Posted By RichC on June 23, 2019
My assumption is that the averages portrayed in this study on “How working men and women spend our time” doesn’t really apply to the people I know, on the otherhand, there are only so many hours available in a day. BTW, what are the missing 2 to 2-1/2 hours each day being used for?
And who really gets 8.5 hours of sleep each night???
Posted By RichC on June 21, 2019
These homemade “salt based” recipe for Roundup vegetation control substitutes appears ever spring and summer on social networks, emails and blogs on the Internet. This year I figured I would archive this vinegar, Epsom salt (Magnesium sulfate) and our favorite degreaser and soap, Dawn dishwashing soap on MyDesultoryBlog as a helpful tidbit.
Posted By RichC on June 21, 2019
Taylor is my millennial antagonist when it comes to discussing politics, investing and both government and personal finances. We both enjoy debating, so it’s cool most of the time. He is also a product of his generation just as I am of mine. We view the role and expanse of government differently when it comes to free markets and capitalism as the best way grow our economy, set prices, wages and benefiting society (I see it as the incentive to work hard, a reward for calculated risk and in the end, the rising-tide lifts all boats philosophy, some higher than others).
He posed a question while at dinner last week regarding as to just how achievable the American Dream is anymore for many in his generation? This started my “unfortunate rant” on personal responsibility, living within ones means, keeping debt loads down and not spending more than you earn (boomers love to criticize millennials for their frivolous spending and focus on “experiences”– shame on us). 
My point to him was that every generation has faced budgeting and finding ways to stretch their income … some planted a garden, worked a second job, while other cut back on their non-necessity spending … particularly with borrowed money.
But more to the point was that his frustration was that the American Dream was “achievable” for single income blue-collar workers after World War II and in his grandparents generation, but looks nearly impossible today. I sense he would like to be possible again … and senses that it might be that way in parts of Europe, or that is at least what is being talked about in his circles.
As a “low debt person,” he is also puzzled in seeing some of his peers driving new cars, living in bigger homes and raising family – kids are something he can’t fathom in the terms of cost. I had to agree that it is (and always was) a challenging balance … and that it is his generation faces the burden of living with the
efficiencies of business automation and globalization (eliminating lower skilled jobs and outsourcing manufacturing to where labor is less expensive). On his other point, I wonder if some “seemingly achieving” millennials are living on debt and at a burn rate that will eventually be too high, just as with tech start-up companies trying to grow on venture capital funding. Come to think about it, is not all unlike our country as a whole, we are hoping growth will be enough to eventually cover the growing debt plus interest … and maybe those living on credit cards, student loans, car loans and big mortgages are just hoping their salaries will grow faster than their mountain of debt + interest (although I’m not sure who is thinking that far)?
We actually did talk a bit more about the big picture issue and agreed that our economy was not working for a large swath of Americans. We have watch the globalization and automation eliminate blue collar jobs for 50+ years and their replacements have been a seemingly permanent minimum wage job for those who do not have marketable skills. To that argument, it was hard to disagree … and leaving it to our current education system, bureaucratic long term welfare programs and Libertarian market forces are not working.
The easy sell, quick answer for those on the political left is for government to mandate a higher minimum wage, offer even more “free” (taxpayer funded) college education, socialize more industries and make our already progressive tax code even more progressive – ie. tax the rich.
Unfortunately those solutions will fail. Raise the minimum wage = businesses close and the prices for goods and services for those with a few more “minimum wage” dollars in their paycheck goes up. They end up with less buying power. As for more free education, it is already apparent that public schools are not efficiently preparing students vocationally for life after school. All it will do is to devalue a college degree and not really prepare the next generation with the skills that are in the highest demand. As for socializing industries (ie. healthcare), that is a ticket to inefficiency. We need competition for innovation and efficiency improvement. An finally, we all need skin in the game when it come to paying for the size of government we want. Currently the highest income Americans pay the “lion’s share of income taxes.” We can only squeeze someone else hard enough before they go somewhere else – the perfect example in a global economy were the corporate tax rates pre-2016. Make the America attractive again for business, and companies will build and employ workers in the U.S. … and still pay taxes here too (some rather than none). The American workers now have jobs if they want them and employers now have to compete for the best workers – pay and benefits. That’s how we reinvigorate the American Dream … definitely not socialism.
Posted By RichC on June 20, 2019
Although the Throwback Thursday #TBT memory of celebrating my late parent’s 50th wedding anniversary in 2007 leaves me bittersweet, I’m so thankful we had our time together (photo above and below the break is with them on Kelley’s Island in 2007). I’m not sure where the time disappeared … but I honestly thought that both Brenda and I would have our parents with us a lot longer than we did.
Remembering this memory has me looking forward to going back to the Lake Erie Islands and Put-In-Bay again with our children (I took Brenda there on a date in 1981). For me, I grew up fishing and vacationing on North Shores (Port Clinton, Catawba Island, Lakeside and Marblehead) with my parents and grandparents in cottages. Eventually, my parents bought a home to the east of Toledo and so I grew up playing on the shores of Lake Erie, just a bit to the west of the islands. Once married, Brenda and I moved the other direction from the Bass Island and we lived southeast of Cleveland, but headed back on weekends so we could sail in the area; we spend our summers there pre-kids … and eventually a little bit with our own kids when in Cincinnati (too far away). The memories are many … and good.
