Music Monday: Steely Dan – “Peg” from their 1977 album Aja
Posted By RichC on February 15, 2021
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Happy Valentine’s Day to friends and family, especially my girls!
Posted By RichC on February 14, 2021
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The coyotes in southwestern Ohio are healthy and active
Posted By RichC on February 13, 2021
We live in a fairly developed area and yet the variety of animals surviving amidst the traffic and people continues to amaze me. 
When we built in Liberty Township, Ohio in the mid-1990s you would have called our area “developing but rural.” Now, there is no question we are suburban and “in my opinion” … over built and a too populated (it is still nice).
We definitely share our environment though and it is surprising how often I see not just small wildlife, but ones that I would think require a bit more “wild” than we have to offer? The deer have forever been a problem damaging trees and jumping fences. The foxes hide out in our fire-pile and we’ve had a number of skunks, mink, raccoons, hawks (eating), possums, snakes and even feral cats and a Blue Heron on the roof! We’ve also had our share of coyotes … which I’m noticing are bolder and BIGGER. One male was so large that it now jumps over our fence rather than slipping through it (the female partner still goes through the fence).
With the recent snow (and absence our Tootsie), I’ve noticed the pairs tracks now sneak around closer to our house rather then further in the backyard or making a beeline across the front yard.
The pitfalls of Zoom meetings: “I am not a cat” #humor
Posted By RichC on February 12, 2021
It was the Zoom video that nearly broke the Internet this past week and it made me smile enough to save the mp4 video to my blog. Very funny. 😊
Just how safe are your passwords and online security measures?
Posted By RichC on February 12, 2021
My friend Jeff is a cyber security guy and is regularly interrogating me about “best practices” online. I suspect he sees so much that it nearly frightens him away from 
putting anything online (which is nearly impossible these days).
When I first started working with computers in the early 1980s (prior to being online), a simple user name and 6-digit password seemed relatively safe … considering access to the computer was limited AND the data stored on the computer was of little interest to others. This all changed when we plugged our computers into modems and started “logging into” bigger mainframes and bulletin board services (BBS) … and then online data sharing servers. Eventually “online services” like AOL, Prodigy and Compuserve popped up requiring a bit more security on our part … especially since logging in started the billing meter.
Once the Internet and “web” grew, so did the proliferation of cyber theft, spreading of viruses and those keylogging devices. Everybody I knew had a notebook full of login instructions … including usernames and passwords … 
so I develop a primitive “personal encryption code.” Thankfully the “white hats” continued to build defenses and both hardware and software manufacturers started to take security precautions.
Nowadays with everything online, the BILLIONS available to cyber criminals is too much to resist and it is rare for someone to be online without being compromised in one way or another. Besides using caution when choosing devices that we use online, the emails we open and the websites we visit, we can be more diligent about securing login information — also avoid Chinese chip and equipment. In the past few years have become more and more reliant on encrypted password managers (stored online – ugh). Jeff still used his only encryption software as he doesn’t trust that these online password managers will forever be secure; I suspect he is correct, but still I use them?
Besides the password managers themselves, every service and company that collects or has information on you is another weak link. Therefore most people have been compromised in one way or another. Here are a couple of ways to check:
Have I Been Pwned and Is Someone Spying On You?
I know what you are thinking … but yes both are reputable and ask only for your email address. They then match your email address against a database of known breaches.
Both services have their appeal. HaveIBeenPwned’s reputation attracts those who wish to publicize their attacks, so the site’s breach reporting seems comprehensive. The site will list the breaches that an email address has been caught up in, along with any corollary information—such as your gender or what your phone number is, for example. The site organizes the breaches by the service attacked, not the date. Why is this important? Because if your email was exposed in a breach in 2016, for example, chances are that your password has been changed since then. But if your email and password were exposed last month, you’ll want to change them right away.
Another option if you use a password manager is to opt for their paid service which monitors the “dark web” to see if you information shows up. Of course that means it has already been stolen, but at least you might be able to intercede early and make changes in order to protect data or prevent any further breaches?
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Firefox Lockwise (type about:logins into Firefox browser)
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Lastpass
What do you know about the Tennis Racket Theorem?
Posted By RichC on February 11, 2021
After reading about the Dzhanibekov Effect and seeing a demonstration, I just had to know more.
The tennis racket theorem or intermediate axis theorem is a result in classical mechanics describing the movement of a rigid body with three distinct principal moments of inertia. It is also dubbed the Dzhanibekov effect, after Russian cosmonaut Vladimir Dzhanibekov who noticed one of the theorem’s logical consequences while in space in 1985[1] although the effect was already known for at least 150 years before that.[2][3]
The theorem describes the following effect: rotation of an object around its first and third principal axes is stable, while rotation around its second principal axis (or intermediate axis) is not.
This can be demonstrated with the following experiment: hold a tennis racket at its handle, with its face being horizontal, and try to throw it in the air so that it will perform a full rotation around the horizontal axis perpendicular to the handle, and try to catch the handle. In almost all cases, during that rotation the face will also have completed a half rotation, so that the other face is now up. By contrast, it is easy to throw the racket so that it will rotate around the handle axis (the third principal axis) without accompanying half-rotation around another axis; it is also possible to make it rotate around the vertical axis perpendicular to the handle (the first principal axis) without any accompanying half-rotation.
