I rode on a Flixbus...

I used Flixbus.  Before you do, here is my experience…

The best feature of using Flixbus, is the cost:  for the trip I booked, it was about ten dollars for
a ride from Tucson (Arizona) to Las Vegas (Nevada).  About twenty dollars from Las Vegas to
Tucson.

I also wanted to ride a Flixbus...because it called to my geeky and nerdy nature.  More
relating to that within my review...

If you can, before you book your trip, plan to be able to print the ticket.  Otherwise,
use their app to present your authorization to the driver. You will need to have one or the
other before you are allowed to board the bus.

(Also, they offer printable luggage tags for your bags...but...you will need to have a stapler
available so you can affix them to your luggage.)

September 27, I left from Tucson, and...at the time...the location I needed to be at was the
backside of a Denny’s restaurant.  At 5:45 a.m.

The bus which arrived was a standard tour-type bus...it was not one belonging to Flixbus.  It
did not have any Wi-Fi service, and AC power outlets. This bus took us to Phoenix…

We arrived at a transportation service yard, where other vehicles were parked.  We were
instructed to get off of the bus we were on...then had to get our luggage from under the bus...
wait for our driver to prepare the new bus, which was a Flixbus...put our luggage on the
Flixbus, and then get onto the Flixbus.

Per https://flixbusmedia-us.on.icomera.com/en/journey/ :

“...FlixBus gives you a chance to enjoy free Wi-Fi, extra legroom, private outlets and lots of
room for your baggage.

“...you will be able to avoid boredom thanks to free Wi-Fi on board. You can spend your
journey surfing the internet, chatting with friends, catching up on social media or checking
your emails!

“FlixBus also provides seats with extra legroom. Buses are equipped with comfortable seats
and plenty of space. All seats have adjustable backrests and are comfortable even on longer
trips.

“...There is a toilet on board all FlixBuses.

“...look out for the...many outlets in FlixBuses.

“Our FlixBuses offer you enough space for your baggage...All details about can be found in
the baggage policy.”

Their baggage POLICY limited me to one “hand luggage (25 lbs.) and 1 luggage (50 lbs.) per
person for free”…

“One item of hand luggage 16 x 12 x 7 in for max. all size of all sides of 35 in, max. 25 lbs.

“Your carry-on baggage is limited to one item with dimensions of 16 x 12 x 7 inches  and a
maximum weight of 25 lbs. Slight deviations from these dimensions are permitted provided
that the total dimensions of the item do not exceed a total height, width and length of more
than 35 inches.

“One check-in bag 31 x 20 x 12 in for max. all size of all sides 63 in, max. 50 lbs.”

For me, this was/is a VERY restrictive policy: I also wanted to have with me on-board some
books and notepads, but could not bring them along with my notebook computer (without
violating their policy).

It appeared to me many were allowed to violate that policy...

I was unsatisfied that the seats are narrow.  Too narrow for me to be able to comfortably
use my Google Chromebook.

I sat near the rear of the bus(es)...and was lucky to find some seats in that area which had
more legroom.

A woman behind me found she did not have any AC power outlets available to her…

The Wi-Fi service which gives access to the internet...was VERY SLOW:  download speeds
never exceeded 1 Mbps…

And, my entire allotment for the trip was a total of 300 MB worth of “data volume per day &
device”.  Also, Flixbus states : “Quality/speed may vary regionally”.

If you are hoping to watch video during your trip, consider the standard quality stream of a
YouTube video can be 1 MB of data per minute...and you could consume about five hours of
content before you reach the limit.

You can consider passing the time, with no restrictions, with Flixbus content.  IF the portal
webpage loads ( https://flixbusmedia-us.on.icomera.com )...and there were times when it did
not.  During my trip I had access to twenty-four movies, some television shows, portions of
some audiobooks, and some games.  Magazines were to be accessible, but I was
unsuccessful in being able to browse any.

Initially when I booked my trip, my information indicated I could disembark in Las Vegas at
“East Helen Street and Fremont Avenue”.  However, after attempting to research this
location...it appears it does not exist. “Freemont Street” and “Helen Avenue” exist...but I was
never able to locate them intersecting each other…

My trip ended near the Bonneville Transit Terminal (at 101 East Bonneville Avenue).  My
return trip (to Tucson) boarded from this same location.

Tickets are cheap.  But don’t expect more than that as a benefit of using their service.

