My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on August 6, 2022

Well if one has to stay at home … looking at our backyard “storm is coming” pool photo … and we aren’t to be out and about, there could be worse places to be isolating?

The summer storms continued rolling thru this past week and and after testing positive the previous week, I thought a week later that we would be on the improve and that both of us would be testing negative. Nope, I’m still positive … and since the cough, sore throat and “summer cold-like symptoms” continue, I’m likely still fighting this virus (perhaps I should have opted for calling my doctor about Paxlovid?) Brenda is planning retest this weekend since she was positive after me.

The week hasn’t been a total loss since I’ve felt good enough to work in the home office (and on it – putting it back together), mow and trim the lawn, clean the pool and enjoy some evening TV comedy with Brenda; we binge watched about a dozen Gilligan’s Island episodes that I had DVRed some time ago. I need to figure out where to stream them from start to finish without commercials as the song is now earwormed in our heads?

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Category: Entertainment, Health, Personal, Photos, Video | No Comments »
Tags: backyard, brenda, comedy, coronavirus, covid, earworm, gilligan's island, isolate, paxlovid, pool, richc, storms, summer, theme song, youtube

Posted By RichC on August 5, 2022

Not that I use Amazon Cloud Drive for all that much (using AWS S3), but it will be disappointing for those who adopted Amazon for their backups and cloud storage needs … other than Photos (they will still support).

Dear Amazon Drive Customer,

Over the last 11 years, Amazon Drive has served as a secure cloud storage service for Amazon customers to back up their files. On December 31, 2023, we will no longer support Amazon Drive to more fully focus our efforts on photos and video storage with Amazon Photos. We will continue to provide customers the ability to safely back up, share, and organize photos and videos with Amazon Photos.

What this means for you:

You are receiving this email because you have files stored on Amazon Drive that are not supported by Amazon Photos. On December 31, 2023, you will no longer have access to Amazon Drive. Until then, you can continue to use Amazon Drive to manage your files.

If you rely on Amazon Drive for your file storage, you will need to go to the Amazon Drive website and download your files by December 31, 2023. As an Amazon customer your photo and video files have been automatically saved to Amazon Photos. Step-by-step instructions for downloading your files, managing your paid subscription, and resources for additional help can be found on our FAQ page.

As part of this process, on January 31, 2023, Amazon will no longer support uploading files on the Amazon Drive website. You will still be able to view and download files until December 31, 2023.

You can continue to use Amazon Photos for backing up and storing photo and video files. The Amazon Photos app can be downloaded on iOS, Android, and Desktop. Prime members get free, unlimited full-resolution photo storage and 5 GB video storage. If you are not a Prime member, you get 5 GB of free storage for photos and video.

Thank you for being an Amazon customer.

The Amazon Drive team

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Category: Cloud, Computer, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: $AMZN, amazon, amazon drive, aws, cloud, drive, storage, tech friday, techfriday

Posted By RichC on August 4, 2022

One never knows who will stop by to join me by the pool on a hot evening (it is hot this week). On Wednesday it was an American Green Crab Spider (Misumessus oblongus).

These little “almost luminous” vivid green spiders move like crabs but don’t spin spider webs. They spend their time climbing through green vegetation to find small insect prey.

Category: Environment, Nature, Photos, Science | No Comments »
Tags: american, crab, green, misumessus oblongus, ohio, pool, spider

Posted By RichC on 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 can for the most part be cleaned up.

Not being a painter, I’m unsure why they seem to be easier to use and clean, but wish I could find a couple more or remember where they came from??? I suspect the black one was one of Brenda’s dad’s brushes based on the oil based paint still on the bristles, but it still works great for the latex semi-gloss paint that I use on baseboards and trim.

Along with caulking, I should probably spend more time with an expert or at least find a few YouTube video clips to learn more.

Category: Personal, Photos, Tidbits, Tools | No Comments »
Tags: brush, brushes, paint, painting, photo, workshop

Posted By RichC on 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 New Year. This was done to keep the working week the same for entire country and not have it split over the international date line.” 

