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I lived in Europe (Spangdahlem AB Germany) for seven years from Jan 1990-Jan 1997. Never saw a single Sat phone. I sold Satellite dishes and cards as well as dial up ISP services there when we used an octopus and 50 US Robotics modems on one wall hissing and screeching and heating up the NOC uncomfortably hot. We still used bricks but cell phones were coming in for key personnel then trickled down just after I retired. No satellite phones then save some special folks.

Every time Microsoft rolls out the annual updates in April and October it breaks some computers. Ed Bott a senior tech writer for ZDNet on Windows topics, and one I admire and trust, has step by step instructions on how to do what I just did following the instructions in his article. I just set my Windows 10 Pro on all my machines to delay major updates for 90 days. He also shows you how to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro if you have not already in one of the links in the article. Excerpt: " Each time Microsoft rolls out a major upgrade to Windows 10, you have the option to wait a few months before you install it on PCs running Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise. But you have to act quickly. Sometime this month, Microsoft will finalize its next big feature update. If the company follows its longstanding practice, Windows Update servers will begin delivering the Windows 10 version 1903 update in April, to current installations of Windows 10 that have been running for at least 30 days. Next for Windows 10: What to expect from the April 2019 Update This is the latest feature update in Microsoft's new twice-a-year release cadence, and you should view it with the skepticism any initial public release of a new Windows version deserves. In a business setting, that typically means delaying the upgrade for a few months while you deploy the new release on a smaller number of test devices. This deferral process is available only on PCs running business and education editions, such as Windows 10 Pro, Windows 10 Enterprise, and Windows 10 Education. Windows 10 Home does not offer any deferral options. (On a PC running Windows 10 Home, you might be able to upgrade at no cost. See "How to upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Pro for free" for details.)" To read the whole article with the steps and other hotlinks to related material like what's in the new version, go to the full article here: https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-update-act-fast-to-delay-this-big-upgrade/?ftag=TREc64629f&bhid=19724681974700635514865380622813 Safe computing!

Cute!

Ryno, Excellent pick for domestic US coverage and as more states decide to tax and control recreational pot, rather than let the cartels get that money and pay no tax, your picks and my picks will do very well long term. ACB did a spike to a peak, dropped and is again on the rise near the peak again. Long is usually the smart play.

CURLF gained 52% in the week last. It has turned around ad we will see if it bumps back. The old saw was never more true than in today's pot stocks, he who hesitates is (has) lost.

Again, please tell us the make and model, and which engine.

I think that is a good call. Lots of companies thought the initial run up of two of the top three, my ACB being the third would continue for all but there will not only be lots of consolidations as well as folks who don't make it. I'm happy with my 5k shares of ACB, and 1000 of NBEV. Like with Tesla I'm holding very long term, at least 2-5 years.

I see US companies as high risk until the "Federales" remove it from the Schedule 1 drug classification. https://www.greenentrepreneur.com/article/296559 As things are now there are a zillion opioid addicts in the US. We have a lot of dysfunctional alcoholics and as prohibition and the recent crack down on soccer mom and ex soccer mom opioid addicts has shown, addictive drugs only create an illegal market which criminals control. While Marijuana is distinct in that it is not addictive, and has been found to be very important medicinally for several serious illnesses, as well as universally effective as a muscle and nervous disorder treatment for anxiety and pain with no addictive actions. However without learned leadership the US is at risk of a proclamation or other conservative backlash to reverse gains made in the sanity of our chemical scheduling legislation. The problem here in the US is that a good non-addictive drug with so many uses, both with the THC and without, by isolating the CBD pain relieving fraction, is insanity to keep illegal. Worse it does not allow US recreational Marijuana companies access to banking since they come under federal regulation. Worse, we see the jails still full with far too many jailed for the victimless crime of personal marijuana use. Keeping it illegal keeps the price high, and the criminal with guns hiding their growing fields, and killing innocent hikers and tourists who happen upon them. No one smuggles in beer across any of our borders because it is legal here and there is no profit in the cost to smuggle it in. Like Marijuana it is sold only to adults when legal and the taxes increase state revenues. Want to solve the national debt? Federal excise taxes that are reasonable would solve the criminal, jail, and banking issues the stupid resistance to legalizing MJ, caused at the federal level, by not putting it in the same controllable category as alcohol. I tried CBD only pills in Colorado and the ability to try varying strengths and varying amounts of THC to get the muscle relaxation without being intoxicated can only be done by experimentation by each individual. That requires both medicinal and recreational legality at the federal level. Let's stop subsidizing the criminals that are now supplying heroin and pills to opioid addicts that were normal middle class and upper class people until their docs got them hooked and then the feds yanked their legal ability to get the drugs they were addicted to out from under them. The sudden concern with stopping the pill mills too late caused a whole new illegal market to folks with money (they had health care!) I don't drink but don't run around judging those who do, or write letters to legislators asking for alcohol to be made illegal again. A child can get marijuana easier today than a six pack of beer. They don't need to convince an adult to buy marijuana for them. And I am sure they can get MJ in about ten minutes. So the laws do not work, the criminals make money, and the federal revenues are down because of subsidies to the wealthy. Is this a tax source we can dismiss on the one hand, after creating the deficit by unfunding our country's internal revenue? And we complain about welfare but pay to house, clothe, feed, and provide free health care in jail to people for smoking MJ?

