Peregrinating
2018

September

1 September
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

I had very productive day yesterday. Finished the house cleaning chores and got another month's worth of Will Rogers weekly articles copied and formatted. Even got some more Archive pages converted and some more of the book on Paperwhite read.

I hope to do as well today. Soon after we finished our morning walk I got dirty clothes in the washing machine and while it was doing its thing I prepared my breakfast. Then while the clothes were being dried I ate breakfast and read daily blogs and News. An example of my ability to prioritize and efficiently manage multiple assignments - multitasking is such a cliché . HA

We managed to stay dry during our walk but it looked threatening and the roads were wet from an earlier rain. Then when I went to the laundry it was sprinkling. Took my umbrella when I went to put the clothes in the dryer because that sprinkle had turned to rain. Back to sprinkle again when I went to get the clothes out of the dryer but I took my umbrella just in case. It appears that this is what will happen all day so an afternoon walk is a maybe at this time.

Perhaps the Russian government will understand the meaning of the orchestrated eulogies for John McCain. It is not normal for a US senator to be eulogized in this way, especially one with such an undistinguished record. What is being eulogized is McCain’s hatred of Russia and his record as a warmonger. What Washington is eulogizing is its own commitment to war. - Provocations Have A History Of Escalating Into War Paul Craig Roberts

2 September
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

A lot of cloud cover like yesterday morning but no rain. It did clear up yesterday afternoon with some winds blowing the storm farther north. Warmer this morning with the cloud cover than it has been with the afternoon temperatures being just great.

Went into town again with breakfast at Trailriders where I got their Relleno (with red), scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, flour tortilla and pretty good coffee. I think the first time I had it with green - red is better.

Stopped at a bank and got some cash which I use very little but need some for lattes at McD's if they fix the latte machine. Then a quick gathering of groceries. No unsalted peanuts. A very big offering of salted which should tell the person responsible for ordering that they need to change the order quantities of each.

Waited about 30 minutes for Western Drug and General Store to open at 9:00. Then was able to pick up the ammunition that I ordered almost two weeks ago although it did take them about 10 minutes to find it.

I also drove over to the east side of town to check on another RV Park. It is a new Park that has electric pedestals in place for double the current size. Graveled roads and graveled spaces (which appear level) only on half of the Park. There were less than a dozen RVs in the Park this morning and I doubt that it was ever full during the summer months. Newly planted trees so no shade and won't be any for another few years. From what Google Maps shows there are better walking routes available. Made a reservation for next year.

A Storm of Swords is the third of seven planned novels in A Song of Ice and Fire, a fantasy series by American author George R. R. Martin. It was first published on August 8, 2000, in the United Kingdom, with a United States edition following in November 2000. At the time of its publication, A Storm of Swords was the longest novel in the series. It was so long that in the UK, Australia and Israel its paperback edition was split in half, Part 1 being published as Steel and Snow in June 2001 and Part 2 as Blood and Gold in August 2001. The same division was used in the Polish and Greek editions. In France, the decision was made to cut the novel into four separate volumes. - Edited Wikipedia

3 September
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

Our afternoon walk got delayed about an hour because of rain. When we did get out there it was rather cold with some wind and water on the highway. That meant we got a little road spray except from an 18 wheeler that was on the opposite side of the road that still sprayed us the worse.

Finished the Archive pages for 2013 last night. I now have two years left to do. These are easier, with few pictures and not much other reformatting that needs to be done. I'm starting to see and end to this Project.

I had time to get a couple small salmon fillets in the Roaster. This morning I'm cooking a batch of hulled barley and oat groats for breakfast. Maybe get around to making up some tuna, barley, oats and Ricotta patties to go on the 'linner' menu. If not today then tomorrow.

I have quoted only one of James Howard Kunstler's predictions for what will be required in the national restructuring that is underway in his posting The Uncomfortable Hiatus. It is a good posting, and a suggested read, although I don't think any of his predictions will be acted upon.

This country has enough to do within its own boundaries to prepare for survival without making extra trouble for itself and other people around the world. As a practical matter, this means close as many overseas bases as possible, as soon as possible.

The United States is the most important player in the imperial alliance centralized around it, and therefore its citizenry are necessarily the most propagandized people on earth. You can’t have the populace of such an important nation suddenly demanding that troops be brought home and the resources being spent on bombs be spent eliminating the economic inequality on which your empire depends instead, so you’ve got to get into their minds early and aggressively to manipulate the way they think about war. Everything from flag worship to the fetishization of military personnel to Pentagon-controlled Hollywood movies are used from early childhood to install the assumption that their nation’s bloated military budget is only ever going toward good and never evil, and to prime their minds for the war propaganda they will be fed by the plutocrat-owned news media.

4 September
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

I didn't get the tuna patties made yesterday so should do that today. I certainly do not have much else on my agenda. More work in the Archive page conversion project and read my latest Paperwhite book is all.

The Lame Stream Media is relatively quiet today. Now that the late Senator (and prisoner of war hero) McCain is buried they have nothing to report. There is the Kavanaugh hearing but they haven't brought forth much criticism of President Trump so far except that he nominated him. I expect the spin to change that by the end of the week.

