A different or additional approach in combatting ISIS

| January 31, 2016

Without American boots on the ground, defeating ISIS is not going to happen quickly if at all. After watching the movie “13 Hours” this week (and leaving me angry at our leaders), I pondered the covert activity by the CIA and other nations in the fight. In Libya, it seems that a “mystery sniper” is […]

Coming around and Socialism Gets a Second Life #WSJ Op-Ed

| January 30, 2016

I had an interesting text exchange with my son Taylor who is smack dab in the middle of finding his political “sense.” Thankfully he is far more rational, a questioner, independent thinker and a lover of history to be snookered into “herding” blindly with the crowd who are “Feeling the Bern.” He has been closely […]

My Challenger Story

| January 28, 2016

On the 30th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, I re-read a post from my blog back on the 20th anniversary — thought I would share. Saturday morning, January 27, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger and seven astronauts prepared for a cold morning ride into space at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida; they […]

How low will $AAPL go and is it a good time to buy?

| January 28, 2016

The stock market continues to move in favor of the “bears,” which goes against most long term savers and investors. One of the biggest stories today was that of Apple Inc $AAPL who reported earning of $3.28 per share which was 4 cent higher than the consensus. Revenue was nearly $76 billion and short by […]

What could you do with a 64-bit $15 computer?

| January 27, 2016

This little “toy” will be fun! (should receive mine in March) Specs: CPU: 1.2 Ghz Quad-Core ARM Cortex A53 64-Bit Processor. It has 64 and 32 Bit execution states for scalable high performance power – including a NEON Multimedia processing engine. I/O EXPANSION: Two I/O Expansion slots – the Pi-2 Expansion and Euler box – […]

Give an entirely different image to wearing crocs

| January 26, 2016

Count me as one of those JITTERY Republicans

| January 25, 2016

After an opinion piece was published last week in the National Review, the battle among Republicans for an appropriate presidential candidate became even more aggressive. It was already contentious between many in the large field of candidates, but a few high profile Republican voices made their concerns know against the vocal, attention getting poll leader, […]

A little varnishing before the NFL playoff games

| January 24, 2016

Really, I did plan for a full Sunday afternoon and evening of football watching with my friends Mark and Dar, but couldn't resist the warm sunshine to add a little Cetol (marine varnish product) to the shaded trim around the companionway. Hopefully I won't be too late to miss anything worthwhile in the NFL playoff […]

With friends like this, who needs to eat out at a restaurant?

| January 24, 2016

Not much can top the great hospitality, enjoyable conversation (TV trivia talk) and great breakfast fixed by my friends Mark and Dar — or just having lunch at our favorite sandwich shop.  As Gomer, Mark’s fellow Marine would say, “thank you … thank you … thank you.”  BTW, the Jones really should open a “Bed and Breakfast” someday, it would […]

Two steps forward, one step back … boat projects.

| January 23, 2016

The weather isn’t perfect in Florida, but it sure is a lot better than most states to the north. As the snow comes down on most of the eastern part of the country, I at least won’t have to deal with it until I fly back. I’m going to declare success in removing hatches, shipping […]

Hatch repair is high on the priority list for Encore

| January 22, 2016

Noticing the weather back home this past week, it was not a bad few days to head down to Florida for a couple more boat repairs. High on the list was to remove and send my Lewmar Superhatches (predecessor to the Ocean series) off to Select Plastics in hopes THEY can prevent them from dripping; […]

Is Twitter better as a standalone business or as a buyout target

| January 22, 2016

I’ll admit, I’m not an expert when it comes to social networks or even using the many developed and developing services available. I do occasionally stay in touch with close friends and family on Facebook and monitor the news and events on Twitter, but that really takes up enough of my time … I don’t […]

VW Rabbit-Golf facelift through the years #GIF

| January 21, 2016

Thousands Apply to U.S. to Forgive Their Student Loans

| January 20, 2016

Americans are flooding the government with appeals to have their student loans forgiven on the grounds that schools deceived them with false promises of a well-paying career. Source: Thousands Apply to U.S. to Forgive Their Student Loans, Saying Schools Defrauded Them

So when is it overkill to be worried about infectious disease?

| January 18, 2016

Do you really need to put toilet paper on the seat like mom taught you? "If it makes you feel better," says Melissa Hawkins, director of the public health scholars program at American University, who’s an expert in biostatistics, behavioral health and community health. "The toilet seats are not a vehicle for the transmission of […]

Amazing in 2016 to have gas prices below $1.50/gal

| January 17, 2016

If you are still reading along after the break, I brought home an “odd ball” tool from my dad's workshop last weekend. Neither my brother Ron or I knew what this tool is. Any ideas?

