Tourists! Do Not Visit the USA. It Really Sucks... We ARE a Dangerous Third World Hellhole... Crazy people with Guns running around all over the place... Calling themselves Ice Ice Baby Agents... DANGER - DANGER

In Washington DC the museums have been Whitewashed... They're so Bland that they're not worth visiting... Trump Replaced Dali & Picasso Paintings at the Smithsonian With Dogs Playing Poker and Elvis on Black Velvet. They removed the Hope Diamond because in the Trump era, there's No Hope!

The Smithsonian should tell Donald Trump "NO"... NO Censorship, NO Propaganda, NO Insanity, NO Rewriting History... The Smithsonian should display what they think is important without interference by Mad King Donald.

Charlie Kirk 2A Quote: "I think it's worth it. I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights." https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/charlie-kirk-gun-deaths-quote/

Virtual Journey: The Smithsonian and Washington DC.  Instead of Buying Gasoline and Driving There, Take this "Magic Trip" Instead! A Guided Tour to the Places My Family Wanted to See...

Scroll Down for My Favorite Pictures... When I Lived in Washington DC My Family would Come to Visit Often and I Was the Tour Guide... Taking Them Wherever They Wanted to Go. For Example: Aunt Roberta Wanted to See the First Ladies Inauguration Party Gowns... A Place I Had Never Heard of and Had No Interest in but... It was THEIR Vacation so I Took Them There!

Many More: 

https://www.vanityfair.com/style/photos/2017/01/first-lady-inaugural-ball-gowns

First Ladies Gowns Exhibit at the Smithsonian

https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/smithsonians-first-ladies-collection/2/

While they were Busy, I Walked to the Next Exhibit. Automata Made in Germany. Robots Most Famously Used in Coo Coo Clocks... Some Have Dancing Couples... and are Quite Large... 

and I Loved the Political Buttons Collection.

and Uncle Harry Wanted to See the US Marine Silent Marching Drill... The Thing that Makes this Special is that Usually a Drill Sargent Shouts out Orders like Hup Two Three Four, Right, Left Present Arms and So Forth... Well, These Marines March in Complicated Patterns SILENTLY... 
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CueyX_LtHeo

Ray wanted to Hear Jesse Jackson Speak at a Memorial March on Washington Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King. We were Standing about Half Way Back and there were Many Public Address Speakers all along the Reflecting Pool. Since Electricity Travels Faster than Sound... by the Time We Heard the Speech it was Really Echoey and I Couldn't Understand a Word... However, I was Moved Because Jesse Jackson Had that Classic Preacher Man Delivery... It was a Moving Experience... 

View from the Lincoln Memorial looking at the Reflecting Pool and the Washington Monument

Identical Copy of the Lunar Lander - Air and Space Museum - The Real one is Still On the Moon. 

Outside of the Air and Space Museum
with the US Capitol in the Background 

This is the REAL Spaceship from Project Mercury.
The Botto is Quite Burnt from Traveling Thru Earth's Atmosphere. It's Interesting to See the Old Equipment... Way Before Computers.


There are Movies "The Dream is Alive" and "To Fly!" at the Air and Space Museum. It is Uplifting and I've Seen it Many Times. Featuring Narration by Walter Cronkite and SUPER CLEAR IMAX Films of Rocket Launches and Home Movies Taken by Astronauts While they Were in Space - and Most Importantly. Films of The Earth as Seen From Space... Heroic Music... Pacabel's Canon...

also... At the Same Theater there are Traveling Shows... I Remember a 3D Japanese Animation called "We are Born of Stars." EPIC.   

NASA MURAL 
by Robert McCall
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/100-years-ago-birth-of-space-artist-robert-mccall

There is a Great Movie on TV Called
"Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian." 
Were the Exhibits Come to Life at Night... Amelia Earhart Saves the Day by Awakening The Statue of Abraham Lincoln to Defeat the Egyptian Pharoah... That's a Tour well worth Taking!  

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At the National Art Gallery they Have Two Buildings. One of Old Masters and another of Modern Art. My Favorite was the Salvadore Dali Last Supper Painting. This Painting is in Its Own Dark Room... Since I Have Visited it Many Times I Noticed that The Same People were often there... Like it was a Church for Prayer and Meditation... a Holy Space.  