Sentenced to prison in Arizona...expect death

...companies operating in Arizona have the highest lockup quotas in the country, ensuring payment for up to 100 percent of their prison beds...

...Management and Training Corp. couldn't hold on to employees, who routinely worked 12- to 16-hour days, 80 percent of the staff was newly hired or recently promoted on the night of the escape. After the men were discovered missing, it took more than an hour for MTC staffers to alert local law enforcement; when they did notify them, they didn't know the names or even the races of the missing men. They "only knew they were wearing orange," says Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan.

...Commit a serious enough infraction to get your security status upgraded and be shipped to a higher-security facility; or request protective custody – and be branded a snitch. When an inmate requests protection...is rarely granted protective custody, or "PC." Instead, he's moved to another prison. Any lateral transfer between facilities – minimum security to minimum security, for instance – is regarded with suspicion by other inmates.

..."When he called me again for money, I said no...Apparently that's why he died."

Nothing at all would be known about Neil's murder if his parents hadn't filed a lawsuit. After his death, Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) investigated, but it has kept the results of its inquiry to itself. The reason? The investigation is still "open," even now, three years later. Deaths in prison are like this; for all intents and purposes, they've occurred in a foreign country ruled by a dictatorship...

The River Valley Medical ambulance arrived at Kingman at 11:10 p.m. The medics noted a "baseball-size contusion and swelling" on the left side of Neil's head.

From the medical examiner's autopsy report: "Depressed left temporal bone fracture." Neil's cranial bone – behind the ear and at the base of his skull – was broken or crushed inward, a "depression" of the bone toward the brain. "Large left epidural hematoma." Neil's veins or arteries were damaged by the blows – blood had pooled into the space between the skull and the dural membrane. Neil's brain was "markedly swollen" and had begun to push down into his brain stem. Bruise on left upper eyelid. Bruise at the base of the spine between the buttocks...

...MTC had failed to conduct crucial staff trainings or had condensed what training it did offer, setting its employees up for failure...staff have a very limited understanding of "prison politics," "prison culture" and "yard dynamics"...

"...‘If you do something wrong...do everything you possibly can to get out of it because you're going to be killed while you're in prison'"...

...Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey...canceled MTC's contract. All it took was one escape, two dead retirees, a flood of drugs, who knows how many inmates bullied, cowed, strung out, injured over the years, a murdered 23-year-old shoplifter, and three days of rioting that destroyed one half of the prison and led to an officer's suicide. Two months later, Ducey and ADC awarded the contract to another for-profit prison company, GEO. Shortly afterward, the Arizona Republic reported that GEO had contributed $2,000 to Ducey's campaign for governor and $50,000 to Conservative Leadership for Arizona, an independent group that supported Ducey...

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/sentenced-to-death-whos-responsible-for-the-murder-of-neil-early-w520951

Unemployment report, job opportunities, the economy, and hiring slowing?

The Labor Department on Friday said the unemployment rate fell to 4.6% in November, reaching its lowest level since August 2007. The closely watched U-6 rate—a broad measure of underemployment that includes part-time workers looking for full employment and people who say they would enter the job market if better opportunities were available—dropped to a nearly nine-year low of 9.3%.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/little-slack-but-not-much-heat-in-labor-market-1480694166

===============================

...a broadly upbeat performance that could mask underlying soft spots in the labor market.

...those gains have been uneven across the nation and across business sectors, pushing swaths of people to the sidelines and by many measures leaving the economy short of prerecession norms.

...declining participation in the labor force is one of the nation’s more worrisome economic trends, highlighting crosscurrents that have lifted the prospects of many Americans while creating new challenges for others.

...Among traditionally blue-collar professions, construction has been perhaps the strongest with 155,000 new jobs in the last 12 months.

...“companies that have good benefits...attract some better people...”

...labor market getting tighter for service workers...

“It’s a solid report that has a couple of weak spots...”

A slowdown in hiring, meanwhile, wouldn’t be unexpected for a labor market nearing full employment...

Mr. Trump is set to take office amid the longest uninterrupted stretch of hiring on record. It also appears he will inherit one of the lowest jobless rates of any incoming administration since World War II. By comparison, the headline rate was 3.9% when George W. Bush was elected in 2000 and 6.8% when Barack Obama won office in 2008.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-nonfarm-payrolls-rose-178-000-in-november-unemployment-rate-4-6-1480685541

IF YOU HAVE NOT SUBMITTED YOUR BALLOT

“The suggested time to mail in your Vote-by-Mail ballot is Thursday, November 3rd”...according to the Pima County Recorder...

