No News, Just Personal Stuff

I do not know what I am doing right or I would keep doing it; but, I have had women flirting with me for the last four days, complete strangers. I am a fairly average looking man, nothing special. I think I am fairly polite, generally considered amusing and fairly intelligent. In the area that I live, I only shop or eat at places where I like the people. Okay, I will eat at a place if the food is really good and the people are not. When I go to my places, the people working there often know me and check on me. It is one of the best parts of my life to know that my cashiers think I am wonderful. LOL. I cannot imagine standing behind in a line at one of my places and watching how I am treated. A couple of the women who flirted with me were in exactly that situation. But, something interesting happened today that has not happened in a long time, someone flirted with me that actually got me wondering.

I was at work (won't say what I do or where) and noticed a lady who was waiting to talk to someone. I was pretty sure why she was there because I know about our work. I asked her if she had been helped, even though it is not my job; but, just good customer service, and she told me she had not. I told her I would find someone and instead found that nobody that could help her was in the office. I returned to her and told her that I would come back in a couple of minutes and look again as they were probably all in some sort of a meeting (turned out that they were). I was in the middle of a couple different projects and ended up being approached by co-workers for direction from me, she would have seen all of this. I had to take care of something, walked away for a short meeting and returned to see if she had been helped. By that time, she told me she had. A short conversation ensued and it turned out that this lovely lady grew up in the same area as me, graduated the same time as me and knew people I had gone to school with even though I did not know them.

In case you are wondering, this story does not end with me asking her out, you don't do that at work. So, we were talking and she got my attention. She was quite lovely, very pleasant, well mannered and intelligent. I like intelligent women. She had aged quite well and had a lovely figure, very curvacious. As I said, I have had a lot of women flirt with me lately; but, this one did something else. She took hand in one of those two hand holds, two of her hands on either side of my hand and she thanked me for having helped her. I have not explained this well; but, I will try. It was one of those times when someone holds your hand with a certain tenderness, very soft and gentle. She said some very kind things and I had to run off.

My friend that had dinner with this week and wrote about it, he reads this blog and has been with me when women have approached me. I am usually distant to say the least. I lived with a friend for a bit in a beach town and he complained that I was rude because I would not respond to women who attempted to catch my eye. I am not looking for a new relationship, I am enjoying my peace and quiet. This woman made me pause and that doesn't happen often. After we separated as I had things to do, I kept thinking about her and that never happens in this way, I wondered what she was like.

Pretty is never going to be my downfall, it is just not enough. I like pretty; but, understand it is nothing more than skin deep. This woman was pretty for someone her age; but, what caught me was her personality, she was so very friendly and intelligent. The fact that she was my age was equally attractive. I am not lonely, I am not desperately in need of affection and I am enjoying my peace; but, this woman got me to think about her and want to know her better. That doesn't happen often to me, less than a handful of times.

Sorry for the ending, my friends won't like it. Even this woman cannot do it for me. The mistake I made in my life was giving up on love because I had it once and she is dead. If I were going to date again, it would have been this woman and I didn't and won't. I am done with the thought of dating. Done. It is sort of freeing, knowing that it doesn't matter who I meet. I know who I should have been with and she is dead. I can now decide how I want to spend my life with one less issue to deal with and I like that.

Interesting stuff you should know

On February 20th the United States Geological Survey (USGS) released a statement on their website that said, "Earthquake Catastrophes and Fatalities to rise in populous in 21st Century". I bookmarked it because I planned to post about it with some questions. I went back today to the link and the article was removed from their website. I have no idea why; but, I had read the article and found it strange. Basically they said there would be more earthquakes and more people would die because the world has more people.

They never explained why we would experience more earthquakes, we are indeed experiencing more; but, are told it is just a fluke and nothing to be concerned about by the media. The second part is also interesting, that we would see more deaths. We should see less deaths and let me explain why. Most deaths occur from building collapses and non-structural earthquake hazards (your refrigerator falling on you). I live in earthquake territory and the fact is, cities in these areas tend to make buildings to withstand such quakes. The worst building to be in are made of Un-reinforced masonry (bricks without metal rods keeping them together through their middle). I am sure someone else picked up this story; but, I didn't look.

