Kelsea Ballerini

The song of the day is Dibs from the 2015 album The First Time by singer-songwriter Kelsea Nicole Ballerini.

Fast Food Fail

Sometimes I’m in a mood for fast food. Not often, but sometimes. I like Burger King’s Whopper but I rarely buy one. On the few occasions I’ve eaten at my local BK, the food I’ve gotten is never hot. In fact, it’s usually near room temperature, and room temperature burgers and fries are not appealing. I could ask an employee to warm my meal, and I have, and they will do it without complaint. But if I have to warm my food, I may as well order to-go, take it home, and warm it there. And warmed-over French fries are fairly blah. Scratch Burger King.

My local McDonald’s seems to try a little harder; the food I’ve gotten there isn’t hot, but at least it’s usually warm, and warm beats room temperature. I can live with warm, but it won’t send me out of my way for a meal. Scratch McDonald’s.

I was told that Wendy’s has a new menu item that is good: a barbecue sandwich. I like barbecue so I decide to drop in and try it. At 3 PM the place is empty; I’m their only customer. I order the barbecue combo, which comes with fries and a drink. The order-taker asks which sauce I want on the barbecue. I ask what flavors they have and “sweet, spicy, and smoky” is his answer. I don’t care for sweet barbecue sauce so I request spicy. They have to heat up the barbecue meat and the bun, and after a short time he again asks me which sauce I want. This time I say, “Anything but sweet.” He asks me three times while the cook is preparing the meal, and each time I tell him the same thing: “Anything but sweet.”

The sandwich is finally ready, but now they discover they don’t have any French fries so they have to cook up a batch. I wait a bit longer and the meal is finally ready. I pick up my tray and walk over to the drink machine and dial up a diet cola. I stick a straw in the drink cup and go to the condiment counter. I squirt ketchup into a tiny plastic cup and then sit at a table. I dip a French fry into the ketchup and pop it into my mouth. It’s hot and tasty! I unwrap my sandwich and take a bite. The BBQ is excellent; unfortunately, it has sweet sauce on it. That doesn’t surprise me a whole lot. You don’t get rocket scientists for what a sandwich maker is paid. And it’s partly my fault. I had told them, “Anything but sweet.” I should have anticipated that of those three words, the word they would remember would be “sweet.”

I finish my meal – very good, despite the sweet sauce – and stand up, tray in my right hand, drink in my left hand, and walk to the trash bin next to the condiments counter to dump my tray. I put my drink down on the condiments counter because I need my left hand to hold open the flapper door on the trash bin while I dump the tray. Then I place the tray on the top of the trash bin and pick up my drink cup. I want to top it off and put a lid on it so I can take it with me.

I walk to the nearby drink machine, pour more cola into my cup, and set the cup on the shelf in front of the machine. I reach for a lid and I’m about to put the lid on the cup when I realize my straw is missing. Where’s my straw? I look over at the condiments counter and there sits my drink cup, its straw sticking into the air as if to say, “Here I am.”

Wait. What just happened? If that is my drink, whose drink is this? Didn’t I just walk over here with this drink? I am still the only customer. This mystery drink was not at the drink machine when I got my drink, yet no one entered the restaurant while I was eating. Nor did I see, at any time, a second drink cup on the condiments counter. Where did this drink come from?

I have a moment of “this does not compute,” but I know what has happened. I just experienced a reality shift. I put down the straw-less drink, grab my drink, and quickly exit the restaurant. I know I am in a wobbly-reality zone and I want to get away from it before reality shifts again. Another reality shift might do something bad, like turn my car into … oh, I don’t know … a twenty year old Jeep.

I’m not fast enough. I reach my car, and guess what – now it is a twenty year old Jeep. That’s how reality works, sometimes. I could tell you a lot about reality, but you wouldn’t believe me because … reality is just that strange.

I bet I never get my Lamborghini back.

Rock City & Adam Levine

The song of the day is Locked Away from the 2015 album What Dreams Are Made Of by Saint Thomas (US Virgin Islands) musical duo Rock City (brothers Theron and Timothy Thomas) featuring Maroon 5 lead singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Adam Levine. Rock City (aka R. City and Planet VI) told Billboard the song’s story is based on their parents: “Our dad [was] locked up for five years and our mom [held things] down while he was gone, and still to this day.” Toni Tennille gets a writing credit thanks to the melody’s similarity to Do That To Me One More Time.

