Most Powerful Display Of Grief Ever On TV

It is my own opinion that the following scene from the last episode of the epic and groundbreaking television series Battlestar Galactica ("Daybreak - Parts 2 & 3") is the most beautiful and heart-wrenching fictional display of grief ever achieved on television and compares favorably with the best of the big screen. This scene features President Laura Roslin played by Mary McDonnell experiencing a flashback to a scene that occurred in her life not too long prior to the events covered in the series. She experiences this flashback while in a cancer-induced coma which we realize at the end of the clip. Previous to the clip is a segment where she is indulged in a birthday party by her father and all three of her sisters all of whom leave her gifts and then head home after the visit but never make it. Grief and loss are perhaps the two most recurring themes in the entire series and the creators of the show in their writing sequence and Ms. McDonnell in her character's stoic and quietly dignified and yet ultimately incomprehensible yet perfectly understandable reaction to news of ultimate tragedy make this hard to watch and hard not to watch.

Italian Tornado Raw Video Montage

Yesterday's tornado outbreak in the area of Milan, Italy, scenes of one twister in the outbreak of which can be seen below follows another Italian tornado incident exactly two months prior also in Milan area. Nobody was seriously injured in yesterday's incident. 

Forever Young

Last April I wrote about and shared "99 Luftballons" in which I not only discussed the song but the context in which it was created. I then connected that theme to the currently rising fears here on the West Coast of the United States of a nuclear attack upon California by way of North Korea. In that piece I mentioned that song by German artist Nena was to my mind the best and most famous of songs + music videos to express the 1980's generation's fears and opposition to the "nuclear Sword of Damocles" looming over them and threatening to snuff them out in their prime. Certainly it was more obviously a protest song and was rather region-specific to Germany although it certainly applied in principle to everybody everywhere. To my mind the second best and second most famous of 1980's songs + music videos to address this concern and in a not-so-regional-specific way and most certainly more existentialist fashion was another German artist Alphaville's "Forever Young" which I share below as well as its lyrics below that. This 1984 song was one of the best early examples of the future direction of pop music as it pertained to the coming growing emphasis of synthesizers in pop music which now are basically just another instrument as integral to a pop band as a guitar or drums and in the case of a deejay or electronic band is their ONLY instrument or nearly so.

Note: I placed parenthesis around "nuclear Sword of Damocles" above because I can proudly say that although I came up with that from my own creativity yet I also discovered when looking up Wiki link to the expression "Sword of Damocles" to place here for those not familiar with it I found that President Kennedy used that very same precise expression in a 1961 speech to the United Nations regarding the threat of nuclear war at that time.



Let's dance in style, let's dance for a while
Heaven can wait, we're only watching the skies
Hoping for the best but expecting the worst
Are you gonna drop the bomb or not?

Let us die young or let us live forever
We don't have the power but we never say never
Sitting in a sandpit, life is a short trip
The music's for the sad men

Can you imagine when this race is won
Turn our golden faces into the sun
Praising our leaders, we're getting in tune
The music's played by the, the mad men

Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever, forever and ever?
Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever? Forever young

Some are like water, some are like the heat
Some are a melody and some are the beat
Sooner or later, they all will be gone
Why don't they stay young?

It's so hard to get old without a cause
I don't want to perish like a fading horse
Youth's like diamonds in the sun
And diamonds are forever

So many adventures couldn't happen today
So many songs we forgot to play
So many dreams swinging out of the blue
We let them come true

Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever, forever and ever?
Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever, forever and ever?

Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever?

