Music Monday: Naked Eyes – “Always Something There To Remind Me”
RichC | March 17, 2025
While listening to Pandora’s version of 1970’s music last week, I picked up a song that “reminded” me of 1982, the year Brenda and I were married. The song was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s and originally recorded as a demo by Dionne Warwick in 1963; it was “Always Something There To Remind Me.” […]
Music Monday: Fleetwood Mac – “Over My Head” 2017 remastered
RichC | March 10, 2025
Although Fleetwood Mac has been mentioned several times times before on Music Monday, here is “Over My Head” (Christine McVie) remastered in 2017 from one of my favorite albums. I can’t say Pandora on the Apple Watch is the best way to listen to music (the iPhone is much better), but it does help save […]
Is it too soon to talk about Graphite Aluminum-Ion batteries?
RichC | March 8, 2025
This is strictly a future hopeful and something I’ve read Tesla engineers are working on (Graphite Aluminum-Ion Batteries), but I can’t help but get excited about another new battery technology … yes again (see my 2005 post and unfortunately fallout and A123 bankruptcy in 2012). If it is truly going to be in the next […]
Commentary: The President’s Joint Session of Congress Speech
RichC | March 6, 2025
President Donald J. Trump gave a 90 minute Joint Session of Congress speech on Tuesday night and since it went a bit late, I was unable to finish my commentary for TheHustings.News “right-hand” column (a request). Being a bit late, I’m unsure the editor will now find it timely enough to include, but am adding […]
Music Monday: John Mellencamp and “Cherry Bomb” (1987)
RichC | March 3, 2025
For the fun of it, I veered from using SiriusXM and went with an old favorite streaming service, Pandora, for a couple days … because it streams on my Apple Watch to my AfterShokz headset. One of the songs being streamed was the 1987 hit by John Cougar Mellencamp (mentioned before) called “Cherry Bomb.” Likely […]
Watched the SS United States being towed to the Gulf of America
RichC | March 2, 2025
The nearly 75 year old ocean liner, the SS United States, was towed southbound in the Atlantic Ocean on February 26, 2025 and headed towards its finally resting place in the Gulf of America (previously Gulf of Mexico) somewhere off the coast near Destin, Florida to become an artificial reef. The 1951 (christened), 990 ft, […]
Replaced a Craftsman Drill battery with 6Ah lithium-ion battery
RichC | February 25, 2025
Back to a favorite topic of mine: Tools. Unfortunately the replacing of cordless tool batteries is not … I repeat … NOT a favorite topic. I’m not sure how many years that I’ve been complaining about the relatively short life of pre-Lithium batteries for cordless tools but now it is about the “still short life” of […]
Music Monday: Stevie Wonder and “Superstition” from 1972
RichC | February 24, 2025
“Superstition” is probably one of Stevie Wonder’s most famous songs and was a standout hit in 1972 from his album Talking Book. While listening to 70’s music earlier in the month, I grabbed a SiriusXM screenshot and thought it would be a great addition to Music Monday. The song was the first single from the […]
Music Monday: Barry Manilow and his 1974 hit “Mandy”
RichC | February 17, 2025
Although this season’s blowout of a Super Bowl has been almost forgotten by all but Philadelphia Eagles fans (and definitely forgotten by Kansas City Chiefs fans), the halftime show stands out as one I could have easily pass on. To each their own I suppose? Anyway, some of the chatter on social media was “why […]
Excellent speech by VP JD Vance on Artificial Intelligence, etc.
