Tech Friday: If you have a blog, control your own content

| February 28, 2014

Once upon a time it seemed smart to host only light content on my own blog. In the early days it was easy to store larger files like video, audio and photos “for free” with content hosts like YouTube, Flickr and Posterous (among others). The plus was that I didn’t fill the “out of pocket” […]

Love these Jeff Gordon Pepsi Max videos

| February 27, 2014

Check out the full post over at Jalopnik.com.

America is ready for a William F. Buckley revival

| February 27, 2014

It is hard to believe that it has been 6 years since the death of the renown conservative thinker and writer William F. Buckley; where have the years gone? I posted back in 2008, that his work played a significant role in my life when it came to my political philosophy, business, personal interests and […]

Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers still love to travel by van

| February 26, 2014

With the popularity continuing to grow for Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers, it is great to know that they still remember “the Van Session” as a way to share their music. Check out their Van Session version (below) of “Dire Wolf” — Grateful Dead – Workingman’s Dead album – 1970 — on the way to […]

Do CEOs know what to do with billions in cash?

| February 25, 2014

As the financial markets continue to flirt with record levels again, insiders are looking at where cash is being put to use, or not. Fox Business mentioned this morning that analyst expect much of the sideline cash to head towards R & D even as mergers and acquisition deals are garnering most of the headlines […]

The priceonomics of using a Sodastream soft drink maker

| February 24, 2014

In my pursuit of cheaper soft drinks it has become my terminus to save a buck and still make decent tasting cola. I continue to tweak my Sodastream setup and can confirm that my tastebuds have now fully adjusted to self-blended Diet Coke … and that I’m addicted (not so good). Currently the five gallon […]

The amazing and resourceful wild bottlenose dolphins

| February 23, 2014

People have been fascinated with the intelligence of dolphins and this amazing video of a bottlenose dolphin coming up to a diver during a night diver in seek of help will continue that fascination. Watching this and knowing what “man” does to them has me wondering who is really the most humane?

Is Atlantic White Shark Conservancy sending a wrong message?

| February 23, 2014

Ocean and marine life preservation is a noble cause and something I’ve supported and have been part of since the 1970’s, but I’m not fond of sending misleading messages. The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s ecommerce “shop” website is using an attention getting image (artwork) portraying a diver swimming face to face with a Great White […]

Honey Badger, Richard Jenkin’s high tech sailing drone

| February 22, 2014

A friend of mine sent me a great Wired article  this week that twisted together sailing, aviation and robotic technology … very interesting? There are driverless cars and military drones, but Richard Jenkins has plugged a brain into a high-tech sailboat called Honey Badger, kind of a big high-tech Snoopy Sloop … see my 2012 […]

Tech Friday: Adding Undo Send to your Gmail

| February 21, 2014

Have you ever clicked the “send” button after typing a Gmail and realized you forgot to include something or made a mistake? Maybe addressed the email wrong … or written something that you regret saying? Well Google Labs has a simple, but limited way, to “unSend” that email IF you enable the Undo Send Lab […]

Reflecting on my personal journal and blog through the years

| February 20, 2014

Those who are regular readers of My Desultory Blog realize that besides posting commentary on newsy items, be it tech, cars, aviation, politics or whatever, that I also include personal entries and photos relating to my family. This blog, now 4000 posts, is a continuation of a journal that I started in 1977 as a […]

Expensive rent: The Apartment Guide highlights Williston ND

| February 19, 2014

I’m always keeping my ear to the ground when it comes to where my son is living and working … Williston, ND. The last couple of day a few national publications mentioned an Apartment Guide study which highlighted the cost to rent in that small boomtown. Even The Verge, a site that I think of […]

Need a good reason to design, build and test aircraft parts?

| February 18, 2014

A 180+ton Boeing 767-200 needs well engineered landing gear, not to mention every other part that needs to hold up to the flexing and torsion mechanics on display. Watch a recent landing at England’s Birmingham Airport (BHX) where the windy and gusty crosswind conditions made for a challenging and probably questionable decision to land on […]

Capital One is looking to reach out with their customer service

| February 18, 2014

I read a new disclosure agreement update from Capital One issued to some of their credit card customers which puts people on notice that their collections services could be a little more “in your face?” (Let’s just hope it isn’t Alec Baldwin style!) Ding-dong, Cap One calling. Credit card issuer Capital One isn’t shy about […]

Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee update @jbmco

| February 17, 2014

Last week I posted a quick coffee review on CCSpecialty Coffee’s 100% Hawaiian Kona Fancy coffee and promised that an update on the Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee would follow. Over the weekend we had an opportunity to try the new beans over dessert after my wife’s homemade spaghetti. Three of us taste tested and enjoyed […]

Archive: Cape Horn Self Steering gear advertising

| February 16, 2014

One of the longer term projects that I continue to ponder and seek opinions on is how to handle the Zodiac while keeping one of Encore’s expensive options, the Cape Horn Self-Steering gear. It has been a quandary for a while now and I’ve gone back and forth. A recent ad in Cruising World classified […]

Valentine’s Day and winter in the eastern half of the U.S.

| February 15, 2014

  OK … enough already! Winter continues to blast most of us in the east and has been particularly brutal for those in the SE generally immune to heavyt ice and snow. Here in Cincinnati we’ve had our share of cold weather and a lot more snow than usual … and it has even been […]

