My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on December 6, 2022

No … we don’t have snow in Cincinnati just yet, but the snowbelt areas of western New York sure got their share in November. I’ll include a leftover Twitter photo from the Buffalo NY area that is sure to make someone smile (very creative snowman or mailbox)?

On the Amazon rant subject, I ordered an  older book on the recommendation of my friend Jeff that has yet to arrive. Amazon ship dates saying one thing, but their shipping updates AFTER an order has been place is getting more and more frustrating all the time. Still, I’m looking forward to reading “The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality” by Ludwig von Mises from over 50 years ago.

A reviewer on Amazon wrote:

Over fifty years ago, the famous economist whose career "showed that government intervention is always destructive," penned The Anti-capitalistic Mentality. This short book marked his official venture into psychology. We should be grateful today for its insight. His deconstruction of those opposed to free markets indicates that he had a far better understanding of humanity than do the majority of psychologists.

What impresses most about The Anti-capitalistic Mentality is just how prescient a work it is. The failures of socialism were evident in the 1950s but not as glaring as they are in 2008. Yet this truth does not prevent our politicians from continuing to push for more and more government expansion. The concomitant disruption and diminution of the private sector is discounted entirely. The experiences of Soviet Russia, the Warsaw Pact countries, and the vivid and ongoing failures of communist starvation zones like Cuba and North Korea are pooh-poohed by those desirous of further empowering the Leviathan. In light of what America has become, Von Mises’ elucidation of the enemies of capitalism is more pertinent than ever.

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Category: Books, Humor, Shopping, Social Media, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: anti-capitalistic, book, buffalo, Humor, ludwig von mises, mailbox, mentality, new york, rant, reading, snow, snowman

Posted By RichC on December 5, 2022

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Category: Music, Travel | No Comments »
Tags: 1976, aftershokz, boz scaggs, georgia, mp3, music monday, musicmonday, silk degrees

Posted By RichC on December 4, 2022

With a new Costco store opening close to home in Liberty Township, Ohio (and one in Delray or actually in Boca Raton, FL), Brenda and I have finally decided to join. My buddy Jeff has been a Costco shopper for eons … and Katelyn and Drew are always telling us about their weekend trips to the warehouse club … so after shopping with them over Thanksgiving week in Florida, we decided to make it a “dinner date destination” and joined (it is hard to be an impressive hot dog and drink for $1.50 and giant slice of pizza for $2.00).

Even though we dislike shopping and no long “feed a family,” we kind of enjoyed the experience and will give it a least a one year try. I’m only hoping to find a time that it is a bit less crowded because so far it always seems to be busy.
 

EDIT 12/5/2022: Also … it is finance.yahoo.com’s pick for company of the year.

How we chose Costco as Yahoo Finance’s Company of the Year — Dec 5, 2022 (more…)

Category: Financial, Personal, Photos, Shopping | No Comments »
Tags: club, cost, costco, delray beach, florida, hot dog, liberty township, pizza, Shopping, warehouse

Posted By RichC on December 3, 2022

Thankfully, even as the weather begins to cool these days, the homebuilding progress doesn’t screech to a halt as it did years ago (showing my age).

With that, it is great to archive a photo or two as the walls go up on Katelyn and Drew’s new house in northwest Ohio. There is a small part of me that would love to build again, but another part that keeps telling myself  that I should “be content and enjoy watching our children fulfill their dreams.”

(Perhaps there should be a tag for this #homebuilding project?)
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Category: Archive, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: building, construction, drew, family, homebuilding, house, katelyn, oostra, progress, project

Posted By RichC on December 2, 2022

It is hard to believe that watching sports and movies on a 37" television just isn’t satisfactory enough these days? So when I saw a Walmart pre-Black Friday deal on a 65" TCL Roku TV for $228, I could not pass up the deal. It is very impressive for the money and a perfect upgrade for the condo in Florida.

Of course the downside is that we also needed to upgrade the furniture to hold it … so Katelyn and Drew took us Costco shopping and help pick out a very nice cabinet last week (although it was over twice the cost of the TV! Ugh!)

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Category: Archive, Memories, Personal, Photos, Shopping, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: christmas, condo1718, costco, deal, flashback, florida, lights, memories, tcl roku, tech friday, techfriday, television, tv, walmart

Posted By RichC on December 1, 2022

With Thanksgiving behind us, I’m wondering if Brenda is adopting a new-to-us December holiday tradition? Perhaps or most likely not … but I do see something that looks like a Seinfeld-like “Festivus” pole in our foyer.

For those familiar with the the long running television comedy Seinfeld, you will recall immediately the 1997 episode call “The Strike” which is highlighted by Frank Costanza  and his created “holiday in response to the commercialization of Christmas.” Somewhat symbolic in the episode and in fandom circles is the simple silver Festivus pole. Comic genus!

