My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on January 2, 2021

Adam Savage, from Mythbusters claim-to-fame, has been regularly posting a few of his shop ideas online. A few months ago he triggered me into improving my portable Sailrite Sewing machine set-up (well my wife’s sewing machine that I use .. cough, cough). Anyway, a few weeks after he built his table for his impressive Sailrite stitcher (his is not portable), I decided to improved ours with a little added on, but still wanted to keep it portable.

A few weeks later, he added a small tuperware drawer add-on which made it convenient to drop the small pinch-clips that hold piece together similar to the way most use sewing pins. As one stitches along, each clip is removed and dropped in the tuperware, can or box one as a time. A month or so ago, I added a wooden holder for the small lidded can, but it was a bit small and “in my opinion” feminine for my tastes.

So as I was cleaning up the workbench and tossing my testing piece for the brass screwed miter corners (used for the Pie – Pi – Boxes), I split it into two “L” pieces and attached to an old cigar box that was salvaged from the days I helped Brenda stack newspapers at the drugstore she managed. This was in the early 1980s when Brenda managed a small drugstore in Shaker Heights, Ohio. In those days, the pharmacist was often also the store manager, especially when it was a tiny corner neighborhood store.

Only click more if you want to head down a rabbit hole … – Idiom

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Category: Business, Gadget, History, Idioms, Memories, Personal, Photos, Video | No Comments »
Tags: Adam Savage, box, brenda, cigar, clips, drugstore, feminine, gray drug, History, hudson, idiom, idioms, map, masculine, mp4, Mythbusters, ohio, Rabbit, revco, rite aid, sailrite, sewing, shaker heights, video, walgreens

Posted By RichC on January 1, 2021

After the previous challenging server update from years on Ubuntu Linux 12, 14 and 16 to a questionable 18 upgrade … I’ve been hesitant to upgrade the server to  “Focal Fossa” 20.04 in the spring and summer … so I didn’t. But now that we are at the end of the year (actually by the time this posts it will be January 1, 2021!), and  facing a Tech Friday need … it is time to deal with it … besides the MySQL database has been restarting too often. On the plus side,  I’m running 20.10 “Groovy Gorilla” on a Raspberry Pi successfully and figured it was time to start upgrading production servers to Linux 20.10. Hold on .. gulp!

Ubuntu’s version numbering scheme is based on year (YY), a period, and the month (MM). For instance, the previous stable version was released this past April and it is numbered as 20.04. In addition, Canonical (the operating system’s owner) assigns names — sequentially and alphabetically. The alphanumeric code name is always based on two words

If you are reading this, the update to this server must have worked,
so Happy New Year.

Category: Computer, Productivity, Raspberry Pi, Software, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: 20.10, Computer, groovy gorilla, linux, raspberry pi, server, tech friday, techfriday, ubuntu, update, upgrade

Posted By RichC on December 31, 2020

I had lunch “out” this week with my good friend Jeff, although this routine has become very infrequent compared to previous years. Still, we had a chance to catch up, talk about politics (Ugh), the old-days backpacking in North Carolina (an old scanned photo for Throwback Thursday #TBT) … and I opened his cool gift to me that works with my Trangia backpacking stove. Nice (see small Solo Stove below the break).  He filled me in on his time in Orlando with family (aging father) and I filled him in about our Christmas with the kids.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

— Jeremiah 29:11

There is no better way to end the sour 2020 year than reflecting on the many blessings in my life… including good friends and family, I am so thankful we are all here and still healthy, considering how the Coronavirus has impacted others (although Brenda is still struggling with her compression fracture and osteoporosis … but she has a plan and is slowly mending). Hopefully, we will continue to remain COVID19 free and disciplined until the vaccine helps curtail the spread.

On remaining COVID19-free, Katelyn received her vaccine on Tuesday and Drew on Wednesday. Since they both work with patients and are in hospital settings, they are frontline workers and as I mentioned on Twitter, “One less worry for dad.”

As for winding down 2020 and preparing for 2021, I’m semi-busy closing out my books, getting the last of my “window-dressing” done on the stock trading (tax planning) and figuring out how to set up a new scaled-back accounting set-up for the future. Years ago I started the business with MYOB and moved to Quickbooks for the last 15 years. Now, I can really go back to something simpler and spreadsheet-based … I know, I’m going backward. HA!

For now, here’s wishing everyone a safe New Year’s Eve and a healthy and happy New Year.

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Category: Faith, Friends, Health, Memories, Personal, Photos, TBT | No Comments »
Tags: backpacking, blessings, camping, coronavirus, covid19, family, friends, hiking, jeff pitts, jeffp, katelyn, memories, Memory, reflection, solo, stove, TBT, thankful, vaccination, vaccine

Posted By RichC on December 30, 2020

When it comes to being the first to read a book, I’m not the guy to turn to, but eventually I do get around to some of them. I’m particularly fond of the history oriented books from the last century and “I Marched With Patton” by Frank Sisson fits that criteria. 

This World War II story starts with the downtrodden setting for the economy and the hardships of the Great Depression. Frank had to become the breadwinner for his family at a young age after the death of his father and knew he would soon be called to war when he turned 18. From a small Oklahoma town, his honesty in acknowledging his worldly knowledge was limited as he relates this to readers in situations such as meeting a US Jewish soldier from Philadelphia who explained the oppression of Jews by the Nazis … as well as other times in history. The naïveté of Frank likely wasn’t unique for the time when a lot of US soldiers came from smaller isolated town with schools barely able to teach the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic.

