My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on February 17, 2025

Although this season’s blowout of a Super Bowl has been almost forgotten by all but Philadelphia Eagles fans (and definitely forgotten by Kansas City Chiefs fans), the halftime show stands out as one I could have easily pass on. To each their own I suppose? 

Anyway, some of the chatter on social media was “why don’t they invite someone like a Barry Manilow” (suspect the comment was from someone older?);  I personally had not thought about him for years, but as I was reading it, up popped his 1974 hit “Mandy” on my SiriusXM 70s on 7 channel (also see “Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl”).

So with two references at the same time, the song lock it’s place in for Music Monday.
 

“Mandy” is a song by Barry Manilow that was released in 1974 and became his first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and Easy Listening chart. The song was originally titled “Brandy” and written by Scott English and Richard Kerr, but Manilow changed the title to avoid confusion with Looking Glass’s “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)”.

LINK

Category: Music, Sports | No Comments »
Tags: 70son7, barry manilow, brandy, mandy, music monday, musicmonday, siriiusxm, super bowl, wikipedia

Posted By RichC on February 16, 2025

Believe it or not, I had a longer Sunday post on Psalms typed and ready to go, but it disappeared. ☹️ 

So I’m going to rewrite it for next week and try to include it. 

So for today, I’ll add a little … very little … church humor. 

Category: Faith, Humor | No Comments »
Tags: church, Humor, joke, psalms

Posted By RichC on February 15, 2025

We have been enjoying our time together in Florida this month. The weather has been near perfect after a little “expected” cooler, damp, jacket weather that Florida received in January. Next week could be different … according to my weather and tides watcher — report courtesy of Brenda. 😉

Our daily walks are getting easier (we are in better shape) and the distance of 7.0 miles just about right for me (Duffy app step counter), but it’s not enough according to my fully rehabbed wife.

We celebrated Valentine’s Day morning (yesterday) on the beach as is our usual, after sending this “Bluey” greeting to our granddaughters. KDAE are off to Gma and Gpa Oostra’s beautiful Michigan place and will likely have some fun in the snow. We are looking forward to a few photos, but here are a couple of mine below! 😊

(more…)

Category: Holiday, Nature, Personal, Photos, Retirement, Travel, Video, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: atlantic ghost crab, beach, blue land crab, crabs, dolphinfish, florida, mahi-mahi, sunshine, valentine's day

Posted By RichC on February 14, 2025

I’m not much of a TikTok person (actually anti-TikTok) and you might want to take this with a grain of salt, but it is interesting to contemplate where computer development is going in the next 75 years? 

Category: Computer, Human Interest, Technology, Video | No Comments »
Tags: animation, Computer, mp4, tech friday, techfriday

Posted By RichC on February 13, 2025

Brenda and I have been thoroughly enjoying the surprisingly nice early February weather and escape from winter up north — and we are living The Life of Riley (a previous reference that I can’t get out of my mind).  

I’ve finished “Killing the Rising Sun” and have picked up a Annie Jacobsen book (previous was her “Nuclear War: A Scenario”) after reading about Operation Crossroads and atomic testing in the Pacific after World War II. The 2011 book is a Kindle copy of, “Area 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base,” and introduces readers to scientists and engineers who worked in Area 51 in Nevada. The book addresses the Roswell UFO incident and covers a few of the explanations we’ve all heard through the years (still questionable). After the first couple of chapters, it has grabbed my attention … and even knowing that there are plenty of critics … I’m looking forward to learning a little more about this base and part of our country’s secretive Cold War history. 

Google Maps view of Area 51 in Nevada – 75 miles north of Las Vegas

Edit add: After finishing this “books” post, my daughter sent me a “bloggable” topic on putting aside distractions. A quote from “Gen Z, Fight ‘Brain Rot’ by Reading Books” is probably pretty fitting for all of us with smartphones: My phone addiction took away my ability to sit in silence, focus for any length of time, or engage deeply with anything meaningful. As Oxford Press might put it, I was a victim of “brain rot.”

Category: Books, Personal, Photos, Travel, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: annie jacobsen, area 51, florida, reading, sunshine

Posted By RichC on February 12, 2025

Excellent speech by US Vice President JD Vance on artificial intelligence in a summit in Paris, France. He told European and Asian leaders that the United States will dominate AI. Worth watching.

NEW: JD Vance speaks at an artificial intelligence summit in Paris, France, tells European and Asian leaders that the United States will dominate A.I.

Imagine VP Kamala Harris giving this speech.

"The Trump administration will ensure that the most powerful A.I. systems are… pic.twitter.com/dowLVks1wd

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 11, 2025

It will also probably come at no surprise that my “right-column” commentary over at TheHustings.News is starting to become the norm — see “Trump’s First Three Weeks” heading — but it has Brenda asking, “are you getting paid?”

