Peregrinating
2017

March

1 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

Much colder this morning at 33° but no wind so I saw some light frost on the dumpster lids. The forecast is for the high to be MUCH WARMER at 67° with the next 9 day to be in the mid to upper 70s with lows in the 40s - perfect.

I have not been able to find a suitable alternative for Calibre which I have been using in Windows to keep track of the books that I have read on my Paperwhite and recently those PDFs on Reader. Calibre does all sorts of wonderful things but the only thing that I wanted from it was book titles, the author, when did I download it and was it for Kindel or Reader.

Therefore I copied that information from Calibre and put it in a Spreadsheet in Google - My Drive. This will now be available to me using the Chromebook and is far simpler than Calibre . There was something that Calibre did which I do give up which is the ability to convert ePub format to MOBI format so I can read books on my Paperwhite. But there is an app in the Chrome Web Store that can do that.

I am however still looking for a replacement for Garmin Connect. That is the web site which gives me walking information from my Garmin GPS watch that is uploaded through Garmin Express. That will not work with a Chromebook. I know there are some apps at the Chrome Web Store that will do the same thing so that is not a big deal. I can also go back to the pen and paper that I used for years with my Timex GPS watch. Garmin Connect does not play well with Firefox so I have issues now using Windows/Firefox.

A Wells classic that again was written in the years when he was writing science fiction rather than novels that revolved around his socialistic beliefs. I recommend it if you have not read it before.

The Island of Doctor Moreau is an 1896 science fiction novel, by English author, H. G. Wells.
The text of the novel is the narration of Edward Prendick, a shipwrecked man rescued by a passing boat who is left on the island home of Doctor Moreau, who creates human-like hybrid beings from animals via vivisection. The novel deals with a number of philosophical themes, including pain and cruelty, moral responsibility, human identity, and human interference with nature. Wells described the novel as "an exercise in youthful blasphemy".
The Island of Doctor Moreau is a classic of early science fiction and remains one of Wells's best-known books, and has been adapted to film and other media on many occasions. - Wikipedia

2 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

I checked Windows Defender this morning around 8:30 and found that the Definitions had been updated earlier. I then checked the Windows Update log and it showed that Defender Definitions had been Successfully Installed on 3/2/2017. Then checked NetWorx and had used 29MB with only 4MB used by "Microsoft Malware Protection Command Line Utility" and "Host Process For Windows Services" used another 4MB; these I have associated with the Defender downloads

So, maybe I would have been able to get through today and tomorrow without Windows driving me over my billing cycle limit. But to make sure(?) I have changed Windows downloads from automatic to just notify me and I can download them when, or if, I want.

Amazon is now claiming that the Chromebook has shipped and it will be at my UPS Store by 8:00pm tomorrow. IF that happens then I will be picking it up around noon on Saturday.

I will immediately try my USB modem and see if I can get an Internet connection. IF I do - GREAT. IF not - I can go directly to the Verizon store and talk to the associate/tech there that guaranteed me that it would work. One way or the other I hope to have a Chromebook that connects to the Internet (other than WIFI) by the time I leave Sierra Vista on Saturday.

It was 36° when we started our walk this morning but rather than warming it went down to 34, the low, by the time we finished. It did not feel that cold but I will be glad to see the promised 40s that are shown in the 10 Day forecast. A very nice 72 is expected for the high temperature this afternoon - nice.

I transferred all the Canvas picture files that I had on my Toshiba to Google - My Drive this morning. There may be a few more files that I need to transfer but that completes most of what I need to move from one computer to the other.

For the year 2017 the price of gold has moved up around 8-9% and silver 15-16%. Hecla, one of my holdings, is a large silver producer and now also gets a substantial part is its revenue from gold. The stock price did move up some in February but came back down to virtually unchanged from what it was at the beginning of the year. A gold fund that I also hold followed much that same pattern but it is now up about 8%, matching the movement in gold. What is wrong with Hecla - come on market show me some "irrational exuberance".

3 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

Soon after I posted yesterday the price of silver dropped almost 4% and gold went down a little over 1%. I love the way the futures market 'plays' the prices. Some 'one' is making money while a lot of 'others' are loosing. I'll just sit here and watch for awhile.

I am now reading The Roosevelt Myth by John T Flynn on my Paperwhite. It is a much longer book than the past couple of books by Wells that I read so I'll be at it for awile.

I did find a couple passages that merited quoting and comment. He wrote this at the close of WWII, published in 1948, a period when the US had been under a Planned Economy rule, not all that dissimilar to Italy and Germany's economies. It has now been 70+ years and it seems to me that the US has continued to develop along the lines that Flynn identified leading up to WWII.

For 70 years all Europe had been developing along the same lines—(1) extending social services beyond the capacity of the State to support; (2) using militarism as a means of employing men in the army, and in factories to supply the army; (3) paying for all this with vast government debts; and (4) the gradual extension of radical socialist ideas throughout Europe...
What Hitler did in Germany, Mussolini in Italy, Metaxas in Greece and various other dictators in other countries was merely the end result of every attempt to set up the Welfare State. It cannot work under a democratic government because it must have a dictator to enforce its harsh policies. The welfare state cannot operate without the police state.

4 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

Since the "December, 2016 Security and Quality Rollup for .NET Framework ..." was downloaded and installed on 24 February all of the Windows Defender Definitions have Successfully installed. I am now beginning to think that was part of their Fail problem.

I checked yesterday and there was a Defender Definition update notice waiting for me to manually install rather than automatic. It was 3.7MB so I did it. Why I was getting hammered with 100MB and more downloads is still unknown but it had to be a Microsoft/Windows issue that I am glad to be rid of.

Received an email notice from my UPS Store that a package had been received at 1:00pm yesterday. That had to be my Chromebook which I certainly wanted but it could wait until today.

The Match Shoot lasted much longer than I had hoped. There were 4 'stages' with about 30 shooters divided into two groups with each shooting 2 stages and then trading places. I had some good shots and some terrible shots - I think I shot 3 of the hostages (Not Good). I'll give it another go next month - can not get any better by not trying.

I did get to my UPS Store and picked up the two packages that had come in. One is my Arbuckles and the other is my Chromebook. Have not opened either of them yet.

First thing was to get my 'linner' started. Second was to post this to my web site. Third is to take Patches for her afternoon walk. All that shooting this morning and me being gone has wore her out but she must walk or will be hell to live with. Forth will do the unpacking and see if my USB modem will work in the Chromebook. I have my doubt and will be going into Sierra Vista again on Monday to have Desperado's generator checked again. I will also find out when my new glasses will be ready and go to Verizon if the modem does not work.

On Those Without Honor by Uncola is a recommended read. I quote only his/her closing paragraph.

Before it’s said and done, the President, and his Deplorables, just might succeed in making the United States great again. But even if they do, part of me will always know it was not what most of America’s population deserved.

5 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

Well I unpacked my NEW Acer Chromebook 14 and plugged it in as prescribed by the set-up instructions. Step #2 was to press the Power Button. I think when I opened the lid to find the Power button I touched something else and the screen provided this message: "Chrome OS is missing or damaged, Please Insert a recovery USB stick or SD card for help visit http://google.com/chromeos.recovery".

Damn, I have not had this thing out of the box 5 minutes and broke it already. I don't have a USB stick nor a SD card and obviously if there is no OS the link address will not work. I had this nagging feeling that I just bought a boat anchor - although it is very light, pretty also!

I pondered on this for a little while and let the NEW Chromebook rest. Then plugged in again, opened the lid and carefully pressed the Power button - only the Power button.

That gave me a Set-up screen where I could select what language I wanted as well as what keyboard I would like - I selected English for both. But then it wanted me to connect to a Network; one of those "which came first" sort of causality dilemmas. I needed a WIFI connection to continue with the Set-up which might(?) have let me then use the Verizon USB modem which connects me to the Net. Everything now goes to the Verizon store in Sierra Vista tomorrow and maybe I will have a working NEW Acer Chromebook by the end of the day.

