United Airlines Domestic USA Flights

United Airlines Domestic USA Flights

First leg of a recent family trip to Europe was with United Airlines.  We started at LAX for the first leg of the trip arriving in Huston.  For me, it was appallingly bad.  United packed people into the plane like sardines.  There was inadequate space in all directions.  The seats were small and very close to one another.  The aisle down the center of the plane was even way too narrow.  I had no problem with the crew, just the decision to show such low respect for the customer.  It was so bad that I never wanted to take a vacation to Europe again.  It then dawned on me that United was working against its best long term interests by turing people off from flying.  It seemed United decided to disparage its own industry at the expense of profits.  People have to fly to speed up their trip excursions.  Flying is necessary over the oceans, again for people who wish to get tho their destinations quickly.  You could take a boat but that is way too slow for most people.  The airline industry seems to take advantage of their being able to get you to your destination quickly, keeping air fairs low at the expense of adequate amenities like leg room, seat size, etc.  It seems like the airlines may have purposely made the personal space difficulty so they can make more money for what is adequate.  What is adequate can be argued over and this gray area gives United an excuse of sorts.  Airlines do offer you more leg room but you have to pay for it.  How about this.   Why not offer ADEQUATE personal space for each customer as the norm?  My point is that United allegedly has moved the adequate seating space norm to a new low, in order to squeeze more profit out of its customers and in so doing created a failed industry by hoisting profit over customer care.

Barnes & Noble Is Failing

Barnes & Noble Is Failing

I received a coupon from Barnes & Noble for a 20% off on one item.  I notice that I can use BN.Com to make the purchase, printed on the front of the coupon.  I order a Nook book but no where can I put in the discount code.  I peruse the web site and then look at the discount card sent to me in the mail.  In small print on the back of the card it states that the discount does not apply to digital content.  Now is that stupid?  The front of the card shows that I can buy one item for 20% discount using their web site.  But they fail to include a magnifying glass so I can read the small print on the back side of the card where digital content will NOT get the discount.  It is very telling when the customer can detect a business about to fail.  There are news reports that Barnes & Noble is not doing so well.  Want to guess why?  Barnes & Noble is allegedly being run into the ground by management that appears not to understand their customer needs.  Borders Book Store  failed allegedly due to top management not understanding the book business.    B&N may have the same or similar problem.

I have Nook, Amazon Kindle and iBook application readers on various devices.  I really think the Kindle reader is the best.  I will not buy from Mac due to their alleged efforts to set prices.  I now will avoid the Nook products.   I really do think the B&N brick and mortar stores are run pretty well.

Fantastic Nikon Single Lens Reflex Camera Magazine

Fantastic Nikon Single Lens Reflex Camera Magazine

I was utterly blown away with The Ultimate Nikon SLR Handbook 2014 “magazine” that I found at Barnes & Noble book store (April 2014).   It is published by Zino.  The stunning magazine images and graphics coupled with concise explanations, for me, simply works in a most astonishing way.  I could not believe that in one page of image and text that some complex photographic concepts could be simplified so nicely.  The Nikon SLR cameras are not all that simple to operate because they are full of features that help us tackle aspects of getting better images.  And on top of the camera complexity one should understand the science of light, the technology of lenses and camera operation of shutter speed, ISO, and a host of more factors.   All this is a bit more daunting for most of us to comprehend so finding a simplified explanation is most appreciated.  The more you understand the science behind the various factors that one needs plug into proper camera operation, so as to move away from the AUTO mode, the better but it can be a bit difficult to wrap you mind around the technology to achieve better results.  This magazine moves you forward toward using shutter or aperture priority shooting.  This magazine really speeds up our minds comprehending the science, the steps to operate your camera for better images, and tips on how to properly frame or compose your images.  The price is $29.99 but it is simply worth every penny.

Update: December 7, 2017, This magazine comes out periodically and each edition shows the year and volume number.  Because I reviewed only this single issue, I leave it up to you to put value to more recent volumes.

Book Review: The Author’s Toolkit by Mary Embree.

Book Review: The Author’s Toolkit by Mary Embree.

The Author’s Toolkit by Mary Embree, third edition, published by Allworth Press.

I strongly recommend this book for anyone starting the process of writing a fiction or nonfiction book.  The book organization is very good.  The writing is also very good.  It covers almost all the bases one needs to get started.  I did not read it from cover to cover at first but I have pretty much completed the book by jumping around to parts that I needed at the time.  The only criticism is the author fails to include a review of possible writing software.  I had to find on my own about Scrivener which I strongly recommend for you to consider.

The United States Allegidly Failed To Predict Russian Invasion Into Crimea?

The United States Allegidly Failed To Predict Russian Invasion Into Crimea?

