Books: “The Courage to Be Free” (2023) – Ron DeSantis

| May 10, 2023

My library borrowing and Kindle game caught up with me this week as the book I borrowed, “Metathreats,”  (and was in the middle of reading) expired … but because I have been keeping my Kindle in “Airplane Mode,” I continued reading. Generally I can’t finish a book without renewing so will often put my Kindle […]

Angel Food Cake, Strawberries and Whipped Cream Leftovers

| May 9, 2023

Although few of us getting older really want to spend too much time highlighting “yet another” birthday, last weekend was mine … so I celebrated by hauling 68 pounds of aluminum cans to the recycler (above). Since we were with KDAE the previous weekend … and Taylor stops in regularly (twice this past week) and […]

How Does Your State Rank on Individual Income Taxes?

| May 3, 2023

Taxes are often on my mind … especially when reminded by an email update from the Tax Foundation. This week was both a depressing one (Ohio #41) and an interesting one due to the number of states and cities trying hard to reduce the burden of bloated government on their residents. I would nice if […]

Tech Friday: The Apple Lisa computer is over 40 years old

| April 21, 2023

Although my first computer was a Compaq Portable (I still have it and I think it still boots up) … my second computer was a Macintosh SE with a giant 20MB HD … the more successful and lower price version of the Lisa. Did you know that the Apple Lisa turned 40 this year? How […]

How many different electrical outlets to we need?

| April 19, 2023

On Twitter this past week, Elon Musk retweeted an image of a bunch of different outlets around the world. Wow, do we really need that many different electrical outlets and plugs?

Food For Thought: A Life Expectancy in America Map

| April 8, 2023

I’m not really sure where the data for this map came from or if it is accurate (??) … but it is something to think about. 

Innovative although a little pricey: Toothpaste bits

| April 5, 2023

Have you ever wondered why we use paste and powder (old school) to brush out teeth? Probably not … since I never gave it much thought until seeing Bite Toothpaste Bits. Brilliant idea … although the price point is keeping me from giving them a try. It is great to see ingenutiy still works and […]

Embracing Change: How to Thrive in an Ever-Changing World

| March 12, 2023

This past week my son Taylor and I had a father-son dinner together at Chili’s and enjoyed some “desultory” conversation … from the Ukraine-Russia war to ChatGPT. Eventually he commented, “Dad, you should let the AI system write or rewrite your blog posts.”   Hm … how about I just ask the Chatbot to write […]

Friday Filler: Sharks in a tank and being manipulated by fear

| March 3, 2023

Snipped a couple of social media shared images this past week that may not be completely truthful … but they do trigger thinking about one’s “personal growth” and how easily we are manipulated by “fear.”  So .. open your mind, be thoughtful and willing to entertain different views with polite debate and discussion. Most of […]

Collected a couple digital magazine workshop tidbits

| January 22, 2023

Reading periodicals from the library on the computer is not really something I do … but last week while checking out a couple of ebooks (one avaiilable the other on a long hold), I looked at the latest issue of the Woodworkers Journal magazine and realized just how much the iPad app for reading digital […]

Blame Noah Webster if you struggle with spelling words that have a British and American spelling: i.e. canceled vs cancelled

| January 17, 2023

You would think that after 60+ years that I would comfortably remember which spelling of for the past tense of ‘cancel’ was the common American English version and which was British English version. When it comes to a few words that I stumble over, I still need to check with Merriam-Webster. British vs. American English […]

Filler Friday: Stippling or pixel art with nails #video

| January 13, 2023

Although I’m not sure what kind of art this is … it will be included as a Filler Friday video. It does appeal to me since it the artist or craftsman uses tools and nails to create a pixel or stippling. This is some pretty impressive work below.

LSSU’s 2023 list of Banished Words is spot on again

| January 3, 2023

The Lake Superior State University list of banished words from 2022 for 2023 is out! It has been fun to regularly include their words and a link on MyDesultoryBlog … it has become a January tradition! Check out their full archive by year from when it started in 1976.   This year, nominations came from […]

Tech Friday: A better way to filter and clean up iOS messages

| December 30, 2022

Prior to 2022, I managed phone numbers and contacts on my iPhone poorly – perhaps “the wrong way.” Every year I created a new A/SPAM list of callers and emailers and self-managed these lists. Of course this didn’t stop callers or text messages from new unknown phone numbers. So I tried a couple of different […]

Tool tidbit: Additional leverage when turning a screwdriver

| December 28, 2022

Here’s a tool tip that isn’t widely known: If you need a little more screwdriver leverage  … or your hands are slippery … check to see if a hex socket or wrench will fit on the handle of your screwdriver to give you a little additional torque (a 1” socket works for my standard Craftsman […]