Andrew McMahon

The song of the day is Cecilia and the Satellite from the 2014 album Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness by indie pop band Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness with vocals by singer, songwriter, and pianist Andrew Ross McMahon.

The Chainsmokers

The song of the day is 2015's Roses by NYC-based DJ-songwriter duo The Chainsmokers (Andrew Taggart and Alex Pall) featuring vocals by Philly-based pop singer ROZES.

Little Big Town

The song of the day is Girl Crush from the 2014 album Pain Killer by Little Big Town.

Imagine Dragons

The song of the day is I Bet My Life from the 2014 album Smoke + Mirrors by Imagine Dragons.

Jeff Healy

The song of the day is 1989's Angel Eyes performed by blind Canadian singer, guitarist, and songwriter Norman Jeffrey "Jeff" Healey. Healy’s albums included jazz, blues, blues-rock, and rock music. He died of cancer on March 1, 2008 at age 41. Angel Eyes is on the 2009 album Songs from the Road, released over a year after his death.

Naughty Boy & RØMANS

The song of the day is Home from the 2014 album Hotel Cabana by English DJ, songwriter, record producer and musician Naughty Boy (Shahid Khan) featuring vocals by English singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist RØMANS (Samuel Elliot "Sam" Roman). The song has been remixed by several artists including Friend Within, Kat Krazy, Krept and Konan, and Fedde Le Grande.

Nadia Ali

The song of the day is Crash & Burn from the 2009 album Embers by Pakistani-American singer-songwriter Nadia Ali.

Florence + the Machine

The song of the day is Dog Days Are Over from the 2009 album Lungs by English indie rock band Florence and the Machine with vocals by lead singer Florence Welch. The song was covered by a cappella group Pentatonix (view).

Is It Safe?

There’s an ongoing debate in America about how to reduce the number of deaths from firearms. I began to wonder, how does the risk of dying by gun compare to other common causes of death? So I researched the subject. Most of these numbers are for 2013.

Cause of Death	Annual Deaths (USA)
Machinery	588
Cut/pierce	2,576
Fire/hot object	3,220
Transport other than motor vehicle	3,623
Drowning	4,056
Suffocation	17,316
Prostate cancer	27,540
Falling	31,240
Firearm	33,636
Motor vehicle	33,804
Influenza	36,000
Breast cancer	40,290
Second-hand cigarette smoke	42,000
Poisoning	48,545
Pneumonia	53,282
Diabetes	75,578
Alzheimer’s	84,767
Medical errors	400,000
Cigarettes	480,000

Sources:
Injury deaths: CDC
Tobacco deaths: CDC
Breast cancer: American Cancer Society
Prostate cancer: American Cancer Society
Medical errors: Journal of Patient Safety
Influenza deaths: Medical News Today
Pneumonia deaths: Medical News Today
Alzheimer’s deaths: CDC
Diabetes deaths: CDC

Caribou

The song of the day is Silver from the 2014 album Our Love by Canadian composer and musician Caribou (Daniel Victor Snaith).

HAIM

The song of the day is If I Could Change Your Mind from the 2013 album Days Are Gone by pop-rock band HAIM (sisters Este, Danielle, and Alana Haim, and drummer Dash Hutton).

Duke Dumont & Jax Jones

The song of the day is 2014's I Got You by British DJ Duke Dumont (Adam George Dyment) featuring British multi-instrumentalist, producer and songwriter Jax Jones (Timucin Fabian Kwong Wah Aluo).

Halsey

The song of the day is New Americana from the 2015 album Badlands by singer-songwriter Halsey (Ashley Nicolette Frangipane).

KiNK

The song of the day is Pocket Piano from the 2015 EP Cloud Generator by Bulgarian DJ KiNK (Strahil Velchev). You can watch and listen to over an hour of KiNK producing dance music at The Lab LA at this link. You can watch and listen to KiNK producing Cloud Generator on Resident Advisor Sessions at this link. Cloud Generator is also the name of a track by Tycho (Scott Hansen).

