Painless DMV Visit

My wife spends too much time on social media. A few weeks ago, she found this car for sale on Facebook. Yeah, not my first choice either but the car was priced to move at $800.

We ended up contacting the owners. The car was drivable and had some cosmetic issues but to did run. After agreeing to buy it, we did have to remind the owners that state law requires the seller to get the vehicle smogged. Not surprisingly, it failed the first time on visual inspection. The owners replaced a hose and then go it to pass the emissions test.

We paid them for the car and then my wife went on the internet to make an appointment at DMV.

Our appointment was for 9:10 AM. When we got there, the line was literally out the door. There were 12 to 18 people just waiting to get into the building. We got in the appointment line—which was much shorter. After waiting a few minutes, we got to the check-in counter and told the lady why we were there. She gave us a form and clipboard and we waited our turn. A few minutes later, my wife and daughter were at the counter doing the paperwork for the title. After paying fees, taxes and registration, my daughter was out $166 on an $800 car and we were leaving to go home. The whole process was over in about twenty minutes.

I know state workers want to spend time with their families on Thanksgiving so considering that they were shorthanded, I thought things went well. Moral of the story, make an appointment; it will lower your frustration level and save time.

Obama’s Next Move On Immigration

After breaking the tablets of the Law on television last night, President Obama is reportedly traveling to an undisclosed location in Texas today where he will lay his teleprompter across the Rio Grande River so his new sheep can walk into the Promised Land on dry ground. Only after kissing his ring and pledging fealty will they be granted a permanent stay.

Review: Windows 10 Mobile Build 10586

After reading the reviews on this Build, I decided that maybe I should again try running Windows 10 on my phone (Lumia 640). I tried running an older version last spring and uninstalled the software as soon as I could. It was a mess. The reviews on this build gave me just enough confidence to try it again.

A version of Build 10586 is supposed to be available to the public next week so the build is at or very near RTM. (Release To Manufacturing). I figured things were much improved so I started the upgrade last night on my way to bed.

Build 10586.11 updated smoothly. It seems faster and more responsive than Windows 8.1 I have yet to find any bugs or things that don’t work. The phone kept most of the settings for things that I use daily. Yes, a few apps were not compatible and are no longer listed as installed on the phone. I had five errors on apps but they were not things that I needed. I know at least two of the five were replaced by features in Windows 10.

Here was my punch list of things to adjust after the upgrade.

• Bluetooth was off and needed to be turned on when I got in my car.

• The Music app tile on my phone was not directly linked to my music library any more. I ended up removing it and replacing with the Groove Music tile. The Groove Music tile will often be the album cover of whatever song is playing. This is cool.

• Missing from my main screen was Data Sense. I was able to find a new one in Settings and added that to my screen. It retained my settings and usage numbers after the upgrade.

• Web pages that I had attached as tiles opened mobile versions of the pages when I expected to see full desktop versions.

• I had to re-pin the Weather app to my main screen.

After upgrading, do a restart of the phone and then check to see if there are further updates.

Two issues that I am aware of were causing problems for some users.

• First, the unified mail box was removed due to inserting a bug into phone performance for some users. I think this feature will be fixed and available soon.

• Second, Nokia’s Here Maps was disabled. Here Maps was recently sold to a consortium of European auto manufacturers and this might be a factor in the app being turned off. This should only affect people upgrading from Windows Phone 8.1 It is recommended to use Windows Maps. Mapquest, gMaps, and the regular map program all seem to be working.

The people app is still linked with Facebook. I thought this might break after upgrading since it no longer works on my Windows 10 desktop computer.

So far I’m a happy camper with this Build. Try it, you’ll like it.

Update 11-21-2015

After looking thru the phone further, I found that some items did not upload themselves. I have noticed no performance hit because of these. They might be relics that are normally hidden or not fully uninstalled.

Also, I had to delete my Hotmail account and set it up again to get it to sync.

Based on feedback from others, as a rule nothing Nokia related is likely to follow to Windows 10. Whether it works or not after an upgrade will probably vary for each user.

I don’t use Skype at all and rarely use Facebook but both ended up needing some love to insure they were happy. Skype, must be installed on you phone and not SD card. You may have to adjust you storage setting to get it to install. As you can see, I did have a few lingering problems. I have seen many fantastical claims on how to work thru these issues on the Internet but they are unproven and many involve resetting phone to factory setting. My problem with that is then why did I upgrade if I need to reinstall everything anyway?

Awkward Questions for Dad

Yesterday was one of those awkward days for being a parent. I took my son to the Dollar Store to get stuff for his shoe box for Samaritan’s Purse. This is a great charity and I’m happy to support it. He is doing it as a school project.

