I'll be back!

In about three years. I plan to use this time to change my life. I'll be homeless with a mission.

I will be leaving Springerville in about 5 days. But essentially, I'm already gone. Yes, some of you said mentally gone. You're forgiven. See my final thoughts. I'll need you to champion them while I'm away (should you choose to, and no tape will self destruct... hopefully.) I'll miss ya.

He's no metrosexual

Pam's kind of man.

Australia disagrees with Musk

Musk thinks carbon taxes are a good idea. He's wrong.

But I do agree that, "The world could use a good movie about establishing a base on Mars."

So should I write a screenplay based on my settlement charter?

Elements of screenwriting.

Speaking of Australia, does it have mars dirt?

Snails and turtles applaud

After almost a year on mars, the curiosity rover has completed a distance an astronaut could have walked in ten minutes. Just to put things in perspective.

Why would any conservative take advice from this guy?

Democrats routinely turn into Republicans when they walk into the polling place for the primary and then switch back to Democrat on their way out. Personally, I’ve done this at least 4 or 5 times and I will surely do it again next year.

7 instead of 8

I cancelled my appointment on the 25th. I squeezed it in today instead. Which means I will be leaving on the 24th. So seven more days instead of eight. Seven instead of eight would have completely changed my life a quarter century ago.

I was an ATCS in Oklahoma taking a simulation test. I had traffic crossing a vortac with another orbiting above. I didn't have to give a landing clearance to the aircraft orbiting. I could have waited until the traffic cleared. But I did give a clearance at or below 8000. It should have been at or below 7000. That was about half a point in my four months of testing. That's how much I failed by. Had I said seven or not given any clearance at all... I'd be retired now, collecting more than the average working persons income to sit on my butt.

Then I would have missed out on all the life experience I had instead. eh... I would have made that sacrifice. Seven more days...

I did not know this

Most U.S. states do not allow manufacturers to sell new cars directly to consumers.

This is simply incredible to me.

Time for some Lazarus Long quotes.

"Being intelligent is not a felony, but most societies evaluate it as at least a misdemeanor."

What King said

It's worth remembering.

Tires rotated

One more thing to check off my list. 10 more days to go. Oil change just before I leave.

Rule of law

Still has some potential.

Sanity and law prevails

Will Bill Lee, former police chief of Sanford, get his job back? George Zimmerman will not get his life back either. Trayvon got what he deserved according to the law.

Second-degree murder in Florida requires "a depraved mind without regard for human life.” Only a depraved mind would accuse Zimmerman of that.

Manslaughter doesn't apply either because in Florida killing is justified on the reasonable belief that bodily harm is a potential even before the reality that exists for all to see in this case. Self defense does not require the belief that your life is in jeopardy as is commonly believed. That little word 'OR' has legal meaning.

The killing was justified and a young thug got what he deserved is what the jury found even with the judge hiding information from them that would have made this conclusion much easier to reach.

This is a message that we should be clearly stating so thugs everywhere start to get it.

The Valentines day massacre was national news when one mobster group killed seven of another mobster group. It would hardly be newsworthy today. This is probably a daily occurrence in this day and hardly gets beyond local news.

Let Trayvon's parents shed their tears. The rest of us should see one down, lots more to go. This is what's codified in law when sanity prevailed. You can legally kill a thug when they attack you.

Got that thugs? You can be killed and will be when you can't control your rage. Good riddance.

Kill all the thugs and what does society become? A whole lot better. We don't have to kill them all, but let those that remain have a good reason to control their violence when among decent people.

I don't care what color the people involved are. The media twisting itself into a pretzel to describe someone as a white Hispanic is absurd. George is a mutt just like the rest of us.

Boeing batteries...

...Are chemically not the same as those used by Tesla and SpaceX contrary to what's been reported.

Tesla automobiles do not use the lithium-cobalt-oxide chemistry that is in the Dreamliner batteries. They rely on Panasonic nickel-cobalt-aluminum lithium-ion batteries.

