Bel Canto on Richard Rodgers' 110 Birthday

Richard Rodgers
He lives always in our collective American music conscious
(28 June 1902 - 31 December 1979)
The MP3 below expired on 07-04-2012.
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The Trapp Family Singers and Chorus (1960)
- The Sound of Music

Lyrics as follows:
The Sound of Music
Music: Richard Rodgers
Words: Oscar Hammerstein II

The Trapp Family Singers and Chorus (1960)

My day in the hills has come to an end I know
A star has come out to tell me it's time to go
But deep in the dark green shadows
Are voices that urge me to stay
So I pause and I wait and I listen
For one more sound, or one more lovely thing
That the hills might say

The hills are alive with the sound of music
With songs they have sung for a thousand years
The hills fill my heart with the sound of music
My heart wants to sing every song it hears

My heart wants to beat like the wings of the birds that rise
From the lake through the trees
My heart wants to sigh like a chime that flys
From a church on a breeze
To laugh like a brook when it trips and falls
Over stones on its way
To sing through the night
Like a lark who is learning to pray

I go to the hills when my heart is lonely
I know I will hear what I've heard before
My heart will be blessed with the sound of music
And I'll sing once more

My heart will be blessed with the sound of music
And I'll sing once more

Obamanomics

Giving Offenbach a Break

Today is Jacques Offenbach's birthday (20 June 1819 - 5 October 1880), so I will get off his back. Instead, I have uploaded a memory insurance selection on this first day of summer for 2012.

So, as it were, "I stand, and I wait for the touch of your hand in the June night..."

The MP3 below expired on 06-28-2012.
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Beegie Adair, piano (2006)
- Moonlight Serenade (Miller)

First Day of Summer, 2012

20 June, 2012
Current Time: 1702 Hours PDT
Current Temperture and Condition:
98° F | 37° C
Clear

Astronomy:

June 20, 2012          Rise:        Set:
Actual Time            5:42 AM PDT  8:28 PM PDT
Civil Twilight         5:11 AM PDT  9:00 PM PDT
Nautical Twilight      4:32 AM PDT  9:39 PM PDT
Astronomical Twilight  3:47 AM PDT 10:23 PM PDT
Moon                   6:45 AM PDT  9:19 PM PDT

Length of Visible Light 15h 48m
Length of Day 14h 46m
Tomorrow will be 0m 2s shorter.

New Moon, 2% of the Moon is Illuminated

Illegal Aliens Are Democrats

...or future Democrats with more vested rights (including voting) and privileges (serving as statesmen) than the citizens born or naturalized in these United States.


- a L'envoi iPad 3 post

Planet Venus Does a Solar Transit Today

I had fun watching and doing some simple photography of the venus transit. Using just an inexpensive pair of binoculars, a tripod, a piece of paper, and my Canon compact digital camera with no filters, I took pictures of this rare and extraordinary celestial event. - The next time the planet Venus does it thing again crossing the sun it will be in another 105 years in 2117.

The set up: A binocular taped on tripod. The white circle on the sheet of paper was a tranferred image of the sun. The planet Venus should appear as a dot moving across the white circle (sun) beginning at 1506 hours Pacific Time.

2012-06-05 1612 hours. The planet Venus was seen as a smudge (lower left) on the sun.

2012-06-05 1709 hours. The planet Venus was now moving almost half-way across the sun.

Mikhail Glinka's Birthday Anniversary

Mikhail Glinka
Russian-born classical composer
(1 June 1804 - 15 February 1857)
The Russian National Symphony Orchestra Soloists Ensemble (1993) -
Glinka Grand Sextet in E Flat Major
II. Andante (Excerpt)

Click here to view this L'Envoi YouTube.

Wells Fargo's Credit Defense Is a Scam

J. Wellington Wimpy:
"I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."
Because I am a "valued customer" with the Wells Fargo Bank, so to speak, the latter issued me a free Visa card, an ATM card, and a host of other nice-to-know but not very useful services.

Recently, I used the new Wells Fargo Visa card while traveling through the southwest. When I received my monthly statement, I noticed a strange item billed as Credit Defense. After some inquiry, I learned this billed item was an insurance of sorts. If for some reason (e.g. illness or unemployment) I weren't able to pay off the credit card charges owed, Credit Defense, as claimed, would, could, or should protect my Wells Fargo credit standing for up to nine months. The Credit Defense insurance fee is determined by the amount owed, or $0.69 per $100.00. The details are sketchy as to what this Credit Defence insurance is and how the policy works.

This Wells Fargo scam is analogous to Wimpy's hamburger scheme: I am billed for a service I neither need nor want to pay in the first place. Then it is up to Wells Fargo to guarantee my Visa card credit worthiness - however, whenever, and if.

Look at it my way. The more times (even one time) I use the Wells Fargo Visa card to make purchases, I will be penalized accordingly - protected as Wells Fargo would want me to think and thank them - by the Credit Defense fees. Relative to the recently enacted profit limiting credit card law, Wells Fargo is looking for ways to make money through other ancillary services. By unscrupulously adding the unauthorized Credit Defense fees to credit card charges, the bank schemes to squeeze more revenues from its customers. As for me, there is no incentive whatsoever now of my using the Wells Fargo's Visa credit card. I will stick with my other credit cards.

It's presumptuous and patronizing of Wells Fargo to add this unwanted Credit Defense fees at MY expense. I called Credit Defense (a third party insurer or insurance administrator working for Wells Fargo) and the bank's customer service. I gave them the "what for", and voiced my utmost displeasure about this unethical practice. Wells Fargo, not admitting to any faults, agreed to cancel the Credit Defense fees.

What a farce and a ripoff is this Credit Defense. If I see Troy Aikman and Hulk Hogan together doing a Wells Fargo television commercial on Credit Defense anytime soon, I'll change my banking services. I have already stopped using my Wells Fargo's Visa card. To boot, I also shredded its ATM card for safe measure.

Parked Bumper-to-Bumper to a Maserati

When I pulled in to O'Brien this afternoon, I parked in a space across from a black sport sedan, I saw an uncommon trident emblem. I did a double take on the emblem mounted on the grille of the car. It ain't a Honda like mine, that's for sure.

I had never seen a Maserati on the road, let alone one that's parked up close. Here it was, a 2012 Maserati Quattroporte Sedan. It's MSRP is starting from $127,250.00. My chance of encountering such make of a knight rider at rest again is like seeing the Halley's Comets twice in a lifetime. I walked about this fine beast to look at the S-Model body style certifying its 4.7-Liter V8 virility. Except I didn't touch the body (the car alarm was armed).

Back to reality. I went to O'Brien for the watermelons advertised. I gave the Quattroporte one last look and put the Honda in reverse and eased out of my parking space. I never looked back at that beautiful black stallion.

21 May 2012 - Hot Air Balloon Ride, ABQ, NM

21 May 2012
Place of Ascent: Albuquerque, NM
Time of Ascent: 0630 hours
Landmark: Rio Grande River
Maximum Altitude: 4000 ft/1219 m
Flight Distance: 13 m/21 km
Flight Time: 1 hour 10 minutes







- a L'envoi iPad 3 post