My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on June 1, 2014

After considering my options after removing the belt and housing off the autopilot during my last trip on Encore, I sent the old wheel pilot to be upgraded/reconditioned to match the “brains” of the Raymarine SPX-5 that I replace when I bought the boat. It will still be an out of date generation and in my opinion a bit undersized for any blue water passage, but I’d like to eventually get my Cape Horn self-steering gear working as a backup and “zero-power drain” option for long passages anyway. Anxious to get the gear back and see if it makes a difference. (photo above of just the damaged belt and mounting hardware)

Category: Sailing | No Comments »
Tags: autopilot, encore, raymarine, sailboat, steering

Posted By RichC on May 31, 2014

WSJRadio had a short segment with their Washington Bureau Chief Gerald Seibtalking about Nationalismand how it seems to be growing around the world. Usually Americans take pride in our national identity and “American Exceptionalism” … but taken too far history shows that this sentiment can be dangerous – think about the events which lead to World War II.

Category: Audio, History, News, Politics, Radio | 2 Comments »
Tags: gerald seib, mp3, nationalism, wsj, ww2

Posted By RichC on May 30, 2014

The weather was nice for driving this past week for a Memorial Day trip to Atlanta, so instead of taking the Honda Pilot, we opted to take the 1982 Mercedes Benz 300D Turbodiesel. I’ve been driving it regularly on trips to and from NE Ohio (500 miles rt) and to visit my daughter and her husband in Columbus (200 miles rt), but this was the first multi tank longer highway trip since driving to New York last year (1000 miles rt). I wasn’t overly concerned, just hesitant about a few aging items … no need to have been concerned as all was without incident.

As a “daily driver” the 300D isn’t the most comfortable of cars. Besides the lack of “off the line” acceleration, the car could really use an overdrive gear for highway cruising. I usually drive around 75mph and the 3300 RPMs is a little high for a 5-cylinder diesel which tends to be far more efficient at RPMs in the mid-2000s – quieter too. That aside, she didn’t miss a beat and offered that powerful sounding torquey growl when climbing through the mountains. I ran the AC much of the time and despite a nice cold stream of air, the seatbacks got sweaty due to the noticeable lack of insulation … particularly the door seals. (fixing the cruise control is still on my “to-do” list)

Diesel fuel prices were actually lower than gasoline this weekend which gave me another reason to take the Turbodiesel car; I even found $3.599 for diesel in Knoxville Tennessee just after logging 461 miles on the previous tank … still only 26.3 MPG. My only “stressful moment” was taking Brenda the 40 miles from her sister’s house, north of the traffic nightmare of a city, to the Atlanta Airport to catch a flight to Minneapolis during rush-hour … and then having to drive back though it again in order to head home to Cincinnati. Ugh!

Category: Automotive, Diesel, Mercedes | 1 Comment »
Tags: 300d, atlanta, fuelly, graduation, mercedes, turbodiesel

Posted By RichC on May 30, 2014

Q: What’s interesting about this list? A: Half are clean diesels!

1) 2013 Tesla S P85 (Electric)
2) 2012 Toyota RAV4 EV (Electric)
3) 2014 Audi A7 TDI Quattro (Clean Diesel)
4) 2013 Lexus GS 450h (Hybrid)
5) 2013 Nissan Leaf (Electric)
6) 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid (Hybrid)
7) 2014 Audi Q5 TDI Quattro Tiptronic (Clean Diesel)
8) 2014 Audi A8 L TDI Quattro Tiptronic (Clean Diesel)
9) 2014 Mercedes-Benz E250 BlueTEC (Clean Diesel)
10) 2014 Audi A6 TDI Quattro Tiptronic (Clean Diesel)

LINK

Category: Automotive, Diesel, Mercedes, Volkswagen | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By RichC on May 29, 2014

I notice short bit in the WSJ about He Liang and his “homemade suitcase vehicle in the streets of Changsha, China,” and about the only difference I can see is that the Chinese “scooter” is a little narrower when compared to our American-sized versions? (I would include a smiley below, but it is more shameful than humorous.)

