Rickie Lee Jones: Her book “Chronicles of an American Troubadour” plus “Chuck E’s in Love” music from 1979
Posted By RichC on December 6, 2021
This content is restricted.
Advice: Consider replacing the wax ring seal on your toilet
Posted By RichC on December 5, 2021
It might be a good idea to replace, or at least check, the wax ring seal on your toilet … as the line goes, “ask me how I know.” It seems ours was fine for 25 years, but at some point decided to drip when flushed. Slowly but surely the drip turned into a wet spot under the tile (didn’t damage the wood subfloor) and dripped onto our finished drywall ceiling in the basement. Earlier this year, I thought all was well when I fished through the TV signal box wiring, but obviously not.
After cutting away all the damp drywall and after removing the insulation material (in our basement media/game room area) … I found the culprit. So after removing the toilet and “electing” Brenda to do some deep Clorox cleaning in the master bath … I headed to Home Depot to pick up the “premium ring with 40% more wax” … just in case.
Instead of patching the drywall, I am planning to add a framed panel in the ceiling so that I can remove and access the drain pipes that merge in this spot (hopefully never to be needed again, but who knows).
I’m not really happy with the “removable panel” look … and might still end up patching with drywall again. 🤔
The Asteroid 4660 Nereus will come relatively close to earth
Posted By RichC on December 4, 2021
The scientific community which tracks asteroids has known about the “potentially hazardous” asteroid 4660 Nereus, which is the size of the Eiffel Tower, since it was discovered in 1982. It will pass at its closest point in 20-years on December 11, 2021, although still a safe distance from earth.
The “egg shaped” asteroid may contains $4.71 billion worth of nickel, iron and cobalt which makes 4660 Nereus a candidate for a “rendezvous mission.” Private space exploration firms like SpaceX and Blue Origin might eventually look an asteroid this size and “only” 2.5 million miles from Earth as an ideal candidate for orbiting, landing or mining.
Tech Friday: Is there too much of YOU on the Internet?
Posted By RichC on December 3, 2021
As years of your personal information accumulates on servers across the Internet, do you ever wonder just how much of your data has evolved from a generic interpreted sketch, to a 
colorful painting with specific details … to now a high resolution gigabyte sized photo of you and your life?
Well it is past due time to clean up what you can and limit just how much personal data you share … and as a friend commented to me, “overload the databases with as much bogus and inaccurate information as possible” …although I’m not sure if that is possible?
Can really delete yourself from the Internet? Doubtful, but perhaps the advice of cybersecurity journalist Malcolm Higgins can help.
How to remove personal information from the internet
If you’ve been using the internet for years, untangling your information from the Web won’t be easy. When you share something online, you usually give up control of that piece of data. It may still belong to you, but it’s very difficult for you to limit who has access to it and what it’s used for.
The first step will be to understand what’s out there so you know what you’ll have to scrub away to disappear.
- Data scraping: There’s now a whole industry built around “data scraping” — companies will take the information you put online, store it in databases, and then sell it on to other businesses and organizations. Deleting your data from their databases may be very difficult or impossible, but we’ll discuss a few potential methods below.
- Old accounts: It’s easy enough to track down and delete, anonymize or hide accounts you use every day. But what about old accounts on forgotten or defunct sites? Will you be able to delete them all – if you can even find them?
- Caching: Let’s say you delete a page with information about yourself. It may still take a while before mentions of that page (and your data) disappear from search engine results. That’s because that data may be stored in their caches for quick access when people search for you.
Internet scrubbing is a challenge, but it’s not impossible and it is your right. We’ll go over everything step by step.
Delete social media and online shopping accounts
Deleting yourself from the internet is a long journey. The first place you need to visit is your social media. The companies behind these platforms hoard your data, and your social profiles will often be the first ones to come up in Google searches.
Time Life Books: The Epic of Flight #TBT
Posted By RichC on December 2, 2021
The Time-Life series books have never been something I’ve collected, but I’ve enjoyed looking at them as I would an old set of encyclopedias. There is something fascinating about the photos and history that can distract for hours. An aviation friend included a “poster” from the 1982 series earlier this week which did the same so I’ll include it on the blog for this week’s Throwback Thursday #TBT – click photo for larger image.
One of the most popular and well-regarded sets ever assembled on the history of flight. Notable because it has a healthy amount of WWII aviation history. Stamped leatherette with color inset to all covers. As with all of these Time-Life sets, the editors were able to tap into Time and Life’s enormous image archives. 23 Volumes: The Road to Kitty Hawk, The Explorers, The First Aviators, The Aeronauts, Knights of the Air, Barnstormers & Speed Kings, Flying the Mail, Soldiers of Fortune, Women Aloft, Designers and Test Pilots, The Giant Airships, The Airline Builders, Fighting Jets, Architects of Air Power, The RAF at War, The Luftwaffe, America in the Air War, The Jet Age, The Carrier War, The Pathfinders, The Helicopters, The Soviet Air Force at War, The Bush Pilots.
Green cars and hopefully green grass seed edging our driveway
Posted By RichC on December 1, 2021
Earlier this week on Twitter I shared this parking photo and thought that maybe my next vehicle should be “green?”
But really just wanted to archive the kind of grass seed being used to reseed and along the edge of our new driveway.
Sagging elbow skin: When did I get this Grandpa Skin?
Posted By RichC on November 30, 2021
Who really spends time looking at themselves in the mirror … at least the men that I know?
BUT … I noticed my elbows when getting dressed last weekend … there is some disturbing sagging “grandpa skin” … “when did this happen?”
On the other hand, I’m not alone and I suppose this is to be expected after spending a fair amount of time in the elements without using much protection over the years … also, I’m not getting any younger.
Question: I’m 57 in good shape. Problem is loose skin around elbows.
I noticed that your email address is related to outdoor work. If that is correct then part of the loose skin of your elbow region may in part be due to long term sun exposure leading to loss of elasticity of your skin. Another cause is aging ( I am right behind you at age 56!) and genetic predisposition to lax skin.
— Dr. Walter Tom, MD, FACS
Music Monday: “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” – CCR
Posted By RichC on November 29, 2021
This content is restricted.
Thanksgiving with my brother and a few wrap-up photos
Posted By RichC on November 28, 2021
Having Thanksgiving at my brother’s house with our family (minus Jaben who recently had COVID19) was one of those photo days that I should have packed my Lumix camera. The lighting was a bit dark and into window light for an older
iPhone … and without a tripod was challenging. I propped it between some glasses on the table and had to shoot into the light.
All in all we had a great day with the family and left stuffed with turkey, potatoes, etc. Thankfully after two “small plates – cough, cough, I saved room for Claire’s apple pie and Brenda’s pumpkin pie. Everyone left satisfied and we are all appreciative of my brother Ron and sister-in-law Claire for having us this year. Thank you.
A practical lesson for students who insist that socialism works
Posted By RichC on November 27, 2021
Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee
- lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
- digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.