Second, Boeing's 'fixes' completely ignore what Elon is saying. The central issue is not just spacing. It's cell size.

Boeing elected to use a battery with a grouping of eight large cells, Tesla's batteries contain thousands of smaller cells that are independently separated.

Boeing refuses to address this issue so they will continue to have problems until they do.

Budgeting

My income comes every four weeks except when it comes in five. Which it happens to after this next payday. This will work for me as regards my car payment which is budgeted at $50 per week (paid monthly) but zero every fifth week when that happens. Food and fuel will be budgeted at $50 each, every week regardless. Everything else is a luxury except I will make savings a priority.

I will need patience. Things will be happening very slowly for the next four months or so. I'm using a four column journal with the last column being my over/under for the weekly budget. The car payment should be zero over/under at all times. Other stuff will start out 100% under weekly budget until expenses occur. At the end of each week I will have an accumulation of budget and savings.

Simple enough. Beyond that I have goals for this year and next year. July 2015 I'm gonna party. Have no clue where but that is when my odyssey ends. Update: Nope. It will take until the end of 2016 to reach my goals.

Of course every ending is a new beginning. Not going to think about that for now.

I have little to do for the next twelve days. I'm already packed. I could get my tires rotated.

Every six months I get car insurance. That will require putting aside about $10 per week (with consideration for the weeks that have already gone by.) Not much room for anything beyond that.

Another way of looking at it. First I take $200 off the top for car payment. Then I have $160 per week (for five weeks.) $100 for food and gas leaves $60 for luxuries. $160 goes into savings ever four week period.

Lately...

I've been seeing all of my favorite foods in over abundant quantities lately. Another reason I must leave.

I absolutely love eggplant before it's become eggplant parmesan (thin sliced and dipped in just egg and breadcrumbs, fried) with a little ranch dressing.

Italian mothers will love you to death. Spanish stepfathers will passive-aggressive attack such as waiting until you are two hours into a deep sleep and turning on one of three televisions in the house at maximum volume two feet away from your head.

I've been in a tired funk all day with one exception. The wiring on my Jimmy is complete. Everything is working as desired. I have one appointment on July 25th before I blow this town.

I talked to my brother-in-law this afternoon and his first comment was "when are you coming to visit?" I told him probably in about three months. I plan a very slow migration. I do not want to arrive at family broke. I must have some savings first. I may stay a week, but no longer. Then I will probably head north. I've never seen much of Oregon accept to pass through and would like to take it a bit more leisurely this time. I have a good friend in Washington I haven't seen in over a decade and may stop by my old employer as well.

My brother-in-law and I also talked about my stepson that visited him a week or two ago. I got a text message that he will be calling me anytime now. They had a 3 hour visit and I got some answers regarding their discussion. It was encouraging to me but will never make a dent in my ex-wife. I've learned I can only plant seeds with her. She doesn't like her son's wife who seems a decent girl to me and nothing I say will likely change that.

My son wants to work with his hands, perhaps as a mechanic. My ex wants him to pursue more scholarly interests that he is perfectly capable of but not interested in. Only time will prove out.

Just got off the phone with my stepson Sasha (Alex to everybody else but still Sasha to me.) He hasn't changed, except perhaps a bit more mature at 23. It seems he got married Feb 9th. I'd heard, but that didn't stop me from putting him in the hot seat ("So why didn't I hear from you?" You do realize that was your mom's anniversary with me?"  Actually a few days different, but close enough. Etc.) Anyway, I told him not to be such a stranger with my sister and her husband and to bring his wife by for them to meet. Also, my brother-in-law's birthday is around thanksgiving and I expect both of them to attend. Which suggest I should plan to be around during that time as well. My ex is planning 3 weeks with her folks in the Ukraine in August but I'm sure she will have plenty of vacation for a day in November.

