An impressive final Supermoon of the trilogy (see previous post)

| January 31, 2018

I haven’t been wielding my camera around much lately as it is so much easier to whip out the iPhone and take a photo or some video … but occasionally there’s a subject that can’t be photographed easily with a smartphone or even with a DSLR. Here was my quick attempt last night with the […]

Once in a lifetime event – a supermoon trilogy

| January 31, 2018

  A Supermoon chat with John Rowe & Mike Hasking – 1/31/2018 Tonight is your last chance to witness a once in a lifetime lunar event. A super blue blood moon will be visible in the night’s sky for just over an hour, from 11.50 tonight. It’s the third in a trilogy of large, red […]

Playing games on a smartphone while attending SOTU2018

| January 31, 2018

What was your representative doing during last night’s State Of The Union address … hopefully not playing Candy Crush on a smartphone like Michigan’s Democratic Representative Brenda Lawrence?

President Trump delivered an optimistic 2018 SOTU address

| January 30, 2018

With a rebounding economy, strong stock market and job opportunities for all who want to work … there is optimism in the country. President Donald Trump capitalized on the positive attitude most American have and highlighted the recent tax cuts as something all will start to see in their paychecks this year. Besides the IRS […]

Astronauts may soon be eating goo from their poo

| January 30, 2018

It’s a long way to Mars and there’s "not a drop to drink" (author Mindy McGinnis) or "plop to eat" on the way … so what’s the plan? Since astronauts are already recycling their urine into drinkable water, the next step should be obvious: "Goo made from their Poo." (in observing the current lab conditions […]

Drones on boats, a good idea?

| January 29, 2018

My friend Jeff is planning on ordering a DJI Mavic Pro this weekend. I sent him a recent article that has him pondering models. Jokingly I sent him this ani.gif suggesting he let me borrow it when I head to the boat … to which he replied, “Sure, if you put down a $1000 deposit. […]

Explaining How Tax Cuts Will Affect You by Dave Ramsey

| January 28, 2018

Delivering commonsense “tough love” clarifications and explanations of financial issues has always been a Dave Ramsey strength. After the Trump administration finally moved their tax plan through congress, Dave offered a 10 minute explanation as to whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. If you are steeped in years of seeing things […]

If laughter is good medicine, we are pretty drugged up :-)

| January 27, 2018

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Semi-impressed watching President Obama with Letterman

| January 26, 2018

We watched the premiere David Letterman series on Netflix with President Barack Obama the other night and both Brenda and I were impressed with the likeability our previous president exhibited – reminiscent of why he was elected in 2008 (Letterman, not so much). Obama was baited numerous times by David Letterman to weigh in negatively […]

Who is this revered and famous American President? #TBT

| January 25, 2018

Throwback Thursday #TBT photos usually have to do with oneself or at least something from our own lifetime. I’m archiving a unique photo of this great American leader (the first known of him in 1840), as I wanted to save it to my blog. Most of us study our US Presidents in school, but usually […]

Turning around General Electric $GE and trade tariffs

| January 24, 2018

As GE stock continues getting battered (although a 4.48% bounce back today), quite a few investors have been waiting for the bad news to end and new management direction to bring this huge ship back on course. (I’ve been buying, and selling) It is likely be too soon to expect things to change, but General […]

Airbag recall: Inefficiencies at either BMW or their supplier?

| January 23, 2018

One wonders as to the legal responsibility of auto companies when "making a best effort" to correct the airbag issues in their customers’ cars? Are manufacturers held liable when using parts from their suppliers?  Here’s a comparison: I took our 2006 Honda Pilot in a couple years ago after they notified me about the Takata […]

Watching the weather map while watching our little bebopper

| January 22, 2018

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Book: Churchill’s Trial by Larry P Arinn

| January 22, 2018

After contemplating the purchase of Larry P Arinn‘s Churchill’s Trial at full price since it was published, but having too many unfinished books on my Kindle and reading table, the $1.99 price was exactly what I needed to download. I’m looking forward to the scholarly writing of Dr. Arinn as he delves into the trials […]

When is the 2018 Super Bowl?

| January 21, 2018

This weekend gave us a “nail-biter and a blowout,” as one writer put it. The Super Bowl will be February 4, 2018 and will be “a rematch of a game we saw less than 15 years ago: Eagles vs. Patriots.” I can’t say I’m really looking forward to it as I don’t care for either team. […]

A government shutdown and not over cuts or more spending

| January 21, 2018

We are dealing with a government shutdown once again. Our ineffective elected politicians in Washington DC can’t figure out how to work together in a way to even keep the federal government doors open for business … let alone do the actual work to improve the country without making someone suffer (those depending on a […]

It really does not take that much talent

| January 20, 2018

Probably should have been posted as a New Year’s resolution, but this works for ALL and at ALL times in life and career.

