I have seen enough! Fabricating incidents so that wars can be fought; taking all privacy and right to due process from us in the name of national security; pipelines of our communication on a straight line to Maryland to protect us from terrorists; bailouts that paid for bonuses for the one percent; America sold for oil, gas and nuclear power; crumbling infrastructure while members of Congress drive Lexus; more and more homeless, many of them veterans, while our president takes his friends to Hawaii in Air Force One.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. Dwight D. Eisenhower

websites could be taken down because the Justice Department (DoJ) says the site is conducting infringing activities

The Congress and the House of Representatives have come up two separate bills to further curtail our freedoms. I guess it is just too hard for the poor peeps to tackle something important, like sending jobs overseas, corruption on capitol hill, the environmental dangers posed by fracking and the XL pipeline, climate change, the disappearing middle class, etc.

Oh, but they have time to write the bills that will take away the few pleasures left to the public that is struggling to work, live and pay taxes.

Congress is about to pass Internet censorship, even though the vast majority of Americans are opposed to it. We need to kill the bills – PIPA in the Senate and SOPA in the House – to protect our rights to free speech, privacy, and prosperity.

S.968 – PROTECT IP Act of 2011

PIPA -Establishes process by which a

. The DoJ or the copyright owner would begin legal action and the DoJ could demand that search engines, social networking sites and domain name services block access to the targeted site.This could all be done without anyone being heard by a judge.

Stop Protect IP Adresses (PIPA) – Read the bill here.

H.R.3261 – Stop Online Piracy Act

SOPA – Basically the same as PIPA, with some additions: . . . against any site they deem to have “only limited purpose or use other than infringement,” . . . It would also make unauthorized web streaming of copyrighted content a felony with a possible penalty up to five years in prison. This bill combines two separate Senate bills — S.968 and S.978.

Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) - Read the bill here.

People are saying these bills will break the Internet.  In protest many of the large websites, like Wikipedia are “blacking out” their websites tomorrow 1/18. I have decided I will add this post to all my blogs as a public service announcement,

1960 Holiday House

Model “X” Geographic

What will a group of designers and engineers from BMW and NASA make when charged to create a completely unique aerodynamic trailer AND  are told that money is no object?  The Holiday House Model “X” Geographic pictured above.  Only five of these trailers were made and this is believed to be the only surviving one.

View auction here on eBay.  I must warn you that the auction price is now $23,000+ and reserve has not been met.  The Geographic was priced at $8,750 in 1961.

So if you see something that looks vaguely like a flying saucer being pulled down the highway, you will know it is a Holiday House Model “X” Geographic.  Read about this piece of history on 1960prototype.com/.

Do you have a problem each Halloween deciding on a costume to wear?  Perhaps you fall back on an old standby, like pirate, vampire, hobo or soldier?  Many of us do not have the money to buy or rent a costume and putting a constume together at thrift shops can be a daunting experience.

The slide show above illustrates how some very talented individuals solved their costume question by making costumes out of balloons!  I cannot imagine the creativity and the patience (and the lung-power) needed to design and make one of these constumes.

So, the next time you need a costume, buy some balloons and put your design skills to work.  If you are truly talented, you could be making wedding dresses next!  Think about it.  This is no stranger than clothes made out of feathers, plastic wrap, latex bubbles or any of the strange attire that walks down the runway at the fashion shoes.