August
1 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
Went to town this morning and was able to get Chorizo and Eggs at Booga Red's this time. Next stop was the laundromat where I did some work on creating an ebook project. Groceries at Safeway were expensive this week but the gathering process went well. So did the stop at the Post Office, the return package seemed to be wrapped up well enough and I have a tracking number that I can use to verify that it has been received.
The Kindle Fire 8 should be delivered to the Post Office around noon if what the tracking says is right and what the Post Office told me. I'll catch a ride this afternoon with the Park Host if it does arrive.
We got wet again yesterday afternoon. Went out at our usual time and it looked like we might get our walk done. Made it less than half a mile and were starting to get sprinkles. By the time we got back to the Park they had stopped so we went half a mile the other direction which was a bad decision. We had to walk back the half mile in the rain.
I tried to create an ebook yesterday and came close but had problems and the more I tried to fix them the worse it became. Threw everything away and will try again today. I have decided that I will make an ePub book from my blog bicycling pages but without any of the pictures. However, I do want to include all the maps which I found out is a problem.
For the blog they are generated each time viewed by Google API Maps, there is no digital copy. To get around that I am taking a screenshot, size the image in GIMP, export to Chromebook or Toshiba then open in my ebook in Calibre. I was able to add a couple maps yesterday but the screenshots needed cropping and the size was wrong. I'll try again today. I also need to fix the other problems. Another project that never is simple!
2 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: August 2, 1931
Success! I picked up my Kindle Fire 8 HD a little before 1:00 yesterday afternoon and was able to download and read a DRM protected ePub by the time I went to bed. That has been the goal and why I was getting another ereader device. The Paperwhite can not read anything except Kindle format files. A lot of books are available at archive.org that I have wanted to read but they were DRM ePub. Now I can.
For how long will I be able to do so with the Aldiko app that I have installed is hard to tell. Adobe could pull the plug on authorizing any device using that app whenever they have a mind to. I don't think Adobe has any desire to improve Adobe Digital Editions but that could be the only choice to read borrowed books that are DRM protected. I think Adobe makes their money by selling the protection to book sellers.
I also successfully added a couple maps to the ePub book that I am writing. They look much better this time. I have a lot of formating to do but the text is all there for Bike Tour #1. Only 5 more maps to add, design a cover and I'll be on my way to having an ePub book.
3 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
I was cooking yesterday, more lentil pottage and more hulled barley plus oat groats. That will provide breakfast and 'linner' for another few days. I also did some more formatting on the ePub book but don't like what I am seeing so far, maybe do some rethinking.
I went 4-5 days without an eastside neighbor but got one yesterday that was gone before 7:00 this morning. They were in a Class 'B' that I thought would only stay the night. The center row in the Park was also empty for a few days but now has 5 Class 'A's in it that may stay for the weekend.
Was there great job News released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the month of July? Read what Paul Craig Roberts has to say in More Fake Happy News About Jobs. The BLS provides the fake news and The Establishment Media simply repeat it with no analysis no questions asked.
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea: A Tour of the Underwater World is a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne published in 1870.
The novel was originally serialized from March 1869 through June 1870 in Pierre-Jules Hetzel's periodical, the Magasin d'Éducation et de Récréation. The deluxe illustrated edition, published by Hetzel in November 1871, included 111 illustrations by Alphonse de Neuville and Édouard Riou. The book was highly acclaimed when it was released and remains so; it is regarded as one of the premiere adventure novels and one of Verne's greatest works, along with Around the World in Eighty Days and Journey to the Center of the Earth. The description of Nemo's ship, the Nautilus, was considered ahead of its time, as it accurately describes features on submarines, which at the time were very primitive vessels.
A model of the French submarine Plongeur (launched in 1863) was displayed at the 1867 Exposition Universelle, where it was studied by Jules Verne, who used it as an inspiration for the novel. - Wikipedia
4 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
I devoted a lot of time to my ePub book yesterday. When you don't know what you are doing it takes a lot of time to get it done. The formatting looks much better, although I am still not totally satisfied. I now have a basic cover for the book and have found a web page that tells me how to go on and customize it, so that is on the to do list. I also want to write a Prologue which needs to be inserted after the cover and before what I have now. Don't know how to do that, so that is also on the to do list.
Not totally satisfied with my new Kindle Fire either. I was able to download my ePub book into the Aldiko app where it looked better than it does in Adobe Digital Editions. I was satisfied with that but have grown to dislike the Amazon Silk browser after using it for only two days. I have found that I can replace it with Firefox and can also install Adblocker. I did that this morning - now to see how that goes.
Can not uninstall pre-installed apps that I don't want or need. Nothing is simple!
The book is a glorious effort on the part of the author to record the impressions that he formed during his visit to the fronts of the Western Allies during World War I. The book was written in appreciation of the valiant and bold soldiers who fought for their countrymen and whose efforts were being belittled due to increasing rumors. - book promo
Well written propaganda intended to boost morale & support for the war on the homefront, written by the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Reading between the lines provides a fascinating snapshot of British sentiment midway through WWI. - Customer review @ goodreads.com
Fred Reed lays it on the line once again. You need to read his blog posting to find his take on 'the most critical issues affecting America'.
...Congress doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t. It is a bauble that fascinates the strange ingrown world of DC, but the marionettes are less important than those who pull their strings. It may seem odd, but the national legislature has nothing to do with anything of importance. Consider the most crucial issues affecting America:- Who the Hell Is Mitch McConnell Anyway?
5 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
I got the first draft of the Prologue written and put at the front of the ePub book that is a work in progress. I didn't try to insert it as a second file and do a merge which is one way of doing it. I just used the Calibre edit and typed it up there. For short additions that seems just as simple. Today I want to add a second tour and think I'll do a copy and paste in Calibre edit to insert it. That should work also, we will see.
The replacement of Silk with Firefox was rather simple and Firefox appears to be working fine. I used a lot of data yesterday getting that done plus all the downloading I did with me ePub book. There was also a lot of web searching involved looking for some way to remove all the pre-installed apps that are aptly described a 'bloatware'. It can be done but not easily, Amazon does not want me to remove them and has made it difficult as they can. I moved the apps that I will be using to the top and will try to ignore the bloatware.
