My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on July 15, 2021

After seeing this photo of someone workbench screwdriver holder, I don’t feel quite as bad about my multiple tool boxes and workbench racks. Without a doubt, I do have my share of tools and gadgets, but I’m not sure how many screwdrivers it is necessary to have in one holder?

The Facebook photo above aside, I was locked out of my Facebook account last week just as I was thinking it was about time for a bi-monthly update (I really don’t use FB much but do enjoy keeping up with family and a few groups). Thankfully there wasn’t anything that looked like a security issue … but finally set up two-factor authentication on my FB account just in case.  I did come across a social media post and discussion of growing up “boy.” The intriguing part of me was discussion the classified sections in the back of magazines that targeted boys and Boy Scouts aged kids (I was a Patrol Leader and can still remember and give my Crow Patrol call … and you don’t want to hear that!)

The magazines I most remember were Boy’s Life (now de-gendered as Scout Life) and Popular Mechanics. Both had great classified sections that remind me of today’s “as-seen-on-TV” infomercials. There were item we wanted and some we saved up and sent in a few dollars (or perhaps cents) for … like the plastic BookSafe that I still have in my dresser drawer. I will have to open it up someday and see what coins are still inside.

A few of the other classified ads that I remember are the military surplus Jeeps, the X-Ray glasses and sea monkeys. Good memories and definitely a good time to grow up … particularly since the Vietnam War and draft ended before I was of age. 

Category: Human Interest, Memories, Personal, Photos, Social Media, TBT, Tools | No Comments »
Tags: 2-factor, booksafe, boy scouts, boys life, facebook, magazines, memories, popular mechanics, scout life, scouts, screwdrivers, security, toolbox, tools

Posted By RichC on July 14, 2021

Progress has been slow in my latest nightly book reading, in part due to being wiped-out by full days with our granddaughters last week and more recently watching a few episodes each night of an old 1965-1971 sitcom called Hogan’s Heroes (mention once before). So for a update on reading Operation Pedestal by Max Hastings, “I know NOTHING” (you’d have to have been a fan of the TV sitcom).

Here’s a brief WSJ book review rundown on the British naval battle story known in Malta as Santa Maria Convoy or Operation Pedestal in 1942 …

“Operation Pedestal” is the story of a convoy sent through hell in August 1942 to rescue the pivotal island of Malta.

British strategy required that the Allies prevent Germany and Japan from joining hands through Egypt’s Suez Canal. The fortress island of Malta, with its airfields and harbors, guarded the vital juncture of Mussolini’s Sicily, Britain’s Egypt, and the battleground deserts of Libya and Tunisia. Should Malta fall, the Suez mouth would lie under the bombsights of Axis warplanes.

Malta and its 300,000 inhabitants endured a violent siege as an Axis bombing campaign larger than the London Blitz engulfed the island in smoke. “Grand Harbour,” Mr. Hastings writes, “became a lagoon of stagnant oil from sunken ships, amid which bobbed debris and decomposing corpses.”

As the islanders withered to the brink of starvation, Britain’s merchant fleet couldn’t move enough food, ammunition and fuel through the Italian-German blockade to keep the forces there fighting. “The passage from the west was menaced by Axis air bases on the islands of Sardinia, Sicily, Pantelleria; also on the North African mainland and the toe of Italy,” Mr. Hastings explains.

Into this maelstrom steamed Force F, the largest fleet the Royal Navy had assembled since World War I. Commanded by an introverted vice-admiral named Neville Syfret, Force F boasted two battleships; five aircraft carriers; seven cruisers; two squadrons of destroyers, submarines and minesweepers; and dozens of escort and support vessels. Their mission: to protect 14 merchant vessels carrying fuel, food, ammunition and medical supplies to the beleaguered garrison. What Spitfires did for Londoners, Hawker Hurricanes, antiaircraft batteries and obsolete biplanes would attempt for the Maltese.

(more…)

Category: Books, Entertainment, History, Millitary | No Comments »
Tags: book, book review, british, hogans heroes, malta, max hastings, operation pedestal, sitcom, television, wsj

Posted By RichC on July 13, 2021

The downside of having self-monitored smarthome security cams, sound sensors, door triggers and motion detection at the Florida condo in Delray Beach is that one never knows what will set it off. Usually it has been a flash of light or in a couple cases a slightly weakened battery on a sensor.

Yesterday though, even though it was the middle of the day, a strong thunderstorm with an extremely loud clap of thunder set off the sound detector. When I reviewed the Wyze cam footage, wearing my Aftershokz Aeropex headset, I was amazed at just how loud the detected thunder was … and how bright the lightning was coming in the window. At least it is working. I also checked out the storms rolling in from the southeast (map right) just to be sure it was a storm on my Dark Sky Weather app – yes, strong bursts for sure.

