The Reengineering of the Common Tomato

Did you know that the tomato is a fruit? It actually is, you know. It certainly does not taste like one today. Though, it really used to. Tomatoes used to be sweet and delicious.

That is, until the 1920’s in the United States. What in the world was going on then? All that damned “Progressivism” and trying to change America into a utopia ruled by a benevolent wealthy class. Nonsense. Oh, yes. They implemented the Federal income tax, and they banned alcohol and did all kinds of things (like giving the right to vote to woman) to turn the world into “Heaven on Earth”. Yup. That’s why they dragged us into a war in Europe (one that our founders promised and vowed that we would never ever get tangled up into again…).

Oh, but I digress… after all, they meant well.

In part of the rush to make America a utopia, numerous programs were set in motion. One of which was reengineering the tomato. The bland, sterile, and cardboard-tasting tomato is the result of what happens when well-meaning people tries to improve something. Progressive millennials please take note.

Let me tell you all the secret story of the destruction of the humble tomato…

The Early History

From what I can gather, the tomato originated in the Americas.

They probably came from a geographic area around Peru. (Some reports place it at the extreme Southern section of South America.) As such, wild tomatoes can still be found in the Andes Mountains. We do not know if the Incans cultivated the tomato. However, we know that by the time the conquistadors came to Central and South America, there was widespread cultivation of tomatoes. I can well imagine an Incan, wearing one of those funny black hats, smunching on a tomato next to his favorite lama in the misty fog swirled mountains.

It was Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés who first fell in love with this plant. From records, we know that he was exposed to it after he looted the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. I can also picture him. Dressed as Aguirre and wearing the armor of that time, eating a tomato in his gloved fist; the red tomato juices running down his arm. While his armed force stands nearby with their flags and crosses. When he returned back to Europe he managed to carry some seeds back with him, along with coco, tobacco, gold, slaves…

It was the explorers to South America that ended up bringing the tomato back to Europe. Aguirre was one such explorer. — Aguirre was the king of his domain. His domain included gold, cocaine, slaves, monkeys and tomatoes. Aguirre was the king of his domain. (Image Source)

The seeds grew rapidly in the warm Mediterranean climate. For various reasons, the Spanish government started encouraging its production. As such, production began in both Europe and the various Spanish colonies. We know that during the 1540s the tomato started being produced in Spanish fields. Therefore, it can be assumed that it was begin grown as a food.

A Dangerous Poison

While the Spanish had an obvious love for this wondrous fruit, the other European nations did not.

All throughout Europe and England, it was considered a dangerous poison. It was viewed as an unhealthy plant of which the red tomato fruit was a lethal poison. Thus, instead of treating it as a fruit, they used it as a tabletop decoration. This continued through the 17^th and 18^th centuries. As a decorative fruit, they cherished their appearance and beauty. To get the best-looking tomatoes, they experimented with selective breeding. As a result, there was an explosion of tomatoes of many colors and shapes.

Why did everyone in Europe consider this a dangerous poison?

There are two primary reasons. One of which is the appearance. There is a striking resemblance of tomatoes to the deadly nightshade plant. This is not something that can be taken lightly. Nightshade is extremely lethal. Back then, they did not have the same kinds of medical care that we have today. If you digested deadly nightshade, you would die.

Secondly, most Europeans thought that the tomato was poisonous because many of the wealthy people who ate it got very sick afterwards. This had nothing to do with the plant. However, it had everything to do with the plate that the tomato was ate off of.

It all had to do with the way plates and flatware was made in the 1500’s. Rich people in that time used flatware made of pewter. Pewter is a metal that has high-lead content. What happens is that foods that are high in acid, like tomatoes, would cause the lead to leech out of the plates. So if a tomato was on the pewter plate, the lead would leach into the tomato. This of course would result in lead poisoning and death. Because poor people, who ate off of plates made of wood, did not have that problem it was obvious what the problem was; the tomato. Today we know the truth; it was a tomato on a pewter plate.

This is the primary reason why tomatoes were only eaten by poor people until the 1800’s, especially poor Italians.

Changes during the 1800s

Apparently, Jefferson grew tomatoes on his large farm. As such, all of his daughters and granddaughters used them in numerous recipes. They did what many of us do today, they pickled them for storage. Jefferson’s son-in-law, Thomas Mann Randolph, mentioned that though tomatoes were hardly known ten years prior, by 1824 everyone was growing and eating them. So, maybe Jefferson was an outlier, or maybe he was a trendsetter. We don’t know for sure. All that we knew is that he liked tomatoes. Hey! Anyone who likes tomatoes can’t be all-bad.

The popularity of tomatoes increased during the 1800’s. We don’t know why. I personally think that the American Civil War had something to do with it. When the carpetbaggers headed South to take advantage of the devastation caused by the war, they brought tomatoes and tomato seeds with them. Soon, the entire South was a bloom with tomato plants. The world was made right again!

Thank God for tomatoes!

Around the same time as the Civil War Reconstruction period, there was an interesting period of immigration from Italy. It is true. During the 1800’s there was a mass immigration from Europe to America. Europe includes Italy, which is where the idea for pizza comes from. Indeed, how can we not talk about pizza when we are discussing tomatoes. For what is pizza without a tomato? Why it is nothing more than just bread and cheese. Indeed, there is no pizza without tomato sauce, and pizza was invented around Naples, Italy in the late 1880’s.

(According to history, the story is that pizza was created by a forgotten chef in Naples. For one reason, he must have thought that it was a good one, he wanted to celebrate the visit of Queen Margarite. This queen was the first Italian monarch since the French conquered Italy. The chef made the pizza from three ingredients that represented the colors of the brand new Italian flag. These colors were red, white, and green. The red is the tomato sauce, the white was the mozzarella cheese, and the green was the basil topping. And that my dear boys and girls, is how Pizza Margarite was born.)

As popular tomatoes were, they were difficult to grow and harvest. They were mostly grown at home for personal and private use.

“There was not in the United States at the time an acre of tomatoes from which a bushel of uniformly smooth tomatoes could be gathered,”

- Alexander W. Livingston.

Oh, we know about Thomas Edison, and Nikola Tesla. Both of whom brought electricity to America and the world. But, what of the other great scientists and inventors and their contribution to society? Are not the others important? You betcha they are!

The so-called “modern age” of commercially grown tomatoes started as the brainchild of Alexander W. Livingston. He was an American botanist and scientist who dedicated much of his life on “improving” the tomato for commercial use. In his labs he managed to cross breed different types of tomatoes. He used the selective breeding of various types for his own nefarious ends. For he wanted to make the tomato an easily farmed plant. As such he was quite successful. It was he who developed the first commercial viable tomatoes. His 1870s breed called “Paragon” became an instant success. With this, followed a large tomato industry that eventually made the tomato one of the most popular fruits in America.

Joseph Campbell of Campbell’s soup came out with condensed tomato soup in 1897. With pizza and tomato soup firmly in place on Americans dinner table, the humble tomato became a solid fixture of the American diet. Everyone was eating tomatoes.

By the time the turn of the century came about (the year 1900), tomatoes were as American as Shoe shine boys, Blackface, playing the piano in the home living room, courting young women in the family parlor (or on the front porch while they sang to them), and a highway speed limit that was established at eight miles an hour.

Ah, you can’t have progress without limits, don’t you know?

Enter the Progressive Utopists

Starting in the 1870s, tomato breeders have been using traditional, non-GMO breeding techniques to develop the best tomatoes. They wanted tomatoes that would look ripe (nice and red), without any green portions, blotches or soft spots on the skin. They also wanted a thick skin that would not break during picking and transport. At that time, most tomatoes were grown on small farms or at home. Tomatoes needed to be harvested often, and carefully. They fell off the vine rather easily when ripe and tended to break easily because they had a thin skin. This needed to change.

Around 1920 or so, numerous teams (often located in universities or colleges) began to implement programs to “improve” the tomato. Of course, their idea of improvement was not to make it taste better. Rather, instead to make it easier to grow, ship and sell. As such, the implementation of strong reengineering programs for the tomato began in earnest. As the tomato “improved”, so did the ability to harvest it commercially.

Initially, large-scale production of tomatoes was mostly limited to the East coast of the United States. This continued, and production spread into California after World War 2. The seasonal workers in California were able to pick the tomatoes, but it would not last for long. By the early 1960’s, there was a shortage of skilled tomato pickers. As a result there became a need to utilize mechanical pickers. These machines could pick the tomatoes off the vine quicker but they had some problems. Most notably, they couldn’t select between green and ripe tomatoes, and they also tended to damage the tomatoes.

In those days, the machines would rip and tear the tomatoes. It would crush them. It would bruse the skin. The machines would get clogged up with the juices of damaged tomatoes, and time needed to be devoted to repairing the machinery.

Selective breeding all through the 1960’s was devoted to making the tomato easy to harvest and to ship.

Tomatoes became beautiful. They became a uniform red. No green skin or splotches anywhere. They became round, instead of plump. They became firm instead of juicy. They became thick skinned instead of thin skinned. They became perfect for harvesting and shipping.

Club Sandwich. — A tomato is nothing if it is not used for smunching. I would suggest that a nice club sandwich (as pictured) be a suggested venue to eat the humble tomato. Yum!