I did some more drawing on my latest GIMP pixel art but not happy with it. The previous ones that I have done started to look like 'something' by the time I had about a quarter to a third of the total drawn. I am now at that point with this one and it is VERY disappointing. I guess I'll keep plugging along but it is difficult and I'm not getting many rewards.

Trump Supporters Declare Pride In President, Slam Opponents is an AP story that begins with this paragraph.

From Colorado's state Capitol to Trump Tower in New York and the Washington Monument, groups of hundreds of people rallied for President Trump on Saturday, waving "Deplorables for Trump" signs and even carrying a life-size cutout of the president.

The left has gone crazy. It’s frightening to watch. And it’s as simple as that.
Let’s hope the insanity is merely temporary. Because the United States government will not survive the psychopathological and delusional madness perpetrated by those desperately clinging to the power and influence they so crave. Even if they somehow manage to win this battle by derailing Donald Trump’s presidency, they’ve got a bigger battle and conflict on their hands than I think most of them yet imagine.

6 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

For this past year I have been eating mostly fish and vegtables with a big salad for 'linner'. Last week I was craving some pozole so bought the fixin's for a batch and cooked it up in my Thermal Cooker yesterday. It was chicken pozole this time with some chopped green onion as the garnish on top when served. O so good if I do say so myself.

We did our morning walk and then it was off to Sierra Vista again. Stopped for breakfast at Cafe O Le where I got their Chorizo Scramble after they screwed up the order on the first try. Then went to D & J RV Center where they adjusted the choke on the generator again. I’ll be going back on Friday for them to check how it starts and runs from a cold start.

Next was a stop to pick up my new glasses. They claimed that they had sent me an email on Thursday but I received nothing from them and the front desk clerk could not find a copy that had been sent.

Last but not least was my stop at Verizon where the guy that guaranteed than my USB modem would work with the Acer 14 could not get it to do so. Went with a MIFI, or what many people call a Jet Pack, which he set up and got my Acer 14 to connect.

When I got back to the Park it took me a little while to get both my computers to connect but finally did it. Then started to set up Bookmarks on the Bookmark Bar and to type today’s posting using Google Docs which is in Google Drive. It is different than OpenOffice but not that much. What is a lot different is the keyboard and touchpad on the Acer 14. I will get use to it but have had a time of it getting this posting written up.

My latest .pdf read on Acrobat Reader is Democracy in America: Historical-Critical Edition, vol. 1 by Alexis de Tocqueville from The Online Library of Liberty. The Editor’s Introduction is about 50 pages which I think can be skipped and you will not miss much. I need to learn how I can read it on the Acer 14 but not today.

7 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

This Acer 14 is going to require some serious behavior changes. The keyboard has no Home, End, Page Up or Page Down. All of those actions are accomplished by using various combinations of ctrl, alt and the arrow keys. No Delete key either, that is alt+backspace.

I was also lost without the right click functions especially the ‘refresh a page’. I found how to do that but have had to go back 2-3 times to look it up again - short term memory is not the first thing to go but I think mine is going,

I have discovered how to bring up this Google Doc, the page where I type up my web postings, offline. I typed it that way when using OpenOffice and wanted to be able to do it in Chrome also. If you are typing online with Chrome it automatically saves the document every so often which uses Verizon data needlessly. While I am typing offline it is also automatically saving and then will sync to the document in Google Drive when I go back on line.

Speaking of using Verizon data. Somehow I was able to use just a tad over 1GB of data between the time I left their store in Sierra Vista (about 10:00) and when I checked my Verizon account for data usage at 10:45. I have sent an email to my ‘service guy’ in Sierra Vista asking him what is going on. Hopefully he can adjust the usage or I am in a deep hole for this month - this happened once before and I was able to get an adjustment.

I also desperately need spellcheck. In OpenOffice I did not have one and used the one that is in my web hosting site. With Google Doc I can type the entire posting and will see all my mis-spellings underlined. Then with a click on Tools/Spelling it will offer me suggested corrections, make them or add the word as typed to the dictionary. I like that!

I got all of my Daily blog and News pages bookmarked on Chrome this morning. That is the good, the bad is I seemed to have wiped out the email that I sent to myself that had all the other Bookmarks that are on the Toshiba in Firefox. I’ll be going to it this afternoon and see if I can do what I did before to transfer them all over again.

I also need to install AdBlocker Plus here on Chrome. I did not realize how many ads that it was blocking on my Daily News reads when using Firefox. There is also an app called Poper Blocker that I am going to try. Maybe get that done this afternoon also.

No response from my Verizon ‘service guy’. If I don’t hear from him by Friday I’ll be stopping at the store again when I go into Sierra Vista.

8 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

I wasted a lot of Verizon bandwidth yesterday looking for an alternative to Garmin Express and Garmin Connect that will work with my Acer 14. There are some extensions and apps offered but the Reviews for them are not encouraging. I think I will go back to pen and paper as I did for a long time with my Timex GPS watch.

Then wasted more time looking for a FTP alternative to FileZilla that I have been using in Windows. Again, nothing very promising. The Chrome built-in capability gets terrible reviews. The best of the lot offered as an extension is free for only a short time - I don’t want to pay for something that I use less than 100 times a year. I have found a couple possibilities that I’ll go back to later today.

Tried for over an hour this morning to get Dropbox to work and failed. There was a Chromebook extension that I did get to install and I did setup a Dropbox account but never did manage to figure out how to upload a file from my computer to the Dropbox. Threw up my hands, deleted everything and went back to the one FTP for Chromebooks that seems to be the best of the lot.

I now have the extension for it installed also and have not a clue how to make it work either. Have sent an email to their help/ support and hope for a response. The only good thing I can say for them so far is that they offer an email contact and do not say ‘call us at xxx-xxx-xxxx! They also responded to my email although the answer was not all that helpful they did respond.

I did get some more of my Bookmarks transferred and put into folders on the Acer 14 Bookmark Bar. Now have only a few more to do which I may get to later today. This FTP issue is driving me to distraction so I may call a halt to the whole learning process and devote more time to the Paperwhite, couch and Patches.

Speaking of Paperwhite. I was able to download two MOBI files to the Acer 14 and then add them to the Paperwhite. That went reasonably easy, I wish it were all that easy.

9 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

There are people that claim the owners of dogs and their dogs start to look alike. I’m not as sure of that as I am that we develop similar personalities. Case in point, Patches is as excitable and as stubborn as myself.

I could not let that file transfer app that I ended up buying - there was NOT even any free 30 day trial - defeat me. After almost a dozen email with their ‘support’ I managed to transfer a file from my Acer 14 to my web host. I am not certain that I can do it again but if I stumble through it a few times I think it may become as easy as FileZilla was.

I did learn that sFTP ‘support’ is just as worthless as all the other tech support people that I have ever had the misfortune to deal with. He did not read, or if he did read not understand, what my problem was. I provided the requirements that my host has for FTPs, a screenshot of the setup for FileZilla, a screenshot of the sFTP setup (which was identical and did not work). He in turn twice suggested I try something that the host requirements did not so much as hint at.

I finally, through trial and error, found a setup that both sFTP and my host could agree on and was able to do the one transfer. A lot of Verizon bandwidth wasted on what should have been a simple process.

Using Google Doc off line is working well however. Most of this posting was written yesterday after we got back from our afternoon walk - all done while off line! I have also installed a Calculator extension with it pinned at the bottom of the screen where the Firefox Task Bar held similar tools. That is where FileZilla was and where sFTP now resides.

I still have those few Bookmarks to transfer and get into a folder on the Chrome Bookmark Bar. I think I’m going to like that just as well as what was available in Firefox, maybe even better. Garmin Express/Garmin Connect are now history, Connect never worked that well with Firefox and what I was doing took more time than recording my distance with pen and paper. I’m making progress with the keyboard. So all-in-all the move to Chromebook/Chrome has not been extremely hard but I sure could have used the help of a 5th Grader!

As I was reading this book I could not help but compare Barack to FDR. There are so many similarities in how they practiced politics but also in their personalities. Then there is also the treatment that they received from the media. It was deja vu all over again.

I got exactly what I was looking for out of this book: a detailed account of the Roosevelt presidency that wasn't written by those who praise everything he did without question. While this book focused a lot on Economics, I found it to be incomplete in certain areas. What about his terrible monetary policy where he actually made it illegal to hold gold? What about unlawfully detaining all Japanese citizens, putting them in American concentration camps? These two actions should be talked about more as huge black marks in the Roosevelt presidency, but they are not or only barely mentioned in this book.
With the criticisms out of the way, this book did offer many details on the failed economic thinking of FDR. Also, it touched on his obsession with power and public approval (as are most politicians) without caring about the damage it would do to the country.
John Flynn was able to present evidence in a certain light while still keeping his writing evidence-based. If it weren't for this book, we would have very few full works that don't portray FDR as America's savior.
FDR was an awful president, but he is generally regarded as one of the best in history. Evidence presented in this book and those like it keeps the debate alive, even if it wasn't published recently. Also, kudos to the Mises Institute for giving the e-book away for free at mises.org. - Customer Review at goodread.com

10 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

I wrote that Garmin Express/Garmin Connect were history now that I am using a Chromebook with Chrome. I spoke too soon! Yesterday I was looking for some way I could upload the Garmin .fit file data from my watch to a spreadsheet and found a way to do that to Garmin Connect.

It was the Garmin Express software that runs only on Windows that can not be installed on a Chromebook. The data that is on the watch can be imported directly into Garmin Connect and “Bob’s your uncle’! I forgot to save yesterday morning so that data was missing but I was able to enter it manually and the other three walks imported great. The problems that I had with Firefox are not present with Chrome so I think I’m better off now than before.

I also have added a PDF Reader extension to replace the one that was built into Chrome. The built in one did not ‘play’ like Adobe Acrobat Reader whereas the extension does everything that I want it to do and does it like Adobe the best I can tell. The only thing that I can not do with it is read off line. I did not do that a lot so it is not going to be something that I think I will miss. There are extensions/apps that will let you do that but for now I’m pleased.

Went to D & J RV Center for the generator checkup this morning with a stop at Country House along the way. Got their Chorizo Scramble which came in a small porcelain skillet but it was heaping full. I know I’ll be back and probably have it again.

The guy that has been trying to get my generator to run was convinced that it was the carburetor. Then after the first try he was convinced it was the choke and continues to think that after the try today. It was running pretty good when I left there but I need to try and start it from a cold start during the week. Will also take it back to him again next Thursday and he will do a cold start. We may be getting there - I hope.

Then to Fry’s for groceries which went fast because I am already getting the layout of the store. A long wait for my guy at Verizon where I got some good news. He told me I would get a $50 mail in rebate but did not give me anything to mail in plus I can do it online. He also had bad news for me about the 1GB of data usage - no adjustment. When a new computer is added it gets hit with all the updates since it was built and Chrome installed. It was bad for this Chromebook but not nearly as bad as what he sees with new computers and Windows 10. That means I’m back on a Verizon data diet for the rest of this billing cycle. If I had done this 3 days earlier it would have put me over the limit for the last cycle which I managed to squeeze under.

When I got back to the Park I did a holding tank dump and added fresh water. Said hello to my neighbor one space over on the east side. I did not complain but told him that a couple days past when he was gone I did not hear bark one from his dog but a couple days prior to that he/she barked for a long time. I don’t know that many people would complain; he is a skin head, long beard Harley rider that carries ‘heat’ in this open carry state.

Got started cooking up my ‘linner’ for today and the next few days. Then sat down to Google Doc offline and finished this posting that I started yesterday. I think I have every thing that I use on an ongoing basis now working. If not I will wait until my next billing cycle to go do the web searching that may be required. A couple days ago when I finally got sFTP setup I used my daily quota and read none of my Daily blogs nor any News.

11 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

A couple days ago I installed AdBlocker Pro which cut down the number of ads that were showing, not all of them but a lot. Then yesterday I realized that I did not have Flashblock installed with Flash chewing up far more data usage than the ads were. I corrected that oversight yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday when we finished our walk I plugged the Garmin watch in and found no .fit file data for the walk just completed. It seems that the .fit files are created between 9:00-9:15am and 11:30-11:45pm although the approximate time of my walks are correct in the file. Strange, but not a problem. I will just be importing the data to Garmin Connect the day after doing the walks rather than the same day.

I did that this morning for yesterday. That and posting this to my web site are the few things that I want to do online today. I need to get my Verizon usage under control by cutting back or at the end of the billing cycle I will have a choice of buying another 1GB or stay completely offline.

I am reading Democracy in America: Historical-Critical Edition, vol. 1 by Alexis de Tocqueville, from Online Library of Liberty in PDF format and have copied this quote from it using Chrome and the extension. It is not as easy as Acrobat Reader and OpenOffice Writer but not too bad. What Tocqueville found here in America in the 1830 is long gone we are now much more like what he describes in this quote.

There are such nations in Europe where the inhabitant considers himself a sort of settler, indifferent to the destiny of the place where he lives. The greatest changes occur in his country without his participation; he does not even know precisely what happened; he surmises; he has heard about the event by chance. Even more, the fortune of his village, the policing of his street, the fate of his church and his presbytery have nothing to do with him; he thinks that all these things are of no concern to him whatsoever, and that they belong to a powerful stranger called the government. [v: At each moment, you think you hear him say: what concern is this to me; it is the business of the authorities to provide for all of this, not mine.] As for him, he enjoys these benefits like a usufructuary, without a sense of ownership and without ideas of any improvement whatsoever. This disinterestedness in himself goes so far that if his own security or that of his children is finally compromised, instead of working himself to remove the danger, he crosses his arms to wait until the entire nation comes to his aid. Moreover, this man, even though he has so completely sacrificed his own free will, likes to obey no more than anyone else. He submits, it is true, to the will of a clerk; but, like a defeated enemy, he likes to defy the law as soon as power withdraws.
Consequently, you see him oscillate constantly between servitude and license.When nations have reached this point, they must modify their laws and mores or perish, for the source of public virtues has dried up; subjects are still found there, but citizens are seen no more.

12 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

I’m still trying to find that combination that works best for me to copy text from a PDF document and paste to the Google Doc page where I type up my daily postings. The PDF extension that I installed was better than the built in but still required a lot of formatting in Doc. That was relatively easy using OpenOffice but Doc does not offer the same ‘View’ tools.

Yesterday I remembered seeing a PDF Converter in the extensions/apps offered in the Chrome Web Store. Went there, found it again and installed it. It is an app and does require some manipulations but the end result is a quote that can be copied in HTML format and pasted to Doc with all my other HTML typing.

I’m not leaving at the end of my first month here but I still need to do my monthly housecleaning chores. Got started on them this morning after breakfast. Same routine as when I am going to move; clean the bathroom, wash bathroom and kitchen floors and vacuums the living room. Then clean Desperado’s cab and wash Patches’ slobber from the windows, even the drivers side this time.

About mid-morning I need to start the generator to give the guy at D & J’s a report on how it ran. He will do a cold start on Thursday also and with any luck it will run well. Then we need to test it under load and see if it can continue to run. I need them to replace some of the outside molding also while I am here, maybe Thursday or another trip.

I did another file transfer this morning using sFTP that I installed and had so much trouble connecting. Now that I have the connection set it is slick - so much better than FileZilla for ease of use and the speed that it does the transfer. Well worth the price I paid and the frustration that I went through getting it set up. Now IF it will only continue to do the transfers like it did this morning!

I have also noticed that web pages load much faster using this Acer 14 with Chrome versus the Toshiba with Firefox. I used Firefox for many years but Chrome has not been that difficult to transition to. I would say that my biggest problem has been with this keyboard versus a ‘standard’ laptop. I am getting there however. I said in a Shout reply that there was no ‘right click’ but I have finally found it. You use two fingers at the bottom center of the Touchpad - now is that intuitive or is it not?

I also realized that I had not included the Will Rogers weekly article link for last Friday. Went back and corrected that oversight today.

13 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

I didn’t get around to cleaning Desperado’s cab and windows yesterday but that chore is now done. I’ll wipe down the stovetop and counters today after ‘linner’ and it will be just like any monthly move without the driving.

I finished moving my Bookmarks from the Toshiba and now have them all on the Acer Bookmark Bar. There was probably an easier way which would have used less Verizon data but it is done.

Speaking of data. I can track my usage with “chrome://net-internals/#bandwidth” in the address bar. This gives me the total KBs used during the current online session and the Total since the counter was reset. This is great except it does not match what Verizon claims that I have used. I have tracked two days now and Verizon shows more usage on both days. Surprised - no. Want to know why - yes.

I started the generator yesterday and it ran a little rough for the first 2-3 minutes but then smoothed out and ran very nice for another 3 before I shut it down. There is hope. I’ll see what my guy at D & J thinks on Thursday.

I found this book at Gutenberg in the H. G. Wells list but it is there only because the first edition bore a preface by him. Some reviewers believed the journal was a work of fiction by Wells himself but Wells publicly denied this. The true identity of "Barbellion" was not known by the public until after Cummings' death. I would not second Blythe’s opinion of the book but think Wells got it right in his preface. I recommend the book with a caveat - it is not a happy book.

Wilhelm Nero Pilate Barbellion was the nom-de-plume of Bruce Frederick Cummings (7 September 1889 – 22 October 1919), an English diarist who was responsible for The Journal of a Disappointed Man. Ronald Blythe called it "among the most moving diaries ever created".
The Journal of a Disappointed Man, filled with frank and keen observation, unique philosophy and personal resignation, was described by its author as "a study in the nude". The book received both adulatory and scathing reviews; having originally been optioned by Collins, they eventually rejected the book because they feared the "lack of morals" shown by Barbellion would damage their reputation. An editor's note at the very end of the book claims Barbellion died on 31 December 1917, but Cummings in fact lived for nearly two more years. - Wikipedia

14 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

I still have one more thing to get off the Toshiba but not yet. It still has GIMP on it and a partially finished pixel drawing that I can not transfer and finish on the Acer 14. Or, if I can I don’t know how and not willing to use a lot of Verizon bandwidth trying to find out.

I will finish the drawing and transfer it to my website using FileZilla from the Toshiba. Then maybe I will have reached a point where my Verizon data usage is back within limits for this billing cycle and I can start to learn how to use Pixel in Chrome. The claim is that it can do what GIMP does. I’ll find out when I start my next pixel art drawing or want to upload pictures from my camera.

This past week I have been so wrapped up in getting this Chromebook up and working as well as learning how to use Chrome that I have ignored the weather. I did realize that it was getting warm and got the A/C working. It seemed to be doing a pretty fair job so cleaning all the cottonwood cotton out of the cooling fins has fix my problem for now. I checked to see what the temperatures have been and the lowest high was 85° with 4 days in the low 90s. The mornings have been great - no gloves nor wool cap, flannel shirt and wool shirt jacket.

The 10 Day forecast has guesses in the mid 80s for the next week and then cooling a bit into the 70s. I like those 70s better and so does Patches, she loves it cold but does not like anything over 80. The mesquite do not think it is spring yet and they are hard to fool. When I see them start to leaf out I will know that the warm temperatures are here to stay.

Some cooking today and then more reading and less Verizon usage. I will also get some more of the GIMP pixel art done. It is finally starting to look a little bit like the picture that I am trying to draw. HA

In Democracy in America Tocqueville clearly saw the dangers that existed within the governmental structure in the United States. What he pointed to here in reference to South Carolina was a root cause of the Civil War - a centralized federal government that was usurping state sovereignty. He also warns against the ‘diversity’ that is so favored by some politicians that need more voters.

The American government, it is said, does not address itself to the states; it applies its injunctions directly to the citizens and bends them, separately, to the work of the common will. But if federal law collided with the interests and prejudices of a state, should it not be feared that each of the citizens of this state would believe himself interested in the cause of the man who refuses to obey? When all the citizens of the state found themselves thus harmed at the same time and in the same way by the authority of the Union, the federal government would seek in vain to isolate them in order to combat them. They would instinctively feel that they must unite to defend themselves, and in the portion of sovereignty left for their state to enjoy, they would find an organization already prepared. Fiction would then disappear and give way to reality, and you would be able to see the organized power of one part of the territory joining battle with the central authority.
This is, moreover, the spectacle most recently presented by South Carolina. The regulations of the United States concerning the tariff had become completely unpopular in Carolina; the state legislature took the initiative and suspended the enforcement of the federal law. This result is inevitable. When the interest or passions of men are left a powerful means of satisfaction, you can be assured that legal fictions will not long prevent them from noticing and making use of that means…
If, among confederated peoples, you want to create a common existence and a true national government, it is absolutely necessary that their civilization be homogeneous in nature. This necessity makes itself felt even much more in confederations than in monarchies, because in order to be obeyed, government has much more need for the support of the governed in the first than in the second.

15 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

I think I wrote about Chromebook having a built in bandwidth monitor which tells you how many KB were used each session and since last reset. That is all well and good except the total of all sessions for a day has never agreed with what Verizon claims I used. This does not surprise me because I think Verizon has their own unique way of measuring usage which is a company secret.

The other problem is I have yet to find a way to reset the Chromebook counter. Everything that I can find online claims that to reset you ‘hit’ Reset. I found one on the page but it does nothing when ‘hit/clicked’. That activity did seem to use up a LOT of Verizon data however; I need a monitor since this built in one is not working for me.

There is an extension called Data Saver that I have installed today that shows a lot of information about web sites that I have visited I run it for a few days and see if it comes close to what Verizon is claiming

I read this in PDF format downloaded from Liberty Library. The better source is Gutenberg where I went to get volumn II.
De La Démocratie en Amérique published in two volumes, the first in 1835 and the second in 1840 is a classic French text by Alexis de Tocqueville. Its title translates as On Democracy in America, but English translations are usually simply entitled Democracy in America. In the book, Tocqueville examines the democratic revolution that he believed had been occurring over the previous seven hundred years.
In 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont were sent by the French government to study the American prison system. In his later letters Tocqueville indicates that he and Beaumont used their official business as a pretext to study American society instead. They arrived in New York City in May of that year and spent nine months traveling the United States, studying the prisons, and collecting information on American society, including its religious, political, and economic character. The two also briefly visited Canada, spending a few days in the summer of 1831 in what was then Lower Canada (modern-day Quebec) and Upper Canada (modern-day Ontario). - Wikipedia

16 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

I want you to think back, if you are as long in the tooth as I am, to the early 1950s. Let us select the year 1950 just for the sake of this remembrance. That was a time when as a young’un I would see some ‘wonder’ offered on the side of a cereal box which could be had simply by sending in two box tops. This was spelled out in such a way that a 7 year old could understand what needed to be done.

You cut off the two box tops, wrote your U S Postal Service address on them, inserted them in an envelope, affixed a stamp and placed it in your mailbox to be picked up. Within days the ‘wonder’ was returned to you via the same U S Postal Service.

Let me now describe what I have gone through - so far - to obtain a ‘mail-in’ rebate from Verizon that was offered with the recent purchase of a MIFI device. First, the salesman/Verizon associate failed to give my the rebate document before I left the store. I picked it up a few days later.

This document did not offer any means of ‘mail-in’ but rather you did it via the internet at a Verizon Redemption site. I opened said site and filled out a form that required name, address, the Store name and address, Order location #, Order #, Purchase Date, my Wireless #, the MEID/IMEC # (15 digits - enough for every person that has ever lived to have a unique number), Valid UPC (12 digits), Rebate Promo Code, a copy of my receipt & a copy of the bar code (more on this later). I dutifully filled in everything, which included taking screenshots of the receipt & bar code and uploading them. This took about 15-20 minutes and used 15 MB of Verizon data.

