Archive: Family photos from Katelyn’s birthday weekend
Posted By RichC on May 18, 2021
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Music Monday: Mercy Me and their “Say I Won’t” music video
Posted By RichC on May 17, 2021
My Desultory Blog‘s Music Monday does not include enough music from the Christian music genre and after hearing the story of Gary Miracle last weekend, I had to include Mercy Me‘s “Say I Won’t.”
Book: “The Cost” by Maria Bartiromo and James Freeman
Posted By RichC on May 16, 2021
When it comes to reading, I once again have started more books than I can finish. It started with our “rest and relaxation” vacation where I wanted to be sure to have a “pape
r book” to read on the beach and while relaxing at the condo … but I still haven’t finished “A Random Walk Down Wall Street” and the more recently the library book “The Deficit Myth.
Now I finally have an eBook version of Maria Bartiromo and James Freeman’s book “The Cost” … one that I really been wanted to read. The book starts with the early exchange between President Trump and President Xi of China regarding the missile strike on Syria while dining together at Mar-a-Lago … before the diplomacy between our two nations became far more challenging. (ie. IP theft issues, tariffs, China Sea expansion and of course the handling of the Wuhan Coronavirus.
I thought the comment from the Chinese dictator at the beginning of the relationship regarding the missile strike was telling … compared to the adversarial relationship we find ourselves in as China has grown more aggressive in their oppressive ways against all who are in their way of advancing and dominating Chinese Communist Party goals. His early comment in regard to the 59 US missiles in Syria … “it was acceptable to attack anybody who would use poison gas against children.” I’m looking forward to the rest of the book.
Forgot about this Hubble Space Telescope birthday link #Space
Posted By RichC on May 15, 2021
Yesterday was my “space-camp” and NASA Sharp daughter Katelyn’s birthday and I had been saving a link that I forgot about just for the occasion … so will post it a day late … along with an amazing 2020 photo of Jupiter and Europa from the Hubble Space Telescope.
We share an interest in space and so when I saw the NASA link about “What Did Hubble See on Your Birthday?” … it looked like something she might enjoy. So below is an amazing “Galaxy Cluster Abell 2744” (Pandora’s Cluster) photo form May 14, 2019 (be sure to click images to enlarge).
Happy 35th Birthday to our daughter Katelyn today – 5/14/2021
Posted By RichC on May 14, 2021
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Tech Friday: A housekeeping update and WordPress 5.7.2
Posted By RichC on May 14, 2021
MyDesultoryBlog.com was overdue for a backup and since I stepped away early from my desk on Thursday, I figured the end of the day was a good time to sync online and offline storage (the backups make for a sluggish computer and data connection).
Besides backing up data, it also seemed like a good time to install the latest WordPress 5.7.2 update, not for the new editor … I rarely use it since I prefer OpenLiveWriter … but I don’t mind patching the security issues that are part and parcel to any Internet-connected software.
I still enjoy tinkering with lightweight SSGs like Hugo, but can’t see giving up WordPress if the “open source” powers that be continue to without doing anything radical.
A birthday honing guide and spiral router bit. Thanks Taylor!
Posted By RichC on May 13, 2021
A big thank you to my son Taylor for the Amazon gift card for my birthday last week. When he asked me what I was going to buy with it, I didn’t immediately have an answer ... now I do … so I’ll now post a couple new woodworking workshop items that I’m using it to buy. . 😊
I’ve survived sharpening my chisels and planes for years without a honing guide since having one was never top priority. But with a gift card burning a hole in my virtual pocket, I opted to order an inexpensive Honing Guide along with a 1/4” carbide spiral router bit for my small plunge router (I had a non-carbide spiral bit for my 1/2” non-plunge router for years and love it). Perhaps a shop built mortising-jig to make a $1000+ Festool Domino alternative?
Civility in debating political views and “my” Letter to the Editor
Posted By RichC on May 12, 2021
In February 2021, I mentioned The Hustings news website which highlighted how much I appreciated that in America we can hold different political views and civilly debate issues without fear of government retribution (First Amendment). Unfortunately
in the past decade or so our differences have become so divisive and derisive, that I’m not sure that is completely true anymore. Extremist on both the right and left have dug in and created a culture of zero tolerance for those who disagree or hold different political philosophies.
Recently it seems there are fewer and fewer safe venues where people feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and opinions without putting ones head on the chopping block, risking violence, being harshly graded if a student, denied acceptance to a college or losing ones job. Nowadays the practice is associated with Wokism and cancel culture. No longer is the cost of voicing an opinion just vocal pushback or vigorous debate from someone with a different opinion, but has become a blood sport practiced with speed of light mob rule efficiency with the intent of silencing opposing views. Social media and live video on every cellphone are contributing to the instant ability to wield hate, embarrass or openly threaten people, their families and jobs … and this works covertly too. It is a way to silence people who would rather avoid confrontation or risk the potential consequences associated with having views that counter those held by vocal and seemingly empowered activists (recently from the political left). It seems a lot of citizens are keeping their heads down and instead just “go along to get along.”