President Trump's understanding of currency manipulation appears to be that any currency that appreciates against the US dollar is good but any depreciation against the dollar is bad. Trump has poked the tiger and it has woken up, this response will do more damage to the US than his tariffs are doing to China. This devaluation was rather small to elicit such a large reaction from the president and the financial markets. What is going to happen next, the quote is referring to the devaluation in 2015?
Although a lower-valued yuan does give China somewhat of a competitive advantage, trade wise, the move was not totally counter market fundamentals. Over the past 20 years, the yuan had been appreciating relative to nearly every other major currencies including the U.S. dollar. Essentially, China’s policy allowed the market to determine the direction of the yuan’s movement while restricting the rate at which it is appreciated. But, as China’s economy had slowed significantly in the years prior to the devaluation while the U.S. economy had improved. A continued rise in the yuan’s value no longer aligned with market fundamentals.- The Impact of China Devaluing the Yuan by Investopedia
Understanding the market fundamentals clarifies that the small devaluation by the PBOC was a necessary adjustment rather than a beggar-thy-neighbor manipulation of the exchange rate. While many American politicians grumbled, China was actually doing what the U.S. has prodded it to do for years—allow the market to determine the yuan’s value. While the drop in the value of the yuan was the largest in two decades, the currency remained stronger than it had been in the previous year in trade-weighted terms.
6 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
The War in South Africa: Its Cause and Conduct is an essay written by Arthur Conan Doyle first published by George Newnes Ltd. on 16 january 1902. - The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia
I downloaded the book from Gutenberg but it can be read online at the Encyclopedia web site as well or get it free from Amazon. If you have read his The Great Boer War you will not find much new information in this short book. This one was written more to counter British critics that favored the Boers. Read it if you are reading everything available from Gutenberg but it could be skipped.
I got about half of the second bicycle tours added to the ePub book yesterday. I would have been able to get it all but had to redo some of what I had already finished. There were some coding problems that did not show up when I viewed it but I got errors when I asked Calible to "Run Check".
I also customized the book cover in Calibre last night. Still don't like it, maybe find a free cover online or create one in GIMP. Another project - how they seem to build up.
Paul Craig Roberts has a good posting again. I am very surprised that his website has not been blacked out by now or he assassinated. He does take it to The Establishment yet can not be held to be a Trump supporter.
The latest treaty to be discarded by Washington in service to the military/security lobby is the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) negotiated by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. This treaty banned missiles that Washington could place in Europe on Russia’s border with which to attack Russia with little or no reaction time, and Russian missiles that could be used to attack Washington’s NATO puppet states in Europe and UK...
Washington, of course, blames the US withdrawal on Russia, just as Washington blames every country that Washington intends to attack. But it is completely obvious even to a moron that Russia has no interest whatsoever in abandoning the treaty. Russian intermediate-range missiles cannot reach the United States. Russia has no reason to attack Europe, which has no military forces of any consequence. It is the American nuclear missiles on European soil that are the problem.
Washington, however, does gain by tearing up the INF treaty. At Europe’s risk, not America’s, Washington’s intermediate-range nuclear missiles stationed in Europe on Russia’s borders permit a preemptive nuclear attack on Russia. - Tulsi Gabbard: R.I.P.
7 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
Yesterday afternoon I noticed that I had used far more data than I should have. At the same time I noticed that I had two devices connected to my MIFI. Checked my new Kindle Fire and sure enough it was still on and still connected to the MIFI.
What was even worse is Amazon had "On Deck" pre-installed. This is their wonderful marketing gimmick to sell their videos. They automatically downloaded three videos to my Kindle Fire where they were "On Deck", all I had to do was click to view and pay Amazon for them.
It took me almost an hour to clean up that mess and put a stop to receiving any more - maybe. Amazon does not make that easy however. All I had to do was click on Settings and then Apps | Amazon Application Settings | Video | Stream & Download and in there turn off "On Deck". I must also remember to TURN OFF the Fire. I never turn Paperwhite OFF I just put it to sleep by closing the cover and it is never connected to the MIFI, I can not do that with the Fire!
I was able to create a book cover in Canva last night. That was the good news. The bad news was Calibre changed the size when I uploaded it and although I changed the cover image it continues to show the old one. Nothing is simple!
I finished adding bicycle trip #2 to the ePub yesterday and will start on #3 today. I don't like how it appears differently in different viewers but don't know what I can do about that. Just keep plugging along and maybe get the cover I want by the time I finish adding all the bike trips.
This is good news for me since I have almost all of my 'portfolio' in gold and silver mining companies. Both gold and silver were on a tear this morning.
The U.S.-China trade war is being blamed for the market turbulence recently. It appears the ramifications of the trade war, combined with the already anemic growth in many of the world's major economies, has sparked a "race to the bottom" for world government bond yields. Bond traders are reckoning central banks will continue to ease their monetary policies by lower interest rates even further, including those central banks that already have pushed interest rates into negative territory. New Zealand's central bank cut its interest rate more than expected Wednesday, by 0.5%. Bets are now that the Federal Reserve will soon lower its interest rate again.
What all of the above suggests, overall, is not clear at this time. But one thing is clear: gold and silver market bulls are enjoying the very anxious global marketplace. - Spook Central: Marketplace Unnerved As Bond Yields "Race To The Bottom" , Jim Wyckoff
8 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
Last night I was able to open my ePub book in Adobe Digital Editor and see the book cover that I created in Canva. This may not seem like much but that was a huge accomplishment for this 'ol geezer. It took a lot of web searching and some courage but I got it done.
I found a reply to someone that was experiencing the same kind of problem - book cover did not show. The reply suggested a 'quick and dirty' solution; convert the existing ePub book to an ePub book. I would never have thought to do that but all it took was the courage to try. The worst that could happen is it would destroy everything that I have done so far. Maybe later today I'll see what it looks like in Aldiko on the Kindle Fire.
I got most of bicycle trip #3 added yesterday as well. Only 6 more days to add and then on to #4 which should not be any more difficult. It is #5 & #6 that are the very long tours that are are going to take the most time. Each one of those is longer that the first four tours combined.
Went into town this morning and had my Tamale and Eggs breakfast at the Trail Rider. Then just a block away was my dental office where I got a cleaning. When I left there I dove a couple of blocks to the barber shop and got a haircut. I expected to wait and would have had only one person ahead of me but another fellow pulled in at the same time as I did and got inside before me. Hair cut done the groceries were picked up at Safeway and back to the Park by 10:00.
