Peregrinating
2015

November

1 November
Pair-A-Dice Escapees RV Park
Pahrump, NV

I finished reformatting the Peregrinating pages for 2010 which completes that group of pages. This has been reflected on the Site Map page along with the Western Bicycle Tour that took me so long to do. I think I'll now be working on the Cross Country Bicycling Tour page which will be another difficult one and Reno pages which will be relatively easy.

Not doing much other than enjoying the very nice weather while it is available. The chance of rain has been scaled back considerably but the high temperatures in the 60s starting Tuesday and continuing through the end of the 10 Day forecast remains. My next camp has the forecast highs at 10-13° higher than what I'm having here.

I have been making good progress on the book that I am now reading and want to finish before leaving. It is a big thick book but I am sure to finish it in time to put it back into the Park library.

As Benghazi inquiry fades, Clinton still faces legal questions about emails by Anita Kumar and Greg Gordon is a good article that explains why The Hillary will continue on her path toward coronation. I recommend reading the entire article but these are the take away quotes (my underlining).

“She’s too big to jail,” said national security attorney Edward MacMahon Jr., who represented former CIA employee Jeffrey Sterling in 2011 in a leak case that led to an espionage prosecution and 3½-year prison term. He cited a pattern of light punishments for top government officials who have mishandled classified information while lower level whistleblowers such as Sterling have faced harsh prosecutions for revealing sensitive information to expose waste, fraud or abuse in government.
In recent congressional testimony, FBI Director James Comey confirmed his agency is looking into the issue but declined to discuss details of the investigation besides saying he has the “resources and personnel” he needs for the inquiry. Comey, a Republican, would approve any initial recommendation for a prosecution, but it would be left to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, a Democrat, to decide whether to proceed.

2 November
Pair-A-Dice Escapees RV Park
Pahrump, NV

Windy again this morning but not too bad. The forecast is for it to get a lot worse before it gets better. Then much colder starting tomorrow. I may be wearing my wool cap and gloves most mornings. I'll be doing it with the sun up however since I have fallen back into Daylight Saving Time. I'm not sure were all the daylight that is being saved is being 'invested'; perhaps in the Southern Hemisphere?

Not doing much of anything today. More time on the couch with my book and more time spent re-formatting web site pages. The weather may have me doing even more of that.

It is articles like Vladimir Putin Speaks Honestly by Paul Craig Roberts that is going to get him 'disappeared'. There is just too much truth in what I have quoted from the article for the Establishment to allow. The Hillary may go free but I will not be surprised when Mr. Roberts is silenced, perhaps terminated.

Throughout the West we see the increasingly unresponsive behavior of government. In the United States careful studies conclude that, despite elections, the American people have essentially zero input into the policies decided in Washington. In Greece, the government is coerced to impose on the Greek people policies dictated by large German banks supported by the German and EU governments. In Portugal, the socialists who won the election were told by the conservative president that they would not be permitted to form a government. In the UK, a senior military official stated that the military would not permit Jeremy Corbyn to form a Labour government should the Labour Party win the election. The United States government threatens the governments of Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Argentina for representing the interests of the voters who put them in office instead of Washington’s interests. The United States government has destroyed American civil liberty with its unconstitutional mass surveillance, indefinite detention without charges, and murder of US citizens without due process of law. Dissent itself is in the process of being criminalized. Just looking at the basic facts makes it impossible to conclude that the West has “freedom and democracy” or that Washington’s bombs and invasions have brought “freedom and democracy” to Africa and the Middle East.

3 November
Pair-A-Dice Escapees RV Park
Pahrump, NV

The wind continued yesterday afternoon which filled the valley with dust. It was not blowing as hard as the weather guessers had predicted but was not very pleasant. Almost calm this morning and felt warmer than the official 46° that was reported. The forecast high for today and the next couple of days has been reduced some more and it is now expected to be in the upper 50s.

The semi-annual SKP membership meeting and social events will begin later this week through the weekend. That will bring a lot of people into the Park and make for more difficult walks for Patches and myself. It is also going to make Internet access that much worse.

I have been using the Park WIFI mostly for the past week and it has been pretty good. Yesterday it started getting flaky but I blamed that on the wind. This morning it is acting the same way so I tried Verizon and lost the connection as had been happening before. I may have a more serious problem when more people show up and start sucking up bandwidth.

Patches was not herself this morning. Very 'down' and not interested in breakfast so I only fed her a half ration. She has been sleeping on the couch all morning. Very listless on her walk and just not feeling well I do believe.

Today I'm going to try and finish the latest novel that I want to put back in the Park library. I want to get that done before the Club House and library are closed down for membership meetings and events. That probably means no web site page work today as I did none yesterday and did mostly reading.

4 November
Pair-A-Dice Escapees RV Park
Pahrump, NV

The weather forecast had been revised from a slight chance of rain to a 60% chance when I got up this morning and looked to see how long it might continue raining. It started around 5:00 and lasted for about an hour. We did a long potty walk under a very threatening sky but stayed dry. Only 0.04" so far but that may be enough for another record since it does not rain a lot here in November.

There is a freeze warning for tomorrow morning that includes Pahrump but the forecast has 33° as the guess for a low temperature. Another chance of rain next Tuesday with freezing lows expected on Tuesday and Wednesday. It is time for me to get out of town.

I prepared one 3x5 route card this morning for my move next week. I'll take two days to get to my new camp. For the first day I also selected a breakfast stop and decided where I would fill up with gas. Maybe get the second day card prepared this afternoon or tomorrow.

Finished the book that I wanted to return to the Park library. Made a trade for it and the Baldacci book that I had finished. Picked up another Baldacci in trade plus a new author to me that offers an "epic novel of China". We will see.

I reviewed the first in the Millennium Series The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on 15 July 2014, the second The Girl Who Played With Fire on 16 May 2015. This is the third, and last, in the Series and there will be no more. All of the books were somewhat of a problem for me with all the Swedish character and place names but this one has even more of them than I remember from the first two. Then I found this one to be too busy with sub-plots for my liking. It is a small thing but I did not like the size of the paperback either - an inch higher by inch and one half wider. I think it was printed in that size because it is 655 pages and would have probably approached 1000 pages in the usual paperback size.

The exhilarating conclusion to bestseller Larsson's Millennium trilogy (after The Girl Who Played with Fire) finds Lisbeth Salander, the brilliant computer hacker who was shot in the head in the final pages of Fire, alive, though still the prime suspect in three murders in Stockholm. While she convalesces under armed guard, journalist Mikael Blomkvist works to unravel the decades-old coverup surrounding the man who shot Salander: her father, Alexander Zalachenko, a Soviet intelligence defector and longtime secret asset to Säpo, Sweden's security police. Estranged throughout Fire, Blomkvist and Salander communicate primarily online, but their lack of physical interaction in no way diminishes the intensity of their unconventional relationship. Though Larsson (1954–2004) tends toward narrative excess, his was an undeniably powerful voice in crime fiction that will be sorely missed. - Publishers Weekly

5 November
Pair-A-Dice Escapees RV Park
Pahrump, NV

Very cold this morning. The official temperature was 34° but I thought it was even colder. Patches was feeling much better and loved it. The freezing temperatures that had been forecast for next week have been raised up a little to keep that from happening. However, it will remain in the 30s for the lows until I leave.

