NO TV FOR NOW!

It is 99F right now, on the way up to 103F for the day, with 104 predicted for tomorrow.  This is just too hot for me!

This morning I found my DirecTV service had finally been disconnected.  In anticipation of this I knew I had to get back to reading to fill my time.  BookTV last weekend featured an in-depth interview with Rick Atkinson, who wrote The Liberation Trilogy, the 3 volume history of the Allied liberation of Europe in World War II.

Today I picked up the first volume of this set, "An Army at Dawn", the history of the war in North Africa.  This is a huge book, one of the biggest I've attempted that wasn't in large print.  After a couple of pages of the Prologue I think I will really like it subject-wise as well as Anderson's style of writing.

With no tv I may go through the 3 volumes fairly quickly, although my eyes are off and on for reading over the past year.  Sometimes I can, and sometimes it isn't worth the effort.

One of my mother's brothers was a Marine who served in North Africa and no doubt elsewhere during the war.  I can vaguely remember him telling some stories my Mom didn't want me to hear, and I probably won't find them in this book!

By the way, Anderson said during his interview that he his finished writing about WWII - let someone else cover the war in the Pacific - and that his next effort will be a series on the Revolutionary War.  I became interested in that war last year while spending time in the Hudson Valley of New York, which is the scene of several of General Washington's headquarters.  I became intrigued with Washington and look forward to visiting other sites this coming trip to NY, as well as learning more about Washington and his Army, Ticonderoga, Saratoga, and others.

It really makes me angry that while I don't use my cellphone much, don't text, Facebook, Tweet, and supposedly I have a program that blocks 3rd party tracking on my computer, the NSA can still obtain my cell phone records.  And this is just what I know at this time - maybe they can track every website I visit, every email I send or receive, and of course, my blog.  My cell phone has no way of tracking my location unless I opt to add programs such as 5 Star response, or get a pendant to wear around my neck in case I've fallen and I can't get up.  Come to think of it, a lot of computer sites already know my location, such as weather.com, which provides me with 10-day forecasts for my zip code, as well as a lot of other websites.  I have never been paranoid about Big Brother, but I think I don't like what has been going on since the Patriot Act was signed into law under the Bush Admin.  Give them an inch and they'll take a mile.  (Sounds like my kids.)

CORRECTION:  The author I referenced is Rick ATKINSON (not Anderson).  Sorry about that.