My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on January 14, 2021

One of my favorite January traditions is looking at the Lake Superior State University’s Banished Words listing that get posted on December 31. I can’t believe LSSU has been doing it since 1976 and it is fun to look at their archives! For the year ending 2020 (or 2021’s list), LSSU selected COVID-19 as the #1 word … and for good reason. Even I unfortunately included it on this blog over 60 times in 2020 … and who knows how many more in 2021… UGH! Let’s just hope it will be forgotten by 2022 (somehow I doubt it).

A post today from a Fox Business news guy had me using #CancelCulture (below), and it reminded me that I forgot to post on “banished words” this year. I quickly checked the list to see if it was included (it was not) … but since I’ve posted on this topic in many Januarys past, I will continue this week.

So, as for the rest of the words, check the LSSU website and be disappointed with #9 and #10 (unless #10 was “I know I’m right”). 😊

1. COVID-19 (COVID, coronavirus, Rona)

A large number of nominators are clearly resentful of the virus and how it has overtaken our vocabulary. No matter how necessary or socially and medically useful these words are, the committee cannot help but wish we could banish them along with the virus itself. Coincidentally, this list arrives as does a vaccine—the committee hopes this proves a type of double whammy.

2. Social distancing

This phrase is useful, as wearing a mask and keeping your distance have a massive effect on preventing the spread of infection. But we’d be lying if we said we weren’t ready for this phrase to become “useless.” With north of 50 nominations, many others clearly feel the same, and the tone of their reasoning ranged from impatient to heartfelt.

3. We’re all in this together

This phrase was likely intended as a way to keep everyone feeling safe and calm at the start of the pandemic. However, as the virus made its way across the globe and nation, it became clear that we are all dealing with COVID-19 in different ways and that we confront some vastly different challenges in coping with it. As with many words that show up on the list, its usefulness has faded.

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Category: Blogs, Misc, Tidbits | No Comments »
Tags: annual, banished, cancel culture, covid19, list, lssu, tweet, twitter, words

Posted By RichC on January 14, 2021

While shuffling through a bunch of old scans and photos and uploading stuff to my Miami University .EDU Google Drive account for free cloud storage after downgrading my subscription to OneDrive (they refused to renew the 1TB of space at my previous 4-years of discounted service), I ran across the window sticker from my black 1996 Toyota 4Runner (didn’t pay that price — it was a business lease) after the 1994 Toyota 4Runner (below). Both were fantastic vehicles and even better lease vehicles … because they held their residual value so well. In fact, when I turned in the ‘94 with higher than allotted miles, there wasn’t a penalty so as long as I leased the ‘96 (haven’t found a photo just yet??)

The same thing happened after I turned in the ‘96 4Runner since I then purchased Brenda’s 1998 Rav4 (another outstanding Toyota … as were the two late 80’s “sewing machine smooth” Camries … perhaps a future TBT post)?

Anyway, the window sticker and ‘94 4Runner, DadH’s “Great White Whale” Chevrolet Caprice wagon from in front of the Delray Beach Condo in 1995. Great memories for Throwback Thursday #TBT.

Category: Archive, Automotive, Memories, Misc, Personal, Photos, TBT | No Comments »
Tags: 4runner, cars, condo1718, dadh, family, great white whale, TBT, throwback, toyota

Posted By RichC on January 13, 2021

We don’t see my nephew and his family nearly enough, but a week ago, my nephew Ben, his wife Emily, and their two boys, Liev and Ellis welcomed a beautiful baby girl into the world.

The boys baby sister, and Ben and Emily’s first daughter, Lyra Eileen Skinner was born in the morning, weighing a perfect 7 lbs 7 ozs. All are doing well … along with my ecstatic sister-in-law Chris (her first granddaughter after 4 grandsons). As the Howard family goes, the trend is in keeping,  since boys dominated Mom & Dad Howard’s first wave of grandchildren – 4 boys until the granddaughters made their sweep (well nearly). HA! Katelyn, Madison, Jackie, Jessica and Sarah … with Taylor in the middle.

