My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on June 26, 2018

How does on plan for the flattening yield curve – or even inversion (spread between 10-yr and 2-yr Treasury Bonds)?

Barron’s – June 2018:

“Inversion has an amazing record of forecasting recession…but stocks have typically continued to rise (sometimes sharply) after the inversion with a median gain of 13.1%.…Bottom line: the flattening yield curve is not a reason to flee stocks.”
— Bill Stone, Chief investment officer, Stone Investment Partners

“Although many fear [financials] may underperform…the history of the past two cycles suggests otherwise. We would add to our overweight sectors of financials, info tech and industrials with an intermediate-term time horizon.”
— Tony Dwyer, Analyst, Canaccord Genuity

“Contrarian investors should take a look at interest-rate sensitive defensive sectors like utilities, stables and real-estate investment trusts, which may gain their footing as growth momentum peaks.…”
— Michael Darda, Chief economist & market strategist, MKM Partners

“We still think it is too early to go full-on defensive, but it probably is not too early to start shifting out of some of the extreme cyclicals and picking up a few more defensively oriented names.”
— Michael J. Wilson, Equity Strategist, Morgan Stanley

Category: Financial | No Comments »
Tags: advice, barrons, inversion, investing, planning, porfolio, recession, retirement

Posted By RichC on June 25, 2018

This content is restricted.

Category: Friends, Memories, Music, Travel | No Comments »
Tags: 8-track, friends, jet airliner, mp3, music monday, musicmonday, peter frampton, siriusxm, steve miller band

Posted By RichC on June 24, 2018

While there is no doubt the "fabricated" Time magazine cover photo has impact and tugs at everyone’s heartstrings, the deeper story represents far more than the current illegal immigration debate over separating children from those who bring them across the U.S.-Mexican border, whether with parents, relatives or traffickers. ("fabricated" in that the photo is obviously manipulated and the truth being that little girl was not separated from her mother)

First it reminds us that politicians are not solving the issue over immigration numbers, securing the border or having a deterrent that prevent illegal border crossings or the trafficking of children. Politicians refuse to legislate the issue and seem to be using it for their own party’s political purpose. Sadly the media is complicate – they not just "reporting the news" but adding their bias regarding border security and illegals within the United States. The commonsense solutions that includes more green cards, raising yearly immigration numbers, making legal immigration easier along with securing the border, eludes those with opposing views elected to run our country. Neither party can solve this issue without the other. Work together and address the issue!

As for the "deeper story" on the Time photo: It is minimally reported that the mom, who was already deported once in 2013 (Obama admin), was paying a "coyote" to smuggle her and her daughter across again. This story required overseas journalists to report  the "whole story." What is even more disturbing is that the mom left her other 3 children in Honduras and left without the father’s support or knowledge as to where they were or if they were safe. According to the UK’s DailyMail’s story, the dad had not heard from the two for 10 days and the first he knew anything was when he saw the heartbreaking photo.

Why did it take the overseas media to bring this to light — perhaps it does not fit the mainstream media’s narrative? Once again, the media’s commentary and poor reporting or purposely biased slanted reporting adds traction to President Trump’s Fake News mantra.

Category: News, Photography, Photos, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: alien, border, cover, crossing, illegal, immigration, magazine, media, photo, time

Posted By RichC on June 24, 2018

Since I drive a diesel BMW X5 35d as well as an old 1982 Mercedes 300D Turbodiesel, and use diesel fuel in our Kubota and John Deere lawn tractors (not to mention sailboat) … seeing pump prices 20 to 40 cents higher at the pump is starting to cut into my theory of saving money through better fuel efficiency over gasoline. Thankfully there are still a few stations that keep the gasoline vs diesel spread a bit tighter. A local “new” UDF station has been the lowest in our area as of late, but in the summer they also market fuel discounts with a uDrive promotion which Brenda and I “unfortunately” take advantage of every summer as the scale proves; we have a weakness for an “occasional” milkshake.

Of course looking at the $1.77 per gallon price in the photo on the left ($1.10 discount), you might say my use of the word “occasional” is inaccurate? In that case, substitute the work “regular” milkshake!

I’ve been using Fuelly.com to track most fill-ups for a long time now and wanted to include some of the tracking long term. Also below is the impressive new Volkswagen Tiguan fuel efficiency based on my daughter’s Fuelly tracking — Wow!

Category: Automotive, Diesel, Financial, Marketing, Misc | No Comments »
Tags: 300d, BMW, diesel, economy, encore, engine, fuel, fuelly, mercedes, milkshakes, udf, udrive, x5 35d

Posted By RichC on June 23, 2018

I think I’ll archive that idea as a reminder since I always have an umbrella in the back of my Van, 300D or BMW X5 35d … one of those cars is generally at the marina with me!

This might be the perfect post to archive my Father’s Day gifts from my kids! A new “lifetime service agreement” Ridgid cordless drill kit AND the warranty includes lifetime replacement of the 18V battery if it fails … and they always do. I’ve talked about battery powered tools before (been thru several and they always let me down), but with new Lithium batteries they are proving to be “almost” good enough to never have to plug in a tool again – so say a few users (we’ll see, but like EV cars, I know we are getting close). Thanks again Katelyn, Drew and Taylor … used my Amazon gift card to pick up a couple tiling tools for my next project and packed up a few extras in my Ridgid drill bag. FYI, it worked great to install the porch ceiling fan! 