Update: I sent an email to my ex regarding my plans. She is in a panic. Oh well. Not much I can do about that. I'd hate to cut her out of my plans but that will happen if she continues to be herself (not much chance of anything else, is there?) I will succeed or fail, but my life is my responsibility.

Just got off the phone with my ex. We did not discuss my plans at all. It was all about her relationship with her now married son who did not celebrate mothers day or her birthday this year. She said she is the most important person in her son's life. I had to correct her because her son is married. She is not happy with me for pointing this out and certainly doesn't agree with me. He has cut the apron strings but she continues to hold fast to her end. She does not understand that she is the one isolating herself. She just will not accept any perspective that is not her own. It is not his life and his responsibility, it is hers and everyone should not argue this point. So the conversation ends.

Sasha certainly does tell people what he thinks they want to hear. This is not something unusual for this generation. But he does understand that he is responsible for his own life and now his wife and is working hard, making mistakes and taking that responsibility. He is leagues ahead of many young men his age (or some twice his age.) It's hard to understand how his mother doesn't understand this. She is simply hurt that she is not the center of his world.

People are nuts. This is one reason my choice to hit the road isn't. I don't care who disagrees. My life. My responsibility. My results. I look forward to many nights of peaceful rest. It's been a long time coming.

Sowell remembers when racists were white

But he's just some old guy. I'm surprised he didn't reference the Zimmerman trial.

Wiring the Jimmy

I've got a 400 watt inverter I was going to hook up directly to the battery because it only provides 100 watts when going through the [cigarette lighter] DC connector. That turns out to be a bad idea because even with the battery isolated from the rest of the vehicle by a cutoff switch juice still flows when the inverter is turned off. So plan B. First I realized I don't have to run a line to the negative pole of the battery since the chassis should be ground. The negative pole of a side mount battery has a boot over the connector which is really the first clue that it doesn't like added wires. Second the live wire will connect to the other side of the cutoff switch rather than the battery so the inverter is cutoff like every other circuit when I throw the switch. The 1.8 watt solar battery charger I am going to connect directly to the battery so it provides juice regardless of the state of the cutoff switch. I'm not at all worried about over charging. That's not been a problem. The only thing I'm missing is one inline wire connector. Too bad I couldn't find a variety pack with everything I needed. I ended up buying dozens of each kind of connector when I only needed less than a handful.

I'm using 14 gage wire because it's the largest gage that works with the connectors I bought. I'm sure this is fine for the solar panel but not sure this is enough for the inverter. I suspect if I ask too much of it I will find out. Laptops only draw about 90 watts and I don't have one yet. The only other current use I have is to charge my cell phone and that will work fine. I should have it all done tomorrow. I've already got two wires routed through my truck's firewall. A red one, connected directly to the battery, I will change from my inverter to my solar panel. A blue one I will connect to the other side of the cutoff solenoid and replace the red wire currently connected to the inverter with that. Then all I've got left to do is ground both devices to the chassis.

The only trick now is to figure out which is red and black on the solar charger. The wires are both black. I know the center of the DC connector is red, but I'd have to take it apart to figure which wire goes to the center pole. The guy at the parts place gave me a free new 9 volt battery for my VOM (I did a Becker complaining about how the other parts place wanted to charge me $4 for it and a miracle happened.) I just have to find out where in the garage the meter is. I'm also going to look for some nylon ties in the garage. I have three bucks left to last me the next two weeks. Otherwise I'm using string temporarily.

Update: Also I decided against the air mattress. It takes up too much room denying me storage space. I do not want to use my front passenger seat for storage. I gave it to my mom and she said I didn't have to repay a $100 loan. Normally I wouldn't accept, but things are tight. Not bad for the $25 I invested in the air mattress. My sister has a smaller regular mattress still in plastic that she's donating to my cause. That will leave room for the four clear plastic containers I bought the other day. Only two are full but I should fill the third before I'm done. I'm taking the fourth along just because. I'm going to forgo sleeping bags and just take some blankets.