Lyrics courtesy of AZLyrics.com

Picture of the Day - Speed Racer Snake

While helping out my friend Janet a couple of days ago I encountered this California Striped Racer trolling for food while I was catching my breath in the shade under some oak trees. This race car of a snake replete with racing stripes froze hoping I would not notice it. Once I was done taking capturing images of it then suddenly in an explosion of motion it 180'd in the opposite direction and "raced" back down the hillside and into a brush field. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes by means of iPhone 3 (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Sheepish Sunset

While working at the Central Coast Shakespeare Festival last evening I saw this wonderful pastoral end-of-day scene and snapped this inadequate image of it with my iPhone 3. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Love's Labour's Lost In Paso

Tonight I helped with parking at the last night of the 3-week Central Coast Shakespeare Festival at River Oaks here in Paso Robles. I snapped this shot of  "Love's Labour's Lost" in progress. From my vantage point it appeared to be a very good production. Pardon the image quality; shot with my iPhone 3. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

The Train In Spain Flew Like A Plane

This disturbing closed-circuit television camera footage of yesterday's Spanish high-speed train derailment has emerged shown below. The crash which occurred in Santiago de Compostelo resulted in the deaths of 80 people and injuries of various degrees of severity to 94 others out of a total of 247 originally aboard the train run. The driver's own words on radio back to headquarters immediately following the crash as he awaited rescue from the wreckage seem to indicate he recognized he was to blame.

A Whale Of A Surprise

This past weekend some local divers were out doing their thing a couple of miles off the coast of Avila Beach, CA, when a school of small fish suddenly raced through where the men were operating followed by what was pursuing them. Watch what happened below. Note: these are humpback whales.

Picture of the Day - Ready For Disaster

My CERT Bag and my Ready Bag newly stocked and now complimentary to one another. Today I went through all my emergency supplies and organized them and inventoried them and restocked my bags in a coordinated fashion and stowed my home-based supplies in a more secure and well-organized fashion. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all right reserved)

My Top 10 Nom De Guerre Choices

With the stories circulating about NFL player Michael Vick and former congressman Anthony Weiner's nom de guerres I have come to the inescapable conclusion that I need to start using a nom de guerre myself. I especially need this when arguing in online forums that climate change will reverse now that HAARP has been shut down or that Chemtrails are what is causing America's growing obesity problem or when sending images of my privates to complete strangers or when making disparaging remarks online about my slumlord landlord Mark Wiberg whom never reads this blog anyway so I'm cool talking openly about this here.

Note: by linking his blog here he'll see a surge in visits for the first time since I last linked his blog. The following are my final ten choices from which I'll choose my nom de guerre.

Please vote your preference in the comments below this post. *NOTE: Updated 4/14/17

1. Kimbucha
2. Kimchi
3. Kimbo Slice
4. Kimpossible
5. Danger Kim
6. Kiminator
7. Kimusinteruptus
8. Kimmer Abides
9. Da O.K. (Original Kim)
10. Derkimster

Johnny Cash's Swan Song

Somehow I heretofore neglected to share "Hurt" written and originally performed by Nine Inch Nails as hauntingly covered by none other than the "Man In Black" himself. The Johnny Cash version (performed in 2002) I like more than the nonetheless excellent original 1995 Nine Inch Nails version HERE. Johnny Cash understood that he was at the end of his life and missed the many people he had lost up to that point, particularly his soul mate June Carter Cash, whose health was in decline as was his own when both the song and a year later the music video was filmed within months of both their deaths. In that context of reviewing his life and taking inventory of it, he produced this hauntingly deep, honest, melancholy and musical soliloquy of the heart in art. *Updated 6/23/16.

Boycott Smokey Bear...

.... suggests the Boycott Rush Limbaugh crowd.

Note: I can't abide Rush Limbaugh... nor Liberal attempts to stifle free speech that doesn't agree with their narrow views.

Looky what I found on their website StopRush.net:

Rush Limbaugh Sponsor: Smokey Bear (PSA)  

Twitter URL:	@smokey_bear	Back to List
Tweet               Reload his page	@smokey_bear #stoprush
Facebook URL:	https://www.facebook.com/smokeybear
Status:	Active
Date Last Reported:	07/19/2013
Broadcast Station:	WFNR
Discussion URL:	https://www.facebook.com/groups/402339853109443/permalink/629172713759488/
Notes:	@smokey_bear, www.facebook.com/smokeybear
Notes:	06/19/2013 11:16 am (by #217) Heard another PSA 1:05 p.m. 06/19/2013 11:41 am (by #217) Heard PSA 1:33 p.m. 06/20/2013 11:42 am (by #217) 06/20/2013 1:32 p.m.