Next, we have this from Wired - 3 Radical New Brain-Mapping Tools Obama’s Plan Could Deliver. They are coming to map your brain, we want to know what you are thinking so that we can duplicate it with a machine and we don't need you anymore. The Obama administration is proposing a multi-billion dollar program to map out the brain in the same way they mapped out the genome. I am lazy so you will have to do an internet search for that one, I forgot where I read it.

Funny, when I was a kid they still gave people lobotomies. They used to take a needle and poke it into people's brains to cure them of their mental illness. There is a song that jokes about it, the singer says, "I would rather have a bottle in front of me then a full frontal lobotomy." What if they could identify the individual neurons that allow you to be unhappy, would you want them to? It wouldn't effect anything else, you would still be you would never be unhappy. When I got divorced my therapist (yes, I actually went and saw one and he was wonderful, for all I know he still reads the blog) thought I should consider taking some pills for anxiety. I saw the doctor and he wanted to give me something for long term depression, which I did not have. I opted for something short term that I only took as needed and at the lowest dose possible. My comment was simple, it is okay to be sad when circumstances call for it. The idea of being only happy is depressing, we would miss out on so much of life and learning and life is about growing.

Then we have this from the New American - Killing the Dollar: G20 & IMF Push for Global Fed, Global Currency. Basically, the 20 largest economies wish to create an international reserve bank. I have written about this enough in the past that my regular readers will understand. It is pretty simple, we are going to have a global currency and any currencies that appear to be local will not truly be so because international regulation will set their value.

MyFoxNY - Net providers begin warning of illegal downloads. Again something I have been talking about for years, when I first said how this would happen, I was called a conspiracy theorist. I have to say something, my most read posts were both highly unusual for my blog. The most read was about the dear Pastor Daniels and the second most read was about how Stephen Hawking is a douche. The vast majority of my posts are about corruption in the pension funds and news about technology. While I have written follow up posts regarding the dear Pastor, I don't think I have written about Hawking again. It makes me wonder if the people that came here because of those two subjects, just hated the rest of what I write about.

TIME - Finally, Tattoos That Let You Control Objects with Your Mind. Have fun with this article.

Wired - Freescale’s Insanely Tiny ARM Chip Will Put the Internet of Things Inside Your Body

The articles I link to are the ones that will really change your life, not the Academy Awards, these things will change our lives and not enough people seem to care; but, enough do. Have a great week.

Time With A Friend Again

Quite unplanned, I had an opportunity to have a very nice dinner with a friend and will not be making a big or useful post tonight. In fact, I have bookmarked some articles that I will talk about; but, it will have to be in a day or two and I will continue collecting more articles if I see anything interesting.

A little spiritual post

The bible says that the devil walks all over the earth, and accuses us before God for being imperfect. Yet, Satan is imperfect, he misread Job and didn't know if Jesus was the Christ. Satan is a moron with lots of practice. He seeks to show off the worst in humans and misses the best in us. Oh, he sees it; but, it upsets him because it highlights why God said that we would command angels and that includes him. Here is an example of something that even the angels cannot do. Miss Jackie Evancho, at 10, singing with Barbara Streisand. Remember what humans are capable of, both good and bad. Nothing can beat us at our best.

YouTube - Jackie Evancho - Barbra Streisand - Duet - HD

The Better to See You

I try and read papers from all over the world, most of the time they all repeat the same stories and have little to add to the conversation, not surprising as about four companies own the world's media. One of the papers I often read is the Mail Online, it is and English paper and unlike the London Times, it is free to read online. As I was reading it today, I came across this.

Mail Online - The 'Robocop' headset that lets police see through walls and identify suspects just by LOOKING at them

If you don't want to read the whole article, scroll down and watch the video. Basically, the police in England will be given glasses that allow them to see through walls, bio-metrically identify people, map out inside of buildings and do all kinds of nifty things. Heck, it even allows the user to access medical records.

On an even creepier note, neuroscientists recently hacked the brains of some mice so that the mice could sense infrared light. Isn't that what I have been telling you all about, they are seeking to re-engineer humans. We are not just talking about repairing parts that have failed, we are talking about adding new senses to humans through technology and genetic manipulation. I was talking to someone today about some of these things and they said they did not think they would see them in their lifetime, I tried to explain that the technology is already here because it is, it is just available to a few at present.