However, all this came at a cost. They became tasteless, boring, bland and tough. They lost much of their sweetness. They lost their aromatic smell, and they lost their taste.

This was not lost on the producers who used tomatoes in sauces, stews, and soups. To compensate for the degradation of the taste in tomatoes, the industry started to add sugars and corn syrup. Thus, by the end of the 1970’s tomatoes and tomato products were almost completely reengineered to be mass-produced and shipped in mass. All that remained were a few spots where “radical” holdouts treasured their own unique tomato plants. These were called “heirloom tomatoes”.

As a result the tomato today is a bland, red orb. It is no longer the juicy delicious tasteful plant that it once was.

How Tomatoes became Bland

Luckily for us, other people have noticed that tomatoes have started to taste terrible. For me, of course, I have stopped buying them in the grocery store. When I buy tomatoes, I go for the smaller tomatoes, and whatever local “heirloom” tomatoes that might be available. Other than that, I grow them next to the bamboo in my yard. Together, we have formed a silent group of tomato affectionados that demand tomatoes that have flavor.

Through study and evaluation, we have discovered why tomatoes taste so bland.

There are numerous reasons. Firstly [1], tomatoes were bred to be easy to ship. Secondly [2], tomatoes were bred to ripen evenly. Thirdly [3] they are not permitted to ripen on the vine. Finally, fourthly [4] they are bred to be plump and full of water, not full of tasty volatiles.

Easy to Ship

It turns out the problem with tomatoes today is that the genes that give tomato taste has been bred out of the plants. Over the years, the tomatoes have been bred to behave more like a shipping box, or a cardboard box. Of course this was done for shipping concerns. In the past, tomatoes had a hard time surviving the road to the market. They needed to be bred to act like a shipping box, or cardboard box. Which pretty much explains why they taste that way as well. Duh!

Tomatoes today taste like cardboard boxes because they were gred to behave like one. — Tomatoes were bred to ship like a cardboard box. They were designed to be sturdy and have a maximum shelf life, as well as a long display time. Indeed, the ideal tomato, from the point of view of a store, is a cardboard box.

Researchers into this problem have discovered a “genetic switch” within the tomato. This switch is responsible for much of the sugar production within the tomato. In the breeding efforts to make the tomato easy to transport to the grocery store, the growers have turned off that switch. All the efforts to bred the tomato for hardiness destroyed the ability for the tomato to taste good. It bred out the sugar. This can make chewing on the tomato like eating a piece of rubber. The mutation to make the tomato act like a shipping box inadvertently turned off the sugar production switch, making the tomato bland.

Researchers discovered that a protein called GLK helps to create the sugar within the tomato. It also regulates photosynthesis in the plants, which also contribute to the production of sugar. This protein can be found near the stem and also tends to delay the reddening of the tomato skin. So all those nice red tomatoes in the supermarket contain either less or no GLK proteins, meaning the tomatoes taste bland. Yes. So if you see a nice evenly red tomato, smell it. If it has no smell, it will also have no taste.

Now comes the frightening part.

It’s not just in the United States. It’s all over the world! Indeed, researchers tested over 25 commercial tomato varieties from all over the world. Every single one of them contained the genetic switch mutation. None of them had any decent quantities of the GLK protein.

"The mutation they describe in their paper is in literally 100 percent of modern breeds sold in grocery stores today,"

-Harry Klee, a molecular geneticist at the University of Florida, Gainesville

Even Ripening

Just like the genetic switch to make tomatoes easy to ship, a genetic switch was found to make them ripe evenly.

As stated previously, commercial tomatoes are selected for uniform ripening. It was discovered early on that shoppers would select the ripest and reddest tomatoes in the grocery store. People bought red tomatoes. They shied away from green tomatoes, and tomatoes with imperfections. People came to associate red tomatoes with ripeness and large quantities of sugar. This is what happened, even though that is not what was actually happening.

Today, unripe (commercial) tomatoes are a light green color that turns into a uniform red when ripe. This is how it is with the breeds today. However, this was not always that way.

Heirloom tomatoes grew differently. When they ripen they do not do so evenly. They often have a dark green coloration near the stem even when the fruit is fully ripe. This is the secret to flavor. This top area of the tomato is known as the shoulders. It is what makes the tomatoes tasty.

It is the green shoulders on tomatoes that help develop the nice flavors and sweet tastes of tomatoes. — Green shoulders on tomatoes are what makes them taste good and sweet. It is too bad that this feature has been bred out of commercial tomatoes.

The big problem, and the reason why it was genetically bred out, is that green shoulders make it harder to tell when the fruit is ripe and ready to pick.

Shoppers and grocery stores were often unhappy with green shoulders. That is, until 1937. In 1937 a “miracle tomato” appeared. This tomato, called “All-red” had the curious ability to ripe evenly. It was bred at the North Dakota State University Agricultural Experimental Station. The “All-red” tomatoes ripened to a bright uniform red with no green shoulders. This trait was called the ‘uniform ripening’ trait. It revolutionized the world of tomatoes and was immediately incorporated into all of the commercial tomatoes worldwide.

Yah. But like any horror movie, there are tradeoffs that you need to confront.

The so-called ‘uniform ripening’ trait avoided green shoulders by turning off a very important and key tomato gene. This gene, known as SIGLK2, increases chloroplast production in the tomato plant. Chloroplasts make energy through photosynthesis. They also turn tomato fruit a darker green. They ripen more evenly, which makes them more visually pleasing to consumers, and it’s easier to tell when they’re mature. This trait is governed by a cluster of genes called the “uniform ripening locus” or simply “u”. But…

But…

These chloroplasts to tend to make the important stuff. They manufacture sweet sugars and yummy carotenoids. In fact, the non-commercial tomatoes; the heirloom tomatoes receive 25% of their sugars from the chloroplasts in the fruits and 75% from leaves. So surprise, surprise! Those green shoulders on tomatoes are actually a good thing. They are a visual indicator that the tomato has more carbohydrates and more flavors. By breeding out the green, growers were breeding out the flavor.

Ignore the Vine

Today’s commercial tomatoes ignore the vine. The tomatoes are not permitted to ripen on the vine, which as everyone knows, is the best way to enhance flavor in fruits and vegetables.

Instead, they are picked green and stored in the dark. In order to give them that nice uniform red color, the unripened green tomatoes are gassed with ethylene. This is a nice trick that modern farmers use. It is a way of painting the tomatoes a red color without using red paint. The ethylene gas reacts with the tomato skin. When gassed, the tomatoes develop a red coloration. Which is, of course, the appearance of ripening.

Store bought tomatoes are not ripe. They just look like it. Real tasty tomatoes are vine ripened. Vine ripened tomatoes develop more sugars and thus more flavor.

Finally, all (if not most) commercial tomatoes are usually refrigerated. Refrigeration damages both fruit flavor as well as texture.

Full of Water instead of Volatiles

Aside from the tasty sugars, modern tomatoes were bread to be full of water. The volatiles were bred out of them. The key to a good tasting tomato is the volatile compound. This is a chemical that easily becomes a gas and therefore can be smelled. It is the volatiles, which are sorely lacking in most mass-bred tomatoes. They are a primary source by which a tomato acquires its sweet taste.

Now, the stores that sell the tomatoes, and the farmers that grow the tomatoes do not care at all about the taste. They want the biggest and heaviest tomatoes possible. That is because the heavier the tomato, the more money that they can sell it for.

Once a truck is loaded with tomatoes at the farm, the buyer of the tomatoes weighs the truck with and without the tomatoes. The difference is the weight of the tomatoes. The heavier the tomato, the more money the farmer makes.

This is a case of bigger is better. So the breeders turned on a combination of genetic switches that turned off volatiles, and bred the tomatoes to be water containers.

Volatiles were bred out of most store-bought tomatoes. Instead of volatiles, water has become the dominant component. What this means is that not only do mass-produced tomatoes don’t taste very good, but they don’t have as much nutritional value either.

There are six major volatile compounds that add the important flavor to a tomato. This was identified by Harry Klee, a biologist at the University of Florida. In research, he and his colleagues identified six volatile compounds that work together to impart better taste in a tomato. What is most interesting is that they do not particularly create sugars. Instead, these compounds add a sweet taste to the tomato without adding sugar.

Klee, experimented with 100 tomato varieties with 13 panels of 100 people. Each one rated each tomato according to taste and sweetness. The researchers used a technique known as gas chromatography to vaporize the tomato samples and sort out their molecules. This resulted in a list of chemicals and their concentrations within each sample. It was through this study that they found out that chemical compounds known as volatiles are very important. Volatiles are released as we chew and trigger a response in the olfactory system, contributing to overall taste sensation. By comparing the consumer panels’ tomato preferences to their chemical profiles, the team came up with a list of 13 chemical compounds strongly linked to likability.

Surprisingly, much of that taste came from the volatile compounds and not from sugar. Klee found that the volatiles, working through sensors in the nose, convinced the brain that a certain tomato was sweeter than another. Thus, when a tomato has both volatiles and natural sugars, the taste in a tomato really pops out.

Unfortunately, volatiles have been bred out of all the commercial tomato varieties.