When we finished our usual walk I unplugged and we went to town. Breakfast was at Mom's where I had Corned Beef Hash with poached eggs on top and their home fries which I call fried rounds. They are excellent! Every thing was good, which makes this one of the best places in town for breakfast.

Another shopping trip at Smith's where I also filled Desperado with gas at the lowest price that I have paid in a long, long time. The grocery shopping went well with me getting all that I had on my list. On that list were the makings of a pottage for my next weeks 'linners'.

I started it today with 4 cups of broth, a head of cabbage, 3 medium turnips and a couple cans of sliced carrots. I'll finish it tomorrow with a couple small cans of no skin sardines and about a half cup of dry barley. The barley will take up all the remaining liquid and I may have to add some water but I want it to be thick.

I was going to dump holding tanks and add water when we got back to the Park but decided to wait a few more days. The fresh water tank idiot light was showing 3/4 full and I know the holding tanks are not in need of dumping. Maybe do it on Monday.

In 2013, the most recent year for which data is available, 46,471 people in the United States died from drug overdoses, and more than half of those deaths were caused by prescription painkillers and heroin. That compares with the 35,369 who died in motor vehicle crashes and 33,636 who died from firearms, as tallied by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There is a War on Drugs which the government is losing. That same government wants a War on Guns but does very little about the motor vehicle slaughter. I wonder if all the tax revenue that comes in from the ownership and use of motor vehicles has anything to do with that? Maybe taxing drugs and guns is the answer? It will not stop the deaths but the government will declare a truce and quit fighting the War(s).

6 November
Pair-A-Dice Escapees RV Park
Pahrump, NV

The past 3-4 days have been Internet troublesome. The Park WIFI has been dropping a connection as much or more than Verizon. One day I think I used Verizon most of the day because it was the most stable. Today I have no choice, the Park WIFI is completely down and does not offer a connection. So, the past is prologue - RV Park WIFI does not work.

It was a little warmer this morning at 38° versus the 33° of yesterday. That reported low was revised since I looked at it and the 10 Day forecast has been also. The weather guessers have raised a couple of days into the low 40s for the expected lows with almost all the highs now in the 60s.

I downloaded the Acrobat Reader DC yesterday and have spent much more time than I wanted trying to find the settings that I had before. The new and improved Reader has multiple bells and whistles that has kept the programmers employed for many months and promises to keep them employed for many more.

But, ALL I want is to open a PDF document, size it so I can read it, read it, close it and THEN be able to open it again where I left it. This is really rather simple but I could not remember what hoops I had jumped through before to make that happen. Finally got it done this morning - I think I'm back were I was a couple days ago.

Why didn't the Ted Cruz tax reform plan sent out by him as a press release on 29 October 2015 get headline coverage by the Ministry of Propaganda? They didn't even devote and time nor effort in deriding it. I have copied only that part of the plan that applies to individuals. It appears to me that this is something that people would want to know and discuss. Maybe not everyone will be in favor of it but it seems to be News.

Individual Income Tax Changes

1. Consolidates the current seven tax brackets into one bracket at 10 percent on all personal income (wages, salaries, interest, capital gains, dividends, and business income).
2. Increases the Standard Deduction from $6,300 ($12,600 married filing jointly) to $10,000 ($20,000 married filing jointly) while retaining the personal exemption.
3. Eliminates all itemized deductions except for the home mortgage interest deduction and the charitable deduction. Places a tighter cap on the home mortgage interest deduction.
4. Eliminates the Alternative Minimum Tax.
5. Eliminates the Net Investment Income Tax of 3.8 percent and the Medicare surtax of 0.9 percent, which were passed as part of the Affordable Care Act.
6. Eliminates all individual tax credits except for the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit. Expands the Earned Income Tax Credit by 20 percent.
7. Preserves the exclusions from income of pension contributions, employer-provided health premiums, and imputed rent, similar to current law.
8. Creates a new “universal savings account” that allows up to $25,000 of tax-deductible saving.
9. Eliminates the payroll tax.

7 November
Pair-A-Dice Escapees RV Park
Pahrump, NV

The Butterfly Effect knocks the Global Warming Argument into a cocked hat. All global warming predictions have been based on what computer models predict. The idea that one butterfly could eventually have a far-reaching ripple effect on subsequent historic events made its earliest known appearance in "A Sound of Thunder", a 1952 short story by Ray Bradbury about time travel.

In 1961, Edward N. Lorenz was running a numerical computer model to redo a weather prediction from the middle of the previous run as a shortcut. He entered the initial condition 0.506 from the printout instead of entering the full precision 0.506127 value. The result was a completely different weather scenario. So much for predicting the weather/climate with a computer model!

Speaking of weather. I said that the low was 38° yesterday but I can go to a different weather underground history page and find that the low was 33° both the morning of the 5th and the 6th. So finding what the past temperature and what the future temperature is going to be is certainly not "settled science". By the way, I think the low was 35° this morning.

The Bureau of Labor released their non-farm job numbers for October yesterday that showed an increase of 271,000 jobs. I was very surprised by the very little Ministry of Propaganda coverage of what is usually headline News. Have they finally recognized that not many people believe the BLS any more.

The Unemployment Rate dropped to 5.0% which would have been great News but that did not generate the headlines either even after the Associated Press gave the story a good spin. The CES Birth/Death Model added 165,000 this month, almost exactly what was added in October last year. This makes no difference to the Ministry however; they never report it and don't understand it.

If you look at the Household Data the number of Employed increased by 320,000 which reversed the decrease last month. The Unemployed went down by 7,000 and the Not in the Labor Force went down by 97,000. This was enough to drop the Unemployment rate by 0.01% to what the Federal Reserve considers full employment.

The Participation Rate remained unchanged at 62.4% continuing to be the lowest it has been since 1977. While the Not in the Labor Force now stands at 94,513,000 down from the all time record set last month.

The average earnings rose by 11¢ to $25.20 an hour while the average workweek remained unchanged at 34.5 hours. This jobs report should provide the Federal Reserve with justification to increase rates in December. They may not do so if President Obama thinks it will throw the economy into a recession and be a blemish on his legacy.

This is the Cruz Tax Plan for business which the Ministry of Propaganda has also ignored.

Business Tax Changes

1. Eliminates the corporate income tax.
2. Provides a temporary tax holiday at a 10 percent rate (instead of a full 35 percent rate) on any deferred foreign profits that are repatriated.

Other Changes

1. Enacts a broad-based, 16 percent “Business Transfer Tax” or value-added tax. This tax is levied on all business profits, less capital investment. This would include the payroll of business, government, and non-profit institutions, as well as net imports. The tax would exempt from taxation the purchase of health insurance. A business transfer tax is also often known as a subtraction-method value-added tax. While its base is identical in economic terms to that of the credit-invoice VAT seen in many OECD countries, it is calculated from corporate accounts, not on individual transactions.
2. Eliminates the estate tax.

8 November
Pair-A-Dice Escapees RV Park
Pahrump, NV

After taking a break from the web page reformatting project I have made some good progress during the past couple of days. I finished the Cross County Bicycling Tour page last night. Have also done all I'm going to do with the Australia Tour, left the pictures as they were. Now working on a segment of Reno pages that I will finish today and then update the Site Map tomorrow.

