2017

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Winter trip to Arizona
28 December 2016 - 1 January
The beginning of a new Gregorian year.

Our trip to Arizona was interrupted for a few hours on I-84 on black ice when a severe gust of cross wind blew our trailer off the highway into the ditch. Our slow rate of speed probably save the truck and ourselves from damage and injury but the trailer was not so fortunate. It is a write-off. The hitch drop-extension twisted like a pretzel likely protecting the truck from damage as the trailer bounced and rolled on its side.

Fortunately the trailer is insured with guaranteed replacement. However there is no trailer manufactured with the improvements I made to this one (I found it commonly admitted by dealers that RV's are manufactured with little durability as most are seldom used much), so it is likely I'll have to improve the new one to the degree we required and enjoyed with this one.

We continued on to Quartzsite with stops along the way to shop for a replacement trailer and arrived 1 January.

Lindea then went buying rocks, seeing things and rockhounding.

Kelowna, 4 & 6 February

We arrived back home from Arizona in the latter half of January.

About 7 inches of snow was added to the amount on the ground in the past 2 days where we live.

Kelowna, 9 February

Lots of snow has accumulated where we live.

Kelowna, 5 March

It's snowing again today. It's been a good winter and I've spent a lot of time working at home on web sites. The most challenging has been writing the layout and handling for the registration form for bahaischools.org. I have tweaked the original site design but constructed the registration process from scratch.

It requires the integration of four languages: html, css, javascript and perl, plus trying to meet the requests of the Committee.

The results should go live within the next few weeks.

Kelowna, 24 March

Email scams are a real problem and use some very sophisticated methods of deception. Lindea often asks me to look at an email for advice as to whether it is a fraud (it almost always is).

One of the easiest methods I use to identify a valid email is to look at the address it is sent to. All of our financial accounts use a unique address which is confidential to each account. If the email is sent to any other of our addresses it is not a valid email for that account.

This method requires many addresses and is best done with an email server. Although it requires some management it is likely doable by many people.

Although security concerns are required it is clear to me that security risks are everywhere and even the most popular services have suffered breaches, so the individual is likely better off with an individual service. It's likely not worth the effort of hackers to try hacking the server of an individual.

Of all the possibilities available I use a NameCheap shared hosting account (things have deteriorated a lot since I first got it) which provides both website and email services. I used to manage many domains and email services for family, friends and interest groups on the shared plan I subscribe to, but now only try to keep a few things going.


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Kelowna, 5 May

Today I put the last touch on the machine I've been reconditioning for the past few weeks. It can now be returned to it's owner.

Nanjing, 11 May

My first Chinese meal of this trip.

Nanjing, 12 May

This trip my railway map site is not working (the Google maps don't appear). At least the timetable can be seen.
It is perplexing to me how and why such things in China change.
Last fall there was no problem. I wonder if the international climate has caused China to refuse to submit to disagreeable terms?

Google is blocked so I'd like to develop Baidu maps but I don't yet understand the Chinese reference material well enough to work on it.


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Nanjing, 13 May

Bicycle rental has changed a lot in the past few years in Nanjing. Large installations of bikes attached to automated holders was the first step. Now the bikes are rented and released through a phone app and may be found most everywhere.

Payment by phone app is very popular in China now. The phone is the new credit card. However; I still prefer the card.

Taiyuan, 15 May

Today I reached a point of satisfaction for the programming of the Image Show software for this site. I'll soon copy it to the other sites I do and replace as much of the old pages as I find the time.

The sideshow now allows the arrow keys to change images, the Home key for the first image and the End key for the last. The Esc key can be used to exit.

There is more to add and likely some tweaking to do.

It's clear that China will guide the participation in the development of the Belt & Road. I haven't yet seen the promotion of the global language, English, that needs to be integrated into the activities of cooperative communication required to produce the most agreeable outcome.

It is clear that English in the global evolution of communication has been established as the language of all international transportation, economic transactions and scientific exchange as well as personal use. Can China recognize and employ the language requirements that will ensure understanding among all the participants and encourage their citizens to prepare for this future? So far Mandarin, (Putonghau), is being promoted by the government of China as the international language and being taught in all the country. I see this as a big mistake! Teaching English for seconadry use would unite all people of the country as well as the rest of the world.

I see English evolving for hundreds of years world wide because words can be added to it (as tsunami was added during my lifetime from Japanese) without the refusal of an institution of purity.
I've travelled to more than 30 countries and always found people everywhere that speak English.

Taiyuan, 19 May

I'm sitting in the waiting room at Taiyuan train station with about 1.5 hours until the train leaves. I like to get to the stations very early in order to find my way around and ensure I have a clue as to where to go to get the train. This is a mid-sized station with about 6 waiting rooms. It is moderately busy. The first train to leave from this waiting room was K1082 to Qiqihaer.