Toaster Report

There is always something that surprises me daily. Maybe it’s because I haven’t bought a toaster in a long while that I didn’t know about this, but I learned today that there are single-slice toasters. In fact, there are many varieties of single-slice toasters.

Any toaster worthy of the name should be able to toast bread for a sandwich. If it can’t toast two slices of bread at the same time it’s not a toaster – it’s half a toaster. To make toast for a sandwich, you’d have to make one slice in your half-toaster and then wait while your half-toaster makes the second slice. Meanwhile, the first slice is getting cold.

An alternative would be to make your sandwich using one slice of warm toast and one slice of plain bread. But frankly, that just seems weird.

And how tiny is your kitchen if you only have space for half a toaster? I picture someone living in a tiny apartment with a cramped kitchen, with their half-toaster on an itty-bitty counter next to their single-cup coffeemaker. That seems just a little sad.

Kari Kimmel

The song of the day is 2013's Fingerprints from the EP Fix You Up by singer-songwriter Kari Meredyth Kimmel.

Perspective

In 1883, Emma Lazarus wrote a poem about America’s immigrants; the poem was engraved on a bronze plaque and placed in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty:

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

In 2015, in Dallas, Texas, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump received a standing ovation from a crowd of thousands when he offered his view of immigrants:

“We are a dumping ground for the rest of the world.”

Think

People become self-radicalized because they don’t use critical thinking. They read articles on the Internet or listen to people on the radio or television and then assume what they read or hear is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. They don’t apply filters of judgment and instead they rely on the judgment of other people to inform them.

For example, when I was looking at the news today, I saw an article on the Fox News website by news anchor Greta Van Susteren that was headlined “Greta: Why is Obama hiding the full Iran deal from us?” The story is very recent – dated Sep. 09, 2015.

The average Fox news viewer would think, “Obama is hiding the full text of the Iran deal, so it must be a very bad deal for America.”

But when I read the headline, my next thought was a question: “Is Obama hiding the full text of the Iran deal?” It just didn’t seem likely. To get the truth, I went to Google and typed into the search box, “full text iran deal.” Lo and behold, a number of websites popped up offering to display the full text. Here’s one of them: Iran deal text. Go ahead and read it. Warning: it’s 159 pages of highly technical legalese. I wonder how many Republican politicians have read and understood it. I’m guessing, probably zero. To be fair, probably the same number of Democrat politicians have read and understood it.

The Fox news article continues with, “The Iran nuclear deal may be the most important one of our lifetime and we don't know what's in it - not even the possible side deals.”

The average Fox news viewer would think, “Why is Obama hiding the side deals from us? These side deals must be very bad for America.”

But when I read that sentence, the word “possible” jumped out at me. Fox News wasn’t saying there are side deals, only that side deals are possible. Are there side deals? The White House took to Twitter to say, ““There's no ‘secret’ or ‘side’ deal with Iran. Congress has everything we have on the #IranDeal.”

Think. Everything you hear on TV news, or read on the Internet, is likely to be only a part of the truth at best. Listen to both sides of the argument. Be skeptical. Ask questions. Don’t let them radicalize you. When you find yourself thinking that one side (conservatives or liberals, Republicans or Democrats) is 100% right and the other side is 100% wrong, then rest assured: you’ve been radicalized.

Faydee

The song of the day is 2015's Lullaby by Australian singer-songwriter Faydee (Fady Fatrouni).

Maddie & Tae

The song of the day is Fly from the 2015 album Start Here by singers, songwriters, and guitarists Maddie & Tae (Madison Marlow and Taylor Dye).

The Weeknd

The song of the day is Losers from the 2015 album Beauty Behind the Madness by Canadian R&B/Hip-Hop singer The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) featuring British singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Labrinth (Timothy McKenzie).

Cam

The song of the day is Burning House from the 2015 EP Welcome to Cam Country by Cam (Camaron Marvel Ochs).

What’s In A Name?

In Wales, on the island of Anglesey, there is a village named:

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking I placed my hands above the keyboard and wiggled my fingers randomly so as to type a line of gibberish. It’s understandable you would think that. But no, that “gibberish” really is the name of the village. And it raises a few questions in my mind.