Today

Today all of the commercial tomatoes no longer make sugars in the tomato meat. They get them from the leaves. They are unable to make their own sugar because the SIGLK2 has been disabled. They have no taste because they have no volatiles. They produce less carotenoids than heirloom tomatoes. This means that they have no interesting flavors (sweet or not sweet). Commercial tomatoes have less carbohydrates, less carotenoids, no volatiles, and less sugar.

But they do look better.

Tomatoes were bred to be bland and tasteless. — The ideal tomato from a vintage advertisement. Nice big, plump and red with no green shoulders, no imperfections, and no taste. (Image source.)

Enter the Busybodies

Much as I hate to say it, there are a number of busybodies that want to destroy the chances of you (the reader) ever getting to eat a “real” tomato. The EU, out of Brussels wants to ban it. Leaving everyone in the EU stuck with eating cardboard tasting commercial GMO “improved” tomatoes. They have come up with excuses to justify this decision, but as you should know by now, there are reasons and then there are true REASONS for doing anything.

In America, certain liberal progressives are out at it again. They too want to ban Heirloom tomatoes. According to Jane Black, commercial tomatoes taste just as good, if not better, than the heirloom tomatoes. Of course, I disagree. I think it is because I have a greater appreciation of food than those busybodies. But, you know, it’s only my opinion. Ah, but what else would you expect from WaPo? Eh?

Modern tomato compared to the "improved" progressive tomato. — Modern tomato compared to the “improved” progressive tomato

Ah, like all busybodies, they have their excuses. However, like all busybodies, they tend to keep their real reasons secret…

What Can We Do?

The first thing that I would suggest is to start ordering and planting heirloom tomatoes at home. In the summer, stop buying them at the grocery store. Every chance you get, complain to the grocer and the manager of the vegetable section how terrible the tomatoes taste and that you refuse to buy them. If enough people do this, perhaps we can one day reverse this deplorable situation.

I buy mine off taobao. The link will take you straight to the tomato seed section. Remember that one USD dollar is around 6.3 yuan. So take the cost and divide by six to figure out how much the seeds cost in dollars.

I am curious what others think about this. Perhaps you too have noticed that store-bought tomatoes taste like water filled baseballs. Maybe there are people who have grown their own tomatoes and have some hints on how much better they are. Maybe there are people out there in internet-land who, like me, also love the tomato sandwich. Come on. Don’t be shy.

I would also like to know about your tricks on planting seeds. We cannot buy tomato sprouts here in China, and I am just having a real dickens’ of a time trying to get them to grow. I’ve followed everything recommended here, and here, but they just sort of never make it past germination. Right now, today at the time of this writing, I have a plastic egg container filled with chicken poop with various Chinese heirloom seeds in it. I keep them moist and in the sun. It’s been ten days, and still no sprouts. Why?

—UPDATE—

It turns out that seeds in China are all coated with a plastic paint. This prevents the seeds for germinating in hot and humid weather. You need to scrub the paint off prior to planting the seeds. You let the seeds soak in warm water for around ten hours, and then you rub the paint off. Then once the paint is off, you can then plant them.

—END UPDATE—

It’s a tough world out there, and tomato lovers need to stick together against the onslaught of tomato haters, busybodies, and the armies of ignorant fools.

I believe, and I say, there are certain things that we need to fight for. These things are important to us, and we need to draw a line in the sand. I say that if we cannot have a tasty tomato, then what is the point of eating them! Gosh Darn It!

Conclusion

One of my all-time favorite things to do, in the summer, is to enjoy a tomato sandwich. This is a very simple affair. It is just a big slice of a big juicy “Big Boy” or “Better Boy” tomato between two slices of plain white sandwich bread and gobs of Miracle Whip salad dressing.

Unfortunately, tomatoes have been getting less tasty over time. Initially I didn’t notice it so much. But when you taste a “real” tomato and then experience a “commercial tomato” the difference is astounding. Look, I don’t just mean “Hey, that’s a pretty tasty tomato.”, I mean “WTF! WTF! Holey Heck! What is the Friggin’ heck going on with this tomato! “ It is that noticeable.

Bacon really enhances the flavor of a tomato sandwich. — Talk about Heaven on Earth! How about properly cooked bacon on rye bread, with fresh heirloom tomatoes, with salt and pepper and Miracle Whip . Yum! (Image Source.)

Those that have written about this phenomenon tend to down play the significance. They shouldn’t. It’s a serious issue.

While I might joke about the millennials who want a utopia where unicorns prance about on fields of clover in the bright sunny light, I too wish for a perfect life. However, my idea is a much simpler one. I dream for a nice fresh heirloom tomato sandwich on Miracle Whip slathered bread and an frosty cold bottle of a good golden beer. I can only pray that this becomes a commonplace reality.

There is Hope

From an article from Sci-News;

Tomatoes are one of the most eaten vegetables — although they actually are fruit botanically — with a worldwide annual production of 182 million tons, worth more than $60 billion.

U.S. tomato consumption per capita was 9.2 kg (20.3 pounds) for fresh tomatoes in 2017 plus an additional 33.2 kg (73.3 pounds) of processed tomatoes eaten per person. They are the second most consumed vegetable in the United States after potatoes.

While cultivated tomatoes have a wide range of physical and metabolic variation, there have been several severe bottlenecks during its domestication and breeding. This means today’s tomatoes have a narrow genetic base.

The tomato pan-genome helps identify what additional genes beyond the reference might be available for crop breeding and improvement. It includes all of the genes from 725 different cultivated and closely related wild tomatoes, which revealed 4,873 genes that were absent from the original reference genome.

“The pan-genome essentially provides a reservoir of additional genes not present in the reference genome. Breeders can explore the pan-genome for genes of interest, and potentially select for them as they do further breeding to improve their tomatoes,” said co-lead author Dr. Zhangjun Fei, a researcher with Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research and the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service.

“One of the most important discoveries from constructing this pan-genome is a rare form of a gene labeled TomLoxC, which mostly differs in the version of its DNA gene promoter,” added co-lead author Dr. James Giovannoni, a molecular biologist with Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research and the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service.

“The gene influences fruit flavor by catalyzing the biosynthesis of a number of lipid-involved volatiles — compounds that evaporate easily and contribute to aroma.”

In addition, the researchers found a new role of TomLoxC — it facilitates production of a group of apocarotenoids that work as signaling molecules influencing a variety of responses in plants including environmental stresses. The compounds also have a variety of floral and fruity odors that are important in tomato taste.

The rare version of TomLoxC was found in only 2% of older or heirloom cultivated large tomato varieties, although the version was present in 91% of currant-sized wild tomatoes, primarily Solanum pimpinellifolium, the wild predecessor of the cultivated tomato. It is becoming more common in newer varieties.

“It appears that there may have been strong selection pressure against or at least no selection for the presence of this version of TomLoxC early in the domestication of tomatoes,” Dr. Giovannoni said.

“The increase in prevalence of this form in modern tomatoes likely reflects breeders’ renewed interest in improved flavor.”

The results are published in the journal Nature Genetics.

_____

Lei Gao et al. The tomato pan-genome uncovers new genes and a rare allele regulating fruit flavor. Nature Genetics, published online May 13, 2019; doi: 10.1038/s41588-019-0410-2

Take Aways

Tomatoes are a fruit.
Tomatoes taste like a vegetable because the sweet taste was bred out of them.
The reason that tomatoes taste this way is due to greed.
Mast people, and science agrees, that heirloom tomatoes are tastier than commercial tomatoes.
Liberal progressives in the EU and America want to ban tasty tomatoes.
I like fresh tomato sandwiches and icy cold beer.

RFH

How about a Request For Help? I tire of busybodies and statists who poke fun at the ideas and theories of others. They offer no constructive dialog. Rather they just make fun, ridicule, and then scurry under a rock.

I use this forum as a way to disseminate some of the things that I learned though my years of life. I like to talk about things as I have experienced them, and I am always willing to listen to what others have to say. (Though when it comes to tomatoes, I do have some very strong opinions.)

So, if you, the reader, were so interested, I would welcome your stories. Tell me how you came to love tomatoes, and how to grow them. Tell us your secrets on getting the sprouts started, because that is one thing that I am having a very difficult time doing. Tell us all how you use them, and why you think that it is just “OK” to ship and sell cardboard tasting tomatoes in stores. Share with us your theories as to why the EU is trying to ban any seeds that are not being used by the top food-producing mega-corportations. Share with us, because we want to know.

This is my callout, to you the reader, to assist all of us in solving these mysteries. After all, this is a far better use of the internet than for looking at Justin Bieber videos.

FAQ

Q: What is a “heirloom tomato”?
A: A heirloom tomato is a tomato variety that was NOT bred for mass consumer sales and distribution. As such, it was bred for taste, appearance, and smell. Because heirloom tomatoes are difficult to pick and ship for the mass market, they are seldom found in grocery stores. They can (for the most part) be obtained by growing them yourself by planting seeds.

Q: What is the history of the tomato?
A: Tomatoes originated in South America near Peru. They have been bred over the years as a consumer product. As such, they are now treated as a vegetable instead of as a fruit. This is because the sweetness and volatiles have been bred out of them. They are used in the most important food dishes in America; the pizza and hamburger.