Who knows, perhaps we’ll do something new in this familiar place this summer — hint, hint. 🙂
(more…)
Posted By RichC on June 19, 2019
My son Taylor has a friend who runs a farm in the UK that he visited with back in 2015. Besides the bachelor pad in a barn with collectable British and Italian sports cars, he also grows and processes rapeseed oil for cooks and unique restaurants. The Duchess Oil brand is not available in the United States yet, so Oscar boxed up a few bottles of oil for Taylor. What a unique and great friend. If you are reading this from the UK, shop the DuchessFarms online store or find a store.
Posted By RichC on June 18, 2019
With steady rains (and downpour storms) over the past week, the ground was soft enough for even this 60 year old guy to trench. I’ve been wanting to work on the “sump pump to pool” bypass ever since testing it with a temporary pipe to 2” roll up hose a few years ago. The water is so unbelievably clear and clean and our sump pump runs like clockwork almost all year around that is a crime not to use it.
My plan is … and has been … to trench a PVC bypass pipe underground about 40 feet to the edge of the landscaping and lawn … then temporarily add a section of 2” firehose that I can disconnect for most of the year. During the dry months of July and August, when evaporation requires adding water to the pool, using what leeches under the foundation and basement only makes sense. Besides trying to figure out how to get the water to properly flow using gravity (not much pitch), I need to rework the messy and leaking sump pump to downspout drain anyway (photo below). Hopefully I’ll remember to winterize this pipe when closing the pool each season and maybe even consider adding an actual under ground line to one of the skimmers or corner of the pool when we finally splurge for pool refinishing … or attempt to do it myself???
Posted By RichC on June 17, 2019
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Posted By RichC on June 16, 2019
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Posted By RichC on June 16, 2019
My good friend Jeff Pitts, a network and IT expert, and most recently IT cybersecurity expert, constantly update me with the latest threats to computer servers. He manages the computers and networks for a Cincinnati-based international 
company that is constantly under bombardment from hackers. Most of the attacks are directly from China and according to experts who track, they work directly for the Chinese communist government. Last year his company was under a full audit and an extensive investigation by the FBI and Homeland Security. Jeff received enough education that he has been invited by other business groups and companies to speak on the subject. He continues to receive regular briefings and updates from our government and often relays some of the information to me that might be helpful in hardening and securing the servers I manage (although it just makes me paranoid).
I’d like to say that having the information makes me more informed, but instead it really it makes me realize just how vulnerable small companies and individuals are to cyber threats, especially on the scale of state supported cyber spying and hacking. On a lighter note, most of my business is not “heavily” targeted since there are no trade secrets or intellectual property … or even enough dollar value for blackmail. I would still like to believe most vulnerable areas are up to date and that I’ve taking a few basic precaution where fiscally possible.
There are a few helpful “simple” places to go to at least check your server security – see Qualys SSL Labs (the report on MyDesultoryBlog.com above), and as always, update your computer (servers) regularly, use strong passwords and secure practices.
If you are feeling smug about “your” Internet security … or just want to see the kind of Manhattan-like Project that China and other state players are working on, read this June 4, 2019 WSJ article (YIKES!!!):
The Day When Computers Can Break All Encryption Is Coming
Quantum computers will be able to overpower current encryption within a decade. That has security experts scrambling to come up with new ways to protect our data before it is too late
National-security experts and politicians have a message for America: A significant portion of the sensitive data we have today is going to be cracked by foreign powers in the not-too-distant future, and there is nothing anyone can do about it.
But we might be able to stop them from decoding the data we produce down the road, if we act quickly enough.
The danger comes from an ultrapowerful and still-experimental technology called quantum computing—which leverages the quantum properties of atoms to quickly compute problems that no conventional computer could crack. China has already launched the equivalent of a Manhattan Project in order to achieve this end, say experts, and companies like Google, Microsoft and IBM are all pushing ahead with their own efforts to create quantum computers.
Quantum computers, which are still in the very early stage, could revolutionize any number of real-world tasks, from researching new materials to picking the best route for delivery drivers. But right now, what many experts worry about is the problem of security.
“Whoever gets to true quantum computing first will be able to negate all the encryption that we’ve ever done to date,” Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, has said.
Posted By RichC on June 15, 2019
Brenda and I watched the movie Interstellar (2014) once before, but we watched it again this past week, and as often happens, we picked up on a few more interesting facts that made our brains hurt … well at least mine: General relativity, The Science of Interstellar, Black Holes and Time Warps.
Thankfully I could for the most part ignore the brain cramping and appreciate the parts of the film
that made more sense to me like human emotion of love (HA!), computing and binary code. The last couple of items were areas of study that I semi-grew up with and can relate to its development. In particular, it reminds me of our space race which required computing power we did not have … and the pressure to build, advance and use it in the 1960s to get to the moon.
It still boggles the mind as to the amount of courage, dedication and teamwork it took to actually put someone in space, orbit and return them to the earth … land then in a few short years actually land man on the moon. It’s been 50 years! We’ll mark the anniversary next month 
as re remember July 20, 1969.
The book, “One Giant Leap – The Impossible Mission that Flew Us To The Moon,” by Charles Fishman is an amazing review and account of a few of the details that few of us think about nowadays when casually reflecting on the challenge facing NASA. Tidbits like the women “wiring” the 0 or 1 binary switches of early computers to what the “moon smells like.” Great book … and an excellent NPR FreshAir interview – mp3 (worth a listen).
| ‘One Giant Leap’ Explores The Herculean Effort Behind The 1969 Moon Landing | 6/12/2019 |