RichC | February 12, 2025
Excellent speech by US Vice President JD Vance on artificial intelligence in a summit in Paris, France. He told European and Asian leaders that the United States will dominate AI. Worth watching. NEW: JD Vance speaks at an artificial intelligence summit in Paris, France, tells European and Asian leaders that the United States will dominate […]
Downsizing Government Bloat commentary – TheHustings.news
RichC | February 6, 2025
TheHustings.News – Commentary by Rich Corbett In a time when government spending often raises concerns about waste, fraud, abuse and inefficiency, Elon Musk and the DOGE team’s use of “read-only” access to Treasury data can be viewed as a proactive step toward enhancing accountability. The fundamental argument rests on the premise that taxpayers deserve transparency […]
Review: Post-Liberalism, America and the Church, a discussion
RichC | February 4, 2025
Although I’m not recommending a discussion between Michael Horton, James Wood and David VanDrunen to all Christians, the YouTube conversation between theologians is still interesting for those who are politically active in society and the church. The panelists explored the significance of post-liberalism and how it contrasts with classical liberalism, particularly in relation to Christian theology […]
Collision between AA commuter jet and Black Hawk Helicopter
RichC | January 31, 2025
Each time I hear about an aviation accident I think back to the years I was flying small planes. The conversations by news people regarding the state of safe aviation in the United States … be it DEI hires, technology or congested air traffic control space … has me struggling to know what level of […]
It is cold nearly everywhere and even snowing in Florida
RichC | January 23, 2025
Spotted in the Florida Panhandle above and airboat video in Louisiana below 
Saw the photo below on social media as a Polar Vortex powered Arctic Blast pushes across the country … and I thought, “climate change” (so long as it is warmer weather) … isn’t coming fast enough!
Is the US, and the world, ready for President Trump, again?
RichC | January 20, 2025
On January 20, 2025, Donald J. Trump will be inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States, marking his second, non-consecutive term in office. Due to anticipated freezing temperatures and high winds, the inauguration ceremony has been relocated indoors to the United States Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C. This adjustment ensures the safety and […]
Websites and social media feeds highlighting maps intrigue me
RichC | January 9, 2025
A map by region illustrating the larger variations of temperatures than below Since I love looking at maps of all kinds, I’m always attracted to the ones that trigger intrigue me and helps me learn a little more about our world. I especially enjoy weather related maps (perhaps they often relate to aviation and sailing), […]
Music Monday: Emerson, Lake & Palmer: “From The Beginning”
RichC | December 30, 2024
Today’s Music Monday song is from 1972, a few years before my music listening days, but the supergroup Emerson, Lake and Palmer was definitely played on stereos during my college dorm listening years. The album Trilogy featured Greg Lake’s song “From The Beginning” which became the progressive rock band’s highest ranking U.S. single at #39 […]
Should this be a Tech Friday or ThrowBack Thursday #TBT post?
RichC | December 19, 2024
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is infiltrating almost everything we do on a smartphone, tablet or computer these days. Last week, my X.com feed sent a message that “you should try generating an image of yourself” based on whatever data it collects. I suspect it relies on my profile information, but am not sure what else it […]
Archiving Chrstmas photos: Gigi, Santa, the Oostra family and Mickey Mouse from Disney on Ice in Toledo, Ohio
RichC | December 17, 2024
It is that time of year … time for Christmas photos … with children and pets? Well a “dog” in the case of Megan and Taylor, but our granddaughters in the case of Katelyn and Drew. In both cases these 2024 photos belong on in the My Desultory Blog archive. Here’s one of Gigi with […]
Music Monday: Stills-Young Band – “Long May You Run” (1976)
RichC | December 16, 2024
It is probably time for me to start listening to Christmas music, but I’m still stuck on SiriusXM “The Bridge” and stumbled across another great song from my high school and college years. So for today’s Music Monday, here’s a song by the Stills-Young Band (Stephen Stills and Neil Young) from 1976 called “Long May […]
Landscape ponds, Dawn dishwashing soap and FREE advertising
RichC | December 15, 2024
Click image of landscape pond from back in 2008 when we asphalted the rear driveway. Both have aged. 
My mistake this past month was when it came to scrubbing some of the waterfall area off and using Dawn dishwashing soap … whoops! Not a big deal, but it still has creating an offseason soapy […]
Music Monday: KC and the Sunshine Band – “Get Down Tonight”
RichC | December 9, 2024
There’s no getting away from highlighting music from the 1970s on Music Monday — I can’t help myself. While listening to the segment-change music on a Fox Business show, KC and the Sunshine Band’s “Get Down Tonight” from 1975 caught my ear. I realized that Harry Wayne Casey and his band was highlighted before in […]
Happy Thanksgiving! Do you remember learning Punctuation?
