Posted By RichC on October 30, 2018
The fight was known as "The Rumble in the Jungle" and was perhaps the most iconic boxing event ever. The underdog and mouthy, rope-a-dope dancing Muhammad Ali put the undefeated world heavyweight champion George Foreman down in eight rounds. What an event and one not forgotten by the 60,000 in attendance or by the 50 million viewers who watched pay-per-view on television around the world.
Posted By RichC on October 29, 2018
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Posted By RichC on October 28, 2018
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Posted By RichC on October 27, 2018
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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.
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.
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.
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?
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!
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?
