Those TV commercials that trigger emulation #video

| November 4, 2023

Occasionally a television commercial tickles my funny bone and makes me smile every time it comes on the TV. My wife knows that I’ll be emulating the “sometimes all it takes is a piece of pie to bring a little sunshine in their life again” (with a very flawed southern accent). Unfortunately for Fox News […]

Music Monday: Bonnie Raitt sings “Angel From Montgomery”

| February 13, 2023

While driving and listening to a few of my usual music stations last week … one being SiriusXM The Bridge … hearing Bonnie Raitt singing “Angel From Montgomery” reminded me how I’ve always enjoy the solemn blues sounds she can offer in her southern rock. This make not have charted as a hit or even […]

Another albatross to hang around President Biden’s neck

| August 16, 2021

The situation in Afghanistan is not something most of the civilized world wants to see, but within a few days we’ve watched the Taliban rapidly seize control throughout the country ever since President Biden telegraphed accelerating what was left of our military from our bases. Very few politicians have questioned the desire over the past […]

Who doesn’t love the Gilligan’s Island TV show? #TBT

| March 11, 2021

My generation grew up with a handful of odd, yet popular with kids, television shows, none more endearing that Gilligan’s Island … which shockingly is still loved by almost everyone in reruns still today. After mentioning the passing of Dawn Wells, who play castaway Mary Ann, I realized that only Tina Louise (Ginger) is still […]

Backing up, updating Linux and installing WordPress 5.7

| March 10, 2021

After having a server glitch and failed update this morning, it seemed like a good time to backup, updated Linux and test  WordPress 5.7 “Esperanza” with a post today. For the most part everything has been running fine since setting up SWAP space, but any issue triggering a crash makes me question what I’m missing? […]

Remembering a couple 1970s TV shows and commercials

| November 24, 2020

A car enthusiast’s off-topic “Today’s Useless Tweet” got me thinking about old television shows that I enjoyed while growing up. I’m sure almost everyone my age flirts with nostalgia and can go on indefinitely with memories of their youth? His Banacek share (good show) and the George Peppard memory, which for me will always be […]

Is this defunding/dismantling police for real or just politics?

| June 11, 2020

After listening to the loudest protestors from around the U.S. seemingly unite around the “defund and dismantle the police” manta, it is natural for people to ponder the questions regarding how this movement of angry people intend to “keep the peace.” As some point laws aren’t going to be followed, gangs and thugs will intimidate […]

Payment processing: Testing Square’s link tool with a Monocle

| May 31, 2020

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Do you really want the media, big tech and government elites controlling free speech, thought and societal norms?

| May 2, 2020

Once in a while, the talking heads and opinion writers who editorialize present enough information in a single article or few minutes of television that hits home and makes one take notice. That definitely happened for me the other night and trigger me to think a little more seriously about has been happening in our […]

Politics and Google – Dr Robert Epstein and Mark Levin #video

| September 12, 2019

No matter your political ideology, everyone who values integrity in our elections and in political campaigns, should be concerned with how information is disseminated and prioritized. Nowadays we depend no a very few sources that we hope are unbiasedly sifting through and helping us search information and news. For the past decade or so we […]

Content by Netflix and Amazon and filming Hillbilly Elegy

| August 5, 2019

While Brenda and I wait for the new season of our favorite book-to-television Amazon Prime’s “Man In The High Castle” series, we (or should I really say “she”) got hooked on the popular binge watched series “Stranger Things.” It is amazing how our television habits have changed in this past decade? Gone are the weekend […]

Fifty years ago NASA launched Apollo 11 in our race to land a man on the moon in the 1960s

| July 16, 2019

In the space race with the Soviet Union (USSR) during the 1960s, the United States “rocketed” ahead on July 16, 1969 as NASA sent the three men of Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins into space at 9:32AM EST. The Apollo command module and Lunar Module (LM) sat atop the huge 363-feet […]

A wide swath of Western Ohio was hit by storms and tornadoes

| May 28, 2019

Thankfully the tornado(es) and severe storms that blasted through Indiana and Ohio last night were all to our north. I checked in with my brother Ron in Tipp City and he was fine, although his home and my nephew Jaben’s (Huber Heights) were in the path of this nighttime storm. The photo of a massive […]

