My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on January 22, 2016

I’ll admit, I’m not an expert when it comes to social networks or even using the many developed and developing services available. I do occasionally stay in touch with close friends and family on Facebook and monitor the news and events on Twitter, but that really takes up enough of my time … I don’t need many more. What I have difficulty in understanding is how what is seen by me as a heavily used social network by most media outlets (that being Twitter) is suffering when it comes to growing numbers. It seems to me, that every celebrity, news person and network has the little bird @ sign handle and is using it on a regular basis. What an advertising opportunity … wouldn’t you think?

Twitter’s challenges are plenty. Its user base is dwindling and there is no immediate solution in sight. Twitter has a user base of just 320 million. To put it in context, Instagram boasts 400 million users, while Whatsapp has a user base of 900 million. Even Facebook’s Messenger recently got past the 800 million users mark. At over 1.55 billion users, Facebook remains the largest social media service.

— Zacks

Twitter ($TWTR) stock as suffered significantly in the past year and there hasn’t been much CEO Jack Dorsey has been able to do to stop the fall. About the only promising news for shareholders is that since the price is below $20 share price, buyers might start looking at it again (tweeted that myself even). This week the latest rumor was that News Corp ($NWSA) might be interested.

… speculations that micro blogging site Twitter, Inc. TWTR could be a potential takeover target for News Corporation NWSA. Though News Corporation issued a statement declining any such development, Twitter shares benefitted greatly. Shares moved up 13–14% when the rumour broke out, but lost a bit after News Corp’s official denial, to finally close at $17.38, or a 4% gain.

— Zacks

Unfortunately for shareholders seeing the only hope for $TWTR is a buyer … these rumor were quickly squelched by a News Corp spokesperson. Who knows, I still wouldn’t be surprised to see a deep pocketed media outlet or acquisition

On Wednesday, rumors that News Corp was interested in scooping up the embattled social media site sent Twitter’s stock soaring as high as 12%. These gains fell down to the 4% range after a News Corp spokesperson told Re/Code bluntly, “The rumor’s untrue.”

— Zacks 1/21/2016 update

Category: Financial, Social Media | No Comments »
Tags: $TWTR, news corp, rumor, social network, twitter, zacks

Posted By RichC on January 21, 2016

Category: Automotive, Volkswagen | No Comments »
Tags: gif, golf, volkswagen

Posted By RichC on January 20, 2016

Americans are flooding the government with appeals to have their student loans forgiven on the grounds that schools deceived them with false promises of a well-paying career.

Source: Thousands Apply to U.S. to Forgive Their Student Loans, Saying Schools Defrauded Them

Category: Education, Financial, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: college, loans, wsj

Posted By RichC on January 18, 2016

Do you really need to put toilet paper on the seat like mom taught you?

"If it makes you feel better," says Melissa Hawkins, director of the public health scholars program at American University, who’s an expert in biostatistics, behavioral health and community health. "The toilet seats are not a vehicle for the transmission of any infectious agents, though."

It’s better to use a paper towel to cover up your contact with the faucet handles and bathroom doorknob, she says.
— Source: U.S.News – Health

Category: Health, News, Tidbits | No Comments »
Tags: disease, infection, paper, toilet, us news

Posted By RichC on January 17, 2016

If you are still reading along after the break, I brought home an “odd ball” tool from my dad's workshop last weekend. Neither my brother Ron or I knew what this tool is. Any ideas?

Category: Automotive, Tools | No Comments »
Tags: fuel, gas, tool, udf

Posted By RichC on January 17, 2016

Archiving a January 2016 photo of my nephew Jaben and my son Taylor before the Bengals demise last week. They decided to get together in Cincinnati and watch the playoff game together – from all accounts, they had a good time.

I’m sure my brother feels the same way … it is  nice to see our sons choosing to hang out together for a football game,  despite their age difference. One thing I have found … an age difference as teenagers mean diddly-squat as you grow older.

Family is family … it is good to see this.

