As the Olivia Newton John song goes “Let’s get physical …”

| February 28, 2011

As the crowds of protesters dissipate in Madison Wisconsin (previous post), some of the more intense union members or bussed in supporters are still sticking around to get their point across. The Capitol police in Madison have for the most part been clearing out the state house and the door have been closes to prevent […]

Somali pirates take a Danish sailboat which includes 3 children

| February 28, 2011

On the heels of a tragic ending for the Americans traveling on s/v Quest, another sailboat has been taken by Somali pirates. According to news reports, the pirates have hijacked a family (parents and three children) as well as two others onboard. Report translated from DR.dk News: Danish sailing ship hijacked by pirates A ship […]

Video: No comment necessary

| February 28, 2011

Thanks for the link Hank.

Are any Compact Florescent Bulbs made in the US?

| February 27, 2011

Duke Energy, our electricity utility, was kind enough to ship me a nice size box of compact florescent lamps at no charge to replace our existing bulbs. I can’t say that I was surprised to see that they are made in China, but I sure would rather they be manufactured in the United States – […]

Eaton’s Hydraulic Hybrid Powertrain and the Ford F-150

| February 26, 2011

I would like to hear more about the Eaton “hydraulic hybrid powertrain” that both Chrysler and Ford are developing for mini vans and light trucks. I’ve heard of them being used in larger trucks, and delivery vans, but haven’t seen them in consumer vehicles yet. Some of the more interesting numbers being toss around suggest […]

REO Speedwagon to perform opening day at Airventure 2011

| February 25, 2011

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NASA sends Space Shuttle Discovery to space for the last time

| February 25, 2011

NASA’s space shuttle Discovery rocketed on its final voyage about 3 minutes late due to a computer problem yesterday afternoon. Mission STS-133 (PDF Summary) is sending six astronauts into space to dock with the International Space Station and plans to spend 11 days orbiting the earth. This launch has been delayed for four months in […]

My notebook computer is such a hulk!

| February 24, 2011

Hulk? Well it all depend on what we’re comparing … but the latest in micro computers has made my notebook and the Apple Mini computers look like antiques. One wonders if before long computers will not just be embedded in devices like watches or jewelry as I once imagined,  but be embedded under the skin […]

Geeky crop circles and computer woes

| February 23, 2011

I can always count on my friend Scott to come up with a good link or photo when I’m not in the mood or don’t have time to post something to my blog. This Firefox ‘crop circle’ photo caught my interest when he mentioned it the other day – very “geeky.” <== click for larger […]

Jitters over unrest in the Arab world sends stocks tumbling

| February 23, 2011

The stock market was down on Tuesday in its biggest drop in 2011. The unrest in the Middle East and North Africa sent oil prices soaring while those buying considered gold or precious metals with the recent news from Libya. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 178.46 points, or 1.4%, to 12212.79, the Standard & […]

Somali pirates kill four Americans aboard their own boat

| February 22, 2011

I was sad and angry to hear that the sailors aboard the s/v Quest off the coast of Oman in the Arabian Sea were killed today. Americans Scott and Jean Adam, along with sailing friends Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle, were taken hostage by Somali pirates last week and as their captors headed toward Somali, […]

A Fish Tale from the Big Island

| February 22, 2011

Saw this photo posted on a blog and tried to imagine what it must have been like to land a 7 foot sailfish from a kayak. Shawn’s account is entertaining. Shawn Zenor and his 72.2 lb. sailfish off Hawaii’s Punaluu Beach (Black Sand Beach) Here’s a snippet from Shawn’s post “Fighting monsters with a kayak:” […]

The concept of the Motorola Atrix smartphone computer

| February 21, 2011

I like the concept of the Motorola Atrix which combines the larger working area of a lightweight laptop display/keyboard/battery and the portability of a pocketable smartphone. I’m not sure that I’m ready to give up a full-powered Windows 7 notebook, but IF the new Windows 7 mobile OS running on an Atrix-type phone with a […]

Daytona 500 push/pull driving = drafting on steroids

| February 20, 2011

Although I’m not a NASCAR fanatic, I do enjoy watching the Daytona 500 each year. This year a rookie named Trevor Bayne (age 20) ran a superb race with a strong Wood Brothers car to win the 2011 Daytona 500. The drivers nowadays are unbelievably talented having to handle the 200 mph speeds of Daytona […]

Tinkering with my old Garmin GPS 75 and an old solar panel

| February 20, 2011

While doing a few chores around the yard on a bright and warm-ish Saturday afternoon, I decided to hook my old Garmin GPS 75 (early 1990s) to a solar panel scavenged from the boat to see if they both still worked. Besides being  clunky, and slow to acquire the satellites, the GPS worked after putting […]