If Kavanaugh's name were withdrawn those opposed to President Trump would do a victory dance. They would then be against the next person that President Trump might nominate. They think they can just keep doing this until they once more have control of the Presidency. The Supreme Court's ability to make law is so very important to the Leftist that it can not have a majority of Conservative judges.

5 September
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

Gov. Ducey has done the smart thing by appointing Jon Kyl to fill the Late Senator (and prisoner of war hero) McCain's senate seat. That is far and away a better selection than Cindy McCain and a much safer political choice for the governor. Maybe even a political advantage for him in his bid for re-election.

Kyrsten Sinema is the Democratic representative for Arizona’s 9th District versus Martha McSally Republican representative for Arizona’s 2nd District (my district) contesting for the open Senate seat in November. Sinema was leading by 4 points in one of the latest polls which I consider a tie. On all the issues that matter to me they are also a virtual tie. However, McSally is a McCain warhawk wanna be and for that reason ONLY I would rather see Sinema as Arizona's second Senator.

Today, America’s actions represent increasingly pronounced symptoms of a declining power, which cannot face reality without going mad. And she is going mad, domestically, as well as internationally, the only force which is capable to keep this increasingly irrational and dangerous power from committing a suicide while taking everyone else with her is a threat of a massive military defeat. Russia has this force to do so, and so far it works. But I do have my own question: do orderlies in the asylum get offended, when overpowering the violent patient and restraining it to the bed, by this patient’s insults and resistance? I don’t think so–one does not get offended by a violent mental patient. Nor, orderlies defend their honor while restraining a patient. There could be no interactions involving honor between orderly and a violent mental patient. America is not treaty-worthy party, hasn’t been since early 1990s, thus there are no interactions involving honor in Russian-American relations on the American side. - Russia As a Cat, Andrei Martyanov

Around the year 2005, a sudden spark will catalyze a Crisis mood. Remnants of the old social order will disintegrate. Political and economic trust will implode. Real hardship will beset the land, with severe distress that could involve questions of class, race, nation and empire. The very survival of the nation will feel at stake. Sometime before the year 2025, America will pass through a great gate in history, commensurate with the American Revolution, Civil War, and twin emergencies of the Great Depression and World War II.” –Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning – 1997

6 September
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

Nothing much to write about today - nothing new about that. The weather continues to be great except for the occasional threatening thunderstorm. We had that yesterday afternoon but managed to do our walk and stay dry.

Another Conan Doyle book that does not involve Sherlock Holmes. A good read.

Does money, great whacks of it, destroy everything and everyone it touches, even those who start with the best intentions ? The story centers around a new-comer to town, the mysterious Raffle Haw, his obvious riches and his desire to use his fortune for the good of the people. The provenance of the money is slowly revealed to the reader (you will have to smile at the science of that one !) as the consequences of Haw's philanthropy develop. Well written, nicely spaced storyline, believable characters, this book has it all. - Customer Review @ Amazon.

I thought the Park would fill up during the Labor Day weekend and then start to empty. It has been just the opposite. I went through the weekend without a neighbor on the west side but now have one that looks like they will be here for as long as I am. The rest of the Park is almost full as well.

7 September
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

I'm not doing much and the Kavanaugh News cycle has just about reached its use by date. If the Democrats think that their antics in the hearing are going to help them win the midterm elections then they certainly know something that I don't.

If the weather forecast can be believed we will be warming up just a little. The morning lows have been a bit cool so a move up into the 50s will be great.

More time on the couch today with my Paperwhite and Patches. That will alternate with more work on Archive pages.

8 September
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

A quick shopping trip this morning with no waiting for businesses to open their doors. Breakfast was at Booga Red's where I had their Huevos con Chorizo which I think is the best thing they have on their menu. Then a fast stop at Safeway now that I know the location of everything that I buy every week.

I was back in my space at the Park with everything hooked up and put away by 8:30. With nothing more to do during the day other than my usual routine. More work on Archive pages and more Paperwhite reading on the couch with Patches. She did not attack her dinner meal yesterday like she normally does and that worried me a little. She went after her breakfast like always so I guess all is well.

The first half of the book is about a world war that Wells thought would occur around the middle of the 20th century. However World War I started just months after he finished writing the book. That set up the second half of the book which is devoted to his continuing theme of a One World Government. He had amazing technical precognition but a very poor understanding of human nature.

This chilling, futuristic novel, written in 1913 and first published the following year, was incredibly prophetic on a major scale. Wells was a genius and visionary, as demonstrated by many of his other works, but this book is clearly one of his best.
He predicts nuclear warfare years before research began and describes the chain reactions involved and the resulting radiation. He describes a weapon of enormous destructive power, used from the air that would wipe out everything for miles, and actually used the term "atomic bombs."
This book may have been at least part of the original inspiration for the development of atomic weapons, as well as presenting many other ideas that would ultimately come to pass. Some ideas may still be coming, including a one-world government referred to as The World Republic, that will attempt to end all wars. - Book promo @ goodreads.com

President Trump is going to rue the day that he claimed that his administration 'created' jobs and Made America Great Again. The monthly job numbers are in the same range as what the last couple of years of Obama were and are the same fake job growth. Woe to him when TSHTF.

