October 30, 2016
FBI Renew Investigation of Hillary Clinton
Reading between the lines, it looks like the FBI have got their noses out of joint. It may be that the new emails they've discovered don't cross-reference with what Hillary has already provided them. Oh dear, if that's the case, she may face obstruction charges or worse. This is a gift to the Trump campaign.
October 27, 2016
Hillary Clinton Losing Momentum
I don't know if this is being correctly reported but in case no-one has noticed; Hillary Clinton has lost the momentum in the race for the Presidency. She's fallen behind in Florida by 2 percentage points and in other polls she's now tied or only marginally ahead. Trump was lagging badly only a week ago but now he's gaining ground. His campaign while disorganised on some levels, appears to be judging its sprint to the line better, with Hillary appearing out of gas. Is this another Hillary Clinton choke (like she choked against Obama)?
October 25, 2016
Chicago Cubs
The Cubs have made the World Series for the first time in 71 years, let's hope they win this time. I've only been a fan for about the last 10 years (I am a long-time fan of the Yokohama DeNA Baystars in Japan's Central League), but I'm enjoying the ride.
October 23, 2016
Azealia Banks Picks On Russell Crowe
You've got to laugh, Azealia Banks noticed Russell Crowe is over the hill and the biggest dipstick in Hollywood. Read about it here:-
http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/azealia-banks-speaks-out-about-hotel-room-fight-with-russell-crowe-w445861
Ms Banks, you could have called him on claiming to be an Australian, when in fact he's a New Zealander. Australia won't have him, which sucks for us Kiwis. I've tried to swap a live Russell Crowe for the body of Peter Brock, but no Aussie will look at the deal. C'mon Aussies, you get a live Russell Crowe for the corpse of a motor racing legend, what is there to lose?
http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/azealia-banks-speaks-out-about-hotel-room-fight-with-russell-crowe-w445861
Ms Banks, you could have called him on claiming to be an Australian, when in fact he's a New Zealander. Australia won't have him, which sucks for us Kiwis. I've tried to swap a live Russell Crowe for the body of Peter Brock, but no Aussie will look at the deal. C'mon Aussies, you get a live Russell Crowe for the corpse of a motor racing legend, what is there to lose?
October 17, 2016
Trucks in the USA
I'm not sure why heavy trucks are the way they are in the USA. If someone can explain then I'm all ears.
The most common type of truck I saw on my recent trip were semi-trailers. Almost all of the tractor units were conventional with hardly any cabovers. Is there a good reason why that's the case?
Then combinations were interesting. In California I'm not sure I ever saw a B-train or B-double rig, where the two trailers are each connected to a turntable. What I did see a lot of was a semi-trailer pulling a draw-bar trailer, and that draw-bar was often rising up from the front axle of the trailer, not perpendicular with the trailer body.
Then in most states I visited; aggregates were being transported on trucks that to my eye looked far too heavy to carry a useful payload. The trailers were often side dump or bottom dump, while others appeared to be transfer dumps such as the type in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woi0T4XVf1s
The trucks in the above video do appear far too heavy for a useful load of aggregate. Here's an Australian equivalent rig, I'm pretty sure this set-up delivers more in the one trip, correct me if I'm wrong https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYVT2_toS3I
In Nevada I saw road trains, but they too appeared to be heavy tare weights.
The most common type of truck I saw on my recent trip were semi-trailers. Almost all of the tractor units were conventional with hardly any cabovers. Is there a good reason why that's the case?
Then combinations were interesting. In California I'm not sure I ever saw a B-train or B-double rig, where the two trailers are each connected to a turntable. What I did see a lot of was a semi-trailer pulling a draw-bar trailer, and that draw-bar was often rising up from the front axle of the trailer, not perpendicular with the trailer body.
Then in most states I visited; aggregates were being transported on trucks that to my eye looked far too heavy to carry a useful payload. The trailers were often side dump or bottom dump, while others appeared to be transfer dumps such as the type in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woi0T4XVf1s
The trucks in the above video do appear far too heavy for a useful load of aggregate. Here's an Australian equivalent rig, I'm pretty sure this set-up delivers more in the one trip, correct me if I'm wrong https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYVT2_toS3I
In Nevada I saw road trains, but they too appeared to be heavy tare weights.
October 14, 2016
Bel Aire Motel Missoula
Special mention must go to this the worst motel during my latest trip to the USA. It was so bad the experience has scarred my soul and it will take a lifetime to recover. The room stank of cigarette smoke so thick I could hardly breath in there. Not only that, the sheets were unwashed and on to who knows how many trips around the block before seeing the inside of a washing machine.
The day started out well and I drove across Montana, through rain so hard my car's traction control went haywire and I couldn't see where I was going but I did have certain knowledge there were a lot of other cars and trucks near me on the interstate. I had visions of my demise and that I'd be entering heaven to sound of Marie Osmond singing Meet Me In Montana. But that didn't happen obviously as I'm here to tell you about how bad the Bel Aire is.
It is really really really bad and that's possibly massive understatement. It is the worst motel in the world and so bad, Zimbabwe's worst would look like the Ritz. Sorry Zimbabwe, I know you try.
Missoula is a university town and it was Saturday and their football team was playing at home. This meant that everything was booked and the town was full of drunken football supporters who didn't even go to the game but instead park their pickups and go to bars where they get legless. I suppose this behaviour is an excuse to meet up, but I was left scratching my head, why did they not just stay at home, stay off the roads, and keep everyone safe. But this is America where there are a lot of things that don't make a lot of sense.