Q: What is a tomato festival?
A: A tomato festival is a place where people display and sell their own (often non-commercial) tomatoes. These are various home-developed heirloom tomatoes. It is an excellent place to sample different types of tomatoes, chat with other tomato lovers, and buy and trade tomato seeds.

Q: Why do you like beer?
A: Icy cold beer tastes great after a long hard day of work and labor. It relaxes you. It lets your tension go away, and it tastes really, really good with fresh heirloom tomatoes. (Oh, so does wine, but you drink it differently. Hillary Clinton is a big Chardonnay fan. I can’t fault that, she does have good taste in wines. Though I am a dry red wine fan, myself.)

Q: Can I drink wine with a tomato sandwich?
A: Let me say this clearly. Tomatoes taste good anytime, anywhere, and prepared in any way. Wine goes great with just about everything. Hillary Clinton is a big Chardonnay fan. I can’t fault that, she does have good taste in wines. Though I am a dry red wine fan, myself.

Q: How do the Chinese eat tomatoes?
A: The Chinese people love tomatoes just like Americans do. They use the tomatoes for all sorts of dishes, but the most important one is the “tomato with egg” dish. This is an AMAZING dish that every single American who has visited China has fallen in love with. It is not what you think; just scramble eggs with tomatoes. No. You prepare the tomatoes with some special spices and then mix in eggs. It is glorious!

Q: What is the best use for a tomato?
A: I think that the best use for a tomato is to eat it. I really don’t think that it can compete against the rose as a decoration. When eating it, I would suggest that it be picked off the vine fresh. I do prefer vine ripened tomatoes. A good tomato tastes great just as is. I often add a pinch of salt and pepper for flavor, but that is just me. If you need to add sugar, then you know that the tomatoes you are eating are a commercial variety.

FR Posting

This article was posted on free Republic on 5AUG18. You can read the comments HERE.

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America is going through a period of change. Change is good… that is, after it occurs. Often however, there are large periods of discomfort as the period of adjustment takes place. Here are some posts that discuss this issue.

What is planned for American Conservatives - Part 2

What is going to happen to conservatives - Part 3.

What is planned for conservatives - part 4

What is in store for Conservatives - part 5

What is in store for conservatives - part 6

Stories that Inspired Me

Here are reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that are nearly impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a personal library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome to come and enjoy a read or two as well.

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A Comparison between American and Chinese Playgrounds

Chinese playgrounds are different from American playgrounds. They are fundamentally different. In China the playgrounds are designed to instruct while children engage in play. In America playgrounds are designed to be safe at all costs. Here we take a look at the two differences in intent.

USA = Safe at all costs.
China = Designed to teach, instruct while having fun.

When you live in another country, you cannot help but make comparisons from your “home” country and your new home. Some of the comparisons are sad, while others are hilariously funny. While some just cause you to simply shake your head. I personally think that when you step out of your home country and experience another reality, you can more clearly see the benefits and the faults of where you have come from.

These comparisons can be stark and astounding.

There are many things that we can compare. In this article, I would like to compare playgrounds. Because, after all, all children learn through play. Play is the “work” of children. A “playground” is an environment, set up by the community to help the children play. It is designed, or at least was initially set up, for “free range” unaccompanied play.

Let’s take a look at playgrounds…

Children Need to Play

The great Fred Rogers once made a statement that play is the work of children. He was absolutely correct. Children learn things rapidly when they are interested. The key to holding that interest is to involve play. Often that is some kind of role-play.

Boys enjoy construction, fabrication, organization, animals, military, hunting, searching, hiding, running, jumping, catching, hitting, practical jokes, and individual play. Girls might also enjoy these things, but they do seemingly have interests in home organization, cooking, fashion, childcare, animals, and group play.

This observation is true no matter what country where you live. You will find young girls playing with dolls in the Sudan, China, Argentina, and the United States. You will find boys playing sports, and military games all over the world. You know, they all also seem to have a fascination with heavy earth-movers and building things.

“This may seem old-fashioned, but there are skills to be learned when kids aren’t told what to do,” said Dr. Michael Yogman, a Harvard Medical School pediatrician who led the drafting of the call to arms. Whether it’s rough-and-tumble physical play, outdoor play or social or pretend play, kids derive important lessons from the chance to make things up as they go, he said.

The advice, issued Monday by the American Academy of Pediatrics, may come as a shock to some parents. After spending years fretting over which toys to buy, which apps to download and which skill-building programs to send their kids to after school, letting them simply play — or better yet, playing with them — could seem like a step backward.

The pediatricians insist that it’s not. The academy’s guidance does not include specific recommendations for the dosing of play. Instead, it asks doctors to advise parents before their babies turn 2 that play is essential to healthy development. It also advocates for the restoration of play in schools.

“Play is not frivolous,” the academy’s report declares. It nurtures children’s ingenuity, cooperation and problem-solving skills — all of which are critical for a 21st-century workforce. It lays the neural groundwork that helps us “pursue goals and ignore distractions.”

When parents engage in play with their children, it deepens relationships and builds a bulwark against the toxic effects of all kinds of stress, including poverty, the academy says.

-Doctors Orders

Play is based on Interest

Without interest, the child will soon be distracted and go off elsewhere. The key to early learning is interest. It is important.

If left alone, a child will find things to play with. They always do. Their interests will generally depend on their gender. (Uh oh! Sound the alarm! politically incorrect statement here!)

That means one of two genders for all of you confused millennial’s out there. Here’s a quick review for those who are confused. It should have been taught to you in elementary school, that is if you were too stupid to figure it out for yourself.

Boys have a penis.
Girls have a vagina.
Humans with a mixture of both are known as a Hermaphrodite.
Boys with a penis that identify themselves with female interests are known as Homosexuals.
Girls with a vagina that identify themselves with male interests are known as Lesbians.
Anything outside of these five conditions is very, very rare. They are what is known as an “Ambiguous Gender”, and are typically treated as someone with a medical disorder.

Now, as far as children goes, there are many exceptions to gender roles.

Some boys like to play house. Some girls like to fight and play war. Many like to do both. The point is that children like to play. If left alone, they will start playing with things in regards to their interests.

Just like you. In fact, exactly like you.

If a boy wants a book on space, don’t force him to rent a book out of the library on butterflies. (Here’s a shout out to the poor kid in Melbourne, Florida who’s mother wouldn’t let him read about rocket ships, and gave him a book on butterflies instead. True story, this.) If a girl wants to read about the latest fashion, don’t make her read about hunting deer.

This should be obvious stuff. A measure of how low our culture has sunk is evident in that I need to explain this most basic premise out.

I remember a post written by a young millennial (on Tumblr) who was upset at her sister. Apparently, her older sister was raising her girls in a more or less traditional manner. She gave them dolls, let them play house and have “tea parties” and dressed them up cute. This upset her younger sister; the young millennial.

When she was asked to “babysit” the girls, while her sister was out, she sprang into action. This was her opportunity. Or, so she thought. So in order to “reverse the damage of gender indoctrination” she bought some toy trucks for the girls. Then she took away the dolls that the girls were playing with. Then after giving the toys to the girls, she let the girls play alone in their room.

An hour later, she went up to check on the girls. She found them there in their room having the time of their lives. They had put the toy trucks to bed (in doll beds) and were reading bedtime stories to them…

The Purpose of an American Playground

Remember when playgrounds were fun? Sure, there was a pretty good chance you’d be scalded by a hot metal slide, or walk away with tetanus, but that’s what memories are made of.

The ground wasn’t coated with soft recycled rubber or sand as most are today – they were asphalt. Remember being hurled from a spinning merry-go-round, then skidding across the gravel at full speed? Good times.

I remember my school playground had a metal ladder “wall” that I swear went up three stories – it didn’t connect to a slide or anything. It was literally a ladder to the sky. I remember fully believing the oxygen was thinner at the top. One false move and I’d have been a flesh colored stain on the asphalt.

We are making playgrounds so safe that they actually stunt our kids’ development. So, while blood was spilt and concussions were dealt on the playgrounds of the 1970s, we were at least in a developmentally rich environment – and we had the bruises and scabs to prove it.

-8 Reasons Children of the 1970s Should All Be Dead

A playground is an area set aside for “free range” unsupervised play. At least that was the initial intention. Today, there are all kinds of playgrounds. Some are supervised, and some are not. Many have benches for adults to sit on and watch the children (at least in the United States they do). China always has places to sit down, as it is usually the grandparents who end up watching the children.

Playgrounds in the past had many elements no longer present. (Well, as far as American playgrounds, that is.) They had “monkey bars” (a construction of bars that children can climb on), “seesaw’s” (a device to move up and down with a partner), “merry-go-rounds” (a large spinning disk that children can push and experience centrifugal forces with), and “slides” (a large structure that a child can slide down on).

The children of the 1960s loved to climb and scramble upon playground monkey bars. This not aonly permitted them to indulge in pla, but excerised their muscles and enabled them to experience life with their peers. — Children playing on Monkey bars during the 1960s. They really loved climbing and scrambling on the bars. It was a source of play and amusement.

Playing on Monkeybars (Image Source.)

The elements each provided an element of play. In making the playgrounds safer, these “dangerous” elements were removed, and no adequate replacements were substituted. In America today we have playgrounds without these critical elements. They are boring and bland.

