Michael Buble Duets for CD

As some of you regular friends on mine would know - I am unashamedly a Michael Buble Fan.  We were lucky enough to go to one of his concerts in Auckland where we had a ball!
Since then a lot has happened.  We both had our Boys sick with Cancer.
Michael Buble  dropped out from his work - as did I and we took care of our family.  That meant too that I stopped writing on this Blog for a while.
Must say - I do miss his Christmas shows.  I understand he does do one show - at NBC??? but it is not broadcast worldwide.   Sighs

One comment was made about there being a lot of Duets and if there was enough to make a special CD.  This got me hunting!  I know there are a number of songs     ( "All Shook up" for example) that are not on any of his released CD's - rather they feature on You-tube! There is a song where clearly he is still - hmmm a young lad!!!
Anyhow - after a long search and so forth I found what I believe to be a complete list.  I let you decide which 14 "best of" duets could/should/might be on a future release!

One Caveat - the Song "A song for you" with Chris Botti - is not a Duet in strictest sense of the word - as Chris is playing some Trumpet, yet there is  a lovely forth and back interchange!!  Same should be said for Elvis Presley duet "Fever"  The king has long since passed away!! Sadly FAR TOO EARLY

hmmmm wonder If I can extract them and put up as a list here . . . .
:)  Seems I can
Enjoy

Help Me Make It Through The Night         Loren Allred
Besame Mucho                                          Thalia
You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine    Laura Pausini
Don't get around much anymore              Tony Bennett
Someday                                                   Meghan Trainor
Quando Quando                                       Nelly Furtado
Pennies From Heaven                              Paul Anka                                                     A Song For You                                        Chris Botti
Baby (You've Got What It Takes)             Sharon Jones
Comin' Home Baby                                  Boyz II
La Vie En Rose                                        Cécile Mclorin Salvant
Nobody But Me                                       Black Thought – The roots
Something Stupid                                   Reece Whitherspoon
How deep is your love                            Kelly Rowland
Just in Time                                            Tony Bennett
After All                                                  Bryan Adams
Nevertheless (I'm in Love with You)      The Puppini sisters
Whatever It Takes                                  Ron Sexsmith
Stardust                                                 Naturally 7
I Won't Dance                                        Jane Monheit
Baby It's Cold Outside                           Idina Menzel
Wonderful Tonight                                 Ivan Lins
Alone Again (Naturally)                         Diana Krall
All Shook up                                          Elvis Presley
It Had to Be You                                    Barbra Streisand
Crazy                                                     Willie Nelson                                                 Crazy                                                     Jon Batiste & Stay Human

 

Christmas Duets!! 

Jingle Bells                                     The Puppini Sisters                                             

Frosty the Snowman                      The Puppini Sisters

Mis Deseos/Feliz Navidad              Thalia

Home                                              Blake Shelton

All I Want For Christmas Is Yo       Mariah Carey

Jingle Bell Rock                              Carly Jephson

Winter Wonderland                        Rod Stewart

Santa Claus is coming to Town      Ariana Grande

Silent Night                                    Childrens Choir

Silver Bells                                     Naturally 7

White Christmas                            Shy’m

White Christmas                            Kelly Rowland

White Christmas                            Shania Twain

White Christmas                            Kelly Pickler

Cuddle up Cozy down Christmas   Dolly Parton

Rule the World                               Gary Barlow

Chestnuts on Fire                          Leon Bridges

PS - there is a new Elvis Presley CD release were they Digitally "married' him with Michael Buble - the song being "Fever", and while it is a lovely rendition - I am not sure if that should be included as - well - as the King is no longer with us!!!


If you find another song that should be included in this list - please let me know

 

Update 11 March 2024 - more songs have been created or found online 

Elita                                                   Gary Barlow

Fever                                                  Elvis Presley

Gotta be patient                                 Barenaked ladies / Sofia Reyes 

Home                                                 Gary Barlow

How can you mend a broken heart   Bee Gees

Soda Pop                                            Robbie Williams

Crazy                                                 Jon Batiste & Stay Human

Drivers License                                 BBC Concert Orchestra   

Bring it on home to me                     West End Gospel Choir

Quizas, Quizas                                   Lucho Gatica

Spicey Margarita                              Jason Derulo 

What next??????                                                                   

Have fun!