Looking at Politico application on my cell phone March 5, 2014, I was confused by reading that the United States did not expect that Putin would make a move into the Crimea.  Some reports state that the United States intelligence agencies did not pick up on this.  I am a bit confused because this should have been a real possibility if anyone took the time to look at a map and read some recent past history about the Crimea.  Putin is a pragmatic, self serving, ambitious oligarch.  The possibility that the Ukraine might attain freedom could spark a parallel outcome as the Arab spring and unravel Putins ambitions for a new Soviet Union where Putin plans to put all the former Soviet empire pieces back together.  Just imagine if the Ukrainian people were to be free of the oligarchs, have close ties to Europe and cut their Russian puppet strings.  Those factors would be unthinkable for a dictator like Putin.  The next factor is the Black Sea Naval base is at the southern end of the Ukraine.  Military logistic requirements may necessitate that a reliable causeway for men and materials be secured for the supply of that military base.  In short, Ukraine is a problem for Putin if he fails to fully control its politics and its people.  Any oligarch wants to maintain his fortune and power. Both go hand in hand.  Putin could not allow the resident oligarch, Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych , to fall because oligarchs typically have the same goals, to pillage the country for its wealth for as long as possible.  Both men worked well together because they shared the same values of suppressing freedoms, controlling media, controlling the sham government process and dictating the direction and policies of the nation and eliminate any opposition.  Another factor that few have picked up on is that Putin is a bully, a liar and seeks self aggrandizement and will do anything to attain the goals for making himself a Czar for an expanded Soviet Union. Invading the Crimea is so fitting for Putin as it seems to solve his immediate concerns which are quit logical and predictable.  It is up the rest of the world to teach this dictator that his apparent clever invasion will make for a worse situation for him and his country if he comes out looking foolish by his people.  We can only hope that the Russian people will make a move against Putin if this plays out well for the Ukraine people.

Ukraine vs Russia – Dictatorship vs Freedom

Ukraine vs Russia – Dictatorship vs Freedom

Russian situation:
The current ruler of Russia, Vladimir Putin runs a authoritarian regime quite similar to a dictatorship which the Russian people seem never to get out from under.  He has allegedly reaped approximately 75 billion making Russia a plutocracy.   Russia also has quite a number of plutocracy individuals.  The smarter one’s have figured out how to live with Putin as a self determined dictator (that they can barely control).  His administration has led to some surprising good economic, political and social changes.  Putin may have expansion motivations and is antagonistic toward NATO for this reason.  NATO’s intention is to thwart possible Russian military expansion into Europe states some of which were former Soviet “members”.  One of Putin’s possible intention is to allegedly restore the former Soviet Empire.  Put another way, he wants to expand the current Russia by getting back portions that were allowed to break away.  The fear among the rest of Europe is his intentions may be further into Europe.

Wikipedia: Putin allegedly declared at a NATO-Russia summit in 2008 that if Ukraine joined NATO Russia could contend to annex the Ukrainian East and Crimea.

Ukraine situation:
The “former” leader of the Ukraine, Victor Yanukovych, not only was close to Putin in political thinking but allegedly raping his county of wealth.  The point here is that Yanukovych has three attractive items in his resume that attract Putin.  He is the alleged current legal (temperately deposed) leader.  He professes to support Putin’s expansion policies.  He is immensely rich.  He allegedly stole 12 billion, by plundering the wealth of his nation.  This “former” leader of the Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, professed he was open to the proposed creation of a Eurasian Union thus falling in line with Putin’s goals.  The Ukraine would thus come under the Russian government control and meeting one of Putin’s dreams of a solidified and expanded Soviet empire.  But, the Ukraine people are fed up with corruption, unemployment and inflation. It seems that the people of western Ukraine have seen the results of unrestricted thieving plutocracy.  They want a better life and are willing to fight.

Crimea situation:
Crimea is an immensely important strategic military site for Russia.  It houses the Russian Black Sea Fleet.  This nearly complete island just south of the Ukraine has been in turmoil in that Russia and Ukraine have had a couple of crisis situations take place over how this near island is administered.  The latest crisis, February 2014 came about with Ukraine dictating that only Ukrainian be the state language, a most stupid move.  Problem is that most of the Crimea citizens, 58% are ethnic Russians.

Summary:
The Russian military needs Crimea under their control.  Putin needs Crimea and would love to also to have Ukraine.  Ukraine wants Crimea back but they do not have any power to make this happen  except to rely upon some far away countries to apply trade and financial pressure.  Europe and the United States will dance across the floor with political postures making themselves look like they really care.  Putin respects power factors more than anything else.  Trade restrictions and condemnations by foreign governments mean nothing to him until it hurts in some way.   Putin will get whatever he wants.  He holds a powerful position.