the year, from the 2nd Sunday of March to the 1st Sunday of November.  How about if we just stay on Daylight Saving Time year-round??  That would certainly eliminate all of the bi-annual annoyances!  Apparently this has been pursued before in Colorado, but some lame Federal law prevents states from doing this.

Better yet, let's follow the lead of Arizona, which has not observed DST since 1967.  Why?  Because it's hotter then heck in Arizona and DST results in more power usage.  I would be willing to bet that California spends more on power too as a result of DST.  Strange that Federal law would allow a state to exempt itself from DST but not choose year-round DST.  Hawaii also does not observe DST, not like they need more daylight over there!

DST is popular in North America and Europe but most of the Middle East, Asia and Africa do not use DST.  The list of DST naysayers includes China, Hong Kong, Japan, Kuwait, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and most of Africa, among other places.  Iran and North Korea also do not use DST, for whatever that's worth.

So in the meantime, I'm still stressed out and tired.  I know that I forgot to change at least one clock or watch and at some point this is going to mess me up and make me late for something.

Feels good to get that off my chest.  I feel better now.