Archiving a photo of my nephew and son hanging out together

| January 17, 2016

Archiving a January 2016 photo of my nephew Jaben and my son Taylor before the Bengals demise last week. They decided to get together in Cincinnati and watch the playoff game together – from all accounts, they had a good time. I’m sure my brother feels the same way … it is  nice to see […]

Using a photo to read the tiny print on an Apple USB charger

| January 16, 2016

This is probably something I should have known, but the small Apple device chargers have such small printing that I’ve never eyeballed them close enough. The are only a 1A charging device so they do not power the Raspberry Pi computers approrpriately (just in case you needed to know). Instead, you’ll need to be looking […]

Computer, the Cloud and Blog updates and clean up

| January 16, 2016

My cluttered desktop was overdue for a good clean-up and at least a little bit of organizing. After recently adding a second monitor to my iMac dedicated to virtual Windows 10 there ended up being more room to spreadout and clutter. Besides there is a 3rd monitor running after plugging in the new Raspberry Pi […]

Setting up the Raspberry Pi as a security monitor

| January 15, 2016

We’ve had a professional security system in the house for years, but I’ve always thought it would be nice to make a homemade version for the detached garage/pool house – might be a perfect Raspberry Pi project? The first step was to see just what kind of wifi signal was there, considering the tiny $10 […]

First nasty winter drive of 2016 was not too bad

| January 14, 2016

This weeks trip back and forth from SW Ohio to NE Ohio was the first with slippery road and winter snow in 2016. There are sure to be a few more winter days this year, but glad to already be into mid-January. This drive was also the first winter driving for the BMW X5 35d. […]

Before there were Harley-Davidson Hogs …

| January 13, 2016

William Harley and Arthur Davidson, founders of Harley-Davidson, with their motorcycles in 1914. FYI … HOG = Harley Owners Group: http://www.hog.com Origin of “Hog” nickname Beginning in 1920, a team of farm boys, including Ray Weishaar, who became known as the “hog boys,” consistently won races. The group had a hog, or pig as their mascot. […]

Alabama over Clemson to become National Champions

| January 12, 2016

College fooball doesn’t get any better than Monday night’s National Championship game between Alabama and unbeaten Clemson. The game came down to the 4th quarter where both team gave it their all. The playing was almost unbelievable on both sides of the ball. The game eventually turned on an Alabama score and surprise short on-sides kickoff […]

Take an Insprational Trip to Israel this spring – Mar/Apr 2016

| January 11, 2016

Have you ever considering visiting Israel? Here’s a great opportunity to go with my friend Pastor Keith Thomas for a “Best of Israel” tour. He has been taking groups for years and combined with his handpicked guides and economical  group rate accommodations and airfare, a trip this spring may be your best opportunity. Touring Israel […]

Calculating the Costs to Society of the VW Scandal

| January 10, 2016

The U.S. Department of Justice lawyers on behalf of the EPA are probably sleeping and dreaming dollar signs … a still unknown number but calculations mentioned in the WSJ top $45 Billion. They have an opportunity to capitalize on Volkswagen’s willful disregard and purposeful installation of “defeat devices” on Volkswagen, Audi and Porche TDI diesel […]

Bengals lose in losers fashion – PIT 18 – CIN 16

| January 10, 2016

As a long time Cincinnati Bengals fan, I officially am no long going to declare them “my team.” Marvin Lewis needs to go as he has permitting poor sportsmanship and penalties all season long … and the stupidity continued Saturday night in self-destructive fashion. The costly misbehavior and penalties in the final seconds of the […]