Alexander Calder Mobile at the Modern Art Wing 

of the National Art Gallery.

It Moves Around and Around Floating in the Currents of the Air Conditioning... one day They had a Gamelan Orchestra from Indonesia Playing in this room. Metal Bells, Xylophones Gongs Played by 20 People - in a very Echoey Space.

More Alexander Calder Mobiles

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Modern Art Wing - 

The Building was Designed by I M Pei... 

Between the Old Masters Wing and the Modern Art Wing is a Conveyor Belt That People Ride on. With a Psychedelic Light Show made out of Thousands of Light Bulbs.

Next to the People Mover is a Waterfall that is Part of The Mirrored Pyramids Shown in the Photo Below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUrCJfjg6mM

Here's a Link to a Video of that Waterfall. 

View of the Modern Art Wing of the National Art Gallery - and Glass Pyramids... above the Restaurant in the Basement... Near the Human Conveyor Belt Shown above.

My Favorite Painting in The Modern Art Building of the National Art Gallery is Picasso The Tragedy 
 
One Day I Took an LSD Trip There and Looked at All the Paintings... and This One Made Me Actually Feel Cold in My Body... True Synesthesia... That Night we all went to a Tangerine Dream Concert at the Fabulous Warner Theater.

So Many of the Other Paintings Seemed Trivial and Insignificant... Andy Warhol? SO WHAT? 
Roy Lichtenstein? Copycat... 

One Day I saw an Installation of a Full Size House Covered Entirely With Mirrors. We put paper Booties on and Walked inside and It was an Infinite Room. 

I loved the Giant Wall Hanging by MIRO.

For Decades I Thought it was a Portrait of a Cow but then one day I Read The Card Describing the Work of art and It said "Woman" - 34 Feet Tall - Hanging in the Main Room Under the Calder Mobile... 

https://www.nga.gov/collection/highlights.html

They Have Traveling Exhibits and It's Worth Your Time to ask a Docent or Guard What's Happening Now... I was lucky to see Original Leonardo da Vinci Mechanical Drawings... and they are Much More Impressive in real life that in a Book... 

The Other Exhibit that my friend Charolette made sure we went to was the Doll House by Chippendale. He made it for his Daughter and there is "Chippendale" Furniture in Every Room. 

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In the Old Masters Wing there are Four Paintings Called "The Voyage of Life" by Thomas Cole. 

Youth... 

Childhood...

Manhood... 


Old Age...

Now That's Some Art With Meaning... 
It Tells a Story... OUR Story!

They also Have Classical Music Concerts for free in the Old Masters Art Gallery. I saw "PDQ Bach" - a Classical Music Quartet of NEW MUSIC Composed in the Old Style by Chip Davis of Mannheim Steamroller and the Song "Convoy" 

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Natural History Museum:

This Stuffed Elephant Seems to Be
Charging at ME... Danger Danger!





In the Museum of Natural History they Have Many Stuffed Animals including this Walrus... 

and a Giant Whale...


In the Same Building... ROCKS!

The Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian. James Smithson was a Rock Hound and Donated His Collection. He Paid for the Building of the Smithsonian Museum.

I was more delighted with the Opals than the Diamonds

Tensegrities by Buckminster Fuller...
at the Hirshorn Museum. 

Quite Often the Hirshorn has very bad quality Paintings but I Have Found that I can Walk Very Quickly thru those Rooms and Move on to the Interesting Exhibits... I saw Lucian Freud Paintings there... Quite Good but Horrible!
I'm So Glad I Don't Live in HIS World. 

at the Hirshorn I saw an Andy Warhol Installation. 
It was a 3D White Sculpture of a Woman's Head.
They He Projected a Film of The Same Woman's Head onto the Sculpture... Quite "Creepy" but Insightful... She wasn't doing much but occasionally she would Talk... but not often... and there was no sound BUT... Excellent!

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Abraham Lincoln Sculpture inside
the Lincoln Memorial Washington DC

I've gone there Many Times including Once when a Boy Scout Troup was singing "America the Beautiful" and then after they were done, the Park Ranger said... "No Singing in the Memorial" - BUT - He Waited for them to be Done... That's an Educational Lesson there!

