My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on September 8, 2017

Accessing the Internet with broadband speeds has definitely improved this past year or so in our area. I remember connecting via modem at 300 baud, improving to 1200, then 56K and making the expensive big move to a twin pair of 128K ISDN lines giving me 256K of bandwidth in the 1990s.

Eventually I jumped on the StarBand Satellite data delivery (1.5 Mbit/second download speed and 256 kbit/s upload speed) until cable became available in the 2000s.  The just this past year we opted to add fiber as it became available in our area. I’m not sure how we functioned at slower speeds anymore?

Currently our promised 100 megabits has been a tick over 100 MBit/Second (109.3 as tested on DSLReports.com) and paired with fiber video for television delivery too. Occasionally it is  a little buggy, but it could be because of all the hardware that now wants to connect through my router and range extender??? Everything wants to connect nowadays.

About the only complaint I have with Cincinnati Bell Fioptics is their blocking port 80 … impacting the ease of hosting (testing Linux Raspberry Pi servers) at my home. Sure we can connect on a different port or using

Category: Computer, History, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: cable, cincinnatibell, dslreports, fiber, fioptics, internet, speeds, tech friday, techfriday

Posted By RichC on September 7, 2017

It is difficult not to be concerned after seeing the power of Hurricane Irma (was 185 mph, but currently 170 mph eyewall winds) and the devastation the powerful storm left behind on several of the Leeward Islands.  I’ve been tracking these last few days both concerned for those in the path and for personal ties to Florida in Delray Beach and Fort Pierce (Encore).

The photos and video coming in are just plain scary and the track, even the most optimistic, has Irma slamming Florida at some point. Like Matthew last year, those to the north need to be concerned as well since the current projections have Irma weakening but still likely to cause significant damage and flooding anywhere from Florida, Georgia and South and North Carolinas (for starters). I’m sure all in that area are starting to prep "just in case." For now in the US, the big push is to just get to a zip code … easier said then done with canceled flights, cruise ships dropping passengers off in Miami without flights and Florida residents finding long gas lines and shortages.

What would we do without the days of warning from today’s weather watchers?

Category: News, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: caribbean, florida, hurricane, irma, noaa, reuters, storm, weather

Posted By RichC on September 7, 2017

Obviously the "promises" made by the Obama administration, and the Democrats who passed the Affordable Care Act (ACA), have failed us … and the current GOP controlled congress have failed to fix, repeal or replace (their promise if elected).

Who in middle class America can afford health insurance at $1000/mo with a $12,900 deductible? 

As Dave Ramsey said several years ago … "do the math."

EDIT – adding the audio from my 2013 post below:

Category: Audio, Financial, Health, Politics | 2 Comments »
Tags: aca, dave ramsey, government, health care, mp3, obamacare, promises, radio

Posted By RichC on September 6, 2017

Everybody knows that "down under" things are a little bit different … even snakes have learned to creatively fish different than most I have observed in the U.S. How many "large" dangerous looking snakes have you seen plucking a large catfish out of the water by hanging from a branch???

Snakes aren’t the only creatures that do things different in Australia …

Category: Entertainment, Humor, Misc, Nature, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: australia, crocodiles, fishing, hauling, snakes, wildlife

Posted By RichC on September 6, 2017

The satellite definition of Hurricane Irma today is frightening as are the category 5 winds clocked at 185 mph. They are calling it “catastrophic.” Very dangerous storm; one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record.

Weather Channel update

Adding updated IRMA tracking on 9/6/2017

Category: Weather | 1 Comment »
Tags: caribbean, category 5, florida, hurricane, irma, storm, weather

Posted By RichC on September 5, 2017

It has been a while since talking about Sperry Boat Shoes, but it is obvious by the popularity of the old posts that I’m not the only one who loves wearing them. Usually the question is how to keep them from smelling or make them a bit more comfortable (with insoles). In this post, I’m looking to get a few more miles out of my favorite pair.

Years ago with my original leather Topsiders, it was relatively simple to find a shoe repair shop or send them back to the factory to have new thin white soles stitched back on – relatively affordable too.

There are also several "do-it-yourself" kits to re-glue soles on shoes, but I’ve yet to find a way to "add material" back to worn heels? Anyway being a resourceful sailor who’s patched Keen shoe successfully with some epoxy … and having some West System 105 resin and hardner around, I decided to see what kind of repair could be achieved and if it is even worthwhile. So here is goes.