Brenda and I wish the Skinner family well and give thanks for the birth of a beautiful and healthy Lyra.

Category: Archive, Misc, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: baby, ben skinner, birth, children, emily skinner, family, grandchildren, lyra eileen, skinner

Posted By RichC on January 12, 2021

The Storming United States Capitol 1/6/2021 and White House plus multiple cities protests 2020

In recent years, NPR has not been my source for balanced reporting and commentary, but I still occasionally pick up a morsel or two that resonates. This time it was shared by a politically liberal/progressive friend on her daily Life Logs – once The Voyage of Windbird (although suspect her focus is on the most recent events in Washington DC?)

“I loved an analogy that I heard on NPR today. It was basically that if you have a kid that sticks his hand in the cookie jar and steals a cookie, and is not immediately punished for that, the next thing you know his sister and his brother will be doing the same thing.”

— Judy Handley, 2021 Life Logs, Day 10 

As events around “peaceful protests” devolved into riots and violence this past year, there was often praise and support for the raucous behavior, or at minimum suggesting that it was understandable. From the tearing down of statues that particular mobs decided they didn’t like, to attacking Federal buildings, or even in-your-face personal attacks of people eating out or just walking on the streets. Looting and the burning store and private businesses was declared  “mostly peaceful protests,” even when they took over cities … declaring them “autonomous zones” … Democratic politicians did little to stop them.  The put you out of business threats for people who held conservative political views or shaming certain businesses in order to coheres them into siding with their cause was the theme for 2020. Celebrities and some political leaders even set up bail funds for those arrested during protesting that devolved into rioting that involved burning, looting and attacks on police … yet few in the mainstream media were overly critical of the incitement that turned to violence.

As for “incitement” … something we hear often when the left talks about President Trump … remember, everyone “must” support BLM and their Marxist ideology, even as their most vocal march and chant “pigs in a blanket, fry ‘em like bacon” or “What do we want? Dead Cops!” According to these kinds of protesters, that included groups like Antifa who advocate violence in city after city, we need to dismantled and defunded or “re-imagine” law enforcement. 

So I agree (and always have) with the commonsense approach of swift “cookie jar” punishment as a deterrent and as a way to prevent a “sister and brother” from doing the same thing. When civility, respect for others and societal laws are not followed, expect others to duplicate unacceptable behavior … and “in my world,” this applies to the ignoring of election laws put into place by state legislatures as defined in the US Constitution, but that’s for another post. 

Category: Blogs, News, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: antifa, blm, capitol, cookie jar, election, free speech, handley, incitement, looting, npr, opinion, president trump, protest, riot, violence

Posted By RichC on January 11, 2021

This content is restricted.

Category: Music | No Comments »
Tags: beast epic, call it dreaming, iron & wine, kexp, live, mp3, music monday, musicmonday, no shoes radio, sam ervin beam, siriusxm, youtube

Posted By RichC on January 10, 2021

Thanks to my daughter Katelyn and her family, I’m in the process of reading the Tim Challies book, “EPIC – An Around-The-World Journey Through Christian History.” It is the new book I mentioned in my 2020 Christmas wrap-up post … and it has been challenging to put down. BUT … I’m sort of using it as a devotional book and reading one “object” at a time so am purposely not rushing through it.

There are 33 stories in all and I’m on #4, so it should last the month if I’m disciplined … unfortunately I already read ahead about Nate’s Saint’s Piper Aircraft (#31) and YouVersion Bible app (#33)). I couldn’t resist.

So far I found the “Augusta of Prima Porta” (#1) story very interesting although I wish I would have read it before going to Rome and the Vatican. Number #2 was equaling interesting and having just watched a movie about knights and the crusades, it had me thinking about just how old John Rylands Manuscript P52 fragment really is? (see image to the right) 

If you need a great book for yourself or a gift, this is a good one.