NBC News - How neuroscientists are hacking into brain waves to open new frontiers

The truth is, people are not getting dumber genetically and artificial intelligence will never be able to do what humans can. Science now can extend your life way beyond what was possible before. There is a billboard I have seen that says the first person to live past 150 is alive today. That is probably true; but, at what price? Just because we can do something does not mean we should. If you could live to be 1,000 years old; but, we had to limit pregnancies to accommodate our longer lives, would you be against people having babies? If you could clone yourself and have those spare body parts hanging around in case you needed them, would you? We shall see what people will do.

A Planned World Economy

I spent some time with a friend today, he was sad and I wanted to cheer him up. So, I took to one of my favorite restaurants and made him laugh. Heck, I had the waitress in stitches too. When I preach I try and bring some laughter in, we all need a good laugh. The things I preach about are not amusing and some are scary. The things I write here about are the same, much of it is very disturbing and unfortunately, I cannot be as amusing. I am funniest because of my delivery of a line. My punchlines are usually questions delivered in a manner that shows the ludicrousness of a situation or idea.

I have been trying to get this post out for the past few days and just wasn't ready. I had the free time, I just was not sure what I wanted to say. Just about all of my posts are written in about the same time it takes to read them. Either I type fast or am a slow thinker. While I have mentioned the topic of global currency before, it is coming and possibly very soon. I am going to start by posting some article links.

cnsnews.com - Fed Has Bought More U.S. Gov’t Debt This Year Than Treasury Has Issued

Money News - WSJ: Bernanke Abdicates World Leadership Role on Currencies

CNBC - Is the Dollar Dying? Why US Currency Is in Danger

Yahoo News - Reuters - G20 steps back from currency brink, heat off Japan

What these articles are all saying, in one way or another, is that the nations are working together to destroy the monetary system of the world. There is not one thing that one can point to showing that anything they are doing is or is intended to make for a stable and logical global economic system. Read the articles. Either we are to assume that the world is indeed run by idiots and madman or there is something else going on.

When you watch the news or read the paper, you are being manipulated. You are told half truths, at best, and flat out lies by people who don't care what is true and only want to make money. News is a business, it is part entertainment and part advertisement. The story you are told is bought and sold to the highest bidder, the reporters are not reporters, they are salesmen. The advertisers buy their news through commercials. You see, there was a time when news did not make a profit. It was seen more as sort of a civic duty. It is not that way anymore. You have to data mine to get to the truth anymore.

A Couple of Singers

I don't watch television, I don't even have one in my bedroom. I did; but, I never plugged it in for a couple of years. Because I don't watch television I miss out on somethings. A few days ago I was listening to some YouTube videos from the talent shows and came across two little ladies who I did not even know existed.

My mother listened to all kinds of music, even marching bands. I grew up listening to opera, jazz (my personal favorite), rock of all types and just about anything else you can imagine. While I really appreciate that talent it takes to sing opera, it is not favorite type of music. I did have a favorite, a very wonderful singer and actress named Deanna Durbin. Most of my readers have probably never heard of her, she was a star in her teens and left Hollywood to live a life of privacy outside of Paris, she was married to the same man for 48 years until he died.

YouTube - Deanna Durbin - Amapola. I believe she was 17 when she made this.

Well, I have just found out about another amazing young opera singer, Jackie Evancho. Wow, at 10 she apparently took over the world and is now in a movie with Robert Redford. The movie is called "The Company You Keep".

Back to Miss Evancho, I cannot seem to get enough of her voice and am glad to see that she may be treated better by the industry than Miss Durbin was. While watching videos of her singing I have come to believe she is in good hands, her family seems very tight and her mentor is the same person that discovered Celine Dion and knows the business back and forth. I don't think he would ever let this business mess her up, I pray I am right. Here is one of my new favorite songs, well, it has always been one of my favorites but I love her version.

YouTube - A Time For Us - Jackie Evancho. My dear readers, I will never monetize this site and refuse to have any advertisements or make commercial endorcements and this girl sure doesn't need any help from me; but, I strongly suggest you listen to her and I am going to go out and buy every one of her CDs. When I get my tax returns, I pay off debts and always try and get something for me, usually art. I have already put down a deposit on a painting and these CDs will be my other treat.

