Music Monday: A post from decade ago, but a poignant reminder
Posted By RichC on June 23, 2025
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Archive: Summer week with our granddaughters was a success!
Posted By RichC on June 22, 2025
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U.S. Strikes Iran’s Nuclear Sites: Escalation and Diplomacy in Focus
Posted By RichC on June 21, 2025
On June 21, 2025, President Trump announced U.S. airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities—Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan—escalating the Israel-Iran conflict. Using B-2 stealth bombers and “bunker-busting” bombs, the U.S. targeted Iran’s nuclear core, following Israel’s week-long campaign that weakened Iran’s air defenses. Trump called the strikes “very successful” but urged peace, with a national address set for 10 p.m. ET.
Iran reported “limited damage” and claimed prior evacuation of nuclear materials. Experts caution that the strikes’ impact is unclear without damage assessments. Iran’s Supreme Leader warned of consequences, raising fears of retaliation against U.S. troops.
Despite the aggression, Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio push for diplomacy, though recent talks with Iran stalled. Egypt and Gulf states advocate de-escalation, while U.S. lawmakers are divided—some, like Sen. John Fetterman, support the strikes, while others, like Rep. Thomas Massie, demand a war-powers vote.
The strikes, aimed at halting Iran’s nuclear ambitions, risk broadening the conflict in a volatile region. The coming days will determine if diplomacy or further escalation prevails.
Source: Wall Street Journal, June 21, 2025, Live Coverage: Iran-Israel Conflict Latest News
Tech Friday: Less blogging but monitoring Linux server stability
Posted By RichC on June 20, 2025
Grok AI and I have become good friends over the past few weeks. I’ve been using artificial intelligence — with some success — in order to fix a few ongoing issues 
with MDB and the Linux server that has served me well for the past decade or so.
No … I’m not updating or doing anything crazy yet … but have realized that most of the problems are from outdated PHP code, hodgepodge theme updates over the years and old outdated and unsupported widgets and plugin. In other words, change is going to have to happen in the future.
For now, things seem stable and I’ll forego updating Linux to the latest release, PHP 8.1 any further or doing anything radical until there is a “blog update” plan in place. Part of me wants to tackle theme writing, but the other “wisdom of age” part of me knows it would be wiser to work with a new updated theme. For now, keeping CPU and memory issues to a minimum is all I’m asking. 😉
Woodworking: Keep your fingers safe working on the Table Saw
Posted By RichC on June 19, 2025
As I have in the past, here’s another woodworking idea for a push block that keeps fingers safe and rides on the table saw fence. I my mind, I’m contemplating one that actually becomes a sliding fence for cutting thin strips for splines 
that are all of the same size.
Summer is almost here. Maybe try some mother-daughter surfing?
Posted By RichC on June 18, 2025
Pulled this off of social media earlier this month and it made me smile. What a great way for a mom to introduce her daughter to a love of the ocean and surfing.
Dehumidifier problems: This time a warranty replacement. Ugh!
Posted By RichC on June 17, 2025
In the past, dealing with a older dehumidifier seemed as if replacing it was better than repairing it … or dealing with a warranty issue. But this time I’ve opted to fight for a replacement with the manufacturer — ANDTE (in China of course). 😉
That snidely comment aside, they were responsive and polite by email. A couple back and forth emails with proof of purchase, troubleshooting, etc … they shipped me a new one telling me it would take a week or so. It arrived last week, I unboxed and made sure it was upright to put the compressor oil in the bottom and waited the 24 hours before turning it on.
THEN it started … ugh! (and it’s not a diesel — video below as it is worth hearing) 😉 Back to the emailing back and forth again.
The saga continues.
Music Monday: John Cougar – “Ain’t Even Done With The Night”
Posted By RichC on June 16, 2025
A streaming station notification on my iPhone came up last week as a reminder that I haven’t listen to Pandora since walking the beach — I do miss that. Lately it has been far more convenient to tune in SiriusXM in the car or on my phone while connected to WiFi around the house. Since Brenda and I are on a US Mobile shared pooled data plan, we do try to limit our streaming on the carrier … therefore the beach walks were Apple Watch data (not pooled).
Anyway, an older 1980 John Cougar song popped up and I enjoyed it enough to make it a Music Monday song (BTW, “Cougar” was his stage name before bringing back “Mellencamp“). A glance at the Nothin’ Matters and What If Did album cover photo reminded me that “we” were all young once!
Here’s cut #2 from side one: “Ain’t Even Done with the Night.”
| John Cougar – “Ain’t Even Done with the Night” | 1980 |
Granddaughters on WTOL11 TV and Happy Father’s Day, Drew!
Posted By RichC on June 15, 2025
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Hm .. the tale of two different White House celebrations
Posted By RichC on June 14, 2025
America under Democrat President Biden vs Republican President Trump couldn’t be more different — we are clearly a divided nation when it comes to 
politics; even the lighting displays at the White House are different.
Earlier in my life I always thought both political parties wanted the same thing, but just had different philosophies as to how we get there. Each wanted a strong and prosperous country and freedom for ALL Americans. We both wanted safety and security, a better life for our families and a brighter future. Democrats saw central planning, more regulation, higher taxes and a bigger government as a way to achieve that goal. Republicans believed in fewer regulations, lower taxes and a Federal government focused on national security while letting states and local governments AND individuals (and charities) who are hands on in their communities as the ones who could do more with less.
Somewhere along the way, the philosophies changed. I’m not sure Democrats still want the same kind of America anymore? Very sad, considering the party still makes up a significant portion of our country. ☹️
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.