My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on April 28, 2008

My back is sore and my muscles ach as this past weekend was spent working in the yard … well really in just part of the yard. I’ve been reworking the landscaping as the ‘new porch’ is slowly coming together — this past weekend was the small pond and opening up the pool. (too many rocks to move and place for my aging back)

Monday was the asphalt day as the rain held off and the guys were able to pave my rear driveway; not quite as straight as I wanted it, but it will work. It should be much nicer than constantly adding gravel and killing weeds, but suspect will crack as does most blacktop. Never the less … we’re on a deadline to get the project done: My son’s high school graduation.

Category: Archive, Misc, Personal, Photos | 4 Comments »
Tags: addition, back porch, blacktop, construction, driveway, family, home, house, improvements, landscape, pond, project

Posted By RichC on April 27, 2008

I’ve been focused on multiple home repair and improvement projects this spring and am always looking for a quick way to make a repair and keep the mess to a minimum. I generally use the “empty box” under the repair technique when cutting or drilling drywall, but Dean Johnson from PBS’s Hometime suggested a sheet of newspaper and tape.

Category: Tidbits, Video | No Comments »
Tags: drywall, handyman, hometime, mp4, tips

Posted By RichC on April 25, 2008

A shocking day for those who love the oceans and beaches along the U.S. coasts as the first fatal shark attack in 3 years happened in an area rarely seeing sharks. Dave Martin, a 66 year old tri-athlete training veterinarian from San Diego, was swimming with a group of 9 at 7:30 AM about 150 yards offshore (see Triathlon Club of San Diego) and was attacked by what experts conclude is probably a 12 – 17 foot Great White Shark. The attack was characteristic of this species coming up swiftly from below with violent impact, as is their pattern when hunting seals. In Mr. Martins case, the powerful bite injured both legs and forced him first up out of the water and then struggling before other swimmers could get to him. His fellow tri-athletes quickly brought him to shore where rescue workers administered first aid. Martin suffered severe damage to both legs and blood loss was significant. The shark did not return.

The attack occured in Solana Beach which is 14 miles northwest of San Diego California and rarely sees any sharks let alone a Great White of this size, although experts say that the female do swim to the southern California area to have babies. Great White Sharks are far more common in the area off San Francisco, but are known to travel significant distances. The beach along this area of California have been closed for 72 hours and an aerial search is underway. (although it is unlikely to come up with anything)
In the U.S. and the world, shark attacks are extremely rare. There were only 71 confirmed unprovoked cases worldwide and 63 in 2006, and only of these attacks was in 2007 was fatal — and that was in the South Pacific. The last fatality in California was in 2004 where a man skin diving was attacked by a Great White of the coast in Mendocino County. In the San Diego area the last fatal attack occur in 1994, and a 29 year veteran life guard along this stretch of beach says he has never even seen a Great White. Still, we humans have an instinctive fear of sharks, perhaps triggered by their image and their legend.

Fatal Shark Attacks In U.S.
Jamie Marie Daigle, 14, killed June 25, 2005,
by a bull shark while swimming off a beach in Destin, Fla.
Randy Fry, 50, killed Aug. 15, 2004,
by a great white shark while diving off the coast of Mendocino, Calif.
Willis McInnis, 57, killed April 7, 2004,
by a tiger shark while surfing off the coast in Maui, Hawaii.
Deborah Franzman, 50, killed Aug. 19, 2003,
by a great white shark while swimming off Avila Beach, Calif.
Eric Reichardt, 42, drowned Sept. 16, 2001,
in a suspected shark attack off Pompano Beach, Fla.
Sergei Zaloukaev, 28, killed Sept. 3, 2001,
off the coast of Avon, N.C.
David Peltier, 10, died after a Sept. 1, 2001,
attack while surfing at Sandbridge Beach, Va.
Thadeus Kubinski, 69, killed Aug. 30, 2000,
by a bull shark while swimming in Boca Ciega Bay in Florida.
James Tellasmon, 9, killed Nov. 21, 1998,
by a tiger shark while swimming off of Vero Beach, Fla.
William Covert, 25, killed Sept. 13, 1995,
while diving off Alligator Reef in the Florida Keys.
James Robinson, 42, killed Dec. 9, 1994,
in a great white shark attack while diving off San Miguel Island, Calif.
Michelle von Emster, 25, killed April 16, 1994,
by a great white shark while swimming off Point Loma near San Diego, Calif.

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Posted By RichC on April 25, 2008

Who is to blame … Costco, Sam’sClub/Walmart, the media or just crazy Americans thinking they’ll be left ‘rice-less.’ (as if rice is a daily necessity for most American?)

While their may be a worldwide concern that the primary source of nutrition for many is in short supply, that is not true in the United States. What is true is that the media hype following a couple wholesale store restrictions in California due to limited stock “at a couple location” panic restaurants and individuals to make a run on the stores. Once the run began, the shelves were emptied due to the increased demand, much from ‘rice buyers’ that rarely purchased rice in the past.