9 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: August 9, 1931
I finished bike trip #3 yesterday and then used up a lot of data trying to get it to show with a cover in Aldiko on Kindle Fire. In Aldiko in Get Books I have every edition of ePub that I have downloaded and can not find a way to remove them. I thought I had tried them all and kept getting a book with the old cover and none of them had current text.
I uninstalled Aldiko and reinstalled and all those downloads were still there. So I did another ePub conversion to ePub and downloaded again. What do you know I now had the most current edition of my ePub book in the Aldiko library with the correct book cover. I don't understand but I guess all those prior editions are doing no harm, at least for now, so I'll forget about them until they cause a problem.
There was solid cloud cover when we went out for our morning walk. At the turn around we started getting sprinkles or light rain with every possibility that we were going to get wet. That only lasted for about five minutes and we were only a little damp by the time we got back to Desperado.
I need to dump holding tanks and take on water after breakfast. I sure hope that it is not raining while I'm out there. Rain is forecast during the next four days and then there is only one other day in the next 10 days that the experts think it will rain. Maybe we are at the tail end of the monsoons this far north?
Caitlin is one of the very few anti-war writers that I have found. Where are all those anti-war protesters that were against the Vietnam War or against W's Middle East War? What happened to Cindy Sheehan the media darling when she was protesting W's wars? I have quoted Caitlin's closing to the latest anti-war posting - suggested reading.
There is no legitimate reason for any thinking person to go on believing that this president is any less of a warmonger than Obama. If we’re lucky he’ll leave office with a lower body count than George W Bush. The narrative that things have changed serves no one but the powerful, and it guarantees that those who believe it will cease fighting for real change. It would be great if Americans could put someone in charge of their military who actually opposes war. To believe that that has already happened is reckless and delusional. - The Persistent Myth That Trump Opposes War, Caitlin Johnstone
10 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
I was able to get bike trip #4 added to my ePub book yesterday. I added #2 and #3 by cutting the HTML for my web page and pasting it directly in Calibre Edit then making changes there as required to pass 'Run Check'. For #4 I copied the HTML into a Text Editor where I tried to make it comply with the requirements of XHTML which is what Calibre is using. Then pasted that into Calibre Edit.
It was faster and easier using the Text Editor plus I can do it offline and save some data. I still did the 'Run Check' in Calibre until I got a clean report then saved and did the conversion of ePub to ePub - 'Bob's your uncle'. Maybe #5 and #6 will not be a daunting as expected now that I have gained some experience.
I was also able to remove those downloads in Kindle Fire that were bugging me. The Fire came with a USB cable that works well for charging but my Chromebook and Toshiba would not recognize the Fire when plugged in using that cable. I tried using the cable that I have for the Paperwhite and made the connection. I could then see the Fire files in my PC directory and it was simple as simple can be to delete them. I have my sights set on those pesky Amazon pre-installed apps, they must go as well.
There are no showers here at this Park so I have been showering in Desperado much more than usual. The perforated shower head has had less and less of the perforations emitting water. I asked the Park Hosts if they knew anything about plumbing and described my problem and they suggester soaking it in vinegar. I did that and now all the perforation are open, except one, and sending out streams of water. I think it works better now than it ever did when I bought Desperado.
I am so surprised. Who would have thought he would do such a thing.
NEW YORK (AP) — Financier Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges in New York, a former law enforcement official said Saturday.
He was found dead in his cell at the Manhattan Correctional Center Saturday morning, according to the officials, who was briefed on the matter but spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss it publicly. The medical examiner's office in Manhattan confirmed Epstein's death.
11 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
I didn't uninstall those Amazon preinstalled apps but was able to the next best thing. I have them all in one nice neat VERY small thumbnail folder. They are now out of the way and don't irritate me. The only reason, for me, to uninstall them now would be to open up storage space which I don't think I will ever need to do.
From Help & Customer Service: Amazon Device Support |Support for Fire Tablets Released in 2014 or Later | Fire Tablet Basics. I have added the bold emphasis.
Navigate Your Fire Tablet
Organize your apps - Press and drag an app to move it around the screen and reorganize your apps. Press and drag an app over another app to create a folder. Tap a folder to open it. To remove an app from a folder, press and hold the app and drag it outside of the folder.Note: Most preinstalled apps cannot be uninstalled. If you’d prefer to not show these apps on your Home screen, create a folder for the apps you want to hide.
I have to agree with the customer review. I didn't think Verne wrote as well in this book but his geography, history, botany and zoology was top notch for the mid 1800s. Well worth reading.
As ever, it is quite an adventure to read a Jules Verne’s book. It always amazes me how much he knew about geography, zoology, history and botany, considering the time he wrote his books. I really liked the characters, which seems to be what I enjoy most about his books. And although I feel this book could have been a little bit shorter, I really enjoy it. - Customer review @ goodreads.com
We didn't get damp this morning and we didn't get wet - we got soaked. I was going to walk to McD's for a latte but it looked like it was raining hard in the west. When we got a few sprinkles it was time to turn around but by the time we got back to the Park entrance it had stopped. Mother Nature has a harsh sense of humor. I decided to go another half mile east and when I got there she unleashed a spate. Soon after we gained shelter she cancelled the downpour.
I have quoted Paul Craig Roberts closing to The Survival of the Fittest. Is the United States to follow South Africa and exterminate all whites? For years I joked that I wished to live long enough to become a burden on society and when that happens society would kill me. It looks like I may not have been joking.
Clearly in the Western media and US Democratic Party it is open season on all white people. The most intense hatred is expressed against them—even calls for their extermination—and it doesn’t qualify as hate speech or encouraging violence.
The hatred and demonization of white people in America is no different from the propaganda against Jews in the Third Reich. Yet not a single member of the Democratic Party or American print, TV, and NPR radio protests.
That fact tells us all we need to know. If white people don’t get organized and defend themselves there is likely to be a white holocaust.
12 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
I didn't add anything to my ePub book yesterday. What I did was build a total trip map for one of the two tours that I did while in Bulgaria. I never made tour maps for the web pages and not sure that I will add them to the web but do want to include maps in the ebook.
