My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on December 24, 2025

With Christmas Eve upon us, we are still gathering bits and pieces for the holidays; Brenda is still pulling out some old decorations and I’m hobbling around on my lingering foot issue that’s made 2025 a bit more “bah humbug” than usual. But … at least I’ve been thinking a little historicity and the “real reason” we even celebrate Christmas. It is likely not the sanitized manger scenes we see on cards (or like below), but I’m convinced a much more uncomfortable one that Luke gives us right at the start.

“And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.” – Luke 2:1-5 (KJV)

It’s easy to skim over this as just background, but Luke’s dropping these names—Caesar Augustus, Cyrenius (Quirinius)—and places like Nazareth and Bethlehem for a reason. This wasn’t some myth; it was history pinned down in Roman politics, a census for taxation that forced everyday people like Joseph and Mary to uproot and travel. Joseph, a carpenter from Nazareth, hauling his very pregnant wife on a roughly 90-mile trek south to his ancestral hometown because of some imperial decree. It was not a comfortable ride for Mary — just donkey and on foot for Joseph. The roads were rough and dusty … and dangerous (thieves, etc). Traveling in those times had all the discomfort that comes with this kind of travel, especially a distance.

I thought about this post from Truth for Life devotional: Luke’s weaving in political, social, geographical, and historical details that seem mundane, but they ground the story in reality. Joseph and Mary weren’t rebels; they were obedient to the authorities of their time, making that journey in compliance with the law. And someone back then could’ve checked the public records for Joseph’s registration. This wasn’t some vague religion or philosophy, it was reporting actual events leading to the birth of a child in David’s city (a great re-telling by Jane Wells if you missed it).

As we routinely approach Christmas Eve and Christmas Day tomorrow, it’s worth pausing on your “journey.” The obedience, the inconvenience, the real-world mess leading to the manger for Joseph and Mary was likely significantly more than most of us struggle with in getting to our destinations and celebrating the Birth of Christ.

Category: Faith, Holiday | No Comments »
Tags: christmas, christmas eve, Faith, historicity, Jesus birth, Joseph and Mary, Luke 2

Posted By RichC on December 23, 2025

A regular social media Ohio guy that I follow on X.com always posts and asks interesting things dealing with people who still clearly remember the 1970 and 80s. A question and photo asked:

“Are you this old? Hmm 😒 🤔?¿” (followed by a can of “3-in-One” oil”)

Fortunately or unfortunately … I am not only that old, but also have several different cans of “3-In-One” oil about that age in my workshop. 

Category: Human Interest, Humor, Social Media, Tidbits, Tools | No Comments »
Tags: 3-in-one, cans, oil, social media, workshop, x.com

Posted By RichC on December 22, 2025

Last week I asked Alexa+ to play some Christmas music in our house while decorating the tree. If not for that, I may not be in the Christmas spirit even yet. I’ve been rather bah humbug and whiny about my nagging foot injury the later have of this year. 

So it is time to at least add something besides our annual Christmas card to the blog “letter archive:”  How about a full Christmas album from YouTube with a fireplace?

Below is the late John Denver’s “Christmas Like a Lullaby” full album and it is nice change of “taste” for Music Monday. If you grew when I did, John Denver was popular in most circles young or old (link). 

Category: Alexa, Holiday, Music, Video | No Comments »
Tags: christmas like a lullaby, john denver, music monday, musicmonday, wikipedia

Posted By RichC on December 21, 2025

Every so often I run across another article reminding us that Social Security may not look the same in the future as it does today (one was in TheStreet.com highlighting Dave Ramsey). That should surprise exactly no one. Yet many Americans still talk about Social Security as though it were a full retirement plan rather than what it actually is — a partial income stream designed decades ago for a very different demographic reality.

Dave Ramsey has been saying this for years, often in much plainer language. His point is not that Social Security will vanish, but that it was never intended to carry the full weight of retirement. At best, it replaces a portion of pre-retirement income. At worst, future benefit reductions make planning around it even harder. Either way, depending on it as a primary strategy is a gamble.