I went a full day using Verizon because there were no WIFI connections showing for me to connect to. I then had a problem with Verizon and needed WIFI so I decided it was time to find out what was the problem. I don't know how or why by my WIFI had become disabled. Clicked enable and had nearly a dozen WIFI connections appear. Three of them are the Park's and I have a password for them, I think all the others are password protected or they have a very weak signal.

I thought I could wait until tomorrow before dumping holding tanks. I probable could have but the fresh water was getting low so I did the dump and taking on of fresh water this morning. That is just one more household chore that I will not have to do tomorrow or Tuesday.

The Cruz Tax Plan information that I have provided the previous two days has come from Details and Analysis of Senator Ted Cruz’s Tax Plan by Kyle Pomerleau and Michael Schuyler. The conclusion that I show below is from that article also and it explains why the Ministry of Propaganda does not want to talk about it. The Plan would cause federal revenue to decline which would increase federal borrowing OR even worse it may cause a contraction in federal spending.

They do not want to raise the issue of a 'deficit' after what President Obama has done to the federal debt while he has been in office. The Cruz Plan also has many of the same goals as the Trump Plan; elimination of the IRS, reduce the size and power of the federal government and turn the tax return into a postcard. These are not the goals of the Ministry so they ignore the Trump and Cruz Plans with the hope that no one will know about them and they will go away.

Conclusion
Senator Cruz’s tax plan would significantly alter the federal tax code. It would completely repeal the corporate income tax and all payroll taxes and enact a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent “business transfer tax” or value-added tax. These changes to the tax code would increase the incentives to work and invest and would greatly increase the U.S. economy’s size in the long run, leading to higher incomes for taxpayers at all income levels. The plan would also be a large tax cut, which would increase the federal government’s deficit by over $3.6 trillion on a static basis. Accounting for the growth caused by the plan, federal revenues would decline by $768 billion over the next decade.

9 November
Pair-A-Dice Escapees RV Park
Pahrump, NV

A little shorter morning walk than what we usually do. We have done a couple 5 mile plus days these past two so I needed to scale back a little. I also wanted to join the Koffee Klatch in the Club House before breakfast and before house cleaning.

The usual chores today. Clean the toilet, to include taking the seat off, bathroom and floors in the bath and kitchen. Vacuum the living room and drink coffee between chores. That is it for today, I'll do the cab tomorrow - maybe even the windows.

I got the Trans Texas Bicycling Tour page reformatted this morning. So now the Site Map has been updated to reflect all that has been done and what remains. Working on the second segment of Reno/Sparks and then will finish the Bicycling Tours. I am making progress and now have completion by the end of the year as a goal.

The wind forecast has started to come true. That is the one thing that the weather guessers usually get right. It is starting to build up to the expected 20-30 mph winds later today. A 20 - 40% chance of rain during the night. On the same page Weather Underground offers up those two different chances of rain. We may be doing shorter walks this afternoon and tomorrow morning.

10 November
Pair-A-Dice Escapees RV Park
Pahrump, NV

We didn't get the strong winds that were predicted yesterday nor the rain last night. The rain did come this morning however around 8:00 as I was heading back to Desperado after having coffee in the Club House while doing laundry. Not much but enough to say that we got a trace. From the looks of things we may get more than that before the day is done.

I may get around to cleaning the cab windows and then again I may not. The high temperature for today is expected to be 53° with winds gusting to 40 mph. It has cleared a lot by 11:00 but still not very warm. If I'm going to be outside I best do it before the wind picks up.

Mao expressed personal approval and support for the Red Guards in a letter to Tsinghua University Red Guards on 1 August 1966. White House press secretary Josh Earnest praised the protesters at the University of Missouri. “A few people standing up and speaking out can have a profound impact on the places where we live and work,” Earnest said. He noted that similar debates are taking place at other campuses, such as at Yale; debates that go to the “fundamental issue of ensuring that there is home for everyone” on college campuses.

Abject Missouri comes down hard on Wolfe but I do not fault him at all. He was under attack by what I consider President Obama's Red Guard; what he proposed as a Civilian National Security Force. They are the 'army' that will put some force behind the President's Cultural Revolution to transform the United States of America.

Tim Wolfe, the president of the University of Missouri, is resigning his post, an act of extraordinary cowardice on the part of the university...When men with souls made of cotton candy wilt in the face of this sort of absurdity, it encourages it. Wolfe is, by his resignation, rewarding destructive and deeply illiberal behavior.

11 November
Pair-A-Dice Escapees RV Park
Pahrump, NV

We did a long potty walk this morning rather than our usual distance. It was too cold for this old guy although Patches loves it. Not a lot colder than yesterday's 34° but it felt even colder than the reported 32°.

It was also shopping day but I arrived at Andrea's Diner too early and had a wait. I thought they opened at 6:00 but it is 7:00. This time I had an order your own omelet with peppers, onions, mushrooms and sausage, O'Brien potatoes (better than last time) and a biscuit and gravy (just as good as last time). This and Mom's are the two go to places in Pahrump beyond question.

One last shopping excursion here at Smith's this trip. I know that it is time to leave town when I know where every thing I want is at in the store. That is what it was like this morning. Went right to what I wanted and was in and out in about half the time my first visit required.

For the past six months I have been moving toward eating breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper. Well actually eating breakfast like a king once a week and then all my other meals sort of a combination of prince and pauper.

My usual breakfast now combines barley, beans, squash, jalapeño and Ricotta cheese. Then 'linner' has been fish (usually baked) with a side vegetable. I tried changing 'linner' last week to a prince-pauper pottage that did not turn out as well as I had hoped. I'm trying it again this week with some broth, cod, barley, peas and okra. The 'linners' are always accompanied by a big green salad and then later in the day I have my yogurt, nut and fruit dessert.

I have lost some weight but will not know how successful the diet has been until my VA visit in March/April. I have been able to cut the blood pressure dosage in half but I don't know if I'm reducing cholesterol until I get blood test lab results.

I may be a little late with my posting tomorrow. A longer drive than what I usually like to do.

12 November
Ameri-Can Trails RV Park
Quartzsite, AZ

It was a long driving day but I got very lucky - no wind. I can not remember another time that I left Pahrump and drove either north or south without fighting the wind. It did come up today around 10:00 but was never strong and never picked a fight. The route that I chose may seem strange and it was 50 mils longer that what I have done before. That is the reason for picking it, I wanted to see something different or something that I have not seen in many years.

The total was 338 miles and this was the route: Oakridge Av, Manse Rd, Vicki Ann Rd, Gamebird Rd, Winchester Av, Indola St, Leslie St, Carnation Way and Barney St (this got me out of Pahrump -HA), NV372, CA178, CA127, Kelbaker Rd, National Trail Hwy (Old US66), Amboy Rd, Godwin Rd, CA62 & AZ95. Note: When driving west/south on Amboy Godwin Rd is signed as the way to the Airport. Godwin is between mile markers 41 and 40 when driving west/north on CA62. VERY small road sign.

I stopped at Denny's in Baker, CA for breakfast and had my favorite - Santa Fe Skillet. This is the first time that I have been in Baker since April 1996. I stayed there overnight some other time that I can not remember but I did recognize the motel and where I had breakfast (now closed).

