Colbie Caillat Singing the Best US National Anthem I’ve Ever Heard

September 10, 2010September 10, 2010Digital Citizen 4 Comments

My annual list of Best New Songs I Heard is usually reserved for songs I had never heard before. Sometimes, I throw in songs I had heard before, but never nearly as good that a version I just heard for the first time. This song falls in that second category, though it doesn’t quite have the gap for me to put on my list this year because of how many great versions I have heard in the past. Still, it was good enough that I know, for me, it was the best rendition of this song that I have ever heard among the many I have heard.

The Star Spangled Banner is played at so many events I watch, on television or in person, that I am sure I have heard over 1000 renditions of it over the years. Naturally, there have been some outstanding versions among them, as well as some pretty grotesque ones. To me, though, Colbie Caillat’s version at the opening game of the National Football League season between the Minnesota Vikings and the New Orleans Saints was the best rendition of the song I have ever heard. Sorry, I don’t know the guitarist’s name.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

She sung it quietly and built it, without having to rely on volume power to peak. She didn’t need more drums or instruments to come in, or additional parts, either. She just rocked it gently a tad more each time and achieved the effect. That’s a hard thing to do!

The television footage of the players and crowd were also inspiring, and credits go to the NBC camera crew for capturing all that. Lots of players and coaches with hands over their heart, standing pretty still mostly, too. I also liked the shot of Jared Allen with the helmet held high. The New Orleans fans deserve credit for being in such solemn attention. A little cheer here or there in the right places can have just as good an impact as a roaring crowd all the way through like at some events. But you know, the right rendition will help you be like that to listen and be proud rather than not pay attention for any number of reasons.

All and all, I thought it was just superb. Too bad the online version I have above had the image and sound timing just a tad off to make it look like Colbie badly lip synced it.

I saw some online articles today on the rendition by Colbie Caillat. She’s got the Net talking about it, that’s for sure. There were likes and dislikes, and loves and hates, as to be expected. However, I’ve got to say the reasonings given for those who didn’t like it weren’t very sound. If the reasonings those people generally gave were valid, they should just go plunk it out on an out of tune synthesizer, or just get their computer to mechanically play it. They should appreciate how flexible their national anthem is that they could think so poorly of such a performance and yet, some people like myself think it’s the best rendition they’ve ever heard!

Leave me a comment with some other favourite renditions of the Star Spangled Banner if you care to share. Thanks!

Meanwhile, I’m going to look up some more of Colbie’s music. I had never heard of her till last night, but man, did she impress and got a new fan for that performance!

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Reading Level: 7.5

Hey (fat) Girl Friend, Wanna Be My Bridesmaid (so I can look thin)?

July 14, 2010July 16, 2010Digital Citizen Leave a comment

Here’s definitely something to think about the next time you are at a wedding, or see someone’s wedding pictures!

On July 6, the Daily Telegraph in the UK ran a story about how one-third of engaged British women in a survey by Slim Fast admitted they would choose an overweight friend for a bridesmaid to make them look better (i.e. thinner) on their wedding day (and the photos from that day that would be cherished as long as the marriage lasts).

OH MY!!!

That was my first reaction. Insecurity and vanity have gone to new heights! While I’m sure this is nothing new after thinking about it, just the thought shocked me… though I’m not a woman so that would go far to explain why. I did know about women having bigger purses to make them look thinner, tight stuff to hold it in, curved lines to fool the eyes on actual size and shapes of their bodies, having an uglier friend be their “wingman” out on the town so they’d look more attractive (guys do the same thing though not me), etc. But this was way above and beyond that for me because this threw out true friendships for obesity!

OUCH!!!

That was my second reaction. If this ever really got out, every woman who will ever get asked, or not asked, to be a bridesmaid, is probably going to think about this reason as a possibility first. If she didn’t get asked, the reaction might be just a slight snark. If she did get asked, especially when she didn’t think she was among the bride’s top 3-5 friends, she might be outright insulted. Now, I know brides also take bridesmaids from her family or the groom’s family, too, to include them in the wedding party a little more. But hey, now there is a great excuse to eliminate some thin friends without telling them the truth about how insecure you were!

Just the thought you could have been included or excluded among the bridesmaids for your weight is just NASTY!!!

Now, this “one third” group is just those who admitted it! I wonder how many didn’t admit it???

And how many who would undoubtedly be in self-denial about it?

Come on. People are in denial about all sorts of ludicrous things. That’s why admitting you have a problem is truly the first step towards solving it… whether it’d be addiction or something light and simple.

Worse, what do you think those rates would be in America these days, where obesity is literally an epidemic?

Literally means statistically cause they’ve got far more than enough numbers to prove it!

Good Lord!

There were a few other eye opening details from this survey, like how brides diet before their wedding and such. However, they weren’t surprising to me. People, men and women, do all kinds of crap to their bodies that are far worse, and friendships were not at stake here.

There was also a result about how the women surveyed said buying a new outfit boosted their confidence. Hey, you think marketers don’t know this when they advertise to women? And don’t give me the “that’s BRITISH women” or “that doesn’t apply to me” stuff. If it didn’t, the woman is uncommon, if not rarer than that. Too bad the odds are she’s probably not nearly as uncommon as she thinks she is there. That uniqueness affliction is true for all humans as many psychology studies have shown. Also refer to note above on “denial”.