Spectacular 12 car crash in lap 191 of #Daytona500

| February 17, 2019

Impressive safety advancements in car safety as a crash near the end of the Daytona 500 wiped out 12 cars. All drivers were fine and red flagged race has Toyota cars leading strong Ford and Chevrolet Cup cars waiting for a restart with 9 laps to go. A long slow ending … but great 2nd […]

Electrical grid shortcomings in a cyber war or EMP event

| January 16, 2019

Although we hear (or at least I read) about cyber attacks to the U.S. electrical grid and utilities on a regular basis … but I’m not sure we take these events seriously enough? I’ve blogged on this ever since reading One Second After, a detailed factual-fiction story about just how devastating, vulnerable and dependent we […]

Gender, asperations, family, careers and encouraging girls

| July 11, 2018

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Pediatrician Dr. Katelyn Oostra really knows her stuff (smile)

| June 29, 2018

I can’t help myself … but when your daughter is the one the news goes to for summer heat and kids advice … a dad is super proud.

Music Monday: Steve Carlisle singing WKRP in Cincinnati

| March 19, 2018

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The flight of MH17 – National Geographic #video

| February 22, 2018

Previously I’ve detailed a bit about the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 and some of what I have learned … here is a National Geographic channel video that summarizes what we know in 44 minutes.

President Trump addresses the nation after Las Vegas shooting

| October 2, 2017

What we know so far – 1PM on Monday 10/2/2017  At least 58 people were killed and more than 515 were injured at an country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip, in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history. The gunman fired for several minutes into a 22,000-person crowd from the windows of […]

Music Monday: Fire and Rain. James Taylor Live in 1970 (and it triggered a personal memory and story from 1980!)

| July 3, 2017

As is all to frequent … the YouTube video has been removed. When it comes to music, I’ve always been a James Taylor fan and have posted a few times about him. This past weekend I ran across a YouTube clip from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert from a year or so ago that […]

Rep Tom McClintock (R-CA) weighs in with Neil Cavuto

| April 5, 2017

As California Congressman Tom McClintock (R-CA) excogitated his ideas and explained the slow progress of repealing and replacing Obamacare with Neil Cavuto, he quoted one of his late fellow Californians, Paul Masson, "We will sell no wine before its time." How apropos to healthcare reform (listen or watch below). That wasn’t the only smart saying […]

One of the more hilarious BBC interview interuptions

| March 10, 2017

Cut the cord — and then added a few channels back

| March 4, 2017

Well … so much for cutting the cord as I mentioned in February and contemplating using the Sony Playstation Vue streaming service for the few channels ($30/mo) we wanted to receive that are unavailable over-the-air. We never really got to that point since the local antenna channels seemed way too slow in changing and somewhat […]

President Trump and Andrew Jackson – a comparison

| January 31, 2017

Is there a comparable president to Donald Trump? People say President Donald Trump is unique in U.S. history, yet a few who study presidential history say it is not entirely true. Doug Wead, a presidential historian, compares President Trump to Andrew Jackson, as he did shortly after the November 2016 election on "Happening Now" with […]

Remembering a couple musicians and the song Drift Away

| January 30, 2017

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Even Brad Paisley owned a 1984 Chevrolet Cavalier

| November 27, 2016

Jay Leno’s Garage on CNBC is one of the automotive programs I record and one my dad would have enjoyed watching with me … too bad it is just a couple years late. Anyway, last week he had musicians who love cars on the program and country music star Brad Paisley shared his first car […]

Behind an American favorite TV show – Home Improvment

| November 23, 2016

A little “behind the scenes” history and commentary from my family’s favorite TV show of the 1990s — Home Improvement. Of course anything that Tim Allen does is a favorite of mine. I love his current Last Man Standing show too.

Using Home Equity as a bank or as a credit card?

| August 26, 2016

Using the equity in a home isn’t anything new, but I’m old enough to remember when "we" first started to tap into home equity with Home Improvement Loans. "Back in the day" IRS deductions for interest on consumer credit (car loans, revolving credit, signature loans) were being phased out for all but home mortgages. Creative […]

How much more government can small business take?

| August 22, 2016

I wish politicians would listen to managers and owners of small businesses. In a Maria Bartiromo interview with  Metro Applebee’s CEO Zane Tankel, his frustration at the challenges being force down the throats of business in the U.S. is apparent (about 2 min into the interview). It is understandable why starting a business and hiring […]

Jerry Skinner talks about #MH17 with @MariaBartiromo

| June 8, 2016

As the second anniversary approaches of the downing of #MH17 by Russian missiles over the Ukraine, my brother-in-law Jerry Skinner is doing what he can to keep the tragedy in front of the public eye. Pressure on politicians for them to pursue justice, compensation and a admission from Russia and Putin (a long shot) is […]

