My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on October 29, 2016

Pakistani police have arrested National Geographic’s green-eyed “Afghan Girl” — whose striking picture became the symbol of the plight of refugees– for having a phony ID card.Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency conducted a raid Wednesday at a residence in the city of Peshawar, where Sharbat Gula was taken into custody.

The FIA had gotten word about her bogus ID card two years ago, and launched an investigation into her and her husband under a Pakistan government crack down on undocumented foreigners, according to AFP. But it took time for investigators to track down Gula because she went into hiding to elude capture. Her husband is still being sought, the AFP said.If convicted, Gula faces seven to 14 years in prison and a fine of $3,000-$5,000, but it’s unlikely she’ll serve such a harsh sentence.

Three Pakistani officials were terminated from their jobs as a result of providing the card to Gula, who apparently was trying to avoid returning to her war torn country of Afghanistan, AFP said. They, too, are wanted by Pakistani authorities.

Gula, who is now in her 40s, had applied for a Pakistani identity card in Peshawar in April 2014, using a pseudonym Sharbat Bibi, AFP reported. Steve McCurry’s snapped the legendary photo of Gula in 1984, when she was in a refugee camp in northwest Pakistan during the Soviet Union’s occupation of Afghanistan. The picture appeared on the June 1985 cover of the magazine.Pakistan has been a safe haven for millions of people from Afghanistan since 1979, when the Soviets invaded the country. There are 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees in the country, and about 1 million more unregistered, according to AFP. Officials in Islamabad estimate about 60,675 bogus IDs still in circulation.

Source: National Geographic’s iconic ‘Afghan Girl’ arrested in Pakistan | New York Post

Category: History, News, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: afghan, afghanistan, iconic, national geographic, photo

Posted By RichC on October 28, 2016

Repair a shoe of course! 

I’ve was frustrated with my carelessness when welding last year after burning a hole in my Keen shoes, but still wear them (albeit with a little more air conditioning than I would like). So after mixing a little more epoxy than needed for a repair, I dabbed a little bit of it on a chunk of suede material and stuck it in the hole in my shoe.

The repair isn’t pretty, but I did touch-up the globs of epoxy with a little leftover grey paint. The "shoe salvaging" would have made my wife’s father proud, as was known for his "stylish" choice of apparel — that’s sarcasm … besides I enjoy embarrassing my kids — unfortunately that is not sarcasm.

Category: Humor, Misc, Personal | 2 Comments »
Tags: embarrassing, epoxy, family, keen, repair, shoes, style, welding

Posted By RichC on October 28, 2016

As Fernando Lamas would say (or Mark Howard – it’s on the back of my late brother-in-law grave marker) …  "it looks mahvelous!" (paraphrased).

Unfortunately the Apple’s newest MacBook Pro has a price to match it’s looks and expected performance with the 13" model WITH the new TouchBar starting at $1799 and the big boy 15" starting at $2399.

Yes … my 2007 Gateway needs a refresh, but I’m not sure I can beg, borrow or steal enough to justify a 13" model with a little extra RAM (16GB for additional $200) and the new version of Final Cut Pro just for travel … but I would like one.
 Too bad my wife doesn’t read my blog because Christmas is coming!

I read the MacBook Air with hang on by it’s claws (13" only), but suspect that it is on the way out eventually. A few other highlights mentioned in the "hello" event were some interesting Apple TV "app" improvements … one call TV that looks interesting for cable cutters. The socially connected app with Twitter and their livestreaming (sports aka: Thursday Night Football) was particularly intriguing considering I’d like to see Apple acquire Twitter.

An interesting tidbit around the history of notebook computing and innovation over the 25 years history of "laptops" (or notebooks as they are now called) by Apple was the impressive speed and processing power gains (not to mention battery improvements and thriftiness). It was stated that the new MacBook Pro is "6.8 millions times faster than the original Apple notebook" and that it would take the original "one year of processing to do what the new MacBook can do in 5 seconds."