I also Marched in an Anti War Protest March from the White House to the Lincoln Memorial during the Presidency of George Bush the Father... 
There was a Parade Permit that expired at a Specific time and Anyone IN THE STREET Would be Arrested.
Well, About 50 People Intentionally Sat Down in the Street in order to Be Arrested... as a Part of their Experience at the Protest March... I was Standing on the Sidewalk watching the Jack Booted Storm Troopers haul the Anti-War Activists away on a Couple of Busses... MY CHOICE was to Not Get Arrested that Day... I Happened to be High on LSD That Day and Everything Seemed So Very Significant... Especially that Decision... I was interviewed by TV News... a Man on the Street Opinion...  and my Neighbor saw me and Later said that I was Babbling Like a Jackass... I Thanked Her and Said... If I Made You Unhappy, I Know I'm Doing the Right Thing!  

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

I have Visited the Wall but...
I Know No Names of People That Died in Vietnam.
One Traditional Way to Remember the Dead is to 
Make a Charcoal Rubbing of their Name...

The Wall as Seen from The Air. 
It's a Cronological List of the Dead.
At the Beginning of the Wall it is Very Short and then Near the Center it is Tall... then It Dwindles Down to be Very Short at the End. Just Like the Actual War... 

Jefferson Memorial

It's Right Next to The Tidal Basin with Paddleboats.

I never Rode those Boats because During the Times I Had a Wife or Girlfriend We Never Selected to Go... 
and During those Years when I did Not Have a Girlfriend I Didn't want to go alone... 
This is also where the Cherry Blossom Trees Are... a Gift from the Country of Japan. 



Lafayette Park Across The Street from
The White House...

At The Anti War Protests I Played the BIG Marching Band Bass Drum in a Drum Circle... The Owner of the Drum was tired of holding up that heavy Drum so he asked Me to Play it. At a Different Protest March I played the Frame Drum with Buddhists... They played a Very Odd and Difficult Rhythm. I asked Why and They Said It Intentionally Required my Totally Focused Attention... as a Tool to Make the Meditation Work. 

White House as Viewed from Lafayette Park 

Where I went to Many Protest Marches.

I Went to a NORML Protest of Marijuana Laws.

The Police DID NOT Arrest anyone for Smoking 

because that would make for a Bad Headline in the 

Newspaper... It started to Rain and I wanted to walk back

to my car and Get a Raincoat but... I couldn't Figure out

How to Cross Pennsylvania Ave... The Pedestrian Crossing

at 17th Street is Difficult to Figure out When It's Safe...

So I Went to a Museum and admired ART... 

A Couple of Hours Later, I was No Longer Stoned

and I was able to Cross the Street Safely.

Anti-War Protest in Lafayette Park Across 

the Street from the White House.

I met this Lady... Sadly, She was too Insane for 

me to Hold a Conversation With... 

But I Did Learn that She used to Protest with her Husband but He was Killed while trying to Blow Up the Washington Monument with a Truck Bomb... 

She's in the Movie Farenheit 911 by Michael Moore.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3417913/Woman-maintained-longest-running-act-political-protest-U-S-history-30-year-anti-nuclear-vigil-outside-White-House-dies-aged-80.html

Concepcion 'Connie' Picciotto maintained a peace vigil since 1981 in D.C.

Celebration of Trump's Defeat... 

Interactive Tour of the White House:

https://whitehouse.gov1.info/visit/tour.html

We went on a Tour of the White House with Aunt Roberta. 

She rolls around in a Wheelchair all the time so... We got to Take a Special Tour... We went to the Beginning of the Line or Tourists and were Let In First... then We Rode Elevators in a section of the Mansion that is OFF LIMITS to the General Public... I was thrilled to see Behind the Scenes... areas that had an Obvious "Employee" Look to them. 

MUCH MORE COMING!