While we were at the strip mall, I thought it would be a good idea to check-out the used book store across the parking lot. After looking around the store, he decided he wanted to get a book on mythology. Of course, this happened to be one of the few new books for sale in a place with thousands of used books.

I relented and agree to purchase the book for my son so we go to the counter to pay. Surrounding the counter are many new books for sale. At his eye level is a book that gets his attention so he asked me about it.

“Dad, what’s 50 Shades of Grey about?”

Awkward.

I said, “It’s about people that want to have sexual relations without consequences, but there is no such thing. It’s against God’s rules.”

Hoping I dodged a bullet on that one, we are starting to drive out of the parking lot as he looks at the table of contents for the mythology book. He then asks, “Dad, what’s rape?”

Awkward.

Not knowing where to start, I say, “It’s something that happens a lot in war. A bad guy will kill a man and then force the wife to have sexual relations with him; since she doesn’t want too, its rape. But sometimes it happens here in our country… It’s against the Bible… I think it’s one of the sins that can be punishable by death.”

I know he’s eleven now but I’m not in any hurry for him to grow up.

Sites Reservoir Talks Surface Again

Before I comment on this news report, I wanted to cite the source and some relevant paragraphs because news reports often get dropped off websites after a short time.

A proposed reservoir project in Western Colusa County would help keep more water in Folsom Lake, according to Rep. Ami Bera.

The Elk Grove Democrat announced on Thursday his support for the Sites Reservoir project. The announcement came as state park rangers took Bera on a tour of the dry bed of Folsom Lake.
http://www.kcra.com/news/rep-bera-says-planned-reservoir-would-help-keep-folsom-full/36418428

Later in the article

Bera joins fellow Democratic Rep. John Garamendi and Republican congressmen Doug LaMalfa and Jeff Denham in supporting Sites.

In a statement to KCRA 3, Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento, said she believe Sites “could be a piece of the puzzle in solving California’s water crisis, but there are important financing and operational details that are still being finalized and under my consideration.”

My grandfather used to tell me tales of the Sites Reservoir Project back when Ronald Reagan was Governor of California. The land earmarked for this lake included the thirty thousand or so acres owned by my great grandfather. We used to go deer hunting on the property when I was a kid. In fact I killed my first deer at age ten on this very property.

After my great grandfather died, the estate was thoroughly screwed-up by the Bank of America and then the IRS. As a result the family had to liquidate the property. The new owners promptly came in and cut down every single oak tree on the property. It was horrifying to behold thousands of acres denuded by bulldozers and chainsaws. Somehow cutting all the trees was believed to be a benefit to the cattle that the new owners introduced to the property.

Concerning the Sites Project, I find it a real stretch of credibility that any Democrats would claim to support the construction of Sites were we not in a drought; especially since they are the ones that oppose any new water storage anywhere in the state. Clearly the Sierra Club has not gotten to these folks or perhaps they are remaining quiet in hopes that we will forget these quotes by Democrats hoping for re-election.

As a newcomer, I can somewhat excuse Bera for his remarks; however, John Garamendi and Doris Matsui are without excuse; especially Doris. It was her husband Bob that singlehandedly worked to block the Auburn Dam. It was special interest groups in his Sacramento congressional district that coordinated the campaign with Matsui to kill the dam project.

The proposed Sites Project was well known to Matsui, Garamendi, and other elected officials in California. This project was old news in the 1970’s. Oh, yeah. Jerry Brown knew about it before he ever served his first term as governor. If these folks wanted Sites for water storage, it could have happened decades ago.

Unfortunately, much of this is lip service to current conditions and not a genuine concern for California’s future. After all, a politician’s chief job is to get re-elected.

Scott Jones in for 2016 Congressional Race

After months of rumors, it appears that Sacramento County Sheriff, Scott Jones, will be the official Republican challenger to Congressman Ami Bera. Jones will supposedly make this official next week. He was recruited by the NRCC.

My thought is that if NRCC isn’t ready to spend at least five million on the race that Jones shouldn’t bother. Congressional Republicans have lots of first term people that need defending so why get involved in CD-7? Unless they’ve calculated that running Jones will pin down lots of Dem money that can’t be used elsewhere this doesn’t make much sense.

Bera has proved to be a prolific fundraiser and formidable candidate. Plus Republicans have run lousy campaigns against him.

Doug Ose lost last time as soon as he ceded Elk Grove to Bera and chose not to put a headquarters in the south county. This was about March of 2014. The campaign was statistically doomed from that decision forward.