Astounding. (Here were a few of my Apple memories)

Category: Apple, Computer, Technology | 2 Comments »
Tags: apple, event, macbook pro, tech friday, touchbar

Posted By RichC on October 27, 2016

The World Series is likely the most watched fall classic by midwestern Major League Baseball fans in a long time as the Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs have now split their first two games at Progressive Field in Cleveland. It has been exciting to watch and cheer but ticket prices are shocking even those use to big numbers. Cleveland tickets were ridiculously high and Chicago even higher. The games are in demand … a good sign for the economy?

An Arrieta spitball aside (not really sure the photo tells the truth), rock solid Chicago pitching, a couple errors by Cleveland and A LOT more hitting by Cubs batters, tied up the series one game to one game as they head to Chicago Friday night. Exciting to watch.

Box Score

Category: Sports | 1 Comment »
Tags: cubs, indians, mlb, spitball, world series

Posted By RichC on October 26, 2016

The  advancements in unmanned aviation continue to impress me as a new generation of pilots is flying by remote control rather than “stick and rudder,” “yoke and peddle” … but all can still fly by the “seat of their pants.”  I’m still unsure what to call these computer controlled devices nowadays … quadcopters, quadrotors  (what if they have more than four props) or the much maligned drones???

Maybe just IFMs — incredible flying machines!

My son-in-law Drew added a new mix of video footage from his “drone” taken in Wayzata, Minnesota, a suburb little southwest of Minneapolis. If watched full screen, the video even picks up the skyline of Minneapolis when filming to the east (and Lake Minnetonka to the south and west). The autumn colors make for spectacular views and of course I particularly enjoyed seeing some of our family … my nephew Justin and his two kids, along with my son Taylor (and some old guy trying to fly the 4-motored contraption about halfway through the video — aka: RichC).

Oh … I almost forgot, while Taylor was up in Minnesota visiting Katelyn and Drew a couple weekends ago (and to a wedding in North Dakota), his sister introduced him to someone special … I think I see a few sparks

Category: Archive, Aviation, Memories, Personal, Video | No Comments »
Tags: drew, drone, family, minnisota, quadcopter, quadrotor, taylor, video, wayzata, youtube

Posted By RichC on October 25, 2016

Looking at Ohio in the presidential election from theskimm.com distance:

OHIO

DON’T LIVE THERE, DON’T CARE.

If you had to bet on who’d win in November, hang out in Ohio first. The state’s voted for the winner every year since 1964.

WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW?

That if the US held up a mirror to itself, it would look like OH. It’s a diverse state that closely reps the population breakdown of the country in religion, race, age, etc. That’s why when the US is divided politically (hint: now), so is OH.

WHAT ARE THE ISSUES?

The Economy…as in OH is all about that work, work, work, work. The state’s got a blue collar streak, with many jobs connected to the auto and steel industries. Dem nom Hillary Clinton has been cozying up to the state’s labor unions, while GOP nom Donald Trump has been promo’ing his policies to bring jobs back home to the US.

Trade…as in there’s a lot of anxiety in OH about globalization, and how President Obama’s proposed trade deal with Pacific rim countries could affect them. Both candidates will be saying ’no-bama’ and promising not to let the trade deal pass.

GIMME SOMETHING TO SAY.

You might hear “as goes Ohio, so goes the nation.” That’s especially true for Republicans. No GOP prez has ever been elected without winning Ohio.

Category: News, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: campaign, clinton, election, president, theskimm, trump

Posted By RichC on October 25, 2016

The weather this time of year can be very pleasant for chores outside, but morning and evening chill is definitely hinting that cold weather is around the corner. So it is time to start closing up the pool and prepping the outdoor living furniture for the nastiness of winter. I enjoyed the warmer afternoon in shorts and flip-flops thinking that it might be the last time for 2016 … at least in Cincinnati.

One of the chores that I’ve improved on each year is the cleaning out of the landscape pond behind the house … and for that, a large shopvac is a lifesaver. Just another item to add to the book about "what you should buy when you are young" — a good shopvac! 