A lesser known tidbit for Christmas day #humor

| December 25, 2022

Merry Christmas to all … and may your next year be a healthy and happy one. Here’s a little (very little) cowboy humor as a filler post for the day. 😀

My brother emailed a photo of our grandfather from 1966 #TBT

| December 22, 2022

Tis the season, to reflect a bit …  at least for me. I posted a few old photos last week, so when my brother sent me one of Earl Daniel Corbett, our grandfather, it seemed appropriate for Throwback Thursday #TBT. He mentioned  that he came across it at a Corbett family reunion and said it […]

The grandson of John Tyler, the 10th POTUS, is still alive

| December 18, 2022

It took a little research, but the thought of the 10th President of the United States still having a living grandson alive today seemed … well, unbelievable. Mentally, I worked the numbers … and then had to do a little Internet sleuthing … but low and behold it was true. President John Tyler was born […]

Happy Birthday Drew and creative names for snowplows

| December 13, 2022

My daughter is great at sending links to items she thinks would be great for the blog. The other day Katelyn sent an “Ohio Turnpike Name-A-Snowplow Contest” story that had some pretty creative names — well actually, like her mom, she had her husband send it 😀 (BTW, Happy Birthday Drew!).  Here are the winners: Ctrl-Salt-Delete, Nicole […]

Short video tidbit: Another way to fold sheet corners

| November 23, 2022

Centuries pass and the borders of countries in Europe change

| November 2, 2022

If you like maps and watching the borders of countries, here’s a small, quick video of the changing borders in Europe over the centuries. Pretty wild.

Idioms: The whole – or full – nine – six – yards phrase

| October 30, 2022

Although the meme floating around social networks (the one at the bottom of this post) is probably not correct, I enjoyed it enough to do a little digging. Personally I’ve always thought that “the whole (or full) nine (six) yards” had to do with the innings in a baseball game (old article below), so I […]

How to dispose of household batteries property

| October 15, 2022

Disposing of household batteries could use some clarity since not everyone knows which ones can be tossed with everyday trash and which ones should be recycled or taken to a collection site. Do you dispose of them correctly? Batteries are broken down into two broad categories: Single-use and rechargeable. How you dispose of them is […]

Music Monday: “I Don’t Want To Know” – Fleetwood Mac

| October 3, 2022

Several years ago in 2018, Fleetwood Mac was at the top of my music listening as was evident by the number of posts regarding a Rumours of Fleetwood Mac concert Brenda and I enjoyed in Cincinnati. It doesn’t seem possible that was 4 years ago? Since I personally have rated their “Rumours” album the best […]

Who knew? Prairie dogs used the Bernoulli principle

| September 24, 2022

In order to ensure sufficient oxygen within their burrow, prairie dogs use the Bernoulli’s principle. One of the entrances is built with a raised mound of dirt, while the other is not. This determines different wind velocities and different pressures. (Massimo – @Rainmaker1973) Bernoulli flow and viscous entrainment were identified by the researchers as the […]

Who doesn’t love an illusion that messes with your mind?

| September 21, 2022

The triangle with the missing block … explained (below the break).

Taylor’s slow move, galls autumn oak leaves and pool pump

| September 20, 2022

After helping Taylor move a few larger things over to his new condominium last weekend, he sent a photo of his still bare living room, but it is coming together. The TV is working so he could watch the 2022 losing Cincinnati Bengals (now 0-2) on Sunday afternoon. He has been slowing moving boxes of […]

Space Filler: Impressive super high resolution look at Mars

| September 7, 2022

Be sure to click on the photo or download to see the larger version

Pyramid of Giza in Egypt from above

| August 31, 2022

The largest of the Egyptian pyramids is the Great Pyramid of Giza., one of The Seven Wonders of the World.  It was the tomb of the Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khufu and was build in the early 26th century BC. It stands 481 feet and is normally seen from a horizon view as in Wikipedia  (photo […]

Wyze Cam Motion Alert: An alien lifeform?

| August 13, 2022

Well … perhaps not, but it did catch my eye. Each “sunny” morning the sun rises in the east and peeks through the trees. If there is wind, the movement as shadows cast on our driveway trigger a motion alert. On checking the driveway Wyze cam 3, a strange alien shape appeared on the driveway. […]

Why are these paint brushes are my favorites?