The Seinfeld episode that featured Festivus was titled "The Strike", although O’Keefe notes that the writers later wished they had named it "The Festivus". It was first broadcast on December 18, 1997. The plot revolves around Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards) returning to work at his old job, H&H Bagels. While dining at Monk’s Restaurant, as George Costanza (Jason Alexander) is opening his mail, he receives a card from his father saying, "Dear Son, Happy Festivus." This leads to Jerry Seinfeld and Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) discussing George’s father’s creation of Festivus despite George not wanting it to be discussed. Kramer then becomes interested in resurrecting the holiday when, at the bagel shop, Frank Costanza (Jerry Stiller) tells him how he created Festivus as an alternative holiday in response to the commercialization of Christmas.

Meanwhile, George creates donation cards for a fake charity called The Human Fund (with the slogan "Money for People") in lieu of having to give office Christmas presents. When his boss, Mr. Kruger (Daniel von Bargen), questions George about a $20,000 check he gave George to donate to the Human Fund as a corporate donation, George hastily concocts the excuse that he made up the Human Fund because he feared persecution for his beliefs, of celebrating Festivus instead of Christmas. Attempting to call his bluff, Kruger goes home with George to see Festivus in action.

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Category: Holiday, Humor | No Comments »
Tags: brenda, christmas, decoration, festivus, Holiday, Humor, pole, seinfeld, tree

Posted By RichC on November 30, 2022

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Category: Personal, Photos, Video | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, delray beach, drew, ellerie, family, florida, katelyn, mp4, oostra, sunshine, thanksgiving, vacation

Posted By RichC on November 29, 2022

Lava and smoky ash is sputtering from the world’s largest active volcano on the Hawaii’s Big Island. Mauna Loa isn’t immediately endangering towns, but eruption poses danger to over 200,000 people and the U.S. Geological Survey is warning people that it can be "very dynamic and that and advancing lava flows can change rapidly." (AP Reporting)

We enjoy our visit years ago, but would not want to live too close to this potential threat.

Category: Nature, News | No Comments »
Tags: ap, big island, hawaii, mauna loa, pacific, volcano

Posted By RichC on November 28, 2022

In keeping with the 1960’s Music Monday from a couple week’s ago, the song “Puff the Magic Dragon” by Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary flickered by in some way this past week when someone mentioned the old rumors speculating that “it contained veiled references to smoking marijuana.” But the authors, including the original poem by Leonard Lipton and Yarrow have repeatedly rejected and denied the claims.

The word "paper" in the name of Puff’s human friend Jackie Paper was said to be a reference to rolling papers, the words "by the sea" were interpreted as "by the C" (as in cannabis), the word "mist" stood for "smoke", the land of "Honahlee" stood for hashish, and "dragon" was interpreted as "draggin’" (i.e., inhaling smoke). Similarly, the name "Puff" was alleged to be a reference to taking a "puff" on a joint.

LINK

Although these references do seem credible for someone growing up in the 60’s and 70’s, I much prefer the interpretation that children grow up and out of the imaginary friends and dragon phase and dragons who live forever move on to the next little girl and boy childhood imagination. Nevertheless, it is an enjoyable song even to this day (1965 live performance below and a Decades TV  Peter, Paul and Mary story here).

Puff the Magic Dragon (lyrics)

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Category: Music, Video | No Comments »
Tags: 1960s, Music, music monday, musicmonday, peter paul mary, puff the magic dragon, song, youtube

Posted By RichC on November 25, 2022

Part of what was in my long awaited Magfast order arrived earlier this month and after charging the MAGFAST battery packs, I started to test the output plugs. The USB-C worked just fine on my Kindle reader. The Lightning plug worked to charge my iPhone 7 and iPad. The Micro-USB worked (I think) and the USB-A output plugs  charged devices like my Fitbit Versa 2 watch using the special cradle, although very slow.

The one device that doesn’t seem to take a charge is my Aftershokz Aeropex headset. On the Life, the USB-A out is on the top and starts to charge then turn off after about 30 seconds … using the proprietary cable with magnetic attachment. The bigger MAGFAST Extreme has a couple of USB-A plugs on the bottom and they seem to work, but after hours of remaining plugged in, the condition indicated displayed 8 of 10 LEDs indicating a discharge, but the Aeropex remained uncharged fully with a still red LED (photo). I’ve written the company and they are looking into it.

It might be a sensing circuit that shuts down when the discharge is small … that is my thought anyway?

Category: Gadget, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: battery pack, charging, customer support, extreme, issues, life, magfast, problems, tech friday, techfriday