Golden Boy

now, lemme say a thing:

unlike a lot of angry folks, i have no real problem with people who have cultivated their assets over a few generations and have a million or two in property and investments. that’s something you can actually do with hard work, time, and enough luck that medical surprises or other misfortune doesn’t take it from you. i know actually quite a few families that could pool that much across three generations or a handful of siblings and cousins. that’s the kind of wealth that gave rise to the story of wealth being the result of hard work and intelligence – because if there are a couple doctors or lawyers in the family, or someone bought IBM stock in the 70′s, some attention and elbow grease can give you seven figure results.

which is NOT to say ‘everyone can do it, if you’re poor you’re just not trying’. there are a lot of factors that go into that, and a lucky start is the biggest one. in america, abled whites get that lucky start a lot more than everyone else, and yadda yadda you know the rest.

but the point is, people with like 1.5 million, or 4 million, can end up there by taking advantage of their luck and applying work to it over decades. if that’s what their priority is, of course. so i don’t look at someone with a lake house and an investment portfolio and instantly think EVIL BAD. i think: i don’t really agree with their priorities and we probably wouldn’t get along socially, but the instinct to grow your family’s prosperity is universal, and i’m not going to condemn them without evidence of wrongdoing.

ok, that said?

the ultra-rich?

the billionaires? the hundreds-of-billions-aires?

monstrous.

Rob Beschizza:

Tumblr, the mainstream web’s last redoubt for niche smut, is going to clean house. The social blogging platform is banning all adult material on December 17.

Banned content includes photos, videos, and GIFs of human genitalia, female-presenting nipples, and any media involving sex acts, including illustrations. The exceptions include nude classical statues and political protests that feature nudity. The new guidelines exclude text, so erotica remains permitted. Illustrations and art that feature nudity are still okay — so long as sex acts aren’t depicted — and so are breast-feeding and after birth photos. “Users have a chance to appeal flagged content”

The policy change takes effect on December 17th. From then on, any explicit posts will be flagged and deleted by algorithms. For now, Tumblr is emailing users who have posted adult content flagged by algorithms and notifying that their content will soon be hidden from view. Posts with porn content will be set to private, which will prevent them from being reblogged or shared elsewhere in the Tumblr community.

Even the cold dead embrace of a Yahoo! acquision could not end Tumblr, such was the power of fandom gathered there. But Yahoo never knew what it owned in Tumblr and was indifferent to its continued existence. The management of new Yahoo owner Verizon, however, has a pulse. It knows what Tumblr is and it hates it. It will hack it down until a perfectly clean advertising- and appstore-friendly traffic center remains.

That phrase Tumblr uses, “female-presenting nipples”, is darkly comic given the context of its ultra-woke audience. They didn’t give even the slightest thought to what people other than lawyers and appstore gatekeepers might think of it. In that sense, it seems to have a knowing reactionary air about it. It’s a “go fuck yourself” so perfectly aimed at Tumblr users it’s almost impossible to believe it isn’t intentional.

The Conservatory

California’s first municipal greenhouse was completed in 1879. It was patterned after The Conservatory, Kew Gardens, England. A distinguished example of late Victorian style using early techniques of mass production and assembly of simple glass units. It was a gift to the City of San Francisco by public spirited citizens.

https://goo.gl/ktMmeq

“Donation”

The Children’s Bell Tower in Bodega Bay features a number of crafted bells from various places, most donated from families in Italy. This is one that stood out to me - I love the depiction of one life giving to many.

goldenboycalifornia.com

eye

Yosemite Valley

On June 30, 1864 the United States granted the Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove to the State of California to “be held for public use, resort and recreation…inalienable for all time.” This act, signed by President Abraham Lincoln, was the first Federal authorization to preserve scenic and scientific values for public benefit. It was the basis for the later concept of state and National Park Systems. In 1906 the State of California returned the land, considered to the first State Park in the country, so that it could become part of Yosemite National Park.

https://goo.gl/ktMmeq

Mission Nuestra Senora de la Soledad

This mission, founded October 9,1791 by Father Fermin Francisco de Lasun, ministered to the Indians of the Salinas Valley. Governor Jose Joaquin de Arrillaga died here July 24, 1814 and was buried in the chapel. Prosperous in its early years, Soledad declined after 1825, but Father Vicente Francisco Sarria stayed on in poverty to serve the Indians until his death in 1835, when the mission was secularized. It was regranted to the Bishop of Monterey in 1859. In ruins after 1874, the chapel was reconstructed and dedicated under the auspices of the Native Daughters of the Golden West, October 1955.

https://goo.gl/ktMmeq