No rain this morning, a clear sky without a cloud in sight. There will be some build up by this afternoon which is forecast to be Partly Cloudy. The remainder of the 10 day forecast has two days of Partly Cloudy and 7 days of Mostly Sunny. Perhaps Mother Nature got her last licks in on me yesterday?
I'll probably be doing some more ePub additions today. Maybe draw a map or two for one of the two Bulgarian tours. Read some more on my Paperwhite. Cooking salmon fillet in the Roaster. Take is easy, sort of like I do most every day.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons has some ‘splainin’ to do, and they didn’t bother doing much of that on Sunday after the news came out. They failed entirely at every critical point of responsibility for keeping the DOJ’s number one criminal suspect alive: took him off suicide watch a week after he tried to off himself (if that‘s what it was); failed to keep him on observation; failed to provide a cell-mate who might have alerted the guards; and failed to deploy viable video cameras to record the doings in his cell.I think there is one other thing about the Epstein 'suicide' that has not beome a meme - yet. The killing of Epstein sends a message to Trump. If Epstein can be killed while in probably the most secure place in the United States then the message is "you are next'.
That’s a pretty sensational fail. You really can’t blame the public for feeling a little paranoid about the rot at the center of government. The death of Mr. Epstein may be a turning point in the public’s willingness to accept any more official bullshit. - He Did What… ! ? !, James Howard Kunstler
Who killed Jeffrey Epstein will be foisted off as some form of karmic justice, but it smells too bad this time. And the fallout from all of these events points to one thing and one thing only, in the grand scheme of things.
Chaos.
And markets hate chaos.
Chaos is messy. Killing Epstein this brazenly is a sign of desperation. The markets will wake up tomorrow not safe in the knowledge that the political elite are protected from what this man knew but scared at the implications for long-term political and societal collapse.- Big Signals from Gold and Silver, Tom Luongo
13 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
A quick shopping trip in town today. There was breakfast at Booga Red's where I got their Special. Then on to Safeway where I had a short list to gather. Back in my space at the Park by 8:00. There were people in the Park that never knew I had left. Ha
I added a couple more weeks of trip #5 to my ePub and got the salmon cooked but didn't draw any Bulgarian maps. Maybe today. However, I was on the waitlist at archives.org for a DRM protected ePub book that became available yesterday. I downloaded it to Kindle Fire and opened in Aldiko and have been reading that book as well as the one I have on Paperwhite.
The formatting and text size of the ePub book were not to my liking but I found how to change them. I also found that the Fire also has the same features as the Paperwhite for sleep. If you close the cover it goes into sleep mode, open the cover and it wakes up.
I also spent more time than necessary getting some of my frequently used websites Bookmarked on Fire in Fennec (the name used for Firefox on Android). Sometimes the Kindle Fire will rotate from portrait to landscape when you don't want it to. Fortunately you can lock the screen in place and disable the screen rotation, which I did this morning. Still learning how to use the Fire with Fennec.
Mr Durden is certainly correct when he said that 'We are no experts' but he then goes on to describe partial hanging which is an effective sucide method. However, if Epstein had been discovered within 30 minutes he probably would not have died. An incapacitated person could also be set up to look like a partial hanging sucide so I'm not convinced that someone didn't 'do him'.
According to an anonymous law enforcement official source, The New York Post reports that six foot tall Jeffrey Epstein was found hanging in his Lower Manhattan jail cell with a bed sheet wrapped around his neck and secured to the top of a bunk bed.
The convicted pedophile apparently killed himself by kneeling toward the floor and strangling himself with the makeshift noose, a law enforcement source said Monday.
We are no experts but a six foot tall man, kneeling with a makeshift noose made from bed sheets tied to the rail of the top bunk, would take some serious discipline to fight any survival reflex and actually 'allow' yourself to asphyxiate?
A little more difficult than an orange in your mouth and a plastic bag over your head we are sure. - Epstein Hanged Himself With Sheets Tied To Bunk Bed, The Post Reports, Tyler Durden
14 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
I got all the place to place maps drawn for the first Bulgarian tour yesterday. That is about all I got done other than a lot of reading on Paperwhite and Kindle Fire. I also wasted a lot of time trying to find a way to zoom a webpage on the Kindle Fire. This morning I did manage to add a Note Pad app that should prove useful.
Another good posting by Fred Reed U.S. Supreme Over Asia in Mathematics! that had his tongue firmly in his cheek. The names of the U.S. team are Vincent Huang, Luke Robitaille, Colin Tang, Edward Wan, Brandon Wang, and Daniel Zhu. Sounds like the roll call of 'white supremists' does it not? A recommended read!
America again wins the annual International Math Olympiad! The contest pits the brightest high-school students of countries against each other in six-member teams. The American victories continue the mastery by the European cultures that invented most of modern math. This supports the claim (I hope I do not sound racist) that European superiority is genetic. In any event, the outcome is crucial because these young prodigies will shape the future of their peoples for many decades
This may have been the canary dying in the coal mine.
We are watching a complete and utter financial meltdown unfold in Argentina, and many are concerned that the panic could start spreading elsewhere. When you go into way too much debt and you just keep devaluing your currency, this sort of thing is inevitably going to happen, and this is why I am endlessly criticizing the path that the United States is currently on. If we do not reverse course, we will end up just like them. On Monday, we witnessed the second largest one day stock market decline that we have seen anywhere in the world since 1950. It is hard to believe, but the most important stock market index in Argentina actually plummeted 48 percent in a single trading session…Argentina is considered to be an “emerging market” and many fear that this sell-off in Argentina could spark a wider emerging market crisis. Source
15 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
Added a couple more weeks of the tour that I'm working on in my ePub book. That and lots of reading was all I did yesterday. I suspect that today will be a repeat.
Kindle Fire had a page full of recommendations from Pocket. The app allows the user to save an article or web page to remote servers for later reading. Which would be good but it also fills the screen with articles that I have no interest in. Finally found a way to hide it!
This is the very best of Doyle's Spiritualist books. The customer review does a very good job. If you want to read what Doyle has to say about Spiritualism then read this book and skip his other ones.
