My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on May 14, 2023

Blooming love’s embrace,
Mother’s heart, radiant grace,
Forever cherished.

While listening to a news program a couple of weeks ago, the morning hosts talked about receiving too many long, overly wordy interoffice emails and notes; I assume journalists can be longwinded? A Haiku challenge ensued. 

Haiku (俳句) is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases composed of 17 phonetic units (called on in Japanese, which are similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern that include a kireji, or “cutting word” and a kigo, or seasonal reference.

So for Mother’s Day 2023, I’m using a ChatGPT written Haiku poem (above) …  and am including odd, but unique, “turtle slap” video especially for Brenda (turtles are a long running Brenda joke). We are looking forward to a visit from Taylor and Megan for Mother’s Day and will be in spirit with my daughter Katelyn … mom to our two beautiful granddaughters … and wishing her a Happy Birthday too (see you soon. Hm, what were we doing last year?).

Category: AI, Holiday, Humor, Nature, Personal, Video | No Comments »
Tags: birthday, brenda, chatbot, chatgpt, haiku, katelyn, mother's day, mp4, poem, turtle

Posted By RichC on May 13, 2023

Which airline do you fly most often?
We had a bad experience last summer on AirCanada and probably won’t ever flight with them again … on the other hand, we fly Southwest all the time and thankfully didn’t fly during their “meltdown (click charts for larger).”

Even after the December 2022 flightmare by Southwest Airlines, they still rank above several other US domestic airlines, according to The Best and Worst Airlines of 2022 in the Wall Street Journal.

According to an article and comparison earlier this year,
“Delta retained its crown by navigating the hurdles better than peers, but was far from perfect. The airline took the top spot in three of the seven categories, down from five in 2021. Its on-time arrival rate of 81.7% beat all competitors, but was still down from 87.9% in 2021 and 83.4% in 2019, the industry’s last normal year.” 

LINK to full article 

Category: Aviation, News, Travel | No Comments »
Tags: airlines, delta, rankings, southwest, wsj

Posted By RichC on May 12, 2023

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has announced that he will be handing over the reins of Twitter to a new female CEO. The move comes after Musk acquired the social media platform for $44 billion in April 2022.

In a tweet on Thursday, Musk said: 

Excited to announce that I’ve hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks!

My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk)

May 11, 2023

Musk has been a vocal critic of Twitter’s moderation policies, which he has said are too restrictive. He has also said that he wants to make Twitter a more open and free platform for speech.

It is unclear what changes the new CEO will make to Twitter. However, her appointment is a sign that Musk is serious about his commitment to making the platform more open and free.

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Category: Business, Social Media | No Comments »
Tags: ceo, elon musk, tech friday, techfriday, twitter

Posted By RichC on May 11, 2023

Saw this double-tortilla inspired grilled Mexican sandwich on Twitter the other day and wanted to save to my food and recipe categories with the thought … I might try this!

Category: Food, Ideas, Recipe, Social Media | No Comments »
Tags: food, idea, mexican, mp4, sandwich

Posted By RichC on 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 in Airplane Mode so it stay in my device — tip … it works until you forget.

Anyway, the Ron DeSantis book that I’ve had on hold in my local library since January became available and so I excitedly downloaded it to my Kindle — therefore removing the book I was in the middle of reading. Unfortunately “Megathreats” is not available to borrow in order to finish, so it is back on hold again. Ugh … cheapskate Rich should just buy the books. 😉 

So this past weekend I’ve started reading “The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for Americas’s Revival” and immediately recognize that Governor Ron DeSantis has the leadership traits that many in America are searching for … me included. Oh I’m sure like every politician, there’s plenty to complain about … too young, too conservative, too hard-nosed and likely in direct competition with former President Trump for the Republican nomination. All that aside, if he “were” elected and “could” manage to deal with the swamp that is Washington DC and embedded corrupt lifers who wield power, America would have a far better chance to be a “shining city on a hill” once again. 

Hopefully I get through this book before it needs to be returned … perhaps I should set to “Airplane Mode” just in case?

Category: Books, Politics, Tidbits, Video | No Comments »
Tags: america, book, florida, governor, kindle, Politics, presidential, reading, reagan, ron desantis

Posted By RichC on 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 was working a garage sale with Megan and her mom (his haul below), Brenda and I enjoyed the weekend together. 

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Category: Archive, Gadget, Misc, Personal, Photos, Tidbits | No Comments »
Tags: angel food cake, birthday, brenda, coffee, embermug, ginger dressing, kdae, mirror, taylor, warranty

Posted By RichC on May 8, 2023

Canadian singer/songwriter Gordon Lightfoot passed away last week; he was 84. The respected entertainer has been a favorite of mine since high school and I enjoyed his music throughout the years … and still do. Music Monday has highlighted a few of his many songs and I felt obligated to reflect on his music this week (commented on a WSJ article in 2019).