From Baker to Kelso, CA is 35 miles through the Mohave National Preserve. The road has deteriorated a lot since I last drove it (probably in the late 1980s) which may account for my seeing only one other car. From Kelso to Interstate 40 is 22 miles and I saw 16 other cars so that is the way people drive in to see the Kelso Dunes and the Kelso Depot.

The National Trail Hwy and Amboy Rd is now a main route for traffic compared to what I remember. A steady stream of cars and RVs. Patches and I did a potty pit stop soon after getting to CA62. That was about half way (125 miles) from Baker to Quartzsite and I needed the break. That road from 29 Palms to US95 was a first for me today and it has little traffic.

Lost an hour when we moved into Arizona so this posting is even later than it would have been using Pacific Time Zone time. But it is good to be back on Arizona Time where you can set your clocks once and then leave them set!

13 November
Shangri-La RV Resort
Yuma, AZ

I made up for the long drive yesterday by doing a short one today. We did a slightly shorter morning walk also. I then stopped in Quartzsite to fill up with gas and we were on the road by around 7:00.

After driving only 5 miles I keep hearing a strange noise so I pulled over to check around the outside of Desperado. Could not see anything untoward so continued on. I keep hearing the noise which would come and go and finally found the source.

It was Patches breathing up close against the window. She has done this many times before and I never heard anything so I don't know what was different this morning but it was her. When she turned away form the window the noise went away.

The route was 76 miles on US95, Av 11E/Fortuna Rd & N Frontage Rd.

Stopped for breakfast at Daybreakers Café, which is almost next door to my Park. The number one thing that they have going for them is that they are open 24 hours a day. I had breakfast here once before when I was in Yuma and they are not my number one choice but I will go back. Today I had their San Diego Joe Omelet; spinach, ground beef, mushroom, cheese and eggs with some good home fries.

The latest batch of pottage that I made was much better. I'll be making it again and saving the sardines for patties with potatoes. Or, I may try the sardines with barley and vegetables like I did with the cod?

14 November
Shangri-La RV Resort
Yuma, AZ

Yesterday afternoon I reached a milestone of sorts. I started a 'measured walking' program on 31 August 2006. When I say 'measured walking' these are walks that I have measured using a pedometer or a GPS watch and then recorded the distance. The milestone was half way around the world or 12,451.7 miles.

There have been some times during these past 9 years when I did not walk every day but I think I have done reasonably well. I would like to think I'll live long enough and remain in good health to do the other half!

The first Ludlum book I read was The Tristan Betrayal reviewed on 13 March 2014 written by a ghost writer. The second was The Bourne Dominion written by Eric Van Lustbader, reviewed 19 May 2014, with the Bourne character used under franchise with Ludlum's estate. I did not like either of those and did not like this one either, the first one that I have read that was authored by Ludlum. I complained that Lustbader got his story line from a comic book but I now see that he was just following in Ludlum's footsteps. The story line was classic 'on-line computer game' and the dialog was aimed at the comic book reader. The customer review that I have copied is right on and leads me to believe that I should give Ludlum another chance but if I have a choice between two books I will not select his.

"I was somehow disappointed which is uncommon for Ludlum's books... This one took a little longer to read and didn't necessarily keep me interested the whole way through... There were times I had to really force myself to keep going.
If you are picking up a Ludlum book for the first time, don't choose this one! Also if you have not read 'The Matarese Circle', which is book number '1' in this series, don't attempt this one. There is a lot of prior assumed knowledge and character development and plot development in the first book that this one lacks." - Customer Review at goodreads.com

Al Qaeda is 'On the Run' is an article written on 22 January 2015 that could now be re-posted. However, change Al Qaeda to ISIS in the article.

Dear Leader Barack Hussein Obama, in 2012, concluded that al Qaeda was not a threat to America. He said in his 2012 State of the Union speech that "al Qaeda operatives who remain are scrambling, knowing that they can't escape the reach of the United States of America."
Obama said on September 14, 2014, "This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years."
Obama has stated that al Qaeda is "on the run" or "has been decimated" or "is on the path to defeat" or some other variation thirty two times since the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya...
So why should we believe anything the administration) now says? The problem is that a delusional Obama (and his administration) doesn't have to pay the price for his denials about Islam violence. We do. America has been relatively lucky so far. But indications are that our luck is about to run out. Still Obama says that “al Qaeda is on the run” and does nothing to protect us.

15 November
Shangri-La RV Resort
Yuma, AZ

I have found a morning walk route that is mostly an out and back which I usually do not favor but there is a Dunkin' Donuts at the turn around. I am not a fan of Dunkin' Donuts and have not been in one in many years. Have always considered their coffee to be just one step up from tepid dish water. However, I stopped this morning and they offer a latte which I ordered and found it - Damn Good!

I sat outside, about 55° at 6:00 am, and was joined by a couple that Patches had to meet and greet. She then displayed what a Good Dog she was and a conversation ensued. I even had her perform her Sit Pretty for them which they thought deserved more of a treat than I gave her. She did me proud!

There has been an overcast build up this morning and the weather guessers are forecasting a 30% chance of rain. I didn't think it was going to happen but then I am the Rain Maker. Yuma has received an annual average rain of 3.30" during the past 30 years and an average of 0.33" in November. I think what fell this morning may register as an official trace, but it did rain.

I am not one that believes that we need to rush to the aid of France just because they provided support during our Revolutionary War. Since that time "they'll be there when they need us" but give the United States the back of their hand the rest of the time. I do want to contrast the quotes of two people at a time when France needed some help. The one is historical the other is rather "MEH".

Lafayette, we are here! - lieutenant colonel Charles Stanton, July 4, 1917
We stand prepared and ready to provide whatever assistance the people of France need to respond. - President Obama, November 13, 2015

French President Francois Hollande understands the meaning of Friday’s slaughter. He called it an “act of war” and vowed that “France will not show any pity” against those who carried out the barbaric acts. World leaders quickly expressed their condolences and condemnation.
Yet it remains doubtful if our side is truly committed to winning. The determination and unity the free world showed after 9/11 faded as casualties, mistakes and politics eroded the mission.
So we are back to square one again, facing a stronger and more emboldened enemy. The time has run out for half measures and kicking the can down the road. The enemy must be destroyed on the battlefield before there can be any hope of peace.
If Obama cannot rise to the challenge of leadership in this historic crisis, then, for the good of humanity, he should resign. Those are the only options and it is his duty to decide.

16 November
Shangri-La RV Resort
Yuma, AZ

I had previously finished reformatting all the Bicycle Tours, the second part of Reno/Sparks and then yesterday completed the Japan pages. This has now been reflected in an updated Site Map. Then started on the Bulgaria pages, they will be the more difficult, and may jump back and forth to those for Reno. These are now the only remaining pages that I need to do.

I didn't feel like walking this morning and when I stepped out into a cold wind that put an end to our usual walk. Forecast is for 20-30 mph winds with gusts to 40 mph. We did an in the Park (dogs allowed portion) long potty walk for Patches. I didn't even want to do that but meet so many other walkers that I was shamed into doing more than I wanted. If the forecast is right we may be doing a shorter afternoon walk also.

