My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on April 25, 2023

Although it is not unusual for news organizations to let very popular news opinion personality go … with FoxNews I can recall Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly … most regular viewers were probably shocked to see Tucker Carlson let go on Monday (April 24, 2023). It was interesting to hear Glenn Beck comment on it yesterday.

EDIT add: WSJ article offering up details and reasoning for Tucker Carlson’s dismissal (PDF).

Fox News' goodbye message to @TuckerCarlson sure looks like what they said when I left. I have a feeling this will KILL Fox. pic.twitter.com/oOFXnv4sKp

— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) April 24, 2023

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Category: News, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: bill o'reilly, campaign, election, foxnews, glenn beck, joe biden, star trek, tucker carlson

Posted By RichC on April 24, 2023

Saved this video the other day as thought it was a pretty ingenious fly trap. Now does it really work to rid a home of flies … who really knows?

Category: Innovation, Video | No Comments »
Tags: engineering, fly, fly trap, innovation, insect, mp4, trap

Posted By RichC on April 23, 2023

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Category: Music | No Comments »
Tags: henry kapono, jimmy buffett, mellow, mp3, radio margaritaville, siriusxm, sunday, youtube

Posted By RichC on April 23, 2023

A trip to Florida would not be compete without at least one timeline marking photo of us … so this catch-up post with a few leftover photos from our “condo window installation” trip will start with a Brenda and Rich beach photo. 

Between a few rain and heavy wind days, we had some sunny and warm days too. A surf fisherman fought about 45 minutes with a large Crevalle Jack and finally hauled it in. It was amazing that it did not break more than his reel and after seeing the very small ‘now’ bent hook, I was amazed it did not get away. Impressive. 

Shortly after that, I stepped on a Sea Urchin and thankfully was able to pull out the single spine in my foot … although the venom and jab was painful. All is well though, as it only left a bit of swelling and a sore foot. 

We both enjoyed seeing the turtle nests, the loon fishing in the surf (both below) and getting our 10,000 steps in on the beach, and from my non-medical point of view, Brenda is nearly fully rehabbed and able to walk comfortably and without much swelling … something that was not possible in February. All in all, we had a successful trip on all counts.

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Category: Archive, Personal, Photos, Travel, Video | No Comments »
Tags: condo1718, crevalle jack, delray beach, florida, looney tunes, ocean, sea urchin, surf fishing, trip, windows

Posted By RichC on April 22, 2023

We have had our share of rain in Florida this April while in Delray Beach, but have finally finished the upgrade of new windows in the condo. I should have done it back in 2018 as I would have save a few thousand dollars, but as the saying goes … “better late than never” (they were WAY overdue to be replaced). 

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Category: Archive, Personal, Photos, Travel, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: condo1718, delray beach, florida, hurricane, windows

Posted By RichC on 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 many years have I been using Apple computers … well, not quite this long?

The Apple Lisa introduced the graphic user interface (GUI) into the Apple Computer Corporation’s line of personal computers. Instead of using only text-based commands, users could employ pictorial icons displayed on the screen to initiate operations. Officially, “Lisa” stood for “Local Integrated Software Architecture,” but it was also the name of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs’ daughter. This computer was also Jobs “baby,” as he championed its creation and believed it would revolutionize personal computing. Apple spent four years and $50 million to develop it, but it turned out to be a commercial flop, in large part because of the $10,000 per unit cost. Only 80,000 were eventually sold. The Lisa is most important historically as the computer that pioneered concepts later used in the far more successful Macintosh.

Read more at Smithsonian link

Category: Apple, Computer, History, Tidbits | No Comments »
Tags: gui, lisa, macintosh, steve jobs, tech friday, techfriday

Posted By RichC on April 20, 2023

When it comes to fast aircraft, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird is the one most of us know about. In a social media Twitter mention last week, Massimo posted this photo and link.

The SR-71 Blackbird was so fast that, if attacked by surface-to-air missiles, it simply flew higher, faster, and in a slightly different direction to outrun them. 

This story from 1986’s Libya crisis, confirms: LINK

Category: Aviation, Photos, Social Media, TBT | No Comments »
Tags: aircraft, lockheed, massimo, sr-71 blackbird, TBT, twitter

Posted By RichC on 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?

Category: Social Media, Tidbits | No Comments »
Tags: countries, electric, engineering, plugs, twitter

Posted By RichC on April 18, 2023

Yup … ENFORCEMENT.

… hundreds of IRS applications have been around for at least 25 years and dozens that have been in existence for more than 50. There were also pieces of software running 15 updates behind the current version. Fifteen! That’s like using a new iPhone with the iOS from the original iPhone … 

LINK

So … the IRS needs a serious systems upgrade, but just how much of the latest $80 Billion dollars passed by the last congress is headed towards technology and customer service improvement vs enforcement? Take a look at an article this month from the Taxfoundation.org to find out where all those BILLIONS are going to be spent (as if we don’t really know).

An increase in IRS audit rates should increase tax compliance, but it could simultaneously increase compliance costs thanks to false positives: taxpayers already paying their owed liability nonetheless facing an audit. It would be ideal if the document had a more thorough or binding description of how the agency will protect or respect taxpayer rights while pursuing the (legitimate) goal of reducing the tax gap (i.e., the gap between taxes owed and taxes collected). The document also sticks to the flawed promise of not raising IRS audit rates among taxpayers earning below $400,000. As Josh Zumbrun of The Wall Street Journal noted recently, some returns with reported income below $400,000 may be filed by taxpayers with actual income over $400,000.

Additionally, a report from the Government Accountability Office documents that most of the revenue generated from audits over the last decade has come from returns with income below $200,000. The report also shows that in 2021, for each hour spent auditing returns with income below $25,000, the IRS recommended an average additional tax liability of $2,120. And for each hour spent auditing Earned Income Tax Credit returns, the IRS recommended an average additional tax liability of $3,130.

LINK

Informational PDF published by the IRS: “Internal Revenue Service Inflation Reduction Act Strategic Operating Plan FY2023-2031”

Category: Financial, News, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: audit, government, irs, spending, taxes, taxfoundation.org, wsj

Posted By RichC on April 17, 2023

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Category: Music, Personal, Photos, Travel | No Comments »
Tags: beach, breathe, delray beach, mp3, music monday, musicmonday, taylor swift, vacation, youtube