Google maps are blocked in China. I guess Google is not finding an agreeable relationship with the government of China. I know from personal relationships with Google management in the U.S. that they believe in 'being American' and operating beyond the control of other national laws and refusing to conform to laws of other nations.

Datong, 20 May

Datong reminds me of Manzhouli. The commercial areas are full of ear spliting noise of loudspeakers and megaphones as hawkers try to sell their wares. It's after 10pm and there are blaring noises coming into my hotel room from the streets here; lots of honking too as drivers try to demand others get out of their way.

BTW, cars park on the sidewalks and drive on the bike paths to get to the parking spaces. Pedestrians can't use the sidewalks most of the time because of the trees, parked cars and bikes, and sellers stalls. Bikes and pedestrians go everywhere with little regard for others but must watch for cars, buses and trucks that refuse to give any right of way.

I've spent a lot of hours on the programming I'm doing to display images and album slide shows on this web site. My programming is much more to my liking than the stuff I got on the Internet. It is far more succinct and functions the way I want it. There is a sample here and is being implemented throughout the site.


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This trip is intended to be exposure to and the study of culture and history of China. The destinations along the way are Nanjing, Taiyuan, Datong, Pingyao and Yuncheng.

While it is clear that Datong has an incredibly long history, it is also evident that it's lacking in public culture. Construction of large projects abound and there is no shortage of resources for historical facilities, yet the public facilities are mostly neglected. The roads are well maintained but the sidewalks are a mess. Many people show consideration for friends and family but no courtesy for others.

The overall impression is that the people live with a myopic appreciation of culture even though they are aware of the long history of Chinese civilization. In fact I think that the current concept of civilization means having a long recorded history of national identity more than one of appreciating the value of the bonds of human oneness.

Living in the environment of community spaces and services makes it clearly evident that Chinese culture does not include respect and consideration for others (beyond family and friends), let alone an aware concept of public courtesy.

As an example, I was on a crowded bus this morning and a large boy was sitting in a courtesy seat. He noticed my presence (an old man of 73 years) and pointed out the sign identifying the seat as a courtesy seat to his middle aged mother and got up to give me the seat. She prevented him from giving me the seat and told him to sit back down. There was also a young lady in the seat behind who noticed me but ignored giving her courtesy seat to this old man. I find the situation similar throughout the country. One would think that education in courtesy would be held in high regard in a society that prizes its appreciation of culture so seriously.


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Pingyao, 24-26 May

The pictures here tell a lot of the story of my visit.


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Yuncheng, 30 May

Now I'm in Yuncheng and I've discovered that my China train map site is not working here! I haven't a clue why sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Is it location related? Who takes the time to decide and make the changes?

The Internet service in the hotel I'm staying in is mostly poor today. Sometimes it's OK but it's a pain for working on the websites.

I've been studying the ways of the buses around here. The street in front of the hotel and a perpendicular one to the north has been reduced in lanes (likely to build subways) and the buses don't go along the normal routes. It's why yesterday the bus from the train station went on a more distant street, then I was waiting for a long time for another bus on the way here and finally walked the last 2 Km instead.

BTW, I find many people here very friendly. A young man came with me on the walk from the bus stop to the hotel and made sure I got registered. He refused money and had to go to work, so I couldn't take him for ice cream. I tried to tell him I could manage OK but he insisted.

Nanjing, 5 June

I hope Lindea will be happy with these Nanjing Rainflower Agates for the grandchildren.

Nanjing, 7 June

I'm staying at the Gold Star Hotel near Xinjeikou. My hotel room didn't have WiFi like the rest of the rooms so I could only use the Internet when nearby rooms were occupied. There was no WiFi available midday today.

Yesterday I reported the trouble but after calls were made by housekeeping to others in the hotel there was nothing done. I guess they don't want to provide WiFi to this room. I tried the LAN jack in the room but it too was dead.

While I was looking at available networks I tried China Telecom. They had a page listed as English but only the login information was in ChingEnglish. Most of the links on the page didn't work. As with most services in China almost all the rest on the page was in Chinese. I wonder how the people who provide these services think about serving those who don't understand Chinese? Why write in Chinese for people needing English?

Kelowna, 11 June

I have about 2 days to get the new travel trailer ready for another trip. I'm very disappointed with the quality of materials and workmanship with which the R-Pod is made. The cut and fit of the wood used for the beds and many other features are unprofessional and look like the work of amateurs who don't have the skills for the job and the location of the lights in the bed area are placed where they shine into ones eyes in normal use rather than in a convenient way. It's appalling to see this kind of inconsiderate and penny pinching manufacturing in such an expensive product.

