GPS vs "Dead Reckoning"

      Back when hell was a campfire, before cell phones and gps. I would kind of scan a map, get an idea of where I was going and head out. I and who ever was with me often time saw some interesting places and sights that were off the beaten path.
       I added a gps app to my new smart phone and on a long road trip on the east coast tried it out. It worked great when I had an address and needed directions. But, like a lot of people the gps on this phone thinks that the interstate is the best way to go. When it came time to leave Orlando and go over  to Panama City beach It wanted me to go north on I-75 until I hit I-10. I didn't like this so much and looked at a map and picked out another route that took me along a beautiful two lane highway with a 55 mph speed limit. It was a beautiful drive through the Apalachicola National Forest. Very little traffic, Florida before condos . Just a beautiful drive and at 55 mph that is where my jeep gets the best gas mileage. There was one little hick-up and I didn't really realize it until I noticed something wasn't right. I was using "Map Quest" but also "Google Maps" and they were not giving me the same directions. I got kind of off course, but quickly realized it and got back on the right track. If it wasn't for this, I wouldn't have made any better time on the interstate. In this case the gps is what got me turned around.
         When I left Panama City, I don't know, maybe it was the only way to go but the gps took me by back roads to Memphis a beautiful drive through the Alabama country side.
         Is it possible that the gps has a brain and it has figured out I
like the back roads better? I doubt it! LMAO! But it was funny that it took me through the back roads when before it wanted to stick to the interstate.

A Very Common Sense Way To Solve Our National Debt Problem

                Our countries financial crises is unimaginable! I've seen charts and comparisons to how much a trillion dollars is, but it is really unimaginable. Our countries debt will be its down fall if something major is not done. While all the folks up in Washington DC are debating and posturing trying to keep the folks back home pleased while groveling and prostrating themselves before their corporate sponsors and owners.
           I offer this very sane, very common sense way to balance the nation and the states budgets.
    Legalize Marijuana!~
          Now before you huff up and quit reading consider the following facts;
                 We spend 42 billion dollars a year trying to enforce drug laws.
                      40% of all drug cases are marijuana. We have been fighting this drug war with little or no success for decades while our streets become more and more unsafe. If marijuana was legalized not only would we save all that money but our court systems would be some what cleared up and our police could concentrate on violent criminals.
                  Around 100 million people have used marijuana in some form in the U.S.- some 25 million Americans smoked pot in the last year -  around 14 million Americans smoke pot on a regular basis.
    In Colorado there is a 14% tax on medical marijuana. Lets say each of these people spend a $100 a month on pot. ( From personal knowledge I think this is a VERY conservative number for a regular toker) That is $14 a month in taxes per person which multiplied out is 196 million dollars or 2 billion 352 million dollars in taxes to the US budget.
             Not only that..... your creating a whole new industry creating thousands of jobs which further stimulates the economy.
           There are no known cases of Marijuana  being unhealthy or harmful in any way in fact it might be useful in medicine, industry and might inspire and improve some peoples lives.

An Update on Toshiba and Best Buy or A look at What Has Gone Wrong with This Country

         If you have been following along then you know of my continuing troubles with a Toshiba computer that I bought from Best Buy in June of last year. If not see my earlier blogs for a full view of what I've been going through with these corporations.
           At first it seemed Best Buy was going to work with me and get this straightened out. they sent me a $100 gift card, but I still had to make the 5 hr round trip to Boulder and send the Toshiba computer off.  I did state at this time that if I had any more problems that I thought the only right thing to do would be to replace the Toshiba computer.
         This all happened at the end of November. I took off on an extended trip that took me to South Carolina and then to New York City. Shortly before leaving for New York the durn thing started hanging up again. I've had to restart it to finish this blog post. While in New York I took the Toshiba Lap top to Best Buy, I think its on 23rd street, anyway, they told me the key board needed to be replaced. I called the lady I had been talking to a couple of times. this was just after new years so I figure she may be on vacation. I called her and emailed her. I hadn't heard from her. I gave her one more chance and emailed her last week. Not a word!
       My Mom contacted both Best Buy and Toshiba earlier on. Best Buy at least initially corresponded with me. As of today I have NOT HEARD ONE WORD FROM TOSHIBA!
      Now I will admit that if Best Buy was around the corner it would not be such a big deal.... maybe! Even at that they have had three chances to fix the thing, at this point I would want it replaced if I lived next door.
       I went to Best Buy instead of buying a computer on line and having delivered to my door because 5 years ago when I bought my last lap top the service was impeccable and I' not a computer geek. This was in South Carolina, but with a big corporation it shouldn't matter. That is what is supposed to be so great about big corporations no matter where you go the service and merchandise is supposed to be the same. Here is what you get. A faceless entity that thinks it can  treat anybody anyway they want  because of what they are and what they have and you will take it and be glad.
          NOT ME! This is exactly one of the things that is wrong with this country! If this had been a mom and pop store, it would have been replaced the first time, no questions asked. IF their name was on it and it wasn't right; They would give you another one and give you your money back! People used to be proud of what they produced and sold. You don't have to be that way when your working and buying from a faceless entity, no one to take the blame, pass the buck, its up to the great and powerful oz behind the curtain. AND its all the emperor's new clothes and everybody is going along!
     NOT in these pages. I will holler from the rafters like a crazy Don Quixote tilting at the wind mills of injustice both in the corporate world and political.. Toshiba and Best Buy think they have heard the last from me. ITS NOW the principle of the way I've been treated both at the stores; when I requested a new computer no one seemed to be able to take authority and make it happen and at this time  the not caring by the upper management.
   Whats next;
                      THE BOYCOTT IS ON
            I also plan to tell my story to as many consumer rating and consumer advocate agencies I can find.
      I'm just crazy enough to spend ten times the effort and money to tell my story as it would to simply go out and buy a new computer.