Category: Books, Faith, Travel | No Comments »
Tags: artifacts, Books, christian, devotional, epic, Faith, gift, History, katelyn, reading, tim challies

Posted By RichC on January 9, 2021

As a “very” amateur military history buff who is currently reading the book “I Marched With Patton,” I came away from Frank Sisson’s memoir in thinking about other leaders who earned the respect of their men, but offended others and were seen as abrasive. Accomplishing a goal and “winning” was for the most part their personal measure for success. The two “military” names that came to mind are General George S. Patton and General Douglas MacArthur. Likely we all know of leaders who either choose not to bother or lack prioritizing the effort it takes to operate under the constrains of diplomacy.

By now, I suspect those with an open-mind know I’m thinking about another present day leader who has displayed similar characteristics for the past 4 years … yes, President Donald Trump. This is not to endorse or criticize these leadership traits, but just as recognition that people are appointed or elected to positions of leadership with different styles, personalities and skillsets.

There are those who can handle the brash or even harsh leadership traits and recognize the end goal is to achieve results the in the quickest time, with the least harm and most positive outcome. Others prefer the less abrasive, polite diplomacy, and are willing to settle for a longer timeframe before achieving results  (I’ve often referred to the later as “soft-selling” and “covert” persuasion … and am accused of using it on my kids!) Again, neither leadership style has universal acceptance, but in the big picture, both types of leaders may be necessary at different times.

Most historians recognized Patton as essential to ending World War II in Europe. He inspired nearly every soldier who served under him. MacArthur was devoted to his troops and victory in the Pacific and was seen as the overseer. During the Korean War his commitment to defeating the communist threat in Asia, saw him lose his command as politicians fear that under MacArthur’s leadership the U.S. would be in full-scale conflict with the Chinese Communists … not all that dissimilar to how Patton perceived Russia as WW2 was ending. On a side note, Gen. MacArthur’s letter critical of President Truman is as pertinent today as it was 70 years ago:

“It seems strangely difficult for some to realize that here in Asia is where the communist conspirators have elected to make their play for global conquest, and that we have joined the issue thus raised on the battlefield; that here we fight Europe’s war with arms while the diplomats there still fight it with words; that if we lose the war to communism in Asia the fall of Europe is inevitable, win it and Europe most probably would avoid war and yet preserve freedom. As you pointed out, we must win. There is no substitute for victory.“

Book:  The years of MacArthur – Vol III, Triumph and disaster, 1945-1964) – D. Clayton James

As the U.S. reverts to a less brash and perhaps more “diplomatic” president in Joe Biden, only time will tell if citizens will prefer a more goal focused – results oriented outsider to lead our country again in the future?

Category: Books, History, Millitary, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: biden, Books, communism, diplomacy, History, leadership, macarthur, military, opinion, patton, style, thoughts, trump, war

Posted By RichC on January 8, 2021

A simple blog upgrade project that I’ve been contemplating for a while now was one of my 2021 New Year’s resolutions … so I’m worked on it this past week’s Music Monday post. I’m not sure how long the new button and player will remain unchanged since I seem to keep testing and tweaking it;  we’ll see?

The look on Chromium-based CSS accepting browsers

The reason: I’ve had a couple of people comment over the years that they enjoy the video and audio content, but that with only the simple play/pause button made it impossible to “scrub” through audio or even download. I agreed with needing a way to fast forward or rewind, but resisted the download for some content. Ever since the early days of Napster .mp3 music sharing, it didn’t seem appropriate to include downloadable music? I don’t think times have changed from the legal perspective, but still want to talk about songs and artists that I appreciate and enjoy … and that is difficult to do without having an audio sampling.

As for a few tweaks … WordPress supports audio pretty well and offers a variety of ways to include content. I’ve married myself to mp3 and have used a variety of plugins for WordPress in the past. They are always changing and often support from the author disappears. This latest use of <audio> along with a few CSS tweaks to change the display properties (shadow, spacing controls, outline and “focus around buttons”) seems to best fit the flavor I’ve grown used to, yet include the features which triggered comments/complaints.

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Category: Audio, Blogs, Computer, Software, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: audio, blog, css, player, tech friday, techfriday, update, upgrade, wordpress

Posted By RichC on January 7, 2021

For red, white and blue flag waving, National Anthem honoring, military respecting patriots … who believed in the traditional values that founded this country … January 6, 2021 was a tough day. The election in Georgia for control of the U.S. Senate, the last line of defense for Republicans, went to the two Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, although the vote was close.