The great mystery is how these jobs can possibly have been created when the Bureau of Labor Statistics Household Data (Table A) reports that the civilian labor force declined by 469,000 in August from the level in the previous month (July); that employment declined by 423,000 in August from the previous month; and that 692,000 Americans dropped out of the labor force in August. Year over year (August 2017-August 2018) 1,531,000 Americans have left the labor force. This is inconsistent with a booming economy at full employment.
It is not explained how during August the Household Survey found unemployment to rise by 423,000 and the work force to shrink by 692,000 for a total of 1,115,000 missing working people, but the economy created 200,000 new payroll jobs. - More Jobs Fictions, Paul Craig Roberts

9 September
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

I don't know how many there may be in the Park but I think part of the crowd are elk hunters. The season started on 1 September and my westside neighbors behavior and truck license plate imply elk hunter.

Ordered some more Arbuckles this morning. Over the past year they have changed their online shopping web page - not an improvement. This morning I could not find the Five Pound bag that I always buy. They have changed the menu again and it is not shown on the same page as all their other Ariosa Coffee offerings. I think the day to day operation of the company has been turned over to the son/children of the owner - not an improvement.

A very short short story that was published as a book that I downloaded from Gutenberg. Watson acted alone but not very effectively per Holmes and it required Holmes to solve the mystery.

The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is one of the eight stories in the cycle collected as His Last Bow, and one of the few stories in which for much of the plot Watson must act alone and try his best with Holmes left in the background. - Wikipedia

In 2008 Bush was succeeded by Obama, who’d campaigned against the warmongering of his predecessor and pledged to clean up the messes Bush made in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead he continued and drastically expanded Bush’s neoconservative war agendas, as well as expanding his Orwellian surveillance program while adding unprecedented persecution of whistleblowers into the mix as well. And now Trump, who campaigned against Obama’s interventionist foreign policy and harshly attacked his Syrian interventionism for years, is continuing Obama’s foreign policy and preparing to harshly attack Syria.
There is a pattern here. It isn’t hard to see. It is grinding its pelvis into our faces. The only reason more people don’t see it is because there’s so much narrative spin around US presidents.
If you listen to the mass media about Trump, you either believe that he is a Nazi Kremlin agent who presents a unique and unprecedented threat to America, or a populist hero who is fighting for the common man against the Deep State, depending on your echo chamber of preference. But if you mute the mass media narratives and just look at what’s happening without any partisan filters, what you see is soldiers, planes, bases and wars ships continuing to expand into other countries. You see more and more money, resources and creativity being poured into the war machine. You see a plutocratic class continuing to dictate the behavior of the US government. You see ordinary people continuing to struggle to make ends meet. You see an increasingly militarized police force, a continually expanding Orwellian surveillance system, dangerous and steadily increasing tensions with Russia, increasingly uninhibited ecocidal capitalism, increasingly unregulated exploitative corporations and banks.
You see the same bullshit with a different skin pigmentation. - Trump Minus Narrative Equals Bushbama, Caitlin Johnstone

10 September
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

Not much news in the News. However, there is this:

David Hogg is still here. And he’s still a human whoopie cushion. Who thinks he’s a smart person as his jowls flap to make gurgle sounds. Despite a smorgasbord of evidence pointing in the other direction of mental mediocrity. Little Dave went on a trip to Canada with Michael Moore, the Democrat’s human donut, to take his douchebaggery international…
Hogg transitioned from “Canadians should give money to American politicians” to “Russia gave money to American politicians. Those bastards!” One minute, Hogg is publicly soliciting greenbacks from foreigners. The next, he’s calling for an investigation into foreigners allegedly funding Trump. “B-b-b-but this is different. Trump is a Republican and the Russians are like evil and stuff. - David Hogg Delivers Error-Filled Political Remarks in Canada, Corey Stallings

11 September
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

I did some more shopping yesterday. First there was an order for more Arbuckles on 9 September. Then yesterday I ordered more hulled barley and oat groats both of those orders to be delivered General Delivery here in Springerville.

The other order was for more GoPo® from Amazon which I am having delivered to my UPS Store in Sierra Vista. I'll then have it forwarded, and all other held mail, to General Delivery. Arbuckles, Mulberry Lane Farm, and my UPS Store know how to deliver to General Delivery; I do not trust Amazon to do so.

The Wonderful Visit is an 1895 novel with an angel, a creature of fantasy unlike a religious angel, as protagonist and taking place in contemporary England. The book could be classified as contemporary fantasy, although the genre was not recognised in Wells's time. The Wonderful Visit also has strong satirical themes, gently mocking customs and institutions of Victorian England as well as idealistic rebellion itself. It is thought to have been was inspired by John Ruskin's remark that an angel appearing on earth in Victorian England would be shot on sight. - Edited Wikipedia

I sent President Trump an email reminding him that he campaigned to get OUT of the wars he inherited not START new ones. All the propaganda that I am seeing leads me to believe that The Establishment wants him to escalate the United States involvement in Syria. I don't think that will help the Republicans in the midterm elections and Trump is being played if he signs on to such an escalation.

