The current free ebook is located at this link:
http://haggishell.com/ridgeproject.pdf

For details about the ebook, click here.

121222.6. Here are some Coderland photos.

First, I live in Silicon Valley. Mountain View, to be precise. My area, which is near Stanford University, is urban. There is nothing interesting close by other than restaurants and small businesses. I live next to a few small “malls” and that's about it.

Google and some other major firms are located in my city but they're on the other side of town.

Here's the mall that's closest to me. I live a short distance behind the stores in the direction that we're facing.

The mall is very small. The Sprouts store that you see here is new. That space was occupied for a decade or longer by a book and music store. Tower Records.

Tower Records stayed open until midnight most nights. I'd work until nearly midnight. Then I'd drive down to the store, buy a book before the place closed, and go to eat dinner at a bar and grill that also stayed open late.

121222.7. There are few signs of the Christmas season in my part of town outside the stores.

Here's somebody who strikes me as an anomaly. A Santa Claus who resembles the older St. Nicholas character, tucked away in the corner of a modern and busy convenience store.

121222.8. Most apartment dwellers in my area don't have trees like Phenek's. They sometimes get toy trees similar to this one. I haven't had a Christmas tree, real or toy, for decades.

121222.9. This is a neighborhood restaurant. A bar and grill, actually.

It's located only a few blocks from home and it's good. I prefer the buffet in Santa Clara, though; it has a wider selection and the local restaurant is expensive by my standards.

Regardless, I've eaten at the local place off and on for decades. And this is the restaurant where Nancy Meyer and I ate circa Christmas 2011. I've written about that meal before.

I believe the Kiralys and I shared a meal at this place 20 to 30 years ago. I don't remember the meal as being especially enjoyable.

121222.10. I'm not certain, but I believe the shopping cart shown below is a homeless person's home. I encountered it while walking home the other day. I've been concerned about the possibility that this may be my future domicile.

I'm grateful to James Kiraly and Thomas Kiraly for interrupting job searches and hitting me with legal plus medical expenses totalling in the five figures. Grace's and Kenneth's support of James's and Thomas's false and fraudulent actions is also appreciated. I don't mind the homeless possibility issue.

Oh, wait. Actually, I do mind it.

I've known homeless people in the area for 30 years. Some of them have been friends. I'll tell their stories sometime.

I'll say this much now. I felt closer to the homeless people than I did to the Kiralys. The homeless are real. They have sincere feelings. The Kiralys, I believe, do not.

121222.11. Around the year 2000, I was in an unusual auto accident. I'll write about what happened another time.

For now, I'll say that I haven't driven much since that day. So I go most places by bus or train. For bus travel, I often take the #22 or #522 line. They travel from Palo Alto, north of me, to San Jose, south of me, and back again.

The #522 is better because it's an express route; i.e., it's faster. Here is one of the faithful #522 buses arriving to take me to see my attorney.

121221.1. Here's an interesting nature photo provided by a reader I'll call Harry. Posted with permission. Harry describes the photo as follows:

That's a composite of pictures I took two years ago when there was a large fire nearby and the sky was dark from the smoke.

It was fall. The usual late-summer fires were going on, that evening I was home, and we had a fire drill coincidentally, where I noticed the sun overhead. It looked really weird through the smoke.

I waited until it was nearly at the edge of the sky where there wasn't smoke, where it shown through brightly against a darkness.

The camera was not able to capture its whole beauty. I took about 20 pictures with different exposures, color ratings, and such with a point and shoot camera, then merged it into that.

121221.2. Slept 3:45am to 10:00am Friday.

Something was wrong on Friday. I'd had a fair amount of sleep. There was no evidence of cold or flu. Temperature was low but only slightly. Breathing was normal most of the time. But I didn't feel able to do much. Also shaky at times and couldn't use my hands well at one point.

Physical issue, I think, as opposed purely to emotional stress.

121221.3. Phenek's wife is expecting a baby in the next few days. Possibly on Christmas Eve. I don't pray much these days but I'll pray for the wife and child.

121221.4. Rubidiun disappeared from IRC recently. I've been concerned so I went to a Rubidiun hangout today and left a message there. But I don't know if it will be found. Rubidiun, if you see this: Let us know you're O.K.

This is the way of online. People are real. You care about them. Possibly quite a bit. But identities and presence can be fragile.