The Global Reach Of Aurora Cannabis Is A Huge Moat For The Company From today - Excerpt: "An example from the American market. By expanding its presence to 24 countries, it not only has an outlet for its growing supply when the Canadian market is adequately supplied, but overall, the medical cannabis sales from other markets generate wider margins, boosting the earnings outlook for the company. A lesson from the American pot market Probably the biggest competitive advantage Aurora has over its competitors, after its production capacity, is its global reach and the accompanying benefits. Several states in the U.S. are bellwethers as to what is likely to come in the Canadian market, including Colorado, Oregon and Washington. I'm referring to what happens when recreational pot demand is met by dried cannabis flower. Inevitably it has become impossible to differentiate at the dried flower level, which ultimately has put downward pressure on prices and margins. In other words, recreational pot supply becomes a commodity that is extremely hard to differentiate between competitors. When will this happen in Canada? My thought is supply will probably exceed demand by no later than 2022. It could happen even a year earlier, depending on how many new users enter the market and how rapidly Canadian companies increase production capacity. Either way, Canadian cannabis producers without a significant presence outside of Canada are going to struggle to grow once supply needs are met and surpassed by the industry as a whole. However that plays out, Aurora Cannabis is in a strong position to leverage and supply the global medical cannabis market. I don't see any issue in regard to the company reaching the place where it has too much production capacity in relationship to demand. The growth of the medical and recreational cannabis markets at the global level are going to continue to grow for years. No company is better positioned to supply that growth than Aurora Cannabis." Source: https://seekingalpha.com/article/4247631-global-reach-aurora-cannabis-huge-moat-company?isDirectRoadblock=false

I prefer emerging markets in tech and nothing is as high tech as the Marijuana growing business today. Tesla stayed at ~ $20-24 for almost the first three years after IPO. I expect the same from ACB and NBEV. Safe trading!

Has anyone ever tried these Green-Power America inverter 3500 watt gensets? Seems a good price but only a 60 day warranty? https://flash.newegg.com/Product/9SIA08C78T9742

Roy, YW! I try to check out member websites and have really enjoyed them and yours was up there with the other good ones.

ND, I had a girl riding behind me on the 305 the year before I got married and the rear tire blew out at 60 mph, although wobbly, I managed to get it stopped without going down. They were the best of the beach music era bikes. Back to topic. Lance, maybe you might want to call those folks with the soft start system for $300 Roy posted about and sell one of the generators to pay for it once you know it works. https://www.microair.net/collections/easystart-soft-starters