| August 3, 2022

It is likely that I’ve used and cleaned over 100 paint brushes in my lifetime … besides the throw-away bristle and foam versions. That said, I find myself gravitating to a couple favorites that I hang over the basement utility sink. These are of the softer full-bodied brushes that hold paint well, brush smooth and […]

Kiribati: Located in 4 hemispheres and unique GMT+14 timezone

| August 2, 2022

Learned a few interesting geographic facts about the nation of Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean from Brilliantmaps, Reddit and of course Wikipedia the other day and found the timezone oddity particularly interesting. The country is “the furthest ahead of Greenwich meantime at GMT +14, making it the first country in the world to ring-in the […]

Video tips on how to do a better job caulking

| July 31, 2022

As someone who is not fond of both painting and caulking, whenever there are professional tips that make those jobs easier, I listen (a better “dripless” caulking guns link too).

An old tree in Mexico has trunk diameter of 60 meters #tidbit

| July 26, 2022

The 2000 year old tree in Tule, Oaxaca, Mexico. It has the largest trunk diameter in the world. Its circumference is close to 60 meters.

Video: Comparing a few different wall anchors for screws

| July 23, 2022

Here’s a very short video highlighting several different kinds of popular wall anchors or mollies and how easy they are to use compared to each other. I saw it on social media and found it an interesting tidbit for woodworking or for those of us spending time in a workshop.

Fishy Friday Filler: Fish, Fish, Fishes

| July 15, 2022

Friday filler: Ambition knows no limits for hard workers

| July 8, 2022

If you are on social media, you likely have already watched this shared video of a couple of ambitious and obviously hardworking guys using their skills to build a below ground level sanctuary.

The Federal Aid Highway Act was sign into law by President Eisenhower in 1956 (Interstate Highway System)

| June 29, 2022

It has been 66 years since President Eisenhower signed the act that created the Interstate Highway System into law on June 29th, 1956. An amazing political ($$$) and engineering feat. Eisenhower and the House Democrats agreed to finance the system through the Highway Trust Fund, which itself would be funded by a gasoline tax. In […]

Words to think about before speaking negatively about others

| June 23, 2022

Really, I’m just sharing a couple leftover photos from the past couple of days, but thought the sign below offers some pretty good advice. Also a tidbit: Rice boiling over creates a sticky goo … and my new Father’s Day “smart” Ember mug is still working great.

Interesting information on Summer vs Winter Solstice

| June 21, 2022

On Tuesday’s solstice, everywhere north of the equator will receive at least 12 hours of daylight and everywhere south of that point will get less than 12 hours. The continental U.S. will get 14 to 16 hours of daylight, compared with eight to 10 hours on the winter solstice. “All the planets orbit the sun […]

Leftover “Tech Friday” thoughts for Saturday morning

| June 18, 2022

Not that I was bored or anything while running on generator power for 24 hours, but last week’s outage had my small load-sharing Raspberry Pi “server farm” (semi-joke) that I run at the house (see Brenich.com), in need of service. One thing lead to another and I ended up tinkering a bit more with this […]

In all of God’s magnificent creation, mankind is unique #TBT

| June 9, 2022

There are days we humans need to be reminded that we are small in relation to the universe, but unique (Genesis 1:27) and loved (John 3:16) in relation to God’s magnificent creation. TIDBITS: Voyager 1 continues into heading into our outer solar system as the space probe continues to communicate with the Deep Space Network […]

Are you a Coffee or a Tea drinker? Coffee for me, please!

| June 1, 2022

Who doesn’t enjoy of teasing friends back and forth over foodie items? Here’s one that I’m going to debate with my friend Jeff … as he has always been a “Tea drinker” and I’ve been a “Coffee guy.” I’ll start with my pro-military, flag-waving “patriotic Americans drink coffee” position, and I’m sure he’ll lay out […]

Katya Nikiforova: Juggling skills extraordinaire #video

| May 31, 2022

Russian Katya Nikiforova has amazing juggling skills. Wow! Katya Nikiforova Born into a family of non-circus artists in a small town in Ukraine, as a child Katya performed gymnastics and dancing. At the age of 10, she studied at her first circus studio. She instantly fell in love with the art and by the age […]

A test post due to slow uploading. AWS server problem?

| May 17, 2022

Testing Internet speeds on my end after struggling to upload to AWS servers this afternoon. All seems normal for both 4G and WiFi in my temporary basement home office due to painting and getting thing put back together after hardwood floors were done. It is S-L-O-W-L-Y coming together.