The myth of Global sea level rises

Soooo,  I know, I will get some flak for this . . .
Shrugs shoulders - sooo?????
Anyhow
This has been bugging me for some time -
the notion (which was re-inforced in last nights TV program "Russia from above" with the line being peddled that the (North) polar sea ice melting will cause widespread flooding.  Now I know - this could just not be - as long as I remember my history lesson from way back - you know 'that' Eureka moment.

snip -- Let's begin with the story: the local tyrant contracts the ancient Greek polymath Archimedes to detect fraud in the manufacture of a golden crown. Said tyrant, name of Hiero, suspects his goldsmith of leaving out some measure of gold and replacing it with (cheaper) silver in a wreath dedicated to the gods. Archimedes accepts the challenge and, during a subsequent trip to the public baths, realizes that the more his body sinks into the water, the more water is displaced--making the displaced water an exact measure of his volume. Because gold weighs more than silver, he reasons that a crown mixed with silver would have to be bulkier to reach the same weight as one composed only of gold; therefore it would displace more water than its pure gold counterpart. Realizing he has hit upon a solution, the young Greek math whiz leaps out of the bath and rushes home naked crying "Eureka! Eureka!" Or, translated: "I've found it! I've found it!" 
end snip

So this morning I run a totally non-scientific kitchen experiment - I got a measuring glass jar - filled it with water (300ML) and  then tossed in a 20 frozen ice-cubes and saw that the water level rose to 500ml - guess I froze 200ml.  Anyhow - by a stroke of unintended luck the water-level rose to exactly 500ml - and not to be outdone I leveled it and marked it with some insulation tape.  So we had some beautiful cubes below the surface and some on the top and one ice cube even sticking out like a decent Titanic cutting bit!!  Now just to wait - and wait - and wait.

If I am right - along with old Alchi - then the melting of the ice will not increase the water-level one bit - because - it has already done so when the cubes first went in - right!??!?!?!
So as all the ice swimming round the north-pole is concerned = it is already displacing the sea-levels as it came from there in the first place - right?!?!?!  Logic - right!!!

Re-checks the glass - nope, no increase in the levels and all the cubes  have almost completely melted - bar one!!
So the only way the sea-levels could raise IF there was additional ice melt (water)  from ice that is currently on land - Greenland and Antarctica!!
I cannot speak for Greenland - as far as Antarctica is concerned - Yes - it could melt!  Indeed in past years (speak many many many thousands years back) it was a GREEN continent complete with flowers and grasses and - ice free and all! OK guess so could Greenland be!

However - before you get all excited with doom and gloom - CURRENTLY - it is too bloody cold down (in Antarctica) and no global warming man-made or other is going to change that in the next 50 thousand years.

 snip --Antarctica, Scott Base yearly average mean temperature  (-14.6)

The lowest reliably measured temperature of a continuously occupied station on Earth of −89.2 °C was on 21 July 1983 at Vostok Station. For comparison, this is 10.7 °C colder than subliming dry ice (at sea level pressure). The altitude of the location is 3,488 meters (11,444 feet).
The lowest recorded temperature of any location on Earth's surface at 81.8°S 63.5°E was revised with new data in 2018 in nearly 100 locations, ranging from −93.2 °C  to −98 °C . This unnamed part of the Antarctic plateau, between Dome A and Dome F, was measured on August 10, 2010, and the temperature was deduced from radiance measured by the Landsat 8 and other satellites, and discovered during a National Snow and Ice Data Center review of stored data in December, 2013 but revised by researcher on June 25 2018. This temperature is not directly comparable to the –89.2 °C reading quoted above, since it is a skin temperature deduced from satellite-measured upwelling radiance, rather than a thermometer-measured temperature of the air 1.5 m (4.9 ft) above the ground surface.

The highest temperature ever recorded on the Antarctic continent was 17.5 °C (63.5 °F) at Esperanza Base, on the Antarctic Peninsula, on 24 March 2015. A higher temperature of 19.8 °C  at Signy Research Station on 30 January 1982 is the record for the Antarctic region encompassing all land and ice south of 60° S.

------->  The mean annual temperature of the interior is −57 °C.  <---------

The coast is warmer; on the coast Antarctic average temperatures are around −10 °C  (in the warmest parts of Antarctica) and in the elevated inland they average about −55 °C  in Vostok. Monthly means at McMurdo Station range from −26 °C  in August to −3 °C  in January. 

At the South Pole, the highest (ie - the 'warmest') temperature ever recorded was −12.3 °C  on 25 December 2011.  

Severe low temperatures vary with latitude, elevation, and distance from the ocean. East Antarctica is colder than West Antarctica because of its higher elevation.

End snip


Thus - I maintain that there is nothing to worry about any sea-levels rising and swallowing Al Gore's precious multi-million dollar mansion on the Florida coast anytime soon or anyone else's property!