Roy, I went to your website and think that the easy start is a really smart upgrade to any trailer. It costs less than a second generator, as pointed out it is quieter, and it will prolong the life of the A/C and the generator. More, your solar installation and testing makes for must reads for any RVrs who are just starting to wonder how to do all that at best cost/benefit. I highly recommend your website for all here. Great documentation and pics for running the AC on one inverter generator instead of two or a much larger unit. Thanks. Next paragraph is off topic, so skip it. Holy Moly Roy! I went to your website and saw we have a lot of our serious hobbies in common. I agree that a new truck has less advantages than doing a custom build of my 2004.5 Ram with the Cummins Quiet diesel, made only for the 2004.5-2007 Cummins/Dodge 5.9. I sure wish that I had that AC easy start when we were RVing fulltime. I just put all new lift and injection pump, as well as all new injectors, in my 2004.5, 5.9 Ram diesel. I also spent a career teaching, shooting, and repairing weapons from the handguns to the "Ma Deuce and Barret sniper rifle/rockets/grenade launchers on my AF bases as needed. I also ran competitive events in that other life. Built motorcycles including a set of two 1975 Norton 850 Commandos, one with Interstate tank and Vetter fairing and bags, the other that year's red white and blue "Captain America" paint job. A Triumph 500 Daytona, Gold and Silver Wings, the Kaw 500 2 stroke, Motoguzzis, a Honda 305 "Dream" lot of custom VWs and one Porsche 911 Targa found with weeds growing through the floorboards, rust, and miraculously a perfect engine needing only the air box, vacuum lines, and new timing chain tensioners. It was a '73 with the first iteration of the K-Jetronic injection system. It had 5 Porsche Cookie cutter alloys in excellent shape needing only a good polish and new low profile tires. It was ground up restored: new interior, paint, roof, and torsion bar panels and bars. Being military I had to sell them as I went because of moves and limited military pay. Back to the topic - If you are running a generator or thinking about one with your AC, go to Roy's (rbertalotto) link above.

X2????

I have owned several fivers and the first thing we did was get our own leather incliners and now Gel foam medium memory mattresses. Toppers are just not the same. We have gotten our RV Queen for our last Sunnybrook which suited us fine. Gel on a top layer of at least 2" sleeps cooler. We had to live in our Sunnybrook for a year while the new house was being done. We bought an 8" short queen mattress thinking it would be less comfortable than our 12" memory foam mattress in the house. Not so, it was great. Memory foam mattresses are made for placement on a hard surface like the plywood in an RV bed foundation. We've tried toppers and they are just not the same thing. And since we bought for ~ $200-$250 on Amazon we always sold them for the same and the local folks thought they were great second hand. Here is an example: https://www.amazon.com/LUCID-Inch-Memory-Foam-Mattress/dp/B00474X5DO/ref=sr_1_5?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1548193345&sr=1-5&keywords=gel%2Bmemory%2Bfoam%2Bmattress%2Bqueen&th=1 Now look at the sies and you will see the "short" Queen which is 75"X60"X10", a regular queen is 80"X60"X10". Many RVs have a short queen so measure yours. We have bought the last four mattresses from Amazon and the value is awesome. Just be prepared to roll it out and sleep in another bed for at least 48 hours to let it expand properly. We don't like cloth recliners and buy leather from a regular furniture store paying attention to the footprint of the old ones. We buy incliners because they don't require more room behind them than a non-recliner. Looking at the ratings and reviews the Lucid advertised in the link above would be one I would pick today. We just bought a king size memory foam bed and all my lower back pain on waking in bed is gone. For our tiny Scamp we bought a king size topper to go over the rear sofa cushions and it just fit! The back raises to make two bunk beds that would fit an adult. But we don't travel with kids and never traveled with company. So when I put the back up with the steel supports provided and used all the cushions displaced to extend the queen pads that are stock, we ended up with this, a four inch gel cooling topper over the four inches of firm cushions that were stock. Using the stock cushions you sleep sideways from the camper's side to side, i am 6feet and it was OK but I couldn't stretch. With the King pad we sleep long ways. Before we decided to move to Colorado we planned to use it a lot and have not used it once in the year we have owned it. Maybe we'll just get a Van camper class B or some such.

Not exactly unheard of. https://www.bing.com/search?q=pastoral+fraud&pc=MOZI&form=MOZLBR

I believe like Tesla, this investment will do well.

