Filler: Admiring a Lucid Air while driving in Florida
Posted By RichC on February 25, 2024
Just a filler photo of a Lucid Air from Massachusetts that I was admiring while driving in Delray Beach, Florida last week.
Pilots and Planes: Smithsonian on Capt. David McCampbell, World War II aviation and the Grumman Hellcat
Posted By RichC on February 24, 2024
A few of the history oriented books I read in 2023 were about World War II Naval Aviation in the Pacific … after the previous years studying Navy and US Marine battles. As much as I enjoyed the books by several aviators who flew Corsairs (1, 2, 3, 4) … I really enjoyed reading last week about the Grumman F6F Hellcat in a Smithsonian article.
Two Grumman F6F Hellcats streaked across the sky above the Philippines. Below them, armadas of ships clashed in an epic battle to control the sea around the island of Luzon, where American and Australian ground forces engaged the Japanese in bitter combat.
It was October 24, 1944, and the Battle of Leyte Gulf—the largest naval engagement in modern history—had just begun. The Hellcat pilots, U.S. Navy Capt. David McCampbell and his wingman Ens. Roy Rushing, were looking for trouble up ahead and they found it—a squadron of 60 Japanese aircraft, including bombers escorted by Zeroes, the feared fighter of the Japanese Imperial Navy.
Despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered, the American pilots never hesitated. Throttling their Hellcats’ powerful 2,000-horsepower engines, they ascended for the attack. From on high, they waded into the enemy on repeated sorties, each blasting away with six .50-caliber machine guns.
“We’d make an attack, keep our altitude advantage and speed, and go down again,” McCampbell recalled in a 1987 interview for the U.S. Naval Institute’s oral history project. “We repeated this over and over till we made about 20 coordinated attacks.”
The American pilots shot down a total of 15 planes—an achievement still unequalled in combat aviation. Both earned “ace in a day” status by downing five or more aircraft each on one mission. That day, McCampbell scored nine “kills”—seven Zeroes, also known as the Mitsubishi A6M Reisin, and two “Oscars,” the Nakajima Ki-43. None of the Japanese bombers reached their targets. With their formation so scattered, the enemy pilots had to abort their mission.
A blog filler, but humanitarian innovation worth mentioning
Posted By RichC on February 23, 2024
Love to read a positive story or tidbit on social media … and this one about Kenton Lee and “The Shoe That Grows” caught my eye.
In 2007, our founder Kenton Lee traveled to Nairobi, Kenya after graduating college. He lived and worked at a small orphanage with some incredible kids.
One day, he was walking down a dusty road with all the kids when he noticed a little girl in a white dress walking next to him. As he looked down at her feet, he was shocked to see how small her shoes were. They were so small that she had to cut open the front of her shoes to let her toes stick out. That was the day that Kenton thought:
- What if there was a shoe that could adjust and expand its size?
- What if there was a shoe that could grow?
And the idea for The Shoe That Grows™ was born.
Book: “The Fund” about Ray Dalio by Rob Copeland
Posted By RichC on February 21, 2024
Once again I started a new book before finishing the last book (audiobook). This time it was on the recommendation of a business journalist that I enjoy (often quirky) and follow online.
The book is “The Fund” which so far seems to be a less than polite account of famed Wall Street legend Ray Dalio and how he build and ran his business. The author, Rob Copeland, exposes the “intricate workings of the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates.” He interviewed people on the inside and reveals the hiring practices, internal conflict and the uncomfortable work environment experienced by many of those who were part of the company. I was particularly attracted to the word “gripping” when it was used to describe the book.
Legal questions require lay people to dig deeper: Amicus Brief
Posted By RichC on February 20, 2024
As a non-lawyer and someone who rarely finds a reason (or interest) in learning about our legal system, discussions arise and certain terms batted around that require more understanding. Last week it was the term “Amicus Brief” so figured it was worth adding to MyDesultoryBlog.com as a “tidbit“… not that anybody reading really wants to know! 🙃
What Is an Amicus Brief?
An amicus brief is a legal document filed in appellate courts intended to assist the court by offering additional relevant information or arguments the court may want to consider before making its ruling. Amicus briefs are filed by amicus curiae—Latin for “friend of the court”—a third party who has a special interest or expertise in a case and wants to influence the court’s decisions in a particular way.
Music Monday: “Ride Captain Ride” by Blues Image
Posted By RichC on February 19, 2024
Today’s Music Monday here’s a SiriusXM Yacht Rock pick from the late 60’s rock band Blues Image and their hit “Ride Captain Ride” from 1970. The lyrics 
pretty much echo’s the band break up after setting sail and relaying that they are “never seen or heard from again. The Captain rides with his crew on a mystery ship, which disappears forever.”
Ok … so perhaps that’s a bit of a stretch … but I enjoyed connecting the dots! 😉
| Blues Image – “Ride Captain Ride” | 1970 |
Sunday Filler John 3:16 share while busy with our family
Posted By RichC on February 18, 2024
What do state sales taxes look like nationwide? #map
Posted By RichC on February 17, 2024
As an entrepreneur who has owned a business that sells in several Ohio counties and collects sales taxes (all counties are different), I do monitor the steady sales tax percentage increase over the decades of doing business. It is also interesting to know how managing a business in Ohio compares to other states (click map for larger).
The TaxFoundation has always been a great place to go in monitoring changes and what state offers a tax friendly climate for business (and overall personal State and Local tax liabilities). On a side note, here’s a tidbit: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos recent move from Washington state to Florida saved him enough money in “state” capital gains tax on selling some of his $AMZN shares to purchase his $500,000 yacht (mentioned on FoxBusiness 2/13/2024 and Seattle Times – quote below).
Jeff Bezos didn’t cite taxes among the reasons for his recent move to Miami from the Seattle region, but the fiscal benefits of his relocation to the Sunshine State are becoming very obvious.
Leaving Washington, which in 2022 introduced a 7% tax on capital gains, could have saved Bezos $288 million in taxes after he unloaded $4 billion of Amazon stock in the past week.
Bezos said in November that was he moving to Florida, which doesn’t tax capital gains, from Seattle to be closer to his parents and the Cape Canaveral operations of his space-exploration company Blue Origin. The announcement came a week before he put in place a 10(b)5-1 plan to sell as many as 50 million Amazon shares, worth potentially more than $8 billion.
Inflation is still an issue for those living paycheck to paycheck
Posted By RichC on February 16, 2024
Although those reading MyDesultoryBlog.com more than once or twice are probably tired of me mentioning inflation … it is still an issue even as costs and prices are “rising” slower than previous. We all have policies, political figures and economic idealogy in mind when pointing our fingers … but I’ll leave that to voters come November 2024 (No I probably won’t … I’m sure I’ll opine on it again). 😉
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.