This page contains updates and tips for all of my books.
Scroll down to see more books.
How to remove a book from your kindle library:
Login to your Amazon account on your computer, then select Account & Lists, Content Library, Books, and find the specific book to remove and then hit the Delete button.
MX-5 Stories
Slippery Road Conditions
This is just to present a little more information about car tires and slippery road conditions. The book explains how new tires could be slippery for the first 1000 miles of use due to the oil that is used when molding the tire. Another scenario involves periods of drought that we are seeing now in 2023 that has affected most of the USA. During long periods of drought, oil accumulates on the road and this oil creates very dangerous driving conditions when the first rain occurs. The oil floats on top of the water and creates slippery conditions similar to driving on ice. The strategy to cope with this danger is to wait for at least 25 minutes before driving. This gives the rain enough time to wash the oil off the road.
Car Alarms
The alarm went off on my Mazda 3 recently and I did not know how to cancel the alarm. After trying several things, I finally pushed the key fob button to unlock the car, even though it was already open, and that cancelled the alarm. Other options are to unlock the driver side door with the key, or the last resort is to disconnect the battery. If none of that works, at least the horn may be disconnected by pulling the power connector off from the horn. There needs to be an option for all cars to remove the annoying, useless car alarm.
More about Tires
The choice between all season tires and all weather tires comes down to how severe the winters are in your area. For severe winters, all weather tires are the most logical choice. For most Northern Virginia winters, all season tires may be the better choice. Note that all weather tires will work when the temperature is below 45 degrees Fahrenheit, but all season tires are not recommended below 45 degrees. We do not have many days in Northern Virginia when the temperature is below 45 degrees so I can go for a few days without driving. I have driven my car with all season tires when the temperature was near freezing without any problems, but I would not drive on them when the temperature is below freezing. The safest option for temperatures below 45 degrees Fahrenheit would be all weather tires. However, below is a link that shows a chart for all season tire temperature range which makes this issue more confusing because it shows a lower temperature of 20 degrees F for those tires. So, I don’t really know what the low temperature number is for all season tires because I have found two different numbers.
However, there is a lot of information about all season tires if we read some product reviews that show them being used in snow and cold weather. There are also, different grades of all season tires, like the Continental DWS 06 and Continental DWS 06 plus which are designed to operate in snow and cold weather. In fact, DWS stands for Dry, Wet, and Snow. If we search for Continental DWS 06 plus, we will find reviews written by many people who have used these tires in snow and cold weather.
The Michelin CROSSCLIMATE 2 all weather tires are “designed to perform in any climate condition.” They also received good reviews from people who used them in cold snowy conditions.
The Hankook 4s2 all weather tires also received good reviews for use in cold and snowy weather. The Hankook tires are also considered the least expensive of the trio mentioned here.
Finally, I think the trick is to look for good reviews on different all season tires from people who are using them in cold snowy weather. Also note that this information is subject to change as tire manufacturers will design newer tires in the future. I found all of this information in December of 2023.
Cabin Air Filter
I recently replaced the cabin air filter on my Mazda 3 and found that the old filter can be cleaned and reused at least once. I vacuumed the old filter, washed it and let it dry, and then sprayed it with Febreeze. So I am effectively getting the air filters for half price.
Also, the price of one cabin air filter at my local auto parts store was $25, so I searched amazon and found two cabin air filters for $20.
Wordle Solver Database
A configuration file may be added to store initial dot commands for sqLite. sqLite will automatically read the configuration file on startup. The file name is .sqliterc and must be placed into your home directory, like /home/username, on Linux for example. The .sqliterc file may contain any dot commands. My file contains .read /home/classdb/sql/wordle.sql, which allows me to access that command using the up-arrow key, instead of typing in the entire dot command. sqLite automatically executes the dot commands on startup and, of course, the dot command is also stored in the sqLite command history, so it may be easily accessed using the up-arrow key.
The .sqliterc file must be placed in the Linux, MacOs, or Windows home directory.
For macOS it is in the /Users/username/ directory.
For Linux that would be your /home/username/ directory.
For windows it is in the C:\Users\username\ directory.
Also note that for Windows, .open C:\path\wordle.db, should be the first command in the .sqliterc file.