Such an enjoyable book. This isn't so much about spiritualism but more about being a travel book. He rattles along with his wanderings and talks about the sea, the mountains, the land, the rivers, the flora and fauna. From England he sails on The Naldera to Gibraltar, and further along the coast of Spain, to Marseilles in France, onto Egypt, down The Suez Canal and then across the Indian Ocean to Australia to address the people there in packed lecture halls.
Amongst some psychic narrations he talks more of War, Philosophy, Theology, Cricket, Rugby, Wine, Australian Football, Prohibition, Sheep Shearing, R L Stevenson, The Maori, Astronomy, Buddha, Sea Snakes and so much more. He doesn't give accounts of his Spiritualist talks as such, he gives instead the statements of the press, both good and bad. - Customer review @ goodreads.com
The Epstein autopsy found that he had multiple broken bones in his neck which is not consistent with someone doing a partial hanging from a bunk bed - someone 'did him'. However, in my opinion the 'doer' will never be found.
“Among the bones broken in Epstein’s neck was the hyoid bone, which in men is near the Adam’s apple. Such breaks can occur in those who hang themselves, particularly if they are older, according to forensics experts and studies on the subject. But they are more common in victims of homicide by strangulation, the experts said.”
16 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: August 16, 1931
Finished adding bike trip #5 to the ePub book. That was the Cross Country Tour, next is the biggest one of them all #6. But I also have to draw all the maps for the second tour in Bulgaria which will be about three times as much work as the first one. There is a lot of work to be done yet.
I think I will just do more reading today. No work on the ePub. Do a little cooking and enjoy a rest day.
Yesterday I also committed a lot of time and data usage to finding a Note app that would work on the Kindle Fire the way I work. Tried three of the offerings from the Amazon App Store and was dissatisfied with all three of them.
Some years ago Amazon offered Google Docs at their store but no longer. They have also gone out of their way to make it very difficult to add anything from Google Play Store to Kindle Fire. I have done it and am very pleased. I can now copy text in Fire and paste it into a document that is in My Drive at Google Drive (the Cloud). With it there in the Cloud I can access any document using my Chromebook or Toshiba - good stuff.
That was how I was able to copy this quote from Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire by Michael Hudson that I have on Fire and now reading off and on.
Today the Dollar Bloc and its economic system are dissolving, not by Russian or Chinese initiative but as a result of America’s military and financial burdens that it undertook with no real comprehension of their critical scale of costs. When the United States set out to uniquely dominate the postwar world economy, it did not wish Russia or any other nation to be a second power of near-equal magnitude economic freedom by foreign countries, and impairment of their freedom to reach independent decisions. Withdrawal from the system eventually became impossible. The economic goal of the United States to isolate Russia from the world was attained, but having been attained, it proved valueless.
How Hudson's book ended up on Fire is also worth mentioning. I downloaded the book in PDF format which I could read on either the Chromebook or Toshiba laptops but don't like to do my reading on either. So in Calibre I converted the PDF to MOBI and started reading with Paperwhite. It was readable but the formatting had a lot to be desired. I then got the Fire and decided to convert from PDF to ePub using Calibre and found that the formatting, although not perfect, is much better.
17 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
I have been using a lot of data with all the things I have been doing with Kindle Fire plus the ePub work. I need to go on a data diet for a few days. I thought I had cut back yesterday but still used far more data than I thought I was using. But then again what Verizon is showing me is an 'estimate' per their website.
The Land Leviathan is the first DRM protected ePub book that I have read on my Kindle Fire. It is also the second in the Bastable series by Michael Moorcock. I will be reading the third one in the series which is also one of the nine novels that define steampunk. Maybe read more of his work after that?
Desperate to find his true home he returns to the temple and immerges in another version of 1906. In this world the (very steampunk) inventions of the brilliant Manuel O’Bean powered a hideous war that devastated Europe, the Americas, and much of the world. Bastable eventually becomes the envoy of South African President Mahatma Gandhi to the New Ashanti Empire of Cicero Hood. A former American slave, Hood invades what remains of the United States and liberates its dark-skinned people. After discovering that most of the whites in America are just as wicked as Hood claims, Bastable joins his cause even though, as a white man, he will never be accepted in Ashanti society. In one novel, Moorcock invented both post apocalyptic, and multicultural steampunk. - Review @ The Nine Novels That Defined Steampunk, Johnathan Greyshade
I would like to believe that Caitlin is right but I'm more pesimistic than she. In my opinion the majority of the people in this country don't want to think.
All these damning insider criticisms of the mainstream American press are coming out at the same time a new Rasmussen poll finds that less than one third of the US population believes the story they’re being told by the corporate media about the highly suspicious death of accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Despite the mass media’s mad push to tar anyone questioning the official narrative about Epstein as a loony “conspiracy theorist”, only 29 percent of those surveyed reported that they believed Epstein had committed suicide as they’ve been told, while 42 percent believe he was murdered. Never in my life have I seen such a widespread and instantaneous rejection of an establishment-promulgated narrative in the United States...Power is the ability to control what happens. Absolute power is the ability to control what people think about what happens. Our rulers are rapidly losing this absolute power. - Mass Media’s Phony Freakout Over Bernie’s WaPo Criticism Is Backfiring, Caitlin Johnstone
18 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
I keep finding apps that let me do things easier than the way I have been doing them. I added the Google Docs app to Kindle Fire and can now copy text on the Fire, paste it into a Doc and save to My Drive. I can then open it using a Google Docs app on my Chromebook. I could do that before but it was more difficult. I haven't done it yet but I think I can do the same thing in Ubuntu on the Toshiba.
This quote was obtained from a book that I am reading on Fire and transferred to the Chromebook as described. Slick! However, I used a lot of data.
Most Americans still believe that their nation’s foreign aid programs supply poorer countries with needed resources as outright gifts or on easy credit terms at very low prices. Even those who are aware of the link between food aid and U.S. farm surpluses do not widely recognize the ways in which the United States has used food aid as a lever to dissuade foreign governments from achieving self-sufficiency in food to feed their populations. Yet what started out as a system of benevolent grants and loans to underdeveloped economies, at a real but moderate cost to the ample resources of America, has evolved into a strategy of international client patronage and dependency based on U.S. political and military control over aid recipients. Not only the incidental effect of U.S. aid but its stated purpose has been to restrict rather than enlarge the capacity for evolution of aid-dependent countries toward greater self-reliance. Since the 1960s a major aim of foreign aid has been to help the U.S. balance of payments, not that of aid-recipients. - Super Imperialism The Economic Strategy of American Empire, Michael Hudson
I'll be going to Show Low later this morning. Need to get Patches some more food at Tractor Supply. I checked their website last night and it claimed that there was Earthborn Meadow Feast available at the Show Low store - I'll find out. From there I'll go to the range and join the Defensive Pistol League for their monthly shoot.