RichC | November 28, 2024
First off, Happy Thanksgiving 2024. I hope you can be as thankful as the pilgrims were at that first Thanksgiving in 1621. “Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labors; they four […]
Music Monday: “Life is A Highway” and a VW waterpump failure
RichC | November 25, 2024
Not that my daughter appreciated that her 2018 VW Tiguan left her stranded on the “highway” … but sometimes automotive breakdowns are a part of “life.” So it seemed somewhat appropriate to feature the catchy Tom Cochrane‘s “Life is A Highway” as today’s Music Monday song. Sorry about the water pump failure Katelyn! Tom Cochrane originally […]
My thoughts on a smaller, more efficient government in the US
RichC | November 20, 2024
President-Elect Donald Trump is currently preparing his list of nominees for the cabinet he needs to help advise him. Along with a few controversial picks, Trump has also added a couple of high profile names, Elon Musk and the Vivek Ramaswamy to a new advisory panel … a committee that is smugly being referred to […]
Music Monday: Lobo – “Don’t Expect Me to Be Your Friend”
RichC | November 18, 2024
Although I listened to a fair amount of “easy listening” music through the years and have posted music by Lobo years ago on Music Monday, I don’t recall listening to his 1972 song back in the day. According to Wikipedia, Kent LaVoie (Lobo) released the “Don’t Expect Me to Be Your Friend” on his “Of […]
Tech Friday: Tinkering with Apple Intelligence summary feature
RichC | November 8, 2024
Apple is finally rolling out the much ballyhooed Apple Intelligence on Apple devices … including my new iPhone 16 Pro Max. Their have been a few laughs from me when it comes to the AI “summary” feature generating a questionable summary (an automotive enthusiast John Rowe’s X.com comments – he does NOT recommend Sunbeam). On […]
Always have a backup plan, even if Trump/Vance are confident
RichC | October 30, 2024
Besides the impressive rally at Madison Square Gardens last weekend, the relentless schedule being pushed in these final days (months actually) of the 2024 Presidential Election must be exhausting. Donald Trump as done everything from working at McDonald’s, to podcasts, or large outdoor rallies … one that nearly took his life. JD Vance has been […]
Music Monday: Simon and Garfunkel continued with “Cecilia”
RichC | October 21, 2024
After late last month’s Music Monday song from Simon and Garfunkel, it was difficult not to include the Side-A song at some point … and better sooner than too much later. “Cecilia” was first recorded by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel for their 1970 album Bridge Over Troubled Water. It reached #4 in the US […]
Winter 2024-25 forecast for the country – Old Farmer’s Almanac
RichC | September 18, 2024
When thinking about seasonal weather forecasts, it is enjoyable to check in with The Old Farmer’s Almanac. It has become a regular habit … although I can’t say how accurate year to year how close they are to what really happens? I’d venture a guess that they are probably more accurate than hurricane forecasting. […]
Campaign Confusion: Will the real Kamala Harris please stand up
RichC | September 7, 2024
As the US Presidential Election looms, we still really don’t know how Kamala Harris intends to govern — it’s been 1-1/2 months since President Biden stepped down. And many of us have questions: What are her policies? From a few appearances … by that I mean ONE interview … are we expected to believe the her […]
What does a “1913 tire ad” have to do with a political X.com post?
RichC | August 9, 2024
While looking on Wikipedia for for the history of old the adage “A picture is worth a thousand words,” I came across an interesting 1913 newspaper clipping from the town just south of my adopted hometown of Sidney, Ohio — that of Piqua, Ohio. It is always interesting to stumble across tidbits from the past […]
Music Monday: Alabama and “Forty Hour Week (For a Livin’)”
RichC | July 1, 2024
It is hard to believe that the country music band “Wild Country” from Fort Payne, Alabama, now known as “Alabama” has been around since 1969? I was surprised. The band’s popularity exploded in the late 1970s and early 1980s after 2 hit songs in 1977 and a record deal with RCA Records (about the time […]
Voicemail, Caller ID, the campaign season and local area codes
RichC | June 22, 2024
As the election season nears, the calls and text messages to my cellphone ramp up in earnest. My voicemail message for the past couple of years has been one that indicates that I no longer pickup calls from unknown callers — I don’t mind callers leaving me a message, but have grown tired of solicitations, […]
Yes, Virgina, there is inflation (but how about a soft-landing?)