Other stuff... I'll have about 5 gallons of water with me and I use that generic crystal light stuff for flavor. I have two almost full multi-vitamins plastic jars because I once couldn't find the first and I only take one every other week when I think about it. Peanut butter, honey and crackers don't require refrigeration, but I need my best foods mayonnaise so I may have to invest in one of those plug in camp coolers down the road. Anyone know which fast food chain uses best foods packets? I promise to pay for an overpriced sugar drink with meal if I need some extra condiments.

So what's the equivalent of an MRE for the homeless? All suggestions welcome.

Pearls from the Road to Serfdom

Reader's Digest version.

• The system of private property is the most important guarantee of freedom, not only for those who own property, but scarcely less for those who do not. 
• National Socialism is not just the product of wickedness such as the Nazis. 
• To those who have watched the transition from socialism to fascism at close quarters, the connection between the two systems is obvious. 
• Advancement within a totalitarian group or party depends largely on a willingness to do immoral things.

Tell me if this doesn't describe Obama?

• Socialist economic planning necessarily involves the very opposite of [rule of law.] The planning authority cannot tie itself down in advance to general rules which prevent arbitrariness.
• The Rule of Law, the absence of legal privileges of particular people designated by authority, is what safeguards that equality before the law which is the opposite of arbitrary government.

Update: It can still happen here. And is. And more.

"a nation of laws does not behave in this lawless manner"

How to use propaganda

To bias the climate debate.

Mars One talks radiation

From the horses mouth. Use my site search here for other articles on 'Radiation.'

It's a comedy really

The Orion Launch Abort System has a 1360 kg fairing.

You can't help but compare this to the Dragon's nostrils (pictured at top right) which serves multiple purposes without adding dead weight.

Meanwhile, NASA is planning their 2020 mars rover. It may not be a joke to say for less money than their 154 page document they could probably send a dozen colonists in the same time frame to fix the old rovers (Yes, I'm joking, but good jokes have elements of truth in them.)

First flight of the F9R may be Dec. 9th with a test coming tomorrow. They are not joking about eventual reusability.

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher seems to be one of the few with any sanity. How did California get so lucky?

Good News. The mechanic tried to rip me off.

Why is this good news? Because if he hadn't I would have paid him the $80 we agreed to and not been happy with the result. I had asked at first if we could run a switch under the dash to cut off the battery. He said he couldn't do that, but he could put a switch on the battery. He quoted me two prices, one for a cheap switch, another for a good switch. I chose the good switch and was there this morning for an 8 o'clock appointment. But before I showed up for that appointment I went to the local parts place and asked to see what switches they had. They had a much cheaper cheap switch ($12) than the mechanic had quoted me and a ($50) switch with two terminals and no mounting brackets. So when the mechanic showed me the exact same $50 switch and tried to rip me off by saying it would be $100 instead of $80, I was prepared. The fact is, I could undo a terminal and connect the switch to hang there not costing me a penny more than the $50 for the switch. It would have been a five minute job. Instead, I'm getting what I wanted in the first place with a switch under the dash. I have an 8:30 appointment tomorrow with a different mechanic that will do the job right and give me what I want.

So instead I have a solenoid on a mounting bracket. I will not have to open the hood to cut off the battery. This makes me happy. Always deal with a mechanic you trust.

Update: Everything was installed this morning and the Jimmy is sitting with the switch off now. Tomorrow morning I will see if disconnecting the battery keeps it from draining and starts my vehicle. I see no reason it shouldn't. My back up plan is a larger solar battery for charging than the little one I have now. That little charger may be useful in charging a second battery not connected to any circuits that could drain it. Before I leave on my odyssey (my personal mars mission) I'll have my brother-in-law help me track down the fuse involved in the drain per CJ's suggestion.

Post Springerville

I will not have my own internet access after this month and do not know when I will be back.

Being a poor bum has it's disadvantages. Like they say...