Ah I know - no amount of reason or logic, let alone emotion will be convincing some folks - for them it has become a religion - with unshakable dogma!  After all - for Christians it works with Jesus - where no proof ever in any shape or form can detract them from believing!

What bugs me is that Policy is being made based on this 'faulty' logic/belief, A policy that is costly and not needed (by the 'guilt' ridden western countries)  - WHEN at the same time those efforts could be much better directed, to, for example, to raise Africa out of its poverty and give that continent a decent chance for life!
I am heartened by the efforts to create a "Green belt" in Africa,  right across from coast to coast to stop the Sahara from growing and further erode arable land; - This will eventually lead to a better ability to grow food crops!   Who knows - if this green belt gets wider - you just might have   a l l   your fruit you can eat coming from that region!!  Wouldn't that be a hoot - Africa feeding the world!!!! :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACUUIPE2Odw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xls7K_xFBQ


http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/







Have fun!






PS - I forgot to add - and you will not find this in the main stream media - you will have to hunt for the data - turns out that in the last 20-35 years the average temperature in Antarctica has been going lower - meaning it is getting COLDER!!! No chance of defrosting ice there for the foreseeable future . . .

What if it's true - then what?

For those not living in the online world - just a quick re-cap.
Israel Folau is a Tongan born rugby player (NSW and Rugby Australia [Wallabies]) and this is the second time he posted on social media about sin and hell - again just before Easter.
The following media storm that happened since then is somewhat astounding. Being a Facebook user only, I have not seen his full post - although there are plenty of redacted versions floating around the printed news media and of course social mediums.
Today I made an effort and found it

it goes like this:

 You will of course notice the difference in the image and the quoted Biblical text!?!?!?  You will also remember that the full biblical text has almost never been added to the written news stories - at best simply as a reference point eg Gal 5 etc . . .








So there are several aspects to this:

1. there is a question of what is free speech versus what is hate speech - not an easy topic at the best of time.
2. There are questions on contractual obligations with his employer (AU rugby Union) and possible breeches - something that the lawyers currently arguing for the last two days and still with no end in sight! 
3. What is 'news' and what is 'social commentary' and which is more important??
4. Being Easter and all - where are the messages of 'Hope' and what is "Sin"  (not something that is discussed or understood easily in our modern times) and let alone what constitutes 'Hell'

I will strongly argue that any "free speech" that has an impact on your employment eg loose your job or business etc - is not "Free Speech" in its truest sense of its meaning - rather  it is more of a censorship at its best form.  There is also a strong current ideology - thinking,  that anyone is free to express their thoughts AS LONG AS those thoughts are not offensive to ME personally!!  Of course what is offensive to me would change from day to day, minute by minute and depend on a whole lot of things - like which side of the bed I got up from  or whether our Cat walked left to right or vis-a-vis in the morning!! It is also different from person to person!!

The media - to most of their credit - have tried to stay very neutral on this. Sadly sometimes they portrayed this as an attack just on Homosexuals only.  It was interesting to read many news articles where they couched it as an attack on homosexuals "and others" by then afterwards quoting the full text from the image - and certainly not the full Biblical reference!  A case in point - notice how it is written --->  www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/Folau fights for his job
If he had left out the word homosexual in the graphic - do you think there would be a media storm???

What many have forgotten or ignored is - that yes this was posted by Israel Folau just a few weeks before Easter - on the Christian Calendar.  An Easter message of being "saved" from hell through the sacrifice made by this person - "Jesus"  who voluntarily died on the cross for everyone. A message which no doubt featured in many Easter Sunday services! A message which does not sit comfortably with many folks.

It should also be noted that many many folks have of course made comments on Israel Folaus post.  News Media have reported it as 'news' and then often  the reporters added their own 2 Cents of thoughts to this - rather then just reporting the 'fact'.  Then there are wannabe social stars masquerading as news folks writing columns (admittedly some are noted as "Opinion" pieces) and  then there are just folks who have their day in public - literally any high profile person (from any unknown two-time singer / actor/ author/ politician/ or any other office holder to any (former glorious) sports person) who feel it is their right and duty to give their opinions to everyone who wants to listen to them (and of course believe that their own opinion is the ONLY correct way of thinking;- if you doubt that - try and engage them in dialog and be prepared for some colorful replies).

Intriguingly -- it is ONLY the gay community (or supporters of) that is making a meal of this issue.  I have not yet heard a single objection or any other comment from any of the other affected communities mentioned in his Instagram post!!

Feel free if you belong to any of the following to correct me!!

