Worked on some spring yard clean-up over the weekend
Posted By RichC on March 28, 2021
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Business change, server updates, an idiom & a friend’s new toy
Posted By RichC on March 27, 2021
This past week was an on and off work week. I’ve been struggling to update software and the latest Linux flavor on an old 
server while telling myself “I’m getting too old for this.” Right or wrong attitude, I think keeping up with fast-paced technology change is a young person’s game.
On the plus side, a client that I thought left, came back and wanted me to recover their account, emails and old website … but in the same week, another long time customer has decided they were ready for a redesign of their website and asked me to transfer their data. Over the years I knew that I should have been recommending a CMS platform, but when customers are happy, why rock the boat?
Interesting fact
The origin of the idiom ‘rock the boat’ is attributed to American statesman, lawyer and politician William Jennings Bryan, who was famously quoted “The man who rocks the boat ought to be stoned when he gets back on shore.” In this 1914 quote, it is evident that Bryan was referring to those who stir up trouble.
Tech Friday: What is the best smartphone for 2021?
Posted By RichC on March 26, 2021
The current opinion by many who review technology (and Consumer Reports) is that the best smartphone for 2021 is the Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max … although might be a bit larger than many are comfortable putting in 
their pockets.
Personally I’ve shifted from wanting something small, like my old Samsung SPH-i500 aluminum bodied flipphone (stlll a favorite) to an iPhone 5 (loved it) to my current much larger aging iPhone 7 Plus (photo right). If you are following along … the size I’ve been willing to stuff into my front pants pocket has grown and is often annoying. If I can’t get an Apple flip—iPhone in the near future, I’ll probably consider the smaller format iPhone 12 Pro.
For those in the Android OS world, the choices are probably more challenging as there are a lot of options … but Consumer Reports does a little heavy lifting and suggested the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G at the top end and the OnePlus Nord N10 5G as a budget “best phone” and OnePlus Nord N100 for Best Phone for All-Day Battery Life.
Consumer Reports’ battery champ, the OnePlus N100, slightly exceeded two days of power with a single charge. However, the handset featured some of the lowest rated cameras that the magazine has ever tested. Other phones scoring well with battery life included the Samsung Galaxy A71 (43 hours) and the iPhone 12 Pro Max (41 hours).
Investing: Buying Vertex $VRTX for 2021 and hopefully beyond
Posted By RichC on March 25, 2021
For the most part, I’m a conservative investor, although a regular channel trader, and I rarely speculates on risky upstarts, IPOs, zero-profit tech stocks, 
pharmaceutical long-shots or the latest crazy … cryptocurrency trend. Since most “risk” involves speculation, I see it more akin to gambling than eyes-open informed value or growth investing … both which are subject to up’s and down’s in our economy. Do I often wish I had an “all or none” Bitcoin-trader personality? “Yes,” but early investing and living through company bankruptcies, buyouts, margin leverage positions, futures market trades and regular options losses … it taught me the comfort of a good night sleep and a “steady as she goes” slower growing diversified investment 
portfolio. One thing that never seems to be easy, is predicting market sell-offs and gyrations — 1987, 2001, 2008 and the 2020 coronavirus pandemic come to mind. Timing is never easy.
I also recognized there are some established companies that can provide steady income and growth which become more attractively priced on occasion (usually in hindsight). For example, Pfizer $PFE was one of the first out of the gate with a COVID19 vaccine and so I bought in early expecting a little more upside movement on top of a nice quarterly dividend. To my surprise, it didn’t happen … which I’m saying so that you take my next stock mention in the pharmaceutical sector with a proverbial “grain of salt.”
Having watched Vertex Pharmaceuticals $VRTX get hammered last fall when its alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency lung-and-liver drug failed a trial and they announced it would be discontinued, the stock fell out of favor. The company still has a lot to offer, but a lot of investors turned away. Vertex is still profitable with patents in place until the 2030s on their cystic-fibrosis franchise of drugs and is still working on another alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency drug which is currently in phase 2 trials.
So like a few pharmaceutical analysis that I read, I’m thinking $VRTX might be undervalued and worth buying on market weakness (buying under $210)? Early this month, the Cowen analyst Phil Nadeau called Vertex a top large cap pick for 2021 saying, "we expect Vertex to recover in 2021 and would use the recent weakness to build a position in this premier biotech."
Sticking with what I know: Bought my 4th pair of Vasque boots
Posted By RichC on March 24, 2021
The more I think about it, the “lamer” it appears to be talking about shoes … but truth be told, the Sperry Topsider reviews and shoe insole posts still are in the top ten when it comes to blog numbers.
I’m posting a photo of my newly arrived clearance priced Vasque hiking boots and previous ones … as this will be my 4th pair of Vasque boots. The first pair were light-duty summer weight and lasted quite a few years of hiking with my buddy Jeff … until I started using them for work boots. 
I upgraded to a full leather pair which seemed to take forever to break in, but held up for years until the rubber sole split loose from the leather (poor design since they could not be re-stitched like older full leather hiking boots).
