Thursday, May 24, 2012

RV: Faxing On The Road. Free Site in National Pk. RV Fridge Leveling. “Pocket” App. Copernicus. Morse Code. Brooklyn Bridge. Empire or Victoria Day.

For “tRaVersing or RV Day”:

Send and Receive Faxes while Traveling

“A fax machine is certainly not high on your list when you travel by RV, but once in a while there is a need to send or receive faxes.  We use the Internet for everything else, why not faxing?  Even if you do travel with an all-in-one printer/fax machine, most of them will need a cable from a land-line telephone in order to work.  Read on and we’ll tell you about a couple of websites that we use for faxing – one for receiving and another for sending.

Receiving Faxes

Receiving is easier than sending.  All that is required is a phone number that receives the faxed document and redirects it as an attachment to an email.  We’ve used eFax.com for many years and have had no problem with our grand total of about 3 faxes per year!  Here’s how it works. You sign up for a free account.  You will be assigned a fax number.  Now you can give that number when anyone wants to send you a fax.  To them it’s just like sending to any other regular old fax number, but to you it looks like an attachment to an email. 

Is it really Free?  If you go to efax.com you will see an eFax Plus for $16.95/mo and an eFax Pro for 19.95/mo.  There is a free version, honest!  You need to browse to www.efax.com/efax-free in order to sign up.  With the free version you can’t choose your phone number, and you’re limited to receiving no more than 10 faxes/month.  You can’t send faxes with eFax free. 

Sending Faxes

It’s not worth it to me to spend $16.95/mo with efax to be able to send faxes, so when I need it, I use a different free service: FaxZero.com.  To use the free fax-sending service of FaxZero, you don’t even need to sign up for an account!  You just fill out the form with the name and the email of the sender (you) and the name and fax number of the receiver.  You can then type a note for the cover sheet and upload a document to be sent.  FaxZero will send an email to the address given for the sender.  When you see that email and click the confirmation, your fax will be sent.  You will receive another email to confirm that the fax was sent successfully.  The free faxzero is limited to faxes no more than 3 pages plus cover, and no more than 5 faxes/day. 

faxzero

How to Scan a Document to Fax

If the document you need to fax is a physical piece of paper, then we have another step.  This is often the case because if it was on your computer – then you’d probably just email it in the first place!  Usually it’s a contract or a tax form that needed your signature.  If you have a printer/scanner, then you’re all set.  Just scan the paper, now you have a document on your computer that you can upload and fax with FaxZero.  But, what if you don’t have a scanner?  In a pinch, I take a photo of the document, but FaxZero specifies that the uploaded file must be a .doc, .docx, or .pdf.  Well, ok, if you insist … what I do now is open up my word processing program and Insert Picture, specifying the picture of the paper I just took.  Now I have a document file!  I might even use Word’s ability to Save As a .pdf file to make it smaller and more efficient.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way!

Of course, if you’re at an RV park with a Fax machine in the office – that’s probably easier!  What about you?  Do you ever need to send or receive faxes when you travel?  How do you do it?” By Chris Guld of Geeks on Tour   From: http://blog.rv.net/2012/03/send-and-receive-faxes-while-traveling/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RvnetBlog+%28RV.net+Blog+Daily+Updates+Feed%29

___________

RVers perk: Trade out your help for free camping in national parks and monuments

campground-hosting“Do you want to make $600 to $750 a month while living in your RV in a beautiful location and doing what you like to do. Let’s see how an ad for a job like that might look:

Wanted. RVer to live on location in National Park (NP) or Monument and spend 20 hours a week helping park officials with RV park registrations, light maintenance, and other upkeep needs as necessary. No two week limit on how long you can stay.

If you now enjoy visiting our national parks and monuments this ad would attract your attention. Especially the potential of living in a national park for months where now you are limited to two weeks.   And earning some supplemental income is good too.

The above situation is available now. But let me clarify first. If you were to take a regular job somewhere it is unlikely that you would be given free housing so whatever you earned, some of it would go for housing or, in the case of RVers, staying in an RV park. So to juxtapose the national park offer from one of earning money and paying for an RV park, instead you trade out your earnings for a free campsite. Same result–almost.

If you got a job making $10 – $15 an hour (most temporary or part time jobs don’t pay as well as fulltime or career jobs) and worked 20 hours in a week you would earn $200 – $300 or about $800 – $1,200 a month. After paying $20 to $25 a night (no monthly rates in national parks) you would have between $200 to $450 left over. Out of this would come fuel costs to commute to your job and taxes on the full amount earned. And if you were lucky enough to get a job near enough to a national park that you could live there, you would only be able to stay there for two weeks.”     By Bob Difley.  More at: http://blog.rv.net/2012/01/rvers-perk-trade-out-your-help-for-free-camping-in-national-parks-and-monuments/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RvnetBlog+%28RV.net+Blog+Daily+Updates+Feed%29

____________

As usual, I don’t do tiny URLs, so you know what you are clicking on.

