My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on March 14, 2022

Did you like disco? Me … not so much … but didn’t mind a few songs from the 1970s. For Music Monday here’s a YouTube video  with KC and the Sunshine Band from 1979 performing “Please Don’t Go.”
 

“FOX and Friends” All American Concert July 20, 2012 in NYC

If you were like me and didn’t follow disco music closely, you probably didn’t know much about band founder Harry Wayne Casey and his 1973 Hialeah, Florida band (below).

The band was formed in 1973 by Harry Wayne Casey (KC), a record store employee and part-timer at TK Records in Hialeah, Florida. KC originally called the band KC & The Sunshine Junkanoo Band, as he used studio musicians from TK and a local Junkanoo band called the Miami Junkanoo Band. He was introduced to Richard Finch, who was engineering records for TK, and the Casey-Finch musical collaboration began. They were soon joined by guitarist Jerome Smith and drummer Robert Johnson, both TK studio musicians.

The first few songs, “Blow Your Whistle” (September 1973) and “Sound Your Funky Horn” (February 1974), were released as singles, and did well enough on the U.S. R&B chart and overseas that TK wanted a follow-up single and album. In the meantime, while working on demos for KC & the Sunshine Band, the song “Rock Your Baby” (George McCrae) was created. It was written by Casey and featured Smith on guitar, and became a number one hit in 51 countries in mid-1974. The band’s “Queen of Clubs”, which featured uncredited vocals by McCrae, was a hit in the UK, peaking at number 7 and they went on a tour there in 1975.
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Category: Music, Video | No Comments »
Tags: disco, harry wayne casey, kc and the sunshine band, music monday, musicmonday, please don't go, youtube

Posted By RichC on March 13, 2022

When it comes to workshops, tools, jigs and helpers, we all have our go-to favorites and my 35 year old featherboard is no exception. For years now, I’ve told myself that I was going to make a new one since this was just a quick temporary one (like the miter saw hold down below), but have never taken the time to do it. I’ve improved the clamping mechanism, made several different table saw throat plates, but never a better and more appropriate “featherboard.” Someday!

As for the table saw throat plate, I’m fond of the Starboard material and wish I had more of it. The slick and stable surface makes it a great material and “in my opinion” is better than wood or the stock metal one that came with my Delta cabinet saw. If you enjoy woodworking and stumble onto some scrap pieces of Starboard, save it for a zero-clearance throat plate (great Instructables tip for improving existing throat plate).

Hitachi Miter Saw stock clamp with “hold down” for small pieces and table saw throat plates

A question for all those experienced woodworkers:  I’m looking to replace the stock 12” Hitachi Miter Saw blade with a new and maybe “thinner kerf” crosscut blade. Any advice??? Send me a message.

Category: How-To, Personal, Photos, Tidbits, Tools, Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: clamp, featherboard, instructables, rockler, saw, someday, table, tablesaw, throatplate, tips, tools, woodshop, workshop

Posted By RichC on March 12, 2022

Nobody wants to really hear or see anymore written about inflation. We’ve all seen it with our own two eyes and our wallets have felt it since the Biden administration took office. No more though than the last couple of weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine as the  West’s political miscalculations and head-in-the-tar-sands polices have made them vulnerable and reliant on Russian oil and gas.

The Progressive Democrats and climate change fanatics in this country don’t appreciate the realistic gains we have made in converting from dirty coal to cleaner coal power plants, generating more with natural gas, nuclear or hydro in the past several decades. The last decade’s impressive growth of wind, solar and electric vehicle adoptions should be praised rather than declared “not fast enough.” Instead they move the U.S. from finally being energy “independent” to once again becoming “dependent” and an importer of oil.

The those currently controlling the national agenda (Biden and company), made no bones about their war on fossil fuels as soon as they took control in January 2021 … and lead by the socialist Green New Deal ideologues pulling the puppet strings.

When we demonize the oil and gas industry, we hurt the American economy.

Energy fuels our economic engine and  when we reduce domestic energy and rely on imports … we, like Europe, become hostage to those who are supplying it – Russia, Iran, Venezuela, etc. Let’s be realistic … an economically prosperous country has the luxury of improving our mix of renewables and our steady move towards a clean energy future, but a weak, dependent, struggling economy does not have that same luxury.

Also .. this energy rant was an excuse to post a local Liberty Township, Ohio UDF fuel price (2014) photo, much as I did years ago on this blog (below). Déjàvu!

Gasoline prices top $5.00 in California – 10/9/2012

Category: Automotive, Energy, Personal, Photos, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: dejavu, democrats, economy, energy, fuel, gas, oil, policies, progressive, recession, udf

Posted By RichC on March 12, 2022

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Category: Archive, Video, Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, birthday, ellerie, frame, grandaughters, granddaughter, miter, mp4, party, perrysburg, project, rocking chair, spline, video

Posted By RichC on March 11, 2022

Here are a couple of technology highlights to mention on a Tech Friday from earlier this week. First, the new driveway Wyze Cam3 set-up (moved it) picked up an evening fox whizzing by and the second, an event on Tuesday from Apple announcing new products.

Personally, I’m not sure what kind of surprise was expected from Apple, but nothing really jumped out. I was attracted to the new iPad Air with the M1 chip starting at $599 … but it is not on my current “must have” shopping list. Both Brenda and I have aging iPhone 7s so it will likely be something we will need to replace this year or next. With the price of high end iPhones above $1000 now, the upgraded small iPhone SE with the A15 chip, improved glass and 5G connectivity is attractive. At a $429 starting price, it might be the way to go?