A beautiful moon rise through the trees tonight

| February 19, 2011

The moon was full and extraordinarily large as it rose above the road in front of me while driving home tonight. Unfortunately the Palm Pre lacks a bit in the camera department (photo below) and I pulled my DSLR out at home. The moon had already risen a bit further and lost some of its […]

Selling a few fantastic LED mini hat/cap lights

| February 19, 2011

I’m going to try something new if it isn’t too offensive by listing an item for sale in my sidebar.  After ordering a few LED hat lights for a customers’ embroidered caps as promotional items, I found that everyone like them as much as I did — previous post — so … I might as […]

Wisconsin elected officials go head to head with unions

| February 18, 2011

  On the heels of the Arizona shooting and the liberal media blasting their favorite “target” Sarah Palin, as well as blaming other rightwing conservatives for using incendiary speech … I wonder why they remain silent as union protestors put crosshairs on Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker? Could it be there is a bias … I […]

Rep. Paul Ryan: “The problem is spending…”

| February 18, 2011

If there is one politician that gives me hope that we can get our government fiscal house in order, it is Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan. Greta Van Susteren had one of her best interviews (probably because I liked what I heard) with Rep. Ryan on Thursday night … it is well worth listening to if […]

Brokerage software continues to improve for investors and traders

| February 17, 2011

On the days that I am connected to the Internet during Wall Street’s market close, I often stream a tiny Slingplayer window of CBNC’s Closing Bell. Today I chuckled at someone on the trading desk holding up a “Hi Mom” sign (left). Also changes in technology has helped investors and traders in recent years by […]

Will we see any significant fiscal reform in 2011?

| February 16, 2011

Now that President Obama has delivered his 2012 budget, many conclude (even the President’s own Fiscal Commission), that there is a lack of leadership coming from the Whitehouse in dealing with America’s compounding debt. Obviously the problem isn’t going to go away without some control over how much money the US government spends and borrows, […]

Demo from PreCentral for the “don’t touch” TouchPad

| February 15, 2011

The demo model of the newly announced HP-Palm webOS TouchPad (links 1, 2 and 3) seems to me to be a bit sluggish during a first look video over at PreCentral. I’m liking the Pre like features, but concerned if the device doesn’t get full performance from the 1.2 Ghz dual core processor. Perhaps by […]

What would make you buy an iPhone?

| February 15, 2011

Apple APPL 2/14/2011 Most people I know openly or ‘secretly’ admire Apple‘s iPhone. For many it would be a costly luxury, while for others it is more phone than they really need. The answer from Apple might be right around the corner: How about a lighter duty iPhone – call it the ‘N97’ – with […]

Stripping old varnish, making repairs and re-finishing

| February 14, 2011

I’m had a problem with my speed/log and particularly depth sounding Navman instruments on the boat this last trip and I brought back both the instrument ‘heads’ (transducers are in the hull) and the teak mounting pod from above the companionway. Although I’m not sure what is wrong with the instruments, I’m running them in […]

A few new Mercedes diesels are heading to the US by 2014

| February 14, 2011

According to Car and Driver, a few new Mercedes Benz diesel powered cars are planned for North America. Although the S class is probably a bit of a stretch, I’m anxious to see the 4 cylinder GLK and C-class vehicles. …we’re told, U.S. Benz dealers will also begin selling a diesel GLK. Likely wearing GLK250 […]

Skiing the waves in Hawaii

| February 13, 2011

I’m thinking my snow skiing brother-in-law might enjoy this kind of freeskiing — (video clip below). worth watching fullscreen – ^^^ —

Egypt: Mubarak steps down and hands power to the Army

| February 12, 2011

I’m not comfortable quoting the Muslim Brotherhood’s English PR website, but today does seem to be a historic day for pro-democracy seekers in Egypt – “Peaceful Protest and the Reward of Perseverance.” The non-violent tactics in conjunction with social networks, news media and international pressure looks to have toppled the dictator Hosni Mubarak’s role as […]

Great graphic on oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico

| February 11, 2011

Archiving a scanned graphic from Fortune Magazine entitled “Race to the Bottom: Oil Wells Dive a Mile Under the Gulf.” Click for full sized version

Giraffes taking a little cruise

| February 11, 2011

When you’re out on the water you don’t see this everyday … Posted via email from RichC’s posterous

Food for thought

| February 11, 2011

“In a free society, government has the responsibility of protecting us from others, but not from ourselves.” — Walter E. Williams

Video: Clay Matthews on Jay Leno

| February 11, 2011

Clay Matthews, the hard hitting defensive lineman for the Green Bay Packers and a smooth talking new face for the NFL, made an appearance after winning the Superbowl on the Jay Leno Show (below). After listening to his conversation with Jay, I think he’ll end up comfortably behind a microphone (or in the movies) after […]

Video: HP-Palm product announcement event

| February 10, 2011

Archiving Wednesday’s HP-Palm Veer, Pre3 and TouchPad product announcement event video — yesterday’s posts 1 and 2.