First, when writing the name of their village, how do the residents know if they’ve made a typo? The entire name looks like one long typo.

Second, how does one address mail to this place? Maybe people abbreviate the name to “Llanfairpwllgwyngyll” – but then the postman may get confused and deliver the letter to another village whose name begins with “Llanfairpwllgwngyll.” Remember, this is Wales. There are probably a number of villages whose names begin with “Llanfairpwllgwyngyll.”

Third, how do you write this name on a form? Like, when you’re applying for a driver’s license? Or completing a job application? Or applying for a credit card? My own city’s very ordinary name contains 16 characters and yet I often have to abbreviate it. How do Welsh people deal with 58 letters? Are there no forms in Wales?

I’m sure the Welsh did this deliberately. By that, I mean they intentionally named their village using a long string of gibberish. Then they tell tourists that it’s not gibberish and that it means means such-and-such, all while stifling a big laugh. But guess what, Welsh people – you’ve been one-upped. There is a place in New Zealand with an even longer name! And that name is:

Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu

Again, I’m assuming there is no typo in the name, but how would we know? And the name has longer variants. For example, there is "Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaurehaeaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu" and the even longer “Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateahaumaitawhitiurehaeaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu.”

The longest place name in the United States is Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg located in Webster, Massachusetts. It isn’t the longest place name in the world, but it does have the most uses of the letter “g” (17) and the most uses of the letter “a” (10) of any word in the English language. The local newspaper in Webster just discovered that some signs at the lake have misspelled the name for years – and no one noticed. Are we surprised?

Demi Lovato

The song of the day is Demi Lovato’s cover of Irish singer Hozier’s 2015 Grammy Song of the Year nominee Take Me to Church.

Kings of Leon

The song of the day is Use Somebody from the 2008 album Only by the Night by Kings of Leon.

Kurt Vile

The song of the day is Wakin on a Pretty Day from the 2013 album Wakin on a Pretty Daze by singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Kurt Vile.

Air

The song of the day is How Does It Make You Feel from the 2001 album 10 000 Hz Legend by French music duo Air (Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoit Dunckel).

Dream Theater

The song of the day is Wither from the 2009 EP Wither by progressive metal and progressive rock band Dream Theater. There are three versions of the song on the album.

COTSbot

Something bad is happening to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

The Great Barrier Reef is a coral reef system over 1400 miles long. It is composed of over 2900 individual reefs and 900 islands. It is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms (coral polyps) and is so big it can be seen from outer space. And it is being eaten.

The crown-of-thorns starfish is the carnivorous predator that is eating the Great Barrier Reef. One crown-of-thorns starfish can eat 65 square feet of coral polyps per day. According to some estimates, about 40% of the Great Barrier Reef’s coral polyps have already been eaten.

But technology may soon come to the rescue. Two robotics experts at the Queensland University of Technology have developed an anti-crown-of-thorns starfish robot called COTSbot. The robot will navigate the reef system using small thrusters and GPS. It will use a camera combined with machine learning and image recognition to find crown-of-thorns starfish. Upon finding one, it will maneuver above the starfish and inject bile salts into it, killing it. If the robot isn’t sure it has found a starfish, it will take a photo and send it back to the lab for analysis by a human. The battery-powered COTSbot can search the reef for eight hours before it needs recharging, and it can deliver 200 shots. If trials show the COTSbot works, the robot can be produced in quantity and released at multiple locations on the reef system.

I don’t know if starfish dream but, if they do, COTSbot may be their worst nightmare.

Julia Holter

The song of the day is Feel You from the 2015 album Have You In My Wilderness by singer, songwriter, producer and composer Julia Holter.

Upscale Crib For Sale

A house is for sale in East Hampton, New York. The asking price is $140 million. A house that pricey is required to have a cute name, and the name of this house is Briar Patch. The house was first listed last year, but nine months later it hasn’t sold. One can only wonder what the problem might be.

What do you get for $140 million? Mainly, you get a ten thousand square foot house with a lot of windows. Through some of those windows, there is a view of the Atlantic Ocean and Georgica Pond. The house has a pool, a tennis court, a hot tub, and a gym. Who wouldn’t pay $140 million for all those things? Apparently, a lot of people wouldn’t.