Incident Reports for Smokey Bear (PSA)

Date Heard	Station	Report Type	Details
07/19/2013	WFNR	Heard an ad	3x
07/18/2013	KVOR	Heard an ad	aired 1x
7/17/2013	KVOR	Heard an ad	aired 9x total PSA = 33
07152013	WVNN	Online ad
7/16/2013	KVOR	Heard an ad	aired 3x total PSA's = 10
07/15/2013	KFAY	Heard an ad
07/15/2013	KVOR	Heard an ad	aired 3x total PSA's = 10
07/12/2013	WVNN	Online ad
07/12/2013	KAOK	Heard an ad
07/11/2013	KVOR	Heard an ad	aired 2x total PSA's = 5
07/11/2013	WFNR	Heard an ad
07/08/2013	WOSH	Online ad
07/08/2013	KFRU	Online ad	Aired 2x
07/08/2013	WLS	Online ad
07/08/2013	WLS	Online ad
07/08/2013	WLWI	Heard an ad	aired 2x, total PSA's = 27
07/08/2013	WALG	Online ad	Aired 4x
07/08/2013	WKMI	Online ad	Aired 2x
07/05/2013	WLWI	Heard an ad	aired 2x
07/05/2013	WJR	Heard an ad
07/05/2013	KARN	Online ad
07/04/2013	KPSI	Heard an ad
07/03/2013	WSBA	Heard an ad	aired 2x (total PSA's 29)
07/01/2013	WSBA	Heard an ad	aired several times
06/28/2013	WLS	Heard an ad	Heard ad 1:00 p.m.
06/25/2013	WJR	Heard an ad
06/21/2013	WLS	Heard an ad	Heard ad 11:58 a.m.
06/21/2013	WLS	Heard an ad	Heard ad 12:26 p.m.
06/21/2013	WJR	Heard an ad
06/20/2013	WLS	Heard an ad	Heard an ad 1:22 p.m.
06/19/2013	WLS	Heard an ad	@smokey_bear, www.facebook.com/smokeybear URL: http://www.smokeyber.com
06/19/2013	WJR	Heard an ad
32 Reports

Death of a Jumbo Jet

I happened upon this raw footage of the April 29, 2013, crash of National Airlines Flight 102 taking off from Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan this afternoon for the very first time. I don't have television and between that fact and my not always catching online all the viral stuff that is out there I somehow missed this story until today. I probably saw some blurb in the news online at the time but thought little of it given it was not downed by hostile action and whatever blurbs came sans any reference to this footage below.
Note: all seven Americans aboard this cargo Boeing 747 were killed with no casualties on the ground. The footage was taken by a contractor in the area at the time. The cause has been confirmed as a load shift.

Yes I Can... Bankrupt Detroit

Last year Mr. Obama prophetically prognosticated that if I voted for Mitt Romney I was voting for the bankruptcy of Detroit. He was right!

Forever Waiting

Tonight while nocturnally checking on the world online I got the impulse to reconnect with my trance musical soul and listen to some gems from the heyday of trance about a decade or more ago. I came upon this which I first heard on Tiesto's compilation mix CD Nyana. The track is "Forever Waiting" by Mr. Sam versus Fred Baker. I don't know what volcano is featured in the background but I like it thematically for the slightly ominous feel of this track.

R.I.P. Most Remarkable Little Lady

I came across the following interview of Talia Joy Castellano on the Huffington Post by way of Twitter two nights ago. I was blown away by this young lady who died mere hours prior to my first becoming aware of her existence (which existence continues wherever she is now) and I certainly yearn for her soul to now be okay. Watch this interview and be charmed and amazed. How beautiful a person whom lived a lifetime in 13 years. 

