Production oriented 1950s old-school drywall skills #video
Posted By RichC on October 27, 2021
When it comes to tradesmen building houses, it is hard to beat an old-school drywall installer. Check out this vintage YouTube video:
Halloween gremlins creep in to finish off our Florida vacation
Posted By RichC on October 26, 2021
Let’s start with "we had a great time in Florida" this past week" (more to come) … but the cleanup weekend ended with a couple gremlins. I blame it on the "uncarved" pumpkins left by the granddaughters. HA!
Actually there were no unexpected problem while they were in Delray Beach with us, but after they left the streaming/cable box crashed. At first I thought it might be just a service issue since 2,500+ in our 
area were having problems, but by Sunday morning it was apparent that our box had malfunctioned. After a L-O-N-G wait on the phone, I looked around and found an open Xfinity office and headed over to wait in the long line. They did not have the same box, but gave me on that would work.
On the way back … BOOM … a front right blowout on the 2002 Honda Odyssey van. Ugh … just before our flight and on a Sunday afternoon no less! So decided to make my way back to the condo, hook up the TV and watch some football. Next trip down I’ll deal with the tire issue …and it is probably time to replace all four.
Music Monday: “We’re An American Band” LIVE in 1974
Posted By RichC on October 25, 2021
It is hard not to remember Grand Funk Railroad when you think about rock concerts from the 1970s (never attended though) and in particular their hit “We’re An American Band.” Here’s a LIVE version from 1974 posted to YouTube.
Grand Funk Railroad, sometimes shortened as Grand Funk, is an American rock band who achieved their peak in popularity during the 1970s. Known for their crowd-pleasing arena rock style, the band toured extensively and played to packed arenas worldwide, and was well-regarded by audiences despite a relative lack of critical acclaim. The band’s name is a play on words of the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, a line that runs through the band’s home town of Flint, Michigan.
Embarrassing Ohio “First in Flight” License plate blunder
Posted By RichC on October 24, 2021
When your state takes pride in home of the Wright Brother’s and their “First in Flight” Wright B Flyer, you’ve got to at least get the flying direction correct. (Thanks for the link, Drew!)
Ohio had to change the design of its new license plate because of an error discovered after it had already had 35,000 of them made.
The new “Sunrise in Ohio” license plate was unveiled Thursday by Gov. Mike DeWine and officials from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
Right away, people noticed an error: A plane that was meant to be towing a banner that reads “Birthplace of Aviation” — a reference to Dayton’s Wright Brothers — is actually pushing the banner. That is, the banner is streaming out from the front of the plane.
The confusion arises from the design of the 1903 Wright Flyer. The “elevators,” which change the craft’s pitch, were on a frame attached to the front of the plane. On a modern plane, fins with a similar function — elevators and stabilizers — are generally on the tail.
LINK for full article
Are you interested in Cryptocurrency? Where will you keep it?
Posted By RichC on October 23, 2021
It is probably inevitable that we will all be using cryptocurrency someday. The early adopters are already immersed and getting comfortable investing and trading it … perhaps too comfortable???
Risks of Leaving Cryptocurrency in Exchange
A brief look at the history of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies reveals why it is dangerous to leave your crypto funds in an exchange. Since 2011, over $1.65 billion worth of crypto assets have been stolen, and the numbers are getting bigger every year. According to Hackernoon, that amounts to a jaw-dropping $12.6 billion loss when values are adjusted for inflation.
The point here after doing my reading and research is to remind people enticed by the exploding number of crypto trading exchanges popping up is that your assets are only as secure as the company hold them. It is inevitable some will fail based on their business practices (high interest on holdings offers) as they compete for customers … and others will struggle just as early online banks did as they are acquired and absorbed in buys and mergers. Having had my identity leaked in the 1990s partially due to being anxious to bank online, my ID info was stolen by the sale of an acquired banks hardware (computers/hard drives we think), I can only imagine what could be coming from cloud-based overseas exchanges and unregulated cryptocurrency exchanges?
My advice if are trading and using cryptocurrency is to stick with well financed major US based companies who you “know”
insure your assets that could be at risk due to fraud or employee issues AND to keep only the assets you need to trade, exchange or use for crypto “banking” in an online wallet. Your other crypto assets should be stored in a reputable hardware wallet “offline” (see Ledger, Trezor, etc) except when moving coins to and from that wallet … and purchase it directly from the company to prevent 3rd party tampering).
As Aldous Huxley penned in 1932 dystopian social science fiction novel, we are living in a “Brave New World.”
Friday Filler: Splashing morning sunshine
Posted By RichC on October 22, 2021
Just a very short 10-second video slow-motion snippet as a Friday Filler post and to say “good morning.”
