Music Monday: Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair

| April 9, 2018

(click for larger) I read an interesting article about music in Wired this past weekend and in particular a World Song Map image that instead of a "place name" there is a "song name." It may not be the best song selection for the place, but it did trigger an old song from 1967 by […]

Two things to look for when buying an old Mercedes Benz diesel

| April 4, 2018

Having owned Mercedes Benzes for years now (first was our 87 MB 560 SEL –  reminder that I need a photo) and using several resources for buying and maintaining, some of the best advice for for the, W123 which I’m particularly fond of, (my current 1982 Mercedes Benz 300D Turbodiesel) comes from Kent Bergsma, of […]

What is Crony Capitalism?

| March 10, 2018

A simple explanation of crony capitalism in this Prageru video, but a challenging to stop corruption that exists with politicians running governments.

A tribute to Billy Graham – “I can only imagine”

| March 5, 2018

https://youtu.be/Rlu-a1lgeTo William Franklin Graham Jr. (November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) Adding a story that is fitting after reflecting on Billy Graham. I read it during my brief morning (usually evening) devotional and had me smiling as I remembered pre-NIV King James Bible reading as a teenager. This morning, I want to tell you a […]

Music Monday: Wagon Wheel – I enjoy that country music sound

| February 12, 2018

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If you own a Mercedes Benz 300D, you know this sound! #humor

| February 2, 2018

Only an old Mercedes Benz diesel driver can fully appreciate this … very funny.

Explaining How Tax Cuts Will Affect You by Dave Ramsey

| January 28, 2018

Delivering commonsense “tough love” clarifications and explanations of financial issues has always been a Dave Ramsey strength. After the Trump administration finally moved their tax plan through congress, Dave offered a 10 minute explanation as to whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. If you are steeped in years of seeing things […]

Do something for someone this Martin Luther King Jr holiday

| January 15, 2018

Today, January 15, 2018, our nation celebrates the life and accomplishments of one of our greatest Americans on his national holiday, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This past Friday, President Trump signed a proclamation that honors Dr. King by designating his birthplace, church and tomb as a National Historic Park. Along with the president’s respectful […]

Backpacking filtration hack for emergency water too

| January 10, 2018

Bits and pieces are still arriving from my Christmas shopping. Sometimes I forget that not every company/individual doing business online is shipping with the efficiency we become accustom to with Amazon and other big online retail sites. In any case, one of the gifts I assembled was an emergency kit that included survival items we […]

Another great Jay Leno’s Garage video – a 1974 Porsche 914-6 GT

| November 29, 2017

One of the best YouTube channels for car lovers is Jay Leno’s Garage. He always has something interesting and the older I get the more I appreciate his highlighting cars I remembered and envied. The 1974 Porsche 914 (or previous up to 1972 version 914-6 GT) was my ideal teenage car as it was still […]

Music Monday: A Jackson Browne leftover from last week

| November 13, 2017

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Using journalistic integrity when reporting on President Trump

| November 7, 2017

Ethics in journalism, particularly political content, continues to disappear as the line between editorializing and reporting is blurred. Most who consume "their" brand of NEWS recognize there is truth to the sarcastic #FakeNews hashtag on social networks and President Trump’s regular "tweets" complaining about how his administration is treated by the #MSM (Main Stream Media). […]

Great Yachting World tip for anchoring near coral heads

| September 24, 2017

Part of a 12-part sailing advice series by the UK Yachting World site is worth archiving.

Music Monday: Dream Weaver and Love Is Alive by Gary Wright

| September 18, 2017

Shifting back into the "oldies" mode, here’s a Music Monday song that practically everyone knows from Gary Wright. The Dream Weaver is a 1975 hit recently being used in an insurance advertisement. I still think the decade of the 1970s produced the best music? In 1972, my friend George Harrison invited me to accompany him […]

An interview with Dr Francis Collins triggered a book order

| September 14, 2017

While driving this week I had a opportunity to scan through a few SiriusXM stations and picked up on part of a Bloomberg interview between philanthropist David Rubenstein and National Institutes of Health director Dr. Francis Collins (looked up the video so I could listen to the entire interview later – below).  Dr Collins seemed […]

A couple doctors back to the hospitals that cared for me

| September 12, 2017

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The Apollo 14 mission and a long distance technical support call

| September 3, 2017

What a great story told by YouTuber Scott Manley about the early days of NASA, their Apollo 14 computing problem and a "tech support call" to a programmer (video below). The story is longish and likely only of interest for those on the geeky side who work with computer or are programmers — it would […]