I heard it raining harder again around 7:00 last night. The official rain measuring guy (at the airport) called that a trace and didn't recognize what I got in the morning as rain, not even a trace designation. The local weather underground reporter thought the evening shower dumped 0.01" but agreed that it had not rained in the morning.

Tomorrow I'll be running around town trying to make arrangements for my Mexico RV painting. This morning I sent off an email to my insurance agent asking for clarification about the coverage that I have in Mexico. The policy language is confusing to say the least.

17 November
Shangri-La RV Resort
Yuma, AZ

As I said yesterday, I had a busy morning. A lot of it was waiting for places of business to open but there was also 30 miles of town driving which I do not like to do.

We did our usual walk but a new route in near calm wind conditions. We didn't get the strong winds that were forecast yesterday so the afternoon walk was a good one also. Found a dog food store where I can stock up just before leaving here. Patches was allowed in the store and showed off her Sit Pretty to get a treat.

After our morning walk I unhooked from electric and drove to the kennel where Patches will live while I am in Mexico. Filled out all the paper work that included presenting her shot record. I can now quickly drop her off and be on my way. I hate to think what my life is going to be without her.

Then went to La Fonda for breakfast which opens at 8:00. That meant a wait of a little over a half hour. It was not worth the wait. The beef enchiladas with eggs, beans and potatoes was so-so. The service was slow, the server had to be reminded that I wanted more coffee and it was overpriced. I will not be going back.

From there I went to Sprague's Sports where I had another half hour wait until they opened at 9:30. I had contacted them via email asking if they would store my shotgun and ammunition while I went into Mexico. They said they would not but I could leave the shotgun for cleaning.

I was prepared for them to not take the partial box of shells, some gun oil and the gun sock but they took it all. The shotgun had some rust on it so the gun sock is going to go in the trash and I'll pick up a case when I pick up the cleaned shotgun. I recommend Sprague's Sports as the go to place to solve your firearms into Mexico problems.

The last stop of the day was at Fry's. There is a huge store within walking distance of my Park but I will always drive. The walk there and back is part of one route but I don't carry anything back with me. For the size of the store I was disappointment that I could not find any barley. I made a mental note that they did have canned Red Sockeye Salmon but it was a lot more expensive than what I paid at Scolari's in Yerington.

Everything is coming together for me to go to Mexico next Monday. There is one exception; my insurance agent has not answered my email asking for clarification about what coverage I have. Perhaps I caught them at a bad time or the insurance attorney is pondering on how to write "you are not covered" in some more convoluted language that I will not understand. The idea being I will throw up my hands in disgust and just GO AWAY.

18 November
Shangri-La RV Resort
Yuma, AZ

There was one other thing that I picked up at Fry's yesterday that I don't find that often. Some canned Red Tart Pitted Cherries that I will be using to make my yogurt desserts for this next week. I usually buy frozen blueberries, wild if I can find them because they are smaller and I just like them more, or occasionally blackberries. This is a nice change.

I received a package that I was anticipating this week. More Arbuckles' coffee, I seem to be going through 5# of it faster and faster. I also got an answer from my insurance agent that I had some coverage, within 25 miles of the border, but needed Mexico Liability insurance. So that is on my to do list now but I think I have all my other ducks in a row.

I have copied only one of President Obama's statements from his G20 Summit press conference on 16 November 2015. Obama and the Office of the Petulancy is the article where I got the quote and is well worth a read.

But what we do not do, what I do not do is to take actions either because it is going to work politically or it is going to somehow, in the abstract, make America look tough, or make me look tough. And maybe part of the reason is because every few months I go to Walter Reed, and I see a 25-year-old kid who’s paralyzed or has lost his limbs, and some of those are people I’ve ordered into battle. And so I can’t afford to play some of the political games that others may.

President Obama wants to allow ISIS to exist, he essentially supports the expression of their views on Islam; however, he faces a problem where he must hide his intent because his viewpoint is antithetical to the rest of the world.

19 November
Shangri-La RV Resort
Yuma, AZ

I know that I am out of step with how most of the world marches but what is with businesses opening at 9:00 or 10:00 in the morning? The day is almost over and they are just opening their doors.

We did our usual walk and then I was off to town again. There I did find a restaurant that was open a little after 7:00. I had been to Bubba's before when I was in Yuma and although it is not a great place for breakfast it is pretty good and it is OPEN. I had their Corned Beef Hash with poached eggs, home fries and sourdough.

Even eating a leisurely breakfast can take only so much of my time so I was about 45 minutes early at the insurance office. They did open at the time that they claimed so I will give them points for that - 5 minutes late and I would have been gone. The email contact person was not there but she had left notes for the woman that arrived and she promptly went to work on getting me some Mexico Auto Liability insurance.

My biggest problem was what period of time did I want the policy to cover. I do not know how long it is going to take the paint shop to do the paint job. So my first guess was a week, what will that cost? Then how much for a month? Mexico insurance prices are a little strange; three weeks will cost more than a month and 6 months is the same price as one. Or, a year is cheaper than 7 months. I bought a year policy!

I was backed into my space at the Park again by 10:00 after driving another 30 miles and spending far more for insurance than I wanted but it may save me money in the long run.

I had vague thoughts about not coming to Yuma next winter but to come the following one and having the paint/upholstery shop build and upholster a new living room couch. Now, I'm considering doing that next winter. Arrive here before the annual insurance policy expires and cross the border and have that done. Or, now that I have the insurance maybe have it done in Auga Prieta or Naco while I am in Sierra Vista.

I needed to do two other things before going to the paint shop on Monday. The first was call them and tell them that I was coming and find out what time they opened. The second was dump my holding tanks and take on fresh water. That I thought could wait until Saturday or Sunday but had to do it this morning because the fresh water was low. Now, I think I'm ready.

20 November
Shangri-La RV Resort
Yuma, AZ

Nothing much happening here.

My space in the Park has been very isolated since I got here. When I say isolated I mean that there is at least one space between me and my closest neighbor. I had two rigs move in southwest of me yesterday afternoon but the closest one is still two spaces away on the diagonal. This will not last I know. Probably get more people moving in after Thanksgiving and more for sure after Christmas and New Years.

I haven't done any more work on the web page formatting in the last few days. I will also need to start work on the Will Rogers weekly article links again soon. Everything may go on hold next week while I am in Mexico since I don't know what my Verizon or WIFI connections might be.

President Obama’s Cynical Refugee Ploy by Walter Russell Mead goes to the heart of the Syrian refugee debate. Who caused the refugee problem and what is being done to fix it other than the symbolic acceptance of a small group that may contain jihadist. I think that all the negative consequences that Mr. Mead has pointed out in his article are not negatives in the President mind but are plans coming together. I was tempted to copy the entire article but these paragraphs contain most of the authors points.