"I've been rich and I've been poor... rich is better."

I'm going to have to wait a bit longer for that though. I've stopped my software project at a good point and it's all saved to DVD. I'm leaving my computer behind for my folks. I hope to find a cheap laptop and may get back online with a cellular modem... but don't know when. I'll probably need to dual boot since most cellular modems don't work with Linux.

If my GMC Jimmy dies and I can't fix it, so do I and good riddance eh?

I'm not going to say anything about this to my ex-wife. I just need to get a power adapter for the car to recharge my phone which happens to need a charge at the moment. My car need a jump right now as well and the battery drains every twelve hours or so. I don't have time to run down the short so I'm hoping a ten watt solar charger will keep me going for a while. I may add a cutoff switch to one of my battery leads as well. I have a 1.8 watt charger that isn't enough. It was supposed to be 5 watt but the place ordered the wrong one. Life sucks like that sometimes.

A bit of bright news. My stepson Sasha visited my sister and her husband this last month. It will give me a topic to discuss next time I talk to my ex wife. They didn't recognize him. He shaved his head, grew out of his baby face, developed a bit of a belly and was riding a motorcycle. He didn't bring along his wife. She was either at college or working. He works two jobs himself. He lives in Sacramento. My sister lives in Lockeford.

Anyway, this will be my last post for I don't know how long. I will publish comments if they come this week but don't be offended if it doesn't happen after that. It just means I didn't see them.

I will be traveling, but not too many miles a day since I really can't afford the gas. But I do need a bit of freedom before the world all comes crashing in. Or by some miracle I overcome this prison.

Now think about this.

Weird update: I'm feeling a sense of freedom like being released from prison. I'm actually looking forward to being homeless. Today I went to a mechanic to see about my Jimmy. It was the wrong garage. I meant to go to another on the same street, but since I went there I discussed my options. None were good including $60 to not fix anything but determine where the short is. I went with overpriced option, I think it was D or E, I'm going to have a switch installed on my battery tomorrow morning so I can easily disconnect it while it's sitting so it doesn't drain regardless of where the short may be. I'll have someone go after the short when I'm not so low on funds.

So I needed to be able to charge my phone. Crappy option A was $18. Premium option B was $30. So I went with option C, driving 100 miles round trip to Walmart to get a 410 watt inverter for $40 because I had enough gas already and could use the drive. Now when I get a laptop I will have a means of charging it as well. It charged my phone during the 50 mile drive back.

The back seats on my Jimmy fold down to provide a nice sized area. This is the first time I've checked out this area since I drove my sister, her baby father and kid to Flagstaff for my niece's college graduation. It is full of her crap which I'm going to have removed tomorrow after I get back from the mechanic. I bought a $25 air mattress that should make that a comfortable sleeping area. The sleeping bags I priced were too much but I'll get one before I start my odyssey at the end of this month. I will not be able to buy a laptop the first month and probably not the second either. But once I do and get a usb modem with it I will not need much else.

I'm going to see the country and visit old friends scattered around the states. I still owe on the Jimmy but will have it paid off in a year. Technically I could use my [not smart, but regular dumb cell] phone for internet access until I have a laptop with access. Then there are always the libraries.

For 50 cents, swimming pools have showers, but I expect an occasional motel will be in the cards.

That sense of freedom is that no other person will interfere in what I do, so I may be able to accomplish more as a bum than I could here with folks (but still a bum which is one of the reasons I'm leaving.) Life is hard. My choice would seem to be making it harder. But in a weird way it is not. Freedom is not having to bear the burden of other's judgement even when unspoken (spoken is why I'm leaving. But it's always been there.) I am responsible for my life. That's freedom.

Cost of living (per week:)
Essentials...
Vehicle: $100 (46% to pay off debt in first year, 54% fuel and maintenance.)
Food: $50 (no food stamps.)
Luxuries...
Housing: $40; homeless does not mean no housing costs but this is a luxury.
Misc: $20; $10 for phone service, eventually $10 or less for internet service.
Saving: $20; a goal I will probably not reach without extreme determination.