I'll look for a new pair of Carhartt pants while at Tractor Supply. I know that I can order them at Amazon but the P.O. has cut me off using General Delivery. I used it for two months but the last time I picked up packages the clerk said I could only receive General Delivery for one month. The Park Host was with me and told her to add me to his P. O. box. That works for USPS shipments but many vendors do not ship to P.O. boxes and Amazon uses a lot of vendors or UPS. Getting online purchases while away from my UPS Store is a problem.
19 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
My shooting yesterday was just what I usually do. If I slow down and really concentrate on what I should do then I shoot fairly well. But, I get in too much of a rush and don't think about what I am doing and shoot poorly.
Having said that, I found that I might be shooting better than I give myself credit. One of the two 'leaders' of the group usually shoots a .45 semi-auto but yesterday he was shooting a snubbie almost identical to mine. He was also not shooting any better with it than I and he is a very good shot with the semi-auto.
Shopping day with breakfast at Booga Red's where I had their Chorizo and Eggs. Moved on from there to Safway where I got my usual grocery items. Next stop was the Post Office where I got a padded envelope to mail my right ear hearing aid to VA in Sierra Vista. I hope they can do something with it. It seems to give me problems about every 4-6 months and never works as well as the left ear.
I was able to get Patches her food at Tractor Supply yesterday but had no luck finding the Carhartt pants that I wanted. They had three Carhartt styles whereas there must have been 20 Wrangler and maybe three of their store brand. I wanted the Carhartt that I'm replacing so didn't consider any of the other offerings.
Last stop was at Ace Hardware to see if they could help me with package deliveries. They will accept UPS packages for $5/package which would be worth the price IF there was some way to assure that the package would be shipped UPS when an order is placed with Amazon. There is no way that I know off to get that assurance.
Executive summary:
America no longer enjoys military primacy in the Indo-Pacific and its capacity to uphold a favourable balance of power is increasingly uncertain.
Over the next decade, the US defence budget is unlikely to meet the needs of the National Defense Strategy owing to a combination of political, fiscal and internal pressures.
America has an atrophying force that is not sufficiently ready, equipped or postured for great power competition in the Indo-Pacific — a challenge it is working hard to address.
A strategy of collective defence is fast becoming necessary as a way of offsetting shortfalls in America’s regional military power and holding the line against rising Chinese strength.
- Averting Crisis: American Strategy, Military Spending And Collective Defence In The Indo-pacific
20 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
I don't have much planned for today. There are holding tanks that need dumping and a water tank that need filling. I'll do those things soon after breakfast. The rest of the day will probably be spent on the couch with Patches. She will be sleeping and I'll be reading. I now have three books started on the two eReader devices that I now own, I should finish at least one of them.
We’re on the verge of a lot of things coming apart: supply lines, revenue streams, international agreements, political assumptions, promises to do this and that. We have no idea how to keep it together on the downside. We don’t even want to think about it. The best we can do for the moment is to pretend that the downside doesn’t exist. And meanwhile, fight both for social justice and to make America great again, two seemingly noble ideas, both exercises in futility. The wheel is still turning and the change of season soon upon us. What will you do? - There Is No Normal, James Howard Kunstler
It is a fool's plan to teach a man to be a cur in peace, and think that he will be a lion in war. Fleece them like sheep and sheep they will remain. - The White Company, Arthur Conan Doyle
21 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
Yesterday was the first time in a long time that I did any pixel art drawing. That project has been sitting on a back shelf while I have been busy doing other projects. Since I want to cut back on data usage it is a good time to go back to drawing because I can do it offline. Probably do some more today.
I'll also be trying to finish at least one of those three books that I am reading. All three of them are long books that I started just because they were in different ebook formats that I wanted to try on my Kindle Fire. I now know that MOBI formats should go on only the Paperwhite, ePub formats, DRM protected or unprotected, only on the Fire.
Real statistical analysis, as contrasted with the official propaganda, shows that the happy picture of a booming economy is an illusion created by statistical deception. Inflation is under measured, so when nominal GDP is deflated, the result is to count higher prices as an increase in real output, that is, inflation becomes real economic growth. Unemployment is not counted. If you have not searched for a job in the past 4 weeks, you are officially not a part of the work force and your unemployment is not counted. The way the government counts unemployment is so extraordinary that I am surprised the US does not have a zero rate of unemployment...The conclusion is that the United States is locked on a path that leads directly to the Third World of 60 years ago. President Trump is helpless to do anything about it. - What Globalism Did Was To Transfer The US Economy To China, Paul Craig Roberts
22 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
I wasted a lot of data yesterday trying to get an ePub version of Trade, Development and Foreign Debt by Michael Hudson downloaded to Kindle Fire. I could only find it as a PDF file which I did download into Calibre where I converted it to ePub. That took 36 minutes and while it was struggling to convert I went to an online site that tried to convert it and failed. The Calibre conversion was then downloaded to Fire and it sure looks like it is a PDF document. I guess I'll read the PDF format on my laptops.
That is all I have planned for today - more reading of the two other books that I have started before beginning 'Trade'. Reading it on laptops will take more time so I'll have other books on the Paperwhite and Fire as well.
Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire first published in 1972 with a second edition in 2003. It was the first book to describe the global free ride for the United States after it went off the gold standard in 1971, putting the world onto a paper Treasury-bill standard. Obliging foreign central banks to keep their monetary reserves in Treasury bonds forced them to finance military spending abroad, which was responsible for the balance-of-payments deficit at that time. - Edited Wikipedia for Michael Hudson.
I think I originally downloaded this a MOBI file from archive.org and started to read it on Paperwhite. The format was readable but not enjoyable. I then tried it in an ePub format on Kindle Fire which was better. However, I think the original ebook was created with an optical scanner which does a terrible job if the book has footnotes. This book has a lot of them! That has not put me off reading more of Mr. Hudson although I couldn't find a free copy of his sequel to this one that was published in 1973.