Mountain Fire Raw Footage

I have always loved and preferred (and am a collector of) raw footage/stock footage of both storms, wildfires, earthquakes, volcanoes, and even tsunamis. The edited video we mostly see has been emasculated and lobotomized to fit an editorialized version of events even if that is an impartial one with pure motives. Below is some great stuff of the ongoing Mountain Fire in Riverside County burning in the San Jacinto Mountains and tonight threatened to destroy the beloved mountain berg of Idyllwild, CA. What follows is nearly 40 minutes of great footage. Given it is over 10 minutes long (Youtube's time limit for most videos) I doubt this will stay up so enjoy it here while you can.

2013 Mid-State Fair Fine Art Expo

Earlier tonight I was an honored guest at the Mid-State Fair fine art meet & greet held indoors at the Fine Arts building. While there (but after my wine and cheese... and other scrumptuousness) I captured images of the following works which caught my eye out of the many more that did not.

Untitled oil abstract by Devon Pitts. This is my favorite work out of tonight's offerings. Artistically not the best thing I saw tonight but by God thematically and in execution I love it. It earned 1st place in the Advanced Amateur category.

Untitled by Charlene Martyn. I like the tsunami coming in to shore as a towering breaking wave with a city in front of it.,\ Behind it a ship is being bombed by what looks like a WWII Japanese Zero fighter aircraft. The judges had this labeled as a painting collage(?). This work earned a 1st place award in the Advanced Amateur category.

Untitled "representational"by Margrete Koreska. Earned Honorable Mention in the Professional category. The judges obviously sucked as a group and know little about art as was evident in many of their judgements for this contest.

This oil painting titled "Hindu Man" by my friend Susie Christian of Morro Bay earned Honorable Mention in the Advanced Amateur category under the heading of "representational".  Given the competition it faced it deserved to rank higher.

Untitled photograph by Haley Przyybyla. It won 1st place in the advanced amateur landscape category. I love these weather themes and this photographer captured a complicated atmosphere that day.

Untitled by Briana Dutra.  Obviously captured from a passenger jet aircraft over undescribed region. I have a growing interest in images captured from aircraft and this one really grabbed me. It earned 3rd place in the 10-14 age group in the miscellaneous amateur category.

Untitled by Cheryl Strahl featuring the Alabama Hills and Movie Road in the foreground and Mt. Whitney and the Eastern Sierra Nevadas on the background. This earned 1st place honors in the professional color landscape category. 

Untitled Bill Sima taken of a sunset in the Paso Robles area. It earned 1st place in the professional digitally processed category. I call this WOW sunsets!

Untitled by Kurt Bentzinger of a vineyard with an oak tree apparently captured in the Central Coast region. It earned 2nd place in the professional digitally processed category.

Mountain Fire At Dusk

The following two images of the Mountain Incident in Riverside County were captured tonight at sunset from two HPWREN web cameras: High Point (north-facing) and Red Mountain (east-facing) located in northwest San Diego County.

Courtesy of the UC San Diego-based High-Performance Wireless and Research Education Network (HPWREN)

Abraham Lincoln NEVER Said This!

I saw this earlier this year at Cuesta College on an instructor's bulletin board. This quote is generally and erroneously attributed to the greatest of American Presidents, Abraham Lincoln. According to Snopes this quote was actually authored a half century later by a Reverend William John Henry Boetcker. Over time some of the maxims of Boetcker became conflated with some Lincoln quotes. This guy was obviously quite the proponent of Capitalism, but made the error of combining faith and politics/economics which is a big no-no for spiritual shepherds. While some of Boetcker's maxims are valid, some others are overly-simplistic and/or  provide cover for some elites whom ought not be covered by a someone claiming to speak for God.

I saw this on the bulletin board outside the office of an instructor at Cuesta College. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Call Me Mr. Mugu

I received the following Nigerian 419 spam/scam email around mid-day today. It wins props for unwitting humorousness as well as a bit more creativity than typical and a few fewer grammatical errors than typical for these felonious e-missives from the Dark Continent. Note: "Mugu" in title above refers to the "mark" targeted by these scammers whom refer to their marks as such.