Category: Archive, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: archive, cincinnati, family, football, jaben, photo, taylor

Posted By RichC on January 16, 2016

This is probably something I should have known, but the small Apple device chargers have such small printing that I’ve never eyeballed them close enough. The are only a 1A charging device so they do not power the Raspberry Pi computers approrpriately (just in case you needed to know). Instead, you’ll need to be looking for a 2A – 5 volt USB device … like the ones sold for this purpose or many others. Too bad since I was really hoping to used this tiny device with a short USB to micro USB cable for the Raspberry Pi when I mount it in the detached garage. (click photo if you have aging eyes too)

Category: Apple, Cellphone, Raspberry Pi, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: apple, charger, raspberry pi, usb

Posted By RichC on January 16, 2016

My cluttered desktop was overdue for a good clean-up and at least a little bit of organizing. After recently adding a second monitor to my iMac dedicated to virtual Windows 10 there ended up being more room to spreadout and clutter. Besides there is a 3rd monitor running after plugging in the new Raspberry Pi to the old Mac Mini ViewSonic DVI monitor (with a HDMI to DIV-D adapter from Monoprice) … and 4th and 5th if you add my antique Gateway notebook and iPad that get move here and there (and let’s not call the iPhone a monitor even though it sits nearby and glows!)

Once I started, there wasn’t any stopping so “I started” in with the external harddrives and Cloud storage. At some point I need to consolidate since I know longer remember what is on Amazon’s Cloud, my several Cubbies, Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud or One Drive. I haven’t toss of those clould service “yet,” but need to improve my efficiency rather than focusing on redundancy. Meh, it all just housekeeping.

Category: Cloud, Computer | No Comments »
Tags: cleanup, cloud, Computer, desktop, imac, raspberry pi, windows

Posted By RichC on January 15, 2016

We’ve had a professional security system in the house for years, but I’ve always thought it would be nice to make a homemade version for the detached garage/pool house – might be a perfect Raspberry Pi project?

The first step was to see just what kind of wifi signal was there, considering the tiny $10 USB wifi dongle — obviously not much of an antenna (little nub at top of the device in the photo above).

Next was to boot up out in the garage and run the Wavemon program from the Linux command line and check the link quality and signal level (readout in photo above) while walking around on my extension cord leash. A useable connection in most areas toward the front; not so good in the area back near the workbench, woodstove or pool pump equipment room … but that’s okay since I’m probably going to use a Pi camera module mounted up high in the front window anyway. I’ll plan on pointing the lens at the driveway and if that works, I might try the Pi Noir infrared camera pointing at the inside of my garage shop for night monitoring (although would probably need to make a multiplexer or add a second Raspberry Pi unless one of the cameras is set up using a USB port … not to mention some infra-red LEDs for illumnation? Better get the first camera working)

Anyway … it looks like I’ll have enough bandwidth to be able to access the Raspberry Pi and camera feed from my network and even be able to monitor in real time … sort of like the uStream.tv Gazbo cam I set up several years ago.

Category: Archive, Personal, Raspberry Pi, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: camera, monitor, project, raspberry pi, security, wifi

Posted By RichC on January 14, 2016

This weeks trip back and forth from SW Ohio to NE Ohio was the first with slippery road and winter snow in 2016. There are sure to be a few more winter days this year, but glad to already be into mid-January.

This drive was also the first winter driving for the BMW X5 35d. Although the road never really were challenging, the European diesel SUV handled the slick interstates without a problems. I’m starting to feel comfortable behind the wheel and have found 4 hour stints behind the wheel fairly easy. My biggest “squawk” is the systems management computer detecting glitches “requiring a trip to a BMW service center” or so it says. Everything from detecting a low “run flat” tire pressure (they are all fine — cold weather related) to a “no-start” warning that in 999 miles the vehicle will not start due to requiring blue-def exhaust emission fluid. Grr!  I miss just having a couple lights on the dash.

Category: BMW, Diesel, Travel, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: BMW, driving, ohio, snow, x5 35d