BeachWeb_August

we rarely go out to eat at restaurants these days, though sometimes I pick-up pizza and bring it home

we manage about once a month to Lowe's and other 'errands' - not nearly the frequency as before

the car(s) feel neglected and I guess our insurance carrier feels 'embarassed' so they send us month 'giveback' checks, I think, together, we haven't put 1,000 miles on both cars in the last six months

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Opening Picture(s) - hope to have at least one each month...

YES YES YES - this is me - 'foiling' on our new board (with the wing (which you can NOT SEE) and 'foil-mast' (that you CAN SEE) up in Cocoa Beach on Thursday, 7 November... - YES - I was being 'pulled' by a SeaDoo with Ms. Ashley driving and Ms. May was riding on the SeaDoo (and then Ms. May was foiling and I was riding...)

I've tried several other times - none 'hugely' successful, but I'm Getting There... slow but progress - given time it will 'get better'...

we were in Hawaii in January to build a pottery-kiln; when there we went to Maui for a few days and did a LOT of WATCHING, Learned a LOT...

We have something called the 'Ozone "Wasp" - (5.0) ' which is too 'tall' for either of us - so we've mostly used the 6.0 boardsail - noted below - May uses a little smaller sail..

I put-in some time with the 6.0 boardsail, and have confidence when the wind speed and direction are 'RIGHT' that I'll do well.

ONE Limitation for the foiling thing - is that there is (ESPECIALLY WHILE LEARNING - another couple of 'variables' that one has to deal with - over and above the variables that come with sailing, boardsailing, kiteboarding, swimming, etc. etc. etc. - NOW I have to add-in-to-the-equation the depth of the water - and is it a rocky or sandy bottom (sand at high-speed probably won't hurt your foil, but ROCK surely will - and there is also the wind-direction, which MAY be a much harder thing to deal with UNTIL I / we get ourselves 'organized'?! - so - LOTs more variables to deal with!

YES YES YES - this is an 'OLD' section - dating from last November, but - well we're still learning and don't go very much - but we'll get there - promise

this is the 'bottom' of the 'foiling' board and foil and it's little 'tail-foil'

- but learning boardsailing and learning foiling at the same time is probably NOT the way to go?!

speaking of ....ing type activities - I found this short kiteboarding video recently - it's 35 megs - therefore too much for an e-mail

this is Mr. Bill with his friend the "Pool Bear" (NOT Pooh Bear) - this picture is - what - 10 years old or something like that

- taken on the Celebrity (cruise-lines) Cruise-ship when we went to Alaska(early 2000s?)

try this link for something un-like others (lots of violence, though Rosa Salazar (from Vancouver) does a pretty good job of appearing cyborg-like!:

Books - e-books and regular printed books and even a few audio-books

a link from a Computer-Magazine I read (make sure to 'struggle-through' the part about the "Panopticon" - it seems irrelevant, but it is not - but you may have to 'stretch' your imagination to understand the 'similarities'...???):

put this into Wikipedia.org and see if you can understand it? Dzhanibekov Effect

My Abandonment (book) by Peter Rock - I'm just finishing this up - it was made into a movie - available on "Amazon Prime" but the movie is called 'Leave no Trace' - about a veteran with PTSD and his daughter (Hanna(no 'h' on the end) living in the national park near Portland, Oregon... - has some interesting moments in it - the two are caught by the police, taken into custody (and housed in concrete boxes, in essence). It gives one a different perspective on what might be considered a "Crime" in our society and what is not - and the plight of Veterans who are attempting to raise a family on 'disability' pay''??? - VERY interesting book, told from the daughter' perspective, very very good. If you want the 'ORIGINAL' movie - it is also available on Amazon Prime Video - but it was done in 2011 - make sure to know the difference...

