Private sector vs Government comparison: Wages and Benefits

| December 21, 2024

Where should you work — for the government or their private counterpart? From economist Stephen Moore: According to @RealEJAntoni‘s recent analysis, the cost of state and local government employees is a staggering 41.7% higher than their private sector counterparts.  While wages are 24.4% higher, the real kicker is benefits—an astonishing 83.0% more!

Should this be a Tech Friday or ThrowBack Thursday #TBT post?

| 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 […]

Interesting and handy tips from a social media #video

| November 27, 2024

Here’s a quick video for a holiday shortened week, but picked up a few good ideas as this video flashed by on the social media site X.com.  

Magnetic North has moved substantially in my lifetime

| November 19, 2024

According to Brian Roemmele on X.com: Magnetic North is now drifting faster than 30 miles per year. It has already moved back past geological north, a place it has not been for 1000s of years. … and Elon Musk added: We live on a thin crust of solid rock, beneath which is vast ball of […]

Tech Friday: Politics has triggered some people to leave X.com

| November 15, 2024

It has been a challenging week and a half for a few of my more liberal Democrat friends on the social media platform X.com (previously Twitter). I’m unsure if it is anger, disbelief or a way to strike back now that President-Elect Donald Trump won the election. Trump has been rapidly nominating his cabinet (mostly […]

Last minute political question since we vote in the US is tomorrow

| November 4, 2024

Most people can answer to the “4 years ago” question (below), but a more important question in my view would be, “Do you think you and your family would be better off under a Harris or Trump presidency in the next 4 years?” Both presidential candidates have leadership records to run on, so compare wisely […]

Where did you meet your spouse? How couple met 1930-2024

| November 2, 2024

Here’s an eye-opening video chart from LinkedIn shared on social media (X.com). Although some might question the raw data, it is nevertheless interesting … particularly as people started meeting each other online!   

Feel good snippet from X.com — The plus side of Social Media

| September 9, 2024

Tech Friday: Big Tech’s data access knows no bounds … and neither do some politicians and government agencies

| September 6, 2024

Europe and their big government overreaches in restricting personal liberty by American standards, but that same heavy handedness often does more that the U.S. to protect an individual’s privacy from Big Tech and their sweeping data collection machines.  Ever since social media and cloud-oriented companies desired to take ownership of their users data, it has […]

What does a “1913 tire ad” have to do with a political X.com post?

| 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 […]

Tech Friday: Finally upgraded to a ‘paid’ X.com subscription

| June 7, 2024

I’ve been using Twitter, which is now X.com after Elon Musk purchase $TWTR and renamed it, since the early days of the 240 character social network. Shockingly, it has now been over 17 years since I joined in February of 2007 … and I decided it was finally time to eliminate the ads and gain […]

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 […]

A different kind of Memorial Day remembrance

| May 27, 2024

Each year Memorial Day holiday often brings out the best in Americans. Those I know, at least give “thought” to the service men and women who fought and died to protect and preserve our country, our freedom and way of life. It is of course, will never be enough appreciation from those of us who […]

Being a great parent really isn’t that difficult #video

| May 9, 2024

Being a great parent isn’t always expensive … it just takes a little time and attention to your children. Here’s someone spotted on social media being a great mom … and a pretty cute little girl enjoying the ride! 

Work on the Kubota diesel mower is not going well

| May 5, 2024

With the lawn growing like crazy, this is definitely not the time for a mower to need service. The local Kubota dealer is backed up 2 weeks for service and I’m struggling to diagnose the exact problem. So far I’ve only taken things apart, broken a “fuel return pipe” and ordered parts.  Nothing like breaking […]

Music Monday: Steve Miller Band – “Jet Airliner” LIVE in 2007

| March 25, 2024

A Twitter/X.com social media contact from FoxBusiness, Brian Brenburg,  is a “DollarVinyl” shopper. He is always posting album covers that he finds for “a buck.” In January 2024 he posted one from The Steve Miller Band … that I once owned (college days and pre-basement-flood). It triggered a response from me and a 2007 live […]

There are probably too many posts just for the sake of posting?

| March 23, 2024

This should probably should have been a Tech Friday blog update post (or not at all?), but was something I noticed after cleaning up about 13 older posts with “issues.” Also I am hoping to test a “featured image” add-on to see if it work with social media alerts.  Since 2005, I’ve been posting daily and […]

Besides costly higher education and health care … buying and owning a home is now unaffordable for many in America

| 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. […]

