Using Perplexity.AI and the news of the day: Trump Convicted

| May 31, 2024

It is Tech Friday, but because I’ve already prepared and posted, I still wanted to highlight the newsworthy headline story regarding the politically motivated trial against former president and the likely Republican candidate for president, Donald J. Trump. So opted to test the relatively “new to me” AI client (Perplexity.AI) by asking: Can you summarize […]

Questionable digital magazine subscription tactics online

| January 7, 2023

The saying that “if something sounds to good to be true, it probably is” came to mind as I re-subscribed to a WSJ.com and Barronsonline.com for a FIVE-year subscription? Part of me wants to believe magazine resellers are legitimately selling the digital versions for less than going directly to Dow Jones, but the other part […]

Idioms: The whole – or full – nine – six – yards phrase

| October 30, 2022

Although the meme floating around social networks (the one at the bottom of this post) is probably not correct, I enjoyed it enough to do a little digging. Personally I’ve always thought that “the whole (or full) nine (six) yards” had to do with the innings in a baseball game (old article below), so I […]

Paper magazines/newspaper delivery woes and shrinkflation

| February 17, 2022

Well, two doses of disappointing news in one week. First, the Bengals lose in Super Bowl 56, and then my Barron’s magazine gets smaller with even smaller type (requires a second pair of readers!). They call it “shrinkflation” in an attempt to save a few dollars and probably force subscribers into a 100% digital subscription. […]

Tech Friday: Keen 1963 portable phone insight Mansfield, OH

| January 7, 2022

Here’s a look back to a Mansfield News Journal article and something a little different for a New Year’s Nostradamus-y Tech Friday post … also in using the word “keen” it reflects the Christmas present/hiking shoes I bought (well Katelyn actually ordered) for Brenda … along with a bed-desk for her “preferred” office. 😉

A practical lesson for students who insist that socialism works

| November 27, 2021

Obituary: Doris Eggleston. An educator than made a difference.

| April 26, 2020

Some of us are fortunate in life to have had a few teachers take enough interest to make a difference. I suspect they inherently knew the positive influence a good teacher can make long after a student leaves their classroom. One such teacher, really an extra curricular advisor for me, was Doris Eggleston. Last week […]

An old newspaper clipping and a great summer job #TBT

| July 25, 2019

When talking about the wide spread damage in the Dayton area by a tornado earlier this year with the guys putting on our new gutters (Raspberry Pi cam picked up one of the guys’ legs and tweeted it to me) …  I mentioned that I once did some tornado repairs in my hometown. I couldn’t […]

Congratulations – 130 yrs for the Wall Street Journal newspaper

| July 8, 2019

As a newspaper oriented guy from years ago, I have a soft spot for ink on paper and digital journalism (started as local newspaper photog when in high school and worked for Knight Ridder in the 1980s). Even my eventual career path followed from what I learned working for newspaper companies. But as a subscriber, […]

Tech Friday 2: My favorite Cincinnati oriented tweet of the day

| August 24, 2018

| ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ | | WE | | ARE NOT | | THE | | NATIONAL | | ENQUIRER | | _______| (\__/) || (•ㅅ•) || /   づ — Enquirer (@Enquirer) August 23, 2018

Katelyn & Drew are rekindling my connection to Toledo, Ohio

| December 28, 2017

My daughter and son-in-law, who moved back to Ohio in 2017, send me occasional updates from my "birth" city and the surrounding area. This past week the Toledo Blade reflected on 2017 in the "glass city" with its Finding Nellie illustration and included the Promedica Promenade Park revitalization … with Drew‘s dad dancing in the […]

Remembering one of my early jobs after seeing a Tweet #TBT

| August 17, 2017

Earlier this week, I had a Throwback Thursday moment when reading my Twitter feed. A reporter commented on @PortageNotebook and the logo/icon was a dead giveaway for the spin-off company where I once worked. The Akron, Ohio based Portage Newspaper Supply was the purchasing arm for Knight Ridder Newspapers and I was part of the […]

What are you reading: A few saved February 2016 articles

| February 23, 2016

Winter weekends (even warm ones) present an opportunity to catch up on a pile of articles collected during the week. These are one that aren’t necessarily timely or are “required” reading based on the news of the day.  Those who know me, know that I’ve enjoyed a few minutes each morning leafing though the Wall […]

Advice: Best promo for WSJ.com if you want to try it out

| June 22, 2015

For those of you who are NOT Wall Street Journal readers, but have always wanted to try it out, here’s your chance. The $1 price is about as cheap as I’ve ever seen from WSJ.com  … for a 3 month introductory deal. The yearly or normal monthly subscription is higher and can be hard to […]

Quick police response: I thought you said no one was available?

| August 21, 2014

Tired of playing games with media subscriptions services

| January 31, 2014

It’s depressing to be back from a few days of sun (and rain), after a long drive from Florida yesterday, but also good to be home. It has been a morning clearing a few bills and accumulated mail off my desk and a light work day before Superbowl XLVIII weekend. One piece of mail, a […]

The 1994 tablet sure resembled today’s iPad and clones

| March 25, 2013

In the 1980s I worked for a division of Knight Ridder Newspapers in Akron, Ohio call Portage Newspaper Supply Co. (now McClatchy Company). Portage handled central purchasing for the chain’s 58+ newspapers with nearly everything that was needed to produce the printed paper, as well as a few independent products (I believe all that is […]

A Dow Jones WSJ subscription: Where am I going wrong?

| September 13, 2012

I’m finding a nutty pricing structure for for my morning newspaper and a questionable explanation (or lack of one) from Dow Jones in my attempt to renew my Wall Street Journal subscription. It sort of reminded my of a Twitter conversation last week on how  Amazon sells some paperback and hardback books cheaper than they […]

American Civil War era copies of the Philadelphia Inquirer

| November 13, 2009

I enjoyed lunch with a good friend of mine that just returned from the laborious task of going through his mother’s estate. He kept a few antique furniture items and uncomfortably stuffed them in his apartment while trying to figure out just what to do with the balance.  While we were standing by our cars, […]

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
My Desultory Blog