Missive #381

India, 1803. Sergeant Richard Sharpe witnesses a murderous act of treachery by an English officer who has defected from the East India Company to join the mercenary army of the Mahratta Confederation. In the hunt for the renegade Englishman, penetrates deep into the enemy’s territory where he faces temptations more subtle than he has ever dreamed of. A another historical fiction novel by a master of the genre. This is only the second book in the series so I have a lot more to read. And behind him, relentlessly stalking him, comes his worst enemy, the baleful, twitching Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill who is determined to break Sharpe once and for all. The paths of treachery all lead to the small village of Assaye where Sir Arthur Wellesley, with a tiny British army, faces the Mahratta horde. Outnumbered and outgunned, Wellesley decides to fight, and Sharpe is plunged into the white heat of a battle that will make Wellesley’s reputation. It will make Sharpe’s name to, but only if he can survive the carnage and killing frenzy, for it is at Assaye that he at last realizes his ambition and has a chance to seize it. This major new novel will follow the adventures of Richard Sharpe in India, begun so excitingly in Sharpe’s Tiger and culminating in the Battle of Assaye, which Wellington considered his greatest victory. — Book promo @ goodreads.com

I received my Starlink Mini last Saturday and had it up and working within a couple of hours. Most of that time was wasted trying to get a WIFI connection so I could use the Starlink app. As it turned out I really didn’t need the app to get it to work EXCEPT for the orientation of the dish. I first tried to get it to work just sitting on Desperado’s dash which didn’t work. Then put in on the ground a couple feet from Desperado’s right front wheel where I was getting a connection but it would drop. The app showed me what the orientation needed to be and by moving it to match what was shown I had a good connection.

I have done a few speed checks and have been getting a wide range of download, upload and latency readings from various speed checking websites. Whatever the speed might be it is far and away better than Verizon’s NO SERVICE.

We got a brief shower yesterday afternoon, early evening, that the Starlink Mini took in stride. I was on my laptop during the rain and saw no change in the connection. So it has passed that test very well.

I have added another four weeks of walking and you can see that I’m nearing the Oregon border if you check my virtual route. Start at 32.544246, -117.029877 and then use 40.827960, -122.324819 for the ending destination.

The only other thing I have to offer today is a product endorsement. The past couple of weeks I have had a slow shower drain that became extremely slow, almost completely blocked. I did an online search and read some recommendations so my last shopping trip I bought a bottle of Green Gobbler. It claimed that it would gobble hair which was my problem. I had my doubts but gave it a try and IT WORKED. If you have a clogged drain I recommend Green Gobbler.

I find the Democrat Party’s efforts to swing votes their way counterproductive. I doubt that there are many people that are described as being ‘irredeemable deplorable garbage’ will want to vote for candidates that have a ‘D’ after their name. Of course anyone that does vote for said candidates is no longer so described so maybe the strategy will work.

Vote Early, Vote Often!