CBD Creams

Tonight I received from my sister-in-law Edie cannabinoid extract ointment made by CBD Clinic, Professional Series: Level 5 and it took care of three minor aches from my Psoriatic Arthritis, one pain in my both wrists and the other in my finger knuckle.  The pain relief was fast and It's been over 2 hours and no pain has returned. Today was a do nothing day to I have to see how it works after a 9.5 hour day.

Cut and Paste News On Chrome OS 73

A Cut and Paste From Softpedia News

Google has promoted today the Chrome OS 73 operating system to the stable channel for Chromebook devices, a release that adds several new features, improvements, bug fixes, and security updates

Coming hot on the heels of the Chrome 73 web browser, which Google released last week for desktops, including GNU/Linux, macOS, and Windows systems, as well as Android mobile devices, the Chrome OS 73 operating system is here to add a number of enhancements to further enrich your Chromebook experience.

New features include support for sharing files and folders with Linux apps, improved native Google Drive integration in the Files app thanks to the addition of support for the Drive > Computers root, better out-of-memory management, native media controls for the video player, and audio focus support on CrOS.

Chrome OS now reports additional telemetry data

With the Chrome OS 73 release, Google also implemented support for reporting additional telemetry data from Chromebook devices, alerts for notifying users of the upcoming removal of the remaining Chrome Supervised Users, Demo Mode offline enrollment, language settings, and setup functionality, and new printer maximum cap.

"For managed devices, the remotely configured 20 printer maximum cap will be raised to allow for several thousand native printers for each organizational unit in the Google Admin console," said Cindy Bayless in today's announcement. "If you’re interested in testing the new feature, please join our trusted tester program."

Google kicked off the rollout of Chrome OS 73.0.3683.88 (Platform version: 11647.104.0/1/2/3) release to most Chrome OS users around the globe, saying that users will receive the software update over the next several days. To update, simply navigate to the About Chrome OS section in the Settings panel and apply the new software version.

Another cut and paste on Chrome OS 73
From Chrome Releases

https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2019/03/stable-channel-update-for-chrome-os_25.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+GoogleChromeReleases+(Google+Chrome+Releases)

 Chrome Releases
Release updates from the Chrome team

Stable Channel Update for Chrome OS

Monday, March 25, 2019

The Stable channel has been updated to 73.0.3683.88 (Platform version: 11647.104.0/1/2/3) for most Chrome OS devices. This build contains a number of bug fixes and security updates. Systems will be receiving updates over the next several days.

New Features

• Better Chrome OS out-of-memory management
• Report additional telemetry data for Chrome OS devices
• Alerts regarding upcoming removal of remaining Chrome Supervised Users
• Video Player: switch to native media controls
• Demo Mode: Switch language setting 
• Audio Focus on CrOS
• Developers can share files/folders with Linux apps.
• Improved native Drive integration with added support for the Drive->Computers root in Files app
• Demo Mode: Offline enrollment and setup functionality
• For managed devices, the remotely configured 20 printer maximum cap will be raised to allow for several thousand native printers for each organizational unit in the Google Admin console. If you’re interested in testing the new feature, please join our trusted tester program.

If you find new issues, please let us know by visiting our forum or filing a bug. Interested in switching channels? Find out how. You can submit feedback using ‘Report an issue...’ in the Chrome menu (3 vertical dots in the upper right corner of the browser).

Cindy Bayless

Google Chrome

ElectronPlayer on Linux / Ubuntu 18.10

I got a wild hair to check the Ubuntu Software Installer to see if there was a Netflix play that I could install and watch Netflix without using chrome and I found a program called ElectronPlayer.  It list Netflix, YouTube, Twitch, and Floatplane.  All I can tell you is that so far it is a full function Netflix player that played the Highwaymen perfectly, with subtitles.  No Hulu support, which for me would have made it better but It's nice to have the player. YouTube needs no introduction, Twitch probably doesn't need an introduction if you watch gaming videos, and Floatplane is pay for view.  Floatplane had three categories and one of them was Linux videos from what I could tell and I don't want to pay for those.

As for The Highwaymen, it is a good movie on Netflix starring Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson about a couple of dis-banded Texas Rangers hired as Highwaymen to find and Kill Bonnie and Clyde.  It's a good movie with lots of familiar faces.  It's well worth the watch.  

As far as ElectronPlayer goes, so far the program is worth the price (free).

Thanks to Oscar Beaumont of Australia, a teenager with a good head on his shoulder that belongs to the Linux community.

