My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on July 26, 2018

We been enjoying summer and mostly great weather around the house and yard so far this year in 2018 and Brenda’s growing landscape mounds are all flowering and looking really nice (she has been working on them although her current Grand Jury duty is cutting into her free time). The last few days of slightly cooler weather has given way to sunshine and hotter weather now and so was finally able to get the backyard cut again. It is unusual to still have the lawn so green this late in July.

I’ve been outside each evening that the sky has been clear viewing planets and the larger than usual Mars. Last night, I was hoping to get a glimpse of the International Space Station (ISS) as it might have been possible to see it for about 10 minutes as it arced across the west-northwestern sky (red arc below), but unfortunately the high level clouds or perhaps lack of sun reflecting off of it kept me from seeing it. BUT … Venus and Jupiter were brilliant.

Photo left was edited to highlight, where photo on right is straight from my iPhone

Category: Archive, Personal, Photography, Space | No Comments »
Tags: court, duty, flowers, grand jury, grass, iss, mounds, pool, skywatching, venus, yard

Posted By RichC on July 25, 2018

While doing a bit of server housekeeping on the CPP servers and preparing for the eventual push to make all websites secure for users, I ran across a helpful Qualys SSL Labs site to check on certificates, etc. If you are working to get websites updated and compliant for the day ALL site will need to be secure, check out their free scan.

Since I also run a couple WordPress sites (including this blog), I’m looking at a few simple plug-ins, including WP Hide & Security Enhancer to see if it might be worthwhile in adding an additional layer of simple security for clients … although have not tried it yet (only researching).

NEARLY TWO YEARS ago, Google made a pledge: It would name and shame websites with unencrypted connections, a strategy designed to spur web developers to embrace HTTPS encryption. On Tuesday, it finally is following through.

(more…)

Category: Blogs, Business, Software, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: browser, chrome, consolidated, cpp, cppnet.com, google, plugin, qualys, servers, wordpress, wp hide

Posted By RichC on July 24, 2018

Having owned a several pairs of different branded sandals and flip-flops over the years (decades), I’ve settled on my boatshoe brand of choice, the Sperry brand, as the flip-flops I prefer. Some of the more inexpensive brands wear out too quick, others, like the ones I really like from Eddie Bauer, are slick when the surface or your foot is wet (including Crocs) …  and others like my toe protective and durable Keens are just less comfortable (they also continue to click).

I leave my current favorite Sperry flip-flop sandals, the Baitfish in Florida, so really needed a new pair for home … and will try a new lighter duty Wahoo flip-flop first at home to see how they hold up. So far I like them. (more…)

Category: Advice, Archive, Misc, Sailing, Shopping | No Comments »
Tags: amazon, baitfish, boatshoe, boatshoes, ceramic, flip-flops, footwear, keen, kitchen, knife, sharpener, shoes, sperry, topsider, topsiders, wahoo

Posted By RichC on July 23, 2018

This content is restricted.

Category: Memories, Music, Video | No Comments »
Tags: folk, idiom, jonathan edwards, mp3, music monday, musicmonday, protest, sunshine, war, youtube

Posted By RichC on July 23, 2018

The moon and Jupiter circled from my iPhone on Sunday night July 22, 2018

I have fond memories of sitting out with Katelyn when she would get out her telescope and was learning astronomy … but I do also still enjoy special nights like last night to "try" to capture the amazingly bright and large planets and moon (sometimes I wish I had a telescope but the iPhone skywatching apps are great).

Mars on the left and Jupiter with some lens refraction on the right

Sunday evening with Mars as close as ever gave a great opportunity to see the "red planet" in all of its color. Saturn at 11:30PM was sharp as could be just to the left of the 3/4 moon here in Cincinnati before the clouds moved back in. Jupiter (mentioned and photographed before) was also as bright as could be … and if it was not for bedtime, I’m sure many other celestial bodies could be check off as well. What great viewing.

Mars in all of its "red" beauty from a short Lumix video – 400mm.

Category: Cellphone, Photography, Space | No Comments »
Tags: astronomy, cincinnati, jupiter, mars, moon, nighttime, planets, saturn, skywatching

Posted By RichC on July 22, 2018

This content is restricted.

Category: Ideas, Misc, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, backyard, drew, family, frustration, hudson, katelyn, little tikes, michigan, ohio, oostra, project, swing

Posted By RichC on July 22, 2018

This content is restricted.