12 September
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

I have finished what started out as the CSS Grid Project but became much more. It all started on 5 June and I said then: That should keep me busy when I am not on the couch reading or on my Toshiba where I have Gimp to do my pixel art drawings. I also need to walk Patches her 4 miles everyday. Bored in retirement? No way!

I had no idea it would grow into the huge project that it became. Part of the additional work was when my free Google Maps API stopped working on 3 August. That required my adding a Map Key to all my maps and then when they were not working as designed I had to edit them all again.

The CSS Grid change was reasonably easy to do for all the pages on my website. What took the most time was changing the HTML coding within every page to be in compliance with HTML5 standards. While doing that I found quite a few errors in the HTML coding that should have been fixed long ago. As of today I think every page on my website is in compliance with the new standard.

In addition all the pages are now much more small screen friendly, the original reason for going to a CSS Grid Layout. Last week I knew that I had screwed up the image resizing for different screen sizes but put off trying to fix it until this morning. It took me a couple of hours but I think everything is working once again.

I had not tried to use my Toshiba laptop with Ubuntu since the beginning of August. Fired it up yesterday morning and added all the Ubuntu Updates. I was then told that my computer was up to date for 16.04.05 but 18.04.01 (the first in the Bionic Beaver series) was available to Upgrade. I elected to do that and it took hours! It also used about 1800MB of data so I will have to watch my usage more closely for the rest of this billing cycle.

I was on the couch with my Paperwhite and Patches while that was going on. It finally asked for a Restart and everything that I use it for seem to still be there and working. I'll know more after I stumble around trying to use it. I never really knew how to use 16.04 so it will not be like I have to forget how it once worked.

The only other thing that I must do is dump holding tanks. The water pump is making strange noises trying to get water so I need to fill the fresh water tanks also.

13 September
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

I said that the CSS Grid Project was finished and all my web pages could be viewed using small screen devices. That was true as far as it went but the Archive page could not be viewed as it should be using small screen devices.

There were a couple of other reasons to create a different design for that page. After one false start I have almost finished a new layout of the page. It is viewable on all screen sizes and it does away with the "dropup' menu feature. I used this on the Archive page to overcome a problem but when used in the new design it seemed to cause even more problems. Last but not least it will be easier to add more menus to the new design. Maybe have it working by tomorrow.

I'll probably finish the latest book that I have been reading and start another. Maybe see if I can get GIMP to work in the upgraded Ubuntu on my Toshiba. I haven't done any pixel drawing in well over a month. That will fill my day. HA

14 September
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

Shopping day with breakfast at the Trailrider where I got the Tamale with Eggs. I think I'll be stopping there one more time before leaving here and will get that same thing. It is very good.

The grocery gathering at Safeway took a bit longer because the shelves were bare and I needed stockers go look for three things. No buttermilk was to be had and I settled for one container of Greek Gods Honey and one of Black Cherry versus two Honey. Friday morning is not a good time to shop Safeway here.

Stopped at the Post Office to pick up my Arbuckles which I knew had been delivered. The postal clerk knows me, as soon as she saw me at the window she went for my General Delivery packages. The order of hulled barley and oat groats had also come in yesterday. I was not expecting it to arrive until later today and I would be picking it up next week.

This is a collection of 12 short stories that mostly have a pirate or sea voyage theme. I had read 4 of them in a previous short story collection but enjoyed reading them all. There are some reviewers that disagree but I think these short stories are just as good as the Holmes short stories which made Doyle famous.

Really enjoyed this collection of storys which mainly(except for a highwayman one) are tales with a nautical flair...the storys are fun and generally have a 'Tales of the unexpected' type flair..the storys vary in being either tales of Pirates..slight suspense tales to light fantasy but are a collection that gel together and seem consistent. I got it via Project Gutenburg for kindle reading too and as such found it an interesting find and a great public domain book. - Customer Review @ goodreads.com

There is ONE reason for a Syrian intervention that is not mentioned in the blog posting that I am quoting. The midterm elections! If The Establishment can get President Trump to escalate United States involvement it is to the benefit of the Leftist and the Neocons.

The Syrian government and its allies are having military victory after military victory over the occupying militias which had taken over large territories, and they have been doing so using far more effective conventional munitions. Why, after all that success, would Assad suddenly switch to using an ineffective, banned military tactic that is guaranteed to provoke western retaliation and potentially bring about his own downfall? Even if he's the worst person in the world, there is no motive for him to do such a thing and there is every incentive not to. The only possible explanation would be that Assad receives some kind of personal gratification from committing war crimes, perhaps sexual in nature, and that this bizarre, unheard of kink is so alluring to him that it would overwhelm his desire to remain in power and stay alive. Furthermore, he would have to have only discovered this strange, unique sexual fetish a few years ago, coincidentally around the same time the US and its allies decided it was time to remove him from power. - Four Reasons Why Interventionism In Syria Is Crazy And Stupid, Caitlan Johnstone

15 September
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

I have the New Archive page in place and working for all device screen sizes. I also stumbled upon some CSS coding that allowed me to make a cosmetic change to the Home page. I was never happy with the appearance of Older Postings with the .png arrow image. I think the new hypertext with arrowhead inline has a better appearance.

