My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on July 29, 2025

This past weekend was the last weekend of July 2025 (yikes!) and I tried to stay cool by jumping in and out of the pool during the 90+ degree summer heatwave that has been for the most part enjoyed for a few weeks now. I do prefer the heat of summer to the cold of winter … and know, “it is summer in Cincinnati, so what do you expect?”

For the most part, I was still able to accomplish a few chores around the house — cutting a fallen tree and finishing the lawn bench project. I know most people enjoy summer with activities and events “away from home” … but like my youngest granddaughter, “I would like to stay at home” (at least that’s what she told us last week).  

Speaking of cutting and hauling the dead tree (above), it was much larger than the photo suggests since much of it was still in the woods. After cutting and hauling the part you can see, I chained the rest to the John Deere 330 and was not able to pull it out of the woods (to avoid the poison ivy). So decided to see if the 2010 BMW X5 35d was up to the task — gently, I was able to pull it out of the woods without a problem. Whew! 

Instead of starting up and using my 40 year old heavy-duty McCulloch chainsaw, I opted to give my “modified” Ridgid electric “trimming” chainsaw a true test. I put in my largest 9Ah battery and slowly it was able to cut the tree into pieces I could haul in my recently revitalized Bame trailer to the fire pile. We’re going to have a big bonfire … but on a reasonably damp day. 😉

Back to staying cool: Instead of working outside on the Lawn Bench project that was started on the previous weekend, I opted to move it all into the basement workshop. It was definitely much more comfortable (my liking hot weather aside). The two coats of polyurethane was dry, but I had yet to dry-fit the new oversized Oostra Oak slates and pieces. It was much tighter than I expected — who knew the difference between .067 and .075 would make that much of a difference – BUT it all worked out perfectly. It is almost too nice to put outside. Then I added a final heavier coat of polyurethane that unfortunately ran a little as I attempted to filling in the area around each stainless steel bolt and screw to protect the wood from absorbing any water and degrading prematurely. So with those drip/runs … it will be much easier to leave outside in the weather. HA! 

EDIT Add: Spotted a leftover “pool temperature” photo that is about as warm at I’ve ever seen it.

Category: Archive, BMW, Personal, Photos, Tools, Weather, Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: bame, BMW, chainsaw, dead tree, john deere, lawn bench, oostra oak, poison ivy, ridgid, summer heat, trailer, woods, workshop, x5 35d

Posted By RichC on July 28, 2025

Some collectors go for muscle cars. Others chase rare diecasts or obscure dealership brochures. But @Car_Guy_Tom? He had a more refined ambition: cornering the global market on Cordoba keychains.

It all began on a lazy Sunday morning at a suburban Chicago area garage sale. Nestled between a box of spark plugs and a velvet Elvis was a bronze medallion gleaming with elegance. Two proud lions. A noble crest. The word CORDOBA emblazoned below like a royal decree. It was less keychain and more of a statement.

Tom held it up to the light and swore he heard a faint whisper in the wind: “Rich, Corinthian… leather.”

Soon, his obsession turned into a mission. He began acquiring every Cordoba keychain he could find—on eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Argentine souvenir sites, and even from a retired Chrysler executive’s estate sale. He outbid pensioners. He bartered with classic car guys. He once traded a mint-condition AMC Pacer rear window for a rare Cordoba fob with gold trim.

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Category: AI, Audio, Automotive, Human Interest, Humor, Podcast | No Comments »
Tags: chrysler, collectible, cordoba, cordoba keychain, Humor, nostaigia, short story, tom appel, wikipedia, x.com

Posted By RichC on July 28, 2025

Due to my college roommate Jerry Moody’s love for bands and brass instruments (he played the tuba and sousaphone in ONU’s marching band), we listened to plenty of Chuck Mangione on our stereo. During the 4 years we roomed together (three years in Founders Hall and then one in an off-campus apartment where we both met our wives-to-be), I would watch him practice songs and enjoy the diversion from our normal albums and tapes. I actually learned to appreciate brass band music and even jazz (see 1, 2 and 3).

One of the icons during the late 1970s was Chuck Manigione; he was an impressive performer and band leader … even for someone lacking in musical talent like me. 

