a blast from the past

Courtesy of twig in today's plantidote, I learned that there is a humongous park that nobody knows about, right smack in the middle of very urban LA. A park with a WPA legacy too.

As far as I know, there's only one small piece of this part of the New Deal within 50 [or more] miles of me, but I know that many other parts of the country are still using and enjoying many of public works that we can thank FDR for. So, thanks to twig, I wondered what all was in California.

A lot, as it turns out.

A Federally-Funded Jobs Program? Lessons from the WPA

Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

In RonPaulLand, states rights means I want my KKK back and non-intervention means The Jews had it coming.

You're welcome.

Goethe's final words: more light. Ever since we climbed out of that primordial slime, that's been our unifying cry: more light.
--Chris Stevens

So there I was a few days ago, sitting at the computer, wondering what to do for a "bookend" to the beginning of this series, when I get a message from gizzardboy... subject: more lights, with a link and a pithy comment: I refer to this one as Nothing says "Baby Jesus" Like a Good Light Show.

Now, I had [mostly] resolved to not make fun of anybody's religious devotion, or lack thereof, for the duration, but the Road to Hell is paved with broken New Years resolutions and that was too good to pass up. Here's the full-length version and I double dog dare you to sit through the whole thing.

I had also resolved to not make fun of anybody's patriotism, or lack thereof,

. . . and the envelope, please . . .

And now... the winners in The Most Lights per Square Inch category!

The Neighborhood Cooperation/Competition edition

The picture doesn't do it justice, because the other side of this house was decorated too (it's on a corner). I just couldn't get any good pictures because of the cars that were in the way.

But that's just the first house you see when you drive into the neighborhood.

distracted by fog edition

For all of you who are out there dealing with the guilt of Ack! It's only the third day of the new year and already I've broken all my New Years Resolutions!, this FAILblog is for you, in the hopes that you will be comforted by the fact that you are not alone. Or something.

OK, fine, but toy trains??? How are toy trains a FAIL??? Everybody loves toy trains!

Speaking of streetlights...

January 1 is the last day of Kwanzaa, which - like Yule - is another mid-winter non-christian celebration involving light, in this case the lighting of seven candles. Check out the documentary The Black Candle to learn more.

There are no white bulls and no mistletoe, but with this the closing night of the year and the pea soup fog outside my door, it seems a good time for these two reindeer and their oak tree to conjure up visions of pre-christian druidic rituals.

[DONNER, quoting an article found on the internet] "... 353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance - this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as spacecraft re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy. Per second. Each.

Bat Signal edition

2011 has been the year of the bat signal, from the Maine Labor Mural to #OWS and now Santa Claus.

Just wondering... These people, when they get back from their Christmas vacation, will they find Jemima Ames' body behind their couch?

... ok, I'm going to anyway.

Check out Art as Social Inquiry. Click on a portrait to read the story behind it, and whileyou're there [a la "Where's Waldo?"] see if you can find John Boehner.

via PNHP

Blue Christmas edition

I've always liked the blue lights, I guess something having to do with that whole somberness of the season thing, but not many people do apparently, and the ones who do decorate with blue lights tend to range from the somber to the spare to the downright haphazard.

- Okay, so Winter Solstice is Yule, but today is Christmas, I can has Christmas treez?

- Why yes, yes you can!

You can drive around town and spot various "traditional" "Christmas" trees in people's windows, but in this corner of the world, while we have gazillions of trees, we don't have the firs and their ilk. Thus, if we're to eschew the imports and use our own trees, we have to make do with wrapping and decorating the local palms and crape myrtles and live oaks.

First off, kudos and mad props to the Minnesota chapter of PNHP, the Minnesota Universal Healthcare Coalition and the Metro Independent Business Alliance for doing this:

NEW ULM - Physicians for a National Health Program - Minnesota hosted an informational presentation for business owners on single payer health care Friday at the New Ulm Country Club.

and also to the local newspaper for covering it. Thank you.

That said, boo! hisss! for the references to "free markets" and "entrepreneurial medicine."

My favorite use of tents by an occupy so far, via many sources, so obviously it deserves to go viral.