Facebook DeafHoops Group ad… the music and more!

Facebook has an ad out now pushing their Groups platform, a place where people of common interests can “meet” and share all the things. This new ad uses a group of deaf basketball players, take a look…

The DeafHoops Facebook Group is private and has over two thousand members. If you’d like to join, click here to be taken to their front page. Once there, click “join group” and wait for approval.

The song cleverly used is “Oh So Quiet” by Betty Hutton, which was released 70 years ago, yep, all the way back in 1951. Here is the full track, then scroll down for more info!

A cover was also made popular for the 90s generation by Bjork. Although, to be honest, I was listening to MCHammer, Vanilla Ice, and Kris Kross. Anyway, here is Bjork’s version…

Betty Hutton’s version was also used in this Acura TLX commercial in 2020:

Wikipedia points out this song is a cover of a Horst Winter song called “Und jetzt ist es still,” which you can hear below.

An insightful article was written in BBC News about how Facebook has helped the deaf community by providing video messages, dating back to 2016. Check it out here.

Thanks for stopping by!

-Out of the Wilderness

Bird book. A book of birds. From 1983.

It’s so weird that when you become interested in something, you see that thing everywhere you go. Know what I mean? Like, when you like a certain kind of car, you see that exact car all over town. It’s strange. It happened to me recently with birds, of all things.

When I was in Florida visiting family I became obsessed with photographing birds, whether it was bald eagles…

pelicans…

Or any other bird…

some kind of flycatcher? can’t identify this one yet…

Back in Nashville, a week or two after returning from Florida, I went to an estate sale and as some of you might know, the wide and crazy array of things you can find at an estate sale is a real thing, and at this one I found a book.

Also, it was only a dollar! That’s $6.95 less than it was in 1983! Well, with inflation, maybe the value is about the same but whatever, I can think of lots of other things I wasted more money on.

This book has already been an asset, helping me identify birds like this one. I am slowly reading through the book and it’s really fascinating how old this makes me sound. But I’m also old enough to not care how reading a book about birds makes me sound old. I had no idea being 42 came with such freedom!

If you have a bird question, send it my way. As long as the bird you’re curious about existed in 1983 or earlier, I can look it up…

Thanks for perching on my blog for a little while!

-Out of the Wilderness

That time I saw a snake

A few days ago I did an internet search for a snake as I was researching this Jeep commercial. Now, I don’t know if the internets are this advanced but not more than a day later I was walking at the dog park and saw this:

I’ve heard stories of Alexa and other smart tech listening in on conversations and ads popping up on Facebook of things you’ve Googled, but this is a whole new level! Search for a snake online, find a snake in the woods. Creepy!

The snake slithered right across the path and then, of course, one of my dogs walked inches away from the snake even though I forbid her from doing that. Thankfully, it was just a harmless garter snake that didn’t bite. I watched in awe as it climbed a up this bush and up to the top where it rested overlooking those who may pass by.

I ran back to my car to get this Sony A6600 camera for better pictures but when I returned, the snake was long gone. Well, I say “long gone” when it actually could’ve just been inches away from my face, but I didn’t find it to get those better pictures.

Glad it wasn’t a poisonous snake, that’s #1. And #2, funny how things you’re interested in are what you wind up seeing. Like when you’re looking to buy a particular brand and model of car and then you see them everywhere around town.

Weird stuff. Anyway, thanks for stopping by! I’ll leave you with a short video of our new friend.

-Out of the Wilderness

Giving people back their trash after they litter, part 2

I reacted before I even stopped to think, “Is it wise to do this?” Just like the last time someone littered in a McDonald’s drive through, I hopped out of my car when the driver of a pick-up truck, parked in the parking lot of McDonald’s, rolled down his window and tossed an entired McDonald’s bag full of trash onto the paved parking spot between him and I. I was actuall backing out to leave but then I shifted into park, got out, picked up the trash, showed it to him through his window, and tossed it into the bed of his truck. Not to mention the truck bed was already full of various types of trash! If you don’t believe me, here’s the proof. You won’t believe what happened next.

Is this guy lazy or just careless? As I was driving away the driver got out of his truck, walked around to the back, grabbed the McD’s bag of trash and TOSSED IT BACK ON THE GROUND! WHO DOES THAT?

Take some pride in your city, man! He could’ve walked another 50 feet to a trashcan but I’m guessing laziness is a way of life for him. I genuinely want to know why people think it’s OK to casually discard their trash wherever they want.

The way he gets rid of things when they’re no longer convenient or needed makes me feel bad for the overweight woman I saw in the passenger seat. She’ll be next.

OK, rant over. Thank you for letting me vent! I know seeing people litter is a pet peeve of mine and I probably take it way too seriously. Call me old and crabby, I just believe in taking care of the things around us, God created this beautiful earth full of amazing things and I can’t stand when people, out of laziness especially, trash it.

-Out of the Wilderness

Is Cobra Kai a great show?

I know I’m late to the game on the “Cobra Kai” bandwagon but last week I signed up with Netflix and started watching. I had heard it was good but, to tell you the truth, it’s not good. It’s…

For adults, at least. If I had young kids, I’d definitely hesitate to let them watch, just because some of the subject matter is adult-themed. Mostly some of the language and a subtle joke here and there about sex or sex-related things.

Aside from that, they do a nice job sprinkling in references and scenes from the beloved 1980s Karate Kid movies. The old characters are reintroduced (except no sightings of Hilary Swank, The Next Karate Kid, yet) along with new characters and all the acting is great. Plus, there are a few fight scenes that seem to last 45 minutes, they are amazing and I can’t even imagine the work and time it took to choreograph those fights.

I’m totally hooked and at the same time, depressed. I finished season 3 yesterday and discovered season 4 may not be released until later this year.

If you watch, also pay attention to the transitions, especially in season 3. They cleverly take us from scene to scene. Maybe they did this in seasons 1 and 2 but I didn’t notice it until season 3.

Are you watching? Who is your favorite character and why?

Thanks for stopping by!

-Out of the Wilderness