So for this week’s Music Monday, here’s “Feels So Good (Nana’s Journey Into Song, March 8th, 1979)” from YouTube. It was with a sad heart that I read about the passing of Charles Frank Mangione on July 22, 2025. ☹️ 

Category: Friends, Music, Obituary, Video | No Comments »
Tags: band, chuck manigione, feels so good, flugelhorn, jazz, jerry moody, music monday, musicmonday, onu, roommate, trumpet, tuba, youtube

Posted By RichC on July 27, 2025

History doesn’t always repeat, but as Mark Twain supposedly said, it often rhymes. That was my lingering thought after reading Oren Kessler’s “Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict.” If you’re curious about how today’s Middle East complexities came to be, this well-researched and engaging book takes you back to one of the earliest and most defining chapters in the modern Arab-Israeli struggle.

Kessler does a solid job walking readers through the 1936 Arab revolt in British-controlled Palestine—a moment that rarely gets the attention it deserves. He paints the backdrop with clarity: Jewish immigration rising, Arab nationalism growing restless, and Britain caught in the middle with imperial fatigue and political missteps.

The book doesn’t take sides but it doesn’t sugarcoat either. It’s heavy on facts but accessible, and while the politics are intense, Kessler’s writing is surprisingly readable. What stuck with me most is how many modern debates—from borders to governance to foreign meddling—echo from that time.

If you enjoy books that explain how we got here by revisiting there, “Palestine 1936” will give you a solid foundation and is worth your time. It’s not light beach reading, but for those who appreciate history and geopolitics with clarity and context, this one hits the mark. 

It has also intrigued me enough to put Penny Sinanoglou’s book on “Partitioning Palestine” on my CheapCharts app wishlist in case it heads back down to the 5/8/2025 low of $2.99 (below)?  Also it was a way for me to plug and app my buddy Jeff uses to buy books for his iPad … although I’m more of a Kindle reader myself. 

Category: Books, History, Software | No Comments »
Tags: amazon.com, app, book review, cheapcharts, israel, oren kessler, palestine, palestine 1936, reading

Posted By RichC on July 26, 2025

Brenda and I enjoyed a little babysitting visit to Whitehouse, Ohio this past week and decided the ridiculously HOT weather would be great to visit my brother Ron and his wife Claire’s retirement property on Lake Erie … “where there would be a breeze” … NOT!

The breeze if any was from the south and it was in the 90s with a heat index likely over 100 degrees. Still we – well I mean I – had a good time revisiting the property and neighborhood where I grew up. It has definitely changed, but in talking with my brother Ron who is planning on building (plans submitted), says the area still has many of the same families in ownership as when we were kids. The jabber-box that I am sometimes, I walked our granddaughters along the beach area (noticing the sandcastle left by Ron and Claire and their granddaughters the day before) and then back to the “crick” and dike behind Lagoon Drive. We walked up to the community beach area (in the heat) and I rambled on about clearing the rocks and cutting the weeds for our baseball field. It seemed much larger, as did our yard, back then???

We drove down to the other west-end community beach where my grandmother Bluhm would set up her easel and then charcoal sketched another one of my favorite paintings — she added “boys walking” (I suspect me and my brother and it hangs in our bedroom today). Obviously, only after thinking about this, I realized that I’ve mentioned it before — a sign that I’m a grandfather and am getting old?

Those were definitely days that both my brother and I look back on fondly … and “now” sort of wish that they could have lasted much longer. My grandma Bluhm died in 1970, only a year after my namesake grandfather back in 1969 (link) … but my memories of them are strong.  

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Category: Archive, Art, Memories, Personal, Photos, Video, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: artwork, beach, brenda, granddaughters, lagoon, lake erie, paintings, richc, ronc

Posted By RichC on July 25, 2025

Since today’s post was a little weak for Tech Friday, I’ve decided to add a second post updating my battle against DOS attacks on my server. Half the battle is fending off BOTs that originate overseas and I’ll give you one guess as to the country hammering my server the most?

Since the WordPress plugin Wordfence does a pretty good job tracking and isolating the originating IP addresses, I do have a pretty good idea. Next step is trying to figure out the best way to limit the resources drain on since even having PHP handling such requests is taxing a lightweight Linux server. Time to do some additional reading in not letting a request even request anything.   

Category: Blogs, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: bots, china, dos, linux, php, plugin, server, wordfence, wordpress

Posted By RichC on July 25, 2025

Really … there’s no comment or commentary needed. Just watching this baby (and mom) laugh is enough to brighten even the dreariest day. Have a great weekend!

Category: Human Interest, Social Media, Video | No Comments »
Tags: baby, feel good, filler, laughing, mp4, social media, x.com

Posted By RichC on July 24, 2025

Are too many people still sitting on cash as yields decline?