"My names is Major-General Beau Grady of the US Army resident of West Chester Pennsylvania, US. I am currently in Kabul, Afghanistan on a Special Rescue Mission as a top rank delegate.

During an intense search on collapsed buildings for the war victims, beneath one of the Gold Trading Blocks, I discovered a trunk box in which raw cash of $2,900,000.00 USD and pure Afghanistan Gold worth about $1,700,000.00 USD was. No doubt, the original owner must have been killed in the war, and I intend using the money to help war victims around the world. Just assist me in securiing the Gold and cash pending my return. If I can trust you for this task, then reply and get a 30% share of it or delete my confidential email.
Give me a confidential response as quick as possible. I can only be reached my email now, as security is on top gear and any calls out may be tapped and monitored. Waiting for your soonest reply."

Note: I did follow one of his directives: I deleted his "confidential email".

Quote of the Day - Kim Patrick Noyes

Day Dusk At Windfall Farms

Tonight I worked parking and security at the former Cardiff Stud Farms now known as Windfall Farms out in the Creston, CA, area. There was a beautiful wedding there and I had the honor to work my first job at that facility for such an event. The following images I took during quiet periods when my duties involved standing around and doing nothing. The overall aesthetic effect of a long summer dusk and twilight with a falling moon and the gorgeous lighting of this beautiful horse barn-turned-event-facility was nothing short of magical. I hope you enjoy the following images as much as I did capturing them. I feel honored to have been there tonight as this event service will soon be discontinued and no more such events will happen there under the current ownership who has listed the entire ranch/farm for sell. Once it is sold it is uncertain that such events will be held there again.

All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Engine 3465

While working the classic car race at Santa Margarita Ranch this morning CAL FIRE Engine 3465 based at Parkhill Station in northern San Luis Unit arrived in order to provide "safety" <WINK> and just so happened to take in and enjoy the time trial races. Shortly before I left for the day this engine and its crew left the event Code 3 for a reported vegetation fire on Sandoval Road in unincorporated south Atascadero.

Sum Ting Wong Here

Earlier today the Bay Area's Fox affiliate KTVU-TV aired a broadcast in which they erroneously reported the alleged, but actually humorously, unpolitically-correct, smart-aleck false names of the pilots aboard ill-fated Asiana Flight 214. Some politically-correct dip-shits had the temerity to suggest this was racist but then again we expect nothing less from such self-righteous sticks-in-the-mud.



Below is the misguided/misdirected retraction a short time later in the same broadcast. Of course, since the original error was at the NTSB the only apology need come from them. That being said, it is a bit surprising nobody at the station picked up on the error and questioned it before broadcasting it. This just goes to demonstrate what happens when media types try to be the first to report something.


Of course, this all brings to mind the famous (infamous?) Robert De Niro SNL skit (below) following the 9/11 attacks which employed the same sort of supposedly racist type jokes making light of ethnic names but in the context Arabic-sounding names that were actually mostly just vulgar. Of course, in that context there was little if any outcry heard unlike in this case.

Movies

Sharknado Drinking Game

Tonight I watched pretty much the entirety of Syfy Channel's latest monster abomination posing as a movie entitled Sharknado, a film (and I use that word loosely) which has become a social media sensation quite literally overnight. While watching it with my buddy Mark a little while ago he suggested it would make a great drinking game and for the remainder of the movie we came up with guidelines for such a game. Below are some of the highlights (lowlights?) of our brainstorming session.

Note: any alcoholic beverage stronger than beer will induce death by alcohol poisoning given the frequency of shots of beer this game will require!