And it’s worse. The Obama Administration’s extreme caution about engagement in Syria led it to insist on such a thorough process of vetting potential Syrian allies that years of effort and tens of millions of dollars resulted in only a paltry handful of people being found acceptable to receive American weapons and training. The refugee vetting process won’t be nearly this thorough; it’s almost certain that the President’s program will result in settling people in the United States who could not be certified to fight for the United States in Syria. Given our gun laws, uncertified Syrians living in the United States will soon have the opportunity to get weapons that the United States government would refuse to give them in Syria. To millions of Americans, this is a double standard they can neither understand nor accept. To call people troubled by these concerns racists and xenophobes is to divide and polarize this country in ways that will cost us all dearly down the road. We have enough hate, enough radicalism, enough mutual misunderstanding and distrust between left and right in America as it is. The President is adding to that distrust, and doing it in a particularly ugly and damaging way.
If President Obama really had the superior moral insight and wisdom that he believes makes him so much more humane and far-seeing than the ignorant rednecks who keep on opposing him, he would have approached the refugee issue with less arrogance and more self-awareness. It is not given to the sons (or even to the daughters) of mortals to be right about everything all the time; Presidents make mistakes, even in the Middle East. A little humility, a little acknowledgement of responsibility, a little self-reflection could go a long way.
For no one, other than the Butcher Assad and the unspeakable al-Baghdadi, is as responsible for the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria as is President Obama. No one has committed more sins of omission, no one has so ruthlessly sacrificed the well-being of Syria’s people for his own ends, as the man in the White House. In all the world, only President Obama had the ability to do anything significant to prevent this catastrophe; in all the world no one turned his back so coldly and resolutely on the suffering Syrians as the man who sits in the White House today—a man who is now lecturing his fellow citizens on what he insists is their moral inferiority before his own high self-esteem.

21 November
Shangri-La RV Resort
Yuma, AZ

Yesterday I did a lot of copy and reformat work on next month's Will Rogers weekly articles. I'm going to make a point of finishing that today. If I have poor/no Verizon or WIFI while in Mexico that will be done.

Today I also built the route map that I will follow on Monday. I may have to change it later but it will be mostly ready when I have a Internet connection. Argued with myself about even doing it and then decided that Algodones will be another "camp" during my full time travels so it deserved a map.

How to Stop the Civilizational Collapse is a transcript of Bill Whittle's Keynote speech at the David Horowitz Freedom Center’s 2015 Restoration Weekend. I have selected only a bit of it which I think makes his main point. It is a rather long article but good reading.

What's happening to this country? And what happened to the Greeks, and what happened to the Romans, and what happened to the Egyptians, what happened to the Babylonians, what happened to the French, what happened to the British, what happened to all of them?
It's very simple. It's really very simple. K-selected behaviors -- cooperation, discipline, warrior codes, law -- produce over the course of 300 or 400 years a civilization that eventually reaches the height of its powers. And when it is the dominant civilization in the world, as the Greeks, the Romans, the Egyptians -- when they are absolutely dominant, you would think that that would be the point that that culture would go into space, that there would be nothing left to confront the Romans...But that's not what happens. It doesn't happen. It didn't just not happen once; it didn't happen ever. Once civilizations get to the peak of their power, they collapse... Why?
Because when a civilization reaches that level of prosperity and security and dominance, the people inside that civilization begin to assume that affluence is unlimited and permanent. They stop thinking about the world as a place where we have to go out and make food or hunt food or work together for food, and they start thinking about the world as an unlimited field of clover, where we can take, take, take, take, take, and it doesn't matter how much we take.

22 November
Shangri-La RV Resort
Yuma, AZ

I finished reformatting about half of the pages for Bulgaria this morning. Started working on Reno, which is much easier, and I should make good progress today. I could even finish all the pages today, maybe, if I were to push it but see no reason to.

When we went for our morning walk I saw that the Flying J time and temperature was claiming it to be 60°. With only a slight breeze it was great. Stopped at the nearby Starbucks on the way back and sat outside while enjoying a latte. It does not get much better than this. HA

That is it from me today. With any luck I will have an Internet connection tomorrow while in Algodones. I'll have more to say at that time just don't know if I'll be able to say it on a daily basis. If nothing is posted after this date keep checking - I'll continue to write and post when I have a connection.

23 November
Navaroo's Shop
Algodones, MX

The day started off with our usual walk but nothing has been the same since we finished it and left the Park. Patches knew something different was going on when we got to Waggin' West Kennels. I'll find out how well she handled it when I pick her up. I miss her already but she may be happy to have a vacation.

When I told the kennel owner that she was in the habit of walking 4 miles/day and may start 'acting out' after a couple of days she said "O my, we will try and give her a walk."

Missed my turn for the Copper Miner Kitchen but not by much. It is in the tourist part of old Yuma and I was confronted with tourist prices. The good thing is they open at 5:00 am. The bad thing, other than the prices, was that my Chorizo and Eggs with hash browns and tortilla was not all that good. Another Yuma restaurant that I can add to my Will Not Return List.

The road north of Interstate 8 that I have driven a few times now was always bad but it has become even worse. I think it may have been part of old US80 at one time and has had nothing done to/for it since the Interstate was built. It would be a better road if they tore up the remaining pavement because it is almost continuous pot holes now.

Not that much of a drive to my new camp, among the shortest at only 25 miles. The route: N. Frontage Rd, S. Frontage Rd/32nd St, E 3rd Av, E. 14th St, Pacific Av, E. 8th St/S. Gila St, W. 1st St, N. 4th Av, W. Winterhaven Dr/Araz Rd, AZ186/Calle 2, 5 de Mayo & Octava. NOTE: See 25 November for better route in Algodones.

Stopped at the Mexico border check station and had an agent come into Desperado and look around opened a couple cabinet doors until one of them came apart when he tried to open it. He had this very sheepish look on his face when I took the door handle and part of the door out of his hand and put the door back together. That was the conclusion of the inspection. Had to buy a Tourist Card which I did not expect but if you stay more than the day they will make you get one. It is good for 6 moths so that is a good.

I had an address for Nararoo's Shop as being Av "A" & 8th Street from a posting I found on the Internet. Went past the shop twice before finding it. It is at Octava 510 Algodones, MX or the corner of Octava & 5 de Mayo if you use Google Maps. Enrique & Jose Navaroo are the two brothers that own the shop and I spent most of my time with Jose going over what I wanted done. Telephone numbers are 9283281114 and 9282398906 and email is enrique@navarrosshop.com but don't expect much if you try using email. Jose's spoken English is fair, I think better than Enrique's but I don't think their English reading and writing is very good.

They got Desperado backed into the shop area and I was able to plug into 110V electric. It is not 30 amp but I'll be fine in the weather that we have been having since it is only the A/C that may need the 30 amp service. Tried to connect to the Internet using Verizon and had no luck. Got a password for the Shop's WIFI and so far it is among the best WIFI connection that I have ever used.

I have an estimate/price now that is higher than I wished but probably 1/2 to 2/3rd what I would pay in the USA. Nothing has begun yet on Desperado but I know this is Mexico and I'll need even more patience here than when dealing with shops in the good 'Ol US of A. It is going to be a test for me and Patches may be getting the best of this deal!

24 November
Navaroo's Shop
Algodones, MX

I walked around town yesterday afternoon looking for a dentist office that I had picked out. There are literally hundreds of dentist in about a 4-5 block area and their offices have 'runners' that solicits patients and lead them to the office. There is an important reason for that which I did not write about yesterday.

