And just how many jobs did "these people" create by spending money on their ventures? How many engineers, scientists, technicians, support staff, etc., have good paying jobs because of such "vanity projects"?? Bezos is not sitting on his money, clipping c**pons.

I completely agree that this sort of thing filters money into the economy to say nothing of future benefits from developing this technology.

However, I agree with others that there's something wrong when there are people who can easily spend a quarter million dollars on a 15-minute joyride while the vast majority of us worry about being able to afford healthcare. It just highlights the incredible disparity between the few one-percenters who control 80% of the wealth versus the billions who live on crumbs.

My Dad taught and coached in the public schools for over 40 years. During the war and afterwards he was involved in physical conditioning, at one point getting drill instructors into shape. At no point did he have to use physical force on a student. My Dad loved working with youth. He also believed in rules. He believed in the so much so that as A.D. of the high school he reported the football team to the state when it was learned that a player had inadvertently played when he was academically ineligible. The player was not a consequential player and Dad could have let it slide when the coach found out and brought it to Dad's attention. As a result, all games that he played in were forfeited. As a coach, if you missed practice without a valid reason, you were off the team. This applied to 8 year old baseball players who went swimming instead of coming to practice. I was shocked, but the two kids involved took their punishment. One of them later went on to pitch for a championship team....without skipping practice!!! Dad always appealed to the inner conscience of the individuals. He always tried to inspire them as well. One time a number of football jerseys went missing from the storage room. Dad would see students wearing them around the hallway. Instead of walking them down to the office and getting them suspended, or whatever, for theft, Dad appealed to their inner nature and asked them if they didn't know it was wrong to take and wear those jerseys. He told them that he would like them to turn them into his office. The students had so much respect for him that they all did. If you knew my Dad you would understand. He was a special guy. So, discipline does not require grabbing a kid by the ear and marching him down the hall in fear. On the other hand, some things must be dealt with seriously. There was a time when a bathroom was lit on fire near the athletic area and cost $65,000 to repair...back in the 70's Later, Dad checked on one of the boy's bathrooms in the athletic area and found a kid lighting a paper towel. He called the police. The police didn't want to do anything because it was just a paper towel, worth maybe a penny. Dad insisted and he was charged with a minor offense. The kid was dealt with fairly, BUT, he was never abused. Now, when I was in grades 1-3, there was the fear of the paddle, and I got it once. But, it was a broad paddle, administered three times to the posterior, and nothing to cause a hearty boy to cry. It was also administered by a different teacher than the student's teacher to eliminate the possibility of anger. The paddle as used in this way was a form of discipline that did not reach the level of abuse. Abuse is never necessary. Now I have seen student on teacher violence in the schools. That should be dealt with sternly with assault charges and teachers should be able to defend themselves.

Students back then were taught Etiquette. I guess there was more of an emphasis on good manners back then. We always stood and, in unison, greeted another teacher who entered the room. We learned to respect our teachers, police, and anyone in authority, play nicely with others and how to behave in public, say please and thank you, to hold doors open for others and giving seniors your seat on the bus or train.

The nuns were strict on discipline, but fair. Some of the "punishments" they handed out then would today be considered child abuse, but we all survived, and were the better for it. We learned the 4 R's: Reading, Riting, Rithmetic, Religion. We prayed, we attended mass on Sundays and sometimes on our daily schedule, and went to Benediction every Friday. During the month of May, we walked in procession around the school, honoring Mary with hymns and culminating with the crowning with flowers of a statue of Mary. We said the Pledge of Allegiance daily.

Boys wore white shirts and ties and blue slacks. Girls wore appropriate blouse and skirt.

Do you have any memories of your elementary or parochial school days?

Just did some scouting the other day. I hope to capture the bats in flight later next week. It is more difficult to capture bats in flight around here because we don't have the nectar, or fruit eating bats. So you can't just set up a hummingbird feeder or bait out for them to come and feed on. There are more logistics involved with insectivorous bats that hunt randomly through the night sky. It is much like shooting swallows in flight, only having the complexity of no light to focus or expose the image. Anyway, hope you enjoy these, until I can get some images of them in flight. This is their roosting spot. There are suppose to be between 40 to 60 thousand of them at this location. Enjoy

If you have never been to Oconaluftee Visitor Center near Cherokee, I invite you to stroll the grounds through these images. The farm is comprised of authentic structures rescued in the 1950's from the various hills and hollows of the newly designated park. What I learned while at the Mingus Mill (previous post) was that the sleds, shown in the next to last image, were the transport of preference for moving produce and bags of grains across the fields and up the hollow to the mill house. They didn't have the fragile wheels of wagons that could break on the boulder strewn paths and they traversed ruts more smoothly. Who knew?!