Just for Fun! Chicago

Went to see Chicago at Vina Robles in Paso last night. Yes, they were that good. No, I have no excuse for not going to see them sooner. They were one of my favorite bands in High School during the 1970's. Sadly, I'll be missing my 40th high school reunion on 9/16 because Sue is having back surgery on 9/15. Oh well, that's life.

EDITORIAL: The Destruction of American History...Are there any Lines Left to Draw?

UPDATE 9/14/2017: The "Destroy American History" movement continues unabated. As I originally predicted in this article, it would not be long before the venerated Fr. Junipero Serra of Alta California colonial history would be the next to be destroyed. See the section in this article below titled "Spanish Colonial Era Worship Must End".  For more information on Mission San Luis Obispo, reference this article. On La Purisima Concepcion, reference this article. 

On September 12, 2017, the familiar statue of Saint Serra which appears at most of the 21 California missions has been decapitated and defaced with red paint, and sadly covered over with a black burka sack. You can read about the article in the SLO Tribune by clicking here. Most historical statues scattered around America have gone largely unnoticed by the public, until this criminal movement to destroy them got started. I hope that others love history as I do, whether deemed "good" or "bad", and want images of our past preserved. Otherwise, how are we different from the Taliban and ISIS, who destroyed ancient and amazing works of historical art during their brutal occupations, never to be seen again by the world? Those in the "destruction" business would not appear to have a moral compass to consult. Sad indeed.

Above: Putting in a new adobe floor at La Purisima in the "Master Weavers Quarters". What an honor for me to touch California history.

CALIFORNIA: La Purisima "Blue Willow" China from Mission Era Discovered!

*****UPDATE 12/5/2017: OPEN HOUSE AT HEARST CASTLE! We got the opportunity to attend the annual holiday Open House at Hearst Castle at the invitation of our son James. We were able to casually stroll around the ground floor of the main "Castle" building, which includes the main kitchen and the grand dining room. Both of these areas provided the opportunity to photograph Phoebe Hearst's Blue Willow "China". After writing this article, I was extremely excited to view these china patterns for myself. The 2 photos are below - enjoy.  

Figure A: Hearst Castle Kitchen display of their Blue Willow China. It can't be seen in the photo, but there is a glass pane separating us "tourists" from the China, so we can't touch it or get an "up close" photo of it. 

Figure B: I was able to get a bit closer to the Blue Willow setting in the enormous dining hall. I was still 6 or 8 feet away from it, and could only get this marginal photo with bad lighting. Likely that this particular Blue Willow China from "Gilman Collamore" of New York was made in the 1920's. Note that this version of Blue Willow is both scalloped and gold-trimmed!

WORLD: The Russians are Laughing Their Asses Off!

INTRODUCTION: This is not a reflection on any particular political persuasion in American  - not D's or R's - not L's or C's. Its just a statement of fact. What's going on between Russia and America is like what often happens in the world of sports: when a less-talented team takes it to the more highly skilled team, by using clever tactics and psych-outs. 

Photo (above): yep, this silly Russian prop is in the Kremlin. The Russians are probably laughing like this statue is right now while swilling down a bottle of Vodka!

BACKGROUND: Russia is a weak country that is in decline: their population is decreasing, and their economy is growing ever more dependent on fossil fuels (and we know which way that is heading). Their currency is in continual turmoil, and their people are regressing towards 3rd world living standards. All they have is a popular dictator, a large army and a bunch of nukes. 

EFFECTIVELY STIRRING THE POT: The Russians got what they wanted when they "stirred the pot" during the election in America — and then some. We are so off of our "game" that we're not even on the field - heck, we're haven't even arrived at the ballpark! Instead of taking care of the business of running the country, our political parties are in full war footing — against each other! Am I the only one that sees this that Russia is making us the laughing stocks of the world?

For liberal/conservative sake, lets just say that both political parties are losing in this arena. Therefore, America is losing this internal battle. They must be laughing their *sses off in Moscow. As far as I can tell, there is no concrete evidence of malfeasance on the part of Americans during the election - only the Russians (if I'm wrong, please point out the facts to me). 