____________

RV Absorption Refrigerator Relativity

“We recently purchased a used 2007 motorhome and haven't actually camped in it yet but have done some local driving to get used to it. We’ve been reading about the leveling for the refrigerator and understand the necessity. We have a two-door unit, (top freezer and bottom refrigerator). My husband is concerned about leveling while driving such as on hills and mountains. Should we be?” Rosemary P., (Tucson, AZ)


“Rosemary, leveling is important during any operational mode (12-volts DC, 120-volts AC or propane), but only while the coach is stationary. When physically moving down the road, there is enough jostling and movement to keep the liquids and vapors safely flowing through the sealed system of the absorption refrigerator. It is only crucial when the vehicle is not in motion. And with today’s cooling core design, it’s not as crucial as it used to be. Today, as long as the motorhome is “relatively” level, the cooling unit will be safe. 
I once asked a refrigerator manufacturer what “relatively” level really meant and the bottom line is this; if the eggs don’t roll off the countertop or if the blood doesn’t rush to your head while sleeping, the refrigerator will be fine. Still, while standing still, try to get it as level as possible. It’s just not worth the risk in my opinion.

Operating the refrigerator off level creates an inordinate amount of heat at the rear of the unit, especially in the boiler area. Coupled with improper ventilation this extra heat can escalate very quickly into potential costly troubles. When overheating occurs over a period of time, the sodium chromate inside the pipes begins to crystallize (sodium chromate is used to protect the insides of the tubing from the corrosiveness of the ammonia). Typically the blockage will occur in the percolator tube, one of the smallest of the internal tubes inside the cooling core. The percolator tube inside the boiler section can become impassable because of the blockage (see photo).

When this happens, the cooling unit is blocked and cannot be repaired. It must be replaced with a new or reconditioned unit. 
Leveling is one of the two most important factors to consider when using the RV absorption refrigerator. As mentioned, the other is ventilation. There must be a continuous, chimney-like ventilation space behind the refrigerator all the way up and through the roof. But tell your hubby, as long as he keeps moving he need not be concerned.”    Posted by RV Doctor

_____________

Pocket iPhone app helpful to RVers with erratic internet connections":

pocket_app“I came across an app that, though not marketed to RVers, looked like a very usable tool for us road warriors. Since we often have trouble connecting to the internet or pass through and camp in places with spotty or no connectivity, we are often forced to read what we find of interest or useful online when we have the connection or go through elaborate ways of saving the information to read later.

The app is called Pocket and it is free for iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch, Android and Kindle Fire and was just named Apple’s “App of the Week.” The beauty of this app is that it allows us to save web content, emails, URLs, videos–whatever we find when connected–to view later when we want to or have the time, even when we don’t have an Internet connection. Once saved to Pocket, the list of content is visible on any of our devices–phone, tablet, or computer.

Travel content–what we RVers use–is a big part of how Pocket’s five million users enjoy the app. You can save online travel guides, maps, restaurant recommendations, images from places that you want to visit, campground information, hiking trail maps, and more–all to view when you don’t have an internet connection, like when you’re out in that great isolated boondocking campsite or off on a wilderness trail hike.” May 12, 2012  By Bob Difley at: http://blog.rv.net/2012/05/pocket-iphone-app-helpful-to-rvers-with-erratic-internet-connections/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RvnetBlog+%28RV.net+Blog+Daily+Updates+Feed%29

___________

On This Day:

Copernicus dies, May 24, 1543:

“On May 24, 1543, Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus dies in what is now Frombork, Poland. The father of modern astronomy, he was the first modern European scientist to propose that Earth and other planets revolve around the sun.

Prior to the publication of his major astronomical work, "Six Books Concerning the Revolutions of the Heavenly Orbs," in 1543, European astronomers argued that Earth lay at the center of the universe, the view also held by most ancient philosophers and biblical writers. In addition to correctly postulating the order of the known planets, including Earth, from the sun, and estimating their orbital periods relatively accurately, Copernicus argued that Earth turned daily on its axis and that gradual shifts of this axis accounted for the changing seasons.

He died the year his major work was published, saving him from the outrage of some religious leaders who later condemned his heliocentric view of the universe as heresy. By the late 18th century, the Copernican view of the solar system was almost universally accepted.”

___________

What hath God wrought?, May 24, 1844:

“In a demonstration witnessed by members of Congress, American inventor Samuel F.B. Morse dispatches a telegraph message from the U.S. Capitol to Alfred Vail at a railroad station in Baltimore, Maryland. The message--"What Hath God Wrought?"--was telegraphed back to the Capitol a moment later by Vail. The question, taken from the Bible (Numbers 23:23), had been suggested to Morse by Annie Ellworth, the daughter of the commissioner of patents.

