September 11 and Religious Extremists

Out west, we have our own September 11th Ground Zero of religious extremists dating back to the year 1857. It’s at Mountain Meadows, Utah. The religious perpetrators at that rarely talked-about memorial share the same faith as Glenn Beck, Mitt Romney, Orrin Hatch, and Harry Reid to name a few. The religion of those that murdered scores of innocents at Mountain Meadows has strong political influence in the state and local present-day governments of many western states. The Mormons have been recently credited for defeating same-sex marriage in California. This is the religion shared by those at the Mountain Meadows Massacre whose battle then was to defend polygamy!

On the national scene, Christian fundamentalist and evangelicals have made inroads into the Tea Party (formerly self-proclaimed “Tea Baggers”) and the right-wing of the Republican Party. The party that wants the government to stay out of everything is OK with it choosing who can marry, what can be said about sexuality in schools, and how far women can go with reproductive choices. They think the theory of Evolution is on par with Creationism and the belief that the Earth was created by God 6000 years ago. Christian extremists target abortion providers in much the same way as the Taliban targets those who do not share their beliefs, they work outside of the law.

Religious extremists have lived among us for a long time. They use their religious affiliation to justify actions against those outside of their belief system. Whether Muslim, Mormon, Christian, Jewish, whatever, their methods and effects are equally dangerous to our ability to live as free people.

Got the Ipad2

So, I picked up the IPad on my extended camping trip. Paired with the Verizon Hot Spot, I was able to stay fairly well- connected without the annoying battery issues common with the laptop PC.

The biggest negative in getting it to work was the requirement to get the latest version of ITunes on the PC. 3 attempts at downloading the 60meg upgrade in a fringe cell zone was a real pain. The IPad would not work until it verified that the latest ITunes software was present.

It was very easy to learn. It fulfills about 90 pct of my personal computing requirements.

Blog posting with photos will need to wait until I find more time to deal with my PC. For now, I need to get caught up on a lot of things that were on the back burner when I went remote. One of those things was getting the maintenance on a bunch of PC’s up to date, which is not a requirement with the IPad.

I like being able to set it down and return where I left off without waiting for boot up. I actually take it with me most of the time, but it’s big enough that you will not find me constantly staring into it like many do with their smaller PDA’s.

Maybe I’ll figure out how to blog post with photos from the IPad. In the meantime, bear with me. I’ll surely fire up the PC again some time soon.

Yellowstone 110618

Time for the morning sweep out! Love those Red Chairs!

Plenty o’ snow over Dunraven Pass.

Low overcast makes it surreal!

I can handle the wildflowers.

It won’t rain today.

Looking back from The Narrows toward Yellowstone picnic area.

Even buffalo dung and dandelions look beautiful on a day like today.

A wider view up Yellowstone River from above the Narrows.

Apollinaris Spring is running again. This was a Yellowstone Park Foundation restoration project. Yes I rejoined, 15% off store purchases. They do some great work including field seminars,

This is one of the first roadside museums on National Register of Historic sites. Unfortunately many used this information to steal specimens from Obsidian Ridge.

Roaring Mountain is roaring a bit more this year, probably due to the abundance of water.

The days are already running together. This is what it is like to find the brink of Lower Falls before anyone else.

I experienced a thunderous avalanche of snow breaking off from near the falls. The ground shook. Awesome! (And I don’t use that term a lightly as the younger generation.)

There are many much smaller scale falls to enjoy along the north rim, as well.

What can I say?

Yes, you should take in EVERY view point, even the ones that warn you that you may die doing this at 8000 feet if you have health problems.

Is this the stairway to heaven?

This is it! No need for church.

The threat of thunderstorms forces a change of plans. Snow Pass will have to wait for another day. Shorter trails such as the Artist Paintpots prevail.

BTW, this is only a fraction of what one sees in a day in Yellowstone! There is much more I took on HD video, such as a number of bears. Of course, most was seen without looking through the viewfinder. These are reminders of a memorable day.