My first task is to install a prop to hold the bed base up while accessing the space beneath. I'll then need to install a power inverter, switching system to select the inverter or line power, solar panel attachments and wiring to recharge the batteries, carriers for a ladder and spare gas cans, and a few miscellaneous items.


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Kelowna, 4 July

Lindea spotted a buck eating breakfast in our back yard and I took pictures of it.


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Kelowna, 4 July

I completed the "Spin'n'Win" wheel that was constructed by Dave and Bonnie for the Kelowna rock club.

Kelowna, 9 July

Although it may be a surprise to some the direction of the Bahá'í Point of Adoration (the Qiblih) from Kelowna is about 36° east of north.

This is the direction faced for the recitation of some prayers.

A good resource for seeing this direction for any place on earth is qiblih.com.

Kelowna, 15-17 July

I have been developing new code for the way things work on the websites I manage. This page uses even newer methods.

The display of images, contact information and additional comments for some headings should all be working as intended now.

Sometimes I revise the code and discover that it causes problems that are not worth solving and revert to a former version but often the new code is more compact, versatile and functional so I solve the discrepancies. The process starts with an inspiration of how new things can work, followed by analysis of the current code, followed by experimentation on a test page. When all is tried and done, if there is significant reason for using the results the new code is integrated into existing sites. Often much later I find something that doesn't work on an old page and have to resolve the problem.

Kelowna, 27 July

I spent most of the afternoon at Annual Arts on the Avenue helping Karina and getting this caricature of me done by Marzio Manderioli.

Kelowna, 10 August

The local quail population is booming this year.

Here are a couple of the new generation scooting across our driveway to join about 30 more on the other side.


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Lime, OR, 21 August

I decided with Lindea's encouragement to go to Lime, OR, to view the solar eclipse. It was a quick challenging trip but I got some nice pictures.

Kelowna, 24 August

Billowing smoke from the Joe Rich wildfire.

Out of control wildfire closes the Joe Rich area east of Kelowna and causes the evacuation of many homes including some friends and family.

Picture taken from our home (About 14 Km away).

Kelowna, 4 September

The full moon coloured by the smokey haze from forest fires about two weeks following the eclipse.

Taken with a FujiFlim HS50EXR

Kelowna, 7-8 September

The forest fires in the mountains of western North America are the source of extremely widespread smoke.

Morning sun 7 September
      Afternoon 8 September

Kelowna, 4 September

Kelowna skies are returning to normal with some beautiful rainbows.

Beijing, 23 September

I forgot to bring my camera on this trip. What a pleasure to be free of the load, but how will I share what is likely one of my most interesting trips.

Perhaps I may try to improve my writing skills

Kelowna, 8 November

Storage for small parts, nuts, bolts and screws has been a problem for a long time.

I have eased the problem by designing and installing a new bin slideout beneath my workbench.

Kelowna, 30 November

I wandered into an academic website that looked like a good place to share intellectual and thoughtful pursuits. It was only after being drawn into developing a presence there that I discovered it required payment to participate. I seldom see monetary value in such relationships and the disappointment of finding the request for payment only after working on an image to share led me to think of it as tantamount to a scam.

I consider it a wasted effort!

The experience led me to make a biographical statement: "A lifetime of individual devotion in the midst of humanity to the discovery of the purpose and possibilities of life, without prejudice towards science nor divinity, but seeking the effect of the application of knowledge balanced on both. An irrepressible initiative to seek out and apply whatever means is suitable to instill within the spirit of the community an advanced appreciation for the possibilities of cooperative global civilization... and beyond."

I was thinking "If I have no peers willing to evaluate my activities, does that make me peerless?"

While exploring the terms of academia I realized the futility of any formal relationship with institutions of learning. I cannot define my field of study, have no desire to be recognized by academically defined degrees of learning, and will continue to pursue the knowledge of life and the accomplishment of tasks in whatever direction I find myself taking within this creation without a start or an end.

Kelowna, 3 December

My best full moon picture to date.
(taken on tripod with time release to avoid jitter at 7:42pm)
Taken with a FujiFlim HS50EXR

Kelowna, 27 December

I am starting to learn how to operate and fly a Mavic Pro drone. It is much more difficult to discover all the details than I thought it would be. Every source of information I have yet discovered presumes the operator to have some knowledge and leaves out significant steps to success.

If the proper process is not followed carefully the drone could take off into the unknown and be lost.

I have looked at the map showing the position of the drone and it shows this drone to be across the road and down the street from the true location of where I am; so good luck finding it if it is not seen landing. It looks like it can be anywhere in a 300 meter circle.