Seattle Adventurer Pops the Question From Summit of Mt. Everest, Setting U.S. Record

A Seattle adventurer now holds the American record for the world's "highest" marriage proposal — and we mean elevation.

On the morning of May 23, Andrew Hughes reached the summit of Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world at 29,032 feet. But instead of basking in his accomplishment of having climbed all Seven Summits (the highest mountain on each of the seven continents), his focus was on a much bigger dream of declaring to his girlfriend, Lauren Beard, from atop the world that her love was his world.

In the thin air 5.5 miles above sea level, an exhausted Hughes reached into an inner pocket, dropped to his knees and unfurled a small flag that read, "Lauren, will you marry me?"

While Hughes had just set a new record for the highest known wedding proposal by any American ever — and only the second known proposal from the summit of Everest — he did not get an immediate answer. That's because Beard was not on the climbing expedition and didn't know about his intentions.

And so the Everest proposal remained a secret held alone by those on the summit.

Back in Seattle on July 3, while boating across Lake Washington, Hughes presented Beard with a small box. Inside was a photo of his Everest proposal wrapped in the flag he carried to the summit.

Beard responded with a long-awaited "Yes."

The Everest expedition had taken its toll on Hughes. The adventurer had to overcome a lung infection, cold injuries and more than 20 pounds of weight loss. He and his team endured extreme conditions from cyclone weather systems and survived ice fall collapses.

"When you arrive in such summit moments in life, you also arrive at a realization that no summit is arrived at absent the love and support of all of those in one's life," said Hughes. "And that while summits are meaningful, it is those you love in your life [who] truly matter."

He said that making his girlfriend and their shared love central to the Everest moment was the most important part of reaching the summit.

In addition to conquering the Seven Summits, Hughes established a unique record on Antarctica. In 2020, he became the first American man and third person ever to complete the Antarctica Trifecta by consecutively "Skiing the Last Degree to the South Pole" and reaching the summits of Mount Vinson (Antarctica's highest mountain) and Mount Sidley (its highest volcano).

Credits: Images courtesy of Andrew Hughes.

Music Friday: Gordon Lightfoot Sings, ‘She’s More Than Money, She’s 14-Karat Gold'

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you great songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title. Today, folk-rock legend Gordon Lightfoot sings “14 Karat Gold,” a song that uses a precious metal metaphor to express just how much he appreciates the love of his life.

Repeated throughout the song is this memorable phrase: “She’s more than money / She’s 14 karat gold.”

“14 Karat Gold” appeared as the first track on Lightfoot’s 15th original album, Shadows. Prior to its 1982 release, the Canadian singer/songwriter/musician provided radio stations with an "interview album" that included his commentary about each of the tracks.

The velvet-throated vocalist described “14 Karat Gold” as surrealistic and a departure from some of the other songs he's done.

“It has to do with the human relationship," he said. "What it says is that you don’t know everything there is to know, about everybody else, or about each other, or about anything for that matter. But [the song is] saying that you appreciate your lady in very positive terms.”

“14 Karat Gold” was apparently one of Lightfoot’s favorite performance pieces.

“The song works extremely well on stage,” he said, “because I’ve sung it many times.”

Rated fifth on the CBC's list of the greatest Canadian songwriters ever, Lightfoot’s music career has spanned 63 years and counting. Lightfoot has produced more than 200 recordings, including the chart topping “If You Could Read My Mind” (1970), “Sundown” (1974), “Carefree Highway” (1974), “Rainy Day People” (1975) and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” (1976).

He has written songs for prominent artists, such as Bob Dylan, Dan Fogelberg, Jimmy Buffett and Jim Croce.

Dylan famously said of Lightfoot, "Every time I hear a song of his, it's like I wish it would last forever."

In March of 2020, the 82-year-old released his 21st studio album.

Please check out the audio track of Lightfoot performing “14 Karat Gold.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…

“14 Karat Gold”
Written and performed by Gordon Lightfoot.

If you see me smile don’t think I’m acting strange
I got my just reward for all my pains
If you see me on the TV talkin' proud
Please understand if I don’t talk too loud

Step around and dance a bit
Polish up the dice
Set ’em loose and let ’em roll
This is my advice
Keep your mind a mystery
Running hot ‘n cold
She’s more than money
She’s 14 karat gold

If you wonder why I’m acting up this way
Gonna cash my chips I’m leaving town today
I got more love than I could ever spend
So long, farewell, good-bye, this is the end

Step around and dance a bit
Polish up the dice
Set ’em loose and let ’em roll
Be as cool as ice
Keep your mind a mystery
Running hot ‘n cold
She’s more than money
She’s 14 karat gold

If you get hit by the bug that bit on me
If you get caught with something soft and sweet
If you get found with something you can’t waste
Then listen bud, let me give you a taste

Step around and dance a bit
Polish up the dice
Set ’em loose and let ’em roll
This is my advice
Keep your mind a mystery
Running hot ‘n cold
She’s more than money
She’s 14 karat gold. Sold.