Where Ramsey tends to be more emphatic — and where I largely agree with him — is on the importance of taking personal ownership of retirement planning.  IRAs and 401(k)s are not perfect vehicles, but they offer something Social Security never can: control. Employer matches, tax advantages and long-term compounding all work in favor of the disciplined saver. Over decades, that matters far more than hoping Congress gets the math right to salvage Social Security.

That said, Social Security will likely still be there in some form … but think of it as a supplement. The uncomfortable truth is that no government program will care about your retirement as much as you do. That responsibility hasn’t gone away, no matter how many promises were made along the way.

If retirement is important to you — and it should be — then planning for it remains a do-it-yourself project. Take it seriously.

Category: Advice, Financial, Retirement | No Comments »
Tags: 401k, dave ramsey, ira, retirement, savings, social security

Posted By RichC on December 20, 2025

Democrats are suddenly discovering “affordability” as their new talking point now that Republicans control the White House and Congress. It’s a remarkable pivot—after four years of presiding over the worst inflation in four decades, they’re lecturing Americans about the cost of living.

The record is unambiguous: consumer prices rose cumulatively by more than 21% during the Biden-Harris administration, compared to roughly 8% during Trump’s first term. That isn’t a temporary blip or a “global phenomenon” America alone suffered—it’s a permanent shift upward in the cost of essentials. Groceries, energy, housing, vehicles: everything families buy is meaningfully more expensive today than it was in January 2021, and those higher prices are now baked in as the new baseline—and much of it in 2025 still left over from the previous administrations’ policies.

This surge didn’t happen by accident. It followed trillions in new federal spending pushed through when Democrats held unified control of government, combined with restrictive energy policies and regulatory bottlenecks that constrained supply at exactly the moment demand was being supercharged. Inflation wasn’t “transitory” as they repeatedly claimed—it was persistent, painful and entirely foreseeable.

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Category: Financial, Human Interest, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: affordability, bottomline, commentary, democrats, editorial, fbn, inflation, political, Republicans, thehustings

Posted By RichC on December 19, 2025

Here’s a Tech Friday item: The lidar maker Luminar for self-driving cars has filed for bankruptcy according to The Verge. Unfortunately for them, technology changes fast even when you have a great product and are innovative; in the real world, companies are still required to have a profitable business plan that keeps the lights on. ☹️ 

While on the “self-driving” and tech in cars train of thought, Drew had his Tesla serviced this past week and ended up with a “sweet” loaner vehicle: A Cybertruck. I suspect they recognize a possible future customer of one when they see one! 

On a bit less technology note, my granddaughters (and Katelyn) sent me a podcast and asked if I knew about “moon trees.” I did not! Now after listening to it with Brenda, we both were intrigued with Apollo NASA astronaut Stu ‘Smokey’ Roosa and the Moon Tree Foundation, overseen by his daughter. If you have kids … and a few minutes for a podcast … check out “The Travelers: How Moon Tree hide Among Us.”

I’m now trying to figure out how to get a moon tree “sibling” and have even reached out to Clayton Anderson to see if he can help locate a seed or seedling. It would been fun see if we could plant an offspring in our backyard or maybe with an appearance at the Montessori school where the girls go — what a great class/school project that would be!

On one final semi-personal Wyze Cam (a tech item) 😉 … my son Taylor picked up Brenda to do their annual Christmas shopping time together. It is a nice tradition than includes eating out that they have one a year together BUT what really made me smile was how much of a gentleman he is — a wonderful son.

Category: Archive, Automotive, Blogs, Personal, Photos, Podcast, Space, Technology, Tesla, Video | No Comments »
Tags: astronaut, astro_clay, drew, lidar, luminar, moon trees, podcast, space, stu roosa, tech friday, techfriday, terrestrials

Posted By RichC on December 18, 2025

It is interesting how when you are older, and as years pass, that items we have don’t age the same as they did when we were younger? Take for example clothes, I can put on a 10+ year old piece of clothing nowadays and still think that it is relatively new.

Kitchen appliances are that same way to me. I somehow thought  our 15 year old Bosch dishwasher is too new to need maintenance or a repair?