Interest rates are likely to decline further and the question is, “should people lock into rates now (ie. Bonds, CDs or short term treasuries) or shift more heavily to equities?”

One of the contributing factors powering the strong stock market is likely the falling rates money markets, cds, savings, etc. compared to the last few years. As inflation eased, money market rates dropped after the 2024 election and inflation eased. Yields are now at the point investors sitting with cash need to search for better yields. Often it is in equities/stocks – and likely dividend paying stocks for more conservative value investors who prefer holding bonds and interest paying assets.

The story also has to do with anticipation that the Federal Reserve will eventually cut borrowing rates (under heavy pressure from the White House to lower rates)  … and therefore yields on money markets will head even lower as the year draws to a close. This will likely tip the scales further in favor of equities or higher yielding bonds as more money exits money market funds.

The quandary for those near or in retirement: What to do if the scale becomes too unbalanced towards equities (as it always does)? 

Food for thought, especially if you’re the nervous Nellie type (or a “worry wart” in memory of MomC). Note: I wanted to keep my Idioms category active!  😉  

Category: AI, Financial, Idioms | No Comments »
Tags: bonds, federal reserve, graph, idiom, interest rates, investing, momc, money market, nervous nellie, savings, stocks, worrywart

Posted By RichC on July 23, 2025

If you read my blog at all, you know I’m a long time Wall Street Journal subscriber and often quote or reference their content. I’m actually embarrassed to say that I’ve been reading the newspaper version from the time before the Internet and had it delivered to my place of business for years. So … it is with disappointment that I’m finally retiring my digital subscription due to a renewal dispute that Dow Jones customer service subscriber retention people were unwilling to fix (it’s not the first time).

It also happens at a time when quite a few conservative pundits (ie. MAGA advocates) have decided to cancel their subscription due to an article a WSJ reporter published on July 17th regarding President Trump. As the story goes, a letter in Jeffery Epstein’s 50th birthday book included a “bawdy letter” from Trump that the POTUS claims was not his. In fact, Trump lawyers threatened to sue and are filing a lawsuit after the publication published it after the denial. This could be true or untrue … but we do know that Trump has both been slandered relentlessly for 10 years … but also has made some pretty derogatory statements in the past.

One wonders if the political bias coming from AI news aggregators will be more or less slanted than journalists and reporters today … I guess we’ll find out? On the WSJ “bawdy letters” story, I think it was a totally unnecessary and will only end up hurting subscriber retentions and renewals from the news organizations core readers … especially if they don’t figure out how to better handle renewals (see below). 

Nevertheless, in the age of artificial intelligence providing more and more of our day to day information, I do know that a single online newspaper subscription is not worth what the WSJ is demanding from renewing subscribers (see next paragraph).  

The timing of my subscription dispute (renewal pricing billed at $41.52/ mo for WSJ only online access) made customer services unwillingness to adjust or at least give me something closer to the promotional rates a very poor business decision.

Oh well, BYE-BYE to both the WSJ and Barrons … once again, you disappoint. ☹️

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Category: AI, Financial, News, Politics, Social Media | No Comments »
Tags: barrons, billing, brave leo ai, bye-bye, customer service, dispute, dow jones, mollie hemingway, trump, wall street journal, wsj

Posted By RichC on July 22, 2025

If you are like me, procrastination of home maintenance items is my modus operandi. There are summer things on my list that I need to do (fence repairs), some large undertaking I want to do (remove, paint and reinstall shutters) … and then semi-maintenance things that I interested in doing. Obvious those first two get put on the back burner and the 3rd item takes precedence. 😊 

At least I mowed and trimmed the backyard before the storms over the weekend, but the distraction that I’m talking about is the degraded bench that we had in our front yard for years. It has been sitting behind the pool house for years now with the thought that with the solid castings, some de-rusting and new paint and wood … that it would be worth refurbishing? I have the lumber (the Oostra Oak just needs to be planed to a little under 3/4”) and some new stainless steel hardware (bolts, washers, nuts and 3/4” screws) that  it would be both a nice addition and enjoyable project? Unfortunately it is starting to look like I’ll have more in paint and wood finish, material and hardware that buying a new discounted bench … not to mention my labor!

Isn’t that the way it always is? 

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Category: Archive, Personal, Photos, Repairs, Weather, Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: lawn bench, maintenance, oostra oak, procrastination, project, refurbishing, repair, workshop