The experiment can be performed with any object that has three different moments of inertia, for instance with a book, remote control or smartphone. The effect occurs whenever the axis of rotation differs only slightly from the object’s second principal axis; air resistance or gravity are not necessary.
A snowy 2021 February stay-at-home day and a few idea photos
Posted By RichC on February 10, 2021
We received a surprise snowfall on Monday night this week and it caught most of us, including the weather people and snowplows off-guard. Brenda worked until close in Oxford, Ohio and it took her nearly an hour and a half to drive home .. 
no salt on the roads and very few snowplows were out. She is thankful to have Tuesday off.
Also, one of the projects I worked on (besides the boat) in Florida last week was touching up a few chips on the older white tile floor. Thankfully the newer tile still looks good … but the original nearly 30 year old tile is looking tired.
Occasionally I toss a few snipped photos in to a folder for one reason or another and so decided to archive a couple of them for tool or woodworking ideas or whatever below before they get lost in my digital clutter. I’m not sure I’ll ever turn them into shop project or anything, but I did like the steel table and vise mount, noodle drying rack and antique drawered toolbox (below).
Political venting and a new website called TheHustings.news
Posted By RichC on February 9, 2021
Did you ever have a political discussion or receive an email that generated a desire to reply and explain? That sort of happened to me this weekend … but I decided there isn’t an upside in the one on one reply. The best approach, as is often the case when talking about faith and religion, is to recognize people are different and that it would be wiser to focus on ourselves – in the case of faith, working on our walk with God … and in the case of politics, venting on my blog. 😊
Like most people, I have friends who have different political views. Those I befriend generally appreciate respectful political ideologies that differ so as long as the desire is how to preserve our freedom, protect citizens and democratically govern our country – no one I know wants to live in an oppressive state; we all want the best for our country and most, up until the past couple years, believed in our nation’s founding principles.
Even those within our family differ (which is ok and something Brenda and I encouraged). We regularly debate how intrusive and how big/expensive we want our government to be. Taylor is a debater by nature and also a county planner. He sees it essential to control development and enforce restrictions to keep his county on the best path. I smile remembering when he was just out of college, that his ideal was to have everyone living in an urban environment (vertically) with public transportation and planned green spaces. I’m sure he would prefer having a stronger hand in dictating "his planning" to developers, businesses and landowners in the county where he now works. I suspect that universities teach them to be "central planners" suggesting that they are the educated ones and know how to best develop cities … and in his case, a county. Yet he is slowly learning, as he meets resistance, that most residents don’t appreciate an authoritative approach. At least in his country they elect commissioners who will return a bit more voice to the residents. In time he has become better with the county politics and does understand why some residents push back – although as with any job is frustrated with the handcuffs. I wonder if he will find the right 
balance when it comes to state and federal government as he gets older? Like the John Adams adage: “If a person is not a liberal when he is twenty, he has no heart; if he is not a conservative when he is forty, he has no head."
For me, I love my independence and freedom. I hate the waste I see in our government by politicians thinking they can better spend our money than keeping more of it in the hands of the individual. I’d love to be Libertarian, but recognize that without guardrails we would be living in the wild west. On the other extreme, too much government, in my opinion, restricts the freedom that has made America great and so desirable to those who don’t have liberty. The bigger government grows, the more taxes it sucks out of the economy .. not to mention creating a dependent class as politician dole out money (heavily borrowed from the future). There always seems to be a crisis and reason to need more and there is never a will to pinch pennies and live with a balanced budget (both parties).
In the end, I’m left feeling like a square peg trying to find a political party where I fit. Republicans hardly even talk, let alone act fiscally responsible … and I don’t think there is such a thing as a moderate Democrat anymore? They might as well call themselves the Socialist Party. Sadly, we have become a nation of extremes and neither those on the left or those on the right seems to be able to find any common ground.
This is as good a time as any to mention a new regular read website mention by a friend who is an automotive journalist. The political site is called TheHustings.news … check it out.
Music Monday: Gilligan’s Island theme mashed with Led Zeppelin
Posted By RichC on February 8, 2021
For those who grew up on one of my favorite TV shows, Gilligan’s Island … and in later years listened to the music of Led Zeppelin … here’s an interesting YouTube video for this week’s Music Monday.
On a more depressing note, I was sad to hear America’s favorite “girl next door” actress Dawn Wells (that played Mary Ann) died of complications related to COVID19 at the end of last year on December 30, 2020.
Congratulations to Tampa Bay, Super Bowl LIV champs
Posted By RichC on February 7, 2021
It wasn’t the most exciting Super Bowl or even a close game as most fans expected, but this year’s big game between Tampa Bay and last year’s champs the Kansas City Chiefs, it came down to leadership and experience. The mature G.O.A.T. Tom Brady lead the Buccaneers to an overwhelming win. His 3 passing TDs kept the Chiefs defense on its heels most of the game. Tampa’s defense on the other hand kept Kansas City’s QB Patrick Mahomes on his heels when he wasn’t scrambling.
As for the halftime festivities and commercials … I was not impressed.
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.