An excellent Civil War history lesson #video

| August 27, 2017

Music Monday: Want-to-be politician Kid Rock – Born Free

| August 7, 2017

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As mention before, James Garner is a favorite of mine

| July 23, 2017

One of the more interesting aspects of social networking is that one never knows who they might connect with. I’ve been a fan and have posted before about the late James Garner (1928-2014) for most of my life and noticed his daughter Gigi (MavrocksGirl) actively keeps his memory alive on Twitter. I’m not sure what […]

Music Monday: Fire and Rain. James Taylor Live in 1970 (and it triggered a personal memory and story from 1980!)

| July 3, 2017

As is all to frequent … the YouTube video has been removed. When it comes to music, I’ve always been a James Taylor fan and have posted a few times about him. This past weekend I ran across a YouTube clip from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert from a year or so ago that […]

How it works: An in tank fuel pump YouTube video

| June 25, 2017

Well done … don’t forget to use your “brother’s sock.” 🙂

ElioMotors public image is still showing a stiff upper lip

| June 21, 2017

With financial concerns looming for Elio Motors, they continue to put out positive PR remarks to their "All In" reservation holders, prospective buyers and investors. Everything from their perspective is positive is a series of questions/answers  posted on their website. One Q & A indicates that Elio Motors is "targeting 2018" to be the year […]

Taking a BMW X5 35D to the track – Thanks Andrew!

| June 20, 2017

My Volkswagen TDI and BMW Diesel friend Andrew (proprietor FixMyVW.com) to his BMW X5 35D to the track in Atlanta this past weekend. He posted the run on YouTube and since his “tune” and exhaust is what I put on my 2010 BMW X5 35D … it did getting me pretty excited. Published on Jun […]

Music Monday: Back In The High Life Again by Steve Winwood

| June 19, 2017

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Mounted the large 4K TV temporarily in the new kitchen

| April 25, 2017

The granite countertops were installed last week, still putting us a couple of weeks from having a usable kitchen as the construction continues to crawl along (no plumbing, cooktop, backsplash, trim, electrical or paint). It is tough being without a functioning kitchen and washing up dishes in the laundry room is getting old … but […]

Mellow Music Monday: Down in Belize with Jerry Jeff Walker

| April 24, 2017

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TechFriday: Lenovo Yoga 710, my everyday carry notebook

| April 14, 2017

Last week someone asked me about my large screened notebook, the 15.6″ Lenovo Yoga 710 with an Intel i5-7200U CPU (2.50GHz), 8 GB memory and a rather smallish 256GB SSD. The question was whether I would recommend it. The answer is yes … if you can live with a couple small nits that I have […]

Music Monday: Shambala, 1 of the top 10 Three Dog Night tunes

| April 10, 2017

While listening to background music this past weekend (working on taxes), it became an easy decision post something on music. Next … decide which group and song to include without repeating something mentioned before on My Desultory Blog? How about Three Dog Night??? The rock band was not necessarily in my record (or cassette tape) […]

It would be hard to throw this water heater robot away …

| March 29, 2017

Music Monday: Rocket Man recorded in the bluegrass sound

| March 27, 2017

What do you get when you mix 1960s space history, some classic 1972 Elton John music and a twist of Bluegrass flair? Rocket Man with banjos and country harmony! Good stuff.

Hammock time on a sailboat from Sailing Britaly

| March 17, 2017

One of the more hilarious BBC interview interuptions

| March 10, 2017

Music Monday: Ketchup, Anticipation and Carly Simon

| February 27, 2017

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Tech gadgets add a new wrinkle to Cat’s in the Cradle message

| February 13, 2017

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Testing your car battery with only a simple voltage meter

| February 10, 2017

Great how-to YouTube video from ChrisFix on testing your car battery with a simple voltage meter.

Nicki Bluhm and an appropriate song for our political state

| February 8, 2017

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President Trump and Andrew Jackson – a comparison

| January 31, 2017

Is there a comparable president to Donald Trump? People say President Donald Trump is unique in U.S. history, yet a few who study presidential history say it is not entirely true. Doug Wead, a presidential historian, compares President Trump to Andrew Jackson, as he did shortly after the November 2016 election on "Happening Now" with […]

Remembering a couple musicians and the song Drift Away

| January 30, 2017

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Who knows, there may still be a Range Rover in my future

| January 23, 2017

Great visual look at the evolution from 1969 thru 2017. The first SUV to wear the vaunted “Range Rover” badge came in 1969 with the development of 26 individual prototype vehicles. Each “Velar” prototype wore special badging ahead of the production debut. The first Range Rover to trundle across craggy landscapes arrived in 1970, claiming […]

Tool Tips: Screwdriver hacks [video]

| January 13, 2017

  A few of these screwdriver hacks are not necessarily new, but could be helpful if you are ever caught shorthanded for the right tool. I’m particularly fond of using the wrench and screwdriver together (above left) as even with a full set of wrenched and sockets, there are a few oddities preventing wrenches from […]