Wool (Omnibus Edition) by Hugh Howey, Books 1 - 5 of the Wool Series & book 1 of the Silo Series

This is a book I saw on a list of the "Best Science Fiction of the 21st Century" on Goodreads so I chose to read it blindly, without any idea what it was about.  I read the first chapter and it was really written okay, and then the second chapter made me think 'am I wasting my time reading this".  I think it was the third chapter that Hugh Howey took the key and threw it away, locking me into this book and making me not stop reading it.

I've never really read an apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic book and Howey really came out with a new way of life with something new and surprising around each corner.  Since this has been out for seven years I'm not really going to get into the book but I am going to say that I was entertained and happy that I read it.  I also listened to the audiobook by Minnie Goode, which is done the way I expect Juliette to sound. I read the Kindle in Motion, free for Kindle Prime members.  The pictures and motion really didn't make the book better but made it different.

I give this an 8 of 10.  I've got too many on my TBR list to get to the next book in this series, but I eventually will.

Wool (Omnibus Edition) by Hugh Howey

Books 1 - 5 of the Wool series & book 1 of the Silo series

Void Wyrm by Chris Fox, Book 2 in the Magitech Chronicles

Book one, Tech Mage, leaves us with Maror Voria about to go to trial for killing her first officer, a Captain Thalas that referred to his men as fodder and rage against the book's protagonist Aran.  Since this is Aran's book we know how that turned out.  Major Voria had seen an augury from the Tender Aurelia that included Aran but not Thalas.  When Major Voria had been relieved of her command is when she shot Thalas, to finish what she had seen in the augury and win the battle against Nebiat.  Aran had been promoted to Lieutenant and basically won the battle, with the help of Voria, Nara, and Sergeant Crewes.

The court martial ends with Voria being stripped from Major to Captain and her crew and ship disbanded.  Now comes another augury and Voria must travel to the Umbral Depths, a dangerous unknown place.

So even though these are some spoilers, these all come in the first part of the book and are pretty much expected and easy to predict from the reader.

Void Wyrm is pretty much like the 1st book. good writing, decent story and Fox does a good job keeping you into the story.  I had to laugh at one part because it was like they were visiting the Wizard of Oz, to get and learn their powers and strengths.

Just like the 1st book, I rate this a 7 of 10.  The only reason I didn't review it earlier is that I didn't feel like writing in my blog when I finished Void Wyrm on March 23rd, and here it is March 27th.  I just couldn't put the book down that I started that night after Void Wyrm. 

Void Wyrm by Chris Fox
Book two in The Magitech Chronicles series

Today is the Day

It's funny how people, like me, put out and share some personal information that nobody really cares about.  Yet we do it all the time, even with pictures.  So here's some sharing.

Today is a big day in the LQLarry household.  We are having a new patio door retrofitted in to replace the one that wore out and then I broke the outside pane.  The tracks are flattened and even if I had been successful in replacing the rollers I don't think we would have been happy.  We are also replacing a single pane garden window in our kitchen, which my wife sets her pretties in.  The three problems with it are single pane so the heat comes right through it, it is too deep and my wife is so short she can't put anything in the window, so I have to do that, and lastly the crank goes through a hole purposely made in the screen so bugs come in if we open the window.  We live in a desert where it is uncommon to be 100 degrees at 11:00 PM and both these windows are west facing, catching the most sun and heat.  The new windows are Title 24 and very energy efficient for today, anyway.

Another big thing about today is that it's my son's 32nd birthday so we build him the computer of his dreams.  Here are the specs. https://www.wepc.com/builds/best-gaming-pc-under-800/

Today I finish Wool, by Hugh Howey, a book that got me hooked, a really good book.  Then I go back in time and re-read Persepolis Rising by James S.A. Corey, the 7th book in the Expanse series because I don't remember it.  Next week I start the 8th book, Tiamat's Wrath.

I think this will be a good way to end March and bring in April reading.  According to http://booklikes.com/ I've got 21 books read this year before finishing Wool and according to https://www.goodreads.com/ I'll have 43 when I finish Wool.  I counted a lot of "The Old Man's War" with Goodreads that didn't get counted on Booklikes, but no biggie

Chromebook and Chrome OS

Last November I purchased a Dell INSPIRON 3181 11 inch 2 in 1 Chromebook and in January I started a wish list for the operating system.  Probably the inability to drill into the file system and for programs to read my micro SD card that I store all my books and audiobooks on, just like on my Amazon Fire HD10, which I like a lot.  I did have before that a Nook and a couple of Samsung tablets, with my son being the beneficiary of each upgrade.  While losing some freedom after switching to the Fire HD10 I came to realize that anything I could do on my Samsung I could do it with my Fire HD.  Not that the Fire HD could do all that the Samsung could do, but what I did could be done with either.

