Letter to Senators Feinstein & Harris

Congress has cravenly abdicated responsibility in pursuing even the most benign gun safety legislation, offering instead "prayers" over the daily production of dead bodies.  Since "prayer" is the only accepted solution for gun control, I recommend a protest bill mandating daily anti-murder prayer for all Americans.  Something along the lines of :

"Daily at noon, all US citizens will spend 15 minutes calling upon one or more divine beings to prevent unfit people from purchasing weapons, or alternatively, to "save us" from murder by semi-automatic and automatic weapons exceeding .22 caliber, and containing magazines with a capacity greater than 7 cartridges.  Prayers must be conducted in an earnest, forthright and unequivocal manner."

You'll probably encounter some objection from the church-state separationist crowd; this will be easily defeated by accusing them of "hating Jesus."

Clearly it's not possible to control guns through any earthly or human effort.  We must then marshal the spiritual resources of our population to call then upon the heavenly forces to resolve this wicked problem.  Thank you.

North Korea: Good Thing/Bad Thing?

I always felt that North Korea was one of the great tragedies of the 20th Century.  The Korean people, to generalize, possess robust social capital -- a culture of talent, responsibility and ambition.  To have that rich potential suppressed, indeed brutalized, by a troglodytic autocracy is, in the vernacular, "#SAD."

The recent increase in tensions has me looking further ahead and assessing possible outcomes. Presumably the goal of the North Korean leadership is their own preservation, and thus they may engage in brinksmanship, but probably won't do anything stupid.  But what if they do something precipitous which results in the US toppling the regime?

There are multiple scenarios about how this may play out, but it ranges from a reunification of North and South, to a separate North Korea under kinder, gentler Chinese oversight.  Either way the North Koreans would be relieved of the yoke of deprivation, and almost certainly pursue economic development which will compound the existing formidable economic competition from Asia.

Is this the outcome that we in the West want?  Many constituencies in the West spend a lot of time complaining about the perniciousness of Asian competition.  Do we want to spend lives and dollars to create yet more economic competition from the Far East?

During the French and Indian War, there were arguments in the British government that driving the French out of North America would be problematic, in that the French were a threat to the American colonies, and as such kept the colonies dependent on British protection, and thus tractable and compliant.  Indeed many suggest the ouster of the French was the rootstock of the revolution.

Oppression offends democratic sensibilities. I personally am sympathetic to the plight of people living under despotic regimes.  But if we undertake to resolve that plight, our efforts may not only go unrewarded, but may produce new and unwelcome challenges.

Besides, without communist make-work jobs, these will be replaced by traffic lights -- who wants to lose these cultural icons?

Puzzler

A clever puzzle gift from the Pergelator, composed of nine irregular pieces.

Analysis shows it to be composed of triangles and squares in a regular pattern:

It can be solved in myriad different ways.  I'll leave it to the mathematics geniuses to calculate how many variations.

Children's Fairyland

April 2017 -- Recently visited to Children's Fairyland, a small theme park right in the middle of downtown Oakland, on lake Merritt.  Built in 1950.  A bit small and primitive by today's standards; nonetheless, small kids like it, it's charming in its own way, and close, and accessible, and inexpensive.

More interesting is its history, and recognizable Disney references.  Built in 1950, it was one of the original themed amusement parks in the US.  Disney visited when developing ideas for Disneyland.  The park contains a lot of elements from earlier Disney movies like Pinocchio and Snow White, and a lot of the features in the park are motifs that would later be elaborated on a grander scale in Disneyland ... at least that's what I think, see the pictures and decide for yourself.


Wiki:

"Fairyland was built in 1950 by the Oakland Lake Merritt Breakfast Club, a local service club. The park was immediately recognized nationally for its unique value, and during the City Beautiful movement of the 1950s it inspired numerous towns to create their own parks. Walt Disney toured many amusement parks in 1950, including Children’s Fairyland, seeking ideas for what turned out to be Disneyland. He hired the first director of Fairyland, Dorothy Manes, to work at Disneyland as youth director, in which position she continued from the park's opening until 1972...."

"The park opened on September 2, 1950. Admission was 9 to 14 cents, depending on age. The original guides to the park were a dwarfish married couple dressed in glamorous Munchkin-style costumes. The park was reported on nationally, with numerous newsreels shot in the park. The original sets included Pinocchio's Castle, Thumbelina, Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Merry Miller, The Three Little Pigs, Willie the Whale, and several others. The entrance to the park was through the shoe illustrating the Old Woman in the Shoe. The entrance through the shoe was sized for children, so that adults had to bend over to go through."

Typical stylized structures with zany dimensions...

Snow White ... how they escaped Disney lawsuits I don't know...

Pirate ship with crow's nest...






















Livery stable in the "Old West" section...

A whale that you can walk through ...

...compare to "Monstro" ride at
Disneyland.