My Desultory Blog

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

Posted By RichC on July 21, 2025

It is not that I’m tired of listening to The Bridge or 70’s on 7 … but decided to change thing up and go for a little 60’s Gold. Not everything is to my liking, including the yacky-yak aging disc jockey, but I did enjoy Bob Dylan. So for today’s Music Monday, here’s “Like a Rolling Stone.”
 

I’ve listened to the song for years and never really gave much thought to it or the viability as a “radio song” (because of it’s length — officially 5 min 59 sec) … but I have alway enjoyed the long song — just like Don McLean’s “American Pie” at 8 min 32 sec. It is “Bob Dylan” to me and my generation, even though people at the time wanted Dylan to remain true to folk music and not move into rock and popular music. It is interesting to learn a bit more:

Although CBS tried to make the record more “radio friendly” by cutting it in half and spreading it over both sides of the vinyl, both Dylan and fans demanded that the full duration of the recording should be placed on one side and that radio stations play the song in its entirety.

The success of “Like a Rolling Stone” was influential in changing the music business convention regarding the length of singles, whereby they were restricted to durations of less than three minutes. In the words of the magazine Rolling Stone, which took its name from the song and the 1950s blues song “Rollin’ Stone”, “No other pop song has so thoroughly challenged and transformed the commercial laws and artistic conventions of its time, for all time.”

Richard Austin, of Sotheby’s auction house, said: “Before the release of Like a Rolling Stone, music charts were overrun with short and sweet love songs, many clocking in at three minutes or less. By defying convention with six and a half minutes of dark, brooding poetry, Dylan rewrote the rules for pop music.” 

LINK

Amazing … it has been 60 years!

Category: Music | No Comments »
Tags: 60s gold, 70son7, bob dylan, like a rolling stone, long songs, music monday, musicmonday, siriusxm, thebridge

Posted By RichC on July 20, 2025

The different Almanac forecasts have always interested me. They always seem to be part mystical science and crafty word selection?  Who knows, but I still enjoy reading whatever version of almanacs that are available … but I do miss the paper versions. 😊 

Generally, Claude.AI has not been my AI choice … but this question gave me an excuse to ask and see what it might think: 

Overall, while the almanacs have cultural significance and occasionally make accurate predictions, scientific analysis suggests their long-term weather forecasting accuracy is no better than chance – around 50% – despite their claims of 80% accuracy.

Claude AI

Category: AI, Human Interest, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: almanac, artificial intelligence, brave browser, claude.ai, forecast, weather

Posted By RichC on July 19, 2025

The Ohio automotive registration was delayed as long as I dared this month just in case I could convince Brenda this might be a good year to sell her 2010 Acura RDX. Unfortunately she was not convinced before the license plate renewal date inched closer. So another $56.59 has been spent and we’ll go another year (Ohio is still semi-reasonable for automotive registration). 

The other reason selling is not the best idea at this time is because the road behind our house is being closed for about a month … right where I like to park cars when it is time to find a used car buyer. So, since we really don’t need to sell it this year and Brenda is happy to be driving it instead of the good looking 2002 Honda Odyssey or my BMW X5 35d, we’ll go another year and see if she is ready to do something next year. Besides, this little fun-to-drive SUV has a surprisingly large hatch area for shopping and hauling stuff. It will make someone else a great used car someday.

Also … I’m still fighting with the bots in China hammering away at my Linux server. I’ve yet to fine the perfect solution, but the Wordfence plugin will have to suffice for now … but still uses PHP resources and tracks hundreds if not thousands of IP BOT addresses. 

Category: Acura, Automotive, Blogs, BMW, For Sale, Honda, Local, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: 2010, acura, bots, china, linux, rdx, road closed, selling, server

Posted By RichC on July 18, 2025

Really this is a “to be ignored” post that is to test MarsEdit after a big update and Linux server issues. I’ve cleared out a bunch of bulk, cleaned up and hopefully secured a few more things and am trying (without all that much success) into combatting the Chinese BOT that hammer the site everyday. 

Stay tuned as to what can be done pre-PHP as it all seems to tax the CPU and memory when banging away for a couple hours. 