Step around and dance a bit
Polish up the dice
Set ’em loose and let ’em roll
Be as cool as ice
Keep your mind a mystery
Running hot ‘n cold
She’s more than money
She’s 14 karat gold

Credit: Image by Arnielee, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Every Medal Awarded at Tokyo Olympics Will Be Made From 100% Recycled Materials

After a year's delay due to global health concerns, Tokyo’s 2020 Summer Olympics will finally take place from July 23 to August 8. The highly anticipated event, which retains the 2020 name for marketing and branding purposes, will bring together world-class athletes from 206 nations.

Each of them will be competing for the coveted gold, silver and bronze medals — the symbols of the ultimate accomplishment in competitive sports.

What many people don't know is that every one of the 5,000 medals awarded at Tokyo's Summer Olympic Games and Summer Paralympic Games will be fabricated from 100% recycled material.

In the two years between April 2017 and March 2019, all of the metal required to manufacture the medals were extracted from small electronic devices contributed by people of Japan. NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s leading mobile carrier, led the effort by placing collection boxes in each of its 2,400 stores.

“Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic medals will be made out of people’s thoughts and appreciation for avoiding waste,” Japanese three-time Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Kohei Uchimura told The Japan Times in April of 2017. “I think there is an important message in this for future generations.”

Despite being a country with virtually no precious metal resources, Japan’s “urban mine” of discarded small consumer electronics is believed to contain the equivalent of 16% of the world’s gold reserves and 22% of the world’s silver reserves.

The Tokyo 2020 Medal Project was a tremendous success as Japanese consumers donated 78,985 tons of electronics, including 6.21 million used mobile phones. Those devices yielded 7,716 pounds of silver and 70.5 pounds of gold, according to the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee.

Interestingly, Olympic gold medals contain just a small amount of gold. The weight of the Tokyo 2020 gold medal is 556 grams, but only 6 grams of that total is 24-karat gold. The rest is silver.

Each silver medal is fabricated from 550 grams of pure silver. Each bronze medal weighs 450 grams and is made from red brass, which is a combination of 95% copper and 5% zinc.

Olympic gold medals were once made of solid gold, with the last ones awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, back in 1912. Starting in 1916, the International Olympic Committee mandated that gold medals be made with a 24-karat gilding of exactly 6 grams (.211 ounces).

On the front side of the medals designed by Junichi Kawanishi, Nike, the mythical Greek goddess of victory, stands in front of the Panathinaikos Stadium. The back side features a raised, pebble-like center, reflective Olympic rings, and a checkered Tokyo 2020 “ichimatsu moyo” emblem inside a swirl design. Kawanishi designed the medals to resemble rough stones that have been newly polished, and now “shine with light and brilliance.”

The medals measure 85mm in diameter and have a thickness of 7.7mm.

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympics start August 24 and run through September 5.

Credits: Images courtesy of Tokyo 2020.

'AGT' Judge Sofia Vergara's Engagement Ring Played Starring Role in Last Week's Episode

Sofia Vergara's impressive diamond engagement ring was the unexpected star of last Tuesday's episode of America's Got Talent.

During a segment featuring psychic Peter Antoniou, TV's highest paid actress was asked by the contestant to hand her ring over to fellow judge Simon Cowell, who would soon hide the ring within one of 1,000 identical ring boxes scattered upon the furniture and floor of the AGT green room.

Even though Vergara did not see where Cowell hid the ring, Antoniou asked her to think about the memory attached to ring so she could psychically guide him to it.

(Vergara's platinum engagement ring reportedly features a 5 to 7 carat brilliant cushion-cut center diamond surrounded by a halo of diamond pavé.)

It took Antoniou about 70 seconds to hone in on his target and pick a ring box from the floor.

"How confident are you that I am holding the ring," Antoniou asked Vergara.

"Like zero," she said. “There’s no way you know that that’s there.”

Then Antoniou opened the box, and there was her ring.

"I'm going to throw up," Vergara said, half-jokingly.

But, then there was more. Somehow, Antoniou knew much more about the circumstances surrounding Joe Manganiello's proposal to Vergara in Hawaii on Christmas Eve of 2014.

“When you were proposed [to], you weren’t at home were you? You were somewhere else, you were far away,” Antoniou said. “And the plans had to change for your engagement.”

Vergara confirmed that Manganiello originally wanted to propose on the beach, but changed his mind at the last moment. Instead, the proposal took place in their hotel suite.

Antoniou then revealed a detail that had never been revealed to the media — that after Manganiello got down on one knee, she looked up and there was a rainbow.