Ryno, I can't comment because I'd need to know which stock you increased position in, and which company had their senior officers step down. I don't read about the others because I'm long. I was discussing Aurora. None of their folks left. I did see just now that Aphria's officer/s did. I only hold Aurora Cannabis (ACB), and New Age Beverages (NBEV). 6k shares of ACB and 1000 of NBEV. I will be busy moving and getting new to us AWD Subaru and a Model 3. The move and trying out new Cannabis edible pain meds means my stocks are not going anywhere any time soon. They'll be like "The Dude" and abide. So which were you referring to?

Good one Linda. Tribe. Americans of all tribes used to trade and enjoy each other. I just do the golden rule, love your neighbor - NO EXCEPTIONS! <grin> If you don't like long posts, don't read this. But you can see that before you start right? Zulu, I've met many in our age/RV peer group from full timing 1997-2003 and some more since. Just because someone says they did well does not mean they are lying. And in the South we have folks who "Po' mouth" meaning they pretend to be broke and are far from it. I agree that our age bracket of retirees are usually a good spread. But the generation of my 45 and 42 y/o sons are going to be much less fortunate with exceptions of course. My grandkids, the millenials are really changing goals and standards for their living. That generation will not have a middle class as we have now. You know Zulu, as an RVr you can travel and visit the folks you think are putting on airs. I have found that a large percentage of folks can't believe what even a less than lucky in money matters career military family has seen and done. It's not my job to worry I don't exceed their capacity to believe. Just being ourselves intimidates a lot of good ol boys. Some try to sharpshoot us and catch us out, and once I see that, it is too tedious to be worthwhile. I'm no better than another, and no worse. But certainly have no need to prove anything. I've found it is just fine to accept others at their word until they ask for money or prove to be toxic. No time for toxic. I have my circle of close friends and we are a very diverse group, from paycheck to paycheck to independent like us. The key is we like each other and are tolerant as a group. As far as "limited resource thinking" here's a piece I wrote while still active duty: "Generally, folks measure their success and security in life by "things." Some folks never ever can have enough things and are horrified when another makes the decision that "things" are like a millstone around your neck. You have to pay for them, then find a place for them, then dust them, then fix them when they break, and store them when you realize you aren't using them, and even getting rid of them is a pain whether yard sale, arranging for a goodwill pick up or just hauling them to the dump, involves re-inventorying, moving around and finding a new order to keep the "things" you are saving in. Many folks have beautiful furnishings yet buy all new furnishings every year or two just to validate their feelings of having things! An illustration. I used to build and restore custom super stock VWs and Porsches. I restored a Porsche 911 Targa that I found for 900.00 rusting away and fortunately discovered it only needed some new vacuum lines and an Air Box to run perfectly along with some minor seals etc. So just couple of thousand later I had what looked and ran like a brand new 911. I enjoyed it for two years and then decided to sell it when I got orders to Germany. My friends and a few family members on finding out I was selling it were horrified Saying the same thing-"How can you sell it!!!???" I knew what they were really saying, that if they had a 911 they'd never be able to part with it because of the prestige, pride, image or whatever. As if a hunk of metal with an engine would make them "different." That's conditioning. Knowing what they were really saying (and with a few it was really disappointing to hear that they were that way) I didn't lecture or try to explain. I'd answer with an innocent look-"How can I sell it? Well, I put an ad in the paper/online and people call me and one of them buys it." (With a straight face) To which every one replied that's not what I mean-I mean you have a Porsche 911! How can you part with it? Then my answer was "If I want another one, I can just buy it, they have after all made millions of them haven't they." People don't realize what they really tell you about themselves a lot of the time with comments like that. You see, they were "limited resource thinkers." They truly feel that when someone gets something, it has been removed from their possibilities. Like a limited pie with four pieces, they view the world as limited and when you get a piece of the pie that is one less available to them. I'm sure you have sold a car or something at one time or another and had a friend say something after the fact like "You sold it for that?? I would have given you that or more!!" I could never