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The many political ‘ISMs’ discussed in our culture today #TBT
Posted By RichC on October 21, 2021
Every time I use political term with an “ism” these days, I sense I need to clarify the meaning as much as for myself as to the person I’m talking too. Often I’ll refer to an online resource in order to be sure that I’m not misspeaking … but usually its because the terms have become generic, interchangeable and debate stoppers.
An Ask Ann Landers column from years ago in the Chicago Tribune simplifies the ‘isms’ (hence this as a Throwback Thursday #TBT post), although I sure could be clarified and perhaps interpreted differently by intellectuals?
Socialism: You have two cows. Give one cow to your neighbor.
Communism: You have two cows. Give both cows to the government, and they may give you some of the milk.
Fascism: You have two cows. You give all of the milk to the government, and the government sells it.
Nazism: You have two cows. The government shoots you and takes both cows.
Anarchism: You have two cows. Keep both of the cows, shoot the government agent and steal another cow.
Capitalism: You have two cows. Sell one cow and buy a bull.
Surrealism: You have two giraffes. The government makes you take harmonica lessons.
As for a personal story, I think back to my good friend in high school, college and years after college; his name was Charlie … although enjoy remembering him nicknamed Kamikaze (second from left). 
He saw things politically different than me and it made him very intriguing. Of course we were both “young” and exploring our political ideology, so much of our discussion was based on our limited life experience, high school level reading, counterculture influence, teachers, small town community, family and home life. For me, I really only knew traditional American values and with a father and grandfather fought to preserve our way of life, I respected their sacrifice, years of experience and their views (respected Charlie’s as well … even though I didn’t agree with them).
Charlie had different experiences … and having spent his early years living overseas “in the orient” as we called it in those days … saw the United States as a World War II victor, oppressive nation and as an anti communist country with business interests, capitalism and “the man” warring against the 
Marxist movement in other parts of the world. It didn’t help that his father was an academic (college professor), mother a successful career woman coming out of the women’s rights movement, an older brother that I saw as a 1960s rebel and holding philosophical views unknown to me. Charlie’s music taste, reading material and college path (degree in philosophy and fine art) all mirrored his leftist political views. He declared himself a Marxist and enjoyed debating from that point of view with me … all respectfully as college friends did back then (and should today).
We stayed in touch through the early years as he continued his graduate education, became a potter, had art exhibits and both lived and taught school in a city of 9-million people in China … until the Communist threw out Americans after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. He came back to America and landed a job as a museum curator, but said he “didn’t fit” with our consumer driven society, etc. I recall a letter appalled at the extravagate waste, overproduction and consumerism of our U.S. culture after years of living in China. So he move to Portugal where I lost touch with him for a couple decades. Thankfully he reach out some years back after moving back the U.S. and 
we connected again over our common interest in sailing and the good memories from our high school and college years.
The long winded point that I’m driving at is that we are politically totally different, but that it is possible to discuss, understand and respect each others views. Neither of us force our philosophy on the other (although we still enjoyed debating). I also recognized that it is difficult for both philosophies to coexist in a country where one political view enforces their philosophy on the other, be it from the right of left. In Charlie’s case, he left the capitalist United States in search of so better option (it doesn’t exist IMHO) … and would prefer our country reflect his Marxist philosophy. Unfortunately for those of us with a conservative view, we seems to be losing ground as the political left “enforces” their progressive agenda on American and we seem to be sliding inch by inch in the direction that Mark Levin calls “American Marxism.”
The Bankrupting of America – Stephen Moore for PragerU
Posted By RichC on October 20, 2021
Here’s a short video worth 5 minutes of your time to watch and to contemplate before Congress and President Biden makes our spending spree even worse.
“You can’t spend what you don’t have indefinitely ..” – Stephen Moore for Prager University.
LINK to video
Archive: Long curtain rod without center support ideas?
Posted By RichC on October 19, 2021
While tuned into Fox Business over lunch last week, a segment highlighting people bulldozing beautiful homes in New York’s Long Island’s West Hamptons in order to build even more beautiful dream homes. One such multi-million dollar house featured a long window treatment rod similar to my thoughts for our new windows. For us it is not the privacy issue but the southern winter sunshine that can make sitting in our great room uncomfortable. I’ve though about just some kind of invisible hook system or roll-up blinds, but a long rod that doesn’t sag might give us more options.
For the most part, this is just and “ideas” post to archive the quick photo of the television screen.
Music Monday: 1970s Orchestra music and “Nadia’s Theme”
Posted By RichC on October 18, 2021
This content is restricted.
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.