If you haven't submitted your ballot, you may need to consider needing to go to an "early voting site"...as I need to:

Locations For Emergency Voting
Downtown 240 N. Stone Ave.
Southside 6550 S. Country Club Rd.
Eastside 6920 E. Broadway Blvd.

Dates and Hours For Emergency Voting
Saturday, November 5, 2016 Hours: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Monday, November 7, 2016 Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m

"Voters who received a Vote-by-Mail ballot can drop off their voted ballot to any of our Pima County Emergency Voting sites or any Pima County Polling location before 7 p.m. on Election Day, November 8, 2016."

I was streaming Tucson News Now (on an app at 4 p.m.), and overheard mention it was "too late" to mail in my ballot...!!!???!!!???

THE ENVELOPE of my ballot does not state I have a deadline...

In the middle of the blue sheet included with my ballot is a statement, WHICH IS NOT OBVIOUS, suggesting the ballot be mailed "at least four (4) business days prior to election day".

Thanks to TNN, their statement helped me realize how much time I DON'T have to get some things done...

Music sucks. (Or...is it me?)

Sometimes Google Play gives music for free.  Recently, I've been pondering about what I was given...what I deleted, what I kept...and what, if anything, it says about:
music that has been considered commercially successful...
my personal tastes (versus that of the "masses")...
choices made by artists, and music companies...
the music I have been exposed to, and prefer, causing me to be jaded...

I consider myself to be VERY eclectic.  I like things for the reasons I do, whatever those reasons are.

After downloading and listening to as much as I could tolerate, I deleted albums from:  Sia, Jason Derulo, and Cole Swindell.

I kept:
Brad Paisley ("Moonshine in the Trunk" album)...
Michael Jackson ("Thriller"...I don't love every song, but I do respect the album)...
Foo Fighters ("Saint Cecilia" EP)...
"The Very Best of Grateful Dead" (I like some of their songs)...
"Janis Joplin's Greatest Hits" (I like some)...
and Elvis Presley ("30 #1 Hits"...some of them are fair).

The Electric Light Orchestra are one of the few musical acts I admit to being a favorite of mine.  When I learned of the plans to release the latest album, I expected to pay for it.  After hearing it (courtesy of National Public Radio) before it was available for sale, I intended to purchase the "Bonus Track Version" of the album.  After it became available for sale...I couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger.  Maybe it's because I don't have any disposable income.  It may be because there's only one song I (now) would consider purchasing...IF it were on sale at a discount.  After giving it much consideration, I know there are very few songs I would spend money for at all...

I could be a stingy person.  It could be me being very frugal.  It could be that the way things have been, and are...I don't feel the urgency and need to pay for the product.  I've been known to hover over a jukebox and review every offering before putting money into the machine...or, walking away.  It might be easier for me to put that money into an open instrument case of a street performer...

Confiscation at CES

The Changzhou First International Trade Co. decide to go to CES so they can display their "Surfing Electric Scooter".

Onewheel filed "a civil suit for patent infringement"...

And...

"...two U.S. federal marshals showed up at the Consumer Electronics Show..."

I always seem to, at the wrong time, need to go to the restroom.

PDFs in a Chromebook

When I use my Chromebook, it is not possible to view a PDF file.  Unless I use a app from the Chrome Web Store...or, as I learned "by accident", have the Evernote Web Clipper installed:

"If you've opened a PDF document in your browser, you can save the entire PDF document as an attachment to a new note in your Evernote account."

Though I had the document opened in the browser, I did not choose to enable the "Chrome PDF Viewer".  When offline, I might need to...but for now, when online, I'm satisfied with the features provided by Evernote:

"When you view a PDF in your browser, simply click the Web Clipper icon. You can assign a destination notebook, tags and some additional notes. That’s all. The PDF will be placed into your Evernote account and synched so that you can view it from any computer or device where Evernote is installed."

AND...via http://Evernote.com (in the web browser while online), I can read the PDF document!

"Dear Apple/iTunes/iPod..."

Apple should release a version of iTunes for Linux...

Because of the cost of most of their products, the iPod Touch is the only device I find affordable.  For me, it's great to have in my pocket and with me so I can make and carry notes...and access the internet.