I do think Jones could win but the demographic winds for keeping the seat are not favorable. Too keep the seat, Jones will have to do something no Republican has done in decades, use his office and influence to build the party. I wish Jones all the best in his campaign.

Why Both Parties are More Alike

As time goes on, it seems that the Republicans are becoming more like the Democrats. There is less and less difference between the two parties.

Ronald Reagan famously said that he didn’t leave the Democrat Party, they left him.

I‘ve been feeling that way about the Republicans for the last few years. In our current political climate does anybody think Reagan could get the nomination of either party? NO. Most Republican office holders claim the legacy and heritage of Reagan but the reality is that they despise everything that he stands for.

As part of a study at church, I had to dust off my copy of Schaeffer’s Christian Manifesto. Ironically, it was written early in the first term of the Reagan Presidency. Thirty odd years after it was written, it seems a summary of where we are today:

“…we must remember that although there are tremendous discrepancies between conservatives and liberals in the political arena, if they are both operating on a humanistic base there will really be no final different between them.”
Francis A Schaeffer
Christian Manifesto Chapter 6; 1982

Schaeffer’s thesis is that Christianity is in a struggle with Humanism over the hearts and minds of men—especially in the West. It’s worth a read if you want to know what went wrong.

The Curious Case of Karen Davis

Karen Davis was busted for lying to federal investigators. The 2014 Tea Party Congressional candidate was arrested for making death threats against herself. Way to go Republicans. At least she did lose the June 2014 election.

Here is the news story
http://www.kcra.com/news/local-news/news-stockton/former-congressional-candidate-accused-of-sending-threatening-letters-to-herself/

Here is her Tea Party candidate profile
http://teapartycheer.com/bios/west/california/karen-davis-ca-bio/

Here is her indictment
http://www.kcra.com/blob/view/-/36136326/data/60821733/-/i94qxg/-/Criminal-complaint-candidate—threats-102915.pdf

Here are some interesting paragraphs from that document.

Note that LPD is Lodi Police Department

7 (only a portion of this section is quoted.) DAVIS stated that she has been the victim of similar types of activity in the past and didn’t know if the recent letter was related. DAVIS said that she moved to Lodi as a result of past attacks and threats. DAVIS told Officer BRISTOW that the only possible lead she could think of was a family known to her as the “Hunwardsons.” DAVIS believed that the “Hunwardsons” were associated with ROGER STEINER who was convicted of assaulting her and had been released from prison approximately (5) weeks ago.

8. On or about December 24, 2013, I interviewed Sergeant DOUG CHINN at LPD about Threat Letter #1 and his previous contacts with DAVIS. CHINN provided a copy of the police report filed by DAVIS regarding Threat Letter #1. CHINN advised that he was acquainted with DAVIS and had spoken with her on a regular basis during his visits to a Starbucks located at 21 0 N. Ham Lane in Lodi. Approximately 2 to 3 months prior to my interview, DAVIS asked CHINN about obtaining a concealed weapons permit. DAVIS told CHINN that she had been a public official in the past and had previously been assaulted due to her position. DAVIS indicated to CHINN that she was currently running for a Congressional seat and wanted a concealed weapons permit due to the previous threats on her life. CHINN related to DAVIS the process for obtaining a permit.

10. When asked if she contacted the police when she first opened the letter, DAVIS stated “no, they have not been very receptive to me in the past.” DAVIS related that she went to _the LPD In the recent past and attempted to obtain a concealed weapons permit. LPD did not issue the permit. (Remainder of paragraph omitted)

15 During her first term (1990-94) as Stanislaus County Clerk-Recorder, DAVIS reported to law enforcement being the recipient of several verbal and written death threats from individuals associated with the JURIS CHRISTIAN ASSEMBLY (JCA). The JCA was described as an anti-government extremist group opposed to paying income taxes. In or about January 1994, DAVIS reported to law enforcement that she was assaulted by two members of JCA in the garage of her residence. DAVIS told investigators that while she was being assaulted the subjects threatened to kill her if she did not comply with JCA demands regarding tax liens filed with the Stanislaus County Clerk-Recorder’s Office. DAVIS later identified ROGER STEINER from a photographic line up, as one of the two individuals who assaulted her. Ultimately STEINER and eight (8) other individuals associated with the JCA were charged and convicted of racketeering (RICO) charges following a federal jury trial in the Fresno Division of the Eastern District of California. STEINER was sentenced to serve approximately twenty-two (22) years in federal prison.

