My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on October 14, 2018

As a business news junkie, I’ve been watching Fox Business since I "demanded it" (as Neil Cavuto would tell viewers in the early days of the expansion Fox network). They have steadily grown and have become serious competition for CNBC (watched/listen since it’s debuted) and BloombergTV. Fox Business has mixed in far more general news and "conservative" politics than the others … so that is a bit more tolerable (even though I purposely tune into NPR or other networks when driving just for some balance). The mix along with solid show hosts (most experienced from their competitors) have made this format work as their rating continue to rise.

For me, the way to watch/listen is SiriusXM ever since it came with my Honda Pilot instead on television. Prior to that, I’d stream a degraded bitrate CNBC feed from my home TV & computer using Windows Media Encoder or used a Slingbox to the car computer or Palm Treo. Most of the time out of the X5 nowadays I use the SiriusXM iPhone app and After Shokz bone conduction headphones which have proven to be a perfect match for my level of hearing loss … besides the listening is so discreet that I can hold a conversation while SiriusXM channel 113 is playing.

Back to the FoxBusiness shows and their new line-up. The morning looks unchanged with FBN:am from 5-6AM, my favorite wake-up show called Mornings with Maria with Maria Bartiromo from 6-9AM followed by Varney & Co from 9 – 12 noon and Neil Cavuto’s Coast to Coast from 12 – 2PM. What has changed is the afternoon and evening live line up … stretching the live broadcasts and extra hour.

Beginning October 15th, the new lineup will feature:

2pm: Making Money with Charles Payne
3pm: Countdown to the Closing Bell with Liz Claman
4pm: After the Bell with Melissa Francis and Connell McShane
5pm: Bulls & Bears with David Asman
6pm: The Evening Edit with Elizabeth MacDonald
7pm: Lou Dobbs Tonight
8pm: Trish Regan Primetime
9pm: Kennedy Live

Category: Business, Entertainment, Financial | No Comments »
Tags: bloomberg, cnbc, fall2018, fox, foxbusiness, foxnews, schedule

Posted By RichC on October 14, 2018

Eleven years ago I replaced my noisy 1980’s 2-cycle John Deere brand "heavy" string trimmer with a much quieter 4-cycle Troy Bilt trimmer (Pony TB465SS). Both were, and are, used heavily as I’ve always had acres of yard to tend. At first glance it was obvious that the John Deere "back in the day" was made much better and would hold up much longer, but sometimes cheaper is ok too in our throw away society.

Unfortunately just like with other small engines, the weak link seems to be the many plastic parts that seem to degrade with age, the elements and ethanol in gasoline. This past weekend it was the primer plastic bubble  … that is the part that has failed on every yard gizmo that I own. Chain saws, "lady" tillers, hedge trimmers, leaf blowers and now string trimmers (the John Deere did not have a primer).

One would think this is a part in particular could be made a little bit better?

Category: Environment, Misc, Photos, Productivity, Shopping, Tools | No Comments »
Tags: grass, john deere, pony, string, tools, trimmer, troy-bilt, yard

Posted By RichC on October 13, 2018

A friend from a Facebook group posted a 1982 Mercedes Benz advertisement with a W123 beauty – I thought it looked pretty close to my ‘82 MB 300D Turbodiesel. Nice!

When the W123 went out of production in 1986 it had surpassed the Stroke Eight as the bestselling Mercedes-Benz with more than 2.5 million cars sold. Mercedes built the car to last, and many are still on the road today. As a testament to the car’s longevity, it is popular in Africa as a bush taxi, covering thousands of miles of rough roads with only basic maintenance. The 3.0-liter inline 5 diesel in the 300D, while lacking in power, is considered to be one of the most reliable engines ever built. The timeless design is sure to last as long as the car itself, making this car a classic that is here to stay.

Category: Automotive, Diesel, History, Marketing, Mercedes, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: 300d, advertising, car club, diesel, facebook, hagerty, magazine, mercedes benz, turbodiesel, W123

Posted By RichC on October 12, 2018

Q: Why am I not surprised to see U.S. stocks extend Wednesday’s ugly losses with more selling on Thursday?

A: Because it is October!

Well because the talking heads that “I listen to” point out just how strong our economy is and that corporate earnings are strong, consumer confidence high and the regulation and tax cuts are just now being felt by companies and individuals in the U.S. The Federal Reserves seems to believe in the economy too … otherwise they would not be raising rates to prevent the economy from overheating and shedding holding on their balance sheet while times are good. From my perspective, all of this plus trade agreements with Mexico and Canada give me confidence that the economy should continue to be strong.