I am going to be doing some more experimenting with CSS Grid layouts. I don't know if anything will result in more changes or not but I'll see what the results of my tinkering are. The Saturday Night story included below is some of that tinkering. I used some, new to me, coding that shows the story in the center of the page on big screens but will also show on small screens in lanscape mode.

This Tweet has not been included in the Lame Stream Media's reporting narrative. Perhaps that is because Tulsi is a 'maverick' within the Democratic Party and it is only maverick Republicans that become heroes. Note: for those of you that are not conversant with abbreviations her AQ is al-Qaeda. She spells it out twice and then uses the abbreviation?

While President Trump & VP Pence give 9/11 speeches about how much they care about the victims of al-Qaeda's attack on our country, they are simultaneously acting as protectors of AQ in Syria/Idlib, threatening Russia and Syria that if they attack al-Qaeda, we will punish them. - Tulsi Gabbard @TulsiGabbard on Twitter 3:06 PM - 11 Sep 2018

On Thursday, Feinstein announced that she had referred the matter to the F.B.I. "I have received information from an individual concerning the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court," Feinstein said. "That individual strongly requested confidentiality, declined to come forward or press the matter further, and I have honored that decision. I have, however, referred the matter to federal investigative authorities."
In a statement, an F.B.I. spokesperson said, "Upon receipt of the information on the night of September 12, we included it as part of Judge Kavanaugh's background file, as per the standard process." - A Sexual-Misconduct Allegation Against the Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh Stirs Tension Among Democrats in Congress, Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer

16 September
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

I spent most of yesterday trying to modify my Home Page content area. I found an example online that almost gave me what I have in mind but almost is not going to do it. By the end of the day I threw away everything that I had done. I'll start over by trying to duplicate the example and then modify it and see where that leads.

Will not get much of that done today. I'll be at the range with the Show Low Defensive Pistol League most of the afternoon. This will be the first time that I'll be using my new shooting glasses. I have used them some to dry fire but that is never the same as at the range. There are no scores but I will get an idea of any improvement or not.

Not much happening. Maybe have more to say tomorrow.

17 September
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

Yesterday was a success. I think I shot better at the range. I could see the front sight better with the new shooting glasses and was on the target with every shot. That was the paper targets which were reasonably close.

I hit the 8" steel about 20% of the time but that is a smaller target and they were about 15 yard away. That was better than a few of the other participants and worse than a few others.

I was also able to duplicate the CSS Grid example. Then went on from that and made modifications that created a grid within a grid area that is very close to what I had in mind. What I did yesterday was also small screen compliant - something that I am now very aware of and check. Today I will see if I can use that coding in my Home Page. I think I can.

Maybe do some reading while on the couch with Patches. We didn't do any of that yesterday, need to catch up.

18 September 2018
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

I spent the past few days trying to modify my Home Page content area. I found an example online that almost gave me what I had in mind but almost was not going to do it. By the end of the first day I threw away everything that I had done. Then started over by trying to duplicate the example and modify it and see where that would lead.

I was able to duplicate the example and modifiy it to give me what I was trying to achieve. Yesterday I was able to move that coding, after a few false starts, to my Test Home Page and everything seemed to be working.

Today I present it and explaining the reason in the second "Card". What I have done is split the previous 'text content area' of the overall CSS Grid into two columns with a Date/Location banner spaning them. The posting will now appear within the CSS Cards which gives me the paragraph width that I was seeking. It also has a better appearance on small screens (although the paragraphs are a little wider). I have also added a highlight to blockquotes and increased the text size which IMO is also better.

This quote was taken from Infographic: The Optimal Length for Every Social Media Update and More, by Kevan Lee. He provides tips on optimal lengths for tweets, blogposts, headlines, and more. It is the paragraph width that I am trying to manage in the content area of my Home Page.

The optimal width of a paragraph – 40 to 55 characters

Before researching this one, I seldom thought about the width of my paragraphs. Readers might not think much of it either, but usability studies and psychology suggest that they notice it nevertheless.
What makes this width optimal? At this width, the content appears simple to understand, and readers feel they can comprehend the subject matter.
Where’d this data come from? Derek Halpern of Social Triggers synthesized a pair of research studies to arrive at the 40-to-55 character recommendation. The studies he cited include a 2004 meta-analysis by Mary C. Dyson of the University of Reading and a 1992 study from a team of Netherlands researchers.

19 September 2018
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

I haven't just been working on the appearance of my Home Page although that has taken up a LOT of my time. I have also cooked a batch of breakfast hulled barley and oat groats. Yesterday I needed to make make up some more grains, chicken and peas-n-carrots for future 'linners'. Maybe get salmon fillets in the Roaster; if not today then tomorrow to give me the choice of a couple 'linner' items.

I knew that the 320X-- screens were going to be a problem and sure enough I got a Shout from Mary that they were. I made some changes in how the blockquotes are shown and reduced the fonts size back to what it was before I rolled out this 'new look'. I had a similar problem with 1024x-- screens and made changes that I hope fit those devices also.
I have some more ideas but face a Verizon data usage constraint. All this web page development work has used up more data than I would have thought. That and the big hit I took early in the billing cycle for upgrading Ubuntu has me thinking it is time to go on a data usage diet.