Each player must drink one shot: 

• Each instance of over-acting (okay, nevermind; that's too dangerous).
• Each instance an element from another science fiction movie is immitated. 
• Each instance a small hand-held tank the size of a fire extinguisher explodes destroying a huge tornado.
• Each instance April (Tara Reid) and Nova (Cassie Scerbo) exchange catty glances.
• Each instance Nova cocks a shotgun vertically and one-handed like she was Ellen Ripley.
• Each instance the weather dramatically changes from one camera angle to the next.
• Each instance the water level dramatically changes from one camera angle to the next.
• Each instance a shark flying through the air hits the pavement without splattering.
• Each instance the dialogue becomes disjointed and incongruous causing one to need to rewind to re-listen.
• Each instance something nonsensically explodes (automobiles, etc.).
• Each instance a shark emerges out of a storm drain or manhole.

SharkNado Tips

This is in reference to the most recent Syfy Channel cinema disaster "Sharknado".

Source: http://twitpic.com/d28m0j

Picture of the Day - Adios Storage Unit

Today I finally finished clearing out of my storage unit in Atascadero after having had a presence there since January, 1992. This was done as I both downsize my life and find ways to cut my budget yet further. Needless to say, I'm undergoing my own personal "sequester". Below is the last view I had of the place before pulling closed the roll-down door and driving away. I'm proud to say that I left the unit in better shape than I found it.

Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved)

Pomar Air Attack-Eye View

Today as I left my house for Atascadero I heard the pre-alert for a vegetation in the El Pomar/Templeton Road area between Atascadero and Templeton. Once I got on the 101 Freeway from South Spring Street in Paso Robles I could see the header to the fire and it loomed up rather fast and dramatically. I intended to go directly to it but a friend wanted me to pick him up and take him along which delayed my arrival there so I have no interesting images of my own of this incident but below are some images I acquired off of the local CAL FIRE Twitter account taken from Air Attack 340 circling overhead. The fire was contained at about 12 acres and appeared to have started in a road construction zone and probably was started by road work crews.

Images courtesy of CAL FIRE (all rights reserved).

Another Compelling Flight 214 Crash Vid

While perusing the San Francisco Chronicle website I found this new-to-me video showing the immediate aftermath of the crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 at SFO a few of days ago.

Apocalypse Lac Mégantic

The town of Lac-Mégantic, in Quebec, Canada, was the site of an apocalyptic sight the other night as a result of a catastrophic train mishap involving dozens of burning and often exploding tanker rail cars filled with crude oil. Perhaps the oddest thing I noted in this amazing footage is the ironic sight of the very ass-end of the train continuing to blink its rear warning light despite being dead stopped and largely on fire in the middle of a modern town with tremendous fireballs and whirling dervishes of swirling smoke looming up behind that sight.

Owner Of A Lonely Heart

Last Saturday evening I missed the hard opening at Vina Robles Amphitheater where I work as they did not need the full compliment of employees for the Yes concert as they forewarned us from the beginning would oft be the case. I had hoped to work that show and hear this one song that I often heard on MTV and on the radio while I was growing up in the 1980's (yeah, I have seriously dated myself there, have I not?). In lieu of hearing the song live I am placing it here in all its music video glory for a brief side-trip down memory lane.

Adelaida Air Attack-Eye View

Earlier today a wildfire christened the "Adelaida Incident" broke out in the Adelaida area on the Kentucky Ranch property off Vineyard Drive south of Adelaida Road and north of Jensen Road and east of Vineyard Drive in grass, oak woodland and some chaparral. It consumed 85 acres and was contained by the end of the evening. Below are two images captured by Air Attack 340 orbiting the fire early on and posted to CAL FIRE's San Luis Obispo Unit's Twitter account.

Images courtesy of CAL FIRE - San Luis Unit (all rights reserved).

"Oh Lord Have Mercy"... On Flight 214

The following home video showing the crash of Asiana Flight 214 was broadcast today in the television and internet news media. It was then shared countless times via retweeting, etc. It features the man recording the footage narrating what he observes. As compelling as the visual elements here are I feel Mr. Hayes rather beautifully human and incredibly appropriate response is one of the more memorable elements to come out of this story for me. Note: I wonder why I hear a cheer at one point in this video coming from someone observing the dust cloud coming up from the crash? Not cool!