My 3 big concerns at the moment are 1) a trade war with China, 2) the mounting U.S. debt and continuing deficits and 3) the mid-term elections putting Democrats back in the Congressional majority … who oppose practically everything the GOP has accomplished and are laser focused on stopping President Trump. Thinking about that and with 20-20 hindsight, it would have been wise to have sold stocks in September and waited on the sidelines until after November’s election.

Energy stocks, meanwhile, were the biggest losers in the index, sliding 2.6% as U.S. crude oil fell 2.2% to $70.94 a barrel.

 

While the recent selloff adds to the pain that many emerging markets have felt in recent months, U.S. stocks had largely been isolated from that turmoil. That changed Wednesday, with the Dow industrials falling 832 points, or 3.2%, and the S&P 500 dropping 3.3%.

 

The narrative in focus in the market over the past week has been on growing concerns that interest rates will keep rising in response to strong U.S. economic growth and unbridled inflation, and in turn higher financing costs will dent corporate profitability.

WSJ Thursday wrap up

As for Hurricane Michael 2018, the panhandle of Florida was hit hard. The death count is believed to be 18 (updated 10/13) and many cities are in ruins. As mentioned a couple days ago, the impact point was Mexico Beach and from the aerial video, it looks totally destroyed (we loved vacationing in the area and regularly visited Sharon’s Cafe after beachcombing as a family).

CNN video and photos below the break

Category: Financial, Photos, Politics, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: bonds, china, economy, federal reserve, finances, hurricane, investing, markets, rates, stocks, trade

Posted By RichC on October 11, 2018

This content is restricted.

Category: Archive, Business, Financial, Personal, Photography, Photos, Space, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, djia, facetime, family, Financial, hurricane, investing, iphone7, markets, michael, photography, space, stocks

Posted By RichC on October 10, 2018

EDIT: Updated 14:00-14:30 ET – Landfall Mexico Beach, FL with maximum sustained winds clocked at 145 mph

Previous 11:28 a.m. ET update

Hurricane Michael has been upgraded to a “potentially catastrophic” Category 4 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph, the National Hurricane Center says. Data collected by NOAA and U.S. Air Force Hurricane Hunter aircraft show gusts up to 172 mph.

“We’ve issued our first ever Extreme Wind Warning,” the National Weather Service office in Tallahassee said in a tweet. “This means wind gusts in excess of 130 MPH are expected” over the next few hours. The agency urged people in the area to take shelter “immediately.”

We’ve been fortune that gasoline and diesel prices have remained relatively low for quite a few years now, even as the economy has been recovering from a deep recession.

Thanks in part due to the strong U.S. oil industry and an excess of worldwide supplies … so much for peak oil?

Credit the lower than expected demand to better efficiency and alternatives like EVs … but with the strong economy and recent political tensions tightening the embargo on trade with Iran, prices have been rising. Today’s $70/barrel oil has given way to talk of $100 again … although most energy experts disagree. Never the less, I’m regularly paying a lot more for gasoline and now higher priced diesel in the second half of 2018 than I have in a while.

As for Hurricane Michael, the category 2 hurricane is moving fast from the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, across the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and is looking to barrel into the panhandle of Florida as soon as Tuesday evening. It is somewhat unusual after the slow moving Hurricane Florence earlier in 2018 and will likely impact with strong wind but move quickly inland. Sustained wind is currently 110mph and is expected to increase before landfall. Some of my favorite beaches from Pensacola to Tampa will likely suffer high winds, surge and rain. No doubt my favorite "hook of beach" known as the St. Joseph Peninsula and state park will be awash by the sea.

Category: Energy, News, Video, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: diesel, economy, florida, fuel, gasoline, hurricane, michael, panhandle, peak oil, prices, storm, tropical

Posted By RichC on October 9, 2018

One would think that will all the years that I’ve been tinkering with tools and woodworking that surely I would have made a few "hand-cut" dovetails? Nope, I’ve always used a simpler joint for hand made projects or for bigger "repeat" projects opted for a router and dovetail jig — which was handmade by me by the way (below). Still, I’ve never tried cutting pins or the dovetail by hand until last night.

Dovetails have always been something that I’ve wanted to try, but I’ve never had a small or simple enough project that made the risk worth the reward … but I’m working on something that is worth giving them a shot. It is not going to be easy since I’m working with hard maple again … and after my practice attempt,  realized just how difficult getting the accuracy and detailed cuts just right is going to be. Wish me luck.

My homemade (from Woodsmith plans) dovetail jig

Category: Hobby, Personal, Photos, Tidbits, Tools, Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: cabinetmaking, dovetails, jigs, jointery, maple, practice, project, wood, woodworking

Posted By RichC on October 8, 2018

The new low cost Wyze Cam Pan that I bought to put in the Delray Beach Condo arrived this past weekend and so opted to set it up temporarily at home. So far so good with the image and impressive panning control with even motion tracking (less impressive though). The reason I chose the Wyze brand was due to just how please I was with the inexpensive tiny block called the Wyze Cam (previous post). I’ve since move the small one home to join the Canary cameras and all do a pretty good job of monitoring for motion, sending/archiving video clips and sending alerts to my phone (BTW, the Wyze now support Alexa).