TechFriday: Servers, webhosting, pricing and performance

| January 19, 2018

Besides my personally server and fading Raspberry Pi server projects (just too small), I been using several different companies to host Internet connected servers for Consolidated Printing and Publishing’s customers – traditional servers and virtual Droplets. Having used a variety of dedicated servers and virtual shared machines over the years since first getting into archiving […]

Do you boil water in a microwave? Take note …

| January 18, 2018

An old warning that has been passed around the Internet before, but because something similar happened to me with a Corning Corelle bowl last month, figure it was worth sharing. Boiling Water in a Microwave (also see Snopes) A 26-year old man decided to have a cup of coffee. He took a cup of water […]

A beautiful sunset looking west towards downtown Cincinnati

| January 17, 2018

Taylor continues to impress me with his enjoying photography. Above is a recent photo (click for larger) he sent me overlooking Cincinnati along the Ohio River – another beautiful sunset photo. I told him that I was going to start encoding them with a digital watermark they are so nice. I’d like to think of […]

Doppelgänger time with Google Arts and Culture app

| January 16, 2018

Ok … this Google app is a bit personal … but curiosity and some appreciation for art has me interested enough to forgo my privacy concerns. Google updated their Art and Culture app that compares a persons selfie with their huge archive of art from museums and other institutions. The computer-vision technology compares points on […]

Do something for someone this Martin Luther King Jr holiday

| January 15, 2018

Today, January 15, 2018, our nation celebrates the life and accomplishments of one of our greatest Americans on his national holiday, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This past Friday, President Trump signed a proclamation that honors Dr. King by designating his birthplace, church and tomb as a National Historic Park. Along with the president’s respectful […]

An old wooden ladder and memories good and bad

| January 14, 2018

As my son Taylor said, “ladders will be our family’s downfall.” So true … The old wooden ladder I inherited from the late Harry McKee when we bought our first sailboat Brenich in the early 1980s is still in active service. It is no longer chained to the old boat cradle we kept in Huron, […]

Encore has a new dock space in February if she is ready?

| January 13, 2018

Google Maps view of the space D-8 that will be Encore‘s new dock After hauling Encore last year for some much needed out-of-water bottom work, I’m hoping to relaunch and have her back in the water in February for the improving weather this upcoming spring. But with such few trips and infrequent sailing, I’m torn […]

Tech Friday: Handbrake video compression testing

| January 12, 2018

Testing and tweaking the Handbrake software I use for video encoding and am hoping to improve the .MP4 compression settings for MyDesultoryBlog and others. The test video is an 18 sec knife sharpening iPhone clip and the new setting should average about 25-30 MB per minute at full 30 frame/sec at a reasonable 1280 x720 […]

Once again disgusted with my cable and Internet provider

| January 12, 2018

Last spring I was so disgusted with the Time Warner to Spectrum change for cable and Internet along with their price increase that I switched to Cincinnati Bell Fioptics. The painful rewiring and equipment switch worked to my favor and lower the bill with the help of a representative that handled everything as if he […]

Show your appreciation for law enforcement #BlueLivesMatter

| January 11, 2018

While eating out on January 9th, I stealthfully pick up the check for a local police officer just as I’ve seen others do in the past. I find a gesture like this is a polite way to let street officers know we have their backs and appreciate them for the tough and often thankless job […]

Backpacking filtration hack for emergency water too

| January 10, 2018

Bits and pieces are still arriving from my Christmas shopping. Sometimes I forget that not every company/individual doing business online is shipping with the efficiency we become accustom to with Amazon and other big online retail sites. In any case, one of the gifts I assembled was an emergency kit that included survival items we […]

Would you tow an 18-wheeler with a Tesla?

| January 9, 2018

Music Monday: A new Bible & the impressive Amazon Echo Dot

| January 8, 2018

Our Amazon Echo Dot Christmas gift is the gift that keeps on giving now that I’m learning new “skills.” There isn’t anything earth-shattering it is currently doing, but the “easy” interface to Amazon’s cloud server for content and function may be limitless … at least looking into the future. It is an impressive device; perhaps […]

WordPress post scheduling problem?

| January 7, 2018

After tweaking WordPress last week with AMP plugins, I noticed several posts were missing their schedules. I added a Schedule Post Trigger plug-in that corrected that issue, but never deactivated it after removing both AMP plug-ins. This past weekend, scheduled posts were not triggered at the correctly dated times so am testing with this post […]

Our granddaughter Annalyn is now 10 months old!

| January 7, 2018

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Windsurfers and Waves … and getting some air! #video

| January 6, 2018

Filling space with a 22 second video clip and testing “autoplay” and “loop.” https://myarchive.us/av/windsurferbigwaves.mp4

Tech Friday: Played with AMP plug-ins for blog but gave up

| January 5, 2018

In order to improve efficiency on WordPress sites (my customer installs) I often experiment with updates on my personal MyDesultoryBlog first since very little on this site really matters for paying customers. So over the Christmas and New Years holidays I fiddled with a few highly recommended updates to the LAMP server and WordPress installs. […]

It may be winter in Cincinnati, but better here than in Savannah

| January 4, 2018

The new year has certainly started out cold in Cincinnati. We’ve been below zero every night this week and now that the frozen pipe is behind me (I hope), I was able to get back to some sense of a normal routine since I put off meetings and a pile of work until after the […]

Once in a while I can still find a super cheap flight on Southwest

| January 3, 2018

Before sending another check to the guy I have doing some bottom work on Encore, I really need to inspect the work. I don’t want him to stop working, but I don’t want bottom paint slapped on the new epoxy fiberglass repair before double checking the layers, fairing and keel work and epoxy barrier coats […]

Thrifty souls unite – a snap fix for a broken zipper

| January 2, 2018

Ok … so this nautical fix has not been endorsed by my wife, in fact, she will not be seen with me from wearing these pants in public ever again … although like most women,  I’m not sure she is fond of cargo pants anyway? My Eddie Bauer flannel lined winter cargo pants are a […]

Happy New Year and LSSU banished words for 2018

| January 1, 2018

Happy New Year 2018 to all those following or reading MyDesultoryBlog … thank you. A regular inclusion each year has been the Lake Superior State University Annual List of Banished Words. This is their 43rd year of doing it and there are some welcomed ones in this year’s list — highlighting the ones that bug […]

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.
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