Until Europe and Asia are able to replace the Dollar Standard with a currency system of their own, and until they are willing to run the risk of a trade and investment war as an intermediate step toward achieving their own self-sufficiency, the U.S. economy will have little reason to feel that it needs to live within its means. What prevents steps from being taken to create a more fair and equitable international economy than is provided by the U.S. Treasury-bill Standard is the fact that its inherently exploitative character is not more generally recognized. - Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire
23 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: August 23, 1931
There is nothing planned for today, sort of like the past few days. I have only one book remaining of the three that I had started to read somewhat simultaneously. When I finish that one I have three more awaiting in Paperwhite and Kindle Fire plus one in PDF format on my Toshiba. Maybe find time to do some more pixel art drawing although have not done any for the past couple of days.
This is the last book by Doyle that is available at Gutenberg. It has a weak ending but is a good rousing adventure. There are a lot of English words from the period of the story which makes it a bit difficult reading but gives the story 'flavor'. Recommended!
The White Company is a historical adventure by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle, set during the Hundred Years' War. The story is set in England, France, and Spain, in the years 1366 and 1367, against the background of the campaign of Edward, the Black Prince to restore Peter of Castile to the throne of the Kingdom of Castile. The climax of the book occurs before the Battle of Nájera. Doyle became inspired to write the novel after attending a lecture on the Middle Ages in 1889. After extensive research, The White Company was published in serialized form in 1891 in Cornhill Magazine. Additionally, the book is considered a companion to Doyle's later work Sir Nigel, which explores the early campaigns of Sir Nigel Loring and Samkin Aylward.
The novel is relatively unknown today, though it was very popular up through the Second World War. In fact, Doyle himself regarded this and his other historical novels more highly than the Sherlock Holmes adventures for which he is mainly remembered.
The "White Company" of the title is a free company of archers, led by one of the main characters. The name is taken from a real-life 14th-century Italian mercenary company, led by John Hawkwood.
24 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
I'm starting to get this idea that President Trump knows the United States is not going to Be Great Again while he is president. He may go through the motions to be re-elected but I believe his heart is no longer in it. He gave it his best shot and The Establishment was just too much for him to overcome without some help.
I wish I could be optimistic but think this country is going to be faced with some hard times for many years to come.
Perhaps things would look better if I quit reading ALL the News. I have given up on the MainStream Media but the alt-news sites only write counter opinions, not much in the way of solutions.
Surely the Russian government understands that there are only two reasons for Washington to put missiles on Russia’s border: (1) to enable Washington to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike that leaves Russia no response time, or (2) to enable Washington to threaten such a strike, thus coercing Russia to Washington’s will. Clearly, one or the other of these reasons is of sufficient importance to Washington for Washington to risk a false alarm setting off a nuclear war. - The Irresponsibility of Small Nations, Paul Craig Roberts
25 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
Today was laundry and shopping day. But first I went to Booga Red's for breakfast and to settle a Credit Card charge from my last visit. I had a receipt that showed what should have been charged but my statement had a higher amount. I told the waitress what the problem was and within minutes she brought me the difference in cash.
This is in complete contrast to my Chat experience with Verizon. When I checked my data usage at noon yesterday it was up by almost 2GB from what in had shown early in the morning. I knew that I had used about 100MB during the morning so I got on Chat with Verizon. The 'representative' that finally showed up claimed that she could not see that I had any usage for 24 August and was no help at all.
She said she would transfer me to a tech and when he finally sign on he asked the same question that I had already answered and he claimed to have been reading the prior Chat. Soon after that I lost contact and have heard nothing from Verizon since then.
After breakfast I went to the laundromat and got that chore taken care of. A quick stop at Safeway and back to my space in the Park. There I was so happy to see that my overnight neighbor across the street was gone. They were in a big 5th wheel that I have labeled the Starship of the 5th wheels. It has two rows of LED lights on the front bow that the good folks are so proud of that they kept them on ALL night. I could sit in the cab of Desperado and read by their spaceship laser beams.
26 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
I will be doing more of the same today. Cooking some more beans for salads in the coming days. Maybe cook up a pot of lentils either today or tomorrow. Mostly reading the second Roberts book that is much more anti-imigration focused. Also have another Hudson book in PDF format on my Toshiba that needs to be read.
While a reporter for the Saturday Evening Post in the early 1920s, Roberts wrote many magazine articles and a book during the period immediately following World War I that urged strong legal restrictions on immigration from eastern and southern Europe and from Mexico, warning of the dangers of immigration from places other than northwestern Europe. He became a leading voice for stricter immigration laws and testified before a congressional committee on the subject. - Wikipedia
Europe's Morning After was a collection of articles written for the Post that describes his travels through Europe after WWI. This was one of two books that formed the basis for his strong anti-imigration position. This book is not anti-imigration but he does poke fun at many of the European's which in the United States of today would be considered 'racist' although the people he is poking are now labeled as 'white supremist'. A good travelog if nothing else.
However, the only place that I could find a FREE book was at archive.org and it is an OCR scan which is very poor. Readable but poor.
Why is the President who wants to restore American jobs and reduce the threat of nuclear war so vehemently opposed by the American presstitute media, the liberal/progressive/left, the Democratic Party, and millions of otherwise doomed Americans? The only reason such an absurd attack on Trump could take place is that the military/security complex was behind it. Otherwise, a president with all the powers that have been accumulated in the presidency over the past quarter century could have arrested his opponents and held them in indefinite detention. Even President Lincoln could do this to 300 Northern newspaper editors during the War of Northern Aggression. Lincoln even exiled a US Congressman who was critical of Lincoln’s invasion of the Confederacy. - Can the American Economy Be Resurrected?, Paul Craig Roberts
James Howard Kunstler has been a long time Peak Oil defender. His most recent posting is just one of many but I think he is getting much closer to being right.