Yellowstone 110617

There is still plenty o’ snow above 7500’. I had thought 90W of Harbor Freight solar panels was overkill ‘til I talked with another RV’er packin’ 270W. I’m ready for the extended stay at Yellowstone. I was nearly overwhelmed with emotion when I entered the park in fabulous spring colors while reflecting on 50 years of visits. The memories here last for life. If you go, take plenty of pictures and concentrate on being in the best of moods.

My outside shower is somewhat hidden. Oh well, if they have to try that hard to see, go ahead and have a look! I’m not paying to use the campground showers. I find this far more invigorating

Yes, I will use my generator for extended stays. If you don’t like it, go to Indian Creek or Norris. I can’t stay away from the blues videos or all the gadgets requiring recharge. A strategy definitely needs to be developed as I don’t want to become a slave to the 8-8 generator use window.

Maybe in a couple of weeks I’ll be able to get to the fire ring and table. The word around the park is that 2011 has the most snow in 30 years. Everywhere it seems that the season is arriving about a month late.

Good view from inside. Yellowstone does it right unless you stay at the full hookups in the RV Park(ing lot).

I will post more, although I may fall behind given all the possibilities for entertainment.

Stopping Obscene Junk Mail

Once you’ve registered thru Direct Marketing Association as someone who does not want to receive unsolicited direct mail, and you’ve politely called the individual business to ask to not receive mailings or faxed mostly black background notice to remove from mailing list and you are still getting the mail with the excuses: “It’s handled by someone else and I’ve told them to remove you from the list”, “these get printed up months in advance and can’t be stopped”, “just throw them away if you don’t want them” and “there is no more I can do” …

Point out to the company sending those mailings that it is as easy for them to remove yours from their out box as they think it is for you to remove it from your in box. Outbound direct mailings are sorted by address and they can find yours if they wanted to. Also, point out that the Supreme Court has ruled that it is up to the recipient to determine what is obscene and objectionable and you are putting them on notice that that is how you find their mailings. Then promise to make a formal complaint to the Postmaster that will reference the conversation in which you put them on notice for sending obscene and objectionable material and further violations generally come with heavy fines and media attention.

This has worked for me in the past. If it doesn’t, I would indeed pursue the formal complaint route.

Progressive Ideas

Anyone who works a job for someone else 40 hours or more a week should not have to live in poverty.

Health care should be affordable for all Americans. “Death Panels” are at least as real in insurance companies today as they can be imagined in any government program of the future.

High quality K-12 education should be provided for free for all. Reasonable financial terms should be available to all academically qualifying students of higher education.

Workers should be allowed to bargain collectively.

All natural resources of the public trust should be managed openly in such a way to allow a voice for all vested interests.

The affects of economic activity and crises should be shared by all.

Today’s lifestyle should not be financed by future generations. It is OK to raise taxes today to cover what we feel is necessary to spend. Taxes should be levied on those who will feel the effects least rather than those who are impacted the most. Deficits DO matter.

The world needs ditch diggers, too. Let’s treat them with dignity.

All people should be treated with dignity. Dignity toward others should define who we are.

Unless the fossil fuel industries are nationalized, it makes no sense to “drill baby drill” up our resources while trashing the environment. Whatever is produced only adds to the global market in which we must compete, anyway. It makes better sense to use energy more efficiently overall and apply most development efforts towards locally sustainable sources.

Fox News offers an alternative to reality.

There a very few visible conservatives today who can articulate their views without being assholes.

It is OK to be someone other than a white, wealthy, heterosexual Christian male.

The Bible is not a modern manual for governance requiring interpretation by religious leaders. Government should derive its power from the People, a collection of individuals, and not from a deity. Individuals can decide from where they derive their own spiritual power, or if they do at all.

Discrimination is a method for dividing people.

Americans should work together.

Barack Obama is a far better president than was George W. Bush.