In keeping with the HP-Palm webOS news …

| February 9, 2011

I particularly liked the new advertising coming to my email from HP above … nice! (I’m also including the specs and a couple hands-on first-look videos from Engadget below) Hands-on video from Engadget: [flv:engadget_2478.flv 490 280] Touch-to-shere demo: [flv:engadget_2481.flv 490 280] Press Release: HP TouchPad Brings webOS to the Big Screen First webOS tablet works […]

HP-Palm introduces the Veer, Pre3 and TouchPad today

| February 9, 2011

  No major shocker from HP-Palm today, who as expected announced new hardware utilizing webOS on a computer tablet; the 9.7” TouchPad was announced today at a San Francisco press event. Technology watchers tweeted with excitement as Jon Rubinstein highlighted some interesting innovations. The “touch-to-share” between devices, where a Palm Pre and TouchPad transfer information […]

Tweetdeck’s deck.ly for longer Twitter messages

| February 9, 2011

The latest install of the Tweetdeck (v0.37.2) Twitter client added a new feature, a shortcut link called deck.ly, that allows for longer messages. Although the feature enables significantly more text to be included in a tweet, it does take away from the simplicity of Twitter … and the necessity to be concise. Personally I doubt […]

This winter has been tough on our swimming pool

| February 9, 2011

I didn’t put the cover on the pool this winter and so I’m able to see the damage to the ceramic tiles as it happens. With all the snow, rain and freezing temps, the winter weather is having fun snapping off tiles more than usual. Looks like I’m in for some work and pool repair […]

Planes, Pilots and Pets

| February 8, 2011

An EAA284 friend of mine enjoyed riding along on a Pilots N Paws rescue flight the other day and made a nice video too. Although I could just link to his site or the YouTube video, its enjoyable enough to include on my blog. It is great to see pilots using their time to help […]

A little snow this evening surprised me

| February 7, 2011

Noticed a little snow driving to the grocery and then came out to see it covering the cars and the streets. Surprised me. Posted via email from RichC’s posterous

Enjoying our first few sailing days on s/v Encore

| February 7, 2011

We took our shakedown sail on s/v Encore a couple days ago on our “new to us” sailboat last week. The weather in Florida couldn’t have been better for the first “real” sailing (my previous seatrials don’t count since Brenda wasn’t with me).  Unfortunately as with most older boats, there are issues that need to […]

Packers over Steelers in an exciting 2011 Superbowl 45

| February 6, 2011

No Superbowl party for us, but my wife and I did enjoy pizza and wings while watching the the Superbowl this evening. The Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers gave us an entertaining game, although both teams played hot and cool at different points in the game. When all the “commercials” were done, the final […]

Home for the Superbowl after a long weekend

| February 6, 2011

It feels good to be home from our quick trip to Florida and to be watching Superbowl 45 this Sunday evening, but even better to see the Bengals and Browns archrival behind 11 points in the first half. The Packers are looking solid as they have outplayed the Steelers on both sides of the ball […]

The Skipper and her Gilligan on Encore

| February 4, 2011

The skipper and her first mate Gilligan sailing somewhere in the gulf stream. It’s much nicer than shoveling snow. 🙂

A new button for embedding audio in WordPress

| February 2, 2011

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Just a few sharks off Florida’s Gold Coast

| February 1, 2011

Should I show this to my wife (or hold back) before she heads out for her hours of long distance swimming off Florida’s Gold Coast? I’ve never seen that many sharks in one place and am surprised to see that many migrating in such tight schools along Florida’s east coast. [flv:Sharks_spotted_PalmBeach.flv 490 260] Pilot Steve […]

Reagan.GOP.com website browses nice on a webOS Palm Pre

| February 1, 2011

It is nice when websites run and link to webOS friendly media content. One of the better sites is reagan.gop.com remembering President Ronald Reagan’s legacy and his upcoming February 6th birthday – he would be 100. In browsing with my Palm Pre yesterday I found it to be one of the few utilizing content and […]

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
My Desultory Blog