My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on December 13, 2025

AFTER a photo from my daughter, who was very proud of her husband, and his “Teaching Excellence” award a few days ago (we are very proud of you  too, Drew)  … I’m going to comment on happiness in America (see previous personal post).

First, and for the record, my family makes me happy, very happy. Perhaps those not having a family or placing family as a higher priority … and it is often “self” these days … is why so many Americans are decidedly unhappy. We could all probably list the many reasons, but something tells me that boomer and later parents did a lousy job of preparing our children for the brutality of life. We sheltered  them and put them at the center … then held them up as uber important; it may have given them a higher sense of importance than they needed.

This chart shows the results of the General Social Survey, from the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center. It’s one of the oldest studies of Americans’ views on different social, political and cultural issues.

When asked “How happy are you?” the majority feel pretty happy. That’s been true since the survey started asking this question in 1972.

But look at the yellow line, showing how many Americans are not happy. It reached a new high in 2022 and is stuck there. Similarly, the percentage who are “very happy” has fallen to a new low and is trending further down.

If these trends continue, the percentage who say they’re unhappy will climb above those who are very happy for the first time in history. 

If it is financial burden and struggles, I’m not sure if those that were “given” so much as kids really know how to do with less. Are they as dedicated and hard working as the generations before them? Do they know how to show perseverance even if there isn’t a guarantee that everything will be “sunshine and roses” … then that again might also be on us?

The boomer and later generation may have sheltered them a bit too much? How many parents do you know that sacrificed for their kids and did less for themselves? Quite a few and that has always been the case. Each generation wants better for their kids, but ours could be doing the next a disservice … especially if we have coddled them (see book post)?  I see too many young people expecting life to be easy – heaven forbid it requires hard work, getting their hands dirty or giving up luxuries. Yikes … I’m sounding like my parents! 😉 

Category: Books, Human Interest, Idioms | No Comments »
Tags: birthday, cef insider, codding, drew, graph, happiness, idioms, lecture, part two

Posted By RichC on December 13, 2025

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Category: Archive, Financial, Human Interest, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, birthday, drew, ellerie, happiness, idiom, katelyn, parenting, sunshine and roses

Posted By RichC on December 12, 2025

What is Vibe-coding … and an interesting CNBC segment on Google partnering with Replit.

Vibe-coding is an informal term for a newer style of software development in which the intent, flow, and natural language “vibe” of what a developer wants matters more than writing detailed, line-by-line code.

Leading companies and platforms

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Category: AI, Coding, Computer, Technology, Video-TV | No Comments »
Tags: anthropic, cnbc, coding, cursor, github, google, microsoft, openai, replit, tech friday, techfriday, vibe-coding

Posted By RichC on December 11, 2025

Have you ever wondered about those oddities on clothes and why they continue to be added even though “most” people don’t use them?

I suspect most people have heard that the little pocket on jeans was put their by Levi Strauss for the pocket watch, but it is still interesting.

Coins? Matches? Lipstick? Flash drives? Gold nuggets? The tiny pocket on jeans likely has been used for all of these, even the last (more on that in minute). But, as designed by Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis in 1873 as a feature of the original “waist overalls,” the small pocket was intended to hold a watch.

LINK

Another oddity that I’ve never used, but see on men’s collared shirts is that little loop on the back called a “Locker Loop” – women’s clothes, maybe???  Obviously it was intended for hanging a dress shirt in a locker so as not to get it wrinkled and it makes perfect sense – perhaps I should be using it?

Random Thought: I wonder if the Pocket Watch could make a comeback as an artificial intelligence (AI) powered “Smart Pocket Watch” and replace the smartphone and smartwatch … and maybe even the virtual assistant devices (Google Home, Siri, Alexa, etc)?

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Category: Cellphone, Tidbits | No Comments »
Tags: britannica.com, clothes, encycopedia, interesting, iphone, jeans, levi strauss, locker loop, pocket watch, random, samsung, shirts, sph-i500, wikipedia

Posted By RichC on December 10, 2025

A couple of automotive “oldies” crossed my interests this week. One of them was of course on my automotive social media feed, but another pulled from an old magazine in my workshop. 

First, the Earl Scheib sign and left me remembering the annoying voice and advertising from the 1970s and 80s: “Hi, I’m Earl Scheib, I’ll paint any car for just $99.95 …”

Earl Scheib | 1986

I”m thankful not to hear the Earl Scheib commercial today, but we all know there are still plenty of annoying voices pitching products these days too. (The video of the same commercial below if you can stand it … followed by the Chevrolet Vega magazine advertisement from the 1970s)

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Category: Audio, Automotive, Human Interest, Marketing, Social Media, Video | No Comments »
Tags: advertising, cars, Chevrolet, earl scheib, magazine, Marketing, painting, vega, youtube

Posted By RichC on December 9, 2025

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Category: Holiday, Memories, Personal, Photos, Volkswagen | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, christmas tree, christmas tree farm, drew, ellerie, family, katelyn, memories, oostra

Posted By RichC on December 8, 2025

Today’s “Freebird” for Music Monday by Lynyrd Skynyrd is a 1973 classic, but I also recently heard “Freebird!” being exclaimed as a joke Fox Business as a way to “break the monotony” of a conversation and humorously “make fun of” each other on the 12-2pm slotted “The Big Money Show.”