The U.S. military should only be called upon to risk their lives using deadly force on issues that can be resolved in a matter of weeks. To those that do provide this service, we need to take care of them and their families.

Public safety is as equally important as the right to bear arms.

Civility goes a long way.

People experiencing the affects of government or business should have some control over them.

Adults should be able to make their own decisions about who is or is to be added as a family member.

Bullies need to be told that what they are doing is wrong. People should be protected from bullies.

Business is business and government is government. It makes no more sense to run government like a business than to run a business like government.

Consenting adults in their own privacy should be able to choose to do whatever they want to make each other and themselves feel good.

World War II ended over 50 years ago. Those people we pay all over the world should be doing things that are beneficial to us today as well as in the future. We should not be building weapon systems that would have been nice to have in order to win World War II.

“Homeland Security” is a Bush-era redneck term. “National Security” implies greater national unity in protecting what lies within the borders of the United States. “National Security Interests” go beyond our borders.

Climate change is real. The best science suggests that human activity is accelerating it to the extent that adaptations cannot be made quickly enough to avoid possibly severe consequences. Therefore, it is reasonable to do whatever we can to mitigate our impacts before we are forced to make more drastic changes to our lives and the lives of our children.

Once churches and other religious organizations are able to provide a place to gather to share common faiths and do charitable work, they should pay taxes like other businesses. That would broaden the local tax bases in order to reduce individual and property taxes rather than subsidizing big business and ostentatious buildings on prime real estate.

Something like a Civilian Conservation Corps makes more sense for the long-term unemployed than to simply hand out money or cut off support completely. Who knows, most everyone may benefit here.

Not one single job was created by Obama’s economic stimulus package. Many were and many more were saved.

Yellowstone in Spring

Yellowstone in April is really like Yellowstone towards the end of winter. There is generally 3-6 feet of snow everywhere. The Canyon Visitor Center is not yet open. Old Faithful and Mammoth Visitor Centers are open. All lodging except Old Faithful Snow Lodge is closed. Camping is only available at Mammoth.

You can get winter sporting goods and snacks at Canyon. The snowmobile warming huts are still around vending stale candy.

A lot starts opening during National Park Week beginning the third weekend in April. Access is free during all of National Park Week. You can in from the North Entrance or the West Entrance and get over to Canyon for an impressive view from a few feet short of Artist Point.

You can also see Upper Falls.

The road is closed both north and south of Canyon. You can get into Norris Geyser Basin, but will have to navigate the trails that are still snow-covered in many places.

You will share the roads with buffalo as they tend to avoid deep snow.

You will probably see more buffalo in the spring than any other time of the year. You are also more likely to see predators preying on winter-weakened animals.

The new Old Faithful Visitor Center is open. They post the times for the next expected eruptions that occur roughly 90 minutes apart within a 20 minute window during this time of year.

West Yellowstone generally has more affordable lodging in the spring than does Gardiner. Gardiner hosts cross country skiers and hikers that are still active in April. West Yellowstone hosts snowmobilers in the months leading up to the opening of the road for wheeled traffic. I found a room at the Brandin’ Iron for under $70 including breakfast and access to their hot tub. There are one or two other places open at a higher rate. It may take a while to figure out who is open. The One and only hot social and eating spot is the Wild West Pizzeria. The food is good; they pour micros and have a juke box. What more do you need? Hang onto your beer when you are ordering your next or they will reuse your glass. I’m all for saving water, but not at the cost of drinking a beer out of a warm, greasy glass that costs you the same as the one that comes in a frosty glass.

There are plenty of good skiing and snowshoeing options, especially near Canyon and the Lamar Valley. A lot of spots where the grass is showing is pretty mushy and muddy. There are a number of trails closed because of bear activity. You will still find the idiots who stop in the middle of the road to photograph wildlife from the driver’s seat…just not as many as you do in July when traffic backs up for a mile or more.