I built up the heels with masking tape, shimmed the shoes on the workbench so the liquid would puddle in the worn heel area. I added a second application and probably could have done a third? After it hardened sufficiently, used a sander to take off the sharp edges and shape the new heel.

My concern is that it is too hard rather than flexible and will crack when I wear them … but it is in the heel??? Time will tell … I’ll report back.

Newer on the left without worn heels and the older on the right with the epoxy repair

LINK to current Sperry sale

Category: Advice, Misc, Sailing, Shopping | 1 Comment »
Tags: boat, boatshoe, boatshoes, epoxy, heel, insole, repair, shoes, sole, sperry, topsider, topsiders

Posted By RichC on September 4, 2017

This content is restricted.

Category: Audio, Entertainment, Music | 2 Comments »
Tags: artist, lana white, mp3, Music, musicmonday, reverbnation, streaming

Posted By RichC on September 3, 2017

We’re tracking another hurricane – Hurricane Irma – as it continues to move toward the Caribbean. The islands likely to receive the most wind and rain are the Leeward Islands. If you are looking for a little  geography lesson, the Caribbean Islands are split into two groups – Greater Antilles and Lesser Antilles. The southeastern most are known as the Caribbees and are split again into three groups: the Windward Islands, the Leeward Islands and those further west as the Leeward Antilles When all the above are combined with the Lucayan Archipelago (Bahamas) the whole bunch are known as the West Indies.

As for the current projection and news …

By Sunday morning, Irma had strengthened to a Category 3 hurricane, with winds nearing 115 mph (185 kmh), the National Hurricane Center said.

On Sunday afternoon, Irma’s center was about 790 miles east of the Leeward Islands, a group of islands in the West Indies that start east of Puerto Rico. Tropical-storm-force winds from Irma would most likely begin in the Leeward Islands on Tuesday night, and the storm is expected to be near the northern Leeward Islands by late Tuesday.

Hurricane watches have been issued for the islands of Antigua, Barbuda, Anguilla, Montserrat, St. Kitts, and Nevis. Additional hurricane or tropical storm watches may come as soon as Monday for the British and US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico on Monday.

Category: Weather | No Comments »
Tags: caribbean, hurricane, irma, islands, storm, weather

Posted By RichC on September 3, 2017

What a great story told by YouTuber Scott Manley about the early days of NASA, their Apollo 14 computing problem and a "tech support call" to a programmer (video below). The story is longish and likely only of interest for those on the geeky side who work with computer or are programmers — it would help if you have an interest in the history of space exploration too.

The video below has several great snips from the early 1970s and those who made the Apollo program successful; it was amazing how astronauts put their lives in the hands of so many brilliant thinkers and pencil-pushers working behind the scenes on earth … some even had a sense of humor when writing code (above)! 

Apollo 14 almost never made it to the lunar surface thanks to a hardware failure which caused a short circuit in the abort switch. With the computer seeing the abort switch enabled the software team back on earth had a limited amount of time to figure out how to make the computer ignore the erroneous signal while still performing the landing. This required tweaking program state in memory while the program was running, a delicate operation with dire consequences for failure. No pressure guys.

Category: Computer, History, Space, Video | No Comments »
Tags: apollo14, Computer, mission, moon, nasa, programming, space, youtube

Posted By RichC on September 2, 2017

For the fun of it, I ran a lightly responded to Twitter poll (200+ votes and nearly 40,000 views) with an idea that could generate some subscription based income for $TWTR – yes I would like to see the stock price rise too. My purpose was to see just how many users would be interested or offended if there were a FREE tier and a LOW COST subscription tier of service. The thinking would be to entice regular users to subscribe for a fee (generating a steady income flow for Twitter) with the perk of being able to tweet a few more than 140 characters.  I could see nearly every "verified" account and heavy user jumping on an inexpensive $12/year subscription and imagine quite a few others would try it as well?

But … the response to the poll either just really likes FREE … or are concerned over clutter if tweets were allowed to include more text (it is also possible that my poll was misinterpreted)?

Category: Business, Financial, Marketing, Social Media | 3 Comments »
Tags: $TWTR, Business, management, monetize, polls, social network, twitter