• Alcoholics anonymous 

• Any prison Inmate / Advocates

• The Liqueur industry 

• The Casinos / Gambling industry

• Gamblers Anonymous

• Gigolos Inc

• MILF's inc and the Cougar Club

• ANY religious group / church / organization (other then Brian Tamaki's Destiny Church)

• Any Actor / Writer / TV producer and their masses of followers from TV shows  such as: Married at First Sight / The Bachelor AU or any other Country / Wife-swap USA or any other country etc etc etc 

• Any Harry Potter Fan

I am sure there are other groups and feel free to add them to the list.

Silence is and can be a very powerful tool - if used correctly.  There is a lesson here - I am sure. (As the saying goes: 'Silence is golden'!)

As an aside - I will happily own up to having 3 or 4 "sins" being committed by myself, at some stage during my life! 

It will be interesting to see how this will play out  - how we define free speech vs hate speech - what Israels future employment will look like - and if we will have a serious public discussion on the Easter message itself, or if the Christian communities are now relegated to an oddball minority!?

On that note - the BEST ever starting place!!

A picture I took last Sunday - in Geraldine - so yes ask yourself this question  -- WHAT IF INDEED IT IS TRUE??????





Have fun!

The myth of the "0800sunny tourist" NZ Chemtrail spraying program debunked

Ok - not really - seriously - like I would own up to that!!   :P 

There are people who can make that happen - you just have to belief - have faith!!!!


Below some extracts from articles and studies and for keeping.

snip - - - - - - 

Conspiracy theories have been cooked up throughout history, but they're increasingly visible lately.
Given that any particular conspiracy theory is unlikely to be the subject of mainstream consensus, what draws people to them?

New research suggests that people with certain personality traits and cognitive styles are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories.
"These people tend to be more suspicious, un-trusting, eccentric, needing to feel special, with a tendency to regard the world as an inherently dangerous place," said Josh Hart, an associate professor at Union College in the US. "They are also more likely to detect meaningful patterns where they might not exist. "People who are reluctant to believe in conspiracy theories tend to have the opposite qualities."

It helps to realise that conspiracy theories differ from other worldviews in that they are fundamentally gloomy," Hart said.
"This sets them apart from the typically uplifting messages conveyed by, say, religious and spiritual beliefs. At first blush this is a conundrum.
"However, if you are the type of person who looks out at the world and sees a chaotic, malevolent landscape full of senseless injustice and suffering, then perhaps there is a modicum of comfort to be found in the notion that there is someone, or some small group of people, responsible for it all.
"If 'there's something going on,' then at least there is something that could be done about it."
 it is important to realise that when reality is ambiguous, our personalities and cognitive biases cause us to adopt the beliefs that we do.  As always, conspiracy theories could be true. The most prominent example is the reporting the National Enquirer did in the 2008 presidential campaign about a child then-Senator John Edwards had fathered out of wedlock.

But, for every one conspiracy theory that winds up being right, there are a thousand - or a million - that are totally without merit. That used to be a sentence that 98 per cent of the population could agree on. No longer. Our retreat into partisan camps, the rising dislike and distrust of "elites", the surge in partisan media outlets and the collapse of trust in the mainstream media has created a toxic environment in which conspiracy theories not only can bloom but are nurtured.
We all now see the hidden hand of government/media/corporations/foreign entities behind everything everyone does. And, what's worse, there's no trusted source of facts that we all agree can be used to debunk conspiracies.

Conspiracies grow and grow. And we believe them in ways we've never done before.
"This knowledge can help us understand our own intuitions."

The role of Facebook and other social media:

These theories are not circulating willy-nilly around Facebook as a whole. They spread within specific, defined, ideologically homogenous communities, or echo chambers, which might not be visible to the naked eye - but may as well be walled off.
Researchers found that: Users tend to aggregate in communities of interest, which causes reinforcement and fosters confirmation bias, segregation, and polarization. This comes at the expense of the quality of the information and leads to proliferation of biased narratives fomented by unsubstantiated rumours, mistrust, and paranoia.
Because users create these walled communities themselves - choosing to read only news that agrees with their biases, or unfriending people who challenge their socio-political views - there's not much Facebook (or anyone for that matter) can do to remedy the situation.
 Conspiracy theories, hoaxes and other variants of baloney have become so prevalent and intractable on Facebook that we no longer bother to debunk them.
But a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides some insight on exactly how misinformation spreads - with big implications for the fight against it.
The paper, titled: 'The spreading of misinformation online', comes from researchers at Boston University and several prominent Italian institutions. It draws on five years of posts from 67 public Facebook pages, roughly half devoted to conspiracy theories and half about science news, plus two unrelated pages that served as a control group.
They found that, in essence, conspiracy theories and hoaxes spread in a predictable, three-step pattern.