A Look at Modern Addiction

     Addiction is serious business!
Yes it is and this addiction is especially insidious because most people don't even know they have it and each day there is more and more put out here to draw us in.
      Its there staring you in the face. That computer we can no longer do with out, although there are many of us who lived half our lives or more with out them. Now we can't go a day with out checking our emails. Then came social net working. Facebook and Twitter. Everyone putting there most recent life story out there for everybody to see. We have to be constantly attached, not talking to the person next to you but texting somebody a world away. We don't have a garden in our back yard but we have virtual farms and cites we have to tend hourly and daily. Then there is pinterest and stumbleupon. I could spend days on stumbleupon! There is an endless array of information out there on any subject you could be interested in and you could spend years tied to your computer discovering information that stumbleupon and pinterest throws out for you just by clicking a button. I have to limit myself to the time I spend on stumbleupon, but my real addiction is On line shopping. especially with sierra trading post and campmore. Sierra Trading Post really knows how to pull me in. I buy so much stuff they are giving me special discounts and free shipping, etc, etc. Its SUCH a DEAL,  how can I refuse!!!!! I told my self NO MORE! I delete their emails and don't open their catalogs and vow not to buy anything over the coming summer........ then I discover uncrate, gear junkie and nomorerack! arrrggghhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
          I'm telling you its a conspiracy to keep us tied to the computer, distracted and not outside where we belong so we can see whats really going on!!!!!

The American Dream

                            Is there such a thing any more?
               I remember as a young guy, 10 or 12, I don't know where it came from really, I got a good dose of Greek pride from my Mom's side of the family and a good dose of Southern pride from my dad.  . But an American dream? It was a house, wife two kids and a white picket fence. Right? I think if you were a kid of the early 60's that was the dream. You may dream of different jobs or skills maybe even your own business but I think everybody dreamed about owning their own homes being married and having a couple of kids.
            So what happened? Is it still out there? For what ever reason it didn't happen for me. I'm not complaining, I have a great life.
               But what do kids dream of these days. This age which seems to be filled with excess of technology and entitlement. When we are owed everything but not responsible for anything. this land of a failed economy, corporate bailouts while homes are being foreclosed on. This land where everything is disposable," Rent to Own Wheels and Tire" stores and virtual video worlds.
            I don't know...... Is there an american dream these days? Does it still exist? Or is it an American struggle just to get through?

The Real Question

   Like every one I'm horrified at the recent shooting at schools, malls and other places.  If your a sane person you can not fathom how a person could carry out such atrocities.
     I'm also amazed at how our government officials and news media focus on the guns and the bullets. Some of my friends advocate a conspiracy theory that our government is brain washing people to kill people with guns so our government has a reason to disarm us and make us more docile. This rabid attention to guns and bullets and not motives or how these people reach such depths makes me wonder if there is not some validity to these claims.
   I think the real thing we need to ask is at how has our society failed the mad man and the victims.
         What turns a baby and that's what everyone starts out as. How does a baby who is born with out hatred, prejudice, political or religious beliefs turn into such a being that would kill and maim innocent people. What influences and how was this once innocent person turned into such a being. How has our society failed, that we are turning out such people.
   I think that is the real questions we need to be asking.            

a Vote for personal liberties and State Rights

   I was in hunting camp during the elections and the consensus among that group was that the election was going to be a landslide in Romney's favor, I think everyone else thought it was going to be close and in the end I think it was.
    I think the biggest thing that came out of the election was the legalization of marijuana by the states of Washington and Colorado. In fact at this writing, Washington has already cleared the court docket of all possession charges. Colorado's Governor is proceeding with a little more caution, not wanting to upset the feds.
    The point remains that the voters of these two states sent a clear message to our electorate in D.C, for states rights and personal freedom and a clear mandate to change a policy that has not been working for more than thirty years . The current way we fight drug abuse and addiction is costing us billions both in spending and tax revenues, plus it clogs up our courts, many times with cases of people who's only crime is smoking a joint or two.
       Other states have already decriminalized and set up medical marijuana. I look to other states following Washington and Colorado's lead in the near future.