RichC | April 6, 2024
The subject line is my questionable twist on the Francis Church response to Virginia O’Hanlon in 1897, Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus (see below). All of us “seeing” inflation month after month really don’t question its existence, but we do wonder how long inflation will continue a higher than the desired two percent […]
Music Monday: “My Maria” – hit in 1973 by B.W. Stevenson
RichC | April 1, 2024
It seems shocking, or at least it surprised me, that Louis Charles B.W. (BuckWheat) Stevenson’s popular hit “My Maria” had not been mention as a Music Monday song? I happened to hear it last month on SiriusXM’s 70’s on 7 and jotted it down to check the blog. I did find the Three Dog […]
Besides costly higher education and health care … buying and owning a home is now unaffordable for many in America
RichC | March 17, 2024
Going to college after high school has always seemed expensive, but by working, borrowing and getting help from parents … it was do-able, and by today’s standards, seemed affordable. I can’t help but smile noticing that when I finally paid off my student loan that I could start saving to put my kids through college. […]
The passing of Toby Keith makes for a sad Music Monday
RichC | February 12, 2024
The passing of a great American patriot and country music singer/songwriter Toby Keith Covel last week from stomach cancer at age 62 was depressing. Surprisingly I have not posted about Toby Keith in the past on the blog or for Music Monday, but really should have considering his impressive career and devotion our military and […]
And then there were 4: The NFL Playoffs continue this weekend
RichC | January 27, 2024
Brenda and I have been enjoying the NFL playoffs in late January from Florida this year and are looking forward to watching the final two games before Super Bowl LVIII on February 11, 2024. This weekend America will be watching the Detriot Lions vs the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC and the Kansas City […]
Living vicariously thru a friend’s international business travel
RichC | January 24, 2024
Although the time difference makes instant text communication a little more challenging than usual in staying in touch with my buddy Jeff, I’m still enjoying the interesting business travel he is starting early in 2024. I lost track of the number of countries will be in while making cybersecurity audits of client plants, but it […]
Music Monday: “Lola” by The Kinks
RichC | January 8, 2024
Took a screenshot of my iPhone’s Sirius XM app last month while listening to an old Casey Kasem‘s American Top 40 countdown on the 70’s channel. There’s always something that catches my ear on the weekends when it comes to 1970s songs and thought it was a good choice for Music Monday. The song was […]
Music Monday: The Grass Roots and their hit “Sooner or Later”
RichC | November 20, 2023
The Grass Roots was an American rock band that achieved significant success between 1965 and 1975. The band’s origins trace back to the collaboration of songwriter duo P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri, along with the involvement of Lou Adler. For Music Monday, here is their 1971 hit “Sooner of Later” from “Their 16 Greatest […]
Israel’s 9/11: Hamas terrorist viciously attacked innocent civilians
RichC | October 10, 2023
Hatred runs deep in the middle-east as many in the Arab world have never accepted the State of Israel … which is probably an understatement. I haven’t posted on the “war” (as declared on Saturday by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) at this point since so much is unknown, but television news coverage is 24/7. […]
Searching MDB: Current blog calendar navigation tip
RichC | October 3, 2023
Let’s just call this a PSA since I’ve been busy rethinking My Desultory Blog themes after updating to PHP 8.2 and how at least use the thousands of old blog entries for reference … or more precisely, remembering things! Anyway, the monthly “Archives” section is the same (select a previous month), but the “Calendar” was […]
Visual of why Jim Brown exemplifies the Cleveland Browns
RichC | August 30, 2023
Jim Brown played for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) from 1957 through 1965. Considered to be one of the greatest running backs of all time, as well as one of the greatest players in NFL history. (Link)
Music Monday: “Lido Shuffle” – Boz Scaggs (Silk Degrees 1976)
RichC | August 21, 2023
William Royce “Boz” Scaggs “recalled: “Lido Shuffle” was a song that I’d been banging around. I … took the idea of the shuffle [from] a song that Fats Domino did called “The Fat Man” that had a kind of driving shuffle beat that I used to play on the piano, and I just started kind […]