Category: Gadget, Misc, Technology, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: aeropex, aftershokz, app, Cam, dark sky, delray beach, florida, security, smarthome, storm, thunderstorm, wyze

Posted By RichC on July 12, 2021

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Category: Idioms, Music, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: i go crazy, mp3, music monday, musicmonday, paul davis, radio, rock, siriusxm, yacht

Posted By RichC on July 11, 2021

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Category: Archive, Personal, Photos, Video | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, aquarium, backyard, brenda, drew, ellerie, family, fun, funm mp4, granddaughters, katelyn, pool, project, puddle, richc, summer, swimming, tailgating, tie dye, vacation

Posted By RichC on July 10, 2021

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Category: Archive, Holiday, Personal, Photos, Video | No Comments »
Tags: 4th of july, annalyn, brenda, drew, ellerie, family, katelyn, megan, memories, mp4, richc, sparklers, taylor, weekend

Posted By RichC on July 9, 2021

For the last few years, I’ve been using Google’s Backup and Sync software on my iMac to back up mostly archival data to my free Google Drive space that was part of my legacy Miami University EDU teaching account. I haven’t taught in Oxford, Ohio for decades, but did spend a few dollars for Taylor’s education a few years back. I keep 330GB or so of data backed up on the Google Educational account, but noticed the app is glitchy. It can bog down the computer at inopportune times and even when limiting upload speeds, it churns and churns.

So this past week I switched to Google Drive for Desktop app in hope that it is better? Last year I downgraded my Microsoft OneDrive subscription to 100GB from 1TB which is my primary working drive due to everything being a paid for subscription model these days. It is challenging to say under the cap, but it also forces me to do harddrive housekeeping once in a while. BTW, OneDrive has been flawless and works as good if not better than Dropbox, Apple’s iCloud, Box or my ODrive with Amazon AWS.

Since I still have a couple other personal Google accounts with limited storage (17GB) that are primarily for Gmail these days, I still keep a few Google Docs, Sheets, etc on those storage spaces too along with even less on Dropbox and Box. (stay tuned as might be giving ProtonDrive BETA a try)

Compare Backup and Sync to Google Drive for Desktop

Category: Apple, Cloud, Computer, Software, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: amazon, apple, aws, backup, beta, cloud, Dropbox, encryption, google, icloud, imac, microsoft, mydrive, onedrive, proton, protonmail, storage, sync, tech friday, techfriday

Posted By RichC on July 8, 2021

After seeing the latest Wirecutter recommendation the other day, I was glad to know we were ahead of the curve back when we replaced our old dishwasher with a Bosch model in 2010.

Category: Advice, Misc, Shopping, TBT | No Comments »
Tags: bosch, dishwasher, kitchen, TBT, throwback, thursday, wirecutter

Posted By RichC on July 7, 2021

One of the segments from the Wall Street Journal that I especially enjoy are the book reviews … or the “bookshelf.” I’m always intrigued by the history selections and the review on Stephen Walker’s book “Beyond” was no exception. It so happened that it is also a WSJ+ “free book club read” for the month of June 2021, so I’ve added it to my Glose reader and will look forward to it once I’m finished with last month’s book “All Against All.” Once again, I’ve have a virtual pile of books in my eReader apps to finish up … although this one on the first man in space is especially interesting.

  “Beyond’ Review: Cold War Cosmonaut”

Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, held symbolic value for the Soviet Union, which claimed to offer a better system than the U.S.

Readers of Stephen Walker’s fine new account of how Yuri Gagarin, a 27-year-old Soviet air-force major (he was promoted from lieutenant while circling the Earth), became the first man in space will discover quite a bit about Gagarin the man, but a great deal more about the program that put him into orbit 60 years ago, on April 12, 1961.

Vasco da Gama, Gagarin was not. For all his skill, toughness, unflappability and courage, he was no explorer. In a way, he was merely the most important of all the fauna that the Soviets shot into space. The first astronauts had relatively little control over their capsules; the first cosmonauts had far less.

Gagarin’s value was primarily symbolic. He was not only the embodiment of humanity’s scientific progress, but a living demonstration that the Soviets offered a better, faster path to the future than the U.S. His mission was to return alive, uninjured—and sane. To that end, during his training Gagarin, like other aspiring cosmonauts, was subjected to almost every brutality—physical and psychological—that his doctors could think up.

Like their American counterparts, the first Soviet spacemen had to be advertisements for the system in which they were raised, but more so.

Full WSJ Andrew Stuttaford review from April 18, 2021 here

Category: Books, History, Space | No Comments »
Tags: book, cosmonaut, ebook, glose, reading, review, space, wsj, yuri gagarin

Posted By RichC on July 6, 2021

It was probably the intimidating photo of 9 year old Abhimanyu Mishra that caught my attention, but as someone who once enjoyed the “recreational game” of Chess as a boy, it is also impressive to see what this young New Jersey boy has accomplished. At the GM Mix in Hungary last week, a 12-year old Abhi “went head to head with Indian Grandmaster Leon Mendonca” (who was also 12, but a bit older) to become the youngest prodigy to become the world’s youngest ever grandmaster (12 years and 145 days).

To become a Grandmaster, a player has to reach a specific Elo rating – given to calculate their skills – and win three GM norm tournaments, in which high-level competitors take part.

Mishra, who goes by Abhi, was in a race against time to claim the historic victory after many tournaments were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

..

Abhi’s hard work involves 12-hour days spent practising his craft on the board and using Chessable, an online training tool.

Read Dailymail.co.uk Article

Category: Entertainment, Human Interest, News, Photos, Tidbits | No Comments »
Tags: abhi, abhimanyu mishra, chess, dailymail, games, grandmaster, prodigy