Today's Crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214

I became aware today's crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 at San Francisco International Airport pretty much right when it happened and I followed it as close as I could on Twitter. The thing that has initially drawn me to Twitter is the immediacy of it and the instant images of news stories that pop up on it with startling immediacy. Below are the images of the crash that I first found on Twitter right after the crash. They are presented in the order I found them.

I have since found THIS fascinating scanner recording of the San Francisco Fire Department's response to the crash as well as THIS haunting recording of the SFO tower radio traffic right before, during, and after the crash involving the air traffic controller and the cockpit crew.

AT the bottom is a home video of the immediate aftermath of the crash as viewed from within a terminal.

Courtesy of Bryan Navarro taken by an unnamed friend (all rights reserved).

Courtesy of Vini_1914 (all rights reserved).

Courtesy of Stephanie Elaine (all rights reserved).

Courtesy of David Eun (all rights reserved).

Courtesy of Jimmy Orr (all rights reserved).

Courtesy of anonymous Texan (all rights reserved).

Quote of the Day - Mark Twain?

"Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over." 

 ~ Attributed to Mark Twain, but unverified

A Gemstone Log

I found this remarkable video via Reddit tonight and am once again blown away by the sorts of breathtakingly beautiful and mysterious treasures this planet keeps offering up to modern-day explorers who go out hunting for such things. That was the case with "Freda" at the Royal Peacock Opal Mine in Virgin Valley, Nevada, a famous American opal-hunting region in Humboldt County in northwest Nevada.

I have wanted to hunt opalized wood in that region for a number of years running but that will have to wait at least one more year it appears.

Note: opal hunters visiting Virgin Valley, NV, have on occasion discovered opalized logs partly petrified and partly of fully-organic albeit dessicated wood.

Emeraldization?

I discovered this image and attendant short article HERE and was blown away by it. I am still wrapping my mind around how this could have possibly formed under what is now Colombia given the type of mineral it is and at what depths it typically forms. This amazing planet upon which we live never ceases to amaze me and offer new discoveries and new mysteries as well. Photo Fabre Minerals (all rights reserved).

Just Breathe

This wonderfully quirky, atmospheric, dreamy, haunting electro-pop song "Breathe" by the French electronic dance group Télépopmusik and it's equally quirky yet visually tantalizing video are old favorites of mine that somehow I managed to neglect to share with you until today.

This track was first introduced to the American public back in 2003 where it appeared on a Mitsubishi television advertisement and the year before to European audiences on a Peugeot television advertisement.

That breathless voice we hear in the track is that of Angela McCluskey who hits the song perfectly controlling it's overall tone and owning it thoroughly. I can't imagine anyone else covering it any better. This track appeared in Télépopmusik's 2001 album "Genetic World".

Due to the fact that the music video as it appears on Youtube does not feature the complete beginning of the song I have placed a second music player below the first one featuring the music video. This second player features the ENTIRE song's lyrics for your enjoyment so listen to the one but watch the other (in a manner of speaking). 

When I'm in the correct frame of mind and spirit I can find this song almost overwhelmingly gorgeous and transcendent.

I have placed the simple yet incredibly deep lyrics of this song which are open to multiple levels meaning below the music player here.  

I brought you something close to me
And left with something new
See through your head
You haunt my dreams
  There's nothing to do but believe
Just believe
Just breathe
Another day
Just believe
Another day
Just breathe
Another day
Just believe
Another day
Just breathe
I'm used to it by now
Another day
Just believe
Just breathe
Just believe
Just breathe
Lying in my bed
Staring at the ceiling
Just breathe
Another day
Another day
Just believe
Another day
I' m used to it by now
I' m used to it by now
Just breathe
Just believe
Just breathe
Just believe
Just breathe
Just believe
Just believe
Just breathe
Just believe
Another day
Just believe
Another day
Just believe
Another day
Just breathe
Another day
Just breathe
I dont believe
Another day
Another day
Another day

Source: Lyricsmania.com

In Memorium Of The Prescott 19