Cleaning stainless steel cookware, mostly Wirecutter advice

| May 12, 2022

Who else hates cleaning up stainless steel cookware, especially stainless steel frying pans? We opted to upgrade the mishmash pots and pans at the Delray Beach condo back in 2018 with a full set of IKEA stainless steel cookware. Unfortunately whenever it comes to using them, we opt for the cheap and ugly red “semi” […]

Books: “The House of Yan” by Lan Yan and personal tidbits

| May 5, 2022

Although I don’t know all that much more than what I read about China, the culture and history intrigues me. After moving to Sidney, Ohio in high school, I felt like a fish out of water since most kids grew up in town and had gone to school with each other their entire life. When […]

James Garner’s TAG Heuer Carrera watch up for auction

| May 1, 2022

As a James Garner fan and follower of his daughter Gigi on Twitter, I enjoyed a recent article highlighting raising money for animal welfare with his famous TAG Heuer Carrera watch (below). Earlier this year I was impressed with his daily driver, a 2009 Cadillac CTS 4-door sedan up for auction on Barrett-Jackson, raising $100,000 with […]

Cincinnati Reds: Dad catches a foul ball while feeding baby

| April 30, 2022

Major League Baseball is back. Last week, baby feeding did not keep this hardcore fan from from enjoying a Cincinnati Reds game and coming away with a souvenir. Perhaps the Reds could add him to their roster … they sure need some kind of spark.

Tech Friday: iOS and App updates … and Internet/Cable/TV

| April 8, 2022

After updating my iOS devices to 15.4 last week, I noticed a few annoying changes (normal when an operating system changes), and a few improvements. I suspected that older devices such as my iPhone 7 and older iPad would start to show signs of reduced battery life and sluggishness, yet how long nowadays do we […]

Music Monday: “Early Morning Rain” – Gordon Lightfoot (image) … Can you see it?

| April 4, 2022

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Friday Filler: An interesting eye-brain negative afterimage

| April 1, 2022

These illustrations make the rounds by email and social networking every so often and do so because they are interesting to naturally inquisitive humans … and in my case make for a blogworthy Friday Filler and “fool your mind” on April Fools’ Day post. This is one that cognitive psychology refers to as the Negative […]

Tidbits: A workshop hook and a Canton, Ohio based idiom

| March 22, 2022

“A place for everything and everything in its place,” is probably not the most fitting idiom for my cluttered workshop, since the debatable originate has to do with “neatness” according to an Ohio Repository (Canton, Ohio) article by Charles A. Goodrich in 1827. Although with a little sleuthing, it has also been credited to Benjamin […]

Woodworking mistake, epoxy repair and a tip for next time

| March 16, 2022

First the good: The rocking chair that I made for my granddaughter’s birthday worked out great. I’m happy with all the sizing and joinery … including the oak dowel peg construction. Now the bad: If I were to redo attaching the shutters to the Christmas dollhouse, I would not have used hotmelt glue to attach […]

A zero-clearance Table Saw throatplate and featherboard clamp

| March 13, 2022

When it comes to workshops, tools, jigs and helpers, we all have our go-to favorites and my 35 year old featherboard is no exception. For years now, I’ve told myself that I was going to make a new one since this was just a quick temporary one (like the miter saw hold down below), but […]

Archive: Toledo Area Parent magazine article – Mar/Apr 2022

| March 5, 2022

What parent doesn’t enjoy seeing their adult children respected enough in their profession to be asked to comment? Since I’m one that does keep an online scrapbook of sorts (this blog) … I’m archiving a recent article with Katelyn in Toledo Area Parent titled “Less Mealtime Stress with Responsive Feeding.” Seems like a week to […]

How many places do you call home … how about 11 in a lifetime?

| February 23, 2022

Interesting tidbit: According to a post on social media (take that for what it is worth), “the average person lives in 11 homes in there lifetime.” It doesn’t detail if a college dorm is considering a “home,”  but if I eliminate them … I’m up to EIGHT that I call “a residence.” In pondering my […]

Does she smile or not smile … that is the question?

| February 20, 2022

The photo to the left is one of those photos taking up bandwidth and being passed around the Internet in emails and on social networks. The assumption is that most people see a photo of a girl who is NOT smiling. The suggestion is that if you “squint” a bit, you can see a photo […]

Archive: Slow progress on a customized child’s rocking chair

| February 19, 2022

I used the word “customized” because besides getting the “rocker” for this chair from a set of plans … for safety sake … I’ve been tweaking the children’s rocking chair from collected ideas … and trial and error. Besides wanting to use dimensional lumber and running it through the planner for the frames, I’ve pulled […]

A new-to-me Arabica Bean Coffee and a family photo to save to the 2022 Valentine’s Day blog archive

| February 16, 2022

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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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