The second young lady I have just heard is a little different, she sings the type of music that I love, soulful. Miss Carly Rose Sonenclar. Now I know many know about these two from television, so I am a bit behind; but, I will catch up. Miss Sonenclar is a different type of young lady, I can see it in her eyes, this young girl is dangerous. I worked the stage for decades and when I retire I am seriously considering volunteering as a stage hand at local theaters. Miss Sonenclar is part of the reason. She is a true stage creature and knows exactly what she is doing, everything is planned and done to perfection. I am going to play two songs by her, the first is just to enjoy and the second is to explain.

YouTube - Meet Carly Rose Sonenclar - THE X FACTOR USA 2012

Many watched her and she will go far. Miss Sonenclar owned the judges on the X-Factor at her audition; but, it is important to remember that she had already been on Broadway, I am sure she has done more auditions than we could count and she knows how to win them. The second video is of her singing side by side with another young lady so that the judges could decide which kids moved forward in the talent show.

YouTube - Boot Camp 2: Carly Rose Sonenclar vs. Beatrice Miller - THE X FACTOR USA 2012

The video begins with Miss Beatrice Miller, a very sweet and talented young lady. As Miss Miller sings, watch Carly, she is calculating how to eviscerate the young girl. At 33 seconds into the video, watch Miss Sonenclar size up her competition and she start planning how to upstage her. As Miss Miller finishes her turn, Miss Sonenclar starts using some old stage tricks. Firstly, she jumps the song, doesn't leave a gap and switches the rhythm. It is a subtle move, the purpose is to get the judges to forget everything they just heard and focus on her. It is a good move and I am familiar with it. After that she proceeds to use more of the stage than her competition did and go for notes that the other could not.

Both Miss Sonenclar and Miss Evancho are going to be around for a long time. Miss Evancho has already put out four albums and has traveled the world, she could be the opera singer of our lifetime and it is completely natural for her, she was born that way. Miss Sonenclar could be one of our best Broadway stars and I am less worried about someone taking advantage of her, she is too crafty for that; but, I hope she gets the best people around her to make sure.

I am going to leave you with one last person, she was on Canada's Got Talent and was very young, she is maturing in amazing manner.

YouTube - Ave Maria - Faryl Smith

One last story, I actually plan to post again tonight about somethings going on in the world; but, I wanted to post this first. Anyways, when I was in college, I knew a young lady that was going to the New England Conservatory of Music and we were on the bus one day riding home in the rain and she serenaded me with some opera. It was an amazing moment and she went on to perform in the opera. If you have never seen the opera in person, do it. Everyone should hear those voices at least once in person.

UPDATE - One more thing, just in case you think I only young female singers, you would be wrong. Here is woman that you probably have never heard of, she was on "Britain's Got Talent" at 80. Okay, I also really like English Variety musicians, so did Paul McCartney so there. Each style of music has it's style and she exemplifies that style. I like it and most Americans would probably not. Enjoy. YouTube - Janey Cutler - Britain's Got Talent 2010 - Auditions Week 4

UPDATE 2 - It occurred to me that some of my readers may watch more television than me and may have missed some incredible talent from around the world. Here is two more singers from Britain's Got Talent that I really love, and, it is more opera.

YouTube - Jonathan & Charlotte - The Prayer IN FULL (Britain's Got Talent Final 2012).

For something that is not opera, here is a guy from Australia that plays bluegrass and insults the judges of Australia's Got Talent. YouTube - Owen Campbell - Angry Busker - Australia's Got Talent 2012 audition 3 [FULL]. Just so you know, he got a second chance and is big seller down under.

LAST UPDATE - Of all these singers and the others that I listen to, I have to say the song I am listening to the most is Miss Carly Rose Sonenclar, this is the song. YouTube - Carly Rose Sonenclar - Rolling In The Deep - X Factor USA (Top 8). I will buy her album the second it comes out. While Miss Evancho is probably one of the most naturally gifted singers I will ever hear in my life, Miss Sonenclar is soulful and theatrical and that is where my love has always been, put on the show and do whatever it takes. Here is the heart of the difference between the two, when singing, Miss Evancho is only thinking about how she sounds, she is making sure she is singing perfectly. Miss Sonenclar is focused on the audience response and adjusting as she goes. One is seeking the perfect note and the other is seeking the perfect response.