Music Monday: “Make Your Own Kind of Music” – Cass Elliot
RichC | November 14, 2022
About a week ago while watching television, the song “Make Your Own Kind of Music” in a Volkswagen commercial caught my ear. It triggered a “Can you dig it?” psychedelia thought that I thankfully only knew from observing the “far out” subculture during the 1960s. Still, a lot of the music and memories are from […]
Idioms: The whole – or full – nine – six – yards phrase
RichC | 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 […]
Who knew? Prairie dogs used the Bernoulli principle
RichC | September 24, 2022
In order to ensure sufficient oxygen within their burrow, prairie dogs use the Bernoulli’s principle. One of the entrances is built with a raised mound of dirt, while the other is not. This determines different wind velocities and different pressures. (Massimo – @Rainmaker1973) Bernoulli flow and viscous entrainment were identified by the researchers as the […]
Pyramid of Giza in Egypt from above
RichC | August 31, 2022
The largest of the Egyptian pyramids is the Great Pyramid of Giza., one of The Seven Wonders of the World. It was the tomb of the Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khufu and was build in the early 26th century BC. It stands 481 feet and is normally seen from a horizon view as in Wikipedia (photo […]
Kiribati: Located in 4 hemispheres and unique GMT+14 timezone
RichC | August 2, 2022
Learned a few interesting geographic facts about the nation of Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean from Brilliantmaps, Reddit and of course Wikipedia the other day and found the timezone oddity particularly interesting. The country is “the furthest ahead of Greenwich meantime at GMT +14, making it the first country in the world to ring-in the […]
Number of shots or gun salute for Independence Day celebration?
RichC | July 4, 2022
According to a little American Revolutionary War reading this past year, our Declaration of Independence was celebrated on July 4, 1777 with a 13-gun salute in the morning and 13-gun salute in the evening (13 for the 13 colonies). Interestingly, many historians suggest that the Declaration of Independence was actually signed on July 2, 1776 and […]
Music Monday: “Hold On” from 1990 by Wilson Phillips
RichC | March 28, 2022
Once again, in looking to get out of the 1970’s Music Monday rut, I pulled out a music memory from my trusty Apple iPod and Shuffle … mine is filled with Jack Johnson tunes (right – see Wikipedia list of iPods). The one I used most often was clipped to the back of a cap […]
A new-to-me Arabica Bean Coffee and a family photo to save to the 2022 Valentine’s Day blog archive
RichC | February 16, 2022
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Tech Friday: The overused Hamburger Menu for desktop apps
RichC | September 6, 2019
Perhaps it is just me, but I’m growing tired of the software development trend to make every piece of software resemble a smartphone app. I spend a significant amount of time using a desktop computer with plenty of display real estate, yet apps and webpages are all trying to make their mobile apps, notebook computer […]
What makes the Mississippi River important and so big?
RichC | May 5, 2019
Every student learns just how big and important the Mississippi River is in our country. From transporting materials from the America’s breadbasket to markets throughout the country and beyond … to draining the snowmelt and rainfall off the land so it can be cultivated (was reminded of this with all the flooding this spring). It […]
Music Monday Obit: Aretha Franklin, The Queen of Soul
RichC | August 20, 2018
Last week we lost the singer and pianist Aretha Franklin at age 76 who’s trailblazing career began in the turbulent 1960s when America was being torn apart (sounds eerily familiar). I was in grade school when her R and B records were popping on the charts and being played on AM radio; I didn’t really […]
Random: A couple random things I learned this week
RichC | July 21, 2018
As a filler post, a couple random or desultory tidbits crossed my path this week; I found them mildly interesting: The "bison," which can weigh as much as a ton, can "race up to 40 mph, jump up to 6 feet vertically and quickly pivot," so don’t try to out run them. The "peloton" is […]
Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee
- lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
- digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.