We had a great time with the family last weekend
Posted By RichC on June 9, 2020
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Music Monday: Van Morrison – Ballerina/Move On Up #video
Posted By RichC on June 8, 2020
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The Fiat 500X and selling hot dogs from a VW bus in NYC
Posted By RichC on June 7, 2020
Just an automotive kind of filler today after sharing Erwin Wurm’s “chubby” Volkswagen Hot Dog “microbus” from NYC last week on Tom Appel’s Twitter feed. The discussion started when I commented that the Fiat 500X Sport reminded me of the “plump when you cook it” Ballpark franks commercials in the 1990s. Eventually I shared the modified VW creation that definitely is “plump,” and unique enough to turn heads.
Have Americans completely lost their minds – Defunding Police?
Posted By RichC on June 6, 2020
It is hard to imagine the lawlessness and chaos we would see without a fair bit of law enforcement of some kind? Perhaps Americans aren’t really hearing each other and are unwilling to have a logical debate … but “defunding the police” make no sense to me whatsoever? If fair minded people were talking, there would be room to discuss the excessive militarization of law enforcement, but unless cities want to return to slums, ghettos, high crime and to live in neighborhoods run by gangs and crime syndicates, we still need the police. Businesses will not locate where the only protection is self-defense and private security. Who would work in an unsafe city … or what family would ever move to where the law-abiding had to fend for themselves and criminals were unchecked? It makes no sense.
On a brighter note, neighborhood policing like this (left) leaves me optimistic. Have a great weekend … and guess what I’ll be doing (below)? A new Weber Grill – #SomeAssemblyRequired
Tech Friday: Apple Mac, Preview PDFs and Quartz Filter tweaks
Posted By RichC on June 5, 2020
Size matters when emailing or just saving PDFs. It is easy to create them for paper-free archiving, but sooner or later most of them are larger than they need to be. 
Years ago in the printing world, almost every project was archived on CPPnet’s connected servers for our customers, usually in the Adobe PDF format. It was important to keep the quality high, but the storage size low … a delicate balance. In those early days (1990s) few of us had high speed Internet, so optimizing the compression made sense. Eventually we gravitated to using a few of the web-based conversion services (paid versions) as a way to batch process. Now in 2020, most people just create or “print-to-PDF,” save and attach a file 
without thinking all that much about it … until their cloud storage, hard drive or email archives become unwieldy.
Apple Macintosh users for the most part use bundled Preview software that I use all the time (out of habit, I still use an old version of Adobe Acrobat Pro or PDF Reader or Adobe Distiller when working on a Windows PC). Included within the Preview app’s default setup are a few compression filters (above) to use when “exporting” to whatever image format you want. I’ve never found the handful of “filters” all that helpful
… in fact the ultra-compressed “Reduce File Size” Quartz filter is nearly useless – way too blurry.
BUT … one of the little known tips, is that the Quartz Filter tool can be tweaked with the Apple ColorSync Utility using the “live preview” inspector. To set this up follow these 3 steps THEN you’ll have a “Reduce File Size” filter for Preview exporting that will reduce the file size and keep a PDF file that can be comfortably emailed or archived for your paperless office.
With a few “live preview” adjustments, I’ve reduce a normal scanned 8-1/2 x 11 page to nearly a fifth of the original PDF scan with only minimal blurring … very useable.
Modify PDF files with Quartz filters in ColorSync Utility on Mac
You can use Quartz filters to modify a PDF document by adding effects, changing the colour space and even reducing the size of the file by recompressing graphics.
In the ColorSync Utility app on your Mac, choose File > Open, then select a PDF document.
When the file opens, click the Filter pop-up menu at the bottom of the window, then choose a filter.
The effects of that filter are reflected in the window, but the file is not modified.
To step through the pages of the PDF document and see the filter effects on each page, use the navigation arrows in the toolbar.
Click Apply when you want to save the changes.
If you choose Live Update from Filter Inspector, the appearance of the PDF document changes as you select and edit a filter in the filter inspector.
Patio cleaning, finishing opening the pool, tree cutting and a fond Al Szuch’s Bait Shop memory … triggered by smell #TBT
Posted By RichC on June 4, 2020
The “to-do” list is slowly being chipped away at as last weekend Brenda and I enjoyed the nice weather at home to work on yard chores. She is still struggling with a back issue, but felt good enough to use the Kubota (against my advice BTW – bumpy lawn) to mow the front lawn. I spend my time continuing the pool opening, patio and teak furniture cleaning and starting to cut down a few dying trees (photo bottom).
The sense of smell doesn’t get enough attention, in my opinion. It is amazing to me just how a slight whiff of something can trigger a long lost memory (at least for me). As I was preparing to put the skimmer baskets back in the cleanouts, there was a bunch of leftover buds, bugs and pollen that had collected. I didn’t think much of it, but put my hand in to dip out the floating “scum” so as not to push it under the basket. As I did, the smell hit me and triggered a strong memory as 6-11 year old boy of going to Al Szuch’s Bait Shop with DadC, my Grandfather Bluhm and Uncle Bob during our summers living on Lake Erie (here’s a #TBT photo from 1967). It was a good time and I so enjoyed tagging along for the routine of getting minnows to spend the day fishing and late afternoon cleaning a basket full of yellow perch. Even writing this, I can close my eyes and remember clipping open the lid of the minnow bucket .. “and smelling that scent” (and not a smell in a bad way). (more…)
A moon rising iPhone 7-plus photo worthy of archiving
Posted By RichC 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 RichC 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. 
Then 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’ …joking… Apple 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.
A nation of unrest … filled with a bunch of immoral idiots
Posted By RichC 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). 
Sadly 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) 
and “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 RichC on June 1, 2020
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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.