The 3rd pair (current) were end of the season clearance boots and have held up well (photo), but definitely have not been used for hiking like the other two. They are probably still my favorites even though they are insulated (but I still wear all year around). Unfortunately they are starting to crack a bit and suspect they need to be replace before doing an hiking.
Weddings and Nice Weather indicates Spring 2021 has arrived
Posted By RichC on March 23, 2021
Besides what has become an annual photo of one of our lilac bushes pushing out buds, this past weekend was the first weekend of spring. Besides the new growth and greening lawn, we celebrated with our neighbors of 25 years, Pam and Jim by attending their son’s wedding in Cincinnati. It was a beautiful wedding for a beautiful couple. Congratulations Andrea and Jared Miller.
The great part for us was that the wedding was in East Walnut Hills at St. Francis de Sales Parish with 2+ hours between the service and reception dinner which gave us the afternoon to “walk” over to Taylor’s apartment and visit with him. Megan has given his apartment a female touch, although Taylor is just fine when it comes to caring for and decorating his place .. it has been a few years since college (wink, wink). It was great to spend the afternoon before driving down the the Bell Center for the reception and evening. We had a great time.
Music Monday: More Than a Feeling – Boston 1976
Posted By RichC on March 22, 2021
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Ancestry and two cute St. Patrick’s Day granddaughter photos
Posted By RichC on March 21, 2021
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At what point do or can you start cutting ties with BigTech?
Posted By RichC on March 20, 2021
A technology friend of mine, Scott Bilik (who was considered my Twitter “Godfather in 2007), has recently wiped some of the mud from his hypothetical digital footprints and is systematically freeing himself from Big Tech’s shackles
. This current Silicon Valley monopoly has increased its political clout and has enticed or entrapped most of us in ways that it is difficult to sever. We’ve voluntarily given up privacy and personal liberty to use seemingly free or relatively low cost services in our modern connected lifestyle … and if we disagree with their edicts (or “wokism“), then are censored or banned.
My buddy Jeff (a Cybersecurity guy) has slowly been doing the same after cutting cords and his social media ties a few years ago. I’ve given thought to doing the same … but continue dabble with services offered by Google, Twitter, Facebook and to a somewhat lesser extent Apple, Amazon and Microsoft. I occasionally remind myself that I am behaving like the complaint German citizen who kept quiet, operated within the rules and allowed a National Socialism ideology to spread pre-World War II. They controlled the propaganda, schools and by threat and force by eliminating contrary opinions and people who opposed Nazism.
In today’s leftist totalitarian movement (see recent post), those wielding power have been pushing their ideology in our public education system, the media and used their control of technology as a way to silence and censor opposing and unwanted opinion. They restrict stories and promote those which they agree. They promote candidates and political views, while squelching those to which they disagree. All of us who use connected technology, if open-minded, can see this authoritarian behavior and know instinctively what happens if you say the wrong thing or step out of line … especially if it counters today’s “woke” leftist’s views. Many who remain compliant and quiet, do it because they agree with the leftist ideology … or out of the threat of being “cancelled.” There are plenty of examples of those being censored. Few want to be targeted by the left or want to live without the technology controlled by the Big Tech overlords (and their “chosen” political leaders).
Scott’s personal reasonings was excellent and well worth reading (here’s a link to his blog and a March 8th snippet):
Cultural Shifts at Big Tech
At times I’m glad I work in silicon design. I have memories of big tech companies that primarily focused on building cool, innovative products and services. They rarely touched upon matters of politics or culture.
These past several years I’ve noticed more that these companies – which started out rather open – are making ever more stringent rules on what is allowable content. For many sites I can’t get over the flip in what content is allowed and what is quarantined or banned. “Move your life To The Cloud,” they said. They then proceeded to lock down allowable content further and further each year. When I was a teen I’d see bumper stickers that would say “Question Authority”. Online that is becoming increasingly difficult.
Tech Friday: Apple expected to launch new iPad Pro in April 2021
Posted By RichC on March 19, 2021
Although I’m not in the market for a new iPad just yet, I am (or was) a multiple hours a day user back when traveling a bit more and interested in what a Thunderbolt and M1 chipped iPad Pro might offer. At least that’s the rumor for the April 2021 launch … but who knows if it will be worth the premium price?
The Apple Silicon M1 chip is the most interesting improvement for me as it should offer speed and processing power rivaling the MacBook Air M1, but still be in the handy tablet format and running iPad OS (???) … at least until the computer and mobile operating systems come together. According to several reports I’ve been reading, the addition of a Thunderbolt port will give the iPad Pro access to peripherals such as external monitors and hard drives … something we have all wanted for a long time. Of course most of my tablet file sizes are smallish nowadays and with faster wireless speeds and cloud services … this wired connection may not prove all that necessary?
Again, I’m happy with my current iPad and Brydge keyboard setup, but as my aging Lenovo Yoga 710 notebook computer isn’t used as much, having a single travel device “again” would be appealing … but suspect a new iPhone to replace my 7 plus might be a priority?
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.