If you are not just headed to the Kansas City Public Library to look at porn or have sex, you may want to visit their excellent free exhibit Alert Today, Alive Tomorrow: Living With the Atomic Bomb, 1945-65. Whether you are a history buff or just want to know why your crazy grandpa is storing canned water in the basement, you will find this collection of books, posters, games, educational materials, art and toys curious, exciting and somewhat morbid.

It’s hard to comprehend that generations of Americans grew up with the thought of a nuclear blast being a sure thing always in the back of their mind. And although Geiger counters and Atomic trains seem like cool toys today, at the time they served to get the children used to the idea that someday they will be using the real thing. From the neighborhood and personal fallout shelters to the best-selling atomic handbooks the subject of an inevitable nuclear attack  determined the foreign and domestic policy for 20 years after United States bombed Japan and throughout the Cold War era.

As always I took a lot of pictures, but I suggest you check it out for yourself. The exhibit is fairly small and will take you about 30 minutes to get through.

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Recently State of Missouri made an announcement about repealing some old ban on “yellow-tinted imitation butter and the other restrictions imposed on the sale, possession or shipment of substitute sandwich spread that is a different hue”. The question is why would anyone want to eat this crap in the first place. I understand that the law was written for different reasons but I wouldn’t mind them actually enforcing it to get fake products out of our grocery stores. And while they are at it, they might as well get rid of

• disgusting turkey bacon
• any food that has the word “flavored” in it’s name
• products that have ingredients that can’t be explained
• things that have artificial coloring (I wonder what their real color is)
• fruits and vegetables possessing some unnatural characteristics such as crunchy tomatoes and strawberries
• breads that can be compressed to 1/10 of original volume
• anything in green packaging, green doesn’t mean healthy, it’s just a color
• no-fat sour cream
• rename rice- and soy-milk into rice- and soy-juice or whatever; it’s not milk even if it’s white
• non-dairy dairy products
• artificial powdered coffee creamer, WTF is that made of anyway
• cheese in a can and powdered cheese
• stop McRib comebacks

I am not a believer in things that are “good for you”, or “locavores”, or “slow foods”, or whatever else is in fashion right now. I do believe that if you want butter, you should eat butter, not some yellow crap in a tub. If you are unable to eat some foods due to health reasons, just enjoy something else, don’t eat fake chemical concoction designed in the lab to fool your senses.

In these times when most of our activities had been replaced by imaginary and virtual things, maybe we should draw the line at fake foods. Homey don’t eat that crap!

UPDATE: How could I forget the scam that  is organic food. Thanks, L.L.!

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I drove past this house many times over the years, every year noticing more and more inflatable things slowly taking over the place. Today I stopped by to take some pictures of the “Paulie’s Penguin Playground” located in Olathe. The front, roof, driveway, yard and everything else around the house is covered with every inflatable toy imaginable. There is a passageway through the yard leading to the porch where you can leave a donation to the Leukemia Society or buy the owner’s truck.

Short video look-around:

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLKdNtAMQUo

(Pick any two): Merry Happy Holidays Christmas Hanukkah Kwanzaa!

Other examples of local Christmas Art from Midtown Miscreant and Plog.

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Ernest Hemingway is thought to have said that you must do four things to be a man: plant a tree, fight a bull, write a novel and father a son. My life didn’t follow Hemingway exactly but I think I am pretty close: I am raising a daughter, write a blog, planted a sunflower which grew to the size of a small tree and if a bull ever shows up on my doorstep willing to fight, I’ll have only two words for him: “steak dinner”.

This spring I planted some mammoth sunflowers on the 0.00034 acres of land that I own and it proved to be a source of constant amazement and comments from my neighbors. The tallest sunflower is now 9 feet tall and is crowned with a huge flower.

At first is was taller than me…

…than way taller than me.

Soon it was ready to bloom…

…and then it did.

But the most amazing thing is what’s inside.

Sunflowers in front of my house inspired me to get out, play my guitar and sing.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCMy7w3lkL8

Next year I will probably plant corn.

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I always wanted to see the beautiful Pacific Coastline, a frequent feature on travel shows and computer screensavers. My original plan was to drive a part of Highway 1, but one day I had an idea to see an even larger part of the Coast from a rail car window – a much more relaxing and hassle-free way of travel. Since writing about traveling by train in 2008, I’ve become an even bigger fan of Amtrak, riding the rails to Chicago at least once every year. It’s a stark contrast with the air travel, where if it were any closer to the cattle transport they would have to give passengers antibiotics and tag their ears. I didn’t have to think twice about buying tickets on the Coast Starlight – one of the most picturesque routes in the country. In addition to the usual advantages of Amtrak – refundable tickets, no charge for luggage, comfort and humane treatment – this time I paid for a roomette in a sleeping car and automatically became a first class passenger. I knew it right away when an attendant brought a small bottle of (cheap) champagne as soon as the train left Seattle. The price of a sleeping car also includes all meals, coffee, juices and fruit in the car, access to a private lounge car and (on this train) a free WiFi. The roomette is not as roomy as one might think, but it’s comfortable enough and private, so no one is schlepping past you at night and the light is not on. The ride is pleasant, the food is not bad at all (did I mention it’s paid for?), the stops are infrequent and the views are breathtaking. I thought it was worth the money, even though it was not cheap.

These are some photos I took from the train, some of them are blurry, so you will feel like you are on the train…or drunk.

This is the Seattle King Street Station, it’s currently being restored so there isn’t much to see inside.

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