The airport at West Yellowstone (KWYS) does not get plowed until the businesses open on June 1. It is very rare that you will be able to land much before June 1. An advance call is necessary. Bozeman (KBZN) is the nearest alternate open year round.

It is very cold in the early morning hours, it can be quite nice or a bit windy as the day wears on. It can also snow several inches a day. It will still be winter well into June! Spring starts in July.

Wild and Scenic Lochsa River Corridor

Now they’re cutting the trees way back to allow super huge mega-loads of parts cheaply assembled overseas to make their way to other oil company assets on the other side of the Wild and Scenic River Corridor.

Somehow, that doesn’t seem right. With oil company profits hitting record levels, it does not seem a fair trade to give up some of the value of the area for more oil company profits. It’s not like there are not other options such as doing the assembly in the U.S. with parts brought in on smaller loads travelling other routes which would likely incur less damage.

I sure hope they don’t mess up the river, too. Don’t you?

Early Spring Biking in Yellowstone

Spring bicycling in Yellowstone National Park is an exercise in logistics, layered clothing selection, and self-sufficiency. As long-ride mountain-terrain bicycling goes, it is not particularly as physically taxing as one might expect. This is probably because there are so many reasons to stop that you really don’t have the opportunity to get worn-down. You will need plenty of food and water, and be prepared for any mechanical contingencies as there are exactly zero places to offer support. Car traffic does not usually start until the third weekend in April. The roads are open for non-motorized traffic a month earlier while they are being plowed. The plowing begins with a narrow swath through the center and then gets progressively widened. The weather can change quickly. Temperatures generally range from the teens in the morning to the high-thirties and, if you’re lucky, the low forties. You cannot be on an aggressive schedule since you will be sharing the road with buffalo that prefer using the roads to get around because of the relative ease of travel. It is impossible to keep the recommended distance away from them when you encounter them on the road. I’d suggest walking your bike around them, keeping your bike between you and them, avoiding eye contact, and make slow movements anywhere other than directly towards them.

The road between Gardiner and West Yellowstone is very-well constructed and has good drainage. So, ice patches are surprisingly rare. In 2011, there were plenty of potholes between the Hoodoos and Norris. The rest of the road was smooth. The distance is just over 50 miles. The most difficult climbing stretch is the first 10 miles south of Gardiner where you will climb 2200 feet in 10 miles until you get past Silver Gate. The rest of the ride is comparatively easy. Drifting snow can be problematic, especially between Silver Gate and Norris.

The West Yellowstone airport (KWYS) does not get maintained until June 1, and it is rare that the snow will be cleared much before that. The Gardiner airport (29S) is opened pretty-much year-round. But, you will want to fly in only during a stretch of fair weather and plan your arrival and departure in the morning before the wind picks up. Access to Gardiner is from the north through a curvy canyon. The terrain rises quickly between Gardiner and Mammoth. Bozeman (KBZN) is the nearest commercial airport about 85-90 miles north of both west and north entrances.

There are only a few lodging and dining options open in West Yellowstone and Gardiner in early spring. They are particularly sensitive about leaving cars parked overnight in West Yellowstone because of the effort required to make space available. It is a good idea to clear parking arrangements with the property owner.

Although you can bike in the summer in Yellowstone, spring is probably a safer time to do it. At least if you die doing it, at least it is more likely to be YOUR fault. You just really need to understand that you are really on your own!

Blues and Brews

The Boise Blues and Brews Fest that normally takes place at the Boise Hawks Stadium in mid-May apparently will not happen in 2011. Too bad, it was a fun and entertaining event…good food, good music, brews, etc.. It just did not get public support. For example, KTVB-7 (aka “Church TV”) did not mention it even though it was a fund raiser for the Idaho Humane Society and they plugged a similar non-beer pouring event in Caldwell the same day. Apparently, they had a lot of footage about what a God fearing religious good boy the Centennial High graduate that was accused of shooting and blowing up Iraqis just for fun(?) they wanted to run. Of course when some really incriminating evidence came out against this altar boy, it did not get the same coverage on KTVB. Not surprising from a station obsessed with advocating human trafficker, born-again, business deadbeat (who shafted employees out of their pay) Laura Silsby and starting many interviews with questions like “What part did your faith help you to (fill in the blank)”. You may recall, Laura duped some apparently well-intentioned people who wanted to do “God’s work” into illegally taking Haitian children from their desperate parents and smuggling them to her Christian orphanage(?) in the Domican Republic. Oh, and remember the tragic story of the family wiped out on HWY-55 with a “God Squad” hat displayed on the family man who lost his life to a drunk driver. They also didn’t adequately cover the fact that Mr. “God Squad” was high on meth when he drove his wife and baby out in front of the speeding intoxicated driver. That’s what “Idaho’s #1 News Source” covers. I digress.

Anyway, there is a better promoted UnTapped Blues and Brews event happening in the Tri-Cities area in southeast Washington May 13-14, 2011. If you book with a nearby hotel, it will feed you brunch and give you a safe ride there and back for a VERY reasonable price, which includes entry to the event. There is also a deal for RV’ers. It’s 4-5 hour drive from Boise. A modern airport (KPSC) is a short distance away and generally has a variety of low-cost or free-shuttle options. KPSC has ILS and LPV precision approaches.

Burns Migratory Bird Festival

The Migratory Bird Festival happens the first full weekend in April at Burns, Oregon.

This part of Central Oregon is one of the nest places for birding.

Bring the binocs!

Indian Valley

With the spring rockslides and all the construction and paving planned for ID-55 between Boise and McCall for spring and half of summer 2011, it’s time to re-acquaint one’s travel bug with Indian Valley. Big Flat Road, north of Van Dueson Ranch is really the first road you can consider a “back road” to become passable in springtime near the West Mountains that comprise parts of the Payette and Boise National Forests. I like the views and wildlife. It sure beats waiting for a flagman to let you through.

This is the hairiest it got in the first full week of April. It is the first time I bought more than a passenger car on that road and didn’t need or want 4WD. In my opinion, unless you are making a dry steep rocky or sandy climb, you really should not be using 4WD to rut it up for everyone who follows. Owyhee County will bust you for rutting up their roads where posted. You go through 4 or 5 counties here and I doubt they will be getting much coordinated soon with a populace that generally dislikes big government.

You can see many abandoned roads and other human improvements throughout the area.

The crazy talk of building a high speed highway through here to save 15-60 minutes between Boise and New Meadows has thankfully subsided for now. ID-55 and US-95 have more than enough combined capacity to handle the traffic. Once you see this area, and unless you are making money on building the highway, I think you will agree that bringing high-speed traffic in the area makes no sense. You can travel 30 mph in most places

Or is that 25? I’d hate to see our four-legged friends become roadkill.

Save Third Fork Road north of Ola for May wildflowers.

Big Flat Road north of Emmett and onto Four Mile Road passing Little Willow Flat and Riley Butte is roughly the original 1863 Goodale Cutoff variant to avoid the 1000 ft TOO WILD horse-drawn wagon descent down Midvale Hill. This portion of the Goodale Cutoff of the Oregon Trail is between the Army’s Fort Boise and Powder River (Oregon) has been recently surveyed and marked. The route comes after a section from around Eagle up over Freezeout Hill to Emmett. Many travelers are believed to have settled in this area or continued on over the Snake River via Brownlee Ferry to the mines at Powder River near historic Auburn, Oregon. After travelling hundreds of dusty miles of braided road scattered about and ambiguously labeled “The Oregon Trail”, some said: “What’s wrong with right here, honey?” Others used this route to return to the Boise Basin in search for gold.