Airline litigation lawyer Jerry Skinner explains the case – #MH17

| May 25, 2016

My brother-in-law Jerry Skinner has been busy working on the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 case in order to bring closure for the families of victims. It is hard to imagine that shooting down of a commercial airliner was anything but a mistake, but who should be held accountable for Buk missiles capable of this kind […]

Kee Bird B-29 Superfortress story

| March 16, 2016

Watched an older aviation documentary this past weekend on YouTube (remembered reading about it years ago). The attempted rescue of the Kee Bird was a 1996 video story and heroic attempt ending in disaster — NOVA: B-20 Frozen in Time.

Those Values.com TV commercials strike a chord

| March 7, 2016

Who doesn’t enjoy the short breaks between the hour upon hour of negative news on TV? The Values.com and RandomActsofKindness.org organizations are a worthy humanitarian outreach.

Best interview to date on the #FBIvsApple encryption case

| March 2, 2016

Heard this interview this morning on SirusXM and glad Maria Bartiromo included it in one of her morning tweets.

Easy to see why most fear snakebites – BBC slow-motion #Video

| February 27, 2016

Pretty impressive Puff Adder strike in slow motion … those are some fangs (video below).

A Ben Bernanke cameo in The Big Bang Theory? #TBBT

| February 19, 2016

It is fun finding out about cameo appearances in movies and TV programs … as I mentioned the other day with singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett. Another cameo tidbit popped up after this week’s popular The Big Bang Theory sitcom. According to the commentary on FoxBusiness, the previous Fed chair Ben Bernanke and his wife are big enough […]

Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon know how to deliver monologues

| February 18, 2016

Great monologue on the Tonight Show … Jay Leno tag teams with Jimmy Fallon.

Time Warner Cable commercial — “Back and Forth”

| October 25, 2015

It is interesting how certain commercials are bring smiles to our faces … but we always seem to stumble on a commercial that sticks in our heads. This one from Time Warner Cable has Brenda and me doing  back and forth “yes, welcome” to each other … just as one from Geico did in 2012. It’s […]

Return to work day for Brenda after her summer accident

| October 13, 2015

It’s been almost 10 weeks since Brenda fractured her pelvis and busted up her shoulder and today is “return to work day.” We are hoping she can tolerate it. The physical therapy has gone well but it has been a challenging recovery in getting to this point. Brenda is exceedingly appreciative to one particular occupational […]

Music: Put a little sugar on it honey, put a little sugar on it baby

| September 27, 2015

My brother-in-law Gary is in the hospital in Atlanta recovering from surgery this past Friday … and while we were thinking about him, Brenda and I laughed at the few odd things that Gary says and does (some funny and some just odd … I smile just thinking about it!) At one of our family […]

New Balance Shoes: Great product and made in the U.S.A

| June 11, 2015

Although I still own and wear an old pair of New Balance athletic shoes, this is a reminder post to myself (posted before) to consider the New Balance brand when replacing my current Sketchers (no complains as they are great shoes too). I liked the comments in the video (below) and article on CNBC about […]

Impressive sky after the thunderstorms passes tonight

| April 8, 2015

The spring thunderstorms are right on time now that we’re into April and decided to give the new LIVE broadcasting app called Periscope a try. Unfortunately capturing lightning on an iPhone is not as easy as one would think. Below is a file save from the short live broadcast stream.

Job openings are up … but hirings are down

| April 8, 2015

Very confusing numbers in a recent Wall Street Journal graph noting that the number of job openings being posted are way up (green line) … up to the highest level in 14 years. That’s good news right? Unfortunately a look at the red line shows the number of hiring. Hmm, that trend has moved down, […]

Impulse buy from Apple – refurbished AppleTV for $59

| March 11, 2015

The Apple event earlier this week had be jumping to pick up an AppleTV with the price drop to $69 (opted for refurb)… if for nothing else, a device to plug into the TV on the boat and play video from my iPhone or iPad. Also, it is possible I’ve was bitten by the “want […]

Gov Scott Walker is appealing as a national GOP candidate

| February 21, 2015

CNBC interviewed Gov. Scott Walker on Thursday morning (video below) as America is beginning to talk and take note of him as he makes the media rounds. It is early, but for Walker getting a little better better name recognition is a way to keep dollars growing for a potential (and likely) campaign run to […]

Vistaprint has one of the better television commercials

| February 17, 2015

Vistaprint produced a great television commercial that is currently running on a couple national cable channels. Perhaps I like it because it is “printing” or “entrepreneur” related, but the passing down of a small business does tug at my heart strings. (here’s an additional video on the making of the commercial).