I will not quote from this posting Can Russia Survive Her “Partnerships”? Has Putin Made A Strategic Miscalculation? by Paul Craig Roberts but do recommend it.

20 September 2018
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

It was overcast when we did our morning walk yesterday but did not look like rain. That overcast got heavier as the day progressed and by noon it was trying to rain.

We went out at our usual time in the afternoon and there were a few sprinkles which turned into rain before we got out of the Park. Beat a hasty retreat to Desperado which saved us from getting really wet. There was a wall of water coming from the south that hit soon after we gained shelter.

This was the first time in a long time that we got completely rained out. It was still raining when it got dark and when I went to bed. It was overcast again this morning but by 8:00 it looked like it was clearing. Total rain from this storm that lasted until the early hours of this morning was 0.48".

We got our walk in and then went to Booga Red's for breakfast. This will probably be the last time I stop there this stay. I'll be going back when/if I'm in Springerville next year. Groceries at Safeway were quickly gathered but had to settle for frozen mixed berries since the blueberry shelf was bare. Then went to a barber shop in Eagar where I waited about an hour for it to open. Got this posting ready and might even get it on the host server before getting my hair cut.

While sitting in Desperado there were a couple of other people showed up to get hair cuts. They took a seat on the barber shop porch so I may have lost my place in line. We will see.

21 September 2018
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

It was cold this morning with the low at 40.7° and a slight breeze. The weather guessers have been forecasting the lows to be in the upper 40s and continue to do so in the 10 Day forecast. I don't think that is going to happen and I'll see a morning below my prefered 40 before I leave here.

Just How Irrational and Insane Can a Society Get? by Michael J. Hurd is one of the more rational postings about the attempt to destroy Kavanaugh that I have read - Recommended,

Ding Dong…. by James Howard Kunstler covers some of the same subjects but does it in classic Kunstler style. I quote his opening just as a teaser.

How hilarious is it in this pornography-saturated culture of anything-goes-and-nothing-matters that a long-ago session of awkward teenage necking becomes the most horrifying crime since Eve consorted with a snake in the original wayback?

The first decade of the twentieth century was for the English a decade of badly sprained optimism. Our Empire was nearly beaten by a handful of farmers amidst the jeering contempt of the whole world—and we felt it acutely for several years. We began to question ourselves. - The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman, H. G. Wells

22 September 2018
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

The Wells book that I just finished was the last of his that were available at Gutenberg. There are still a lot of Conan Doyle books there for me and I have selected another English author whose writing seems coeval to that of Wells and Doyle.

I'll be switch back and forth between those two English authors while reading a few short stories each time from The Complete Works Of H. P. Lovecraft. It is not his complete works but I think it is all of his fiction short stories; I don't know how many but over 14,000 locations on Kindle. He was an American writer at the turn of the 20th-century that is now regarded as one of the most significant authors in horror fiction.

Down with the Working Classes! by C.J. Hopkins is a great satire. I think I will read more of his postings. Recommended!

Dissent Is No Longer Permissible In The West, Paul Craig Roberts

Marine Le Pen, a French patriot, seems destined for the fate of Joan of Arc. The French establishment has been after Le Pen for a long time. She has already had her parliamentary immunity stripped for a tweet and faces three years in prison if convicted by her enemies for a simple free speech statement in defense of French sovereighty. Now she is in trouble for posting on Twitter images of Daesh executing people...In France Le Pen’s belief that the French deserve their own country is considered to be a sign of insanity.

23 September 2018
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

Yesterday I tried to connect to the Park WIFI using my Chromebook and could not do it. When I clicked on the WIFI name Chrome said I was connected but there was an alert message that said I may have to enter a password but I could not find any place to enter one.

Later in the day I tried to connect using my Toshiba with Ubuntu and had no trouble connecting. I used the Toshiba to edit some of my web pages. After making some of the recent changes to provide a better 320x-- and 1024X-- screen view I needed to change the coding I have in place for the Header and all the book cover images. I'll try to do some more of them today using the Park WIFI. If I can not use it then all those changes will wait until the next Verizon billing cycle.

The quote I have selected from All Roads Lead to Calvary by Jerome K. Jerome is spoken by one of the characters in the book published in 1919. Not much has changed in a 100 years except TV and radio can be added to newspapers to bring it current.

War does pay the newspaper in the long run. The daily newspaper lives on commotion, crime, lawlessness in general. If people no longer enjoyed reading about violence and bloodshed half their occupation, and that the most profitable half would be gone. It is the interest of the newspaper to keep alive the savage in human nature; and war affords the readiest means of doing this. You can’t do much to increase the number of gruesome murders and loathsome assaults, beyond giving all possible advertisement to them when they do occur. But you can preach war, and cover yourself with glory, as a patriot, at the same time...They stood about in puzzled flocks, like sheep, wondering which way the newspaper dog was going to hound them.

24 September 2018
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

I was able to connect to the Park WIFI using my Chromebook yesterday but I still did all the web page edits on my Toshiba. When I tried to connect a second time using my Chromebook I couldn't. It doesn't make any difference which laptop I use as long as I am not using Verizon data.