A stunned Vergara explained, "He was gonna propose by the ocean, but then he panicked, and he came upstairs to the room and proposed to me in the room. And then suddenly he gave me the ring, and I look up, and there was a rainbow. It was beautiful."

Vergara seemed very impressed by Antoniou's psychic abilities.

"I want to say that there’s no way that you knew that about a rainbow, because no one knows that," she said. "Like, that story has not been on the press or nothing. So that was amazing."

Manganiello had previously dished about his proposal and the ring in an interview with Haute Living in 2015: “Our first date was in June [2014], and then I proposed to her on Christmas Eve. We had this big bay window [that I opened up], and the sun was going down pink over the mountains and over the bay, and I had this ring. I had looked at every ring in the world, and this is the ring that I wanted. I had a whole speech prepared in Spanish. I proposed to her on one knee in Spanish with the sun going down. It was awesome.”

Interestingly, the couple's rainbow detail didn't make it into the Haute Living story.

At the 2015 SAG Awards, Vergara showed off her new ring using the E! News Mani Cam.

“This is the love hand,” she exclaimed as she slipped her left hand in a tiny set that looks like a red carpet runway. E! News used the box to get neat close-ups of celebrity jewelry and manicures.

Vergara and Manganiello have been married since November 2015.

Antoniou ended up earning four yeses from the judges. The complete AGT segment can be viewed below. Antoniou focuses on Vergara's engagement ring, starting at the 3:55 mark.

Credits: Screen captures via YouTube.com/America's Got Talent; Screen capture via E! News .

Music Friday: 'Late Show' Bandleader Jon Batiste Compares Girlfriend's Love to a Goldmine

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you uplifting songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title. Today, Jon Batiste compares his girlfriend's love to a goldmine in his jubilant, jazzy 2021 anthem, "I Need You."

In this tune he co-wrote with Autumn Rowe, we learn that Jon met the love of his life when he was a "lil' country boy" and that they fell in love on the boulevard. He adores everything about her, especially how she's so genuine.

In the first verse, he sings, "We done a lot of living / We're working overtime / Don't need another million / You got that goldmine / I love the way you're livin' / 'Cause you're so genuine / You got that something special / Didn't you know? / I just need you, you, oh yeah."

Best known as the longtime bandleader and musical director for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the multitalented artist shows off his wide range of skills in the second single from his fifth solo album, We Are, which was released in mid-March.

In addition to its romantic theme, the song delivers a universal message of unity, hope and empathy.

He told Forbes magazine in 2019 that music has always been a form of community that brought people together and gave them a common purpose.

"That common purpose was to connect to something that couldn't be expressed in any other way: not with words or gestures, but just something that almost transcends reality," he said. "That's really what music is, and it still is doing that today."

Jonathan Michael Batiste was born in Metairie, LA, in 1986. While his parents earned a living operating a grocery store and a hardware store, other members of the Batiste family were forging their reputations as members of a New Orleans musical dynasty. At age 8, Jon played percussion with the Batiste Brothers Band. Three years later, he switched to piano and took classical music lessons.

Later, he attended The Juilliard School in New York City, where he earned a Master's degree in Music in 2013. Barely two years later, Batiste would earn his spot as the leader of Stay Human, the house band for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Please check out the video of Batiste performing "I Need You" at The Red Room in Chicago. The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along…

"I Need You"
Written by Jon Batiste and Autumn Rowe. Performed by Jon Batiste.

We done a lot of living
We're working overtime
Don't need another million
You got that goldmine
I love the way you're livin'
'Cause you're so genuine
You got that something special
Didn't you know?
I just need you, you, oh yeah

Met you when I was a lil' nappy head boy
And I never put down my alto saxophone
Buckjumpin' down on the boulevard
I couldn't wait to blow my own horn
It ain't wrong for you to sing along
Singing this song 'til you die

In this world with a lot of problems
All we need is a little loving
Thank you, thank you
Oh, you make me thank you
Thank you for your love

We've done a lot of living
We're workin' overtime
Don't need another million
You got that goldmine
I love the way you're livin'
'Cause you're so genuine
You got that something special
Didn't you know?
I just need you, you, oh yeah

Met you when I was a lil' country boy
And I never put down that pork chop and salt
Then we fell in love on the boulevard
If you was Jenny, I guess I was Forrest
Nah, it ain't wrong for you to sing along
Singing this song 'til you die

In this world with a lot of problems
All we need is a little lovin'
Thank you, thank you, oh, you make me
Thank you, thank you for your love

We done a lot of living
We working overtime

Don't need another million
You got that goldmine
I love the way you're livin'
'Cause you're so genuine
You got that something special
Didn't you know?

I just need you, you, oh yeah

I just need you, you, you, you, you, you, youuuuuuu

Credit: Screen capture via Youtube.com/Jon Batiste.