I can do this. I will keep a daily log to make sure I keep to a budget.

I don't like emulators

I've changed my mind about buying Navicat. I've tried it and do not like it. It runs on top of the Linux wine emulator, but it's the lousy table graphic design tool that did me in. Microsoft Access, which I can't use because I'm no longer on any windows box, was really good from that perspective.

I can live without Navicat which will save this poor boy a few bucks.

The polygon function I'm adapting for my project uses a single callback. What I really want is a separate list of polygons for any forms I create. I'm not really solid on the Cairo calls and there is quite a bit of indirection to twist my brain into a pretzel... but I'm hoping what I come up with both works and is easier to use. Works is kind of important. Easier to use depends mostly on how I wrap it.

Update: I'm looking for Navicat alternatives. I've already got pgAdmin III, but would like to look at some of the others.

Law requires ending aid to Egypt

But laws are for the little people.

My dog Max...

...is part Rottweiler. I'd hate to think someone would shoot him for accessory to video recording.

The officer says they shot the dog to protect the owner. How lame. What bullshit.

Morsi is out?

What's next? Perhaps our military could follow their example? Hmmmmm... We have definitely had more scandals.

In other news, Obamacare provisions postponed until after the midterms. No coincidence we're sure.

Radiation protection comes in two flavors

Passive and active. But even without any, this is not a show stopper.

Single pass compilers

Multi-pass compilers seem bad to many, so the single pass compiler is very seductive. Both are the dark side. In my mind, the perfect compiler is two-pass, no more or less. The first pass collects and organizes names. The second pass is similar to a single pass compiler, but now has more intelligence and doesn't force a specific order on code. Scope rules are kept simple. You only need two: everything declared in a routine is private to that routine. Everything in a file outside a routine is private to that file unless declare public. A file is either a class or it is not. That's one line at the top of your file: Class ClassName. You don't need namespaces. A class is a namespace. Ok, if you want, a third pass could remove the vectors introduced in the second pass, but isn't really needed because the second pass could do that at the cost of being a bit slower. I think it may be possible to do even that in a way that doesn't slow the second pass down much. Getting rid of the vectors means your executable doesn't retain any names (keeping is small) unless it's a library and then only the public names are retained.

Get rid of everything else related to this. It isn't need and just makes a mess of your compiler. Keep it simple and your mind will have room to consider if other elements should or should not be part of your language. One day I hope to be in a position to show rather than just tell. But first I must complete a simple project that provides me with a bit of income. One definite element my language will have is Euphoria type sequences. Nothing else allows an algorithm to be so clear and simple.

How People Live

Remember when Trent said, "...it doesn't fit into anyone's mental model of How People Live." He said that regarding my ideas about living on mars. The fact is, mental models are a part of where people are at any given time. Which is alluded to in this article that says, "...we have the same material resources that the cave man, the Neanderthals in their caves had the same natural resources that we have today.  The difference is the knowledge that’s accumulated."

It's more than just knowledge. It's a general acceptance that this is the way things are supposed to be, whatever way that is. A way that never actually is (because it's always only part of the full range of possibilities.)

A child growing up in a different social environment will accept that as the way it's supposed to be.

That would include a child on mars whose parents aren't limited in their perspectives. When people with the right perspective arrive on mars, they will all be wealthy and capable of more than we can currently imagine. They need to get there. Now.

Photoshopping not enough?

Spock's brain for real?

"Zimmerman, who is white and Hispanic"

Hispanic means related to Spain.

White is now a subcategory of hispanic? Who knew?

They couldn't possibly mean racist white guy that happens to be a mutt.

We're all mutts of course. But it takes a lefty to be a real racist.

Why is Hispanic capitalized but white is not? I have no idea, it's just an observation.

Maybe because there are no 'white' people. It seems to me we're all shades of brown.