Chimney repairs complete and it looks great too

| January 9, 2016

Thankfully the weather held and the construction was able to continue on the chimney repairs. They completed the final soldering of seams on the stainless steel custom top this morning and were quick to show up and collect the check too. Although this was an expensive surprise after replacing the roof, I’m glad to have […]

Job growth above expectations, but markets continue declining

| January 8, 2016

The financial markets took another slide this Friday afternoon even after “impressive” job numbers were released this morning. Growth was well above expectations showing 292,00 jobs were created in December 2015. This came as a mixed message for investors as they needed something to stimulate their interest in buying stocks … unfortunately many came away […]

If you are old enough, you will get the backwards humor

| January 8, 2016

Click image or this Wikipedia link for an explanation!

Not a promising 2016 start for investors

| January 8, 2016

January 2016 has not given investors an optimistic start as stocks sold off for another day on Thursday. The slide gives the Dow its worst start to begin a year since the 30-stock index was created in 1928. Fingers are pointing to economic woes and government financial manipulation in China as well as world oil […]

Choosing pressure treated lumber by reading tree rings

| January 7, 2016

Pressure-treated wood is a delightful product. It’s chemically protected to ward off insects and fungal decay. This protection increases the lifespan of the wood and makes it ideal for outdoor projects like decks. But here’s an important thing to keep in mind when picking pressure-treated 4x4s. The chemical treatment process in question isn’t as effective […]

LiveWriter for blogging is alive and hopefully being revitalized

| January 6, 2016

This past December, after hearing in July that one of my favorite applications would be givng new life as open source software, Open Live Writer was released. The parent application was retired by Microsoft a few year ago but has remained available. Unfortunately after my move to Windows 10 and issues with sFTP support, it […]

Archive: Backing up Raspberry Pi SD img using Mac Terminal

| January 5, 2016

After tweaking the 64GB micro SD card to get a few things set up on the Raspberry Pi, it sounded like a good idea to backup an image. The best option sounds like using the Terminal and command line instructions … but be aware, even with rdisk, it take a while. An example from raspberrypi.stackexchange.com […]

Banished words, phrases and slang from 2015

| January 5, 2016

It has been an annual tradition to look at the overused terms, words and slang at the end of a year … this years Lake Superior State University’s list wasn’t that impressive in my opinion, but tradition continues: BAE One of the top nominees. “Meaning ‘before anyone else.’ How stupid! Stop calling your boyfriend ‘bae’.” […]

The Chimney repairs continue while I play with the RPi

| January 4, 2016

This post is more to test a “borrowed” wireless keypad that is set up on the Raspberry Pi — I’m not fond of the Logitech K400r. The photo to the left is part of the ongoing roof project and continuing chimney repair. In order test the Raspberry Pi’s image serving ability, I uploaded it from […]

How many times did our dog go in and out?

| January 3, 2016

The long holiday weekend with decent weather gave me a chance to knock out a few chores. One was to clean and close up Tootsie‘s dog door. I realized that over her 17 year life that she was in and out of this Plexidor opening a couple dozen times a day … at least! It’s […]

The 1958 Packard Hawk passes from father to son

| January 2, 2016

  Guess what arrived for my new “old” car? Yup … the historical plates after last weeks title transfer. The registration has finally been updated for my late father’s 1958 Packard Hawk (you’ll need to think Studebaker Hawk if you haven’t seen the last Packard badge car). I’ve posted previously from a couple car shows […]

TechFriday: I like the RaspberryPi, but next is the PINE A64

| January 1, 2016

If you enjoy playing with inexpensive computer gadgets and perhaps getting them a LinuxOS Raspberry Pi … or maybe a PINE A64??? Check out the inexpensive Single board Super Computer … and under $100 computer set-up and top of the line smartphone might be all the tech many of us need? PINE A64 compared with […]

Happy New Year 2016

| January 1, 2016

Out with the old and in with the new. Happy New Year 2016! Edit: Posting this as a Raspberry Pi home image server test from the iPad. Impressive little box!

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