The US produces just over 12 million barrels of oil a day. About 6.5 million of our production is shale oil. We use nearly 20 million a day. (We’re not “energy independent.”) The shale oil industry is wobbling under the onerous debt load that it has racked up since 2005. About 90 percent of the companies involved in shale oil lose money. The capital costs for drilling, hauling a gazillion truckloads of water and fracking sand to the rig pads, and sucking the oil out, exceed the profit from doing all that. It’s simply all we can do to keep the game going in our corner of the planet, but it’s not a good business model. After you’ve proved conclusively that you can’t make a buck at this using borrowed money, the lenders will quit lending you more money. That’s about where we are now. - The G-7 Blues
27 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
Not much happening. The lentil pottage is on the stove but that will be about all that gets done today. I'll get started on my month end chores tomorrow. Making slow progress on reading all the books that I have going.
Added the Google Docs app to my Toshiba yesterday so now I can copy text on Chromebook, Toshiba and Kindle Fire and post it to a .Doc that can be accessed from any one of the three devices. Copying text from the Paperwhite is also possible, and I have been doing it but not using Doc .
This was written by Hume in the mid 18th Century but is sure seems to describe what has happened in the past 25 years with United States companies moving their production to China.
Manufacturers, therefore usually shift their places, leaving those countries and provinces which they have already enriched, and flying to others, whither they are allured by the cheapness of provisions and labour; till they have enriched these also, and are again banished by the same causes. And, in general, we may observe, that the dearness of everything, from plenty of money, is a disadvantage, which attends an established commerce, and sets bounds to it in every country, by enabling the poorer states to undersell the richer in all foreign markets. - David Hume: Writings on Economics edited by Eugene Rotwein in Trade, Development and Foreign Debt, Michael Hudson
28 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
House cleaning is the number one item on my list for today. This will be done in between periods of rest and reading. I'll get it done but will not make it more work than I can avoid.
Two good articles, which is the better will depend on your beliefs. You might want to go back to read "Is White Genocide Possible?" by Paul Craig Roberts to get up to speed on this war of words. I have added the bold emphasis.
I find it offensive, dangerous and ludicrous for Paul Craig Roberts (PCR) to portray white people in the USA as an endangered species. His article "Is White Genocide Possible? ", and similar such articles, feed the paranoia of white supremacists, white nationalists and fascists. The former, white genocide, is fantasy; the latter is a real and present danger to the US. - Reply to Paul Craig Roberts' Question: "Is White Genocide Possible?" by David William Pear
In a recent article I gave some examples of violent language expressed against white people. A professor in Massachusetts said: “If you are a white male, you don’t deserve to live. You are a cancer, you’re a disease, white males have never contributed anything positive to the world! They only murder, exploit and oppress non-whites!” According to reports, the professor received a standing ovation from his class.
A professor at the University of California said: “The President is a white nationalist terror leader. His supporters—ALL OF THEM—are by definition white nationalist terror supporters. The MAGA hat is a KKK hood. And this evil, racist scourge must be eradicated from society.” He posted this on Twitter and was not banned. - In America Emotion Rules Reason by Paul Craig Roberts
29 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
We got a classic thunderstorm yesterday. The sky was almost clear all morning and then within an hour the clouds had built up. The lightning started flashing, thunder roller, wind blew and rain plus hail came for about two hours. The local reporting station claims that there was 0.47" of rain.
During that couple of hours there were 7 RVs come into the Park. I think most of them will be gone by noon today. There are two of them gone by 8:00. I expect more to arrive later today and tomorrow that will stay for the Labor Day Weekend. Starting next week, the Park should begin to empty out and there will be 4-5 of us remaining by the end of September.
I'll finish the house cleaning today and do the Will Rogers weekly article copying and formatting tomorrow. Maybe finish the Rogers book that I'm reading on the Kindle Fire. That is all that I have on the agenda for today.
30 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: August 30, 1931
Verizon appears to be charging me with data usage that I don't use. They did it again yesterday during the early evening. I did download a book from archive.org and then uploaded it to Kindle Fire but the book file is 32MB is size. Verizon claims that I used almost 800MB.
After the last Chat experience I will not go through it again. I have cut back on my usage but it may require me not turning the MIFI on at all for the next few days OR see what happens when I reach 15GB. I am now supposedly on an 'unlimited plan' but keep receiving notices that when I reach 15GB that my connection speed will be 'throttled down'. That does not equal unlimited in my way of thinking, but I guess I am going to find out.
Although this book is ostensibly about emigration Mr. Roberts devotes two chapters or a little more than a quarter of the book to the drinking habits of the British and the Scots. He then goes on and on about the Prohibition efforts in those two countries. I suspect that is what earned him the scathing review that I have quoted.
If the reader can bear up long enough under the multiple reduplication of ideas in this book, and the flippant, slangy journalese in which it is written, he will learn a great many new and arresting facts about emigration, immigration, European polities and prohibition in England as seen by an American journalist. Although Mr. Roberts's attitude is often intolerant and the interpretation of his facts warped by mis- understanding, he has given us a quantity of original material for serious thought and immediate attention. It is a pity that he has so nearly destroyed the impressive effect of his evidence by the cheapness of his presentation. - Review by T. Fisher in The Spectator, a British magazine, 30 December 1922.
31 August
Springerville RV
Springerville, AZ
I have been trying, for months, to remove the LibreOffice icons from the 'See Apps' button in Ubuntu's Deck. This is where apps are kept for quick access, somewhat like Bookmarks. I have uninstalled LibreOffice and have deleted every file I can find that has Libre in its file name and the icons remain. Yesterday I found a way, I haven't removed them but I was able to hide the 'See Apps' button so they no longer irritate me.
I was also going to dump holding tank today when I got back from town or with any luck put that off until tomorrow. No such luck, I saw that the gray water tank was full and starting to back up into the shower. That is a sure sign that the tank is full. So the holding tanks were dumped late yesterday afternoon and the fresh water tank was filled.
Got the Will Rogers weekly articles prepared for another month. That used more data than I thought it should. I also found that ALL the Chrome Extensions that I had installed had been corrupted so had to fix those this morning - more data used that should not have been necessary.
The trip to town began with breakfast at the Trail Rider where I got the Relleno and Eggs plate with 'red'. New Mexico is where you are always asked 'red or green' for what sauce you want. Springerville is close enough to New Mexico that the tradition has crossed the border. The restaurants also have adopted the habit from Texas and New Mexico of always serving a cup of coffee with a spoon in it. A quick stop at Safeway for groceries and back to the Park by 8:00.