A moon rising iPhone 7-plus photo worthy of archiving

Posted By on June 3, 2020

Every once in a while when seeing what cellphone cameras can do, I wonder why I even bother to ever grab my camera bag and relatively expensive DSLR camera anymore? Last night the weather in Cincinnati was clear and humidity low. The moon was large and rising in the sky in the southeast and looks so crystal clear that I thought it worth a photo. Of course those faraway astronomy photos never look good in a photo even with the best of cameras. Nevertheless, the sun had just set and lighting conditions just about optimum for the tiny sensor in my aging iPhone7plus a couple of generations behind. I sent the photo to myself thinking I was overdue to update my Facebook account with an “I’m still alive” post. After sharing the photo from my phone, I looked again today and realized it was a beautiful photo and worth archiving on the blog while I ate my lunch.

From the blues in the sky, to the greens of the pines and brightly lit Waxing Gibbious Moon, it was a great photo ... and from an older iPhone no less!

 

Are rechargeable wearable tech devices like the Fitbit Versa and the Apple Watch doomed to prematurely fail?

Posted By on June 3, 2020

It is starting to look like early gadget failure going to become the ‘norm’ now that we’re wearing tech gadgets everyday. My Fitbit Versa watch is not even a year old and has failed. For a while it started to blink and flip through it’s screens, then surged with colorful vertical lines (photo)and a vibrate notification with each button push. FitbitDied200601Then finally after about 30 minutes of tech support, some charging and an restart … it went completely dead. The same thing happened to Katelyn’s Fitbit Versa in under a year of wearing it.

On the other ‘wrist’ …jokingApple is not doing much better. The first Apple Watch that I gave Brenda “bloated” after being put on its charger and it popped the screen right off the face. It was past the warranty, so unlike Katelyn’s Fitbit, there wasn’t any option besides having it fixed (which costs more than an new watch) or replacing it with newer model. Still, it is disappointing that our family alone has had one Apple Watch fail within a few years of wearing it and two Fitbit Versa watches. Wearable tech is not off to a good start with us (and I suspect there is an early Pebble for Drew in there somewhere too?)

Now the frustrating decision for me is to either accept the warranty and have Fitbit replace the Versa 1 (they don’t even have a black model to match my old one) or to accept their 50% off offer for the Versa2. Frankly, 50% off of the list price isn’t all that great of a deal considering what kind of sale prices are offered by retailers sometimes … yet if there is an inherent problem with the Versa1 or the batteries, do I really want another watch that likely will fail in under a year?

Before making the decision, I’ve asked Fitbit to see if they can scrounge up a black Versa as a warranty replacement; so far the answer is no: “only Peach / Rose Gold Aluminum or Gray / Silver Aluminum” although black can still be found at retailers. 

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A nation of unrest … filled with a bunch of immoral idiots

Posted By on June 2, 2020

Well so much for the pre-posting yesterday’s Music Monday “So Quiet In Here” … before the Minneapolis George Floyd killing subsequent protests … and ensuing riots and crime spree. I suppose we all knew, that with all the divisive politics, we’ve been living either next to or in inside of a powder keg (especially if you’re part of a large city).

The “bunch of immoral idiots” subject line was not chosen flippantly (moral: relating to principles of right and wrong in behavior). Minneapolis-riotSadly it is an accurate description of the America we are seeing displayed. The peaceful protests … including words and signs … quickly gave way to destructive behavior. No doubt outside American-hating groups took advantage of those who were angry, but there is still “no excuse” for what we’re seeing in so many U.S. cities night after night. “Behavior” that ALL should know is unacceptable is way too tolerated by those participating (rioting, throwing bricks, fire bombs, looting, burning, spray painting and destroying other peoples property). Why do so many people behave like this?

A few thoughts:
Long gone are the days where most Americans were taught right from wrong by nearly institution. Consequences for deviate behavior is tolerated and accepted. Parents, role models, families, churches, schools, lack of corrective behavior (discipline) targetlootingand “tough on crime” policing no longer dominate society as it once did. Politicians from both sides and the media seem to go out of their way to trigger distrust and hate towards those who differ from their ideology. Wouldn’t it be be better to spend more time trying to unify people … and yes that includes the president. Social media which one would think would “shame” people for misbehaving, instead celebrates their barbarism. Some of these rioters boldly steal and threaten property owners guarding their businesses and life’s work. There was a time when even criminals  would draw the line and not tempt law enforcement to arresting them … but for some reason, this “immoral idiots” show no fear?  It is sickening to me to see selfies as if to say “look at me, rioting with my fellow hoodlums” knowing the police have been told to stand-down. We’re pretty screwed up all the way around.

Of course, very few of us will agree on the answers, even if we can agree that the riots have distracted us from the racism and policing event that triggered it. Instead we hunker down either excusing it as “understandable anger”  or thinking that stronger deterrents would prevent the widespread destruction. Both thoughts sound pretty naïve after watching neighborhoods burned and livelihoods destroyed. I do know that permissiveness is not working and isn’t a solution, but I’m not sure that deterrents would work either – love to give them a try though. (deterrents worked for me when dad took my driving privileges away when I came home 10 minutes late on a Saturday night – I can hear him saying it now, “nothing good happens after midnight”).