Quick Lumix Prime Lens test of low-light Aperture vs ISO

| December 18, 2016

Testing the new 25mm Four Third Panasonic Lumix prime lens on before "wrapping it up for my Christmas gift from Brenda." I needed to know if it works … cough, cough.     (click here for Large Image — be warned) Also updated the GX8 body to Firmware 2.2, so we are up to date on […]

A date that will live in infamy — December 7, 1941

| December 7, 2016

It has been a few years since our family visited the historic sites at Pearl Harbor …  it was very sobering. Why do human beings continue killing each other — it is as senseless today as it was 75 years ago. I would like to think that we are wiser and could agree to inhabit […]

Behind an American favorite TV show – Home Improvment

| November 23, 2016

A little “behind the scenes” history and commentary from my family’s favorite TV show of the 1990s — Home Improvement. Of course anything that Tim Allen does is a favorite of mine. I love his current Last Man Standing show too.

Together with Katelyn and Drew for their baby reveal [video]

| November 8, 2016

The highlight of this past weekend was in getting together with the Oostra family on a sunny and beautiful Sunday afternoon where Katelyn and Drew had a “Baby Oostra” reveal party. A popular trend nowadays is for young couples to make the gender reveal “an event” … and creativity seems to be the key. A […]

Archiving some quadcopter video footage from Wayzata, MN

| October 26, 2016

The  advancements in unmanned aviation continue to impress me as a new generation of pilots is flying by remote control rather than “stick and rudder,” “yoke and peddle” … but all can still fly by the “seat of their pants.”  I’m still unsure what to call these computer controlled devices nowadays … quadcopters, quadrotors  (what […]

Renewable low cost hot water idea for a sailboat

| October 9, 2016

Archiving another project idea for living on the hook (someday) yet still having hot water for dishes, cleaning and SHOWERS (a freshwater shower is a luxury for most sailboats).

Saving the Sailrite “How to make a Dodger” video playlist

| October 1, 2016

Sailrite has years of on and off water How-To YouTube Videos

A beautiful quadrotor aerial video from Lake Michigan

| September 1, 2016

My son-in-law Drew shared a really impressive Phatom3 movie clip on YouTube after his July 2016 vacation in Michigan. There were some incredibly beautiful views, sunsets and shoreline video … of course it didn’t hurt that the weather was perfect for Katelyn and Drew’s vacation at his parent’s “cabin” (as they call it). Although I’ve […]

Music: Where has all the good harmony gone?

| July 24, 2016

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TechFriday: What could a flexible screen do for the iPhone?

| July 22, 2016

With a renewed interest in the upcoming iPhone7 after Apple released the new iOS10 public beta, I’m wondering what’s really the next “big” (pun intended) thing for pocketable smart devices. If it were durable and possible, I’d love having an expanding screen on my iPhone that could do double-duty as an iPad!

Before passing more laws, enforce existing ones!

| July 10, 2016

If liberal politicians really wanted to reduce gun violence, they would enforce existing law in the cities suffering the most … and the complicit left leaning media would be holding their feet to the fire. Instead, the ultimate objective is obvious: dismantle the 2nd amendment granting the right to bear arms to all law abiding citizens. https://youtu.be/qgr2lj7jwr4

A short post to set up OLW on a new ASUS notebook

| July 1, 2016

This is a quick test for a new computer running Open Live Writer. I’m retiring my 9 year old Gateway notebook computer and forging ahead with a low powered and low cost Microsoft Window 10 notebook. More to come on my recent addition in a future post, but after the Gateway overheated and cooked itself […]

Blue Sky from 1972 – an Allman Brother classic for #TBT

| June 30, 2016

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Legend Bob Riggles rolls his car with Jay Leno inside

| June 27, 2016

Whew … luckily no injuries.

Video: Heavy rains in Australia wash away a marina

| June 7, 2016

This makes me a sick to my stomach as I’m thinking about our Encore sitting in a marina as hurricane and tropical storm season move closer to peak months.

Thoughts of war, a nuclear exchange and our human condition

| May 16, 2016

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Pumpy Umpy the rabbit and the Cuppycake song

| April 30, 2016

You would think an over 17 million viewed video on YouTube with a Pumpy Umpy reference would be something I would have watched before … nope … but now I have. So much for knowing about Amy Castle or the Cuppycake song.

Rafting the Upper Gorge on the Cuyahoga River

| April 28, 2016

Just a few steps from my old office door … who’d a thunk it?

Music, mood, memories … Incommunicado.

| April 26, 2016

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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