Here are 10 more interesting facts on the  Republic of Kiribati (source Wikipedia):

1. Located in the central Pacific Ocean, Kiribati is made up of 33 atolls and reef islands, only 21 of which are inhabited.
2. It has only 103,500 people making it the 197th most populous country on earth.
3. Over 90% of the population lives on the Gilbert Islands, with nearly 50% living on Tarawa.
4. The country includes Christmas Island which is written as Kiritimati in the Kiribati language but pronounced the same as Christmas.
5. Kiritimati is the largest coral atoll in the world and makes up about half of Kiribati’s land area.
6. Tarawa Atoll and others Gilbert islands were invaded by the Japanese in December 1941 and liberated by the Americans 2 years later in November 1943 in the Battle of Tarawa.
7. The country only gained its full independence from the United Kingdom on July 12th, 1979.
8. Most of the islands and atolls are only 1-2 meters (3-6 feet) above sea level, with the highest point just 81 m; (266 ft) above sea level.
9. Two small uninhabited islets, Tebua Tarawa and Abanuea, disappeared below the sea in 1999.
10. To counter the very real risk of the entire country disappearing beneath the waves within the next 50 years, Kiribati is in talks to buy 5,000 acres from Fiji where they can start relocating people.

Category: Human Interest, Tidbits, Travel | No Comments »
Tags: brilliantmaps.com, kiribati, maps, pacific ocean, reddit, timezone, wikipedia

Posted By RichC on August 1, 2022

Well it looks like COVID19’s BA.5 subvariant has found us … or we found it. Fortunately for us, we have been vaccinated and at least I have one of the boosters … so hopefully the more serious and severe illness seen by many can be avoided.

As of my writing (over the weekend) the symptoms have been exactly as described by several online medical sources: “symptoms of BA.5 are similar to previous COVID variants: fever, runny nose, coughing, sore throat, headaches, muscle pain and fatigue.”

I noticed it first, but home tested negative initially, and then positive as my “summer cold” (cough, cough) got worse. I did not have a fever (or at least not yet) but Brenda who didn’t show symptoms until a day or two after me does have a fever. We contemplated calling our PCP to see about a Paxlovid Rx, but since we tested positive Friday night, we made the excuse that it was the weekend and would see how it goes. So far so good; we’ll use this as an excuse to lay-low and rest.

Category: Archive, Health, Medical, Personal | No Comments »
Tags: brenda, coronavirus, covid tests, covid19, paxlovid, richc

Posted By RichC on August 1, 2022

This content is restricted.

Category: Music | No Comments »
Tags: anne murray, buffalo springfield, dannys song, jim messina, kenny loggins, mp3, music monday, musicmonday, poco

Posted By RichC on 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).

Category: Advice, How-To, Tidbits, Tools, Video | No Comments »
Tags: caulking, painting, tips, youtube

Posted By RichC on July 30, 2022

This past weekend I started what is going to be a slow, but deliberative process of moving out of the basement and back into the upstairs home office. No window blinds yet, but we did move the oriental rug from our first floor to the upstairs (Brenda would like to get something new for the Great Room). It looks great in the office and deadens the echo sound a little bit.

When I moved out and started the updates, I didn’t realized just how long it would be … or just how much I would enjoy working out of the cooler basement … BUT, the new set up is very nice too and I am doing my utmost NOT to fill it back up with 20-30 years of home office junk. I will eventually get my maps and nautical charts up on the cork wall and try to rotate a few(1) of my grandmother’s(2) many(3), many(4), paintings(5) (Ruth Bluhm) as well as a couple from my great Uncle Ray Grathwol, but I’m in no rush to hang them.

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Category: Archive, Art, Human Interest, Misc, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: ani gif, anigif, home, office, paintings, ray grathwol, remodel, ruth bluhm, wood floors

Posted By RichC on July 29, 2022

A couple of years ago, Google announced that its Chrome Browser would start phasing out their support for “third party tracking cookies.” Users concerned about privacy and data tracking from their web browsing have tried over the years to use add-ons and extensions to block or prevent Chrome from using them. Some of us switch browsers assuming some are better than others when it comes to privacy, but usability with blockers on some sites is often compromised … so having a company like Google phasing out support for invasive cookies was a promising announcement.

Unfortunately this week Google Privacy Sandbox posted a delay stating “we now intend to begin phasing out third-party cookies in Chrome in the second half of 2024” to allow more time for testing.

Category: Computer, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: browser, chrome, cookies, delay, google, tech friday, techfriday