One thing is for sure in our current situation, a harsher penalty for committing crimes, along with a heavier hand from law enforcement would reduce the property damage and better protect the good citizens. Unfortunately it’s not a fix. Until society decides we want our children to be instilled with right and wrong from day one, these kinds of “immoral idiots” will continue to be a U.S. problem. And don’t even get me started on domestic terror groups …

Music Monday: Van Morrison – So Quiet In Here

Posted By on June 1, 2020

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Payment processing: Testing Square’s link tool with a Monocle

Posted By on May 31, 2020

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Face masks, eating out again and PPE in the age of COVID19

Posted By on May 30, 2020

RichCEatingAtFazolis200524It has been a couple weeks of more states and localities re-opening. Brenda and I stopped at Fazoli’s to pick up something last weekend, but instead decided to try something new .. at least since restaurants shut down. FazolisLogo.We donned our face masks and ordered our meal sitting every other table. All was good. Then again this past Friday my buddy Jeff and I resumed our once a month (or sometimes more) eating out and staying in touch at one of our favorite local Mexican restaurants. We were surprised to see the shared basket of chips and salsa, but again the spacing was spread out. They took our name in advance, but didn’t seem to bother when we walked in. All in all, it was starting to feel a little more normal. Nice!

ResistOrMoronSpeaking of masks, Brenda wears them everyday in the Kroger Pharmacy and recently they were offered a pretty ‘wimpy” replacement for the normal paper/disposable masks (not the N95). She tried the new “cloth” mask on, but prefers the paper which took a few weeks to get comfortable wearing – I think she is ok with it now. I’m still struggling with the “masking up,” and agreed the new wimpy cloth is easier to breathe through, but I’m not sure offers much in the way of filtration or protection? Of course it is all likely a false sense of protection anyway – but probably a little be better than this crochet one (photo left).

Tech Friday: i-Device Wallpapers .. the Bompa edition

Posted By on May 29, 2020

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If the end of bread is not called the heel, then what do you call it?

Posted By on May 28, 2020

What do you call the two pieces of bread that bookend all of the slices?

Every once in a while, a quirky story gets me thinking and talking to those around me. I once though everyone called the ends of a loaf of bread the “heels.” LoafOfBreadUnbeknownst to me, even my wife had a different term .. “the ends.”

An informal online survey back in 2018 collected responses from people around the world and they relayed their terms, most I expected they inherited from their families. The result was that most called it the “heel” (36.7%, including Norwegians using the term “skalk” – translated to heel). That term was followed by 27.6% who called it the “end” (or the end piece or the end slice”). If as before we look to  Scandinavian countries, they might call it the “endeskiver” (translated to end washer or end disk). 

The third most popular is the “butt” or the loaf which makes up 20% of those who responded. And since with still have a few responses unaccounted for … even a small percentage call it “the crust” like almost everyone from Wales. Don’t they know “crust” is just the outside of the entire loaf?

Still there were a few more names:

Czechoslovakians call it "patka" .. which translates to "flap" or "strap" in English and the Scottish had quite a few name: the "doorstep," the "outsider," or the "knobby."

And since more people agreed that the worst part of the loaf is the heel, end or butt, it might be understandable why a few try reverse psychology. “Oh, the ends are the best part of the loaf … they “the tasty boys.”  Huh?

A list of some anti-end-of-slice terms included "trash," "garbage," "the ugly slice," "the nasty slice," "Satanspawn," and "Piece Of S— That No One Likes."

A few called it "the dog’s bread" or "duck bread" because they felt it was not fit for human consumption and thus fed it to animals. 

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Do not fall for text messaging scams targeting senior citizens

Posted By on May 27, 2020

Acknowledge scammers and you become a “live mark.”

TMediScamMay2020here’s no way around it, living with smarphones and computers makes life easier and more difficult at the same time. Scammers are busy targeting all of us and seem particularly interested in taking advantage of senior citizens and those often least experience with technology.

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A perfect example is a text message that has been going around for at least a year. This one always seems to be “Alex’  … but is modified for your state, etc. I’m unsure if they send to random numbers or try to only target those of a certain age (hey, I’m still a few years away) but likely have only the goal of finding a “live mark” for their unscrupulous plans. The best advice is to delete, block and ignore. There was a time I reported this to the FTC and their National Do Not Call Registry … but it seemed to me to be a waste of time. Until there aren’t any marks –There’s a sucker born every minute” – or are teeth and serious repercussions to deter the practices, this will continue.

As I’ve said before, a strong deterrent decreases criminal and bad behavior … even if it doesn’t eliminate. Having no deterrent is just putting out the welcome mat . This applies across the board be it felonies or misdemeanors, cybercrime or illegals coming into our country, petty theft or speeding – most people calculate the risk vs reward and act accordingly. 

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Later and more work than usual in opening the pool this year

Posted By on May 26, 2020

PoolOpening200524

It is never as easy as expected? I’m accustom to opening the pool each season now that I’ve been doing it for 20+ years in Cincinnati and another 5 or so in Hudson before that. Each season it should get easier, right? Nope. PoolRebuildingPump200524There always something … and the job is MUCH more challenging to do by myself as my age inches ever higher (Brenda says it is all in my mind … then asks if my life insurance policy is paid up – kidding, she’s only thinking that!)

PoolPumpCorrosion200524

Anyway this year again … the spring rain added some silt and extra worms to the pool. On top of that, the pool pump that was making noise last year, corroded enough to freeze up (corrosion above – new motor above left). Thankfully, I have learned a few things over the years and knew those motor bearing would eventually need to be rebuilt again, so I planned ahead and purchase a new pump motor last year. Smart.

Still the removal and rebuilding of the pump motor cut into my already long day of opening the pool. Thankfully by the end of the long day, the pump is now running smoothly, the first layer of silt sucked out and cover is folded (I’ll wait for Taylor to help move it up on the storage shelf – although I’m not sure why I put it up high???)

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Also reworked the electrical and added some clean wire and crimped terminals.

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
My Desultory Blog