My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on September 22, 2023

It is time to start cleaning up my older WordPress blog install and preparing for an eventual update … once again. I’m beginning to realize that part of the problem is that I hang onto old themes that are no longer updated and I continue to tweak them myself. As the components that run WordPress and any CMS are updated, new programming needs to keep pace with everything new. 

Of course I don’t like what I’m seeing (perhaps stuck in my ways) and fight the required move forward. I’m still not going to go fully into the artsy block sites that are popular these days, but do need to start cleaning out old plugins, widgets and themes. I sort of wish I could go back to a static site, but even a couple of the popular exporters will not work. ☹️ 

For now I’ll just remove a plugin or two at a time and see where that leads me before installing a “new to me” theme (maybe Twenty Ten!) and trying to rebuild 8000 posts to adopt to a simplified look? 

Since this was just really a Tech Friday “test post” … here’s my test of Bing.com’s new Chat AI feature. In my opinion, it is way behind in using up-to-date data since when I asked about GOP presidential candidates this week, Bing Chat’s list was significantly outdated. 

Category: Blogs, Social Media, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: ai, bing, bot, chat, tech friday, techfriday, testing, twitter, x.com

Posted By RichC on September 21, 2023

It is humorous to see just how much a bird can put in the bluebird birdhouse that the granddaughters and I made back in 2020 (hence, the Throwback Thursday #TBT photo at left from 2020). It was completely stuffed full when I took it down from the pole at their house last week. 

My plan was just to clean it, but since the Oostras are moving to a new house, it seemed like a better idea to both clean it out and re-paint too (I may wait for the girls if I can get it prepped for them; they alway enjoy working on projects and taking care of the birds – bird feeder project). 

It is amazing just how many feathers and nesting items are crammed into one little birdhouse (a photo from 2021 when they were “stuffing” and a recent one after it was completely “stuffed”).

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Category: Archive, Humor, TBT, Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: bird, birdhouse, bluebird, clean, granddaughters, homebuilding, paint, stuffed, TBT

Posted By RichC on September 20, 2023

What do you remember from Physics class? How about Bernoulli’s principle (something mentioned before).

Physics teacher shows Bernoulli's principle pic.twitter.com/AUKpechMKA

— Mind Blowing (@blowingfactz) September 17, 2023

Category: Science, Social Media, Video | No Comments »
Tags: bernoulli, physics, science, twitter, x.com

Posted By RichC on September 19, 2023

My son Taylor’s sealed car battery bloated and split open last week and left him stranded at work. He didn’t have any tools with him (is he really my son?) 😉 so I headed his way after work to replace his old-ish battery with a new one (2019 VW AllTrack). The first two auto part stores did not have the correct one for his car (both were priced well over $200), but the VW dealership in the area did have one for under $200 and didn’t ding him a core charge. A few minutes of cleaning up the leaked acid and we had the battery changed. Of course the concern was for getting the car’s computer reset without connecting the the dealer’s hardware … but after a couple of starts and a few minutes, the computer reset itself. Nice … and well done Volkswagen!

I took the opportunity to tour Taylor’s new Batavia Township office and building — I was really impressed!  I couldn’t be prouder him and am thrilled he has a wonderful job, a great place to work … and nice people to work with. I can see him staying here for a long, long time. In fact, if I were looking to locate a new business … or looking to move east of Cincinnati … I’d start my search in Batavia Township! 

After grabbing some of my tools and tossing them in my car, I realized that I’ve gone decades just lining up the 1/2” non-deep sockets in my toolbox drawers — one for Imperial and another drawer Metric. Over the years, a couple have disappeared … likely from not keeping them organized. So over the weekend, I FINALLY decided to make a simple pin system to keep them organized in the drawers. The 3/8” dowels glued into thin hardboard seemed to work great. Now why didn’t I either make or buy something sooner. Maybe I’ll even replace the two missing 12-point Craftsman sockets – a 20mm and an 8mm (note to self). 

Category: Automotive, Personal, Photos, Tools | No Comments »
Tags: family, organizations, project, sockets, taylor, tools

Posted By RichC on September 18, 2023

When I hear Peter Frampton, I’m transported back to high school and riding with a photographer friend Chris Carr in Sidney, Ohio … and istening to “Frampton Comes Alive!” in his first generation Chevy II Nova with an 8-track player (previous post)!  

So for today’s Music Monday‘s “flashback memory,” here’s “Baby I Love Your Way” from the aboved mentioned album after I heard the song on SiriusXM The Bridge. Frampton put a live version on his YouTube page … although I personally still prefer remembering him a bit younger than the 2011 photo … and using the “Heil high-powered talk box” (for those of a certain age, that will trigger music memories).  

Category: Automotive, Memories, Music | No Comments »
Tags: concert, heil, live, music monday, musicmonday, peter frampton, sidney ohio, siriiusxm, talk box, the bridge, youtube

Posted By RichC on September 17, 2023

Oostra House getting paint early in September 2023

While babysitting at my daughter’s house last week, a conversation with Brenda shifted to an heirloom “nesting table” woodworking project idea. Katelyn inherited the small tables made by her Jamestown, NY furniture making great grandfather Holmstrom and treasures them as much as Brenda and MomH did (photo of them in 2014).