Category: Personal, Photos, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, drew, drone, family, katelyn, michigan, oostra, quadrotor

Posted By RichC on July 21, 2018

As a filler post, a couple random or desultory tidbits crossed my path this week; I found them mildly interesting:

1. The "bison," which can weigh as much as a ton, can "race up to 40 mph, jump up to 6 feet vertically and quickly pivot," so don’t try to out run them.
2. The "peloton" is the main group or pack of bicycle road racing riders.

@Jared_Max Thanks for the “word of the day” lesson on @MorningsMaria @FoxBusiness: peloton pic.twitter.com/Pj8rPPDXPW

— Rich Corbett (@RichC) July 18, 2018

Category: Tidbits | No Comments »
Tags: bison, desultory, filler, peloton, random, tidbit, wikipedia

Posted By RichC on July 20, 2018

I’ve been using the Wyze Cam to keep an eye on our Florida condo for a couple of months now … and besides an issue with a low-cost router overheating, it has been excellent. I’ve been thinking about adding a second one with the adjustable viewing angle, but it is not on the high priority list.

Although I don’t have an Amazon Echo in Florida, I can see a day the “habit forming” Alexa device will be nice to have at the condo for a variety of home automation tasks.  Now that Wyze Cam is working with Alexa, there is yet another reason to set up an Echo in Florida too. If you are in need of an inexpensive security type camera, you won’t regret buying the $25 Wyse Cam.

The Wyze Cam has long been a strong contender for the best deal in connected home security. I haven’t actually tried the thing out, but Greg was “surprisingly impressed” with his hands-on time with the 1080p camera. That’s probably enough in and of itself to justify the $20 price tag.

Now the dirt-cheap camera’s getting some added features, courtesy of a software update. Starting today, owners of the Wyze Cam v2 and the $30 Wyze Cam Pan will be able to use Alexa to summon live video feeds on the Echo Show, Spot and through the Fire TV Stick (using the voice-enabled remote). Sorry, no luck for those who picked up the first-gen device. Hope that $20 camera is working out for you, otherwise.

The feature is available this week as a free update to the Alexa app. Wyze joins Ring, Arlo, Nest and Canary, along with Amazon’s own security cameras, of course. But if nothing else, its option is certainly the cheapest of the bunch. One of these and an Echo Spot will set you back $150 — not too shabby for an on-the-fly home security system.

TechCrunch

Category: Advice, Alexa, Technology, Travel | No Comments »
Tags: Alexa, automation, condo, condo1718, delray beach, echo, florida, home, tech friday, techfriday, wyze

Posted By RichC on July 19, 2018

One of the topics of conversation for me throughout the years has been investing and trading. I enjoy the research and challenge, but having made many bad picks and mistakes, also realized just how dicey this is. This has made me sensitive when talking too specific with family and friends … even though I enjoy doing it.

About the only person I felt comfortable sharing thoughts with was my father-in-law (a photo of Fred Howard from WW2 a few years before I knew him – HA!) who made similar mistakes in his early years and adopted a more conservative approach to investing. Our back and forth in sharing research helped us build a closer relationship. It also helped that we both loved working outdoors, on houses and fixing things with our hands. He also enjoyed keeping his small business books and being treasurer for various groups — I did and do the same.

The purpose of this "canned" advice, or NON-advice, is that of pointing to the DALBAR effect. Read and use your own judgement:

Mostly, though, amateur traders fall victim to the DALBAR effect, named for the market research firm that tracks how dramatically individual investors underperform the stock market over time.

This happens because the small investor thinks he knows what he’s doing. So there’s lots of buying and selling.

Sweet spot

The extra effort rarely pays off. Over the 20 years ending in 2017 the S&P 500 SPX   — the broad index of large U.S. stocks — returned 7.2% a year. That return is on track to double a nest egg every 10 years.

In contrast, DALBAR finds, the average individual investor saw a return of just 2.6%. At that rate, it takes 30 years to double the balance in an investment account.

Given the risks, what do smart rich people actually do? The key is to lower your costs, be consistent in your investment process, and of course to save enough to build a nest egg in the first place. If you can manage that, there’s a solid middle ground between doing nothing and doing too much.

The sweet spot is what we call “portfolio indexing,” a form of low-cost portfolio management that harnesses the stock market’s propensity to rise over time and lets compounding do its magic.

LINK

Category: Advice, Financial, Memories, Personal | No Comments »
Tags: advice, dadh, dalbar, family, finance, investing, markets, s&p 500 index, stocks, trading, ww2