My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on February 3, 2016

We may be proud to be living in a representative democracy, but watching the political sausage being made is probably as disgusting as going to a slaughter house to see the production of real sausage.

This past week kicked off the 2016 primaries with the Iowa caucus. After months of political speeches from the large field of GOP candidates (and three Democrats), Iowa voters picked their favorite candidates. The big showdown was between Sen. Ted Cruz (TX) and Donald Trump … Cruz came out on top, but the big surprise was  Sen. Marco Rubio (FL) who score a big win coming in a close third. As they say in sports and politics … Rubio has the big MO.

The Democrats had their own knock down drag out battle between former Sec of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT) as Gov Martin O’Malley dropped out. Clinton edged out Sanders by less than a percent after some “interesting” 6 coin tosses that went to Hillary Clinton — most declared the state of Iowa a tie. Personally I see Dems wishing they had another candidate.

Bernie Sanders should improve his position in the New Hampshire primary, but after that, most see Hillary Clinton running the table and becoming the Democrats nominee unless her emails lead to federal charges.

Category: News, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: clinton, cruz, election, rubio, sanders, trump

Posted By RichC on February 2, 2016

It has been a challenging few years for the “greatest generation” in my family as age and death is catching up with us. My brother Ron called this past weekend to let me know that my Aunt Fran (my dad’s brother’s wife) passed away on Saturday. My sympathy goes out to my cousins and my Uncle Sonny. May the “peace of God, which transcends all understanding, guard your heart” and ease the pain until you are united again.

Francine M. Corbett, 82, of Hudson, Michigan passed on unexpectedly to be with her savior on January 30, 2016. She was born on October 10, 1933, in Toledo, Ohio the daughter of Paul and Zoe (McClure) Sharrock. She married the love of her life, Earl Corbett, on December 8, 1952, in Toledo, Ohio.

Francine graduated from Libbey High School Class of 1951. She was a member of Christian Life Center in Addison, Michigan and was a devout Christian who acted as her family’s spiritual compass and her compassion and faith lead her to volunteer for numerous charities. She was immensely creative and had a lifelong passion for painting and crafting. Next to her devotion to God, she loved her family fiercely and enjoyed many wonderful adventures with them, most memorably at Posey Lake and in Hesperia. She will be lovingly remembered for her sassy personality and dedication to her University of Michigan Wolverines. She was a loving wife, mother, granny and GG and will be dearly missed by her family and friends.
Francine was preceded in death by her parents, and oldest son, Michael Corbett. She is survived by her loving husband, Earl; 2 children, Candace Foley and Marc (Kati) Corbett; one brother, Darrel (Beverly) Sharrock; one sister, Paula (Dusty) Richardson; daughter-in-law, Janice Corbett; grandchildren, Joel (Katie) Corbett, Stephanie (Justin) Butler, Meagan Foley, Kyla (Mark) Gorey, and Shayna Corbett; as well as seven great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.

A Celebration of Francine’s Life will be held on Saturday, February 6, 2016, from 1 – 4 p.m. at the Hudson American Legion (16113 Cadmus Rd., Hudson, MI 49247).

Those planning an expression of sympathy may make memorial contributions to Hospice of Lenawee County.
“Until we meet again – may God hold you in the palm of His hand.”

As published in The Toledo Blade

Category: Obituary, Personal | 1 Comment »
Tags: corbett, earl, family, francine, obit, sonny

Posted By RichC on February 2, 2016

I really wanted to title this “blonds have more fun” but unfortunately the members of this fine crew are brunette. On the other hand, the skipper may be detecting a little more wind aloft???
🙂

Category: Humor, Sailing | No Comments »
Tags: Humor, sailing

Posted By RichC on February 1, 2016

For those concerned over the direction of our country, following the strategy needed to win the Whitehouse is enough to drive you crazy.

Click the map to create your own at 270toWin.com

If you are an ordinary voter and political follower, it is easy to get caught up in the primaries and “thinking” your candidate can win many of the solid red or blue states … something highly unlikely. A more likely scenario is that a handful of states (about 10) will determine which party, and therefore which direction, our country will move. In looking at the national 270towin map, it is pretty telling which states are going to be battlegrounds. The Democrats start with an advantage having about 217 electorial votes to the 191 for Republicans. With a win requiring 270 electorial votes, primary voters would be wise to develop a candidate picking strategy best suited to win the majority of those battleground states.

Category: Politics | No Comments »
Tags: 270towin, elections, electorial college

Posted By RichC on January 31, 2016

Without American boots on the ground, defeating ISIS is not going to happen quickly if at all. After watching the movie “13 Hours” this week (and leaving me angry at our leaders), I pondered the covert activity by the CIA and other nations in the fight. In Libya, it seems that a “mystery sniper” is now credited with 3 top ISIS leader kills. “Perhaps” the new approach to combatting ISIS is to fund mercenary snipers??? While it is unlikely that using hired hitmen will be the key to defeating ISIS or other terrorist groups, perhaps special ops teams and drones taking out key leadership will slow ISIS and the spread of radical Islam?