121221.5. This blog is of interest to Michael Bonetto. I'll explain one reason why.

To win CLETS, as I understand it, Michael would normally be expected to demonstrate that I am a physical danger to James Kiraly, my father, and Thomas Kiraly, my brother. This might prove to be a problem for Michael, because:

1. I have never committed or threatened physical violence against James or Thomas in over four decades

2. Both James and Thomas have either committed or threatened physical violence against me during this period.

3. Michael Bonetto and his clients have misrepresented or lied about most aspects of the Kiraly cases.

4. In fact, Michael Bonetto and his clients have told numerous stories that sound vaguely frightening but, to the best of my knowledge, they have never made a single specific allegation of a serious nature that is not a lie.

So, Michael Bonetto has sort of stepped in REDACTED. As the Kiraly Cases head towards Long Cause, he doesn't have many options.

My understanding is that Michael may try to distract attention from the facts listed above. Specifically, he may focus on this weblog. And on its contents, which I distribute for multiple lawful and appropriate purposes.

As this weblog does not threaten or endorse violence, and in fact opposes it, Michael Bonetto may have his work cut out for him. He will most likely try to show that the domain names used are “harassment” of some sort and that “harassment” justifies CLETS to protect against physical violence even in a situation where his clients are the only parties who have committed or threatened such violence.

It may be possible to turn Michael's foolishness to my advantage. Do any of my readers know of an attorney with a strong interest in First Amendment issues who might be willing to work with Ioannes or myself on a reduced cost basis?

Attorneys with backgrounds of various different types would be useful. For contact information, click here.

121221.6. This blog has more readers than I expected at this point. It's just getting started. However, annualized traffic is already higher than the number I believe I mentioned to James Kiraly and his wife Grace in postcards regarding James's attempts to stop the book.

To be clear, these were the same postcards that I discussed in advance with the Pismo Beach police. And the same postcards that James Kiraly has confusingly cited as “evidence” of some kind. Evidence of what has never been clear.

At any rate, I'd like to offer some comments by or about a few readers.

1. The Masked Lua says:

   “Hard to explain, I like it. Like it's useful, gives information that people seek. Gives insight into your life and possibly others. Fun, happy, and at times sad. It is very detailed.”

   “Could that question be satisfied by the fact I look forward to your daily updates and try my best to read it daily? It is many things and many stories intertwined. It points to things people should consider. Things that others would not have thought of if it had not been brought to their attention.”

2. A boy comments as follows. His remarks strike me as important. If a kid pays attention, he or she may learn useful lessons from the Kiraly Cases. If this leads to even one life changing for the better, the lies that the Kiralys have told, the damage they've done... maybe it will have been worth it.

   “is the case overwith? i like it. it's interesting. fun to see what's going on in an oldcoder's life :) being in life is fun. the blog is interesting to me.”

3. A neurodiverse reader says:

   “I am more interested in categorical collections than a stream of potentially notable events. I do not find myself drawn to read your blog, though for the few posts I have read, I do like the progressive, logical tone that comes through.”

   As a side note to people of the Kiraly type: It is perfectly all right to be neurodiverse.

4. Metacognician says:

   “The blog is a collection of loosely related things. You shouldn't ask me before I had my morning tea. I'm quite grumpy then ;)”

121221.7. One of my favorite readers is faithful. The one whose point of presence is at Latitude 37.3541 Longitude -121.9552. General vicinity of 1700 Lincoln St. in Santa Clara. I'll withhold other information for now. Just wanted to say hello.

This particular reader, or perhaps I should say readers, seems to run multiple access threads simultaneously through different IP addresses in the same subnet. There is a desire not to miss anything including transient content.

I'm honored :-)

121220.1. Slept 5:45am to possibly 10:00am Thursday.

121220.2. I traveled to San Jose again and back today to meet with my attorney. One goal today was to deliver and demonstrate some free software.

I loaded several USB sticks with Portable Apps that I'd selected and configured. These are programs for MS-Windows that are free and generally safer than ordinary software.

I'm working towards a sort of Portable Apps Distro that I think people will like. When the Distro is ready, I'll make it available and we'll find out if it's useful.

121220.3. On the way home from San Jose, I stopped at the buffet and ate a variety of food. It was only 50 hours since I'd last eaten on Tuesday 121218. But the buffet was conveniently located, next to the bus route that I took, and I was in the mood for steak.

Worked out well. The food was very good today. Breathing shifted a few hours later as I expected. But the attack was milder than usual, as it had been on Tuesday.

121220.4. I reduced my involvement with a couple of my IRC channels recently. I was too tired to continue full-time.

Here's some excerpts from a related discussion with Deep Market. I've wondered if he might be one of the Chaos alters. However, at this point, it doesn't matter.