They are sterile.

History of American Playgrounds

In the old days (about 100 years ago around the time of the Great Depression), every community seemingly had a playground. These playgrounds consisted of “monkey bars”, swing sets, seesaws, and other simple outdoor childhood entertainments. Typically, they had sand at the bottom of the metal (and often concrete) structures to mitigate any cuts, scrapes or broken bones. There was sand at the bottom of the monkey bars, sand at the bottom and end of the slides, and sand below the swing sets.

1900 style American playground — Old American playground around 1900. Only the strong survived recess, obviously.

Photo from Colorbot. Original photo from大昔の子供の遊び場がやばい.

You can read about the history of playgrounds elsewhere. There are some great articles about how playgrounds got started in the city of Boston. As well as how they got started in Chicago , San Francisco and New York City.

Playgrounds become quite popular as a means to keep children off the roads and out of trouble. The advantages of play were obvious, but I am certain, given secondary importance. Back in the day, children were allowed to go out and explore and play. The idea was to create places to keep the children off the streets. Which ended up benefiting everyone. As such, the development of playgrounds continued apace. This continued into my parents’ generation and mine as well. However, over time, the playground equipment became more standardized and mass-produced.

My mother routinely left me alone in the car at a young age while she ran errands. Today, this will literally get you arrested. You see, once upon a time it was okay to leave your kids for long periods without supervision (remember the so-called “latch-key kids” of the 70s?), or let them free roam without constant surveillance. Today, parents won’t let their kids go out to get the mail alone, and any fun with friends has to be scheduled, closely monitored “play dates”.

On summer break or weekends in the 1970s, parents kicked their kids out the front door and didn’t let them back in until the sun went down. “Go play,” were their only words, and you were left to your own devices for hours upon hours. Neighborhoods looked like Lord of the Flies.

-8 Reasons Children of the 1970s Should All Be Dead

This is an American playground in the middle 1960’s. Note the colorful slides, swing sets, and happy children.American playground in the 1960s with slides and swing-sets. (Image Source.)

Though there were efforts that were still made to make them interesting. In Ridgecrest, California, the playground was designed to look like spaceships and a place of adventure. That was the theme in the nearby China Lake military research center. In Hattiesburg, Mississippi, there was a playground that looked like a pirate’s ship. The children could climb up high to the “crow’s nest”. These were not isolated instances. Many communities “dressed up” their playgrounds around themes.

This lasted up until the mid-1980’s.

By the time the 1980’s rolled around, there were numerous small community organizations formed to make playgrounds “safer”, and “better”. These “improvements” resulted in making the playgrounds nice, safe, and very boring. The idea was safety at all costs. Sometimes there was a secondary attention given to exercise, but in all cases there was zero attention to the idea of imaginative play.

For instance, slides became lower. Instead of two stories high (16 feet) during my parents’ generation, and one story high (8 feet) in my generation, they now became four feet high (4 feet) or eliminated altogether. The images on a Google Image Search now apparently show an average of two foot high slides. (16 feet to 2 feet!) “Monkey Bars” became smaller and lower to the ground, if not eliminated completely. Even seesaws and swings became smaller. These “improvements” were welcomed by all the (over) protective parents in their respective communities.

There was only one problem.

The structures were boring and did not challenge the children. They were instead suitable for mentally retarded and handicapped children, infants, and overweight mothers.

My gosh! Children should be challenged while in a safe environment, not coddled until they become an adult.

“…today’s default playground (is the) “the McDonald’s model”: an unchallenging, standardized unit of tunnels, slides, and decks.

“Things like taking risks, learning to fail, learning to master something, to plan ahead, to develop deep friendships, none of those could take place on most playgrounds today.”

- Susan Solomon in “The Science of Play: How to Build Playgrounds that Enhance Children’s Development” as quoted by Ruth Graham, 28MAR14, in the Boston Globe.

Many people in the United States resent what has happened to playgrounds. They yearn for a “simpler time” when children could just go out, run, sweat, climb, play games, and just be a kid. All without breaking some law, or rule.

Most Americans think that just because this trend of playground safety has manifested in the United States that it has manifested everywhere else. (Afterall, the United States is the cultural “leader” of the world…don’t you know.) At least that is the impression that Ruth Graham has. She made the statement that playgrounds in the United States are the same as those in Thailand. But she is quite wrong.

Playgrounds in other nations are NOT sterile and designed for retarded toddlers. They are robust and designed for active children to play in.

All animals like to play, like dogs and cats do. — All animals like to play. Dogs and cats like to play just like children do.

All children, kittens and puppies like to play. (GIF Image source.) Here’s a dog for you cat-haters out there…

Play is important to all creatures, big and small. — Dogs and cats like to play. In fact, everyone likes to play. When we are young we enjoyed ourselves and pretended what it would be like when we grew up. Play is an important part of learning and our personal development.

I strongly believe that children, like cats and puppies, should be encouraged to climb, fight, sing, dance, and do other tasks that involve a moderate level of risk. Playgrounds, like everything else, should be permitted to have some moderate level of risk. It is better to climb in a park near your house than on a mountainside hours from a nearby hospital. If you catch my drift.

“When the first public playground guidelines from the Consumer Product Safety Commission arrived in the early 1980s, the classic playground’s fate was sealed.

By the 1990s, the height and size of new equipment shrank, climbing opportunities disappeared, and guardrails were installed everywhere imaginable. “There’s not as much that’s challenging,” said Colorado photographer Brenda Biondo, whose photographs of classic American playgrounds form the basis of a nostalgic forthcoming book titled “Once Upon a Playground.”

“They’re taking out swings in a lot of places, which is really sad.” Biondo’s book documents now-vanished implements like “stationary jingle-rings” and “giant waves,” plus tall slides and seesaws, prone to cracking kids on the head. Sand itself, the foundational element of those first playgrounds in Boston, fell victim to disability-access regulations and paranoia over junkies’ needles and general dirtiness.

American playgrounds had become dull and homogenous, geared to toddlers more than athletic older kids and dominated by uniform models from catalogs.”

- Ruth Graham, 28MAR14, in the Boston Globe.

Today, there are playgrounds in America. However, they are sterile affairs. They are not stationary toys that children can play upon. They are but arrangements of metal that are called a “playground”, but are anything but that. They are not places where children can play. Compared to playgrounds in the 1960’s, which was full of screaming and running happy children, the playgrounds of today are mostly empty and unused.

Playgrounds in The United States today – Safe

American playgrounds are perfect for handicapped children and imbeciles. American playgrounds are safe at the expense of play. — Safe American playground is suitable for the most incompetent children and retarded idiots that America can produce.

A safe modern American playground. Image Source.

In America today you can find many playgrounds. They have been made “safe” for children. There are no hard surfaces. Nothing is high or tall. There are no moving parts. Though they are typically painted in delightful colorful colors.

Indeed, many of the things that used to be a part of playgrounds in the past are now absent. There are no “monkey bars”. There aren’t any slides, merry-go-rounds, or seesaws. If you are lucky, you might be able to walk up some wheelchair adaptable steps to a two foot height. There are no moving parts. There isn’t much there to inspire creativity. In fact, there really isn’t much of anything there to do at all.

Keeping the picture above in mind, let’s have a look at playgrounds in China…

Playgrounds in China Today – Play

In China, play is considered an important part of childhood development. They use the techniques of play to teach, for education is the most important aspect of a Chinese child’s life.

Unlike the United States, Chinese schools don’t have playgrounds. Instead, they have open areas for group sports and exercise. Most Chinese live in urban areas. In the urban centers, playgrounds tend be located in the most frequented areas; inside the malls and town centers.

While in America, malls have vaporized along with the American middle-class, in China they are quite popular. China has a very robust middle-class. Many malls have playgrounds inside for children to play upon.

Chinese playgrounds are designed for fun. They teach and inspire in equal measure. Yes, this is a Chinese playground. There is a lower age limit. Toddlers can only play if accompanied with a parent.

A modern Chinese Playground (Image Source.)

I was reminded of this by an event in a local park here in China. There were some children (five and six year old) being taught repelling and climbing skills by a small group of instructors. It turns out that many malls and store complexes in China have these huge climbing complexes of ropes, and netting that children are permitted to go “nuts” over. They are very popular here and are well maintained and monitored. They also offer excursions in local mountainous parks.

If you are ever in China, I would strongly advise all parents to utilize this resource. Don’t limit your child’s development to what the neighborhood busybodies think is appropriate. (They really believe that they have the power over your children. Go to the busybody central; Kid Safety Network.)

While these complexes do not have the kind of seesaw’s that we grew up with as children, they have similar devices with similar purposes. Only this time it is more like a big top that a child or group of children can get inside and toss and spin about in. Monkey bars have been replaced with a network of ladders, ropes, steps on ropes, tires on ropes, and woven tunnels hanging five stories high for the children to play about in.

Children are permitted to be safe while playing in Chinese playgrounds. — All Chinese playgrounds are supervised to allow the children to play in safety.

All Chinese playgrounds are supervised. Image Source.

All Chinese playgrounds have supervision. There are always workers who are paid to make sure that safety is maintained. This does come at a cost, though the cost is small and quite reasonable. The children must wear protective gear and harnesses so they will not fall to their death from six stories up.