CNBC talks boom growth with North Dakota Sen Heidi Heidcamp

| September 15, 2014

Since visiting my son Taylor a couple times in northwestern (Williston) North Dakota, I pay closer attention to what is happening in his area and the boom growth as well as the politics around moving energy. Unless someone sees the train tanker cars lined up or drive on the roads which are packed with truck […]

TechFriday 2: Testing embed.ly with an Elio video story

| August 22, 2014

A second Tech Friday post: I’ve been looking for an excuse to try embed.ly … so here it goes with a Fox Business News Elio story … and a good PR one at that.

Monkeying with animated GIFs … pun intended

| May 4, 2014

Playing around with a couple video clips where a monkey and a kangaroo punch. I turned them into animated GIFs and then HTML5 using GFYCAT.com — just techie fun.

The Keystone Pipeline and the Political Theater of the Absurd

| March 12, 2014

I keep thinking that something has got to give in Washington DC when it comes to the how the Obama administration and many in congress bog down the greatness of our country. The  lack of an economic recovery is hurting the middle class and there isn’t a commonsense reason for it. Take the debate over […]

Obamacare is on life support. It is time to pull the plug.

| December 28, 2013

2013 introduced us to the pain of what sold to America as the Affordable Health Care for America Act by the 2008 Democrats during President Obama’s first term. Instead of “affordable,” Obamacare launched with high premiums, high deductibles and far more frustrations for those who were already insured by their employers or paying for health […]

Importing and Exporting from overseas in a global economy

| December 8, 2013

Have you ever purchase items from overseas that you thought were a great deal? Well, buyer beware since there can be glitches when it comes to jumping online and “importing or exporting” (the key words) to and from the U.S. when it come to customs … besides the inherent risk involved in exchanging money. I […]

Archive: A Packard documentary from the History Channel

| October 8, 2013

I ran across a “Packard: An American Classic Car” documentary on You Tube the other day and know it is something my dad will enjoy watching. I downloaded a copy to my iPad (using McTube Pro) and am archiving the 44 minute clip to my blog — might purchase the DVD as it would make […]

Walgreens shifting employees to Obamacare exchanges

| September 18, 2013

Walgreens WSJ article … but actually playing with the postie plug-in for WordPress early this morning. EDIT: Failed to get a video posted directly by email from my iPhone to the blog.

Josh Mandel on Squawk on the Street

| August 14, 2013

Way to go Ohio State Treasurer Josh Mandel. Let’s keep the pressure on reforming Ohio and to make our state a model of openness and transparency. For those in SW Ohio … watch to the end when he compares Cincinnati to Detroit. Concerning?

Is there enough outrage over IRS targeting conservatives?

| May 22, 2013

I’m sure that I’m not the only one hesitant to voice my thoughts about the IRS targeting conservative groups like the Tea Party and pondering the wisdom of even chiming in. Normally I favor the “keep quiet” approach and avoid even the thought of commenting on an agency with the power of the Internal Revenue […]

A local connection in Discovery – The Big Brain Theory

| May 2, 2013

The Discovery Channel’s Big Brain Theory included one of our Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA284) chapter members as a competitor – Tom Johnson (@flyboytomj). The engineering reality show debuted with both teams failing in their challenge of protecting a box of explosives in a head-on collision. Even worse, the project management demonstrated by both teams left […]

Fixing the Debt: Unfortunately it is going to take another crisis

| May 1, 2013

Erskine Bowles gave his pitch on CNBC’s Squawkbox Wednesday morning although doesn’t seem to be making much headway with the politicians who refuse to face reality. Neither Republicans or Democrats seem willing to negotiate our future solvency — looks like we’ll need another crisis before real reform is made in Washington DC. I found it […]

As Harold says, “You’re being watched” … and indeed I am!

| January 29, 2013

While packing my travel bag in the closet this morning, I had the feeling I was being watched … and no, not quite like CBS’s "Person of Interest," one of our favorite TV shows btw, but … Lo and behold, a couple of Brenda‘s little "beady" eyed "beany" somethings were looking up at me from […]

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