AND AND AND - this 'series' / movies / books / has a bunch of 'confusing' issues coming and going, but SOME (not all) will recognize that Debra Granik was the director of the movie "Leave No Trace" but she was also the director of "Winter's Bone" and "Hunger Games (3 movies)" - Debra Granik 'brought' Jennifer Lawrence to the 'Big Screen' and I think (my opinion only) she will have a significant influence on Thomasin MacKenzie's growth as an actress - so - Watch Debra Granik, also...!!!

The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester This author wrote several books about global and regional commerce and trade, "Pacific Rising" was one i read shortly after moving to Hong Kong - he's quite a good author... - This book is about how the 'Oxford English Dictionary came to be and the 'leader' of the Project (The Professor) and that "Madman" who was a licensed US doctor (and US Citizen) but who lived in the UK during the time period... - Very 'little-known subject(s) about a well known fact (the Oxford English Dictionary)...

I've also re-read and re-watched "The Circle" with Emma Watson and Tom Hanks - based on the book by Dave Eggers... - if you have not partaken of this story-line it presents both sides of the 'are we losing our identity / privacy and towards what end' - ? - question - and Dave Eggers does a fair job of presenting both viewpoints - the movie is obviously a little more visual -but the book really covers the subject well, also... - "The Circle" is a loose 'cover' for companies like Apple, Google, Amazon - but you don't have to stretch your thought processes too much to glean where Mr. Eggers is going with his story line!

this historical novel is about exactly what the title says... When Mr. Wash Roebling has an accident while working on the Brooklyn Bridge, his wife takes-over his role as "Chief Engineer" something for which she has no training... - She then attempts - quite successfully, actually to raise a son, take care of her sick husband, and engineer the Brooklyn Bridge... - a woman who literally 'did it all' ... - against amazing odds and with help from here and there, she made the hard decisions that a built a bridge that still stands today as an icon of American Engineering!

book by Alex Ryan: 'Project Dark Chapter' (yes - it IS AVAILABLE as an e-book) and yes you have to 'wade-through' all the 'social and romantic 'stuff' but the bottom-line is something that just might scare you - especially if you read the link just above first

And YES - there's MORE to this 'issue' of who is collecting what data about what we read and how and WHERE we read it - and who might be putting something into / onto our e-readers and when and and and extrapolate - see where your thoughts take you?

""Hill Women"" by: Cassie Chambers (think lawyer) - this lady has written a book documenting her rise from 'born-poor' to Harvard Lawyer and her career attempting to help impoverished women in Appalachia (Spelling?) - anyway - EXCELLENT BOOK about a lady who's goal to be educated drove her to do things and see places that others couldn't even fathom - an EXCELLENT READ - I found it as an 'e-book' but it is also on audio-books and I"m guessing also in print - I found it through a library - but your mileage may vary...

Try this one: "Permanent Record" by: Edward Snowden - a VERY GOOD book - especially since I'm somewhat of a computer-geek, and what he did / does makes a lot of sense. He couldn't get his management to listen - but there are a LOT OF OTHER THINGS in this book that should be interesting! And if it was not enough that Edward Snowden has now done his own book, there's a new book out about him - I've got it on 'hold' at a couple of libraries for the 'e-book' - but you may want to buy it? - it's called Dark Mirror by Barton Gellman - just barely published so it may be hard to get in any form e-book or print>

Couple of other books: - I have really enjoyed _Kathy_Reichs_ books for nearly 15 years - she apparently took some 'time-off' but is back at it again...

The newest book is called 'A Conspiracy of Bones' but it is extremely new and, apparently not very available - though I guess that will change a lot in the next few weeks. This book is very (VERY) much about the 'ins and outs' of computer-file encryption, about steganography, about child-abuse, and about the ultimate 'success' of Tempe to solve the case with much help from a lot of people... There is, also, a couple of new(er) books by Kathy - some e-books but some not... - Deja Dead and Death du Jour

the one I just finished last night was "Bones of the Lost" - about her trying to get a handle on an exhumed body in the middle-east-war-zone and trying to solve a local (North Carolina) murder, at the same time - turns out the two cases are related - who would have guessed?