The Chinese provide their children with a fine place to climb and explore. Sure there is an element of risk, but there are trained instructors and safety harnesses and helmets provided. Compare that to a modern American playground. There simply isn’t any risk. There isn’t any opportunity to explore and have adventure. It is typically in one or two colors, it consists of a few fences and railings, and some stairs to climb up. It is also very safe. It is the opposite of what is available in China.

The differences between the two playgrounds.

The differences are stark. But, don’t just take my word for it. Just compare the product offerings from playground manufacturers in China to those in the United States. You can see what they make and who they market to. The reader should note that American companies tend to market domestically almost exclusively. While Chinese manufacturers market their products internationally.

Just follow the links and be amazed.

China Playground Manufacturers

• Henan Jianpei Industrial Development Company Ltd. (A personal favorite.)
• Hunan ZhongYi Amusement Equipment Co., Ltd. (For pre-school children.)
• Guangzhou Kira Amusement Equipment Co., Ltd.
• Vasia Huaxia Amusement Co. Ltd.
• Changzhou Warrior Outward Bound Appliance Co. Ltd.

Indeed, this is pretty amazing stuff. Climb ropes and and networks of cages suspended from above, then slide down multi-story rides! Can you imagine? Slide down five story tall slides! Get lost in huge wire baskets, and swing from monkey bar complexes that tower up into the stratosphere! Wow!

Fun for kids of all ages…

The companies in China make their products and ship all over the world. That is, almost everywhere EXCEPT the United States. Other nations, not only China, let their children climb, have fun, and play. However, in most instances, the Chinese companies just doesn’t bother to ship to America. I wonder why?

United States Playground Manufacturers

• American Playground Company
• American Parks Company
• Playworld

Here you can find the makers of the playgrounds that are made for American cities. You will find nice soft surfaces, small and safe slides, a couple of grab bars, lots and lots of hand railings, and some nice safe steps to walk on. Many of them have a platform that is over two feet high that children can stand on. Whoo Hoo!

Let’s face it. Today American playgrounds are pathetic.

Why American Playgrounds became so pathetic

It all began in 1978. Jimmy Carter was president. (But, it really wasn’t his fault.)

An 8-year-old boy by the name of Frank Nelson was playing on a slide in Chicago. He fell and hit his head and the fall resulted in some very serious injuries. The damage resulted in brain damage. It paralyzed his left side and cause speech and vision problems. He also needed to wear a helmet. The attorneys for his mother settled out of court. As such, he was awarded a minimum of $9.5 million (and possibly as much as $29.8 million if he eventually lives to be 75.)

It’s a pretty sad situation. Accidents do occur, and children can get hurt or die. When I was in fifth grade a classmate died when he fell into the ice covered river. My first wife’s uncle died when he was seven. He too fell into the ice covered river. It was something our community knew well, as every five years or so, a child would die under the ice in Winter.

Anyways, back to the child in Chicago…

As a result of this, the city of Chicago decided to tear down all the (so named “tornado”) slides in the city. (This was the mechanism which contributed to the accident with the small boy. They also decided to generally make the playgrounds safer, as they could not afford too many expensive lawsuits.

This settlement, of course, caused a chain reaction.

A tidal wave of lawsuits began the plague the nation. After all, attorneys made BIG money on these kinds of lawsuits. My attorney (when I lived in California) got 90% of any “out of court settlement”, and 60% of the settlement if we took it all the way to court. It was a great racket in the 1980’s, and it still is today.

The lure of big, fast and easy money was seductive.

Attorneys started to look for ways to sue various cities, and there were all kinds of people who wanted to make quick easy cash. Accidents that normally wouldn’t be reported now became national news. For instance, there was the 5-year-old Michigan girl who was strangled on a slide in January when the drawstring from her coat became tangled in one of its bars. In 1988, a 10-year-old Washington, D.C., boy suffered brain damage after falling from an 8-foot climber onto the asphalt below. He was awarded $15 million, which is believed to be the largest settlement of its kind.

To prevent this, many cities started to take preemptive action. They began to make the playgrounds so safe that no one could ever get hurt. They started to ban everything from tires on a rope to slides. They didn’t go six sigma. They went infinity sigma! It’s “zero tolerance” run amok. It was safety at all costs. Who cares about fun. Who cares about child growth. Playgrounds must be SAFE!

Busybodies to Erase Play

Enter an army of busybodies who have one goal in mind; change the purpose of a playground from creative play into a “safe space”. Consider the American organization NPPS, which stands for the National Program for Playground Safety. Their objectives are many, but primarily are directed to reengineer playgrounds so that they are safe for children.

The only problem with this is that there are no thoughts given to the purpose of a playground.

Safe at the expense of play pretty well defeats the purpose of a playground.

You can make claims that the modern American playground designs improve motor skills, and help exercise various muscles. That is all fine and good. However, no one will be exercised if the playground is not utilized. The number one ingredient missing from American playgrounds is something that fires up the imagination of children. Without creative imagination, play is not possible. Without play, there can be no benefit of any playground no matter how carefully it is designed to provide physical exertion.

Here’s how it works…

• Children learn through play.
• Play requires creative imagination, not direction.
• Spaces or places that inspire creative imagination are magnets for playful activities.
• They used to be called “playgrounds”.

This reminds me of a similar progressive initiative by former presidential wife Michelle Obama and her “School Lunch Program”.

Here she mandated healthy food choice for all American children as dictated out of Washington, D.C… Yah, it was healthy, and good for you. However, there was one real problem. No one ate it. The students would get the food and then throw it away without even eating it.

You would think that the damage would be obvious by now.

Who really wants to play on one of these monstrosities?

Ah, but the busybodies are not stopping. There is an entire army of busybodies that wants to bleach out play from playgrounds. They want short, safe and boring locations where children can be parked and not worry about them getting hurt.

In a way, I kind of feel sorry for these people. They mean well, but they can’t understand the basic ingredients necessary to utilize a playground cannot be removed. You need things that inspire and assist in PLAY.

What happens to a cake if you try to make it without flour?

You make it exactly to the ingredients in the recipe, but instead of flour you substitute ground up dog food. You follow the directions on the recipe. You take the “cake” out of the oven. Is it a “cake”, or is it something else? What if you omitted the eggs all together? What if you used orange juice instead of milk? All cakes, regardless of the type, require eggs, milk, flour and sugar.

Playgrounds, regardless of where it is located, should inspire the imagination of children. It should allow them to run, climb and exercise at will. It should also be safe so that MOST children (not ALL children) won’t get hurt. It is after all, a PLAY-ground.

Failure to provide for these needs have created the situation that the United States has found itself in today. We now have playgrounds where “free ranging” play cannot be inspired.

Organizations Against Playgrounds as places for Play

There are numerous (American) organizations involved and concerned about playgrounds. Some, to my disdain, want safety at all costs. Others see the folly in this absolute. They are trying to come up with means and balance. Others are searching for alternative playground options, and how to regulate them out of existence. While still others are trying to introduce some foreign playground ideas on to the American scene. Here are some other related organizations that are trying to figure out what to do about American playgrounds.

They include;

• American Alliance of Health
• Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD)
• Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI)
• National Association for Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
• National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA)
• National Safety Council (NSC)
• Safe Kids Worldwide (SKW)

I am sure that everyone in these organizations has good intentions. That is not the point. The point is that you should NEVER make changes to any plan, program or structure that detracts from its overall purpose. What is the point of safety if children can’t PLAY in a playground?

The point is you can design a car that is so safe that no one is ever killed. You know how? You remove the wheels and let it sit in the driveway. How often do you think that people will use that car?

Employment Opportunities

Today in America, you can become a certified playground inspector. That is correct. Your job is to make playgrounds sterile and bland of fun. It is all done in the interests of saving the city from frivolous lawsuits. I think the prune face, long crooked nose, and pointed black hats are optional.

Other Places & Other Ideas

One of the problem with us, and I mean all of us (myself included), is that we tend to only look at what is right in front of us. We fail to think of alternatives. You, the reader, know this is true. Honestly, have you ever thought about making a playground out of ropes and woven baskets before? Nah. I didn’t think so. Instead, we have a tendency to think of playgrounds in the traditional way. We fail to look at it in other ways.

We need to look at playgrounds as a [1] safe place for children, to [2] play using their imagination.

If we open our eyes just a little bit we can see how other nations, and other peoples, provide opportunities for their children to play. While some of the ideas might seem too dangerous for our American sensibilities, I tend to believe that we have become far too fearful of a nation. We need to let children play on their own a little bit. We need to let them go out and PLAY.

Here are some ideas of things done right elsewhere in the world…

Junk Playgrounds

When I was growing up, I played where I was. If I was in a playground, I played on the things that I found there. This included “monkey bars”, and “swings”. If I was climbing though an old abandoned building, I ended up playing with the junk that I found there. If I was in the woods, I would play in the trees and bushes that grew there. Children will pay with anything. They key is that you need to provide them a safe place to play in.