But I especially loved the 40% who said new shoes made them feel better about their appearance. Maybe so, but if that feeling better has anything to do with men looking at them, and a lot of it is, let me share the news the men aren’t likely looking at their feet if the men were checking them over! The eyes stop far above the feet!

That’s enough of all that for now, though. It’s plenty to chew on. But maybe you’d like to answer a couple of these questions knowing results from that SlimFast survey. This is not meant to be scientific or anything. Just throwing some thoughts out there in hopes the people who respond would be honest, and seeing what comes back.

If the Sim Fast survey were correct and you’ve had a chance to be in more than 3 bridesmaid parties in the past 5 years or so, statistics say you should probably answer “yes”.

If the Slim Fast survey were accurate, and you have 3 or more married female friends whose wedding you have attended, statistics say you would probably answer “yes”. Let’s see if the men’s opinion differ from the women’s below. Don’t tell your friends if you answered “yes”, though, cause you know they’ll ask you which friend/s prompted the answer. For women who like to gossip, and there are many who do, this could be “fun” (aka nasty) gossip!

If the Slim Fast survey were accurate, and you have 3 or more married female friends whose wedding you have attended, statistics say you would probably answer “yes”. Compare to the men’s results above. Don’t tell your friends if you answered “yes”, though, cause you know they’ll ask you which friend/s prompted the answer. For women who like to gossip, and there are many who do, this could be “fun” (aka nasty) gossip!

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Reading Level: 6.5

50% Divorce Rate is a Myth, It’s More Like 33% or One Third

June 2, 2009June 4, 2009Digital Citizen 4 Comments

divorce drawing There’s this statistic I often hear about how essentially 1 in every 2 marriages ends in divorce, or the 50% divorce rate. In researching for a future post, I discovered this was a myth in how “divorce rate” was calculated. Or at least I’m going to be kind and call it a myth. Someone either maliciously propagated it for their agenda, or were too stupid to know what they were talking about!

Divorce rate, according to that 50% statistic, is measured as number of divorces filed each year, against number of marriages made each year. The serious problem with this equation is that what’s called the number of divorces is from all the marriages which had taken place in previous years, which only happened to have ended in divorce in a given year. If people stopped getting married for a year, which is only an exaggeration of the increasing trend of common-law living, you could easily end up with more than 100% of marriages ending up in divorce by this calculation. Try this numerical example if you’re not getting what I’m saying.

According to the Centre for Disease Control, which I guess considers marriage and divorce a disease, there were 3.6 divorces for every 7.5 marriages in 2005. Both were measured out of 1,000 people so that base can be eliminated to avoid confusion in presenting the statistic. If you take 3.6 and divide by 7.5, you get 48% and that “50% divorce rate”. Now, if common-law living were to reduce marriages to 3.6 marriages per thousand people next year, you’re looking at a 100% divorce rate… and you can imagine the press would go nuts with the stories!

The correct way to interpret that so-called “divorce rate” statistic would be to say there was one divorce for every two marriages in a year, not one in every two marriages end in divorce. There’s a whole slew of marriages out there they can’t say yet whether or not it would end in divorce so they can’t claim 1 in 2 end in divorce!

So what is the real divorce rate, then?

According to 2004 US Census Data, Table 3 for All Races (click to download Excel file):

75.56 million men ever marry (i.e. married at least once)
22.70 million men ever divorce
30.1% = men who ever marry end up getting divorced

87.32 million women ever marry
26.95 million women ever divorce
30.9% = women who ever marry end up getting divorced

162.88 million men and women ever marry
49.68 million men and women ever divorce
30.5% = men and women, combined, who ever married end up getting divorced
.

I know 30.5% isn’t a third as that is 33 and 1/3 percent, but for rough value’s sake, a third will do just fine as what the divorce rate should be quoted as. Subsequent marriages to the first fail at a rate higher than first marriages (Rutgers University web page), bringing up the overall rate from 30.5%. But because there aren’t nearly as many of them as first marriages, they wouldn’t skew the rate up by that much. So for rounding purposes, I’d say one third is a good estimate.

Now, if you don’t think that’s a huge difference to go from one half to one third, try this somber experiment. Next time you’re at a house party with many of your friends, especially if you’re old enough many of them are married, look around and predict which one of every two couples will end up in divorce. This is going to be true lest you believe you and your group of friends are somehow so special you would defy this average… and don’t kid yourself on how special you all are! Yes, these happy times with all these happy couples at this party won’t be like this some years down the road given all the divorces you just predicted. Go get another drink or two!

It’s a bit of a sad and shocking experiment, really. But then try it again with which one of every three couples will end up in divorce. The fact you get to “save” some marriages is probably a relief. That’s the difference between a half and a third, my friend! Every single marriage that you can “save” from ending up in divorce should be a relief, cause even if you think the divorce should happen, divorces just aren’t pretty things in life.

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Reading Level: 7.3

Interesting Facts and Insightful Sayings for a Happy Mother’s Day

May 10, 2009May 13, 2015Digital Citizen Leave a comment

Happy Mother’s Day, everyone! It’s the third biggest holiday next to Christmas and Easter, by some measures, although I have doubts that includes some non-Western holidays. However, if the world celebrated Mother’s Day, it would be easily the biggest holiday on the planet because we all have Mothers. Of course, we all have Fathers as well, but there aren’t nearly as many deliquent Moms as there are Dads so Mother’s Day would rule. It already does given Father’s Day doesn’t rank with Mother’s Day in the measure previously mentioned.

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