A day or so later I received an email that said everything was received, gave me a tracking # and when approved I would get my rebate in 15-20 days. A couple days latter I received a second email that said they could not verify my information and that I needed to contact them. Another form was filled out with name, address, tracking # (from the previous email) and a scathing Comment that they could contact their Store in Sierra Vista if they needed verification.

Two days ago received another email that said that the problem was they could not verify the barcode that I provided to the bar code that was on the BOX it came in.

My reply:
The box went to the landfill the day after I bought the MIFI. I was never told that I must retain the BOX to get a refund. You know that I bought the device because I provided a receipt and a hell of a lot of information plus a screenshot of the bar code that I thought you were asking for. Never even thought that you were asking for the bar code from the DAMN BOX. You certainly can avoid paying any rebates that way!

Their response to that:
I'm sorry, but this document is required per terms and conditions of the promotion, without it we are not able to update your rebate submission. If you want, you can ask the person that has it, to email you a picture of the box showing the information and then you can email it to us by replying to this email.

My reply:
You obviously did not read what I wrote: "The box went to the landfill the day after I bought the MIFI." or you would not say "If you want, you can ask the person that has it, to email you a picture of the box showing the information and then you can email it to us by replying to this email." That is so "off the wall" that I have to give you the benefit of doubt that you read what I said.

Later in the day I received a second email from a different person at Verizon that said:
I greatly apologize for any inconvenience, I have reviewed your submission and as a valuable Verizon customer I have updated your submission. Please allow 15 days for processing of the $50 rebate.
I await!

It is sad that the "Standard" for a huge communications company like Verizon is a month to process a ‘mail-in’ rebate. The U S Postal Service will still be the one to deliver the check if I do get one and they are the poster child for inefficient.

17 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

Another of Wells' novels that was written with some of his Socialism beliefs inserted but not as obvious as in some of his other works. A humorous story that you can see what is coming a long time before Wells get there but he carries it off. I am sure the aristocratic class in England did not like the book much but the 'common man' got a great laugh from it.

Kipps: The Story of a Simple Soul is a novel by H. G. Wells, first published in 1905. Humorous yet sympathetic, the perceptive social novel is generally regarded as a masterpiece, and it was his own favourite work. It was adapted into the stage and cinema musical Half a Sixpence. - Wikipedia

Most of yesterday was taken up with another trip into Sierra Vista. Stopped at the Landmark Café again for their Spinach Omelet. Probably do that a couple more times while I’m here.

Then it was on to D & J RV Center where my guy there messed with the choke some more and then talked to Onan. They decided that the choke spring assembly was at fault and need to be ordered. Cheap price for the part but will cost 10X that to get it installed.

I have had mysterious raising and lowering of Desperado’s steps during the past 6 months and it has done it to me 4 times in the past few weeks. I asked D & J to check it out during my first visit and they could find nothing. Today my guy walked up to the door and pressed on it and the steps came down, pressed again and the steps went up - he then said “the door magnets are out of alignment”. Fixed within 15 minutes. He also replaced some of the vinyl molding trim that had come loose on the outside of Desperado. There is hope yet for the generator.

Next stop was at Big O Tire where I had Desperado’s oil changed. Patches stayed with me in the waiting room and begged for some attention from everyone that came in the door. Poor mistreated dog. I felt so bad that I went to Petsmart and scheduled her for a bath. That is next door to Fry’s so I got this week's groceries and then it was back to the Park. Half a day shot.

I have only one day’s data usage monitored with the Data Saver extension to Chrome but it looks like I am getting the same ‘shrinkage’ when compared to what Verizon is charging me. I now suspect that the usage that is not being reported by Data Saver is being used by the MIFI and perhaps Verizon has their thumb on the scales.

I am getting some very interesting data usage numbers for some of the web site that I visited yesterday. My own site uses very little data when viewed whereas some sites are big users. I’ll have a better idea of what I can and cannot do when I have a full Daily Quota available again, maybe in another 3-4 days.

18 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

I just blew my data usage all to hell this morning trying to get a PDF Viewer installed that will open at the page location where last read. The language used to describe the Chrome built-in viewer and the PDF Viewer extension by the various web site I found it's confusing to say the least. I can open a pdf file and read it but it does not open at the last page that I read which is what PDF Viewer claims to do.

The data usage all came from google.com which was a number of visits to their Web Store plus a number of changes to Chrome Settings. The web page searches that I did trying to find out how/why PDF Viewer worked or did not work did not use that much. I am in a data usage hole again - never got completely out of the one that the 1GB created. Violated Rule #1: When in a hole the first thing to do is quit digging!

I think it best that I get back on the couch with my Paperwhite and leave well enough alone. I do have Notes On Democracy by H. L. Mencken in PDF format available on my Acer 14 and I can read it offline. That is almost as good as what I was doing with Acrobat Reader on the Toshiba, only missing that open at the last page feature. I’m not even sure if the pdf file is opening with the built-in viewer or the PDF Viewer extension that I have added and enabled.

In Democracy in America - Volume II Tocqueville comments on the character of the American people as he found them in the 1830s. This first quote is about the elected Representatives, at all levels of government, propensity to orate on anything and everything be they knowledgeable or not. Nothing has changed in almost 200 years.

In America, it generally happens that a Representative only becomes somebody from his position in the Assembly. He is therefore perpetually haunted by a craving to acquire importance there, and he feels a petulant desire to be constantly obtruding his opinions upon the House. His own vanity is not the only stimulant which urges him on in this course, but that of his constituents, and the continual necessity of propitiating them.

The evils which extreme equality may produce are slowly disclosed; they creep gradually into the social frame; they are only seen at intervals, and at the moment at which they become most violent habit already causes them to be no longer felt…
The passion for equality penetrates on every side into men's hearts, expands there, and fills them entirely. Tell them not that by this blind surrender of themselves to an exclusive passion they risk their dearest interests: they are deaf. Show them not freedom escaping from their grasp, whilst they are looking another way: they are blind—or rather, they can discern but one sole object to be desired in the universe.

19 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

I had a LOT of trouble getting a PDF reader that I now like - I think. A big part of that problem was trying to copy and paste from Notes On Democracy by H. L. Mencken. It is a very poor quality .pdf and I tried 3 different PDF readers and could not copy and paste from any of them easily. I have settled, I think, on Kami Viewer which allows me to copy and paste from the Will Rogers pdf document with some formating.

Kami provided this pop up message after I had read about 50 pages of “Notes” and had copied and pasted the quotes shown below, but these couple of paragraphs required a bunch of formatting.
“This seems like a scanned PDF. So we've automatically processed it with OCR. It means you can highlight, strikethrough, and underline it but you won't be able to copy text.”

The quotes that are shown below are from “Notes”. I knew that Mencken was not a fan of democracy and that he had a rather low opinion of the “masses”. This is going to be a great contrast with what de Tocqueville had to say in Democracy In America Vol II.

... remained a massive discovery: that the earliest and most profound of human emotions is fear. Man comes into the world weak and naked, and almost as devoid of intelligence as an oyster, but he brings with him a highly complex and sensitive susceptibility to fear. He can tremble and cry out in the first hours of his life - nay, in the first minute. Make a loud noise behind an infant just born, and it will shake like a Sunday school superintendent taken in adultery. Take away its support - that is, make it believe that it is falling - and it will send up such a whoop as comes from yokels when the travelling tooth-puller has at them. These fears, by their character, suggest that they have a phylogenic origin that is, that they represent inherited race experience, out of the deep darkness and abysm of time…
The demagogues, i.e., the professors of mob psychology, who flourish in democratic states are well aware of the fact, and make it the corner-stone of their exact and puissant science. Politics under democracy consists almost wholly of the discovery, chase and scotching of bugaboos. The statesman becomes, in the last analysis, a mere witch-hunter, a glorified smeller and snooper, eternally chanting *Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum!' It has been so in the United States since the earliest days.

20 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

Yesterday was the hottest yet at 94.6°. Weather Underground claims that today will be MUCH THE SAME yet the forecast is for a high of 85°. I do hope the forecast is correct, I’m already tired of these highs in the 90s. The forecast for Wednesday is 82 and then a 61 on Thursday and back up into the 70s for the remainder of the 10 Day forecast. Where is that Thursday guess coming from?

I am slowly adding some Daily blog reading and a little News reading back to my daily routine although I’m not quite back within my Verizon limit for this time in the billing cycle. What I have found are some blogs that are real data hogs and the News sites that I thought would be big data users are not.

This pixel art piece was the last one drawn using GIMP on my Toshiba laptop with Windows. I can not use that on my Acer 14 with Chrome but hope to draw more pixel art using Pixlr. I do not like this drawing as well as some of the others. It was more difficult in many ways and I am not satisfied with how the coloring looks. Having said that the coloring of the cross stitch picture does not look very good either so maybe I did well.

A couple more quotes from Mencken in Notes On Democracy that have withstood the test of time.

The fact is that liberty, in any true sense, is a concept that lies quite beyond the reach of the inferior man's mind. He can imagine, and even esteem, in his way, certain false forms of liberty - for example, the right to choose between two political mountebanks, and to yell for the more obviously dishonest - but the reality is incomprehensible to him…
The lowly Christian I have limned is not only the glory of democratic states, but also their boss. Sovereignty is in him, sometimes both actually and legally, but always actually. Whatever he wants badly enough he can get. If he is misled by mountebanks and swindled by scoundrels it is only because his credulity and imbecility cover a wider area than his simple desires. The precise form of the government he suffers under is of small importance. Whether it be called a constitutional monarchy, as in England, or a representative republic, as in France, or a pure democracy, as in some of the cantons of Switzerland, it is always essentially the same. There is, first, the mob, theoretically and in fact the ultimate judge of all ideas and the source of all power. There is, second, the camorra of self-seeking minorities, each seeking to inflame, delude and victimize it. The political process thus becomes a mere battle of rival rogues. But the mob remains quite free to decide between them.

21 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

I FINALLY found a way to copy text from a PDF document, paste it to Google Docs (Word) and format what I have pasted. What I have now is even better than what I was doing with OpenOffice. It would display the non printing line break characters that were copied over with the PDF text but needed to be removed. I did that removal one line at a time.

What I discovered yesterday was a Add On to Google Docs that will do that removal for me. I have a choice of selecting the entire text and do the removal or remove from each selected paragraph. The Add On can not discriminate between a line break and a paragraph break. As I work with it I will find what is the easiest but this is GREAT for copying from a PDF.

I had a visitor stop by yesterday, kaBLOOnie, on his way to higher/cooler country. He has been boondocking not too far west of me with about the same elevation and the heat was getting to be too much.

Other than just to say hello he wanted to hook his Kill-A-Watt Electricity Monitor inline with my Acer 14 to get a reading on how many watts it is using. I am a test bench for him to help decide if he wants to replace his Windows 7 laptop with a Chromebook. The Chromebook wins hands down with a reading of about 4.5 Watts versus his current laptop at 11 Watts.

About that weather. Still hot! The weather gurus missed their guess of 85° by a lot, it was over 90 again at 92. That has not put them off however, they think today will be 85 and they continue to predict Thursday to be 61.

These quotes from Democracy in America — Vol II were copied from my Paperwhite much easier than from a PDF and very little need to do any formatting prior to posting to my web site. I will have some more tomorrow; been saving them up while doing a lot of reading and less time on the computer because of Verizon usage limitations. These two today again show that not much has changed in the American character since the 1830s.

...if at the end of a year of unremitting labor he finds he has a few days' vacation, his eager curiosity whirls him over the vast extent of the United States, and he will travel fifteen hundred miles in a few days, to shake off his happiness. Death at length overtakes him, but it is before he is weary of his bootless chase of that complete felicity which is forever on the wing...
A native of the United States clings to this world's goods as if he were certain never to die; and he is so hasty in grasping at all within his reach, that one would suppose he was constantly afraid of not living long enough to enjoy them. He clutches everything, he holds nothing fast, but soon loosens his grasp to pursue fresh gratifications.

22 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

I had an early morning appointment at the VA this morning for a blood draw. They were right on time and 4 sample were taken quickly and I was on my way. I didn’t even have to pee in a cup and I had studied for that test.

Left there and went around the block to Denny’s where I got their Santa Fe Skillet - my favorite. Then another trip to Big O Tire where I had them rotate Desperado’s tires and inquired about the cost of replacing all 6. I will not do that now but need to plan on the expense next year.

This didn’t take long either and Patches got the attention of an Arizona Highway Patrol sergeant that was sitting next to us. If he were to ever stop me all it would take is one look at Patches and we would be on our way - after he gave her some attention!

Went to my UPS Store and picked up a package which was fish oil that I get through the VA by prescription. Not that I need a prescription but they are cheaper with my co-pay that buying across the counter. Last stop while in town was at Fry’s for groceries.

Another quote from Democracy in America — Vol II. If de Tocqueville could see, and understand, this in the 1830s why is it that the modern ‘Liberals’ can not? I think the reason is not that they can not see it but their efforts are not to gain greater equality but rather to gain POWER.

But men will never establish any equality with which they can be contented. Whatever efforts a people may make, they will never succeed in reducing all the conditions of society to a perfect level; and even if they unhappily attained that absolute and complete depression, the inequality of minds would still remain, which, coming directly from the hand of God, will forever escape the laws of man. However democratic then the social state and the political constitution of a people may be, it is certain that every member of the community will always find out several points about him which command his own position; and we may foresee that his looks will be doggedly fixed in that direction. When inequality of conditions is the common law of society, the most marked inequalities do not strike the eye: when everything is nearly on the same level, the slightest are marked enough to hurt it. Hence the desire of equality always becomes more insatiable in proportion as equality is more complete.

23 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

The weather guys called it right yesterday afternoon with a high winds warning. It was blowing in the storm that they have been predicting would drop the high temperature to 61° today (revived to 62). I don’t think that will happen - more likely in the low 70s. They have also revised their 70s for the rest of the 10 Day forecast down a little with some of the days in the upper 60s. I hope they are right I don’t need 90s.

I am approaching that point where I will be within my Verizon data limit for the billing cycle. IF I can hold down my usage a little below my usual Daily quota through the weekend I will then be back to ‘normal’ for the last third of it. Have not been reading Daily blogs daily nor the daily News. Have check in with all of them at least once but not daily.

Democracy in America — Vol II could have been titled Character Of The Americans but de Toqueville had a success 5 years earlier so Volume II was a marketing decision. It has a few things to say about democracy but is mostly about the American character. He also provides warnings about what will cause the demise of democracy especially in Europe but the United States was also at risk. Everyone ignored him then and continue to do so. Both volumes are recommended reading - or perhaps as the Reviewer says “required”. I have included the final quotes that were selected as I read.

If I ran this country this book would be required reading. In fact you would have to prove some level of proficiency in understanding it in order to vote. Book One is an excellent display of the government structure of the USA. Book Two discusses cultural matters and it is simply amazing how much Tocqueville understood and got totally correct. He foresaw so many of the problems we deal with still. What amazes me as well is that no one paid any attention to what he said and thus we find ourselves where we are on so many fronts....the book is prophetic and revealing.
Filled with historical recounts of a blossoming democracy. De Toqueville saw the pitfalls that would become of our union and forecasted them with almost startling precision. This is not an easy read but you'll get what you put into it. Recommend to anyone who wants to understand how our system started and the thinking behind what a French philosopher experienced back home. - Two Customer Reviews at Amazon

War does not always give over democratic communities to military government, but it must invariably and immeasurably increase the powers of civil government; it must almost compulsorily concentrate the direction of all men and the management of all things in the hands of the administration. If it lead not to despotism by sudden violence, it prepares men for it more gently by their habits. All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and the shortest means to accomplish it. This is the first axiom of the science…
After all, and in spite of all precautions, a large army amidst a democratic people will always be a source of great danger; the most effectual means of diminishing that danger would be to reduce the army, but this is a remedy which all nations have it not in their power to use.