I did not publish my blog because even though I loved my new Chromebook it had one problem, which was that the blue tooth would drop out, going from my earbuds to playing out of the Dell speakers.  Not a problem at home, but I really didn't want to be at work and have my book or movie sound bothering other people in the lunchroom.  Not that they could care about that because my co-workers would just turn on YouTube and turn the volume up so everyone could share.  I guess they think if it's good enough for them it's good enough for you. 

I sent my Chromebook back twice to Dell and I think with the third motherboard (counting the original) they fixed my problem.

The problem with pre 72 build OS's is that programs that I use to read, like Moon+Reader Pro and Smart AudioBook Player could not find my micro SD card, so all files had to be copied to my downloads file, the only file you can actually use with ease on Chrome OS.  Now with Chome OS build 72 these programs find my micro SD card and work just like my other tablets worked.  No need to move files.  I guess file syncing was made available with build 72, along with the chrome browser being better optimized for my touchscreen in tablet mode, and Google Assistant gets more functionality.

Now any day, hopefully, we upgrade to Chrome OS 73, which from my understanding will run Linux apps better, and with sound.  One reason I chose the Chromebook was hopefully turning it into a 2 in 1 Ubuntu notebook but after a couple of months with Chrome OS and Play Store, do I really need Gimp.  The only thing I really miss is not getting the .srt files to work with VLC, and I usually use my Ubuntu laptop for VLC anyway.  I keep it connected to my TV, which makes it a very smart TV when I watch Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix.

*** I just read audio support for Linux is pushed back to Chrome OS 74, which I think is to be released April 30th ***

Speaking of release dates I don't know who pushes the releases through, Google or Dell.  Chromium.org shows Chrome OS 73 release date as March 19th but no update for me yet,

Either way, for a computer this Chromebook has been my best and cheapest investment in a real computer.  Get used to the idea, all OS's are going to be doing this, and while you are at it look at Stadia coming up from Google.  They call it the future of gaming.

Sorry if some of this doesn't make sense, I'll check it tomorrow, it's past my bedtime.

Tech Mage by Chris Fox, Book 1 in the Magitech Chronicles

I have no idea why I chose this book to read. I was skimming thru some books on Amazon and decided to try it.  Reluctantly I started reading the book when I forgot the book I wanted to read because I was at a place at work with no wi-fi.  I was really happy I chose to read it.

I rate this 7 of 10 but don't let that rating wyrms, and even larger Dragons, all intelligent and can do magic.   These are the bad guys trying to take over, well everything.  The good guys are different races, again sorta like Star Wars and some of these can perform magic.  There are different types of magic in this series, like Earth, Wind, and Fire (wait, that's one of my favorite bands) that people can perform and the more different forms of magic you can perform, the stronger and more dangerous you are.

fool you.  For me, that's not a bad book, it's just not a memorable story, but it is entertaining. It has space pirates, a Confederate Militia not unlike the Star Wars saga, giant

So what we have is a space opera that is not based on tech but on magic.  Even the weapons are based on and made from magic.  Now you get the gist of what the book is about but I won't go further into it, as Doctor Who says, 'spoilers'.

I like this so much that I've already started the 2nd in the series, Void Wyrm and it seems to be just as good as the first book.

Tech Mage by Chris Fox

Book one in The Magitech Chronicles series

Paradise Valley by C.J. Box, Book 4 for in the Cassie Dewey Series

First, about the series. Paradise Valley is in a series that has 2 different names, or to me, it has two different names.  Actually, it has three different names. So I really don't think this has any spoilers in it but it could so read at your own risk.

The First book, Back of the Beyond was a good enough book and the series was called Cody Hoyt series.  It was about an alcoholic detective that had lots of faults but took his job seriously.  Because of his demons, he was sort of a lone wolf and he became a mentor to Cassie Dewey.

The second book, The Highway, is the only book I've ever been pissed at.  Only George R.R. Martin can kill off one of the main characters but how do you kill off the character the series is named for?  Cassie Dewey comes in and finishes out the book as the protagonist.  I think this is where the Highway Quartet series comes in.

The third book, Badlands, took me a while to read.  I still hadn't forgiven box for killing off Hoyt, but Cassie Dewey really comes on strong in this book and makes this the 2nd book of the Cassie Dewey series.

Now we're at the fourth book in the Highway Quartet and a 5th Highway quartet is coming out later this year, so how is this a quartet. So let's get started.