I also made my 3x5 directions card while on Park WIFI. Google Maps is a data hog that I don't want to be using while on Verizon. Wrote down directions for grocery store, dog grooming and restaurant for my first shopping trip at the new camp because I will still be on the Verizon data usage diet the first few days that I am there.

I think Mr. Jerome had this novel almost finished when WW I broke out. He tried to enlist at the age of 56 and the Army would not accept him so he went to France as an ambulance driver.

The last few chapters are about Joan's experiences as a nurse during the war and seem to have been hurriedly written after the war ended. This is not a great book, but those last few chapters are very poor.

All Roads Lead to Calvary is a 1919 novel by the British writer Jerome K. Jerome. It was one of the last works written by Jerome, better known for his Three Men in a Boat, and shows the influence of the First World War on him. It is a Bildungsroman in which a Cambridge University educated woman Joan Allway becomes a journalist and then a wartime ambulance driver [sic] nurse. She encounters various different people, gaining new experiences and confronting many of the moral issues of the day. - Wikipedia

I have a message for virtue-signaling men who’ve rushed to embrace #MeToo operatives hurling uncorroborated sexual assault allegations into the chaotic court of public opinion.
Stuff it.
Your blanket “Believe Women” bloviations are moral and intellectual abominations that insult every human being of sound mind and soul.

The United States is preparing a “series of actions” in the coming days to increase pressure on the Venezuelan government, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News on Friday.
Last year, Washington imposed sanctions prohibiting trading new debt and equity issued by the Venezuelan government and its state oil company PDVSA. It has imposed several rounds of sanctions on government officials, including on Maduro.
Venezuela’s economy has collapsed under Maduro, with annual inflation running at 200,000 percent, and staple foods and basic medicine increasingly difficult to obtain, which has led to mass emigration.

25 September 2018
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

Verizon claims data usage to be whatever they want. When I turned on my MIFI device this morning they claimed I had my full billing cycle limit available. Then about an hour latter they claimed that I had used all but 1.55GB. When that balance was subtracted from what they claimed I had yesterday I used over 300GB. Was connected to Verizon and visited the same sites as on Sunday when I used 90GB.

I need to continue using the Park WIFI as much as possible because Verizon is going to claim I have used my limit even If i don't have the MIFI device turned on. Fortunately the Park WIFI has been very good for what I usually find in RV Parks.

Not much happening with me today. I started laundry right after we finished our morning walk. That and more web page editing will probably be all that I do today.

The News is the Same O Same O. The Establishment did not help their cause to kill Kavanaugh's nomination with their latest accuser. I suspect they will trot out another one before Thursday. I also suspect that Kavanaugh will become a Supreme Court justice. This has all been part of keeping the 'masses' entertained and getting their blood up for the November elections.

26 September 2018
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

Today was my last shopping day while here this time. I plan on coming back if for no other reason just to get the Tamale and Egg plate for breakfast at the Trailrider. I had that this morning and then a final gathering of groceries at Safeway.

I was right on time for the Post Office to open where I picked up the package forwarded from my UPS Store. That had the GoPo® from Amazon plus other mail they had received and were holding. That was the last General Delivery I'll get this time but the Post Office here has been good to me.

When I told the clerk I would back she said " Going down to the hot country?" That is probably what is going to happen. I'm leaving high temperatures that are forecast to be in a range of 70 to 82 for 89 to 102. Fortunately the 100+ days will happen before I get there - I hope.

The reviews that panned this novel for being banal and inane were not wrong. It has not improved with age and certainly is not up to the standard that Doyle was capable of. Not recommended unless you want to read everything that he wrote.

A Duet, with an Occasional Chorus is a novel by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, published in 1899. The novel features the story of a happily married couple which is threatened by a previous lover of the husband. Conan Doyle hoped that this would be his most successful novel to date, but the novel was widely panned for being banal and inane. - Wikipedia

27 September 2018
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

I completed the web page edits yesterday using my Toshiba and the Park WIFI. In fact I did everything using my Toshiba and Park WIFI, didn't turn on the Verizon MIFI all day. I had some difficulty since I have not been using the Toshiba for anything except pixel art drawing using GIMP but I got everything done.

I wore my wool shirt/jacket this morning and was glad that I did. I wished that I had my possum fur headband and will have it on tomorrow morning. The low temperature was slightly below my 40° comfort threshold although the forecast continues to be for the lows to be in the upper 40s. The forecast high temperatures will be in the 60s starting the day I leave here with the upper 80s to greet me at my new camp. I will be whining during the month of October about it being too hot.

The Resistance against Kavanaugh is all theater or Chuck Baldwin says "The conservatives’ defense of Kavanaugh is as irrelevant as the liberals’ accusations against Kavanaugh." If the Democrats had found anything really dirty about Kavanaugh's life they would gladly let him become a Supreme Court justice and then blackmail him to do their bidding. I think they have Chief Justice Roberts under their thumb in just that way. I have one other quote from his article He Blew It which is suggested reading.

Had Trump been serious about draining the swamp and dismantling the Deep State, he would have also begun dismantling America’s burgeoning Police State. And, furthermore, he would have kept his promise to get our troops out of the Deep State’s perpetual “War on Terror” in the Middle East. Trump did none of the above. Instead, he expanded and escalated all of the above.