Balancing liberty and big over-reaching government

| February 15, 2014

Although I have a libertarian slant to my political philosophy, the wars and struggles in the Middle East demonstrate why our country need to maintain the appropriate balance between freedom and over reaching government. An article in the WSJ on Friday is a reminder that the threat from terrorists, cartels, gangs and other countries is […]

Tech Friday: Fing and some terrific simple little hacks

| February 14, 2014

Fing is a great little network scanner app available on iOS and Android devices that helped when diagnosing a network printer problem this week. It not really necessary, but is so convenient that I wanted to share it with others. If you are overwhelm with devices, ip and mac addresses and odd names showing up […]

Winter daze and contemplating more Encore projects

| February 13, 2014

Winter seems to be dragging on this year perhaps because it started earlier and has not let up. The “daze” have been colder and snowier than usual without the usual intermission of warmth and melt. It is notable that even in Cincinnati snow plow companies have adopted the practice of piling the snow in parking […]

Closing in on 7 years with Twitter as @RichC

| February 12, 2014

It has been 7 years since I (@RichC)first started using the social network known as Twitter and in that time I’ve tweeted over 8000 times from my personal account and almost 2900 from @MyDesultoryBlog (RSS feed style blog updates). I’ve added 1600 to my stream (many news feeds) and am closing in on 1000 followers. […]

Reviewing Kona and Jamaica Blue Mountain coffees

| February 11, 2014

One of the pleasures of my “adult” life has been enjoying coffee. Generally I’m content with run of the mill canned coffee or “plain Joe” restaurant brew for that first cup of the day, but after dinner or on the weekend I much prefer a freshly ground bean from roasters who know their craft. Recently […]

Monday morning Blues …

| February 10, 2014

Muddy Waters from 1948 (I’m not sure what got me thinking about the Blues … but enjoy)

Archive: Boneyard windshield salvaging tip

| February 9, 2014

Picked up a great tip from Classic Motorsports: Guitar String: Best Tool for the Job Classic Motorsports forum reader wheelsmithy suggested a creative trick for removing windshields. Have you found a sweet U-PULL-IT windshield and need to remove it from a vehicle without breaking it? Just bring an old guitar E string and a buddy […]

Joined a Kickstarter project called HeatWorks

| February 8, 2014

Monitoring Kickstarter projects is a great way to see just what entrepreneurs and inventors are coming up with … and to rejuvenate pride in American Exceptionalism. The other day I saw a guys talking about Mobile Personal Theatre headphones  called Glyph on the business channel CNBC which was pretty neat. I’ve micro funded a few […]

Tech Friday: ‘;–have i been pwned?

| February 7, 2014

With data breaches in the news recently (Obamacare website, Target, Neiman Marcus) it was just a matter of time before someone archived the list of sites and collected a list of email addresses so that users could check their own. Check your email address with haveibeenpwned.com and see if your information has potentially been compromised. […]

A 1947 Willys Pickup makes for creative VW TDI diesel

| February 6, 2014

Gauge Magazine featured a great Willys pickup conversion using a Volkswagen TDI diesel TDI engine. It is a bit “rust”ic … but would be pretty interesting to see. Check out the additional photos on the featureinfo page.

More snow and more ice. When will this winter end?

| February 5, 2014

The winter of 2014 has been one of the colder and snowier in southwestern Ohio that I can remember (although we had some snow in 2010). In previous years, putting the snow blower on the old John Deere 330 was almost optional, but this year it has been used and abused more that any since […]

Rental car vs my Honda Pilot: “What difference does it make”

| February 5, 2014

It is about time that I wrapped up the numbers for the recent Florida trip in order to work on the boat. One of the “high level” decisions that I had to make (snicker), was whether to drive my own car down and back with my 300 or so pounds of batteries and gear, or […]

Are we doing what we need to stimulate growth and create jobs?

| February 4, 2014

If business growth is the medicine for job creation and a healthy economy … how does the U.S., or more specifically, each state, encourage business growth and incentivize expansion? Companies need to have an attractive tax climate in order to put capital at risk (or at less competitive), although it is not the only criteria […]

A flop of a Super Bowl and a few personal likes

| February 3, 2014

My apologies to Peyton Manning … probably the most complete football quarterback to ever play in the NFL … but you and your team stunk. The fine performance by the Seattle Seahawks aside, Super Bowl XLVIII was a dud of a game to watch. The festivities that now are part of the entire Super Bowl […]

Encouraging saving is good, but is a MyRA the answer?

| February 2, 2014

Most people dislike partisans who are only be looking for ammunition to attack the other side … and I do find myself slanting from that perspective too. So while President Obama delivered his “Blah, blah, blah …” SOTU speech last week, I had to work hard not to approach every word and idea with skepticism, […]

Time Warner Cable: long term mistakes for short term gains

| February 1, 2014

The Wall Street Journal reported that customers are fleeing Time Warner Cable to the tune of 825,000 TV users in 2013. There is an increase in competition and a change in viewing habits as younger subscribers cut the cord choosing to watch over the air digital (free) TV or just Internet TV on-demand. What’s TWC’s […]

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