The Ruskies had to do very little to create this mess! There are now 5 separate investigations into collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians - no doubt involving 100's or 1,000's of government employees (who is doing their jobs while they are "investigating"?), while it is costing "we the people" 100's of millions of dollars, and distracting our elected officials from doing the job they are supposed to be doing of running our country.

Above: Yep - Red Square and the Kremlin.

Well, I hope somebody is happy about this (besides the Russians), because I'm not. We in the private sector don't have any choice but to get up each day and do our jobs and run our businesses. If we didn't, there'd be no business left to run. But the politicians? Right now, it seems they've never met a camera or a TV crew that they didn't want to jump in front of and start accusing the other side of the most extreme things that they can dream up in their vivid imaginations. Politicians were screaming to impeach Trump even before he took the oath of office! Facts don't seem to play a significant role in any way that I can tell.

Enjoy my photos of Moscow from a trip a few years back. No, I'm not part of the conspiracy, but I wouldn't be surprised if some government A.I. bot (Artificial Intelligence Robot) picked up on these photos of the Kremlin and put me on their private "watch list".

Above: Yep - the Kremlin, again. On display - world's largest cannonball!

SAN LUIS OBISPO: The Faces of the Chronically Homeless

UPDATE 7/6/2017: Our Hope's Village of SLO "Showers of Hope" program recently received an endorsement from the Police Chief of San Luis Obispo, Deanna Cantrell (see below): 

————————————————————————————————

"Hope's Village of SLO has my blessing for their "Showers of Hope" program that will allow people who are homeless (and without access to other showers) an opportunity to not only be clean but be cared for. My hope is that this will be part of supporting folks to move towards a better life. Thank you Hope's Village for your leadership on this." 
— Heidi Harmon, Mayor, San Luis Obispo, California

————————————————————————————————

“I am pleased to support the work of Hope’s Village to provide portable ‘showers for Hope’ to San Luis Obispo. Health and cleanliness should be important to everybody in the community. Providing everybody the dignity to shower is a great thing. I applaud Hope’s Village and their community partners for making this happen.”

—Ian Parkinson, Sheriff, San Luis Obispo County, Calif.

————————————————————————————————

“The San Luis Obispo Police Department is in support of Hope’s Village of SLO offering something many of us take for granted, and that is the ability to shower.  The homeless in SLO that are unable to use Prado Day Center can benefit from having access to a clean portable shower that will not only bring them dignity, but can also prevent sickness and disease."

—Deanna Cantrell, Police Chief, San Luis Obispo

NATION: Feminists - Life is Tougher in Almost Every Way for Men!

THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS.

Men have it worse than women in every measurable way. Go ahead: Call me a sexist. Call me a mysogenist. Call me whatever you want - I don't care anymore. I'd say its not true, and give reasons, but you've already made up your mind. There's an interesting web site called Real Sexism that you can see by clicking here. I posted an article on this web site several years ago, then inexplicably deleted it, but never again. I'll try to make my point, starting with the most important points first.

LIFE EXPECTANCY: To see a table with the history of life expectancy in the United States, please click here. Worldwide, women live 7.3% longer than men (68 years 6 months for men vs. 73 years 6 months for women), or 5 years longer. In America, in 2000, women lived 7.3% longer than men, while in 2012, they gap narrowed to 6.4% longer.

HORRIBLE DEATH: Certainly, we all value life. In every meaningful statistic, men die horrible deaths at a far higher rate than women. Men are make up 97% of combat fatalities and 81% of total war deaths. Men make 94% of work suicides and 80% of all suicides (not just at work). Men make up 93% of work fatalities, and 77% of homicide victims are men.

GENDER PAY GAP DEBUNKED: Somehow, this obvious falsehood is still perpetuated as true. You've heard it before and it goes something like this: for every dollar men earn, women earn 77¢ or some such number. Not even close. The real pay gap, when taking all factors into account, barely exists: study have shown it to be about 3 to 8¢ - a far cry from the oft-quoted 23¢ gap. 