Kathy Reichs and her son Brendan also wrote the 'Virals' series (web-link!) - this series follows the exploits of "Tory Brenan" and her 'followers' in / around Charleston, S.C., and their use of a boat since their are too young, mostly, to drive. - I really enjoyed these books, also

If (IF IF) you are REALLY INTO 'computer hacking / forensics / stealing files, etc, try Nik Alleyne who's book ( Learning by practicing - Hack & Detect: ) is VERY GOOD - I have NEVER, EVER seen a book and a 'story-line' as well represented as in this book. NOTE before you BUY (or e-book this one (which is what I did)) - YOU MUST KNOW some perl, some Python, some Unix (Linux) - before you get and read this book - you will not understand it otherwise, BUT - it is unique in that it presents 'both sides of the story' - the 'hack-into' the company side with many commands and tools and it also presents what the person(s) INSIDE the 'hacked' company would see and how they attempt to 'defend the company's computing-assets from inside and what the inside system-admin does to thwart the person attempting to break-in...

Russell Blake - writing about an "under-cover"lady named Maya - who's book-cover is 'Jet' - there is / are a WHOLE BUNCH (6 I think) Russell Blake books (4 of them about 'Jet' (Maya) - I've got several on my iPad and I read them via 'Apple Books' - they are very 'action' oriented... find any that you can (the 'Jet' series is one 'group' there are other "groups (most are trilogies, but some have 4-5-6 books in them, though - and read it / them - you won't be disappointed, - what they lack in some areas they make-up-for in keeping your heart-rate-up!

Some times, in the morning - there is an earthquake (and consequent " bear'valanche " (as opposed to 'avalanche') here in SE Florida...

Some OTHER times - there is no 'bear' valanche but there are other things of interest! (one. two, three)

Some other times other interesting things happen, - Like on / about 11 June I postal mailed something to Vancouver.

WELL, NOW, it didn't show up, and didn't show up, and so I cancelled it - but it FINALLY Showed-up-there yesterday, after, what, 8 weeks or something like that - seems like a LONG TIME for the postal-mail, huh? No wonder Trump wants them gone?

put this( Brooke Raboutou ) into 'YouTube.com', and/or Wikipedia: (no indication, here, of what You'll find, but I Guarantee you'll be impressed...)

a picture of my (almost) newest trike-pants!

(and here you can see similar pants 'in-action': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS6A1slhwd4 )

these are my "Newest" pants (I call them the Green Lizard Pants), for less than $6, just last month

Some things about Hurricanes - which we went through our 'first of the season' - just went north of us, late afternoon, today....

the second of which is 'supposed' to turn north before it gets to us (that is turn-north about Sunday-Monday(16-17th August)

(we'll SEE if it really does?

1.) getting-ready - putting up window-covers and tying things down, and etc. etc. etc. is not fun or easy

2.) staying inside a 'mostly dark house' (because once you put up the window-shutters you have no daylight in the house)

is neither fun nor exciting?

3.) watching the "every 3 hour" NOAA forecast update is neither fun nor exciting

4.) making sure the cars are gassed, that we have insurance, cash, documents, extra water, is neither fun nor exciting

5.) so you ask WHY THE HELL YOU DO IT - if it costs all this pain and strain..

UGH UGH UGH _ I don't KNOW - but I"m looking for a 'way out'?

If you want to 'witness' the gorgeous sun-rises some mornings - check out my sunrise blog, here: http://vikingasia.blogspot.com

Archive BeachWeb monthly (and other) site(s): Click here for a list of the archived months

15:13 p .m. (USA-EDT) Tuesday, 29 August 2020 by:_Bill_Schell_{Apple MacBookPro(10.15.6 )} revID:1v

- yes we're basically fine - the 'stay-at-home' order does not 'materially' affect us

- we were already pretty-much a 'stay-at-home' couple.

Opening Picture(s) - hope to have at least one each month...

Books - e-books and regular printed books and even a few audio-books