Paradise Valley starts our really good for Detective Cassie Dewey when Cassie gets a lead on the serial killer she's been chasing, but things go really bad.  Not only does the serial killer have it out for her but the County District Attorney and the FBI want s her hide.  Now she has to go back to relying on what Cody Hoyt taught her on being a lone wolf.  This takes her back to the beginning.  To the Lizard Kings old stomping grounds.  Cassie is always one step behind the Lizard King and finally gets help and support from people she has never met.  Will this be the end of the Lizard King or the end of her.  Since there's another book coming out this year I think we can figure the answer out, but this book is a really hard journey.

This is by far the best of the series and worth reading the series.  Paradise Valley brings Cassie Dewey up to par with C.J. Box's breadwinner, Joe Pickett.  It is well worth the read.

This is a great 8 of 10 for me.

Paradise Valley by C.J. Box

Book 4 in the Cassie Dewey series (to heck with the Highway Quartet, Cassie deserves her name on it.)

Wolf Pack by C.J. Box, Book 19 in the Joe Pickett Series

The Joe Pickett series is one of my favorite series I read.  I can never put an order to what my favorites are, but a new Joe Pickett comes out, it is my next read.  Hopefully, none of my other favorites come out at the same time.  That would just be pure hell.

Without getting into spoilers, wolf pack has different meanings other than just being the title.  At the end of the last book in the series, The Disappeared we find Joe fired from his Wyoming warden job by the Governor, but this being a Joe Pickett series, former Governor Rulon sees to it that Joe gets his old job back, along with a scandal for the new Governor and Joe gets a new boss.  He gets his old district back, his old badge number and a new truck and house since his old house had burned down due to arson.  These aren't really spoilers because you learn this in the first few pages of the book.

If you want to know about what the book is about then read the book cover.  Box comes up with things probably no other warden would ever come up against.  One thing about Box is that he is not the best writer you will come across.  Where he excels at is that he is a storyteller, like Craig Johnson.  His books are never too long, never padded with filler that starts to bore you, he just tells a story about Joe Pickett, his family, and friends.  I can't wait until his next book.

If I gave 10's then this would be a 10, so I give this a very strong 9.

Wolf Pack by C.J. Boes

Book 19 in the Joe Pickett series

Evil Games by Angela Marsons, Book 2 in the D.I. Kim Stone Series

I had to put off my review because one of my favorite series had a new release and I had to read it.

Evil Games is an excellent book by Angela Marsons.  When I first started reading Evil Games I didn't think Marsons could make the antagonist work.  In this case, it would be a psychiatrist that would take patients that had gone through physical and mental trauma and nudge them into revenge against the person that hurt them.  Usually, that hurt ended with death.  Marsons does make it work and she creates one of the evilest villains I've read in a while.

D. I. Kim Stone is investigating crimes and Dr. Alexandra Thorne keeps popping up.  Kim just can't shake the feeling that something is wrong when revenge crimes keep happening and Alex is somehow involved in all the patients carrying out these crimes, all the time knowing that it will be impossible to implicate the Doctor in the crimes, I mean how can someone suggest a Doctor of these actions, much less prove that the Doctor was in concert with these people. When the Doctor finds out that Kim has caught on to her 'tests' the only thing she can do is make Kim one of her tests by getting into Kim's head.  I think in the first book review I did in this series I used cat and mouse to describe the interactions in Kim's investigations and that describes how it works in this book.  It's just the cat and mouse keep changing back and forth.

This is a most excellent book and becoming a very good series.  If you're into crime, thrillers and mystery books then this should be right up your alley.

I rate this an eight of ten.

Evil Games by Angela Marsons

D.I. Kim Stone series, book 2.

The Nobel Lecture by Bob Dylan

This book is actually the acceptance speech that Bob Dylan gave when he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016.

I was talking with a friend about Bob Dylan and his Nobel Prize came up and he loaned me his Kindle and I read The Nobel Lecture by Bob Dylan.  Later I found it on YouTube and you can listen to it here.  I cannot call it inspiring but it is worth time reading or listening to just like other recipients of any Nobel Prize.  Some people call it rambling, while others call it extraordinary, but it does reveal, at least according to Dylan why he became a songwriter and folk singer.

Dylan talks about four influences of his career, Buddy Holly, and the books Moby Dick, All Quiet on the Western Front, and The Oddessey and how they influenced his writings, either knowingly or not.

I guess I'm going to have to listen a little differently when I listen to Tombstone Blues and Maggie's Farm in the future, to see if I can hear some of these stories in his songs, but I've never found the interest to read Remarque, like a journey I don't want to travel. I guess I know what I'll be listening to on my commutes to work next week.