(more…)

Category: AI, News, Politics, Social Media, Technology, Video | No Comments »
Tags: artificial intelligence, asia, commentary, europe, france, jd vance, paris, speech, thehustings, vp, wikipedia

Posted By RichC on February 11, 2025

Brenda and I enjoyed watching Super Bowl LIX on Sunday February 9, 2025 in Florida this year (summary below) after a enjoyable sunny day and walk on the beach. It sure is a great way to escape the winter (see Oostras skating below the break)!

One of the lowlights of our beach walk (my antonym for “highlight”) is that some ship or barge must have leak or dumped oil waste that is washing up on Florida’s Atlantic beaches as tarballs. I remember “tarballs” from my childhood on Lake Erie and occasionally when visiting Brenda’s parents in the 1990s in Florida. In those days we would use “tanning oil” (ugh!) to clean the tar off our our feet. 

As for the Super Bowl, it was a bit of a dud of a game, but “highlighted” just how good the Philadelphia Eagles were this year. They clinched their second Super Bowl victory, beating the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 on Sunday. evening to 52% of the country’s delight (only 48% favored the Chiefs “again”).

The Eagles took control early, leading 24-0 by halftime. Jalen Hurts was outstanding, both throwing and rushing for touchdowns, including a 46-yard pass to DeVonta Smith. The defense was also dominant, with rookie Cooper DeJean snagging an interception and returning it for a touchdown. The Chiefs tried to rally in the second half, with Patrick Mahomes throwing two touchdown passes, but the Eagles stayed strong and held them off. Despite Mahomes’ 300 yards passing, the Chiefs couldn’t recover from the Eagles’ relentless pressure and defense. This win gave Philadelphia its second Super Bowl title, adding to their 2018 victory.

(more…)

Category: Environment, Personal, Photos, Sports | No Comments »
Tags: beach, family, florida, kansas city chiefs, nfl, philadelphia eagles, skating, super bowl, superbowl lix, tarballs

Posted By RichC on February 10, 2025

This content is restricted.

Category: Humor, Music, Sports, Video | No Comments »
Tags: 1960s, commercials, coors light, mamas, mp3, music monday, oldies, papas, super bowl, superbowl, youtube

Posted By RichC on February 9, 2025

Several decades ago we took Brenda’s father, Fred Howard, to the National Museum of the Air Force in Dayton, Ohio and seeing the Martin B-26 Marauder on display triggered an emotional response. Having flown 50+ bombing missions as a navigator  in Europe during World War II and seeing his “ship” (similar) after so many years brought back strong memories and a pivotal time in his life.

We took note and since my CPP business was in Cuyahoga Falls near Akron, Ohio where I occasionally flew a Cessna 172 in and out of AKR, I knew about the Maps Museum and the B-26 rescue project. So we planned the trip and a tour of the restoration project and it gave my father-in-law a chance to see (touch and climb though) one of the very few Martin B-26 Marauders surviving — this one was recovered from a crash site in Canada (much had already been stripped for parts). He really enjoyed seeing and remembering the innards of the plane, showing us his station and talking with a few of the volunteers who were helping to restore it. I learned just how “it protect him” and how he had been trained to destroy the Norden bombsight in the “likely” event they were shot down or hit by flak — thankfully the planes he navigated to and from targets were not downed (grime image of B-17 below).   

A couple years later, we gave him a book that reviewed the history and missions of this “hot” medium sized bomber during WW II and asked him to make notes in the margin detailing his memory of the missions — shocking just how much he could recall. 

For those of you like me who enjoy military history AND aviation, the video archived on YouTube by PBS Western Reserve is worth watching (as has become a habit, I’ve archived the mp4 file just in case the YouTube link disappears — sadly becoming the norm).

Category: Archive, Aviation, History, Millitary, Video | No Comments »
Tags: akron, aviation, b-26, fred howard, maps museum, museum, ohio, restoration, ww2

Posted By RichC on February 8, 2025

An interesting article caught my eye on my social media feed this week from History Facts. The topic was “Which came first: Beer or Wine?”

Alcohol has been a part of human existence for thousands of years, dating back to the dawn of recorded time. The fermentation process, which creates ethanol, likely occurred naturally when sugar met yeast in grains or fruits. Early humans may have discovered the intoxicating effects of fermented substances by accident, leading to the development of beer and wine, with beer and mead being the earliest forms of alcohol … but for the answer, read the post … or for a quick cheat, look below the break. 😉 

(more…)

Category: History, Human Interest | No Comments »
Tags: alcohol, beer, History, wine