24 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

It was not that much colder this morning at 41° than yesterday’s 44 but with the wind it felt colder - wish I had my gloves. The weather guesser got the high correct for yesterday with it being only a fraction over their 62° guess. It felt warmer than that.

Not much happening with me today. I will read part of my Daily blogs and some of my Daily News but want to stay below 100MB for the day. Tomorrow I will be out and about for a good part of the day so will post to my web site late and not do much blog reading nor News. That should put me within my Verizon limit for this time in the billing cycle and I can then see what my usage might be with a usual routine.

That usual routine is probably going to change somewhat because I now know that there are some blogs that use 3 or 4 times what most of the others do. Those will either be dropped or visited 3 or 4 time less frequently than they were in the past. Surprisingly, those sites that I refer to as News are relatively light data users and most of them will remain on their usual schedule.

More quotes from Notes On Democracy. I could quote the entire book if it were not so difficult to copy and past. HA This is Mencken at his best!

The politician, he [Professor Robert Michels] says, is the courtier of democracy. A profound saying - perhaps more profound than the professor, himself a democrat, realizes. For it was of the essence of the courtier's art and mystery that he flattered his employer in order to victimize him, yielded to him in order to rule him. The politician under democracy does precisely the same thing. His business is never what it pretends to be. Ostensibly he is an altruist devoted whole-heartedly to the service of his fellow-men, and so abjectly public-spirited that his private interest is nothing to him. Actually he is a sturdy rogue whose principal, and often sole, aim in life is to butter his parsnips. His technical equipment consists simply of an armamentarium of deceits. It is his business to get and hold his job at all costs. If he can hold it by lying, he will hold it by lying; if lying peters out he will try to hold it by embracing new truths. His ear is ever close to the ground. If he is an adept, he can hear the first murmurs of popular clamour before even the people themselves are conscious of them. If he is a master, he detects and whoops up to-day the delusions that the mob will cherish next year. There is in him, in his professional aspect, no shadow of principle or honour. It is moral by his code to get into office by false pretences, as the late Dr. Wilson did in 1916...
The winds of the world are bitter to Homo vulgaris. He likes the warmth and safety of the herd, and he likes a bell-wether with a clarion bell. The art of politics, under democracy, is simply the art of ringing it. Two branches reveal themselves. There is the art of the demagogue, and there is the art of what may be called, by a shot-gun marriage of Latin and Greek, the demaslave.They are complementary, and both of them are degrading to their practitioners. The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots. The demaslave is one who listens to what these idiots have to say and then pretends that he believes it himself. Every man who seeks elective office under democracy has to be either the one thing or the other, and most men have to be both. The whole process is one of false pretences and ignoble concealments.

25 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

Stopped at Sunny D’s in Huachuca City on my way to the Sierra Vista Shooting Range. Had their Hash-n-Eggs with that same thick sourdough toast.

My shooting was slightly better or maybe the same. I did not expect my new glasses to make much, if any, difference so was not disappointed. We had a smaller group, only 7, with me being the worse shot which was also not a surprise.

For some time to come I will always be the worse in almost any group that I shoot with. Last month when I shot in the scored match a Junior girl (maybe 12 years old) out shot me - easily! I don’t let that bother me - much; I know I just need to keep at it and will improve. May never get ‘good’ but good enough.

This book is available at Amazon , goodreads and other online outlets as a historical look at democracy by a ‘bad boy’ of the press at the time. Menken could not write that same book today with Barack replacing Dr. Wilson everyplace in the book - no publisher today would touch it. Mencken would also not be able to hold a job at any Main Stream newspaper, or major media. He might have a web site as do Pat Buchanan, Paul Craig Roberts and Fred Reed or perhaps a radio show as do Rush and Hannity. The left wing 4th Estate would not hire him! I have added one last quote.

Mencken at his finest. A charming, curmudgeonly, and acerbic perspective on American democratic values and institutions. He inspires a deep cynicism in the reader regarding all the rituals and affectations of democracy: voting, politicking, campaigning, and the general idea of social betterment by democratic participation. Democracy may not be the worst form of government, but it's certainly the most humorous. - Customer Review at goodreads.com

I have alluded somewhat vaguely to the merits of democracy. One of them is quite obvious: it is, perhaps, the most charming form of government ever devised by man. The reason is not far to seek, it is based upon propositions that are palpably not true and what is not true, as everyone knows, is always immensely more fascinating and satisfying to the vast majority of men than what is true. Truth has a harshness that alarms them, and an air of finality that collides with their incurable romanticism. They turn, in all the great emergencies of life, to the ancient promises, transparently false but immensely comforting, and of all those ancient promises there is none more comforting than the one to the effect that the lowly shall inherit the earth. It is at the bottom of the dominant religious system of the modern world, and it is at the bottom of the dominant political system. The latter, which is democracy, gives it an even higher credit and authority than the former, which is Christianity.

26 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

I thought I was doing so well yesterday with my data usage. I would read a Blog or a News site and then check Data Saver. When I got ready to shut down and read on the couch before going for our afternoon walk I was at about 30MB per Data Saver and had used 277MB per Verizon. What the hell?

I think this was an automatic install of Chrome 57.0.2987.123 which I now have. What I do not know is what did I have yesterday. What I also do not know is how do I stop automatic updates. I am now in the hole again with Verizon usage but it is not serious. What would have been VERY serious is if this had happened on the last day of my billing cycle and I was bumping up against my limit - this would have put me over.

Chrome 57.0.2987.123 was ‘released’ on 23 March 2017 but the notice says “Systems will be receiving updates over the next several days”. So, if I had known what was happening I would have been prepared(?) for it. However, would not know exactly when it was going to happen until after the fact. Not as bad as what Windows was doing to me but NOT good.

I think I had a security update earlier in the month that spiked my usage. But I also have daily differences between Data Saver and what Verizon says I use which are still not explained. The only explanation that I can come up with is the MIFI is using data that Data Saver does not see and/or Verizon has their thumb on the scale that measures how much data I use.

The Cult of Incompetence by Émile Faguet was published in its English translation in 1911. He has a view of democracy that is much more in agreement with Mencken than his fellow Frenchman de Tocqueville. The book can be bought at Amazon and goodreads.com but there were no customer reviews so I doubt that it is a big seller. It is a worthwhile read however.

What is the people's one desire, when once it has been stung by the democratic tarantula? It is that all men should be equal, and in consequence that all inequalities natural as well as artificial should disappear. It will not have artificial inequalities, nobility of birth, royal favours, inherited wealth, and so it is ready to abolish nobility, royalty, and inheritance. Nor does it like natural inequalities, that is to say a man more intelligent, more active, more courageous, more skilful than his neighbours. It cannot destroy these inequalities, for they are natural, but it can neutralise them, strike them with impotence by excluding them from the employments under its control. Democracy is thus led quite naturally, irresistibly one may say, to exclude the competent precisely because they are competent,...
The people alone is sovereign. Therefore, though there can be individual liberty and liberty of association, there ought to be only such individual liberty and liberty of association as the people permits. Liberty cannot be and ought not to be anything more than a thing tolerated by the sovereign people. The individual may think, speak, write, and act as he pleases, but only so far as the people will allow him; for if he can do these things with absolute freedom, or even with limitations which are not imposed by the people, he becomes the sovereign power, or the power which fixed the limits of his freedom becomes the sovereign, and the sovereignty of the people disappears.

27 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

I thought I could dump holding tanks when I got back from my shopping trip on Tuesday. That is what I get for thinking. When I checked the freshwater idiot light it was showing red which prompted me to check the shower. Sure enough the grey water tank was full and just starting to cover the shower floor. Definitely time to dump tanks; I did that late yesterday afternoon.

I got laundry done yesterday also so a productive chores day. I don’t think I will do much today other than read. Maybe a little web browsing since I am close to being within my Verizon limit again IF I can hold down the usage to less than 160MB.

Limbaugh’s Undeniable Truths of Life #24: "Feminism Was Established So As To Allow Unattractive Women Easier Access To The Mainstream Of Pop Culture" is only an update of what Mencken said about the suffragettes of the early 20th Century. In Defense of Women by H. L. Mencken was first published in 1918, I read the revised publication of 1922 in PDF format. I later found it in Kindle format where I went to get the quotes shown below.

The man-hating woman, like the cold woman, is largely imaginary. One often encounters references to her in literature, but who has ever met her in real life? As for me, I doubt that such a monster has ever actually existed. There are, of course, women who spend a great deal of time denouncing and reviling men, but these are certainly not genuine man-haters; they are simply women who have done their utmost to snare men, and failed…
Of their [Americans] unprecedented dislike for novelty in the domain of the intellect I have often discoursed in the past, and so there is no need to go into the matter again. All I need do here is to recall the fact that, in the United States, alone among the great nations of history, there is a right way to think and a wrong way to think in everything—not only in theology, or politics, or economics, but in the most trivial matters of everyday life.

The present series of wars, it seems likely, will continue for twenty or thirty years, and perhaps longer. That the first clash was inconclusive was shown brilliantly by the preposterous nature of the peace finally reached—a peace so artificial and dishonest that the signing of it was almost equivalent to a new declaration of war. At least three new contests in the grand manner are plainly insight—one between Germany and France to rectify the unnatural tyranny of a weak and incompetent nation over a strong and enterprising nation, one between Japan and the United States for the mastery of the Pacific, and one between England and the United States for the control of the sea. To these must be added various minor struggles, and perhaps one or two of almost major character: the effort of Russia to regain her old unity and power, the effort of the Turks to put down the slave rebellion (of Greeks, Armenians, Arabs, etc.) which now menaces them, the effort of the Latin-Americans to throw off the galling Yankee yoke, and the joint effort of Russia and Germany (perhaps with England and Italy aiding) to get rid of such international nuisances as the insane Polish republic, the petty states of the Baltic, and perhaps also most of the Balkan states.

28 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

I was going to do some light web browsing yesterday but then realized that the month was coming to an end. That meant I should have been getting the Will Rogers weekly articles for the next month prepared.

I thought I had found a PDF Viewer that would let me copy and paste from it but sure could not do so yesterday. Threw that one away and went back to the built-in viewer that is in Chrome. It worked just fine with the Add On that does most of the formatting for me. I would guess that what I have now is just as good, maybe better, than what I had with OpenOffice and Adobe Acrobat Reader.

We had a storm blow in at 4:00am today with gusts of 30mph that shook me awake. Then got 0.21” of rain which was still coming down when we started to walk. It was coming down ‘dog shaking’ hard so I made a command decision and we retreated to Desperado.

I waited until it slacked off and then headed for Fry’s to get groceries. Did a stop at Café Olé again and had their Chorizo Omelet with some very good home fries. That may become my go to breakfast when I stop there again, maybe a couple more times before I leave the area.

The storm had passed through by the time I got out of Fry’s but we will not do a morning walk. What we did was a short potty walk and a needed rest was prescribed by Nature so we will take it. We haven’t missed a walk in quite some time.

H.L. Mencken has done us all a favor here with his remarkably eloquent and well-mannered discussion of one of the most polarizing issues out there. Mencken proves his ability to think outside the masses with this pithy manifesto on the nature of man and woman's dynamic. The writing is just plain entertaining. He writes what he thinks, which is something almost unheard of in this day and age. We are now tasked to write what we can support with "stats and hard evidence," rather than what we observe in the real world.
Male readers will be surprised by his disgust with their small mindedness and wayward industriousness. Female readers will be similarly off put with his casual unearthing of their deviousness, and remarks on their capacity for male production. I will resist giving away too much of his argument because this piece could be read almost entirely on a lazy Sunday.
This book will leave you much more informed when encountering the modern male/female books which resoundingly declare females as the future of our species. What we will find is that the situation is much more complex, as we may not all be reduced to workers competing for financial success. Read, enjoy, marvel, and appreciate the enlightenment it will bring!- Customer Review at Amazon

29 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

I finished the copy, paste and formatting of next months Will Rogers weekly articles yesterday. A little bit more time consuming than last month since I was learning a new way to do it. But what I have now is easy once I get in the routine of doing it the new way.

This morning was the first time since I got the MIFI from Verizon and fired up my Acer 14 that I have been within my Verizon data usage limit for the billing cycle. Yesterday I did everything that I wanted to do online and used less than my self imposed quota of 200MB. It looks like I will be able to do that same thing today. We will see - it is the usage that does not show up on Data Saver that is my sword of Damocles.

Got started drawing another stained glass panel yesterday and this morning. I have been away from doing one of them for so long that the absence plus this new Acer keyboard has made for a new learning experience. Luckily the panel that I am drawing is a relatively easy one for starting over. The good news is that the best I can tell I use very little data during my drawing efforts even with repeated saves of what I have coded and then viewing it.

I have a calendar pined as a tab and next to it is my Blog Page Worksheet where I type what I am going to post. Both of these automatically open every time I sign on because I have checked a box to open where I closed and I have only those two tabs open when I close.

However I usually have a lot of other tabs open also when I get ready to shut down so have been clicking the ‘X’ on each tab to close each one individually. Yesterday I discovered that I can go to the Blog Page tab, right click (two fingers at the bottom center of the touch pad) and then select “Close Tabs To The Right” - closes ALL the other tabs in one fell swoop. Now is that slick or is that slick?

As the Customer reviewer says this was a good book for those interested in history. For anyone interested in world wide travel also - Henry did get around. But when he started philosophizing he lost me. Some of it was understandable and some of it was way over my head.

There is a period of 20 years in his Education narrative where he has very little to say. One of the things that happened during that period was the death of his wife that he never mentioned in the book. A serious oversight in his Education in my opinion. “So it helps to do a little research first if you are not familiar with any of the details of his life” is probably good advice.

An important book for anyone with an interest in American history and literature, by a descendant of two presidents (John Adams and John Quincy Adams). I especially enjoyed his accounts of British politics during the American Civil War, which he spent in London serving as private secretary to his father, Charles Frances Adams, the Minister to Great Britain. Since Adams did not intend his "Education" to be read by anyone other than close friends and family it can be a bit obscure, so it helps to do a little research first if you are not familiar with any of the details of his life. Elegantly written, a wonderful work of intellectual history. - Customer Review at goodreads.com

30 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

I didn’t do much yesterday other than my routine. Just a bit from normal was cooking some ‘linners’ which I need to do today also.

Finished drawing panel #28 yesterday. As I said it was a rather simple one which was good because I had forgotten what I had learned. The same thing when it came to including it in this posting - what do I need to do?

Panel 28

31 March
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ

Drawing this Penrose pattern that I am trying to replicate is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle with only two shapes and two colors. I have made some very slow progress on the left border starting at the top left.

The previous Penroses that I drew using darts and kites were drawn with a start from the center. On those I could see where the x,y coordinates would be for a star or a sun using a radius from the center - for this one I do not see that. I think I can draw it but it is fairly large and will take as much or more time than the Penrose Cartwheel did.

We had strong winds during the early morning hours today with gust of 34mph. The weather gurus issued a Wind Advisory at 5:00 that is good through 11:00am today that expects gusts of 45mph. A lot of very low black clouds have blown in but no forecast of rain. The weather radar is showing rain between here and Tucson with it moving to the northeast so probably will miss me. Alas, I spoke too soon started getting some rain around 8:30.

Starting to look like a good day to be on the couch with my Paperwhite and Patches.