Enter the concept of “Junk Playgrounds”. Here, an area is set aside full of junk and discards so that children can play in and about it. It’s a great concept, and the children absolutely love it. Here are some great links to get your ideas flowing…

• “Junk playgrounds” show the value of free play for kids (Video)
• The Junk Playground of New York City
• Is this the perfect playground, full of junk?
• Junkyard or playground paradise? Kids making their own adventures
• Emdrup Junk Playground
• Mobile Junk and Nature Playground
• ‘Junk’ playground The Land, Wrexham inspires US guests
• Where The Wild Things Play

Nature Playgrounds

Why play with junk when there are beautiful trees to climb, brooks to splash in, and meadows to run upon? There is a movement that believes that nature can prove elements of creative play just as well as any formal or structured playground could. Of course, this idea did not originate in the USA. To follow this train of thought and explore these opportunities for childhood adventure, one must look outside the USA prism.

I am specifically NOT referring to sanitized ultra-safe American style playgrounds that are dressed up to look like trees.

I am specifically referring to real parks and areas that are designed for children to play in. Some are nothing more than rustic versions of the ultra-safe American playgrounds. I suggest a little bit of risk, a lot of nature and a safe central area for access.

Here are some great links;

• Nature playgrounds designed around plants and wood.
• The All-Natural Playground
• Westminster welcomes hub of tree houses in new nature playground
• Earthplay – Provides resources to build your own nature playground

What can you Do?

Many of us, well we sit back and just accept things as they are. We argue, “Hey that is the way things are and there is nothing that I can do.” But this is very wrong. This is “wrong-headed” thinking. There are many things that you can do. There are many levels of engagement.

1. Look at what kinds of playgrounds are near you. Are any of them actually being used? If so, then how? We need to look at playgrounds from the prism of both safety AND fun.

2. Find out who is responsible for the playground. This might be something as simple as talking to the town board in your community, or the people who actually own the property that the playground is on.

3. Talk to them. Do not be some kind of radical who demands everyone change everything immediately. Suggest minor (and I do mean minor) changes to improve it. If it is not safe, improve that aspect of it. If it is not fun, then concentrate in that aspect. Remember the goal is to make playgrounds BOTH safe and fun for children to play in.

4. Concentrate on a balance. The tomato at grocery stores today taste like a cardboard box because it was bred to ship like a cardboard box. No one paid attention to the taste of the tomato. In a like way, by concentrating on safety at all costs, you lose the primary purpose of a playground; individual imaginative play. Strike a balance on having both elements at the playground at the same time.

5. Ask for help. Sometimes you cannot do things alone. Yet there are many others who might want to work with you. Let them.

6. If you hit a blank wall, go your own way. Create your own park / playground. Do it your way. There are many “experimental” types of playgrounds that are designed for interaction with nature, or pile of junk or anything in between. Do your own thing; your way. Then tell us about it. Do not be shy!

7. Remember what it was when you were a kid. I well remember spending hours playing in the nearby stream. I remember what it was like to climb trees. Maybe that is all you need is a place with lots of trees to climb and a sign that says “kids can play here and climb all they want”.

8. Beware of the busybodies. They will try to threaten you, and try to get your involved in the fear of legal action. Put up disclaimers and protect yourself. If you have the financial resources, organize neighborhood monitors to keep things safe.

9. Do it your way. Finally, and above all else; don’t follow what other people do. DO IT YOUR WAY!

Take Aways

Here are some important points that need to be underlined;

Playgrounds should be places to inspire children to play.
An accident in Chicago, and the judicial failure to put limits on the monetary awards, resulted in a sterilization of all American playgrounds.
America has altered playgrounds to be safe at the expense of play.
Other nations do not follow the United States model.
In China, playgrounds are set up quite differently.
America needs to redesign playgrounds to fit the purpose for them.
It is profitable to make playgrounds sterile and boring.
Anyone can make their own playground.

RFH

How about a Request For Help? I tire of busybodies and statists who poke fun at the ideas and experiences of others. They offer no constructive dialog. Rather they just make fun, ridicule, and then scurry under a rock.

I use this forum as a way to disseminate some of the things that I learned though my own personal experiences. I am not the best person in the world, indeed, I am quite faulted. The best that I can do is share my opinions about things that interest me, and flavor it indirectly with my unusual understandings.

So, if you, the reader, were so interested, I would welcome your stories about how playgrounds are beneficial. I would welcome any stories about playgrounds in other nations. I would welcome a discussion on the positives and the negatives of playground design. I would welcome ideas on new ideas, construction techniques and ways to stimulate a child to be involved in creative play. I would welcome stories about creative and useful playgrounds that you have encountered. I would welcome thoughts on things that children would like to play with.

This is my callout to you, the reader. I am sure that you have some stories or ideas that can help pull us out of the big “tar pit” that playgrounds have become. Please feel free to comment.

FAQ

Q: Are American playgrounds safe?
A: Yes they are.

Q: Can people get hurt in playgrounds?
A: Yes, they can. However, most serious accidents at a playground are extremely rare.

Q: Does China have playgrounds for children?
A: Yes they do. They have different types depending on the age range.

Q: Is it ok to allow children to play in playgrounds unsupervised.
A: Yes it is.

Q: What are the differences between Chinese and Americans in playground use?
A: The Chinese train their children to take risks. They make sure that the children are trained and instructed properly. They then provide opportunities for the child to use the skills learned. Once they have demonstrated competency, the child is left to fend for themselves. In America, the child is continually supervised. They are not trained, nor instructed. They are also not expected to make decisions on their own.

Q: Does childhood playgrounds influence Chinese culture in America today?
A: It is an influence, among other factors. In general, the Chinese parent expects their child to learn, and then apply what they learn. Playgrounds are used as a controlled location for the child to explore and utilize their learned skills.

Q: Is the Chinese American lifestyle similar to the Chinese lifestyle?
A: It is similar, but there are notable differences. The Chinese child is permitted much more freedom than their Chinese American counterpart. Both are expected to learn and work hard to achieve very high goals and parental expectations.

Q: Do the Chinese in America today prefer American or Chinese playgrounds?
A: I really do not know. However, I would be very surprised if any Chinese American parent would forbid their child to play in a Chinese playground. It is viewed as a learning resource. It is not considered a place of play

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Mad Scientist Explorations

Now what do you suppose this Mad Scientist is up to? Image source.

As a young boy, I dreamed of being a “Mad Scientist”. At that time my imagination was fueled by Vincent Price movies, the gadgets of “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”, and of course the reading of “The Mad Scientist Club”. Later, as I grew older, I actually had opportunities to work in laboratories, work in top-secret facilities, and design and cobble together all kinds of curious and interesting gadgets. I think that it is a yearning of most boys to build, create and utilize inventions. Let’s take a look at this underappreciated need…

Vincent Price and His Movies

To people today, the name Vincent Price is meaningless. However, to children of the 60’s and the 70’s the name had meaning. For these were the movies that played during lazy Saturday afternoons, and during late night scare-fests. Vincent Price was more than just an actor, he was a legend. He, in some ways, defined a generation of children. He introduced us to monsters. He introduced us to the evils of man. He introduced us to ideas and concepts that were not taught to us in school. He introduced us to B-grade movies and the “Mad Scientists” the inhabited them.

“The Professor is working on something, and won’t tell anyone what it is. He’s got a secretary with the kind of attitude that makes it seem she was weaned on a pickle, and who looks a bit like a gene-spliced offspring of an elderly Betty Davis and Vivian Vance. To make this comparison more apt, her character is called “Ethel.” To make things even more spooky, the actress’ real name is “Viv!” “

-SATURDAY AFTERNOON B-MOVIE CRAPFEST: “The Phantom From 10,000 Leagues” (1955)

This actor was quite a significant player in my boyhood. His movies, aside from “The Abominable Dr. Phibes” and “Dr. Phibes Rises Again” were just typical horror / Science Fiction flicks. (Maybe it’s because I had crush(es) on his amazing assistants.) The movies were easy on the eyes, and fun for a ten-year-old boy to watch.

Vincent Price made many movies during the 1960's and 1970's, and his Dr. Phibes series were amoung his best. — One of my favorite Vincent Price movies was the Dr. Phibes series. Here he is with one of his pretty assistants.

It wasn’t only Vincent Price who participated in those movies. There were many other actors, yet they all shared a basic similarity. The laboratories were all seemingly set in basements, often with hidden or heavily bolted doors. Behind those doors were often evil experiments. One movie might have evil Hitler Nazi’s being woke up from cryogenic sleep, while another might have brain transplants. Some were involved in the reanimation of the dead, while others involved the creation of strange huge machines that would revolutionize or destroy the world.

Indeed, the role of Nazi’s in these movies was quite significant. For instance, you have King of the Zombies where zombies are used to conduct Nazi operations against the United States. There is The Frozen Dead where a scientist reanimates frozen heads of Nazi war criminals to revive Third Reich. There is They Saved Hitler’s Brain where Nazis in South America kidnap scientist to maintain living head of Adolf Hitler in order to revive the Third Reich. In Shock Waves we have an Island-shipwrecked party who encounters former SS commander leading zombie storm troopers. Yikes!

This theme continued with The Boys from Brazil where a Nazi hunter discovers doctor’s plot to revive Third Reich by cloning Hitler in Paraguayan jungle. Death Ship where a Nazi prison ship sails the seas since end of war luring unsuspecting victims aboard. Not willing to give up on this theme, we also have such movies as The Keep. Where the German Army and “Einsatzkommandos” occupy Romanian citadel with demonic forces.