resist, you see they were viewing your good sale price as something they didn't get (limited resource thinking) and so had to try to rain on your parade some with a silly statement like that. They also do the same when you buy something and instead of being as thrilled as you are, have to say Oh man you could have gotten it cheaper at . . .or I could have gotten it for you cheaper from . . .? I can't resist that scenario! LOL! My response (on a sale) Oh really? Well I told the guy that until he pays the cash, which he said he'd do next week, that it is still on the market and will go to the first person who comes up with the cash! I'm so glad we talked! So when do you want to pick it up?" I almost always can keep a straight face while they start to fumble for a way out of their faux pas. Not once, of hundreds of times I have pulled that on a limited resource thinker, have they been sincere. Every time the car or whatever was actually sold, but those people want everybody to be as unhappy as they are. And speak volumes of their view of the world. The decision to RV indeed is not for everyone. But for some it is an acquisition of freedom that they lack the courage or desire to make. It invalidates their clinging to "things" or people, neither of which is forever. In life you can't freeze it and stay in a good time or place-there is no neutral, you are either in forward or reverse. Put another way the only difference between a grave and a rut are the dimensions. Some view RVing as a freedom that has somehow been removed from their realm of possibilities. I just tell them that there is no difference if we don't see each other for few months at a time from across town, or for the same time from experiencing this great land and its people in person. We will still be alive and coming for a visit, just like before, and boy will we have stories. See you can always get another house or apartment if you choose to, they have after all made millions of them haven't they. All it takes is a few shiny pieces of gold and silver or their equivalent and that's easy. The horizons, camaraderie, wonder, and adventure of the next real experience cannot be compared to sitting at home watching the Discovery channel. But if that's what floats their boat, it's OK with me. I won't try to impose my choices on them, and expect them to not try to impose theirs on me. On the road we get almost 100% genuine kudos from the folks we meet saying they wish they could be doing the same thing. They have the same dream for someday, we are living the dream now! Safe travels On edit: I cross-trained from Medic and Med Lab technologist to Combat arms, training all our base personnel on pistols, shotguns, rifles, lt squad and heavy Machine guns, Shoulder fired rockets, grenade launchers and grenade machine guns like the Mk 19. And we fixed them when they broke, designed and maintained our indoor and outdoor range complexes. I came from a college educated family and military and even went to kindergarten and first grade in Spanish, when we lived in Colombia for two years. I speak German OK, Spanish fluently, some French, Arabic (Farsi) and several others. So from knowing the chemistry and blood work, physical symptoms, sewing folks up and doing ER work, my vocabulary was pretty wide and diverse. Well the gun guys were a bit put off and after I'd been in the field for six months one of my guys, (I was a SSgt. In four years) asked me if I went home every night and looked up big words to use. ?? I thought about after I realized he was serious. I didn't play superiority games and explained it to him like this. I told him the way I speak is my natural speech. And if I use a word he didn't know just ask, and soon you'll have folks asking if you go home to look up "big words." But I told him, if I looked down on him, and thought him less than me, I would be using small words which would make me patronizing and shallow. Then I would be looking down. In friendship we're all equals. I got a lot of that once my folks in a new unit got to know I was sincere. I do believe as Flaubert put it, in "Le mot just." The perfect word. I don't talk down to, or up to folks. And certainly am not ashamed nor feel the least bit apologetic for my education and experiences to any limited resource thinker. If they have a problem, THEY have the problem, and it isn't my job to fix or teach the world, unless asked like in the vocabulary example above. But it is to be kind, yet live by my honor code, "We will not lie cheat or steal, nor tolerate among us, anyone who does." I expect folks to be nice, and people always will live up to, or down to, our expectations. (Just don't tell the asylum you saw me here)

Amen Barb. It's scary how many are one paycheck away from homeless in the deep south. And the rest still need to work. A manager of a General store here like Fred's has no benefits and works for about ten bucks an hour! One friend is a diabetic with no money for insulin. The lower middle class are calving off like the glaciers up north fall down in large blocks.