The stocking up … or hoarding … has put a temporary shortage in place causing store to limit the number of bags of rice per purchase (like a two case limit on soft drinks as a dollar cost leader). Reporters ran with the ‘rationing’ stories which is creating even more demand for rice which has now turned into a national story.

Americans can be nutty! (Rice News Stories)

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Posted By RichC on April 24, 2008

First … Volkswagen Group of America announced that they would be shortening their bumper to bumper warranty to 3 years or 36,000 miles for all 2009 models.
🙁
Second … they will be offering free maintenance for VW models for three years or 36,000 miles.
🙂
Third … the much ballyhooed and timely Golf TDI Hybrid Concept which claimed super low CO2 emissions and nearly 70 mpg will not be going into production. (link)
🙁

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Posted By RichC on April 23, 2008

Groan … with a bunch more miles to drive yet this week, gasoline made the usual Tuesday move up again. This time it went about 25 cents at most retail stations in Ohio — on average about $3.59/gallon for unleaded regular gasoline after the move. No doubt price increases have something to do with U.S. and worldwide demand, but I’m sure Tuesday afternoon’s all time high close of $119.90 a barrel isn’t helping.

In other news dominating the headlines, Hillary Clinton wins the viciously fought Pennsylvania primary beating Democratic front runner Barrack Obama in an historic 10% margin of victory. (lots of credit goes to Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell for helping Senator Clinton – photo above) I’m not sure this will change the eventual outcome, but it does make the race interesting to watch and makes May’s primaries far more interesting … especially Indiana and North Carolina.

Category: Misc, Politics | 4 Comments »
Tags: barrack obama, democrats, ed rendell, hillary clinton

Posted By RichC on April 22, 2008

Its interesting to see what Google comes up with for their logo designs … today’s is for Earth Day, but it looks more like an ad for the History Channel’s “Life after People” documentary.

How the First Earth Day Came About
By Senator Gaylord Nelson, Founder of Earth Day

What was the purpose of Earth Day? How did it start? These are the questions I am most frequently asked.

Actually, the idea for Earth Day evolved over a period of seven years starting in 1962. For several years, it had been troubling me that the state of our environment was simply a non-issue in the politics of the country. Finally, in November 1962, an idea occurred to me that was, I thought, a virtual cinch to put the environment into the political “limelight” once and for all. The idea was to persuade President Kennedy to give visibility to this issue by going on a national conservation tour. I flew to Washington to discuss the proposal with Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who liked the idea. So did the President. The President began his five-day, eleven-state conservation tour in September 1963. For many reasons the tour did not succeed in putting the issue onto the national political agenda. However, it was the germ of the idea that ultimately flowered into Earth Day.

I continued to speak on environmental issues to a variety of audiences in some twenty-five states. All across the country, evidence of environmental degradation was appearing everywhere, and everyone noticed except the political establishment. The environmental issue simply was not to be found on the nation’s political agenda. The people were concerned, but the politicians were not.

After President Kennedy’s tour, I still hoped for some idea that would thrust the environment into the political mainstream. Six years would pass before the idea that became Earth Day occurred to me while on a conservation speaking tour out West in the summer of 1969. At the time, anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, called “teach-ins,” had spread to college campuses all across the nation. Suddenly, the idea occurred to me – why not organize a huge grassroots protest over what was happening to our environment?

I was satisfied that if we could tap into the environmental concerns of the general public and infuse the student anti-war energy into the environmental cause, we could generate a demonstration that would force this issue onto the political agenda. It was a big gamble, but worth a try.

At a conference in Seattle in September 1969, I announced that in the spring of 1970 there would be a nationwide grassroots demonstration on behalf of the environment and invited everyone to participate. The wire services carried the story from coast to coast. The response was electric. It took off like gangbusters. Telegrams, letters, and telephone inquiries poured in from all across the country. The American people finally had a forum to express its concern about what was happening to the land, rivers, lakes, and air – and they did so with spectacular exuberance. For the next four months, two members of my Senate staff, Linda Billings and John Heritage, managed Earth Day affairs out of my Senate office.

Five months before Earth Day, on Sunday, November 30, 1969, The New York Times carried a lengthy article by Gladwin Hill reporting on the astonishing proliferation of environmental events:

“Rising concern about the environmental crisis is sweeping the nation’s campuses with an intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing student discontent over the war in Vietnam…a national day of observance of environmental problems…is being planned for next spring…when a nationwide environmental ‘teach-in’…coordinated from the office of Senator Gaylord Nelson is planned….”

It was obvious that we were headed for a spectacular success on Earth Day. It was also obvious that grassroots activities had ballooned beyond the capacity of my U.S. Senate office staff to keep up with the telephone calls, paper work, inquiries, etc. In mid-January, three months before Earth Day, John Gardner, Founder of Common Cause, provided temporary space for a Washington, D.C. headquarters. I staffed the office with college students and selected Denis Hayes as coordinator of activities.

Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level. We had neither the time nor resources to organize 20 million demonstrators and the thousands of schools and local communities that participated. That was the remarkable thing about Earth Day. It organized itself.

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Posted By RichC on April 21, 2008

The USAF officially retires the F-117 Nighthawk on April 22, 2008 with the final 4 planes making their last flights. The stealth fighter began its service in 1981 as a first of its kind aircraft that could eliminate several targets on one mission. It night flying stealthiness proved its worth in operation “Just Cause” in 1989 and against destroying communications and radar sites in Iraq during “Operation Desert Storm” in 1991. Despite flying missions into heavily defended airspace, not a single F-117 Nighthawk was ever shot down or damaged. To arrive in Kuwait, the F-117 flew 18.5 hours non-stop from Holloman AFB — a record for single-seat fighters still standing today.

It continued to perform even after the turn of the century during “Iraqi Freedom” and Enduring Freedom” military operations, but finally after 27 years of service the aircraft will retire. The F-117’s retirement will ease the budget strain and allow the more comfortable expansion of the F-22 and B-2 bomber squadrons. Its a bitter sweet day for all who viewed the F-117 and its crews as paramount to our nation’s military superiority. Thanks to all.

The F-117A production decision was made in 1978 with a contract awarded to Lockheed Advanced Development Projects, the “Skunk Works,” in Burbank, Calif. The first flight over the Nevada test ranges was on June 18, 1981, only 31 months after the full-scale development decision. Streamlined management by Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, combined breakthrough stealth technology with concurrent development and production to rapidly field the aircraft.

The first F-117A was delivered in 1982, and the last delivery was in the summer of 1990. Air Combat Command’s only F-117A unit, the 4450th Tactical Group, (now the 49th Fighter Wing, Holloman Air Force Base, N.M.), achieved operational capability in October 1983.

During Operation Desert Storm in 1991, F-117A’s flew approximately 1,300 sorties and scored direct hits on 1,600 high-value targets in Iraq. Since moving to Holloman AFB in 1992, the F-117A and the men and women of the 49th Fighter Wing have deployed to Southwest Asia more than once. On their first trip, the F-117s flew non-stop from Holloman to Kuwait, a flight of approximately 18.5 hours — a record for single-seat fighters that stands today.

In 1999, 24 F-117A’s deployed to Aviano Air Base, Italy, and Spangdahlem AB, Germany, to support NATO’s Operation Allied Force. The aircraft led the first Allied air strike against Yugoslavia on March 24, 1999.

The F-117A program demonstrates that stealth aircraft can be designed for reliability and maintainability. It created a revolution in military warfare by incorporating low-observable technology into operational aircraft. The aircraft receives support through a Lockheed-Martin contract known as Total System Performance Responsibility.
Source: http://www.af.mil

Category: Aviation, Millitary, News | No Comments »
Tags: Millitary

Posted By RichC on April 20, 2008

Adobe has introduced their new online photo editing and sharing tool called Adobe Photoshop Express. Its is not even close to the full version of Photoshop, but it is not a bad first attempt at a online photo site with pretty good editing control. I’ve used Preloadr for Flickr photos a few times and appreciate it for tweaking cell phone photos, but see Adobe Photoshop Express Beta as a bit better for general photography — still both are very limited when it comes to heavier editing of large digital photos.

As for ‘free’ general editing, I personally prefer Google’s Picasa which installs on your computer and acts as a photo organizer and is similar to Apple‘s included iPhoto.

To start with, Adobe makes signing up as simple as 1-2-3 … and once confirmed it was easy to upload the above screenshot photos. A couple quick clicks allowed me to modify the images and use the provided online 2 GB storage to post them inline.

The controls are pretty simple to use although most are far to drastic for tweaking most photographs. Express divides those tools into groups called Basics, Tuning, and Effects.

Basic tools let you crop and rotate, auto correct, fix exposure, remove red eye, touch up, and fix the saturation of an image. Tuning tools let you adjust white balance, improve highlight and fill light, sharpen, and fix focus by sharpening or soft focusing. The Effects tools let you spot color, change colors, convert a color photo to black and white, tint, turn a photo into a sketch, and distort an image. You can view and choose variations of your edits to determine which ones you like best.

As Walt Mossberg comments (see his video clip below), “Unfortunately, there are a number of problems. Photos, especially large ones, can take awhile to appear in the editing module and to snap into focus. Captions sometimes get lost or mixed up when you move photos to other services. You can view shared albums only as slide shows, not as individual photos.” So, Photoshop Express is not without sacrifice, in fact it reminds me of most other online application: online email, Google Docs, spreadsheets, presentations and web-based video editing. All in all, its a good start and an easy way to store and share some photos while tweaking them a bit — worth a try if you’ve got the time.

See the Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg’s Personal Technology blog: All Things Digital.

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Posted By RichC on April 19, 2008

I’m not sure its effective … but its one of the first Volkswagen ‘clean diesel’ marketing ads I’ve seen on TV this year.

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