You'll note that I'm avoiding talking about the room. I dropped the key in the return slot at 5am and ran far away. That's all I can say. I might have flashbacks, I hope not.
Please note: Trip Advisor would not publish this review, so you can safely bet that the worst is never fully disclosed, meaning you cannot fully trust sites like that. Be warned, if the hostelry has more than 2 one star reviews in the last year, rest assured it's a lot worse than described.
The day started out well and I drove across Montana, through rain so hard my car's traction control went haywire and I couldn't see where I was going but I did have certain knowledge there were a lot of other cars and trucks near me on the interstate. I had visions of my demise and that I'd be entering heaven to sound of Marie Osmond singing Meet Me In Montana. But that didn't happen obviously as I'm here to tell you about how bad the Bel Aire is.
It is really really really bad and that's possibly massive understatement. It is the worst motel in the world and so bad, Zimbabwe's worst would look like the Ritz. Sorry Zimbabwe, I know you try.
Missoula is a university town and it was Saturday and their football team was playing at home. This meant that everything was booked and the town was full of drunken football supporters who didn't even go to the game but instead park their pickups and go to bars where they get legless. I suppose this behaviour is an excuse to meet up, but I was left scratching my head, why did they not just stay at home, stay off the roads, and keep everyone safe. But this is America where there are a lot of things that don't make a lot of sense.
You'll note that I'm avoiding talking about the room. I dropped the key in the return slot at 5am and ran far away. That's all I can say. I might have flashbacks, I hope not.
Please note: Trip Advisor would not publish this review, so you can safely bet that the worst is never fully disclosed, meaning you cannot fully trust sites like that. Be warned, if the hostelry has more than 2 one star reviews in the last year, rest assured it's a lot worse than described.
October 12, 2016
HHonors with Hilton and Visiting the USA
Over the past two weeks I have been on holiday in the USA. I drove around quite a bit, covering 5,600 miles or 9,000 kilometres in that time. That's almost as much driving as I do in a year. In the next few posts I'll recount my experiences, describing the places I visited, the people I met, the food, shopping and the whole tourist experience both good and bad.
To start this off, let's start at the beginning of my journey, before my feet have even left the ground. Booking and paying for the flights was easy enough and getting a new passport was also a breeze. I needed to have a firm base at least for my first two nights, to get set as it were, and so I enrolled in Hilton's HHonors programme, and booked through them. Big mistake that and here's why.
On the 9th September I booked two nights using my BNZ Platinum Visa at the Hilton Garden Inn San Jose/Milpitas, total cost US$218.24. That's not excessive but neither is it a raging bargain either. The booking was handled through Hilton Advance Purchase Memphis.
Then nine days later, on the 18th, the hotel takes it upon itself to bill my Visa card another US$218.48. This was a totally unauthorised transaction. Then on the 21st of September, without my pointing out the matter (the statement hadn't actually arrived, I only found all this out when I returned from overseas and opened my mail), they reversed the $218.48 three days later.
Have they done a good job? You might think so eh. But they hadn't. Why? That $218.48 in New Zealand dollars was NZ$308.18 charged to my account, then only NZ$292 going back in, putting me out of pocket to the tune of $16.00 or thereabouts. If you're going to put something right, then put it right correctly, HHonors took $308.18 off me, then they can put $308.18 back in. Nothing else is acceptable.
Do you see my point? Had I ignored HHonors I'd be $16 better off. Issues that need answering include; who authorised the hotel apart from central booking to charge this card, and what did they think they were doing? I hadn't even checked in yet. The room had been 100% prepaid, so what's up? What if this charge had put me over my limit on the card?
Quite frankly, I'm not happy about this. Hilton HHonors were too loose with my credit card details and I'll not be using them again and I strongly suggest anyone reading this avoid them as well.
To start this off, let's start at the beginning of my journey, before my feet have even left the ground. Booking and paying for the flights was easy enough and getting a new passport was also a breeze. I needed to have a firm base at least for my first two nights, to get set as it were, and so I enrolled in Hilton's HHonors programme, and booked through them. Big mistake that and here's why.
On the 9th September I booked two nights using my BNZ Platinum Visa at the Hilton Garden Inn San Jose/Milpitas, total cost US$218.24. That's not excessive but neither is it a raging bargain either. The booking was handled through Hilton Advance Purchase Memphis.
Then nine days later, on the 18th, the hotel takes it upon itself to bill my Visa card another US$218.48. This was a totally unauthorised transaction. Then on the 21st of September, without my pointing out the matter (the statement hadn't actually arrived, I only found all this out when I returned from overseas and opened my mail), they reversed the $218.48 three days later.
Have they done a good job? You might think so eh. But they hadn't. Why? That $218.48 in New Zealand dollars was NZ$308.18 charged to my account, then only NZ$292 going back in, putting me out of pocket to the tune of $16.00 or thereabouts. If you're going to put something right, then put it right correctly, HHonors took $308.18 off me, then they can put $308.18 back in. Nothing else is acceptable.
Do you see my point? Had I ignored HHonors I'd be $16 better off. Issues that need answering include; who authorised the hotel apart from central booking to charge this card, and what did they think they were doing? I hadn't even checked in yet. The room had been 100% prepaid, so what's up? What if this charge had put me over my limit on the card?
Quite frankly, I'm not happy about this. Hilton HHonors were too loose with my credit card details and I'll not be using them again and I strongly suggest anyone reading this avoid them as well.