It might make Americans feel a little bit better to know that we are not along in having an obese population:

More than half of the world’s obese are from just 10 countries: the United States, China, India, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Egypt, Germany, Pakistan and Indonesia.

BUT … as with many statistics, we do a pretty good job in leading the world:

It is no surprise that the United States, whose eating habits and fast food chains have revolutionized the way much of the world now consumes, represented the biggest slice of the planet’s obese population – 13 percent – yet it has less than 5 percent of the world’s total population, which now tops 7 billion.

 LINK

Category: Health, News | 2 Comments »
Tags: china, obesity, scooter, vehicle

Posted By RichC on May 27, 2014

Brenda and I spent a few days with our niece (Brenda’s younger sister) and family in Atlanta, Georgia. What a great time to be with our family and celebrate Jessica’s high school graduation and time checking out the Georgia Tech and ducking cover from the heavy rains. What a great time with a great niece.

 
Sisters Sarah and Jessica  |   Gma Howard, Jess and Gma Gerber

  
Ann and Jessica   |   Jess and Brenda   | Jessica and Sarah

We spent a day downtown at Centennial Park.

Category: Personal, Photos | 1 Comment »
Tags: atlanta, family, gerber, graduation, high school, jessica, jessicag

Posted By RichC on May 26, 2014

A few years ago I was a volunteer taking a group of “surviving” veterans on an Honor trip to Washington DC. It was indeed a privilege to be in their company.

One thing that was noticed by those of us who were there to serve as volunteers for these WWII and Korean War veterans was that, to the man, they were humbled when remembering those that didn’t return. This was particularly noticed when we were at Arlington National Cemetery realizing just how many brave Americans gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

On this day, Memorial Day 2014, take a moment to remember those who fought and died for this nation … may they never be forgotten.

Category: Holiday, Millitary | No Comments »
Tags: Arlington, korea, Memorial Day, veteran, ww2

Posted By RichC on May 24, 2014

After seeing some book advice from a friend, I checked with Nooeo.com and downloaded a $5.00 ebook to my Kindle app on my iPad for an upcoming trip. Since Elizabeth Bernstein is also an avid reader, sailor and Scuba diver, her recommendations are usually spot on for me.  After reading the forward to Robert Kurson’s 2004 book Shadow Divers about a lost WWII German U-boat  off the coast of New Jersey, I was hooked.

The non-fictional story is written around a couple of polar opposite divers who learned to respect each other. Richie Kohlar and John Chatterton discovered an unknown World War II submarine eventually known as U-869. The dive team called the mysterious ship the “U-Who” until their research narrowed it down. The 1991 find spawned a 2000 PBS NOVA program called Hitler’s Lost Sub and a follow-up book challenging the facts presented in Shadow Divers. 

There is also a major motion picture in production based on the book, although the once 2013 release date has now been put on hold.  While waiting for what should be a blockbuster, check out the uploaded YouTube video narrated by John Chatterton.

Category: Books, History, Video | No Comments »
Tags: Books, divers, kurson, movie, reading, shadow, ww2

Posted By RichC on May 23, 2014

I’m probably not the only one noticing the annual Memorial Day jump in retail gasoline prices kicking off the summer driving season. Yesterday most of the  stations locally (north of Cincinnati) bumped prices up to $3.85–plus per gallon for regular grade fuel. Thankfully on the drive home, I fueled up the old Mercedes 300D for $3.73 per gallon – its first time I’ve seen diesel lower than gasoline for quite some time.

CincyGasPrices.com

Category: Automotive, Energy, Financial, Holiday | No Comments »
Tags: 300d, diesel, driving, fuel, fuelly, gasoline, Memorial Day

Posted By RichC on May 22, 2014

Mixing up a batch to test on some fresh new growth and will report back. Have you tried this or any combination of homemade weed or vegetation killers similar to Round-Up or Weed-Be-Gone?

Category: Advice, How-To | No Comments »
Tags: killler, roundup, spray, vegetation, weed