Now I’m planning to bring back some of the hardwood lumbered from Katelyn and Drew’s property in Whitehouse later this year and thought archiving a couple photos for a project idea might be worthwhile. I’m not really comfortable trying to match the artistic painting (might check with my granddaughter’s skills or try some kind of inlays?), but I would like to implement the combination of thin woods while banding the edges, the tapered legs, hidden mortise and tendons (not sure they are in this project) and “nested small tables idea” in a future project.

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Category: Archive, Ideas, Photos, Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: brenda, family, furniture, grandfather, holmstrom, momh, nesting tables, project, workshop

Posted By RichC on September 16, 2023

It’s interesting to see the changes in how people access Internet content over the years … or at least access information on MyDesultoryBlog.com. Microsoft Windows was once dominate, but Mac, Linux and Chrome OS computers are gaining ground. Perhaps the biggest change since starting the blog in 2005 is just how dominate iOS and Android smartphones have become for web browsing? 

As for the humorous and human interest part of this post, here’s an article about a “missing tourist” in Iceland that required a search party that including some of the passengers. 

But the search was called off at about 3 a.m., when it became clear that the missing woman was, in fact, accounted for and searching for herself.

Category: Blogs, Computer, Human Interest, Humor | No Comments »
Tags: android, article, blog, Computer, funny, ios, linux, macintosh, stats, windows

Posted By RichC on September 15, 2023

Perhaps it is just me paying attention to the rumors and knowing the announcements that were planned at Apple’s annual September “new iPhones” announcement event … but the iPhone15s (and Apple Watch 9) upgrades left very little to get excited about? I’m not saying that I won’t be upgrading my aging iPhone 7plus this year, but just that there isn’t that much exciting when it comes to earth-shattering innovation.

For the first time, Apple has built USB-C into its iPhones instead of its proprietary Lightning connector. The company made the move to comply with European Union law—the logic of that being that it is the same port already on most other new electronics. One charger for all devices.

LINK

The new iPhones will be adopting the USB-C port as standard (about the time wireless “everything” is starting to become the norm) and Apple silicon will welcome in the 3 nanometer chip rather than 4 on the Pro versions of the iPhone15s … which promises to improve processing speed and “could” improve battery life.

Perhaps the most noticeable change for users besides those using the iPhone14Pro phones will be the dynamic island (image top) in all models (not just Pro), a lighter titanium instead of stainless steel case material and an “action button instead of ringer switch” on the new Pro models … along with a price bump on the larger Pro Max (that also has a 5x optical zoom camera — would be nice, but I’m not going there at this moment).  

A couple of other changes are camera improvements; they are moving from 12 megapixel to 28 megapixel camera for photo captures, although with more megapixels means bigger image sizes, more data transfers, onboard storage and cloud storage space (for those of us watching the $AAPL subscription business model, more iCloud use means more repetitive monthly nickel and dime income for Apple iCloud). Still, the camera improvement and image plus video processing is pretty attractive for those of us still on older non-5G phones that no longer receiving iOS updates. 

For me, I’m in need of a new phone and will likely need to decide if there will be enough markdowns of iPhone14s or 14Pro models to justify me not spending more for Apple’s newest models. What to do, what to do (I’m leaning iPhone 15 Pro). 

Category: Apple, Cellphone, Cloud, Financial, Gadget, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: $AAPL, 7plus, apple, apple watch, appleevent, icloud, ios17, iphone, iphone15, tech friday, techfriday, usb-c, wonderlust, wsj

Posted By RichC on September 14, 2023

A week or so ago, a tweet (or is it X?) appeared on an automotive publication’s social media account … and it caught my eye (see below). It triggered a memory of a well loved plastic 1957 Ford Ranchero that my brother and I had in our large collection of toy cars and trucks; some of them were for inside the house play … and others a bit more beat up and dirty for outside playing on the beach (our beach in 1967 when I was a kid below).

There is a small part of me that would love to go back to those simple summer days playing in the sand with cars and trucks.  

The Ranchero car-pickup appeared for the 1957 model year sporting the attractive all-new styling carried by the #Ford passenger-car line. Though based on the two-door Ranch Wagon station wagon, Ford officially listed the #Ranchero as a truck. #collectibleautomobilemagazine pic.twitter.com/rb1Ckbfokw

— Collectible Auto (@CollectibleAuto)

September 6, 2023

Category: Automotive, Memories, Photos, Social Media, TBT | No Comments »
Tags: beach, cars, collectible auto, ford, playing, Ranchero, sand, toys, trucks, twitter, x.com

Posted By RichC on September 13, 2023

A little bit of history told in an entertaining movie format … what could be better?  Here’s a Sorbo movie call “Miracle in East Texas“ to be in theaters in October 2023 with a timely release (inflation and energy). 

The history tie in is the the World War II era story just as we were a world at war in the late 1930s and 1940s.

Ten years down the road, in 1941, that tremendous amount of oil would prove absolutely essential in the Allies’ fight for freedom from the Nazis.

Within one month of the Pearl Harbor attack and America entering the war and inside of 22 days, Nazi subs sank 73 of 74 tankers shuttling oil from Texas, through the Gulf of Mexico, to the east coast. That oil was meant to supply our fighting soldiers over on the European battlefields.

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Category: Energy, History, Movies | No Comments »
Tags: map, movie, oil, sorbo, texas, war, ww2