However, the best proof yet is this: if this gap of 23% were real, I would immediately start a company and hire only women, and have a dramatic 23% marginal wage cost benefit over all my competitors. In many industries, the entire corporate profit margin is far smaller than 23%! If I did this, I would have an incredible money-making machine! Yet I haven't done this - why not? Because the gap doesn't really exist. Put another way: suppose I ran a gas station, and could buy my fuel for 23% less than my competitors. Actually, at most gas stations, the gas business operates at a loss, and all the profit is made at the so-called "C-Stores" (Convenience Stores). If I could do this, I would absolutely SLAM all my competition and put them out of business in the blink of an eye.

Let's suppose this 23% gap does exist. Surely female employers are not responsible for this, are they? Let's look at Hillary and the Clinton Foundation during the last presidential election. Surely, this is a bastion of equal pay by gender? Not even close. The men on her staff earned a whopping $81,000 more (on average) than the women! Don't believe me - read it here. Even more, the Foundation employed far more men than women. This must be an anomaly. What about our President of the last 8 years - Barack Obama? Surely, our first black president, having felt the burn of discrimination based on race all his life, would not extend the gender discrimination pay gap? Well, if you guessed he did better than Secretary Clinton, you would be wrong. Read about it by clicking here. This gap on President Obama's staff persisted at different (high) levels throughout his entire administration. But hey - who cares? Hillary and Barack's heart is in the right place, correct? That's all that matters.

Hope's Village of SLO: Showers of Hope!

Showers of Hope!
Raising Funds for a Desperately Needed Mobile Shower Trailer in San Luis Obispo (SLO), California

Please consider making a donation operations of our "Showers of Hope" mobile shower trailer to serve the chronically homeless in San Luis Obispo (SLO) , California.

Above (click to enlarge):  SLO Laguna Middle School students held a bake sale to raise money for Hope's Village of SLO to help the least fortunate amongst us - please, can you help too?

So many homeless in need of getting clean! California has 12% of America's population but 32% of the country's homeless! The county of San Luis Obispo (SLO) has over 2,000 homeless people (including children & seniors) and not a single public shower. Hope’s Village is raising funds for a desperately needed mobile shower for those who have nowhere to get clean. We are also recruiting for a volunteer crew to operate the Shower Trailer in SLO. 

Reduce illness and disease in SLO: Showers are needed to reduce disease and illness, but more importantly, to restore the dignity of our homeless and give them a boost towards getting back into housing. Hope’s Village is staffed 100% by volunteers and all donations go directly towards purchasing a Shower Trailer to serve our community. 

TO DONATE:

(1) send a check to: Hope’s Village of SLO, PO Box 100, Santa Margarita, CA 93453

(2) go to: http://www.hopesvillageofslo.com/giving.html and click on "Donate"

photo above: Mobile Shower Trailer

Questions? Call Text or Email:

• Tim (805) 440-9144 TimWaag@gmail.com,  

• Becky (805) 234-5478 (President, Hope's Village of SLO)

All donations 100% tax deductible. EIN# 46-0526792

Operational Funds still needed! So far, we have raised approximately $40,000 and have purchased the trailer! We continue to fund raise for operational funds to run the shower program. We must have an ESTIMATED $20,000 in funds to provide showers to the homeless for a year (water, soap, propane, towels, etc.).  

photo above: James demonstrated shower trailer sink

Volunteer funded and operated: The trailer will be operated entirely by volunteers. In fact, we are putting together a list of volunteer crew members right now - if you are interested, email TimWaag@gmail.com. We have only taken donations from non-government individuals and groups. This is a program of regular people like you and me, taking care of  our less fortunate homeless, who are simply trying to get by and stay CLEAN!

Thanks to Dignity Health of San Luis Obispo: Dignity Health in SLO recognized the need for our local homeless population to stay clean, thus reduce disease and illness in our community. They are the fifth largest health system in the nation and the largest hospital provider in California. So far, Dignity Health has made (by far) the largest donation to our "Showers of Hope" program and we thank them from the bottom of our heart.

Above (click to enlarge): Even more SLO Laguna Middle School students held a bake sale to raise money for Hope's Village of SLO to help the least fortunate amongst us - please, can you help too?