16 On December 26, 2013, I received an email from DAVIS which contained further information about the possibility that CLARK was responsible for sending the threat letter to her. DAVIS stated in her email that in 1995 her ex-husband DAVID MATHEWS owned an agricultural chemical company in Manteca, CA, called TRI-AG. CLARK was one of the owners. CLARK’s degree was in chemicals and agriculture. Her son, SCOTT MATHEWS worked there at the time and said that CLARK talked a lot about guns. If CLARK didn’t talk so much about bombs, guns and his common law beliefs, DAVIS wouldn’t even think of him with regards to CLARK possibly sending the recent threat letter. DAVIS further stated in her email that during the trial of the 1994 assault, there was a confrontation between her parents, her aunt and uncle and the defendants in a hallway at the court. She stated that it was clear that all of the defendants knew who her family was. DAVIS added that after the trial, she received a lot of mail from STEINER while he was in prison, some of which contained veiled threats. In the email, DAVIS further stated that, “all of us are concerned that Steiner has nothing to lose by bothering my family.” The clear implication of this statement in DAVIS’ email was that STEINER could also have sent Threat Letter #1.

The bottom line is that Davis lied about the 2014 letters and it now cast doubts that her 1994 story of assault was true. Did she send an innocent person to jail? In addition, this crime was done—at least in part—so she could qualify for a concealed weapons permit.

Public School System Broke Worst than You Know

Two stories this week prove the stupidity of administrators in California schools.

First was suspending a student for wearing an American flag shirt to school.
American flag shirt gang related

The second was the reaction by the Elk Grove School District to a fight video posted on Facebook? Their suspension of the girl that filmed the altercation is just stupid.
Florin High Student Suspended for Video

I think the administrators that both made and/or defended these actions should be fired. When common sense becomes uncommon, our society is deep trouble.

.Net Framework Install on Windows 8.1

When things work great on your computer the world is somehow a happier place. However, when something goes wrong then you know you are in for a bumpy ride.

The other day my daughter wanted to watch a DVD on her desktop computer which has a new installation of Windows 8.1. She couldn’t get it to work. I was not surprised. I figured it was missing the codec required to run the movie.

I decided to load my old copy of Roxio 2010 on the computer and figured that would solve the problem. OK, I know that loading Roxio is a bit of overkill but I figured she might start using the computer if it could burn DVDs also. Our Wi-Fi signal in her room is really bad so it made sense to use the computer that was wired to our home network.

After three tries, Roxio would not install. It kept hanging on the installation of Microsoft’s .Net 3.5.

At that point I thought, I will just go on the Windows Store and look for a DVD player. I found one that I had heard great things about and then was prompted for a password. The daughter didn’t know her password for her Windows Live account so that idea tanked also. I then went to the website for the DVD player that I found in the Store and then downloaded the free program that I couldn’t get off the Windows Store because the child (insert sarcasm here—she’s 23) didn’t know her password. So now, after about an hour off messing around, the DVD was able to be played.

However, the issue with .Net really bothered me. I tried the usual search of support threads on the Internet. As usual most of the advice was well meaning and totally worthless. Add and Remove Programs was a waste.

Downloading .Net 3.5 as a standalone install is not available on Microsoft’s website. I don’t trust third party solutions; who knows what Trojans or worms could be embedded in their “solution”. Only one suggestion made sense. Install .Net 3.5 from the Windows 8.1 installation disk.

As you have guessed, there is indeed a catch. Inserting the disk into your computer will not allow you to access a way to install the .Net framework for 3.5. You need to do it thru a Command Prompt with elevated privileges.

Here is what you need to do.

1 Put Windows 8.1 DVD into your computer’s DVD drive. Don’t let it run. It just needs to be in the drive. If you have the install files of a flash drive, this method should work just as well.

2 Open Command Prompt with Administrator rights. As is usual in Windows, there is more than one way to do this. Try this first, simultaneously press Windows key and letter X, you will get a menu on bottom left side of your computer screen. Click on Command Prompt (Admin)

3 Now that the Command Prompt is open, you need to type a command to install .Net Framework on the computer. Please note this command must be typed exactly. To help you be successful, remember that there is a single space before each backslash in this command. A total of six spaces appear in this command. Also note, Windows is typically agnostic in regards to capital or lower case letters but other operating systems may read these as different letters.

Type this in the Command Prompt

Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFx3 /All /Source:D:\sources\sxs /LimitAccess

In the above command, it is assumes that D is the drive letter of you DVD.

After pressing the enter key, the screen will look something like this

On my daughter’s computer, it hung for several minutes at Enabling Feature 60.4 %

Finally it was done.

Then when you check Add and Remove Programs you will see that .Net 3.5 is installed.

I then ran Windows update and had to install 14 updates related to the .Net Framework. Oh, and yes, after all this, Roxio did install successfully.