Attempting to upgrade my computers to Windows 10 has caused me to stop using Windows on them, and install Linux.  Most computers currently for sale with Windows 10, I consider too expensive for what I want to use them for...and too under-powered for what I am willing to spend.  In some circumstances, I do find some Chromebooks as good investments...especially when comparing them to computers with Windows in the same price range.  (I have purchased two Chromebooks so far, and am planning to purchase more.)

I love being able to rent movies from iTunes.  I can watch them when offline...

"You have 30 days to start watching a movie after you rent it. After you start watching the movie, you have 24 hours (in the US) or 48 hours (elsewhere) to finish it. You can watch the movie as often as you like until it expires."

...and many are very inexpensive (some at ninety-nine cents).

Browsing iTunes for audio and video is more pleasurable when using a computer (rather than a mobile device).  Now, for that experience, I must configure a computer with some version of Windows on it...

Also, they should consider making iTunes services accessible via browsers (and Chromebooks).  If not, I'm seriously considering committing to Google Play and abandoning iTunes.  But...

Google Play has a policy which kept me more loyal to iTunes...

"...Since downloading free content is still considered a transaction (even when the price of the item is $0.00), you may be prompted to add a credit or debit card if you don't already have one in your account..."

That requirement is unacceptable to me.

So far, purchasing music from Apple and Google...and being able to use it on other devices in general...has allowed them both to keep me as a customer.  I have not purchased videos/movies from either one of them, and don't plan to...because, per their documentation of their services...I am not able to use the  files on "any" device I choose to.

And that's why I purchase DVDs...

Goodbye Windows (7 and 10)...Hello, Linux...

I replaced the hard drive in my Acer Aspire computer, installed Windows 7 using the product key that came with the computer, and have been using it for many years.

Now, it will not successfully upgrade to Windows 10:  "Windows 10 couldn't be installed...Error...C1900101-4000D".

After searching the Internet and noticing other people are having the same problem...so I don't waste my time trying to troubleshoot this issue...I decided I would install Windows 7 anew, and after (try to) upgrade (to Windows 10).  But first...I need a Windows 7 DVD...

-------------------------------------------------

At http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-recovery , the Microsoft Software Recovery webpage, it states:

"Thanks for being a Microsoft customer...

"After you verify your product key below, you will download a disc image (ISO file) and use it to create a bootable USB or DVD. This will require ISO burning software such as the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool."

I entered the product key on my computer...

"Unsupported Product...The product key you entered appears to be for software that was pre-installed on a device.  Please contact the device manufacturer for software recovery options."

No.  I'm done.  I have a valid product key, and all I need is a copy of the installation software.

More and more I find reasons NOT to desire and need Microsoft Windows (and other products).

I have a Toshiba Satellite A105 (with 4 GB RAM) that is in great shape...and one of very few distributions of the Linux operating system I have been able to find light enough for it to be useful, is LXLE.

Years ago, because it was all I could afford at the time, I purchased a Chromebook.  I liked it, but that particular model was not powerful enough for me:  I keep MANY tabs open, and applications running.

After I purchased a HP 2000 notebook that had Windows 8...I increased the RAM to 8 GB.  Quickly it began to perform sluggishly.  I uninstalled unnecessary software, and use mostly "portable" applications and programs.  Using the computer on the Internet is aggravating and annoying.  I've tried faster hard drives, and various versions of Linux...I am convinced the processor ("AMD E-300 APU with Radeon HD Graphics / 1300 Mhz / 2 Cores / 2 Logical Processors") is the cheapest they could find for this low-end computer.  I believe I paid somewhere near $300 for it at the time.

My latest purchase is an Acer Chromebook 13 with a quad-core processor, 4 GB RAM, and a 32 GB drive.  (I've read that sometimes the 16 GB drive isn't large enough to be able to download and watch some videos from the Google Play store.)  I love it!  Mostly, I have no complaints.  Though I do love 15-inch screens.  (I've been planning to review the Chromebook, but haven't had time to do so...)

Soon I will install (LXLE) Linux on the HP.  Based on my experience with the Toshiba computer, I expect it will satisfy my needs.  And I intend to NEVER purchase anything less than a quad-core processor.

I have one other computer with Windows 7 on it...that will not upgrade to Windows 10.  It has its original hard drive...so I will restore its operating system, and again attempt to upgrade to Windows 10.  But also will plan to need to install Linux...

Which now means I also need to plan to use other products and services that are not produced by Microsoft (like Office).