So for today … here’s one of the greatest classic rock video performances from the Official Lynyrd Skynyrd YouTube channel (and you should probably turn the volume up LOUD). 😉

Freebird!

People yell “Freebird” at concerts as a humorous tradition that started in the 1970s, often during quiet moments, as a way to request the iconic song by Lynyrd Skynyrd. It has become a running joke across various music genres and events, regardless of whether the band actually plays the song.

Origin of Yelling “Freebird” and Historical Context (more…)

Category: AI, Music, Video | No Comments »
Tags: artificial intelligence, freebird, lynyrd skynyrd, music monday, musicmonday, youtube

Posted By RichC on December 7, 2025

I’ve been on the waiting list to download the ebook “Taking Midway” by Martin Dugard from my local library for months, but my hold recently came up and so I checked it out two days before National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day (today). The timing is excellent for “remembering” the 2403 fallen Americans back in 1941.  Martin Dugard’s new 2025 book chronicles the events leading up to the World War II and battle for Midway Island … which most military historians see as the turning point in the Pacific in WW2. 

December 7th was definitely a wake up call for America and I still find it difficult to believe that with a war raging in Europe, and one obviously brewing in the Pacific, that we let our guard down to that degree? Of course in saying this, we did the same in during “Tet” in Vietnam (annual Vietnamese New Year), on 9/11/2001 after prior attempts and even with President Biden underestimating the Taliban while exiting Afghanistan. We are still likely ill prepared today noting all the radical political and ideological types (citizens and non-citizens) or those who came under weak asylum laws, or just flat out illegally, and entered the U.S. without proper fitting vetting?. The idea of lone wolf terrorist with a bomb or just using a vehicle … or an enemy of our country such as a larger radicalized sleeper cell willing to use biological or other weapons of mass destruction against Americans does have me concerned. Are we that naïve?

Back to remembering Pearl Harbor and starting a new book: I’m already intrigued how an  attack on the United States by Japan awoke “a sleeping giant” (as Isoroku Yamamoto stated)  and I am hoping such a horrific attack isn’t what is required for America to maintain a strong military and a cautious posture of “peace through strength” in the years ahead.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
– George Santayana (1863-1952), U.S. philosopher, poet. 

Category: Books, History, Holiday, Idioms, Millitary | No Comments »
Tags: amazon, Books, martin dugard, peace through strength, pearl harbor, reading, reagan, taking midway, ww2

Posted By RichC on December 6, 2025

On Thanksgiving weekend, our family walked around the shops in Liberty Center before  going to the movie Zootopia 2 as a family; it was very nice. Besides the granddaughters enjoying the candy store, I particularly enjoyed a shop with an old Volkswagen Microbus. Of course I couldn’t help but reminisce about my old friend Charlie Matthews and his old air cooled VWs. One of his Volkswagens was a bus similar to the one on display in the shop.

As I was admiring the bus, I couldn’t help but think about Kamikaze (our nickname for him) and his beloved air-cooled Volkswagens (or my CinciTDI friend Tim’s for that matter, although a bit newer). These were both Volkswagen Type 2 “Transporter’s in the same spirit as the one in the store. I had a feeling the owner “Running on Blooms” might have noticed my conversation with the kids and came over to talk. I eventually pulled up a photo of Charlie and his bus back in the early 1980s when he visited us at our first house in Aurora, Ohio. The shop owner then opened up the doors so the girls could sit on the step for a photo(very nice).

On a side not, while Charlie stayed with us, I helped him dig clay and pack it in his van for his raw earth pottery; we still have treasured pieces that he made for us. Definitely great memories.

Back to the purpose of this post: Archiving our annual Christmas letter, but now just a Christmas card … and to wish all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Category: Archive, Holiday, Memories, Personal, Photos, Volkswagen | No Comments »
Tags: 2025, archive, christmas card, Corbett Christmas Letter, family

Posted By RichC on December 5, 2025

If you’re like me, having an online calendar that automatically keeps things up-to-date has been super convenient. I’m referring to things like airlines and hotel reservations showing up when emails arrive after purchasing tickets or making reservations. It has also been helpful with personal events like invitations from my daughter for the events in their life. It is very nice, ehh?

Well yes and no. Spammers have also taken advantage of this ability to add events and notifications to your calendar … even if their emails automatically are sent to a SPAM folder and you never actually see it. That means all the “automation” must stop and once again, we need to read, confirm and add an event purposefully to our calendars again.

Here was a bit of my interaction with Google’s Gemini AI about this issue (but let me know if you’ve found a better solution):

That is an excellent question, and you have identified the unfortunate trade-off.

You are 100% correct: If you uncheck “Show events from Gmail,” it will stop all automated events, including legitimate flights, hotel reservations, and concert tickets.

Here is the breakdown of why this is and what your options are.

The All-or-Nothing Problem

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Category: AI, Productivity, Software, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: artificial intelligence, calendar, geek squad, gemini, gmail, spam, tech friday, techfriday, violation