—

Category: Blogs, Computer, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: grok, linux, marsedit, wordpress

Posted By RichC on July 18, 2025

The rise of AI in search and browsing is a double-edged sword. On one hand, AI-powered tools offer efficiency, delivering quick, synthesized answers without the need to navigate multiple websites. For users, this can feel like a leap forward—why sift through links when a chatbot can summarize the best information? However, this convenience comes at a steep cost to the open web’s ecosystem, which thrives on human interaction, curiosity, and the organic discovery of content.

This week the Internet articles reaching my feed have been warning about AI “choking off” traffic to content sites is alarming but not hyperbolic. Websites, from independent blogs to major publishers, rely on search engine referrals to sustain their business models. If AI agents bypass these sites entirely, creators lose not only revenue but also the ability to engage audiences directly. This risks creating a homogenized internet where a few AI gatekeepers control what information surfaces, stripping away the diversity and serendipity that make the web valuable. The analogy of a librarian summarizing a book instead of handing it to you is apt—while convenient, it robs you of the chance to flip through the pages yourself and stumble upon unexpected insights.

Yet, dismissing AI’s impact as mere hype, as SparkToro CEO Rand Fishkin suggests, feels shortsighted. The data is clear: AI-driven tools are growing rapidly, and their potential to reshape how we interact with information is undeniable. An article in TheWeek.com’s tech section, it was noted that while traditional search still dominates, the launch of tools like Comet and Google’s AI Mode signals a shift toward a future where AI mediates our online experiences. This could lead to a less vibrant web, where the joy of “falling down rabbit holes” or chancing upon niche content is replaced by sterile, algorithmically curated responses.

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Category: AI, Blogs, Human Interest, Productivity, Social Media, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: ai, artificial intelligence, google, internet, opinion, search, tech friday, techfriday, theweek.com

Posted By RichC on July 17, 2025

I couldn’t help but remember a Memorex tape advertisement that ran in the 1970s for cassette tapes (above) … then in the 1980s for VHS tapes … when seeing the photo below: “Is it live … or is it Memorex?“

What do you think of when you see the shape of this island off the coast of Italy? My first thought was … “it must be generated by artificial intelligence as are so many photographs on social media these days.” 

So of course I asked AI … and then curiosity had me adding a couple links from Wikipedia 😉 
Tell me about this island off the coast of Italy (photo)?

Yes, the photo appears to depict an island off the coast of Italy. Based on its distinctive shape and features, it is likely the island of Gorgona, one of the smallest islands in the Tuscan Archipelago. Gorgona is located about 19 miles from the Italian mainland and is part of a national park. It is known for its rugged terrain, small population, and a historical prison that has been in operation since the 19th century. The island also has a rich history, with evidence of human settlement dating back to Roman times, and it is home to a monastic community. Access to the island is restricted due to the prison, and it is not a typical tourist destination.

– Grok

Category: AI, Human Interest, Photos, Social Media, Tidbits | No Comments »
Tags: artificial intelligence, chatgpt, dolphin, gorgona, grok, island, itally, memorex, tuscan archipelago, wikipedia

Posted By RichC on July 16, 2025

After finishing the book “Kent State: An American Tragedy” by Brian VanDeMark last week, it occurred to me that the tensions in the U.S. aren’t all that different today than they were in the late 1960s and 1970s.

Radicals on the political left today (we often see Antifa), just as some with like minds did 50 years ago, choose violence. They fan already red-hot embers of the anti-Trump liberal-left’s non-violent protests (probably half the active Democrats) into the destructive and dangerous protests/riots that include spray painting, damage to vehicles and public property and rock throwing at law enforcement. Those who may still remain non-violent, end up hiding the anarchist sect and camouflages those committing acts of destruction and physical violence.

Not surprising, this was a tactic 60 years ago by the “new left” SDS and the even more so the violent Marxist far-left Weather Underground; they tirelessly recruited and coerce anti-Vietnam War college students into campus unrest and sometimes college town community violence. Let’s think long and hard before we go down this “blood in the streets” path again. And although my “fearsome foursome” buddies may have looked like the “longhaired college radicals of the day” … we were thankfully insulated from the draft, violence on campus and the nation’s unrest (read/listen below or see my commentary on TheHustings.news — Right-Column of course).
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Category: AI, Audio, Books, History, Human Interest, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: antifa, artificial intelligence, commentary, elevenlabs, kent state, sds, thehustings, violence, weather underground