Music: Going Home from 1975 by Barry McGuire
Posted By RichC on May 22, 2016
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The 1958 Packard Hawk is still in the family and in my garage
Posted By RichC on May 21, 2016
With a little help from the tow company’s flatbed delivery guy, my Dad’s 1958 Packard Hawk has been safely moved from Sidney, Ohio to my garage. Although I was able to get it started a few weeks ago, something is wrong with the transmission (stuck in gear) and it also has a known master cylinder problem — no brakes! While trying to move it out of dad’s garage, we had to drag the car with a wheel skid onto the truck. On the reverse, I put a wheel dolly under the locked up rear wheel to get it off the truck and into the garage. No time currently tinker with it, so I tossed the car cover back on and look forward to working on it someday.
Who knows, with only 588 of this last Packard ever made, maybe I can get Jay Leno (of Jay Leno’s Garage) to stop in Cincinnati someday? 
A couple of dad’s models came to me too — although this one is a Studebaker!
Archive: Flag flying protocol for cruising on boats
Posted By RichC on May 20, 2016
Read and email from an ActiveCaptain.com the other day and wanted to archive it as information/discussion when talking about "flag flying" protocol.
>>> The Flag Advisor – 1 >>>
Nearly every cruising boat on the water flies one or more flags. But get into a discussion about flag etiquette and rules, and no one can seem to agree on the full set of what’s right and what’s wrong.
So we’ll take it on over the summer. We’ll research the generally accepted practices and bring a couple of topics into the discussion. Note that we’re going to present the findings for recreational boats. Military, government, or special use boats might well have different sets of rules and accepted practices.
For this first part, we’ll discuss the rules surrounding national and
courtesy flags, and flag sizes.Courtesy and national flags
Rule 1. There are no real rules. There are customs and some flag
etiquette rules that have been adapted for boats. However, when visiting another country, make sure there are no laws about flying courtesy flags because boaters have been known to receive fines. It is often an insult to fly a courtesy flag of another country incorrectly.2. A vessel’s national flag is flown from the stern.
3. If not prohibited, you can fly another location flag (state, province,territory) at the main masthead in place of any private, yacht club, or officer’s flag. On a mastless boat, a state flag flies from either the bow or radio antenna.
4. Only the national flag should be at the stern. It is considered a place of honor for the vessel’s national flag. Never put any other flag there.
5. Do not fly a courtesy flag (a small flag of the country you’re visiting) until your vessel has been properly cleared by customs and immigration. Until clearance is complete, fly the yellow Q (quarantine) flag.
6. On a powerboat without a mast, the courtesy flag replaces any flag that is normally flown at the bow.
7. On a powerboat with a mast and spreaders, the courtesy flag is flown at the starboard spreader. On a powerboat with two-masts, the courtesy flag is flown from the starboard spreader of the forward mast.
8. On a sailboat, the courtesy flag is flown at the starboard spreader. On sailboats with more than one mast, the courtesy flag is flown from the starboard spreader of the forward mast.
9. Don’t fly a foreign courtesy flag after you return to your home country.
Flag sizing
These are not well agreed upon. Chapman’s suggests the following:
1. The national flag at the stern of your boat should be one inch long for every foot of overall vessel length rounded up to a normally available size.
2. Other flags (club burgees, private signals, courtesy flags) should be one-half inch long for every foot of overall vessel length.
Another competing sizing suggests:
1. Boats up to 50 feet in length should use a 16 x 24 inch national flag and 12 x 18 inch courtesy flags.
2. For every 25 additional feet in length, increase the size by one standard size.
The power of framing in presenting the news
Posted By RichC on May 19, 2016
When consuming the news and information, whether on the Television or any other news media, it is important to pay attention to the biases of who is “painting the picture.” Off the top of my head, I’m thinking about how Facebook priorities their newsfeed.
Crosspost: An American Pi video streaming update
Posted By RichC on May 17, 2016
It’s shocking actually at the video and uploading of my wirelessly wifi connected Raspberry Pi 2 has been flawless in streaming a video feed to uStream for nearly a month … MORE on American Pi
How to get out of a common-cold, runny nose induced funk
Posted By RichC on May 17, 2016
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Thoughts of war, a nuclear exchange and our human condition
Posted By RichC on May 16, 2016
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Two more florescent to LED replacements – shoplight this time
Posted By RichC on May 15, 2016
After having success in replacing a couple less expensive 
warm white 2 foot florescent light tubes with LED tubes the other day, I opted to order a couple 4 foot LED tubes to replace my failing "cheap" shoplights over my garage workbench (eBay $22 w/shipping). I often leave this light on 24 hours a day, so LEDs in this fixture makes sense.
The process isn’t as simple as removing the old tubes and installing the new LEDs, because each manufacture wires their LEDs a little different. The 2 foot bulb were wired from each end whereas the 4 footers used only the pins on one end – make note if you are removing the ballasts and rewiring. For one light this isn’t too bad, but for multiple fixtures in a high ceiling, this could be time consuming.
So far I’m 100% satisfied with the new LEDs and will no doubt do the same as florescent tubes or ballasts need to be replaced.
Happy 30th Birthday to my wonderful daughter Katelyn
Posted By RichC on May 14, 2016
I love glancing at old photos especially when looking for something to add to a birthday wish — here’s a photo from about 10 years ago when Katelyn was in med school and living in an apartment with her roommates in Kent, Ohio. As you can tell by the "tiny toys" on the address sign, "the Men of 55" (more appropriately "Boys of 55") from next door had visited and were up to their shenanigans. Of course one of those "boys" ended up being her husband Drew, so obviously a little immaturity worked on her!
Anyway, today is Katelyn’s 30th birthday and I couldn’t be more proud of the woman she has become. Happy Birthday … "daughter" (affectionately stated in same tone she says “father”).
EDIT: Drew sent a photo from a birthday night out to a “Beauty and the Beast” dinner theatre production … it was such a great photo I wanted to archive it here (even caught the “glint” of happiness in Drew’s eye – click for larger!).
Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee
- lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
- digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.