The realtor who is the listing agent for the property is quoted as saying “It is very rare here in the Hamptons to be able to gaze out over two bodies of water. It’s water that you can sail on, paddle board, and kayak.” That nicely describes the average person’s day off. Of course, anyone who can afford a $140 million house can certainly afford a personal submarine, so that should probably be on the list. The realtor didn’t mention swimming and fishing but obviously a person rich enough to buy this house can afford to hire people to swim and fish for him, so the homeowner doesn’t have to get wet. Or cut bait.

There’s also a four-bedroom guesthouse on the property, with its own private driveway. This allows the homeowner to avoid awkward encounters with lowly guests, or even be reminded that he has guests. I have to admit: I do the very same thing. Usually, I can avoid guests by not having them. However, if you insist on seeing me, we can meet in the guesthouse – also known as your place. Please have snacks on hand.

Sam Hunt

The song of the day is Take Your Time from the 2015 gold-certified album Montevallo by singer-songwriter Sam Hunt.

Alabama Shakes

The song of the day is Always Alright by Alabama Shakes featuring lead singer and guitarist Brittany Howard. The song was included in the 2012 movie Silver Linings Playbook and was nominated for a Grammy Award.

Patty Griffin

The song of the day is Florida from the 2004 album Impossible Dream by singer-songwriter and musician Patty Griffin (Patricia Jean Griffin). Griffin also recorded Don’t Let Me Die In Florida which, she said, is what her father said to her after returning from a trip to Orlando, Florida, to bury his brother.

Denali-gate

In the US state of Alaska there is a national park that has been known as “Denali National Park and Preserve” since 1980.

Inside the park is a mountain that has been called Denali by the Alaska Geographic Board since 1975. The mountain is North America’s tallest.

Native Alaskans have called the mountain Denali for centuries. That name is derived from an Athabascan word meaning “high” or “tall.” Today, all Alaskans call the mountain Denali. That is why Sarah Palin referred to the mountain as Denali in her 2009 farewell address after resigning halfway through her first term as governor.

In 1917, the US government renamed the mountain “Mount McKinley” after a US president from Ohio. President McKinley never visited Alaska nor had any connection to the mountain.

For decades, Alaskans have been trying to get the US government to recognize the mountain’s original name, but their efforts have been blocked by Ohio politicians. This week, their efforts finally paid off: President Obama ordered the US Department of the Interior to restore the name of the mountain to its original name.

Predictably, the GOP lost its mind over this and decided to try to make a scandal out of this non-news. Let this blogger be the first to call it Denali-gate.

Speaker John Boehner lamented Obama’s action and said he was “deeply disappointed in this decision.”

Ohio’s Republican congressman Bob Gibbs called it “constitutional overreach” and vowed he would be “working with the House Committee on Natural Resources to determine what can be done to prevent this action.”

And Donald Trump made clear that if he is elected president he will change the mountain’s name back to Mount McKinley. But why? The mountain is in Alaska and Alaskans call it Denali. Why should people in Ohio get to name a mountain in Alaska? Why do Alaskans not get to decide the official US name for this mountain that is in their own state? And why would Trump want to get involved, much less take Ohio’s side?

Oh, wait. Ohio has 18 electoral votes. Alaska has only 3.

Ahh. Now I get it.

The Donald Show

Imagine: Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the USA. I keep thinking of the possibilities. One possibility is a new reality show. Recall that Trump hosted and co-produced a reality show called The Apprentice. He knows how reality shows work. He is experienced at starring in a reality show. So how big a leap is it to imagine a new Trump reality show called The President?

With cameras in the White House, we could watch The Donald in the Oval Office as he deals with foreign dignitaries (“You damn sure will pay for that wall, amigo!”), manages Cabinet meetings (“You’re fired!”), and irons out America’s most pressing problems, such as political correctness.

Talk about transparency in government! If we could switch on our TVs and watch our Chief Executive “behind the curtain” as he threatens our adversaries with annihilation if they misbehave, and then backs up his threats by pushing the Big Red Button that launches our nuclear arsenal, well … it might be a very brief reality show, but it would be entertaining to the end.