Obviously kitchen appliances don’t last forever (hm,  a #TBT post)?) and do occasionally need attention. I’m hoping in the case of our Bosch dishwasher leaking that it is something simple like a stuck piece of plastic in the drain or the disposal backing up? Still, I’m unsure and will have to watch it closely before assuming the fill switch or something has failed??? In the case of the dishwasher, the overflow onto the kitchen floor has dripped through and into my workshop ceiling (photo right) … and so it goes: Just another repair for now.

Category: Archive, Human Interest, Repairs, TBT | No Comments »
Tags: age, bosch, ceiling, dishwasher, kichen, leak, repair, TBT

Posted By RichC on December 17, 2025

Do you have some spare change? How about a couple of 2025 pennies? You might want to hang on to them. 😉 

The auction house sold 232 sets of three coins each featuring a 2025 penny from the Philadelphia Mint, a 24-karat gold penny from the Philadelphia Mint and a 2025-D penny from the Denver Mint, according to a press release.

Each of the coins was embossed with the omega symbol “Ω” marking the final run of the coin first minted in 1793, ostensibly why 232 lots were sold, per Stack’s Bowers Galleries.

Each trio of coins sold for an average lot value of over $72,000, and the final set, No. 232, sold for $800,000, as it included the very last circulating pennies from Philadelphia and Denver and the final gold omega penny.

ABCNews Story

Category: Financial, Misc | No Comments »
Tags: abcnews, coin collecting, coins, collecting, currency, us penny

Posted By RichC on December 17, 2025

Brilliantmaps is a social media account on X.com that I follow for year … and have posted from before. This past week, one of the posts on their website was on a set of retired NationalAtlas.gov maps of Ohio. Since I’ve been a life long “Ohioian,” it seems fitting to include a link to their post and a Satellite Map of Ohio.

General Ohio State Facts

Demonym: Ohioan
State Abbreviation: OH
Year Admitted To US: 1803
State Number (Out of 50): 17th
State Capital: Columbus
Total Area: 44,826 sq mi (116,098 km2)
State Area Ranking (Out of 50): 34th
Highest Point: Campbell Hill – 1,548 ft (472 m)
Lowest Point: 455 ft (139 m)
State Website: https://www.ohio.gov/

Category: Archive, Misc, Social Media, Travel | No Comments »
Tags: brilliantmaps.com, geography, maps, ohio, social media, x.com

Posted By RichC on December 16, 2025

It is the time of year that I do my best to reach out to my existing Consolidated Printing and Publishing Co. customers that I’m still serving. The gradual slowing down of my nearly 40 year old business continues and I’m still doing my best to keep loyal and long time customers satisfied. Is maintaining a handful of printing orders, domain services and web servers worthwhile? Probably not … but I’m not ready to stop just yet. 

That said, keeping things going isn’t really all that taxing as usually I spend most of the day with a phone at ready and am usually in my home office (focused on trading and investments). The old days of sales calls and travel are nearly non-existent these days and are a far cry from weekly trips to NE Ohio … or long nights in the building finishing up printing jobs to hit a deadline.

I’d like to believe that the daily 8:30 to 4:30 schedule keeps me mental stimulated which will hopefully keep my mind sharp. This past year hasn’t been great for my physical health though and perhaps I can make exercise the highlight in my New Year’s resolution once my foot returns to normal? For now, and as long as Brenda is happy with my schedule, I’ll continue this semi-retirement lifestyle for another year (or at least until I can hire a Tilly Norwood to take over for me). 😉 

Who is Tilly Norwood?
Norwood is a fully digital, AI-generated character designed to appear as a realistic human actress. Her creator, Eline Van der Velden, developed her as part of a creative experiment to explore new storytelling possibilities using artificial intelligence. The team behind her produced approximately 2,000 variations to achieve a “girl next door” aesthetic, prioritizing authenticity over idealized beauty to foster emotional connection. She has appeared in a short comedy sketch titled “AI Commissioner” and maintains an active social media presence, showcasing her “reel” and promotional content.

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Category: AI, Personal, Retirement | No Comments »
Tags: artificial intelligence, cpp, semi-retirement, tilly norwood