Speaking of alerts, I foolishly set the new Pan cam up above and didn’t tweak the motion setting … sure enough, the flag’s movement triggers an alert … time to adjust the motion detection setting and zone before the alerts drive me crazy today!

Category: Advice, Alexa, Innovation, Misc, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: automation, camera, condo1718, home, panning, security, tech, wyze

Posted By RichC on October 7, 2018

Each year about this time, rodents and varmints are looking at our garage and house as a place to call home when the weather cools. So I’m usually trying to stay ahead of them by sealing up and keeping the garage doors closed more often (challenging when the weather is so nice).

The bigger varmints are relatively easy to attract into a live cage trap where I’m faced with releasing somewhere else or trying to humanely dispose of them in a swift fashion (or just let the cats go – grin!). Smaller critters like squirrels and chipmunks are not as easy to trap, but then they have not tried to get in the house “yet.” The little ones, like mice, seem to be able to find an opening somewhere and a couple get in each year … so opted for a trap that I highly recommended called the Rat Zapper – bought it few years ago. I’ll still use the snap traps, but for the most part have been able to successfully eliminate mice with this new “better mousetrap.”

But … last week, no matter what I baited the electric zapper trap with, I was unable to attract a small mouse who boldly zipped around a few times in plain sight! So out came the snap-traps and traps I think are the least humane … the sticky trap (see video below). Sure enough, a strategically placed sticky trap batted with a Frito was the one that nabbed him.

Also while gathering older linked posts on varmints like raccoons, I remembered October 5th was our late Tootsie‘s birthday … and it made me a bit sad — miss her.

Tootsie in 2008

Category: Advice, Innovation, Memories, Misc, Photos, Video | No Comments »
Tags: autumn, birthday, cattledog, dog, mice, mouse, mousetrap, pet, raccoon, rat zapper, rodent, sticky, tootsie, traps, varmints

Posted By RichC on October 6, 2018

As we watch the Brett Kavanaugh hearing play out in the political circus that has become Washington DC politics, some Americans have lost sight that there are actual people and lives at the center of these hearings. Senate confirmation hearings were once straight forward, and usually concluded with a vote to confirm, if the appointed candidate had the appropriate resume and reasonable career of constitutionally competent judicial decisions and opinions. In the past, the votes were often near unanimous and senators accepted that sitting presidents have the authority and duty to appoint Supreme Court Justices to the court. The Senate confirmation process was merely a safety check and functioned well throughout our history by treating each nominee with professional courtesy and followed by a protocol vote that excluded their political bias.  What happened to respect and decency in government and in the U.S. Senate? 

A Complete National Disgrace
The Kavanaugh hearings as American nadir.

by David Brooks, a New York Times Opinion Columnist

Over the past few years, hundreds of organizations and thousands of people (myself included) have mobilized to reduce political polarization, encourage civil dialogue and heal national divisions.

The first test case for our movement was the Kavanaugh hearings. It’s clear that at least so far our work is a complete failure. Sixty-nine percent of Americans in one poll called the hearings a “national disgrace,” and the only shocking thing is that there are 31 percent who don’t agree.

What we saw in these hearings was the unvarnished tribalization of national life. At the heart of the hearings were two dueling narratives, one from Christine Blasey Ford and one from Brett Kavanaugh. These narratives were about what did or did not happen at a party 36 years ago. There was nothing particularly ideological about the narratives, nothing that touched on capitalism, immigration or any of the other great disputes of national life.

And yet reactions to the narratives have been determined almost entirely by partisan affiliation. Among the commentators I’ve seen and read, those who support Democrats embrace Blasey’s narrative and dismissed Kavanaugh’s. Those who support Republicans side with Kavanaugh’s narrative and see holes in Ford’s. I can think of few exceptions.

These hearings were also a devastating blow to intellectual humility. At the heart of this case is a mystery: What happened at that party 36 years ago? There is no corroborating evidence either way. So the crucial questions are: How do we sit with this uncertainty? How do we weigh the two contradictory testimonies? How do we measure these testimonies when all of cognitive science tells us that human beings are really bad at spotting falsehood? Should a person’s adult life be defined by something he did in high school?

Commentators and others may have acknowledged uncertainty on these questions for about 2.5 seconds, but then they took sides.

–>The Full NYTimes Opinion piece is worth reading

Category: News, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: brett kavanaugh, government, hearing, nomination, nytimes, opinion, Politics, scotus, senate, supreme court