My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on October 26, 2018

For those who watch the stock market, today was another one of those October trading days that can give one the willies. It was a reminder of the dreaded Octobers of the past and added to the steepest indices October decline since the 2007-2008 crisis. Still, the economy is sound, company earnings are good (tech stocks might be overvalued?), unemployment low and consumer confidence still in good shape. From my perspective, the U.S. is in far better shape financially than in the past … or than other country. Sure … our deficit and debt remains ridiculously high and there is tension between political parties due to the upcoming mid-term election … and over immigration (the Wall on our southern border), healthcare, taxes, tariffs and trade with China … but these are not new or unknown. Earnings for most U.S. corporations are good, Americans are employed if they want a job and tensions with North Korea and Iran have moderated. Economically … we are in pretty good shape for the time being.

BUT … the divisive sentiment within our citizenry has festered into a political fight between those who oppose President Trump and those who support and voted for his agenda. The strongest opposition to Trump desires a more progressive or even socialist America. Those who support the president, the ones furthest to the right, are boldly nationalistic to the protectionist extreme. Unfortunately these opposing views seem to play themselves out in more than in just political debate or at the ballot box. Protests and verbal spats from these loudest extremes have lead to violence — from Antifa on the extreme left, to Cesar Sayoc on the extreme right (arrested today for sending mail bombs to leading Democrats).  Some on the left are blaming the president’s tone and words for stoking aggression in our country, while others on the right see those with the loudest mouthpieces (celebrities, liberal politicians and the mainstream media) continuing to fire up anger and create deep fissures between Americans.

Wouldn’t it be nice to return peaceful protests and to civility in debate again? I personally think that those in academia, Hollywood and the mainstream media have shown their true color and are not arbiters of the truth and neither teach or report the news of the day fairly … and have no problem criticizing President Trump for his inflammatory tweets and tone at rallies. All could do more to tone down the rhetoric, but just because each speaks in opinionated tone, they are not responsible for those who actually do carry out violence.   

Category: Financial, Idioms, News, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: antifa, bombs, cesar sayoc, extremes, investing, mail, october, Politics, rhetoric

Posted By RichC on October 24, 2018

I can’t vouch for the complete book (I’ve just starting reading it), but for those of us who appreciate first hand accounts of heroism, survival and World War II history … spending $2 on Alistair Urquhart’s "The Forgotten Highlander: An Incredible WWII Story of Survival in the Pacific," is well worth it. An amazing story that has me remembering how I felt after reading The Rape of Nanking and Unbroken.

Category: Books, History, Millitary | No Comments »
Tags: Books, ebook, forgotten highlander, History, kindle, nanking, pow, prisoner, reading, unbroken, urquhart, ww2

Posted By RichC on October 23, 2018

Although Cincinnati Reds baseball has been enjoyable all year long for me despite their weak season, my heart just hasn’t been in postseason MLB this year. Tonight (Tuesday, October 23, 2018) begins game one of the World Series between the Dodgers and Red Sox … a great east vs west coast series.

Category: Sports | No Comments »
Tags: baseball, dodgers, postseason, red sox, sports, world series

Posted By RichC on October 22, 2018

In 2016 my friend Jeff gave me his old grill as I finally gave up on our well loved and well used old aluminum shell grill. His was a 4 burner Charbroil propane model that I was able to cleaned up, converted to natural gas and add some new internal parts. It has worked great for 2 years, even after being blown off the back porch (decided to deal with the hot sun and rain and just leave it on the grill pad now). But, I was disappointed to see that the new stainless steel burners have degraded and corroded once again. So I’ll replace them again  with new ones from Ebay. I wonder if the tumble off the porch or cheaper Ebay parts contributed to the early demise? 

Category: Archive, Misc, Shopping | No Comments »
Tags: burners, charbroil, corrosion, ebay, grill, jeffp, parts, repair, stainless, steel

Posted By RichC on October 21, 2018

Since I’m pre-occupied, a beautiful “daily post” filler photo that brings back memories of hiking in the Canadian Rockies or Glacier National Park in Montana works. Enjoy!

Category: Environment, Memories, Nature, Photography, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: beauty, filler, hiking, lake, mountain, photo, photography, rockies

Posted By RichC on October 20, 2018

Earlier in October, as well as mid summer, I’ve been trying to get a better nighttime view of the International Space Station (ISS) passing over our house. It has been tracking overhead for the last few weeks an hour or so after the the sun set. The angle was such that our sky was completely dark (you can see the tree line at the bottom of the photo below), yet the ISS being 240 or so mile above SW Ohio was completely lit up.