Step 1: An individual or page posts a piece of conspiracy news or information, introducing it to their social network. (think "0800sunnytourist"  :)  )
Step 2: That conspiracy is voluntarily shared and propagated by individuals who agree with the narrative - largely within the first two hours, but again at the 20-hour mark.
Step 3: The conspiracy gradually branches throughout the network over a period of days, its speed slowing but its audience growing continuously. Within a period of two weeks or so, the theory has been adopted by large portions of the community - and once they've been adopted, they're "highly resistant to correction".
In fact, as this group of researchers has found before, attempts to correct conspiracy theories often have the opposite effect: They make conspiracists grip their beliefs all the more strongly.

:P   so - you read it all now - the only question remaining is:  - do you have faith???







https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12140755

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=11571363




Have fun!

The Austrian changes colours (and citizenship)

Did you hear about the chap who got arrested for spying - he carried 5 valid passports and the reason given was - which person would carry 5???  Two are understandable - maybe even 3 in some circumstances - but 5????

Usually - you would associate a passport with citizenship - eg being a citizen of a particular country.  Of course - here in 2018/9 the issue of citizenship and changes thereof along with Immigration are a very hot and contemptuous  topic.  People have moved around - always since we climbed down from the tree and started to walk upright!  It is what defines us as humans - the thirst for discovery and new things and places.  We have a curious quest for discoveries.  So ever since we left that proverbial tree we moved around the country side - often just for no other reason then a new source of meat / berries etc and other times simply because we could.  Back in those days - humanity was way less then 1 billion folks - so a rare breed. In some places you could move for years and not meet another human.   Then folks discovered that actually right here is not a bad place - plenty of meat walking by or grazing permanently and lots of seasonal greenery - eventually learning to move from Hunter-gatherer to being Farmer. The need to move around and keep hunting / gathering was replaced with a "security" for your survival by having a source of food permanently and plentiful close by.  The Farmers quickly learned that their particular patch of earth is worth something so needed or wanted to protect that and themselves and voila - the first Wall was build around their own settlement - in order to keep themselves save and intruders (both in animals and other humans) out.

Sounds familiar???? 

Today we have many tribes scattered  around the globe - and of course all still have a  "border-wall" - a means of controlling who can and cannot simply walk in.  Each tribe had several "crossing points" or in the olden days - GATES - which you crossed every-time you wanted to leave your village or city or country thus controlling who was allowed in and out and stay.  In that sense nothing - and I do mean nothing has changed since the olden days when we build fences around our 3 or 5 huts.

What defined you as being a citizen of that particular group of people? Usually your birth.  Eg you were born into that community.  In some cases travelers would arrive and an exchange of goods and services as well as ideas on almost anything would take place at a mutual agreeable time and fashion.  Sometimes that traveler would meet someone rather special or fill a need and stay beyond a friendly meet and greet time - and eventually settle down in the new village/town etc.  In doing so said traveler would become part of the new community - warts and all.  Contribution by the 'immigrant' to the greater good was a given.

In my case - I met a Kiwi Girl who innocently flattered her eyelids and said to me - 'You do me'!  I got hitched and after a while we made a decision to stay in the great Kiwi-land!  I was always known as 'That Austrian'!  Which is quite natural - after all the locals who lived here for generations would always see me (for as long as they live) as the dude who came from another country.  Certainly at first.  Then there is my accent - seems it is still a bit unusual - even though I now speak perfectly kiwi lingo and given my heritage away.  However after 30 years of living here  - it was time to make it official.  Basically you give up your rights as a dude from one tribe and pledge to part of the new group of people.  Sounds simple??  yes and no!!

In my case - I had to give up my Austrian citizenship.   That's Ok!  There was a time when you could have dual citizenship - and the rules changed at least once if not 2 or 3 times.  Other countries will be more forgiving.  Personally - I cannot see how you can serve two masters at the same time - especially if they are so far apart - so no problemo for me in this matter. 
In short - I went from red- white-red to black and white!! Also I am pretty sure I done my bit for the greater good in the new living place.

Globalization, mass tourism, ease of travel and communication across the globe  challenge all of the old established understandings (citizenship / hospitality etc)  and the various systems established which we have developed and are commonly and instinctively understood (ingrained even) ever since we climbed down from that proverbial tree.  It is not too surprising that some tribes close-up shop.
Change is never easy.
So they go back to the familiar and comfort.  After all - even in to-days world - your local tribal identity still defines you.  The only question remaining is: - will we always be a planet with lots of local tribes and identity or will we move into a truly global single tribe?

These are interesting times we live in.




Have fun!