Gordon Lightfoot, the Canadian singer-songwriter whose enduring folk hits included “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” and “Sundown,” died Monday, his spokesperson told CNN. He was 84.

Lightfoot died of natural causes at 7:30 p.m. at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, spokesperson Victoria Lord said.

His death comes less than a month after he canceled his 2023 US and Canada concert schedule on April 11. That cancellation was due to “health related issues” according to a Facebook post.

Lightfoot found success on the US pop charts in 1970 with the song “If You Could Read My Mind.” That track also earned the artist his second of four Grammy nominations, that one for best male pop vocal performance.

His 1976 ballad about the sinking of a Great Lakes cargo ship, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” reached No. 2 on the Billboard charts. Other hits included “Carefree Highway.”

LINK to CNN article

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Category: Entertainment, Music, Obituary | No Comments »
Tags: canadian, cnn, gordon lightfoot, Music, music monday, musicmonday, obit, singer, songwriter, youtube

Posted By RichC on May 7, 2023

Memories: We had two of them — The original iMac in 1998

On May 6, 1998, Steve Jobs announced the iMac, and we wouldn’t now have the iPhone, the Apple Store, or even Apple itself, if it hadn’t been such a success.

If there’s ever any doubt that the iMac is a phenomenal success, just try to think of any other computer — any other device — that is still being sold a quarter of a century after it was launched. The iMac of 2023 may be vastly different to the original one announced in 1998, but it’s not just that it has kept the name.

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Category: Apple, Computer, History, Memories | No Comments »
Tags: apple, appleinsider, Computer, imac, steve jobs

Posted By RichC on May 6, 2023

When it comes to sharing political and socioeconomic philosophy, it is like tiptoeing through a minefield. No matter what books, lectures, video or definitions one uses when discussing political ideologies, almost all sources will come under suspicion of bias … or in this case … Cultural Marxist Conspiracy Theory. I do read a bit on the topic since it interests me, but I’ve only scratched the surface; it is a continual study and feels like I’m “attempting to cure something I still don’t understand” (a butchered Polish proverb).

With that said, I’ll add a lecture by American James Lindsay discussing a controversial suggestion:“Woke is Maoism with American characteristics — Woke is Marxism” (below).

We see and hear “woke” thrown around all the time in the US as we watch the rest of the western world shifting from the politically and economic philosophy of Classical Liberalism (individual autonomy, limited government, economic freedom, political freedom and freedom of speech) towards what best fits under the umbrella of state controlled Marxism (embracing elements of both social and economic justice aspired to by the progressives of the New Left — personally it looks like Maoism … although currently defined as Democratic Socialism).

Marxism is a method of socioeconomic analysis that analyzes class relations and societal conflict using a materialist interpretation of historical development and a dialectical view of social transformation.

See differences between Marxism and Maoism.

Now whether the recent (last decade or two) change is being orchestrated or happening organically … or a bit of both … you will have to decide for yourself, but I did find this 28 minutes talk by James Lindsay in Europe thought provoking. If you can’t listen to it all, fast-forward to about the 20 minute mark (identities and categorization).
 

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Category: Education, History, Politics, Video | No Comments »
Tags: economic justice, james lindsey, lecture, liberalism, maoism, marxism, mp4, social justice, woke, wokeism

Posted By RichC on May 5, 2023

Last month I switched my LTE iPhone 7-plus to USMobile, a budget-friendly wireless carrier, and have been satisfied with the trial. Since I will likely stay with the service after making the cumbersome switch from Mint Mobile, I started to think about switching Brenda’s iPhone7 — ugh! So after a little discussion with her about Apple no long supporting updates and due to her poor battery life (I could install a new battery?) … it seemed like a good time to get her a new iPhone14 for Mother’s Day (ordered).

I talked it over with my son Taylor who was enthusiastic about the idea and said he would get her a case for it. Excellent plan.

So hopefully I’ll be able to get the new eSIM phone switched over in time for Mother’s Day and before her Mint Mobile expires on 5/15. We’ll see about adding to my existing plan, getting the referral bucks or trying for another free trial plan later?  For now, it is just exciting to get one of our iPhones up-to-date in 2023 and finally on a 5G network … although I really wanted to wait for the iPhone flip phone (NO, it is not a thing … but I’m wishing it was). 😉 

Category: Apple, Cellphone, Gadget, Holiday, Personal, Photos, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: 128GB, apple, brenda, iphone14, mint mobile, mother's day, tech friday, techfriday, usmobile