The ISS was an incredibly brilliant and quickly moving and continued to reflect the sun even as it headed further than I expected towards the southeastern sky as it rose from the NW, passed directly overhead and remained visible for a good 5 minutes. As the International Space Station raced across the sky, it passed near Mars from my location north of Cincinnati (see Sky Guide tracking app screen shot – photo left). I’m still amazed at being able to capture "both" so well on just a iPhone7plus. I doubt even my DSLR could have been able to do this?

Category: Apple, Cellphone, Photography, Photos, Space | No Comments »
Tags: astronomy, international space station, iphone7plus, iss, mars, sky guide

Posted By RichC on October 18, 2018

For years I’ve known the odd hood ornament on my dad’s Packard Hawk (above) was not accurate or something that was original to the car, but had no idea where it came from?  Last week after an online chat and a little digging with a car-loving friend of mine, we did a little digging and concluded the hood ornament was from a 1952 – 54 Willys Aero. Sure enough, the airplane/jet ornament matches, which make perfect sense considering the original owner of my 1958 Packard Hawk was a Willys, Studebaker and a Packard guy (he was also my dad’s uncle, Ed Wandtke).

Uncle Ed (and Aunt Agnes) lived on River Road and worked in Toledo, Ohio (where the Aero was built) and had had a connection to the “father of the Aero.” That guy was Clyde Paton, who was also a former engineer for Packard Motor Car Company. My dad’s uncle Ed also enjoyed cars and enjoyed sharing his interest with my grandfather (who owned a service station in Toledo) and those in the family who were interested. With these extra details, now having this Willys Aero hood ornament on the Packard means a lot more to me.

A 1952 Willys Aero Ace

Category: Archive, Automotive, History | No Comments »
Tags: aero, collectible, hawk, hood, ornament, packard, willys

Posted By RichC on October 17, 2018

There was a time we winced at dentistry pre-20th century (some still do today), but imagine going to an Egyptian dentist back in 2000BC or there about? Yikes!

"Egyptians were very comfortable with and knowledgeable about the human body. Mummifying bodies required them to drain the blood and extract the organs leading to a basic understanding of the human anatomy. Doctors wrote up manuals on how to perform surgical procedures, cure bites and stings, and mend bones. It is in one of these manuals that the first evidence of dentistry is found; as old as when some of the first pyramids were built. The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, written sometime before 3000 B.C. gives instructions on how to heal and treat wounds in the mouth. Although there were detailed instructions about curing mouth problems, the evidence and writings within this time lead people to believe that the actual teeth were still considered untreatable. Minor dental work was performed, and slowly over time this would grow to be more complex procedures. The earliest signs of dental surgery were between 3000 and 2500 B.C. and usually involved drilling out cavities or pulling teeth. It might be hard to imagine having your teeth drilled into without the comfort of shots and happy gas, but Egyptians by 1550 B.C had prescriptions for dental pain and injuries. Through all these years, there has never been any evidence in mummies or writings that mechanical or false teeth were ever used. It has stumped researches as they struggle to believe that such intelligent and lavish people didn’t have artificial teeth in place of missing front teeth."

Phoenician Dentistry

Category: Health, History, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: dentist, dentistry, egypt, egyptian, History, medical, phoenician, teeth, wiredm mummy

Posted By RichC on October 16, 2018

While sharpening my chisels and practicing my hand-cut joinery last weekend, I remembered that I added a "new to me" wood chisel to my tool roll when sorting tools from my late father-in-law’s barn. It was too large for the current project, but looks as if the steel might hold an edge better than my cheap Chinese steel chisels.

What is unique about this older rectangular handled chisel is that it belonged to my wife Brenda’s Swedish grandfather (her mom’s dad) who was a furniture maker in western New York (Jamestown NY was once a proud American furniture making town). I’m looking forward to putting an edge back on it and using it for a future project … and perhaps marking it with some tape so my kids don’t just toss it when I’m gone!

My hand-cut practice dovetail and a few kerfs from three different "thin kerf" saws

Category: History, Personal, Photos, Tools, Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: chisel, craftsmanship, dovetails, furniture, grandfather, joinery, swedish, tools

Posted By RichC on October 15, 2018

This content is restricted.

Category: Audio, Music | No Comments »
Tags: broken, curious george, gadgets, ipod, jack johnson, mp3, music monday, shuffle, siriusxm