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Other Journeys

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

Virtual Journey: Canada Tourist Guide & Autobiography. We Went on our Honeymoon to Vancouver, BC. We Rode a Bicycle built for Two in Stanley Park... and Many More Wonderful Places to Visit.

https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2022/05/canada-tourist-guide.html

Virtual Journey: Eureka, Arcata, Trinidad - Visit Northern California's Coast. We Have Our Own Little World Here Behind The Redwood Curtain! https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2022/05/eureka-arcata-trinidad.html

Virtual Journey: Trinity Alps, CA, USA - Drive the Bigfoot Highway (299) From Arcata on the Coast to Redding in the Central Valley. White Water Rafting! Gold Rush Ghost Towns!

https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2022/04/highway-299-virtual-journey.html

Virtual Journey: to the Star Wars Flying Motorcycles Redwood Forest on Hwy 36 in Remote Humboldt County, CA, USA - and the Bridgeville UFO Festival, The Town of Mad River. 

https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2022/03/virtual-journey-hwy-36-remote-humboldt.html

Virtual Journey: Lost Coast, CA, USA on Highway 211 - From Victorian Ferndale to The Beach, the Mountains of Mateel to the Avenue of the Giants. Humboldt County. 

https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2022/03/a-virtual-drive-thru-remote-humboldt.html

Virtual Journey to San Francisco - Boat Ride on the Red and White Fleet. Under the Golden Gate Bridge and Around Alcatraz Island... and MORE!

https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2022/04/journey-to-san-francisco.html

Virtual Journey: The Smithsonian and Washington DC. Instead of Buying Gasoline and Driving There, Take this Magic Trip Instead! A Guided Tour to the Places My Family Wanted to See... 

https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2022/05/virtual-journey-smithsonian.html

Meanwhile you may read other Blog Posts by Clicking on the Handy Labels Below. 

FOR HALLOWEEN, I'M GOING TO DRESS UP AS AN ICE ICE BABY AGENT... That Way, I can Commit Crimes Without Worrying About Getting Arrested.

HEY ICE AGENTS! QUIT YOUR JOB! It's Just Too Damn Dangerous! Learn a Skill and You Can Get a REAL Job... Carpenter, Plumber, Teacher, Mechanic... Do Something Useful with Your Life!

Video of a guy out running ICE On a bicycle... https://fb.watch/CrotoGHKrh/

DHS Issues Statement on Targeted Attack on Dallas ICE Facility... 

https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/09/24/dhs-issues-statement-targeted-attack-dallas-ice-facility

ICE AGENTS ARE ASHAMED OF WHAT THEY DO. That's why they wear masks. They are AFRAID That people in their Family & Neighborhood Will Find Out and turn them into Outcasts... The Un-Clean... Abominations!

We shall see what happens on October 1st ( next week ) - one possibility is We shut down the government and then Trump ( in Revenge ) will do mass firings of federal employees... I believe that this will cause a stock market crash and global economic collapse... And out of the ruins will come BRICS to rule the world... In the post USA era... BRICS is a team effort by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa... The vast majority of the people of the Earth and also the largest amount of land...

Did you notice TINY CROWD AT CHARLIE KIRK EVENT... WHY? Are they Afraid of a Lightning Bolt from the Sky Smiting Them like in the Old Testament?

It would be FUN to BLOW a WHISTLE During a Session of the GOP Congress... Especially if a QAnon FREAK Was Speaking! Americans are Allowed to Visit While it is in session BUT... 

You Have to Go Thru a Metal Detector... SO, a PLASTIC Whistle Is Required... Wear it around your neck under your Shirt and NO ONE will Know! Remember to Remove the Metal Ring...

Until You Disrupt The Speech... and then Start Shouting! "GET YE HENSE, SATAN" or Whatever Slogans You Want to Say... 

I Suppose You would be Arrested for Disturbing the Peace... but It Would Totally Be Worth it! Especially When You Blame Trump During the Trial... or TV News Interviews.

Liz Merry Said: 

What is that yellow thing in the sky? By George, it’s the sun! Nice to see you, Ol’ Sol. Thanks for giving us a chance to soak up that lovely precipitation. Fingers crossed for more steady rain over the next couple of months. If it could come without the words torrential or flood being used, that would be nice, too. No sense in watching it all flow downstream.