Category: Advice, Misc, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: autumn, chores, closing, fall, flip-flops, keen, pond, pool, shopvac

Posted By RichC on October 24, 2016

As mentioned a few posts ago, I finally found an amber fog light on ebay to replace the broken glass lens. I was disappointed in the cost, but very pleased with the quality of the lightly used Bosch part. Forgive the bug splats (needs to be cleaned) but when the weather is nice, this 1982 Mercedes Benz 300D Turbodiesel is my semi-daily driver … so long as it isn’t hot and humid or snowing.

On another note, as much as I love this car, my garage is way too full. My son-in-law references “my fleet” when we talk about cars, so likely I’m not the only one realizing I have too many vehicles. I won’t absolutely  have to do anything until Elio Motors gives me a production and delivery date, but I’m going to have to sell something. My “true” daily driver is the 2010 BMW X5 35D (really loving it now) and with the addition of my dad’s 1958 Packard Hawk … my garage spaces are full. The most likely car to sell is the Mercedes (or my 1975 MGB project car, but it is small) … in any case, if you are interested in a great W123 chassis Turbodiesel, send me a message.

Category: Automotive, Diesel, Mercedes | No Comments »
Tags: 300d, amber, benz, diesel, fog, light, mercedes, turbodiesel, W123

Posted By RichC on October 23, 2016

It has NOT been an enjoyable campaign season … a very long year and a half! Citizens of voting age in the United States (see Twiitter comment below) voluntarily head to the polls to decide who they want or more appropriately DON’T want as their president for the next 4 years. I doubt I’m alone in holding my nose when filling out my ballot … but tried to have a sense of humor by teasing a friend while hovering over the Green Party candidate (photo). I’m voting absentee this year as I was suppose to be traveling,  but had something even more exciting than the election coming up that made changes to my travel schedule! (stay tuned as I’ll "reveal" that excitement in November)

As a very frustrated conservative voter, I’d generally not do much more than joke about voting for a third party candidate … but this year won’t fault those considering it (so as long as they realize who they are really helping to get elected?) Frankly, if the Libertarians could have gained enough ground, this would have been the year to have challenged our current two party dominated election. It is really too bad Gary Johnson was cornered out of the presidential debates and made a couple gaffes that were the only things to get him any press coverage — besides his openness to legalizing drugs and marijuana use. Looking at both Johnson and Welds’ records as governors, I don’t think they governed as nutty as the media portrays them.

Something to think about below (my Tweet as moderator Chris Wallace closed the 3rd presidential debate on 10/19/2016):

Disagree with Wallace: Voting is NOT an "obligation for those living in this country" , but a "privilege for citizens of this country."

— Rich Corbett (@RichC) October 20, 2016

The point of my disagreement was that 1) you must be a citizen and not just living in this country (federal law prohibits non-citizens from voting) and 2) it is a privilege that can be lost (“a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people” — convicted felons can’t always vote) and that it is not an obligation (“an act to which a person is morally or legally bound.”)

Category: Personal, Photos, Politics, Social Media | No Comments »
Tags: ballot, campaign, clintion, election, johnson, Politics, stein, trump, twitter, voting

Posted By RichC on October 23, 2016

The Indians will host Games 1 and 2 as well as Games 6 and 7 (if necessary), as a result of the American League’s victory in the All-Star Game this past July. Games 3, 4 and 5 will be played at Wrigley Field.

The official schedule for the 2016 World Series (all times Eastern):

Game 1: (Cleveland) Tuesday, Oct. 25, 8 p.m. on FOX

Game 2: (Cleveland) Wednesday, Oct. 26, 8 p.m. on FOX

Game 3: (Chicago) Friday, Oct. 28, 8 p.m. on FOX

Game 4: (Chicago) Saturday, Oct. 29, 8 p.m. on FOX

Game 5*: (Chicago) Sunday, Oct. 30, 8 p.m. on FOX

Game 6*: (Cleveland) Tuesday, Nov. 1, 8 p.m. on FOX

Game 7*: (Cleveland) Wednesday, Nov. 2, 8 p.m. on FOX

*If necessary

Category: Sports | No Comments »
Tags: baseball, chicago cubs, Cleveland Indians, mlb, schedule, world series