My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on December 23, 2024

It may not be the “best” … or even a “favorite” Christmas song … or even a thoughtful Music Monday song that puts us in the snowy, wintery, Christmas spirit. Still, Jimmy Buffett’s “Christmas Island” from 1996 seems about right this year since the decorations are minimal and I’m already thinking about warmer weather. It sounds nice to “hang a stocking under a great big coconut tree.” 

BUT … I’m not complaining AT ALL … since we’ll be spending Christmas time with our family … and enjoying each other company. I can’t help but reflect on how blessed we are to have successful kids, two beautiful granddaughters, good health, financial peace and knowing we live in a country where we can put our head on our pillow at night and not worry about the next day.
 

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Category: Holiday, Music | No Comments »
Tags: christmas island, Holiday, jimmy buffett, Music, music monday, musicmonday

Posted By RichC on December 22, 2024

Part of me wonders why I continue to post “something” … “anything” … on the MDB pages everyday? Perhaps it is habit or an addictive obsession, but then again I can’t tell you how many times I’ve used it as a way to track my family life as a timeline.

As the years roll by (I started blogging in 2005), the posts have become more personal and reflect and record  moments and events. Still, I tend to fill space and empty days with odds and ends fillers … and with whatever “desultory” thoughts that are on my mind. 

Hopefully those who regularly check in are not deterred from visiting again and have learned to put up with the odds things that have filled up my life for almost 20 years of blogging.

The phases over time are somewhat sentimental  to me … but here’s the short list of what topics have interested me:

1. Cars and in particular small Volkswagen TDI diesels
2. Aviation, the experimental aircraft building (EAA) 
3. Biodiesel and homebrewing recycled cooking oil 
4. Printing, publishing, sales and business while phasing out my work life
5. Reading, books, history and topics of interest
6. Entertainment, movies and of course music
7. Kids, Family, School, College, Weddings, Funerals and milestones
8. Sailing, hiking, backpacking, vacations and recreation
9. Faith, Politics and life advice
10. Hobbies, photography, workshop tools and woodworking
11. The general news of the day and miscellaneous thoughts
12. And to make this list an even dozen: Computers, smartphones and technology

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Category: Blogs, Misc, Personal | No Comments »
Tags: blog, blogging, life, mdb, phases, posts

Posted By RichC on December 21, 2024

Where should you work — for the government or their private counterpart?

From economist Stephen Moore:

According to @RealEJAntoni‘s recent analysis, the cost of state and local government employees is a staggering 41.7% higher than their private sector counterparts. 

While wages are 24.4% higher, the real kicker is benefits—an astonishing 83.0% more!

Category: Financial, Human Interest, Politics, Social Media | No Comments »
Tags: benefits, career, comparison, government, pay, stephen moore, work, x.com

Posted By RichC on December 20, 2024

As a “Stone Age” user of the Apple Macintosh computer, it is always surprising to stumble upon a feature or shortcut that I didn’t know about.

Command-click the files to Quick Look

I often use the Quick Look spacebar shortcut (2007) to preview a file in a folder, but until reading an iBoysoft article this month, did not know about the Command-Y shortcut for previewing multiple files at a time.
 

Wow! So for today’s Tech Friday I’m passing along my learning something new after all these years. 😉

Category: Advice, Apple, Computer, Software, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: Computer, iboysoft, keyboard, macintosh, macos, quick look, shortcuts, tech friday, techfriday

Posted By RichC on December 19, 2024

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is infiltrating almost everything we do on a smartphone, tablet or computer these days. Last week, my X.com feed sent a message that “you should try generating an image of yourself” based on whatever data it collects. I suspect it relies on my profile information, but am not sure what else it “thinks about.” Obviously Grok AI does not dig too deep into my birth date or age (AI generated image below)? 

The “very young” image at least didn’t offend me, but had me contemplating if I should include this in a ThrowBack Thursday #TBT or Tech Friday post? 😊 

EDIT Add: And while I’m tinkering with AI, Apple Intelligence just updated their much ballyhooed AI feature including a Genmoji AI feature. For the fun of it, I used our family as test subjects. Gulp! (below)

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Category: AI, Art, Social Media, TBT, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: ai, artificial intelligence, grok, image generation, images, TBT, tech friday, techfriday, wikipedia, x.com

Posted By RichC on December 18, 2024

The Federal Reserve is less sure about how much it’ll keep cutting rates after agreeing to a reduction this Wednesday afternoon. Chair Jerome Powell admitted that the decision was a close call (see WSJ and rate chart from 2000-2024 below).

The latest cut, approved by 11 out of 12 Fed voters, will lower the Fed’s benchmark federal-funds rate to a range between 4.25% and 4.5%, which is a two-year low.

Investors, traders and the stock market responded with disappointment as they love cheaper money and keeping businesses growing and consumers spending. A lower cost of borrowing sounds great until inflation reappears and debt levels rise (and don’t even get me start on our Federal government’s spending level — insane!)

Category: Financial, News | No Comments »
Tags: borrowing, charts, debt, deficit, dow, federal reserve, indices, nasdaq, rate cut

Posted By RichC on December 18, 2024

I do enjoy checking the Farmer’s Almanac (above) and the Old Farmer’s Almanac for seasonal forecasts (below), but rarely go back to see how accurate they are (although have shared here before). That’s probably their assumption, although they claim to be 80% accurate? 

As has been true in every year since 1792, the newest edition features a healthy dose of wit and wisdom, as well as the Almanac’s much-anticipated, traditionally 80 percent–accurate weather forecasts.

“This winter, temperatures will be up and snowfall down throughout most of the United States,” reports Carol Connare, the Almanac’s editor-in-chief. “While there will still be plenty of chilly temperatures and snow for most slopes, the high heating costs associated with the season shouldn’t hit so hard. We’re predicting a temperate, uneventful winter—potentially a welcome reprieve from the extremes of recent years.”

There will be exceptions, of course. Winter rainstorms will leave Florida, the Deep South, and southern California soaked. Meanwhile, heavy snowfall is expected in central and southern Appalachia, the western Ohio Valley, and the Rockies—calling all skiers and sledders!

See the General Weather Report in The 2025 Old Farmer’s Almanac for more details on predicted atmospheric, solar, and climatic patterns.

LINK

Category: Video, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: farmers almanac, map, mp4, weather, winter, wyze