EDIT 3/13/2022: Adding what has now become a regular visit by our fox on the garage WyzeCam …

Category: Apple, Cellphone, Gadget, Nature, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: aapl, ani gif, anigif, apple, appleevent, driveway, fox, ipad, iphone, security, wyze, wyzecam3

Posted By RichC on March 10, 2022

It looks as if the next book on my reading list will be Jonathan E. Hillman’s “The Digital Silk Road: China’s Quest to Wire the World and Win the Future.” It was release last October (2021) and after reading a review (and WSJ recommendation), I decided to download the digital e-book.

I’m not an expert on world trade, finance, infrastructure or expanding influence China the ruling Communist party has around the globe, but without question their expansion has been rapid and systematic. As information goes digital, it is increasingly obvious that those who control the flow of data and networks could become the dominate influence in the world. As the the author reveals, China continues to expand its digital footprint in nearly every country and warns that we will soon be facing the “consequences of a future in which all routers lead to Beijing.”

While this has steadily been happening for the past couple of decades, we are currently watching the democratic western powers (and our own President Biden) display weakness at every turn. Communist adversaries and dictatorships are quickly swooping in to take advantage of our weakness and the opportunity to expand their influence, reach and perhaps even territories. Europe is now dependent on Russia and their oil and gas, North and South America relies on Asia (and primarily China) to supply much of our manufactured goods, digital devices and chips … and way too much of our mined raw materials.

Europe and America didn’t pay attention when this started to happen 90 years ago and leaders either ignored (“it is not our problem”) or tried to avoid by diplomatic appeasement. Let’s learn from history and deal with aggressive adversaries in the only way that has proven to work … the Reagan Doctrine that ended the Cold War.

Category: Books, History, Politics, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: appeasement, book, china, communism, democracy, digital silk road, doctrine, ebook, hitler, jonathan hillman, reagan, world affairs

Posted By RichC on March 9, 2022

Something I’ve notice over the years is that today’s men have lost interest in what traditionally were seen as male hobbies and interests.

My thought is that recent generation of men have abandoned working on cars in their garages and spending weekends with tools in their workshop (probably non-existent nowadays). They don’t fish and hunt as they once did (men do still go to the gym, hike, bike, travel, etc), but for a lot of today’s men, they outsource home maintenance, repairs and yardwork.

I’m not sure if it is related to fathers no longer passing down necessary hobbies and skills … and instead being focused on their job, organized youth sports, entertainment or video gaming and technology or what? The “disappearing blue collar America” may also contribute to men not working with their hands, as does the fact that we have far fewer manufacturing jobs which were once the mainstay of our country. Even if where those jobs do exist, schools aren’t preparing students for the “skills jobs” we do have. Gone is the Industrial Education that was once in every K-12 education … and vocational education is discouraged even for students who likely would benefit; they are instead tracked college-prep where many drop out with way too much debt.

Interestingly, I’m seeing “men” drawn more towards cooking and working in the kitchen in recent years … which was once pretty much a woman’s domain. Is it a natural progression of a more balanced society or are men naturally drawn to cooking when they don’t have other “tool related hobbies” to keep them occupied?

Nothing wrong with it, but it has just been an interesting change that has happed in my lifetime.

On to my “spoiled American” mini-rant:

I placed an order for a kitchen utensil (hence the previous paragraphs) from Walmart.com back in February and expecting that it would show up within a day or two as has been the recent norm. Amazon has definitely slipped a bit in the last couple of years in delivering when stated, but usually it is still within a day or so. Sadly ordering from vendors on Walmart’s website will discourage me from even going to there to order in the future.

*** Posting stream of package scan – I was both impressed with the number of scans and  lack of delivery progress in moving deliveries along. Perhaps it is a USPS problem???

Category: Education, Hobby, Misc, Productivity, Recreation, Shopping | No Comments »
Tags: amazon, change, cooking, interests, men, online, rant, Shopping, thoughts, tracking, trend, usps, walmart, women

Posted By RichC on March 8, 2022

The final steps of finishing the rocking chair for my granddaughter are finally getting done. The canvas strips of material have been added with a little flexible adhesive in the center and epoxy on the ends. The canvas material should do a couple things, first prevent the painted rockers from wearing to bare wood and second prevent any damage to what ever it is rocking on (deck, patio, wood floor, etc). This idea was drawn from the old … and I mean OLD … antique wicker rocker we use on the back porch. It has been in my family since it was in my great grandparents house. Let’s hope this will offer similar wear and protection?

While working in the workshop, I finished up sanding and repainting the “less than durable” paint that I used on the high chair a few years back. Hopefully this time it will withstand the scrubbing required to keep it clean? 

And finally, I worked on another mitered frame … this time using the maple from my antique type galley trays (used on previous projects) and some walnut. I’m getting better, although my original homemade framing clamps needed to be glued a little more after cutting the corners for the walnut splines.

Category: Archive, Photography, Photos, Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: canvas, chair, clamps, epoxy, frame, frames, high chair, projects, rocker, rocking chair, wicker, workshop

Posted By RichC on March 7, 2022

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Category: Music | No Comments »
Tags: 1970s, Eddie Cornelius, mp3, music monday, musicmonday, too late to turn back now, youtube

Posted By RichC on March 6, 2022

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Category: Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, birthday, decorations, drew, family, granddaughter, granddaughters, katelyn