As for “safer venues” to read polite debate, share political thought and philosophy … I’ve started to read the L-C-R columns of The Hustings news website, comment with a letter to the 
editor and have even attended a couple Braver Angels debates on Zoom and conference calls (that they help sponsor). They seem to be able to attract what I refer to as traditional liberals and conservatives who like William F. Buckley of old, enjoy jousting on topics and learning from different points of view.. This focus on the subject matter and not targeted towards other human beings, can and does take much of the sting and inflammatory anger out of a debate and is a better way to discuss and “in my opinion” make our melting pot a better country.
I’ve always enjoyed hearing views that challenge mine, so I regularly seek news from as many sources as I can “tolerate.” I used that word because we can all list the political operatives and talking heads who, no matter which side of the political spectrum we are on, we can’t tolerate for long. Last year my friend Jeff talked me into listening to the BBC as a way to gain an outside perspective on US news. I’ve always listened to NPR, CNBC and read some of the NYTimes and Washington Post for my liberal national exposure and of course Fox News and Fox Business for a lean to the right angle … but not since my shortwave radio days did I listen to other English speaking foreign news programs.
The crux of this post is that The Hustings placed my comment as a Letter to the Editor in the “right leaning” column on their website last week – the topic had to do with “debating the practice of ‘Earmarks’ by Congress.” My letter is below:
Herewith, a reader’s comments on our most recent home page debate, “With its New Policy on Earmarks, Congress Goes Back to the Future,” posted Friday, May 7. To read the three columns on the subject, scroll down using the vertical track bar on the far right.
Loved the added lesson. (“With Its New Policy on Earmarks, Congress Goes Back to the Future,” by Charles Dervarics, with left column by Keith Tipton and right column by Stephen Macaulay, home page debate.)
I enjoyed and saw all three columns as logical and fair (which is unusual for me), but as a citizen who prefers a smaller federal government and theorizes that taxing and spending is better when it is managed closer to the people on the state and city or local levels.
The practice of earmarking has never been popular with most voters and I applaud any attempt to make them transparent, even if I’m skeptical that politicians want to give up bringing home pork. I’m also sympathetic to smaller states by population, with lower incomes and far more square miles to manage; they do need additional resources to maintain, develop and expand their infrastructure, hence earmarking provides a way for them to trade votes for funding. On the other hand, it is not all that difficult for all but the naïve to see why politicians want more money and include earmarks for their constituents in every bill.
Personally, I see the only way to correct the abuse and waste associated with earmarks is to reduce the size of the federal government and amount of money it controls. Just as with our own budgets, when we have less, it will be spent on the most essential needs before our wants … and in the case of our federal government, a smaller take from citizens might be used more efficiently (I’ve yet to see government spend efficiently). As the federal government has grown, it has expanded and often supplanted personal responsibility and very efficient volunteer efforts (I grew up in a small town and miss how my mom’s generation ran local charities).
Political idealogues have forever debated “how big” the role of the federal government should be, but I personally prefer we move closer to James Madison and how he defined the concept of federalism – “The powers delegated … to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite” … a return to that would curtail wasteful earmarking.
— Rich Corbett, Cincinnati
Flowers, some Kubota service and waking up the Packard Hawk
Posted By RichC on May 11, 2021
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Music Monday: The Who – “I Can See For Miles” triggered by an astronaut Alan Shepard memory
Posted By RichC on May 10, 2021
The Who was never at the top of my music listening list, but like all who grew up in the 1960-70’s era, we all knew the music. This past Wednesday was the 60th anniversary of Alan Shepard‘s flight into space and as a boy who grew up mesmerized by our NASA space program (still am) and the pilots who once flew military jets and experimental planes were tested for “the right stuff” to become astronauts. Many in this elite group left the earth’s atmosphere on the top of very risky early rockets and some eventually walked on the moon; Shepard, Glenn, Armstrong and others were looked up to by me and most boys my age.
In later years I enjoyed the freedom of flight and building experimental airplanes, so the boyhood dream “sort of” came true for me as well. Then in the late 1990s, I had the same experience as Alan Shepard. I too was struck with Meniere’s Disease and the random attacks of vertigo which impacted my flight medical certification and ability to safely pilot an airplane. Thankfully, I eventually found someone who was trained to do the same surgery that Alan Shepard had for his Menieres in 1964 (a questionable procedure today). His positive recovery had him returning to space-ready and commanding Apollo 14 and a mission to the moon’s lunar highlands … making him the older person to walk on the moon. The story of him returning to space was portrayed in the HBO miniseries “From Earth to the Moon” in Episode 9, “For Miles and Miles” … hence today’s Music Monday YouTube music video.
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.