I’m listening to the audio version and find the narration by Robert L. Wise excellent. He helps bring the story to life just as a good actor does in a movie. I’m about half finished but early in the story, Frank’s connection to General George Patton was while directing traffic in France and saluting Patton’s Jeep as he passed by – “He looked me in the eye as if to approve of the way I was directing traffic.”

If you enjoy military history and World War II accounts, then you’ll enjoy “I Marched With Patton.” A worthwhile read.

Category: Audio, Books, Millitary | No Comments »
Tags: audio, Books, frank sisson, glose, History, patton, reading, ww2

Posted By RichC on December 29, 2020

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Category: Archive, Holiday, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, brenda, christmas, corbett, coronavirus, covid19, coyote, drew, ellerie, family, katelyn, lumix, megan, oostra, Photos, richc, taylor, toolkit, truth for life

Posted By RichC on December 28, 2020

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Category: Memories, Music | No Comments »
Tags: 1970s, coconut, harry nillssen, mp3, music monday, musicmonday, novelty, song

Posted By RichC on December 27, 2020

There was an interesting article in Prevention Magazine that explains what the COVID19 or generically the Coronavirus vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna do … AND what their ingredients are. It also details the differences between the two from the standpoint of how cold storage temperatures need to be. Check out the article for the ingredients or the snippet as to what they do below:

Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines use messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. While these vaccines are the first of their kind, mRNA has been studied for more than 10 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It was developed years ago to try to combat other illnesses, but never made it past early-stage clinical trials until it was refined and re-targeted for COVID-19.

The coronavirus mRNA vaccines do not contain live or inactivated virus, but rather work by encoding a piece of the spike protein on the surface of SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, per the CDC. (This is the part of the virus that gives it that unique crown-like shape.)

The vaccines use the piece of the encoded SARs-CoV-2 protein to trigger an immune response in your body. How? The mRNA gives your cells instructions to produce a protein that’s similar to the coronavirus’ spike protein, tricking your system into thinking it has an infection to fight. (Remember: It’s just a part of the protein, and does your body no harm.)

Your system mounts a response against the new proteins, because they’re seen as foreign invaders, developing antibodies that are specific to SARs-CoV-2 in the process. These infection fighters stick around to help your body fight a future case of COVID-19, but it’s not yet understood for how long. Your body will do its thing and eventually get rid of the proteins and mRNA on its own.

Link to article

Category: Health, Innovation, News, Science, Tidbits | No Comments »
Tags: coronavirus, covid19, disease, Health, ingredients, medical, moderna, pandemic, pfizer, prevention, science, vaccine

Posted By RichC on December 26, 2020

Category: Environment, Misc, Nature, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: aerodynamics, attack, birds, diving, eagle, filler, photo

Posted By RichC on December 25, 2020

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Category: Archive, Blogs, Holiday, Personal, Photos, Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: animal, annalyn, christmas, dessert, ellerie, family, pi, pie box, presents, projects, stool, woodworking

Posted By RichC on December 24, 2020

Since I expect to be busy with our family on Christmas Eve Day, I’ll prepare a post for Throwback Thursday #TBT with a few old handsaws from my families past and asked the rhetorical question to myself: “Why do you keep old handsaws that you never use?”

Actually I don’t recall really needing to use a handsaw for quite a few years … besides the bow saw (not pictured) that I’ve used to trim a tree or two. Are these relics worth saving for history sake? A couple were mine and a couple were DadC’s and DadH’s (probably their fathers?). Speaking of saws, one of the best purchases I’ve made in hand tools has been the Japanese dovetail saw. It is razor sharp and cuts a thin kerf – so much better than my miter or backsaws.

On an entirely different topic, I was distracted from reorganizing our basement storage room when restacking the empty Christmas decoration boxes in seeing the excessive amount of rust appearing on the bottom plate of the basement Jack Post where it is against the cement floor. I doubt it will ever be a structure weakness in my lifetime, but couldn’t help but add a coat of Rustoleum paint before burying it behind boxes.

Thinking about junk we have kept from family and don’t use or need, I tossed an old deck of playing cards belonging  to my Grandma and Grandpa Bluhm, but not before checking on their history … or at least the company Brown and Bigelow who made them. An interesting history … and use of Cassius Marcellus Coolidge “Dogs Playing Poker” artwork, which made me want to keep them (but I didn’t!)

The company was founded in 1896 by Herbert Huse Bigelow and Hiram Brown.

On June 24, 1924, Bigelow was convicted for tax evasion, fined ten thousand dollars, and sentenced to three years in Leavenworth Penitentiary. He was released after eight months. While incarcerated, he befriended infamous safe-cracker Morris Rudensky.

On April 13, 1928, President Calvin Coolidge pardoned Bigelow. Following Bigelow’s release, the company became notable for developing prototype convict rehabilitation programs through the hiring of hundreds of ex-convicts.

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Category: Art, History, Human Interest, Personal, Photos, TBT, Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: antique, basement, bluhm, dadc, dadh, distraction, family, handsaw, jack post, painting, playing cards, rustoleum, storage, TBT