Morse, an accomplished painter, learned of a French inventor's idea of an electric telegraph in 1832 and then spent the next 12 years attempting to perfect a working telegraph instrument. During this period, he composed the Morse code, a set of signals that could represent language in telegraph messages, and convinced Congress to finance a Washington-to-Baltimore telegraph line. On May 24, 1844, he inaugurated the world's first commercial telegraph line with a message that was fitting given the invention's future effects on American life.

Just a decade after the first line opened, more than 20,000 miles of telegraph cable crisscrossed the country. The rapid communication it enabled greatly aided American expansion, making railroad travel safer as it provided a boost to business conducted across the great distances of a growing United States.”

___________

Brooklyn Bridge opens, May 24, 1883:

“After 14 years and 27 deaths while being constructed, the Brooklyn Bridge over the East River is opened, connecting the great cities of New York and Brooklyn for the first time in history. Thousands of residents of Brooklyn and Manhattan Island turned out to witness the dedication ceremony, which was presided over by President Chester A. Arthur and New York Governor Grover Cleveland. Designed by the late John A. Roebling, the Brooklyn Bridge was the largest suspension bridge ever built to that date.

The two granite foundations of the Brooklyn Bridge were built in timber caissons, or watertight chambers, sunk to depths of 44 feet on the Brooklyn side and 78 feet on the New York side. Compressed air pressurized the caissons, allowing underwater construction. At that time, little was known of the risks of working under such conditions, and more than a hundred workers suffered from cases of compression sickness. Compression sickness, or the "bends," is caused by the appearance of nitrogen bubbles in the bloodstream that result from rapid decompression. Several died, and Washington Roebling himself became bedridden from the condition in 1872. Other workers died as a result of more conventional construction accidents, such as collapses and a fire.

Roebling continued to direct construction operations from his home, and his wife, Emily, carried his instructions to the workers. In 1877, Washington and Emily moved into a home with a view of the bridge. Roebling's health gradually improved, but he remained partially paralyzed for the rest of his life. On May 24, 1883, Emily Roebling was given the first ride over the completed bridge, with a rooster, a symbol of victory, in her lap. Within 24 hours, an estimated 250,000 people walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, using a broad promenade above the roadway that John Roebling designed solely for the enjoyment of pedestrians.

The Brooklyn Bridge, with its unprecedented length and two stately towers, was dubbed the "eighth wonder of the world." The connection it provided between the massive population centers of Brooklyn and Manhattan changed the course of New York City forever. In 1898, the city of Brooklyn formally merged with New York City, Staten Island, and a few farm towns, forming Greater New York.”

___________

24th. May, Empire Day:

“Queen Victoria was born on May 24th but Canadians celebrate Victoria Day on the Monday before May 24.

Who Was Queen Victoria?

Victoria, who was queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and empress of India, was born in 1819. She was only 18 when she took over the throne in 1837 after her uncle George IV died. She ruled until her death in 1901, when her son Edward the VII became the King of England.

  • The earliest postage stamps in the world were the Penny Black of the United Kingdom and had the head of Queen Victoria on them. They were first used on May 6, 1840.
  • As a kid, Queen Victoria was trained to keep her chin up. To help her out, holly was put under her collar to irritate her if she put her chin down.
  • Victoria's mom spoke German at home and even though she ruled England for 64 years, Victoria never learned to speak perfect English.
  • Queen Victoria was the last teenager to rule England.”

Victoria Day
A portrait in Ottawa City Hall of Queen Victoria, first sovereign of a confederated Canada.

Official name. English: Victoria Day. French: Fête de la Reine

Also called May Long Weekend, May Long, MayTwo-Four, May Run.

Observed by Canadians.

Type: Historical, cultural, nationalist

Date: Monday preceding May 25

2011 date May 23

2012 date May 21

2013 date May 20

Celebrations: Fireworks, parades

Related to Birthday of Queen Victoria”

-------------

From Me:  When I was going to school in England, we would sing a little ditty-   “It is the twenty-fourth of May, we call it Empire Day, we sing and dance, salute the flag, and have a holiday.”     

More at: http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Empire-Day/

A traditional, short song about Victoria Day went as follows: "The twenty-fourth of May / Is the Queen's birthday; / If they don't give us a holiday / We'll all run away!"

____________

Yesterday:

Misty and I went to pick up Jay for shopping day. He had forgotten it was Wednesday, so we had to wait for him to change into ‘town’ clothes.  We bought some good stuff at the thrift shops.  My main purchases were a well-stuffed 5-footed desk chair, as mine had become uncomfortable over the years, and a small shop vac, just what I needed.  Jay’s favorite bargain was some really nice, near new, comfy sneakers for $1.  

After a few more stops including Lowes, Krogers and Petsmart, we called it a day.

No comments: