Posted By RichC on August 19, 2014
Don’t you wonder what it must have been like to be picking up a few hardware items in Portsmouth Ohio and hear this coming from a young man and an unfinished piano? Impressive. (after being told the FB was no longer working for someone, I’ll archive the video below the embed)
Posted By RichC on August 19, 2014
Last week my brother asked me to take a look at my dad’s 2001 Honda Odyssey because the power sliding rear doors had both failed. 
The dealer quoted $200 EACH to fix the door and since both had failed we figured it might not hurt to rule out a fuse or relay. I stopped and took a quick look and all was fine in the well marked under the hood fuse box.
I stop for lunch on my way to north east Ohio with this quirky issue on my mind and decided to see if there might be an issue listed on the Internet. Hmm, maybe, so I scribbled down a few notes and transcribe into an email for my brother to try (he would be the next to see my dad)?
My brother wrote back: 
Posted By RichC on August 17, 2014
Author and writer Elmore Leonard is known for his crime fiction, but 
he started out writing westerns. Leonard has written nearly two dozen novels and most of them are bestsellers (Glitz, Get Shorty, Maximum Bob and Rum Punch). Ten of his advice tips when it comes to being both a popular and respectable writer are:
Posted By RichC on August 16, 2014
While we wait for our Elio, it is interesting to watch the social networking buzz and behind the scenes engineering testing that goes into developing a new vehicle … like thinking about “hitting a moose.” 
Let’s face it, hitting a moose is not good for any vehicle (or the moose). So, over the years, car makers in cold-weather climates such as Sweden and Finland developed a test that entailed steering hard to the left, then steering hard back to the right to simulate avoiding a large mass – or moose – on the road. In the US we call the European “Moose Test” the Consumer Reports Avoidance Maneuver (CR Maneuver or CRAM).
Today, the Moose Test is one of the standards for testing Electronic Stability Control (ESC), one of the most important safety innovations in recent automotive history. A 2012 study from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found that more than 2,200 lives were saved by ESC from 2008 to 2010.
Safety is such an important focus of Elio Motors’ development, that adding ESC to the vehicle was an obvious choice. Therefore, having a world-class ESC supplier is an important part of the company’s long-term success. Fortunately, Elio Motors is working with its supplier partner Mando, a recent “Supplier of the Year” recipient.
Working from its Novi, Mich., North American Research & Development Center, Mando has developed an ESC system designed specifically to work with a three-wheel vehicle and to provide safety functionality in line with today’s safest vehicles.
Posted By RichC on August 15, 2014
Have you been wondering when the notoriously secretive Apple, known for innovative and culture shaping products, will have the next “one more thing?” We all suspect that TV is ripe for Apple-izing and that trendy wearables are ready for the iWatch, but besides those known in-the-works items, what else is up their sleeves? Will the Apple of “creating something we don’t even know we want yet” return?
Posted By RichC on August 14, 2014
The things I’m learning later in life. Huh, might have to give this a try?
Posted By RichC on August 13, 2014
Unbelievable rainfall causing flooding this morning in Long Island NY (photo above – Southern State Parkway near Exit 37 – Belmont Ave) this morning a day after watching the same thing happen in southeastern Michigan yesterday (photos below).
It is shocking to see these kinds of “highway” photos, but one can only imagine how many basements have been flooded. When I see these photos, I’m reminded that we need to think twice about buying used cars which may not have disclosed flood damage.
Posted By RichC on August 13, 2014
As both an automotive enthusiast and budget minded “frugalist,” I regularly grumble and complain about the cost of owning a car cars. From insurance and registration each year to the ever rising price of a new car and the fuel pumped into it, there seems to be no end to forking over dollars. Recently both my wife and I renewed our Ohio driver’s licenses and shook our heads at the longish DMV waits, only 4 year issues between renewals (some states are 10 years) and bureaucracy that we are willing put up with year after year. On the plus side, we now have efficient online auto registration and plate renewals and don’t stand in line for registration ever year.
Well I “was” complaining until I heard from my out of state grown children talk about their new states bureaucracy and fees. Hmm, as Ohioans we probably shouldn’t complain as corroborated by CNBC. They posted a 5 cheapest states to own a car list … and Ohio was #2 right behind the least expensive, Iowa.
Posted By RichC on August 12, 2014
A long time client and now retired friend, Clyde Witt, is publishing his first novel. He has always written stories in a style appeals to me … although his politics still needs some work (a personal joke). I’m anxious to pre-ordered a copy of his book to read and review. One of the advantages of working in the printing and publishing business for 30 years is running into great writers who are often go unnoticed.
Lost in the Tallgrass, published by The Write Place
The 2014 Write Place Book Contest winner
by Clyde Witt
"Rusty decided to leave after supper, under the cover of darkness when cool evening air would make travel less of a hardship and more of an adventure …"
So begins fourteen-year-old Russell Starke’s tale of leaving home to fulfill his dream to become a cowboy-and to find his runaway brother. The year is 1916, the dawn of a new age of transportation in a country on the brink of war, and Rusty’s odyssey takes him from the motorcar-clogged streets of his Indiana home to the endless prairies of Kansas. He finds himself in a world where people who have forgotten how to dream are quick to tell him how to run his life. He must learn fast that seduction is not love, a romantic notion of the past is not a promise for the future, the kindness of strangers is not always to be feared, and love is something shown, not words spoken. Rusty discovers that the Wild West is more wonderful-and more dangerous-than he ever could have imagined.
Author Clyde Witt spent 25 years with Penton Media in Cleveland, Ohio, and retired as editor-in-chief in 2008. A graduate of Kent State University, he is married to Susan Jones and has had his work published in numerous magazines and newspapers since 1968. View more information about Clyde at his website, www.clydewitt.com, or email him at cewitt790@gmail.com.
Download an excerpt from the novel here.
Posted By RichC on August 12, 2014
For those of you wondering, I AM talking about my wife Brenda. Happy Birthday.
We don’t generally make a fuss over birthdays like some couples, but we do try to do something thoughtful or go out to a nice restaurant. 
Don’t tell her, but this year I found the first three seasons of one of her favorite TV shows on Ebay: Blue Bloods DVD set. I know she’ll enjoy it.