This is great for the dry well folks, who will certainly see a rise in their water levels if this keeps up. The surface water deliveries for ag interests may even be at higher capacity this year, allowing farmers to not pump as much groundwater as in the recent dry past. Let’s recharge, baby!

We’re not out of the woods yet by any means, but the picture is much rosier than we had any right to expect. Shasta Lake is at 52% of capacity and Oroville is at 58%. That’s fantastic with the snowpack we have. And it doesn’t feel like the spigot is going to shut off anytime soon, does it? But what do I know? Donny One-Ball the Donkey is a much better weather forecaster than I and he ain’t talkin’.

Let’s just hope for the best and not waste any more time giving lip service to protecting the groundwater we have. The time has come – and passed – for substantive action. I’m looking at you, Groundwater Sustainability Agency. The Flood Control Conservation District (board of supervisors) will meet on Monday at 11 a.m. in the Board Chambers at 727 Oak St. in Red Bluff.

On the agenda are overviews of the Well Registry Program and the Survey Public Workshop to be held Feb. 8 at 6 p.m. at the Red Bluff Community Center. Public comments (that’s you) will be permitted during the agenda item Monday, so bring your questions at 11 a.m. You may also attend and comment by phone – instructions on the agenda at bit.ly/fcwc01232023.

I have a few questions about the Registry. Why are they asking us for this information when the county has records back to the 1980s? DWR has over 800,000 records statewide on a searchable map. If you can’t find one on there, you can write them and they will send you the info. Why are we paying a consulting firm, megabucks to create the database? Why are landowners footing the bill through a tax disguised as a fee on their property taxes?

The database is not mandated by the state – groundwater sustainability is. The registry is supposed to tell us where and how groundwater is being used. Um, really? Take a drive around the county and look out the window. This is a lengthy project to keep us busy for three years before they have to take any effective action.

This will be the first FCWC meeting for the two new board members, Pati Nolen and Matt Hansen. Water was a focus of both their campaigns, so it will be interesting to hear what they have to say about this. And the way our GSA has handled its responsibilities up until now.

Tuesday will see the second regular board of supervisors meeting of the year and has an ambitious agenda. There will be an update on the Public Authority, which you wouldn’t think would be a big deal, but totally is. Supervisor Carlson has been asking for more information on how it operates forever. That’s what started the whole nightmare of complaints to the Grand Jury and the ultimate exoneration of Carlson.

There’s also an item for the addition of an Information Technology Coordinator. Yes, an IT person. On the surface, it looks like we’re entering the 21st century at last, but that’s not the case. The county wants beloved retired Tax Collector Dana Hollmer in the position, so a job description was created for her. The job will be flown of course, wink wink.

Hollmer earned a small stipend coordinating between the county and our main systems provider, Apex, during her tenure as County Tax Collector. She loved the work and did a great job, but she is not an IT expert. She had no authority to update processes in other departments unless that department head was so inclined.

And guess what? Many of them weren’t so inclined. That’s why our Auditor’s office is still doing county payroll manually. Paper time cards in 2023. It may also be one reason we have no Well Registry in Environmental Health. Related aside – the recently retired directors of those two departments have also been hired back “to help”. Tim Potanovic from EH and former Auditor LeRoy Anderson. How can we miss them if they won’t go away?

Hollmer is not being hired to take our systems to the next level. She is coming to piece back together the systems she left that have been unraveling a bit since her retirement over a year ago. Nobody replaced her, so the tweaks and glitches she took care of have not been happening.

In other words, Hollmer will get us back to where we were before she left. This is not progress, but it will help. Disclaimer – Dana is a good friend of mine and I adore her. She will do a great job and doesn’t want this to be permanent. So…

Let’s start looking for a real IT person or better yet, an IT department. Apex could even supply a person or two to help analyze where processes could be streamlined and develop systems where departmental interface could be improved. Security should be a concern, too, as we learned from the data breach at Social Services where thousands of people’s personal information was exposed. Social Services has its own IT person or people, and a thorough barn door repair must have been performed after that gigantic horse got out.

This is Tehama County settling for less instead of being open to the possibility of a better way. We deserve a bright future. Are we ready to invest in it?