Music Monday: Kids, Families, Bands and Social Media Fun

| February 5, 2024

Call today’s Music Monday post from X.com a lazy one … but I still like it (what a great dad)! Doesn't look like a lot of money here, not a lot of 'stuff'. There's one thing present that's far more valuable, can you see? pic.twitter.com/wOU6U9ak0F — Dane (@UltraDane) February 4, 2024

A classic Firebird reminded me of my 1974 Mercury Capri #TBT

| February 1, 2024

Contemplating classic cars after seeing a good looking late 1960’s Pontiac Firebird 400 while filling up at Costco. I posted a comment on X.com and it gave me a ThrowBack Thursday #TBT excuse to repost a couple old black and while of photos of my first junkyard rebuildable … my 1974 Capri (it was pea […]

Music Monday: Gin Blossoms – “Follow You Down”

| January 29, 2024

Often the bumper music on business television shows catches my ear and triggers a Music Monday idea. That was the case with the 1996 song “Follow You Down” by Gin Blossoms on The Big Money Show with hosts Jackie DeAngelis, Taylor Riggs and a personal favorite personality, Brian Brenberg. Here’s a YouTube Official Video of […]

Beware of dogs … when disposing of Christmas trees #humor

| January 7, 2024

Just a bit of Christmas and New Year’s Day holiday cleaning up humor found on X.com.

The sound of the Red-Tail Hawk vs Bald Eagle

| December 12, 2023

As someone who enjoys birds and birdwatching, I found this Red-Tail Hawk (left) vs Bald Eagle (right) X.com video worth sharing. Did you know? The iconic sound of the bald eagle you always hear in movies and TV shows is the one of a red-tailed hawk. Why? This is the red-tailed hawk's vocalization vs a […]

Does a USB drive get heavier as you store more files on it?

| December 2, 2023

Loved this @Rainmaker1973 X.com post about digital storage and in particular USB flash drives (also enjoyed the photo): Nope. Paradoxically (and theoretically), the more you save on a flash drive, the lighter it gets. USB drives use Flash memory, which means the the ones and zeros of the data are stored on transistors. When you […]

The Tesla Cybertruck deliveries begin today

| November 30, 2023

An automotive filler for this afternoon: Pretty impressive. #automotive #Cybertruck $TSLA https://t.co/0agJNMn2Or — Rich Corbett (@RichC) November 30, 2023

X.com API test: Still would like an iPhone flipphone

| November 17, 2023

Really just testing a new X.com (Twitter) setup after the MyDesultoryBlog account stopped updating several months ago. An API change has made it more difficult for automated accounts to send out tweets. Adding a photo to keep Apple aware that I still would really like an iPhone Flip! 😉 

Percentage of a country’s population that speaks fluent English

| November 16, 2023

Of course this was found on social media: X.com … so take it with a grain of salt 😊 (also tinkering with columns for WordPress)

Remember our Veterans this weekend and HB to the USMC

| November 11, 2023

Yesterday was the 248th birthday for the USMC (my X or tweet below). They have an amazing history and those who serve or served (once a Marine always a Marine) have a good reason to be proud. Their bravery and sacrifice was cemented for me earlier this year after listening to the audiobook by Eugene […]

Tech Friday 2: Testing X.com API after new updates

| November 3, 2023

Simple test for my automated MyDesultoryBlog’s X.com account after an API update. This WordPress plug-in using a newly updated service should start to work again. This post will probably be deleted although since I like the Elon Musk ani-gif, I might just keep it. Will this feature work again? 

A how to hang a picture on a nail with a fork #video tip

| September 25, 2023

How to hang a picture on a nail with a fork social media household tip (short video below).

Tech Friday: Really just testing a WP theme and Bing AI Chat

| 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 […]

Physics teacher demonstrates Bernoulli’s principle #science

| 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

Automotive, but with a beachy Throwback Thursday twist #TBT

| 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 […]

Where are Americans Born?

| September 5, 2023

There was an interesting tidbit shared on X.com (formerly Twitter) that highlighted in graphical color where a states population was born. It highlights movements from different areas of the country to other areas, populations who were not transient … as well as what state people born outside the US made home. 

Tech Friday: Elon Musk announces Twitter’s bird is now X

| July 28, 2023

Things continue to change over at Twitter, at least as the old is removed and the new is implemented. I’m not sure the switch from the Twitter “bird” to the symbol “X” is all that big of a deal, but it does at least keep people in the tech world talking. Who knows if Elon […]

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