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Category: Archive, Misc, Photos, Sailing, Tidbits, Tools | No Comments »
Tags: amazon, battery, boats, cordless, encore, idea, lithium, ridgid, sailboat, saililng, tiling, tools, unbrella

Posted By RichC on June 22, 2018

It has been a while since posting on “what’s new” with Apple. As we approach the convergence of mobile operation systems and desktop, the maturing lightweight phone OS on all platforms is growing in power, size and use. The writing is on the wall.

Microsoft has announced Windows 10 will be the last Windows operating system … hinting that it will eventually be a service (whatever that means). Googlehas Android and it runs on the most devices as well as full size notebooks. Apple still has both MacOS and iOS, but for how long? iOS11 is the current iPhone/iPad release, but iOS12 is around the corner. Here’s a pretty good rundown from 9to5Mac.com, and probably will continue to push their higher end devices — iPhoneX, etc.

Category: Apple, Cellphone, Computer, Tablet, Video | No Comments »
Tags: 9to5mac.com, apple, Computer, ios12, ipad, iphone, operating system, tech friday, techfriday, youtube

Posted By RichC on June 21, 2018

After 8 down days for the Dow, the beginning of summer has not been kind to investors hoping 2018 would be a bit more positive. With unemployment at near all time lows, corporate tax cuts, the economy rebounding and promising better wages … and even talks with North Korea going well, one would think optimism would continue to reign on Wall Street? Nope … indexes are back where we started the year and sharply down as we start the first day of summer. Hm … is it all trade concerns and tariffs, or is the real threat inflation and the Fed raising interest rates to prevent an overheated economy?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 196.10 points, or 0.8%, to 24,461.70, while the S&P 500 lost 17.56 points, or 0.6%, to 2749.76, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 68.56 points, or 0.9%, to 7712.95.

If the Dow closes down again tomorrow, that would mark its longest losing streak since it’s nine-day loss in February 1978. Since 1896, the Dow has only suffered 10 losing streaks of nine days or more.

more at Barron’s Online

Category: Financial, News | No Comments »
Tags: barrons, djia, finances, investing, slump, stock market, tariffs, trading, wall street

Posted By RichC on June 21, 2018

Although we were given the heads up by Charles Krauthammer just a couple weeks ago, it is still sad to know that his life is over. With cancer returning, it was an expected end … and one "with no regrets. It was a wonderful life – full and complete with the great loves and great endeavors that make it worth living." He died at age 68.

Charles Krauthammer, a longtime Fox News contributor, Pulitzer Prize winner, Harvard-trained psychiatrist and best-selling author who came to be known as the dean of conservative commentators
Read FoxNews post

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Category: News, Obituary | No Comments »
Tags: book, charles krauthammer, commentator, death, foxnews, obit, Obituary, writer

Posted By RichC on June 21, 2018

Last weekend I notice one of the ceiling fans was no longer working … we could have used it with temperatures in the 90s – hey, it’s summer weather and to be expected in Cincinnati. Anyway, after taking apart the old Hunter fan, I could tell the inside was “growly” which indicated some corrosion. I recall hearing it groan a few years ago knowing that it was no longer as quiet as when new. Surprisingly most of the they used in this “outdoor” version of their ceiling fan held up pretty well. All the screws/bolts were stainless steel and nearly as good as new (shock) and even the plastic fan blades could have been cleaned up and repainted (they yellowed).

A couple parts could have been improved just in case Hunter engineers are reading this:

1. the electrical wiring could be tinned like marine grade,
2. the rubber gasket at the mounting base was severely degraded,
3. the motor as mentioned above was growly/grinding which indicates corrosion to me and finally
4. the paint over the metal housing did not hold up to the outdoor moisture/humidity and had pitted the housing with rust.

I’m not trying to be too nit-picky as 20 year for an outdoor ceiling fan is pretty good if you ask me?  Good enough for me to replace it with another 52″ Hunter Outdoor Fan for $109 on Amazon and 12″ extension downpipe.

EDIT: Adding an ani-gif of the new installed porch ceiling fan.

Category: Advice, Personal, Photos, Shopping, Tidbits | No Comments »
Tags: ceiling fan, endorsement, home, house, hunter, maintenance, outdoor, patio, porch, repair, replace

Posted By RichC on June 20, 2018

Here are a couple dots from an evening of star-gazing; the photo on the left is Saturn and the one on the right is Jupiter — wouldn’t it be nice to have a telescope (hint – to my spacecamp daughter!)  

Actually I was attempting to get a glimpse of the asteroid 4 Vesta, which is the second largest in the asteroid belt behind the dwarf planet Ceres, but this would be nearly impossible with the naked eye or even binoculars or my longest telephoto lens. Oh well, it was a nice warm and clear night to be outside looking up at the sky. 

Category: Photos, Space | No Comments »
Tags: asteroid, astronomy, ceres, jupiter, saturn, telescope, vesta