Architecture - 2016

#architecture
The Museum of the Arctic, University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

Day #5

#7_day_challenge

Day number five.

This evening's view from the porch.

Rabbit Lake

Fear not, therefore, to try the mountain-passes.
They will kill care, save you from deadly apathy, set you free,
and call forth every faculty into vigorous, enthusiastic action.
-- John Muir

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Robert Frost 


A short section of possibly the last 'big' ride of the fall, then again maybe not, we'll see...

View From The Porch 1-17-14

A large low pressure cell moved in, making the temperatures shoot above freezing.
So now we have melting snow, rain, and high wind warnings.
A real slop fest.
This is a hand held, four exposure HDR. ISO:200.

Ruminations On The War On Poverty

While visiting Samizdata, a very well written blog, I came across this comment, "The United States, since the times of the “Great Society”, has spent approximately 24 trillion dollars on anti-poverty programs, while the percentage of those considered to be in poverty has remained the same. With a 50 year track record as evidence of the utter failure of the welfare state, it amazes me that the public continues to buy into this form of wealth re-distribution."

An insightful observation.
Needless to say, you always get someone to disagree. So I decided to look it up as best I could in a short amount of time. Here's what I came up with after a brief search.


Federal spending, population and poverty totals [iii]

                    Total              People in           Welfare              Expenditure                   Population[iv]     Poverty[v]        Expenditures[vi]     Per Person                  (Millions)          (Millions)            (Billions)              In Poverty

1960           179.5                  39.9                  $17.7                  $445

1970           202.2                  25.4                  $43.9                 $1,726

1980           225.0                  29.3                 $128.8                $4,399

1990            248.6                 33.6                 $138.2                $4,116

2000            278.9                 31.6                 $205.4                $6,503

2010            305.7                 46.2                 $349.6                $7,571

2011           308.5                  46.2                 $369.2                $7,983

2012           310.6                  46.5                 $356.8                $7,674

These figures came from the Federal Safety Net site.
That totals $52,245 for a family of four even though the Poverty Threshold for such a family is $23,492


Next I went over to Wikipedia.



So, what's a person to make of this?
I think we could conclude that the 24 trillion dollars spent to fight poverty have been a failure.
Yet we continue to spend ever larger amounts to combat poverty and now also it's evil cousin income inequality.  Our current occupant of the White House has publicly stated he wants to "spread the wealth around." 
I paraphrase a definition of insanity (and stupidity) as 'doing the same thing over & over but expecting a different result.'

I fervently hope that it begins to dawn on those who still think this type of waste is actually good and a better alternative than growing the economy, that it is NOT about helping the poor. It never has been. It's about power, control, creating a dependent underclass who will always support you out of necessity.
Or as Lyndon B. Johnson said, "I’ll have those n*****s voting Democrat for the next 200 years."
His words, not mine.


Finally, let me leave you with two items via American Digest.

The first this comment.
 "There are 8 levels of control that must be obtained before you are able to create a fascist state. The first is the most important. 1) Healthcare – Control healthcare and you control the people
2) Poverty – Increase the Poverty level as high as possible, poor people are easier to control and will not fight back if you are providing everything for them to live.
3) Debt – Increase the debt to an unsustainable level. That way you are able to increase taxes, and this will produce more poverty.
4) Gun Control – Remove the ability for citizens to defend themselves from the Government. That way you are able to create a police state.
5) Welfare – Take control of every aspect of their lives (Food, Housing, and Income)
6) Education – Take control of what people read and listen to – take control of what children learn in school.
7) Religion – Remove the belief in the God from the Government and schools
8) Class Warfare – Divide the people into the wealthy and the poor. This will cause more discontent and it will be easier to take (Tax) the wealthy with the support of the poor.
Does any of this sound like what is happening to the United States " 

And finally,

Knik River From Atop Bodenburg Butte

Fall Has Arrived!

A little early and with quite the fanfare. I took this on Labor Day. It was quite windy. This is a 3 image composite HDR and if you look, you can see ghosting on some of the branches. But I still like this photo, so I posted it.  Another front is blowing through today, up on the hillside up to 100mph gusts are forecast. Presently it's raining at our house and very windy. Expected crappy weather all week. But it makes for beautiful skies and lighting.

In Memorium...

In lieu of the shootings in Aurora Co., it seems the media is in over-drive, focusing on the shooter, who he was, what were his motivations, what was his life like... ad nauseum. Witnesses are trotted in front of the camera to describe the grisly horror of those moments in the theater for the titillation of the couch potato audience. Only too happy to comply and get their 15 minutes of fame. Already political grist is being made out of this tragedy. I've even seen such items on Flickr for God's sake, subtly advocating disarming the law abiding public.

Perhaps everyone should just STFU and take a moment in silence for those who didn't live to see the next day. Perhaps we might even reflect on the fact that we who do get to see another day, maybe ought to try to act like it might be our last. Maybe, just maybe if we really gave a shit...

Nah, that's crazy talk!

Sometimes it's hard not to daydream

H/T, Daphne at Jaded Haven

City Diner

Above, a single exposure, below a three exposure HDR.

Something for tonight, enjoy...

Ray: A Life Underwater from Danny Cooke on Vimeo.

July 4th Parade

I'm hoping that everyone had a good Independence Day!

Lifted from Daphne's site (Jaded Haven. THanks again...

The Raconteurs "Old Enough" Featuring Ricky Skaggs and Ashley Monroe from Miky Wolf on Vimeo.

Stairway to Parking

It's Open!

I saw this over at Jaded Haven (see link below) and I had to embed it over here also. This is beautifully done and worth watching. The video is simply stunning and the music, I like too.

Last Walk Around Mirror Lake - Boom Bip (Boards of Canada Remix) from FroschYankee on Vimeo.

San Francisco in the distance