Two books actually. The first “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” by Robert Heinlein. It’s a future in which the Moon or Luna as it’s called in the book is a penal colony experiencing the birth pangs of becoming an independent movement.

The other is called “Dragons Destin: Fated Mates: The Complete Series” by Wolf Specter and Angel Knots. In it there be shape shifting Dragons who impregnate men. Interesting concept. Now me I think I’ve said it here before I identify more as wolf or Werewold than dragon or vampire. But it’s a fun read.

I realized I’m not happy unless I have something to read.

So I needed a printer. Found an HP 2700 series on Amazon for about $50. Finally set it up today. You get 15 pages of print for 99 cents. And ten more pages is a buck. This is what they charge you to print. Oh and they do at least give you two months of free ink.

This particular one has a scanner on it. That’s free of course. So what I plan to do is when I print what I need to I’ll buy another color LASER printer and use THAT to print, the HP to scan. Problem solved. Plus toner for laser printers while a bit more pricey lasts much longer than little 2.5ml or 5ml cartridges. And the quality is much better on a laser too 600dpi or greater.

Now back to the cost of printing 1.99 divided 25 pages come out to 8 cents a page. And you supply the paper. Let’s say I print 100 pages a month it’s $8 per month. Not terrible this subscription bullshit gets on my nerves.

Picked up some packages of spring mix greens, cucumbers and tomatoes. Plus eggs and a little four pack of salmon sans skin.

Also created little spice rub – it was salt, black pepper, garlic, paprika, onion powder and oregano. Rubbed the salmon with that and then melted two tablespoons of butter in the cast iron pan. Dust one side of the salmon with the mix and then cook about 3 minutes per side. When ready to flip them put the spice mix on the opposite side and maybe add some melted butter on top, another 3 minutes and done.

Also made some hard boiled eggs – this involves getting a small inch or so of water to a boil in a pan. Then in goes the eggs and cut the heat off. Set a timer for 10 to 12 minutes and cover the pan. You may need to keep the steam going so you can cut the heat back on periodically during the cook time.

Cut up some cucumber and de-seeded it. Chopped it into small pieces. Did the same for a tomato. Then spring mix into the bowls and the eggs are peeled and cut in half longitudinally and three pieces arrayed on top of the spring mix, dressing on (We’ve got Thousand Island and Catalina in the house). Lay the cooked salmon on top. Yum.

So I’ve now owned five handie talkies aka HT’s or handheld radios. Now I’m down to just one – My AnyTone AT-D878UV – its a dual band radio but does both analog and DMR.

I’d posted before why I went DMR – the others out there like D-Star and the like are too proprietary. And I’ve now had my amateur radio license for almost three decades. Yup. I know.

Granted we still have a Republican Governor and Sec of State. However on the Federal side Joe Biden is now the certified winner of Georgia and the U.S And Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff unseated David Purdue and the odious Kelly Loefler from the U.S. Senate.

Now the Senate is 50/50 Repubican/Democrat and guess who gets to cast the tie breaking vote but Vice President Kamala Harris. Oh happy day.

You could say I’m an avid reader. I was reading a book recently and it talked about a home library with hundreds of books. I once had 32 linear feet of books but it was a bit much to move around. that 32 linear feet translates to about 200 books. And I’ve since gone digital where my library is at my command online and there are hundreds of books there too.

And recently I was on medium.com and was reading and I noted my most popular categories. Let’s start:
1. Math – that one is obvious. I think I had posted my education both formal of my own volition covers 95% of the entire domain of mathematics.

2. Machine Learning – yeah I get into that one too. Can’t help myself.

3. Philosophy this one surprised me but I know why. I’m always interested in what makes us tick.

4. Basic Income – in these economic tough times government needs to do this.

5. Future – yes indeed I can prognosticate with the best of them.

6. Gaming – another one that isn’t a surprise. Love gaming.

7. Blockchain interested in how it works.

8. Politics if you are a long time reader you understand why.

9. Technology – yes indeed my life revolves around tecnhnology.

Yeah some of the stuff in the video above isn’t true. But lots is. For the clearest example I will examine two things. One is an Amazon device the other a car.

That Amazon device plays media of course but also can be used to control lights in the home via inexpensive wall warts. For example saying “Alexa turn bedroom light on” and presto the light is on.

Then there’s the car – it’s definitely connected. For every month I get a diagnostic report from it which includes the state of the vehicle. Things like tire pressure, engine, transmission etc all in that report. That’s fucking amazing. The of course there’s the remote for the car – which in addition to locking and unlocking the doors can start the car from my front door. Nice in summer/winter so long as you remember to set the HVAC controls correctly.

Oh and navigation all through a mobile phone. I can remember when mobile phone only did voice and text. Now maps, audio, et al comes from that device.