If you're a Bob Dylan fan take the time to read or listen to his speech.  It does give you an insight into some of his influences.

Silent Scream by Angela Marsons, Book 1 in the D.I. Kim Stone Series

I love a good series and I think the D.I.Kim Stone series will be some good reading.

Angela Marsons gives us Kim Stone, damaged from watching her little brother tortured to death by his mother and a product of foster homes and institutions for kids between foster homes, with a touch of Aspergers thrown in from judging her communication skills.  Also, as with most people with Aspergers Syndrom, there are no grey areas in her life so she wants to be the perfect cop or her definition of a perfect cop which is not the way her superiors see it.

In Silent Scream she must investigate a serial killer and while searching for clues she uncovers three bodies in shallow graves around a torched institution for girls unwanted by society.  Marson writes a very good book and for the first book in a series gets us to know who Kim Stone is, but leaves us wanting to know more about her.  Marsons does not bog us down with all the procedurals involved in being a D.I., leaving a lot of room for gut feelings and solving cases. I really enjoyed this and the second book is to be started tomorrow or the next.

Silent Scream by Angela Marsons

D. I. Kim Stone series, book 1

The Crooked Staircase by Dean Koontz, Book 3 in the Jane Hawk Series

Well, I thought I liked this book but I think I watched more Netflix than spending time reading the 3rd Jane Hawk novel.  It's wasn't a bad read but I just felt it wasn't the book I should have been reading at this time.

Spoilers below.

This book is like the others in the Jane Hawk series.  Lot's of deaths, kidnapping and then there's Jane doing what she can to keep the Arcadians from taking over the country and then the world.  They do this by injecting nanotechnology into chosen people that will act as their slaves and do their bidding like in the book the Manchurian Candidate. This technology can be started and ended with a catchphrase, which was actually "play Manchurian with me" until they realized that Jane had figured this out.  These chosen are then left to do the work of the Arcadians without knowing they are living a life that they have no control over, sometimes just living a normal day-to-day life and then they might have to do something bad, like killing people and then committing suicide before they can be examined.  Some of these injected people are police, Senators, Supreme Court Justices and every organization in our national security alphabet organizations.  Jane also has to protect her 5-year-old son from being kidnapped and sold into slavery or murdered, which will also bring Jane Hawk in from the dark.

The Crooked Staircase opens with dueling chapters between Tanuja & Sanjay Shukla and Jane Hawk.  Tanuja and Sanjay are orphaned brother and sister that are beginning their book writing careers and are deemed too controversial to the Arcadians, that their opinions are too different from theirs to live.  Teams of law enforcement that have been injected try to track down the siblings.  The Jane side of the book is her trying to track down Arcadians and getting evidence to clear her name.  Later the Arcadians do a full court press to find Travis, Jane's 5-year-old son.

While this is a good cat and mouse book, never knowing who is the cat and who is the mouse, it can get a little monotonous.  The Jane Hawk series is pretty good so far, but I can't do like I normally do and just read straight through the series like a lot of series I have done in the past, so now I will switch up my reading a little.

My rating is 5 of 10.

The Crooked Staircase by Dean Koontz

Jane Hawk series, book 3.

The Whispering Room by Dean Koontz, The Jane Hawk Series, Book 2

This is a book and story I love.  This is a book I hate.  

Koontz has a really good story and a good idea for a nice series.  The only other books I've read by Koontz was the Odd Thomas series, and I loved most of it, but hey, I can't run around and be happy all the time.

This is a series about Jane Hawk, an FBI agent that is now public enemy #1.  She discovered very rich people doing their Pinky and the Brain imitation of someone wanting to take over the world.  The Whispering Room gets Jane further into the conspiracy and sets her eyes on one person that she believes is behind it all.  The story is really good and it keeps you interested in the book.

The bad part of it is something I've read in other reviews, and they are 100% correct.  Even the first book in the series was written this way.  The book is written like a TV show or movie.  Chapters, and I mean a lot of chapters are only 2 to 3 pages long, like changing scenes in a TV show.  There are very few chapters over 20 pages if any.  Since I've only read the Odd Thomas and don't remember it being like this, I don't know if this is how Koontz normally writes or if he is doing a project that he's trying to get in another medium.

I really enjoy the story and this is just a small nag, so now I continue on into the next book in the series, The Crooked Staircase.

My rating is 5 of 10.

The Whispering Room by Dean Koontz

Jane Hawk series, book 3