Story LINK

Category: Millitary, News | No Comments »
Tags: isis, sniper, terrorism, war

Posted By RichC on January 30, 2016

I had an interesting text exchange with my son Taylor who is smack dab in the middle of finding his political “sense.” Thankfully he is far more rational, a questioner, independent thinker and a lover of history to be snookered into “herding” blindly with the crowd who are “Feeling the Bern.”

He has been closely watching the Bernie Sanders social network streams and picking apart the 140 character tweets that target younger voters — the ones who are frustrated with the injustice our capitalist society deals them, they perceive. Unfortunately it is another the age old “divide the country” practice and attempt of of using the power of government  to take from one group to give to another … in socialism’s case, no real prosperity is created. Our exchange this morning was centered around a Bernie Sanders tweet questioning student loan interest being higher than home mortgage interest. Thankfully my thoughtful son was quick to recognized that at least a home has equity for the lender if the borrower can’t pay … a student with debt and no job has zilch. Even worse, the student loans are handed out without much criteria as to career prospects or academic perfomance.

It is a good feeling to know my political minded son can rationally see though promises made by advocates of socialism. I see hope for the next generation.

In a similar vein, the WSJ had a great op-ed this morning by Peggy Noonan. Here’s a health care snippet from a Sanders rally …

“Health care is a right of all people, not a privilege.” He asks if any in the audience have high-insurance deductibles. They start to call out: “$4,000,” “5,000,” “6,000!” Someone yells: “Nothing’s covered!”

No one mentions ObamaCare, but it seems clear it hasn’t worked here.

Mr. Sanders says people don’t go to the doctor when they’re sick because of the deductibles. “Same with mental-health care!” a woman calls out. “Mental-health care must be considered part of health care,” he responds, to applause. He is for “a Medicare-for-all, single-payer system.”

How to pay for it all? “Impose a tax on Wall Street speculation,” he says, briefly. He does not elaborate and is not pressed to.

Read the rest: Socialism Gets a Second Life

Category: News, Politics | No Comments »
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Posted By RichC on January 28, 2016

On the 30th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, I re-read a post from my blog back on the 20th anniversary — thought I would share.

Saturday morning, January 27, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger and seven astronauts prepared for a cold morning ride into space at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida; they didn’t launch …

Read the post from January 28, 2006: My Challenger Story

Category: Blogs, Space | 1 Comment »
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Posted By RichC on January 28, 2016

The stock market continues to move in favor of the “bears,” which goes against most long term savers and investors. One of the biggest stories today was that of Apple Inc $AAPL who reported earning of $3.28 per share which was 4 cent higher than the consensus. Revenue was nearly $76 billion and short by nearly $1 billion. As one would expect this slowing (based heavily on the slowest pace ever for iPhone sales) had $AAPL down 6.5% closing at near the 52-week low at $93.44.

Who knows how low Apple will trade in the coming days, but several advisors have “buy” ratings and targets substantially higher than $AAPL current levels. I hope I won’t regret picking up a few more shares at these levels.

Drexel Hamilton

Drexel Hamilton’s Brian White reiterated a Buy rating and $200.00 price target on the stock. He was glad to see the quarter end, adding that it was time to move on and “start to look forward to the ramp of iPhone 7.”

White also pointed out that the company’s 40.1 percent gross margin beat his estimate of 39.7 percent, while the 31.9 percent operating margin came in ahead of his forecast of 31.1 percent.

“Given the iPhone weakness in the late stages of this 6-Series, it is not surprising that Apple’s 2Q:FY16 outlook is soft,” he continued, noting the iPhone 7 cycle is now on the horizon.

Related Link: What’s Wrong With Apple…And What Tim Cook Can Do To Fix It

Canaccord

Canaccord’s T. Michael Walkley said Apple’s results were consistent with the firm’s estimates, and reiterated a Buy rating and $146.00 price target. The analyst attributed the “solid” results to robust iPhone sales and sustained growth in services. In fact, Apple sales would have surged 8 percent year-over-year in constant currency, but currency headwinds weighed on the results.

Despite his optimism, Walkley noted that “given the similar form factor for the iPhone 6S and softer smartphone global demand trends,” the firm anticipates “weaker and down year-over-year 1H/C2016 iPhone sales.”

Category: Financial | 1 Comment »
Tags: aapl

Posted By RichC on January 27, 2016

This little “toy” will be fun! (should receive mine in March)

Specs:

CPU:
1.2 Ghz Quad-Core ARM Cortex A53 64-Bit Processor. It has 64 and 32 Bit execution states for scalable high performance power – including a NEON Multimedia processing engine.
I/O EXPANSION:
Two I/O Expansion slots – the Pi-2 Expansion and Euler box – capable of allowing you to add more modules down the road.
VIDEO:
PINE64 provides almost full motion playback of up to 4K H.265 high-definition video.
GRAPHICS:
Dual core Mali 400 MP2 Graphics acceleration provides mobile users with superior experience in web browsing, video playback, and gaming effects.
MEMORY:
PINE64 comes with 512MB, 1GB, or 2GB DDR3 Memory integrated. Storage space supported up to 256GB Micro SD Expansion.

Order here

Category: Computer, Raspberry Pi, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: Computer, kickstarter, pine a64

Posted By RichC on January 26, 2016

Category: Humor, Misc, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: crocs, shoe