<OldCoder> How are you?
<OldCoder> I am glad to see you.
<DeepMarket> Fine :-) Thank you! And you? Everything all right? You were missed here

<OldCoder> The Chaos issue is not simple
<OldCoder> He is a friend
<OldCoder> He is about 12 friends
<DeepMarket> Hard to tell. There are some people who behave different enough not to be Chaos. Besides... I don't know exactly who he is. If he is that many people maybe he doesn't know himself

<OldCoder> Thank you for saying I was missed. But, you know, some of those who said this... were simply more avatars of the same person :-)

<DeepMarket> I'm sure most people will miss you
<OldCoder> It is not likely. I am simply being realistic. I wish to PM some. My support of the project will continue.

121220.5. Here's a Kiraly Cases Christmas Bonus. The link below goes to a friendly letter that my attorney has sent to Michael Bonetto of Hoge Fenton. The letter is our response to some unusual documents that Michael has sent.

Click here for 121220_settlement.html

The interesting parts include section eight. That's where we provide a partial list of allegations against me that I feel may include misrepresentations, lies, and/or perjury on the part of three people: James Kiraly, my father; Thomas Kiraly, my brother and Vice-President of Humana Corporation; and Kenneth Kiraly, another brother and apparently the architect of the Amazon Kindle.

Ironically, Humana Corporation is involved in anti-abuse efforts. But, then, it's my understanding that Hoge Fenton takes the position that abuse is undesirable is as well. It's odd how things work out sometimes.

For more thoughts about the letter, see the post that follows this one.

121220.6. I posted a letter from my attorney to Michael Bonetto above. It's also at this link. This post provides more context.

Throughout the Kiraly Cases, one of the things that's been easiest to see is James Kiraly's focus on, above all else, stop Bob from talking.

If I remember correctly, James's attorney Michael Bonetto has made roughly four “offers” to settle the Kiraly Cases since they started. This includes a pro forma gesture made shortly before the first hearing; the hearing I didn't have representation for, incidentially, as I was never legally served beforehand and had insufficient time to find an attorney.

My understanding is that the “offers” consisted of demands that I agree to nearly everything in the Kiralys' original false and fraudulent actions plus unusual requirements that I believe included, at one point, surrender of Internet domain names, website content takedowns, massive financial penalties for speaking to unnamed third parties, and other measures that no judge would be likely to order even if I lost Long Cause.

In short, the “offers” were horse REDACTED.

Now it's Christmas. Time to celebrate the birth of a Savior. The one who the Kiralys believe is delighted with lies. And it's time to make an offer of my own.

The letter I posted above lists our suggested modifications to Michael's most recent “offer”.

I'm told that James Kiraly, my father, may reject the changes. He wants quite badly to stop me from talking to people. I'm not to be permitted to conduct research or to complete my book.

But James can't actually get what he wants. I'm told that no judge is likely to order prior restraint related to unnamed third parties even if James wins Long Cause. And that if an overly broad list of specific parties is presented, I can challenge the list based on not one but multiple grounds. So there is little point to what James is doing.

Like a child caught in the throes of a tantrum, though, James demands the same thing again and again. It doesn't matter. Regardless of Long Cause, and what I'm told Michael may be planning to try there, the book will continue. I'll write about Michael's plans at a later date.

Moving on, Michael seems unsettled by the fact that I'm posting correspondence of this type. I'm not entirely clear about the reasons for his concerns. However, it appears that the postings are perfectly legal.

If this isn't the case — if the postings are illegal or even improper — Michael is free to send objections to my attorney as he's done before.

But, next time, we'd prefer objections that are more relevant than misrepresentations of statutes or random phrases that might embarrass Hoge Fenton in the end.

121219.1. Here's a nice Christmas card that I received.

Image processing: A little tricky. This was an ecard. There was an option to save it as a PDF file but that option didn't save everything. So I made a screen shot using the GIMP then cropped, scaled, and sharpened the screenshot.

121219.2. Slept 2:20am to 8:00am. 5.67 hours. Breathing shifted around 9:45am. This was an echo from the food eaten yesterday. Rested from 9:50am to 10:40am when breathing returned to closer to normal.

121219.3. Ioannes was hit by a Windows virus at the end of the day yesterday. I phoned him today with some technical information related to the issue.

121219.4. Chaos has a number of creative and interesting identities. Whatever they are in the real world, some of these people are real enough enough for IRC purposes.

Additionally, one of them told me a while back that their feelings are real sometimes. If they have feelings of their own, they are real.

I tried to explain to Order recently that I'd noticed his growing depression. An imaginary cat that was depressed :-) I didn't want him to disappear.

So many people have disappeared over the years. I don't think I want these colorful and sometimes fun characters to die.