Four Mile Road does not have nearly as much aggregate as Big Flat Road. So, it is usually pretty muddy until later in May. It’s probably not much better than the original Goodale route back in the day. The south end ( N44.07524 W116.4846 2907’ elev ) at the confluence of Four Mile Creek and Big Willow Creek has been no doubt a popular camp between Boise and Cambridge.

I can remember trying to pick out old roads since growing up. My Mums use to point out “that is where the old road went” back then when the interstate highway system was being built and familiar rest stop communities were becoming ghost towns.

Along every road is the story of civilization.

Verizon 3G Mobile Hot Spot

The $35/mo 3 gig promotional deal on Verizon 3G hot spot is a killer deal. It behaves exactly like a wireless router allowing networking and internet access for up to 5 devices. It is about as fast as the first DSL connections, about 1.5Mb. It is fast enough for most surfing, although noticeably slower than the latest and greatest broadband. It is about the size of 4 credit cards bound together.

Verizon has the widest coverage in the US. AT&T advertises that it covers 99% of people where they live. But, most people already have some kind of connectivity where they live. I want it to work where people don’t live. Although behind in 4G rollout, I think its overall coverage and acceptable quality make this a great deal.

Most of the complaints about this deal focus on the 3 gig limitation. You can get extra gigs for $10 each for the months you go over. If you stay away from YouTube and other video streaming, you are likely to use about 100 meg per person for 2 hours of continuous surfing. You can do that every day with one person and still pay only the minimum. Although we share the connection when we travel, we find we are not using it every day. So, this works out fine. It’s a good idea to turn off automatic updates and approve them only when on unlimited Wifi or near the end of your billing cycle with plenty of unused data.

It works with on battery for about 4 hours. We use it wherever we travel and pretend we have the best wired service that was available in 2004, but can use it anywhere a cell phone works. I don’t like to work just to show off the latest and greatest toys. So, this fits in just fine! It’s relatively cheap and provides for some great capabilities for staying connected while travelling in places that don’t have Wifi. We terminated our Qwest hard-wired 1.5M service at a remote site we were paying $50/mo for and single-connection tethered-to-cell phone service for another $50/mo. So, we are very happy with it!

Bruneau Dunes

Bruneau Dunes State Park is a fantastic place!

It’s pretty hot in the summer and it is impossible to walk the dunes after early morning, but otherwise it is a sure bet good time. They have cabins, sheltered camps in trees and a newer treeless section with electrical and water hookups. They also rent a couple of cabins. The cell phone coverage is good. So, it makes for a great remote headquarters. They take reservations, but I have always been able to find a spot. It is very popular in the spring. The worst(?) we got for an RV spot was a no-hookup spot in the horse camp with a 2-mile walk to the dunes. We made due and actually enjoyed being away from the crowd. I’ll trade a noise crowd for a close up view of a great horned owl an time. Thousands of birds fly in sync in the wetlands.

They have a large telescope and offer a show with night sky and solar viewing Friday and Saturday for a nominal fee. The night sky is generally very dark, which makes for superlative night sky viewing.

Be sure to bring your paddling and/or float craft to enjoy some rays and paddle over to the largest dune. It is a great place to picnic. Dune climbing ranges from easy to very steep. The view from the top is spectacular!

There are plenty of great hiking opportunities including a 7-mile loop around the dunes and along the boundary of the state park. Get a close up view of the Vortex.

You can easily spend several days exploring the area with nearby Owyhee Uplands Scenic Byway, Owyhee Canyon, Bruneau Canyon, Big Jacks, Little Jacks, Three Forks Hot Spring, Indian Bath Hot Spring, Indian Hot Spring, Coyote Hot Spring, Hagerman Fossil Bed, Oregon Trail, Balanced Rock, Cloverleaf Creamery, Box Canyon, Gooding City of Rocks, Zeno Canyon and Shoshone Falls just to name a few! Hicks Springs near Zeno Canyon (N42.50361 W116.06444 5295’ elev ) is a great off-the-grid free alternate site for closer off-road access to the Owyhee Canyon backcountry. Get out your backcountry DeLorme or Benchmark atlas and plan a loop to Murphys Hot Springs and back if you prefer to avoid the tire-ripping backcountry roads and still get a taste of the back roads.

N42.89568 W115.69744 2493’ elev

Mt Thielsen Lightning Rod of the Cascades

Mt. Thielsen is a highlight for a flight along the spine of the Cascades from Mt. Shasta to Mt. Rainier. It is just north of Crater Lake National Park at N43.15306 W122.06600 , 9182 feet in elevation.

It is relatively accessible by foot. A flyby is perhaps the best way to size it up because it may be wise to stop short of the summit due to the technical nature of the very top. Fortunately, not many try the last 60 foot climb to the summit without roping off as there have been surprisingly few rescues or fatalities over the years. The hike from opposite Diamond Lake up to the junction with Pacific Crest Trail affords nearly continuous closing views of the summit as you emerge from a lodgepole pine forest. It is a fairly (but not ridiculously) steep climb with many rewarding views. If you lose the trail, just continue towards the summit. Circle and approach from the southwest.

When you get to within 200 vertical feet of the summit, you will find yourself scrambling piles of rocks, nearly all of which will move as you scramble over them.

Nearby Umpqua hot springs, Toketee Falls, Watson Falls, Crater Lake, and Natural Bridge of the Rogue, should also be considered to make the drive completely worthwhile.

Three Creeks Brewing in Sisters Oregon

Three Creeks has some really great brews! Really, they are KILLER!

We haven’t tried the food yet. It was slighly on the pricey side and we weren’t hungry enough to take a chance. But they have $3.50 brews on Tuesday afternoons and a locals appreciation $2.25 brews, $9 steak dinner and half price growlers on Wednesday.

You’ll find them on the 5 Pines campus just outside of Sisters on the south side of the highway just west of town. There are several boondocking locations nearby up Three Creeks Road and off 242 west of town if you want to make use of your RV to maximize your visit. Whychus Creek (Squaw Creek on old maps) off FS 1514 is a favorite for enjoying a carry-along growler for a bed-time night cap

Huckabee is BIG Annoyance

Voicemail from: (888) 642-xxxx at 10:54 AM – one of several at one phone x several phones I have, obviously using the same software those identity thieves use when they tell you to dial 1 to lower your interest rates on your credit card:

Representatives has voted to repeal the destructive health care act more than half a million of your petitions were delivered a house members in front of the capital and you were big part of making history we can and we will win a repealed of the Senate entrance sound all the pond in to refuse to believe that the American people have a role in legislation. Here’s how they are 23 democratic Senators up for reelection and if we speak. Now with one voice. They will respond. To do this we got a raise at least $300000 for media funding in the next few days. Would you please give 2550 or even $250 today to help me in the repeal it now campaigns that way we can build such numbers, even in the pot of that Harry Reid will listen for your generous help. I’ll send you a sign booklet on what you must know about Obama care as well as a way of saying thank you for your support. So please press 1 to contribute to our repeal all bomb I care for good campaign again.

OK preacher, stop calling me already. There is no option to opt out and his robo-dialer keeps calling. Go ahead, call Huckubee on the advertised 800 number, try to navigate the menus, it is not possible. The only choice this jerk gives you is to join the lunacy.

So, as another preacher told me when I asked the church to extinguish parking lot lots when possible (i.e. in the wee hours) so as not waste energy or add to light pollution: “We are within our rights!”. So much for being a good neighbor. Political calls do not fall under the national Do-Not-Call Registry provisions, so dial away! I guess this is a harbinger of the future.

“Repeal Obamacare”? What does that mean? How would that affect me? Can you tell me on a bumper sticker or a robocall? If so, why did the national discussion go on for so long?

The bumper sticker thinkers really like these robo-calls. You can put the President’s citizenship in question in one medium by ignoring the facts, and ask you to repeal “Obamacare” in another once its namesake has been thoroughly demonized.

Maybe you loudmouth preachers should hang low before more people realize that we are heavily subsidizing this behavior through sales, income, and property tax exemptions. Maybe those exemptions should be removed before taxing Girl Scout cookies and saying there is no money in the till to continue funding education at adequate levels.

By the way, where is all this job creation legislation the Tea Baggers promised? There are a lot of new abortion restrictions proposals, union busting, and “Obamacare” repeal efforts but we have yet to hear how that correlates with job creation.

Ipad Battery Life

8-10 hours! That’s enough for me. SOLD! I’m getting one! I’m tired of being tethered to to an AC outlet. The 2-4 hour out-of-the-box battery life of the typical laptop PC soon becomes just long enough for a quick web surfing session or to keep powered up just long enough to find another outlet.

You can access the web and email, view PDF maps and documents (enough to fly a plane), read ebooks. There are zillions of fun and useful apps, including one to find local pub happy hours! It doesn’t do everything a PC can, but you can bring it along set it down and then pick it up and use it at will.

No Soliciting, No Ads, No Thank You, in Advance

Calling all the advertisers that hang crap on your door is kind of after-the-fact effective. Most of the hangers appear to be unemployed walking the neighborhood with a buzz on – just the kind of people you probably don’t want at your door. In fact, I don’t want anyone at my door that I haven’t invited and is not delivering something I’ve ordered. If they are not using it as an excuse to come up and case your place for burglary (I’m sure most are not), they are certainly leaving a marker for someone who would. I cannot remember the last time I got anything of value left at my door for free. I do, however, remember many times picking up a well-littered entry way, stopping what I was doing to see if a package has arrived, or have had a relaxing time interrupted to find out what is causing the commotion, only to find trash left at the door.

I need something that will not set off the dog or the alarm and does not express unfriendliness. I like people who don’t bug me! So, I’m laminating one of these onto a luggage tag and hanging it on my door in a pre-emptive move to ward off the unwanted visitors. I hope the 19-year old Mormon missionaries and wide range of evangelicals who think they have something important to tell me about my spiritualism, which they know nothing about, will also get the message.

I’m not sure how many unwanted behaviors for which you need to make and display a sign there are. I guess I’ll start with this and find out.

GPS Jamming By FCC Lightsquared Action

I’m including this link to an article appearing in “Cruising World” mainly because it has a bunch of really good links to some more information about how the FCC is taking action that could very seriously mess up the effectiveness of our global positioning systems. I would otherwise have to include all the separate links myself here. So, even though it does not appear to be a great source, trust me it is.

It has to do with the FCC granting political favors to Lightsquared to make it possible for them to build 40,000 towers emitting high powered signals very near the GPS satellite spectrum. This is all being done to provide 4G wireless connectivity virtually everywhere. Supposedly, the FCC has stipulated that Lighsquared has to make sure it doesn’t interfere with existing equipment.

Let me share something with you based on the decades I spent in the technology field in a former career. You cannot possibly test for the wide range of problems that will crop up whenever you change the fundamental rules under which current technology was developed. GPS signals are in very low wattage. So every GPS device on the market today, as well as those you have already invested in, was tested in this low wattage environment. Now you put high wattage transmitters in the broadcasting bands right next to the ones used for GPS and you have NO IDEA of the problems that it will create. You cannot test for the results of a paradigm shift. Some units may work; some may not, even if they are the same model. Garmin has already run its own independent test on aviation GPS units and have seen some serious problems. Even if fixes are made to resolve THOSE problems, it is unknown whether or not there will be a problem with YOUR UNITs.

I am not an alarmist. That is why I never tune to FOX to be bombarded with their endless NEWS ALERTS. But, I rely on my GPS units for all kinds of orienteering including navigating and landing an airplane in low-visibility or unfamiliar surroundings. This is messed up!