The streets are known by different names than what is shown on Google Maps but that is only the half of it, most streets do not have street name signs. Then to top it off the numbering system, if such a thing exist, is known only to the natives. I was looking for a number 192 and found 193 with 184 almost across the street. It was only by asking for directions using the dentist's name that I was sent to his office. Almost at the opposite end of the block from 193 and on the same side of the street.

I have an appointment now and was able to find the hotel that I may stay at when they begin to spray paint on Desperado. There was some progress made yesterday afternoon with the decal removal. They are all drying out and curling but still difficult to remove. The prep work is going to take the longest time and I hesitate to even ask. Maybe in a day or two I'll ask.

I finished reformatting all the pages for Reno last night. Now I have only the first half of Bulgaria remaining. That should not be too difficult and I might have this project completed by the time I move back to Shangri-La. I then need to find something else to keep the mind busy. I have been dabbling with VBScript but can't grasp what I might do with it when/if I were to learn how to code in it.

From Worldwide Travel Alert I copied this leading paragraph only to show an example of the right hand not knowing what the left is doing in the Obama Administration. President Obama get all huffy when he is called out about his "contained" statement while Secretary Kerry is issuing a Worldwide Travel Alert. Does that mean the 'containment' is being done someplace other than the world? Where?

Last Updated: November 23, 2015
The State Department alerts U.S. citizens to possible risks of travel due to increased terrorist threats. Current information suggests that ISIL (aka Da’esh), al-Qa’ida, Boko Haram, and other terrorist groups continue to plan terrorist attacks in multiple regions. These attacks may employ a wide variety of tactics, using conventional and non-conventional weapons and targeting both official and private interests. This Travel Alert expires on February 24, 2016.

25 November
Navaroo's Shop
Algodones, MX

I walked around town again yesterday after having breakfast in Desperado and reading Daily blogs and News.

I would have gone earlier but I was locked inside the fenced shop compound with a couple of Boxers for company during the night. I stepped out last night just to say hello and they barked at me but showed no real aggressive behavior. I got a key from José for the side gate so this morning I was able to do an early morning walk.

Most places do not open until 8:00 am or later. The hotel restaurant claimed to open at 7:00 but they were not open then today nor when I went back a few minutes after 8:00. But they saw me at the door and opened up. I got chicken enchiladas with eggs, some under cooked French fries and poor coffee. All this for $P60 or about ($3.75) so I can't complain too much.

Yesterday I picked up a business card for a place that will fill my progressive glasses prescription for $39. I'll probably get an eye exam in Sierra Vista in April and then bring the prescription to Algodones next year. There is more and more that I can get done here next year which makes coming back a good idea.

I also discovered that there is a better way to reach Navaroo's Shop. Rather than turn right on 5 de Mayo (the first street - "A" but no signs) turn on 16 de Septiembre (the second one with some signs that say "B" Av). This is the main route, MX8, to San Felipe with a sign at Sexta (6th St) pointing the way. Go straight for 2 blocks past that sign then turn right on Octava (8th St - with no sign) go one block and you are there. You will pass a Navarro's Shop sign on "B" at 7th St but ignore it, there is another one at 8th & "A".

I also found a couple grocery stores within walking distance where I can pick up some bottled water. Maybe get some other things but didn't see a lot that I wanted. These are not US supermarkets nor do they compare favorably to the small town markets that I frequent but they will provide what I need while here.

An observation about the downing of the Russian bomber by the Turkish fighter and subsequent killing of the pilot while in his parachute. I have read only two other articles that posed this question but it is the most obvious one "Would Turkish President Erdogan shoot down a Russian plane without US permission or without US support?"

It was the Free Syrian Army that committed a war crime ^*by killing the pilot, these are the 'moderates' that Senator McCain supports so strongly. He is complicit in that killing and I would not be displeased to see him brought up on charges along with those that did the shooting. ^* Attacking people parachuting from an aircraft in distress is a war crime under Protocol I in addition to the 1949 Geneva Conventions.

President Obama Opens Up A Serious Can Of Whoop Ass On ISIS! is a guest blog posting that explains how our President is standing strong in support of the French President. WOW, you talk about manning up!

For the first time since the Paris massacre that left 130 dead and hundreds more wounded, and for which ISIS claimed responsibility, President Obama met with France’s President Hollande today at the White House. Showing that steel spine of resolve and the slick strategery we’ve come to expect from President Obama as he steadfastly works to contain, degrade and destroy ISIS, he threw down the gauntlet and reminded ISIS just who it is they are messing with:

Next week, I will be joining President Hollande and world leaders in Paris for the global climate conference. What a powerful rebuke to the terrorists it will be when the world stands as one and shows that we will not be deterred from building a better future for our children.

26 November
Navaroo's Shop
Algodones, MX

I was hoping that I could get Desperado painted within a week but did not really think that would happen, that is why I bought Mexico insurance for more than one week. I'm now hoping for 10 days but that may be optimistic also. The preparation work is happening slowly with attention to any body work that is needed. They found a place that had damage that I never knew was damaged. The metal in the driver door had been pushed in with no evidence that I ever noticed. They could have ignored it and I would have never known the difference.

That bit of body work and the screw holes where the awning had once been are all that needs to be done - I think. They got all the decals off yesterday and most of the residue glue that was left behind. So this morning I can see some progress. I have also selected the script style for the painted DESPERADO that takes the place of the decals (front and back only).

I have sent an email to a RV parts place near my Park in Yuma about getting the vinyl screw cover molding material that I need. The plan now is I will get that molding material and the shop here will install it when I come back for my dental appointment in December. Or, maybe Enrique can pick it up when he goes to Yuma or when he takes me to get the cash to pay them for the paint job.

I went to the closest grocery store and picked up a 4L bottle of water and a bag of peanuts in the shell. While I was there I looked to see what they had to offer in yogurt that I might like for desert. The LaLa with cereal seemed promising although it contained a lot of sugar, had a very long list of ingredients (all in Spanish) and it is not the thick Greek yogurt style. I added a bag of hazelnuts to the 32oz size and it is good. It would be better with some blueberries but they were not available.

Completed re-formatting the last Bulgaria page last night. This morning I made all the changes to the Site Map and took down the Construction Notice that had been up on the Home page. There may be a few stray tools laying around and a touch-up needed here and there but I am declaring this project complete.

This is the sixth book by Greg Iles that I have read, the list is getting long so check 22 October 2015 for reviews of the previous five. I had said that I liked his Penn Cage Series the best but this stand alone book was excellent. He maintained the suspense until almost the final page yet was also able to close the story in a way that I like. I know that I read Spandau Phoenix also but never posted a review, this was before starting this feature(?) in my postings. I liked it a lot as well with it and this novel both being military historical fiction. Highly recommended.