I posted this after escapees would not let me connect because I had not cleared my browser cache. I just shut down the browser and ran CCleaner and in a few seconds opened my browser and am posting fine. Amazon and Google do not like us not giving up our browsing history. BTW, did you see this? FCC chairman applauds Congress for not reinstating net neutrality https://thehill.com/policy/technology/423533-fcc-chair-applauds-congress-for-not-reinstating-net-neutrality

I have never had defender delete anything, but I do not run Linux on any of my computers as my main OS live drive or installed. So that may be it. Nord VPN goes on our two Android phones, Fire TV devices (we have four). possible our Android TVs ( 3 smart), Fire tablets (5), our computers (four desktops including the two All in Ones, one mini PC and one HP Tower) three Windows 10 tablets. Since it can go on so many devices that are on without many realizing it, I will have to do some tests and careful installs. I will likely make them all Off until I manually connect the VPN as I do on our computers now. I've only had it since 18 December 2018 so my thirty days refund will be up ~ 16 January. I'm already understanding most of it but some I never used before are foreign and I won't need or use them but I'd like to learn them anyway like P2P and double VPN. I believe my ISP was throttling me as my VPN made my systems faster by far, very noticeably. When I get the security issues is when I turn it on in mid use and did npt clear my browser cache. I've found I just need to clear cache and the security questions stop. I believe the cookies show two access points far enough away from each other that it would not be physically possible for me to zip between here and northern California or some such place. I found that happens when I turn the VPN on while the browser is open, and then try to go to another page on the same site I was just on in Louisiana. Be glad they keep our accounts secure.

Death risk? Here's the skinny, yes you will die. We lived ultra conservatively and had all kinds of irons in the fire. We haven't changed that much because we have already done our bucket lists except for going to the Orient, and Australia. So we will pursue those after we move. But I still love the fun of finding the low mileage car for half value or house at a steal price. Thus we waited until winter to buy the house and then my wife will go there to do her decorating and nesting, and I come back here to sell this property in spring/summer when people are moving. And with economy worries and interest rates uncertain it will be more of a buyer's market for us. I agree totally Rich. We snorkled until the last kiddo left when I was 43 and then we could afford it and got PADI certified and dove the Red Sea off Hurghada Egypt for a week in 1996. We did ski with them however. We love to visit and be visited by the kids and grandkids but we don't baby sit as our parents didn't for us either or theirs for them as we were all military. And we will be an hour and a half from them when we move but only because we like Colorado Springs much more than Denver. I'd prefer Meeker with fiber Internet 1GB for 70 bucks and less expensive houses but she who must be obeyed wants shopping and big box stores as well as bases nearby. Oh well. The Springs is a good compromise for us both. We didn't need to take SS early, so no loss if we do live a longer time. But if we die tomorrow a MUCH BETTER bet, we got at least some of our money back. No we are not in ill health but have smoked, drank, and been exposed to pollution and chemicals as well as asbestos our whole lives. They also have legal assisted suicide in Colorado. We just hospiced her two parents with cancers and dementia. I'm NOT going there. I will enjoy life until I can't. Or not. I like having all the options, I can change my mind then if I have those issues.

Excerpt: "Summary Aurora Cannabis will dominate the cannabis sector in production and sales growth in 2019. What the market is looking for in the first half. Why I don't care about earnings and dilution -- for now. Who should take a position in Aurora. Aurora Cannabis (ACB) ended 2018 on a tough note, primarily because of the broader market correction and its timing in connection to Aurora being listed on the NYSE. That took the steam out of its strong momentum, and its share price rapidly declined. Looking at what's ahead for Aurora for 2019, I think it's going to be a tremendous year for the company, as it confirms its production capacity and accompanying revenue are the real deal. We'll look specifically at Aurora's dominating production and revenue growth in 2019, what the market is looking for, and what type of investors should take a position in the cannabis producer for the long haul. While that's what we will primarily look at in this article, it's also important to note that I see Aurora as a long-term holding now. Those willing to go through the inevitable volatility that comes with an emerging industry, will be rewarded strongly in the years ahead." I believe this is my next big return small initial investment like Tesla was for me. Source: https://seekingalpha.com/article/4231266-aurora-cannabis-will-major-breakout-story-2019