Democrats, progressives (and socialists) who prefer more centralized control, increased regulations, higher taxes and a bigger Federal government, can now operate nearly unchecked as they control both the House and the Senate in Congress, and the White House after the inauguration of President-Elect Joe Biden. Years ago, we would say “there’s really not much different between the parties or politicians when they get to Washington DC …  as both like to spend the taxpayers money and bring something home to their district.” Nowadays, it seems like there is a much wider philosophical and ideological difference.  As the 2021 Democrats want to make some radical changes to the country and as Sen Chuck Schumer says, “First we take Georgia, then we change America.”

In my lifetime, the country has changed (for the good and bad, IMHO) but shifted steadily left on the political scale. The difference recently is that we haven’t seen or heard many moderate Democrats who fought for and love our country and history; they once kept their “liberal” party in check. After the President Trump lost the presidency in November 2020 and Republicans the Senate, there is no check to the progressives’ ambitions? Never before have I heard politicians speak of socialism as a plan FOR the United States … or expanding and packing the Supreme Court … or making new states to gain so much control that the Republicans could never again control the Senate. 

Don’t get me wrong, change is often good, but almost always when it is agreed on by a large majority in our country .. not barely 50% (or 40-some percent plus some corruption). Pushing radical changes aggressively ahead is a sure way to elevate the anger already spilling over. Of course it is not all one-sided. I recognize President Trump did not go out of his way to befriend those who disagreed with him (although the olive branch was never extended by the left either). Ramming change through “because you are in control and can and does” divide the country. When this happens, expect fireworks just as we’ve seen in our history … or like today at the Capitol (sad day in America). As my father would often say when my brother and I would fight, “it usually takes two to tango” (or something to that affect). 

As a patriotic American, I wish President-Elect Joe Biden well for the health of our nation, but do not envy him. Hopefully the rhetoric on both sides will die down, our leaders will contemplate their decisions and lookout for the best interest of a “UNIITED” States of America … although am not sure what that looks like or how it is currently going to be possible?

Category: News, Politics, Video | No Comments »
Tags: america, biden, congress, democrats, election, georgia, mp4, ossoff, Politics, prresident, Republicans, schumer, senate, trump, warnock

Posted By RichC on January 6, 2021

Now that the final season of Last Man Standing has started (Jan 3, 2021), Brenda and I are finally catching up on the previous season that I recorded on the DVR. We had forgotten just how much we enjoyed this sitcom. It is hard to remember the last time both of us laughed at the same comedy, or political jokes that fit our political views, but it may have been a couple of years ago when we watch the same Tim Allen sitcom?

For us, it was enjoyable to watch several episodes back to back “together” since most of our “together TV” lately has been a weekend recorded, Netflix or Amazon Prime movie or a FoxNews or FoxBusiness show (most of which has been pretty depressing lately). I’ve been mostly avoiding television (no baseball, basketball or football this year) and Brenda semi-focused on Christmas movies or series rerun (again and again again – she says she just has it on for the mindless background noise, like I do for music). Anyway, it has been fun this week to laugh together and smile at the same things. We need to do more of it … “laugh and smile together” that is. 

Unfortunately after 9 season and nearly 200 episodes, we’ll need to find another show to watch together as “Last Man Standing is coming to an end, again.”

The Fox comedy will end with its upcoming ninth season, which will premiere on the network in January.

The move means that the Tim Allen-fronted series will have run for 194 episodes when it ends with its ninth season being ordered for 21 episodes.

It marks the second time that the sitcom has come to an end; the show, which is produced by 20th Television, ran for six seasons on ABC and was axed in 2017. Fox, which at the time was part of the same corporation as the studio that made it, picked it up for a seventh season that premiered in September 2018.

—DEADLINE

Category: Entertainment, Human Interest, Humor | No Comments »
Tags: brenda, comedy, last man standing, marriage, richc, sitcom, television, tim allen, together