Henceforth, any recommended reading list of thrillers about commando raids behind enemy lines will have to include this second novel by Iles (Spandau Phoenix), who has come up with an action-packed yet thoughtful yarn about a mission to stop the Nazi development of two new poison gases, Sarin and Somin, in a small concentration camp. Mark McConnell, a pacifist American doctor and poison-gas researcher, and Jonas Stern, a Zionist assassin, are chosen by the British to attack the camp. They are instructed to kill all its occupants (including the inmates) by unleashing Britain's own meager supply of Sarin, and to return with information about the manufacture of the gases. The story of McConnell and Stern's training and raid alternates with that of several people interned in the camp, among them Stern's father. The two strands come together in a swift and moving story about mercy, sacrifice and the horrors of war. The mission's purpose is problematic: Would Britain's use of Sarin to kill everyone at the camp really have convinced Himmler to discontinue further research and to persuade Hitler never to use poison gas for fear of Allied retaliation? But Iles builds suspense around the mission itself, not its aftermath, and winds up with an unusually resonant, gripping thriller that's a strong bet for bestsellerdom. - Publishers Weekly

27 November
Navaroo's Shop
Algodones, MX

My good friend kaBLOOnie boonster has bloged recently about the difficulty he has with trying to read Dostoevsky novels and short stories. I have been down that same path these past few months trying to learn how to code and use PHP (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor - a recursive backronym) with SQL (Structured Query Language).

I toyed with VBScripting but really did not see a use for it even if I did learn how to code it. I do see some uses for PHP/SQL but it has been as difficult for me as Dostoevsky is for my friend. I made some progress by late last night - it is keeping me up. Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more - Henry The Fifth , Shakespeare

I did a loop walk yesterday morning with a stop at La Parilla for breakfast. This is on the edge of the main tourist blocks in town and they cater to the US $. Everything on the menu was priced in US $ and my Chorizo with Eggs, rice, bean, tortilla and coffee cost an even $7. It is all outdoor seating and was still a bit cold at 8:00 am.

This morning I cooked at home after doing my morning walk. I'll be going out for my 'linners' the rest of the time that I'm here unless I can find what I want at the grocery store. It is easier to get stuff for my breakfast than "linner". I could make do but I rarely eat 'linners' out so this will be a treat for me.

Just a short walk in the afternoon to the store. There I picked up 4L of water, Strawberry LaLa yogurt as well as 3 chayote and about a pound of jalapeño. The total was slightly over $P64 and I paid with a $P100 note, received $2.25 in change. The cashier didn't hesitate or think about it she just gave me the two US dollar bills and a quarter as if the transaction had been priced in dollars rather than pesos. In the US we have clerks that can not make change even when the register tells them how much it is.

28 November
Navaroo's Shop
Algodones, MX

Just before I posted yesterday they moved Desperado across "A" Av to a open yard where they gave her a good bath. That is where I was sitting while I did the posting.

They then backed her into a block building with a high ceiling where they will do the painting and I have electricity. So there is progress but at the same time there is digression - I lost the WIFI connection. If I am outside the block building I still can use the WIFI so I'm still connected, just not as comfortable.

I have made good progress with PHP/SQL. Nothing very exciting but for me to be able to build a database and get something to show up on a web page is a big leap from what I have done in the past.

At first I set up the SQL database using SQL coding (copied from a tutorial) like I would HTML coding for all the other web pages that I have done. That eventually led me to PHP MyAdmin which is set up in my account at Web Hosting Hub and I now know how to input data using that. It is a fill-in-the-blanks for input, add another column, change column names etc. rather than writing the SQL code.

I walked downtown to Pueblo Viejo yesterday afternoon for my 'linner'. This is probably the most upscale place in Algodones that I have seen. They most likely never see a 'local' as a customer unless the local are taking a gringo out for a meal. I got a good Combination Plate that included a stuffed chili but they let me substitute a second tamale. A much bigger meal than I usually have but it was celebratory.

The masking was well underway during the afternoon. By the time I returned and when the "boys', as José likes to call them, went home for the day it looked like they had it almost ready to spray. They finished up the masking this morning and started spraying primer a little before 10:00 am.

I didn't walk this morning because I was lazy, it was cold and I wanted to be here if they needed me for anything before they started painting. I also wanted to work on the PHP/SQL code when added to an HTML. I didn't look to see if it was a problem, just assumed that the password to SQL was going to be visible if a mouse right click View Source were done. Spent a lot of time reading about how the pass word could be hidden and then found out that I could not see it so I was looking for a solution to a problem that did not exist.

29 November
Navaroo's Shop
Algodones, MX

Yesterday it was cold when sitting in the shade and I could not see the screen on my lap very well when sitting in the sun. Had to be outside the block building to get a WIFI connection so there was not a lot of choices.

If a country has a metallic standard, then the only measure of currency policy that it can carry out by itself is to go over to another kind of money. It is otherwise with credit money and fiat money. Here the State is able to influence the movement of the objective exchange-value of money by increasing or decreasing its quantity. It is true that the means is extremely crude, and that the extent of its consequences can never be foreseen. But it is easy to apply and popular on account of its drastic effects.

30 November
Navaroo's Shop
Algodones, MX

I walked into the downtown area again yesterday and stopped at El Gourmet Restaurant for 'linner'. This place is like any sport betting bar that you would find in Nevada except the horse and dog races are all narrated in Spanish. But you can make your bets right there and then play the few slot machines until the race starts.

I got a very good Club Sandwich and not so good French fries (they needed some more time in the deep fryer). This is not a cheap Mexican restaurant, same sport book look and same prices. Wanted some coffee but that is in short supply in the late afternoon almost everywhere I have asked. If I get any it is old or they make some just for me or they say there isn't any. Probable just as well considering the price of the Club.

I spent a lot of time yesterday trying to get PHP code to work in a .html file. I have managed to get data from my SQL database and have it appear as a web page using PHP coding in a .php file.

I was also able to add a line of code to the Web Hosting Hub .htacess file that then did show the same output on a web page when the PHP coding was in the .html file. However, when I do that all my HTML Special Characters i.e. ñ or é or ° show up as a ? inside a black diamond (the Firefox or IE browsers can not render the Special Characters).

For something that I have in mind I probably can change my Home Page, the one that appears when you go to edwardfrey.com, to a .php file. I would then redirect all the traffic that was going to the old .html file address to the new .php file address.

I spent a good two hours this morning trying to do that using About Me as a test page. Everything in coding is about syntax. The same thing was true in trying to set up the redirect. The examples that I could find did not work until I found just the right syntax through trial and error. That is the same way that I am learning PHP/SQL coding and almost all the HTML coding before that - lots of trial and error.

The painting of Desperado continued on the bottom color this morning. They sanded down the previous coats and then applied another coat(s). They also painted the front bumper which they did not do on the first pass. The more I looked at it yesterday the more I was convinced that it had been masked in error. So maybe later today the will start masking for the top color - maybe?

Some more wisdom from The Theory Of Money And Credit. It has only been recently that the majority of the people in the United States have grasped this concept. Politicians promising to "tax the rich" does not buy the votes that it once did. Those that pay no taxes are mostly in the low information crowd, still very much in favor of taxing the rich and will never understand the ultimate consequences.

The assistance of inflation is invoked whenever a government is unwilling to increase taxation or unable to raise a loan; that is the truth of the matter. The next step is to inquire why the two usual methods of raising money for public purposes cannot or will not be employed. It is only possible to levy high taxes when those who bear the burden of the taxes assent to the purpose for which the resources so raised are to be expended. It must be observed here that the greater the total burden of taxation becomes, the harder it is to deceive public opinion as to the impossibility of placing the whole burden of taxation upon the small richer class of the community. The taxation of the rich or of property affects the whole community, and its ultimate consequences for the poorer classes are often more severe than those of taxation levied throughout the community.