Donald Trump is not perfect, not by anyone’s definition. But he is so NOT the things these Democrats are. Whatever drives or motivates him, it’s not the things that drive and motivate these Democratic career politicians who take pride in bringing one of America’s most important Constitutional processes—the selection of a Supreme Court justice—to a halt, merely because they can. Donald Trump has to be stopped, in their eyes. Not because he’s Donald Trump, but because he’s not one of them. He really is not one of them, and never cares to be. This makes them wild with rage, almost with literal insanity. It explains why when confronted with Donald Trump, they act like heroin addicts about to have their substance taken away.

One thing is certain: We cannot go on like this. And we won’t.

28 September 2018
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

I completed most of my monthly house cleaning yesterday. Today I have only Desperado's dash and windows to clean plus dump holding tanks and add water.

We walked into town for my last latte at McD's this time staying here. I'll probably be back but will not walk this section of US180/US191/US60 again. The traffic was not as heavy as what I faced while in Yuma last winter, and it was more courteous, but it is not a walking route that I want to do any more. The same goes for the routes that I walked in Yuma.

I don't find much online about the 20 chapters in this book by Jerome K. Jerome. Each chapter is written as a stand alone article that may have been first published in some magazine which was common at the turn of the 20th century. Then again they may have been rejected, as much of his early writing was, and then compiled as a book in 1908. Some of the articles are better than others but overall they are great culture satire. I enjoyed it!

Paul Craig Roberts has a good poting, Trump: An Assessment from which I have quoted the closing.

When Trump saw how boxed in he was by the material interests of the ruling oligarchy, he decided to finish off Washington’s already diminishing influence. He appointed Nikki Haley as US ambassador to the UN, where she has done a superb job of alienating every country in the world. Trump has infuriated Europe with tariffs, sanction threats, and orders to Germany not to go forward with the Russian/German natural gas pipeline. Trump followed up by treating the UN Security Council on September 26 as Washington’s footstool. Trump with threats and sanctions is driving Turkey, Iran, India, China, and North Korea into Russia’s arms, and he is driving Europe into independence. In a stroke of genius, Trump, despite his thoroughly neoconservative regime, is destroying Washington’s hegemony.

We might never know whether this result is an unintended consequence of arrogance and hubris or whether it is a clever strategy. But if it turns out the way it seems to be heading, Trump will go down in history as Trump the Great, the man who saved the world by dismantling American hegemony.

29 September 2018
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

I added water to Desperado's tank yesterday but since the idiot lights do not provide an accurate measure I thought it was full. Disconnected the hose and then later in the day decided that it probably was not full so I'll go out there later today and see if I can add more.

Doing that and getting next month's Will Rogers weekly articles prepared will be my goals for the day. I have been making slow progress on the pixel art drawing that I started before being interrupted with CSS Grid and Google Map projects. It is probably the most difficult drawing that I have attempted but is starting to look good - like the picture that I am attempting to reproduce. HA

Anti-White-Male Kavanaugh Hatefest May Close Midterm Enthusiasm Gap—and Get GOP Senators On the Trump Train! by John Derbyshire is an article that says what I claimed a few days ago. The Kavanaugh hearings were just theater to keep the voting base fired up until the November elections. He expounds on the quote that I have selected but it presents the basic idea very simply and concisely.

What makes the effect of the Kavanaugh hearings hard to estimate is that there was something here to please both bases. The mid-terms may hinge on whose base got pleased more.

30 September 2018
Casa Malpais RV Park
Springerville, AZ

It is just as well that I am leaving here tomorrow morning. I got a new Class 'A' neighbor on the westside yesterday that has the area lighted up all night with 'mouse lights' under their coach. I hate light pollution as much as the climate change believers hate burning combustables. They also have a full size pickup 'toad' which requires part of my space to park. I have been lucky while here to have courteous neighbors but none of them have been in a Class 'A'.

I'll not be doing much today. I'm ready to get out of here. The posting will be a little later in the day tomorrow because of the travel but do stop by. Travel days are the few when I ever have anything different to say.

This was the second book of Gerard stories that I have read and Doyle is at his finest when writing them. They are certainly every bit as good as any of his Holmes short stories but I had never heard of them before taking on the reading of all that he wrote that is available at Gutenberg. Recommended!

Brigadier Gerard is the hero of a series of 17 historical short stories, a play, and a major character in a novel by the British writer Arthur Conan Doyle. The hero, Etienne Gerard, is a Hussar officer in the French Army during the Napoleonic Wars. Gerard's most notable attribute is his vanity – he is utterly convinced that he is the bravest soldier, greatest swordsman, most accomplished horseman and most gallant lover in all France. Gerard is not entirely wrong, since he displays notable bravery on many occasions, but his self-satisfaction undercuts this quite often. Obsessed with honour and glory, he is always ready with a stirring speech or a gallant remark to a lady.

Conan Doyle, in making his hero a vain, and often rather uncomprehending, Frenchman, was able to satirise both the stereotypical English view of the French and – by presenting them from Gerard's baffled point of view – English manners and attitudes. - Wikipedia