Dr. Phibes movies were very popular Vincent Price movies during the 1970's. — There were two Dr. Phibes movies. Each one used a different assistant. I was in love with both. Yikes! Image credit to Metro Goldwyn Mayer for their promotional photo.

The underground lairs always involved some kind of nefarious laboratory. Inside there were always these big clunky switches that took your entire hand to pull down or push up to engage. In the dark corners of the lab were always these arc generators with bolts of electricity shooting through the air. (I believe it was there to keep the air nicely ionized for personal health and longevity.) There were always counters full of glass vials, beakers, and glassware filled with colorful liquids percolating away over lit Bunsen burners.

These movies were inspirational in that they led a boy, such as myself, to believe that a single lone individual with a dream can make it happen. Oh sure they were portrayed as villains. However, I am quite sure that the reason was because they just weren’t very well understood. You know, each and every one had a reason, which in their mind was just and good. All that you need to do is learn science. Study hard. Focus on your dream and apply yourself.

All you need is a dream, and to study and apply yourself to make that dream happen.

The Mad Scientist Club

The Mad Scientist Club is a series of stories (and books) written in the 1960’s which fueled the imagination and adventures of us children in the 1970’s. (The son of the author has a website. You can visit the website HERE.) These stories inspired me. They inspired my dreams and led me down the path towards technical excellence.

The book cover to the Mad Scientists Club. — The cover from the first book of “The Mad Scientists Club”. This is a classic book for all young children entering their early teens.

The boys in the stories used science to create all sorts of pandemonium and mayhem in their little town. They applied themselves to using science to make devices and gadgets. They played pranks. The books showed how a boy could engineer a device from techniques that they learned in school. They made balloons, talked on ham radios, devised electronics, and they did it all on their very own.

The beauty about all this was that they never asked for help or permission. They took the initiative and did it on their own. They applied themselves.

Indeed, these stories are special. But, don’t take it from me. Read what others have to say.

“This is the best kids book ever.

… In a way it saddens me when I re-read it. I don't think our kids today have as much freedom as these did (or my generation). I remember staying out until dark, riding my bike EVERYWHERE, clubhouses on vacant lots...Or maybe it's responsibility. Kids today have freedom but little responsibility. I'm getting off my soapbox now. but this is a cool book and it will make your kids fall in love with science. I imagine the Mythbusters grew up like this- or maybe their dads did!! ”

-Holly commentary on the book. Found at Goodreads.

I am afraid that Holly is correct. American children (and adults) don’t have as much freedom as we all used to. (It’s our fault, you know.) These books are for kids and inspires them to accomplish things through study and action. These books are not about getting a group together and finding a group consensus. It’s not about how to cautiously speak so as not to offend anyone. Nope. It is about getting things done and raising hell in the process.

It’s books like these that inspired many of us to study science and engineering. It certainly affected me. It also affected others. I am not the only one who studied about rockets and space…

“This was simply a great childhood book for any inquisitive kid who likes science, haunted houses, dinosaurs, flying machines, etc. I read this book in about seventh or eighth grade and actually a couple of times since. I believe this book helped me on my career to being a rocket scientist but it also gave me many ideas as I was growing up.

Brinley managed to capture the perfect mid-west US town and the guys in the book were great caricatures of fun loving, science minded boys with a bit of good natured mischief up their sleeves. Then Brinley took this setting and boys and produced a series of wonderful stories capturing so many things that so many boys growing up find so intriguing.

I bought a copy recently for a nephew and he was enraptured by it. The follow-ups while good never really reached the level of this first book but were fun in their own right. It will always hold a special memory of growing up back in the '60s.”

-Robert commentary on the book. Found at Goodreads.

He’s right you know. The stories certainly inspired me.

I like to think that there is inspiration in stories where you find adventure, freedom and independence. These are things that are absolutely missing in the modern realm of politically correct stories. Which, by the way, is a very important point. By following a “Politically Correct” narrative, you retard the growth of young boys. To paraphrase Clint Eastwood, you turn men into pussies.

“We live in more of a pussy generation now, where everybody's become used to saying, "Well, how do we handle it psychologically?" In those days, you just punched the bully back and duked it out. Even if the guy was older and could push you around, at least you were respected for fighting back, and you'd be left alone from then on.”

-Clint Eastwood

A parent has a responsibly to PREPARE their children to venture out and grow. They need to go forth and carve a life out of the wilderness. But that is not what is happening today. Instead we have children that never leave the nest. Young men, in the United States, live at home until they are in their 30’s. Instead of investing their time in building, workings, making, and creating, they are too busy looking at cat videos on the Internet while they post their latest latté on Facebook. Boys must be taught to aspire to be Men, not to be a woman’s version of a sensitive man.

Pussies.

No amount of tattoos, unique hair or beard, or cool urban clothing style is going to make you into a Man. It comes from within. Education alone won’t do it. Money and wealth won’t do it. Polite conversation won’t do it. It comes from inside. It comes from deep down inside. It comes from a place that says “you can, and must do what you need to do”. You don’t ask for permission, or consensus. You go out and carve your life out. Alone.

By clutching on to your children like over protective mothers, the children don’t grow up. Physically they might age, but the brain and the emotions are still that of a young child. How else can you explain the SWJ mentality that demands a protective overseer? Which is what they want, you know. They demand to be coddled and taken care of by a big parental government Bernie Sanders style. Because, that is all that they know. They don’t know how to be independent. We don’t teach that anymore.

These books break us out of that mold…

“A gem. Almost unknown; but one of the most hilarious and memorable laugh-out-loud books you could ask for. It's never mentioned by anyone; it's never recommended, placed on book lists or chosen by reading-groups. This just might be because it's a series of books, which represents a 'philosophy-of-parenting’, which has fallen out of favor. That's my suspicion, anyway.

I mean, just think about it. These stories are about kids who are unmonitored; who are allowed to just go off on summer afternoons and hang out on their own; and do whatever they want.... because they are trusted by their folks. Today, this is the last thing parents want to hear. No one in today's control-freak, micro-managing America wants to imagine that children can be trusted like this.

Books for very young children ('Little Prince' or 'Giving Tree') are in abundance on Goodreads. They're sweet and harmless. There's also a new genre called 'YA' ('young adult'). But guess what? They're all very sanitary, careful, cautious, and timid. Antiseptic. Content-supervised and Content-controlled. They always instruct youngsters on the 'correct' thing to do, the 'sensitive' thing to do, the 'courteous' thing to do...blah blah blah.

'Mad Scientists' is different. Instead of caution, the author praises problem-solving, solidarity, daring, and initiative. It's a book written for kids illustrating how NOT to follow the rules. It’s a book, which shows that rules are made to be flouted.

These stories are from a time when today's endless complexities and anxieties just weren't around. It’s a book that deals with kids just... having fun. I say, there need to be a LOT MORE books like this.

The gang of boys in Brinley's tales are pre-teens; somewhere between 11 and 14. This is a strange interval in a boy's matriculation, when they need to figure out a lot of things about life (and it’s also a time when adults have the least relevant advice to offer). This is the space Brinley plays in: the theme of personal responsibility.

Teens NEED to create a few genuine catastrophes in order to learn the weight of 'cause' vs 'effect'. 'Intention' vs 'outcome'. 'Actions' vs 'harm'. They need to learn the ins-and-outs of friendship and loyalty and paying-one's-dues.

The 'Mad Scientists Club' (this is the name carved on their clubhouse door) demonstrate these themes grandly. These young scamps are precisely in that age where you learn how to make a mess and how you clean it up afterwards. By yourself!

The crazy scenarios which afflict these affable 'troublemakers' reminds us--should remind everyone-- that this process can be fun. Making mistakes and learning from them. The best way --nay, the ONLY way--to shape character.

Far cry from today, huh? Yeah. Today, we don't let kids have 'secret clubs', 'hideouts', codewords, or 'mysterious friends'. We don't let them play with equipment or tools. They must not 'wreck' anything of ours. They're certainly not allowed to 'gallivant all over creation' (love that phrase).

Modern parents are rule-mongers and control freaks. When our kids want to play, we take them to 'Sesame Place' and we monitor their nutrition and we deck them in flashing sneakers and put them in helmets and on leashes. We place them in soccer, swim class, softball, karate, dance, gymnastics.

The result? Modern kids have no idea what real 'freedom' means. We never give it to them. They turn out to be vegetables.

But Brinley's kids show the other way it can be done. This boy's club makes their own fun. They don't 'ask for permission' to do stuff--they just do it! They embrace wildness, zaniness, and unpredictability. The outcome? Well, they aren't brought up on charges from the Department of Homeland Security, for the trouble they cause. That's for sure. This is a part of small town-Americana we've let slip away.

Just one example: in one of the adventures undertaken by the Mad Scientists, they build their own hot-air balloon (using scraps from a local junkyard) and they enter it in the town's annual homemade hot-air balloon race. With no adult supervision at all. Once aloft, (!!) they engaged in an air-battle with their arch-foes and fire potato-cannons and slingshots back'n'forth in mid-air. Finally, they manage to send the enemy gang's balloon into the lake! Can you stand it? I can't friggin' stand it, can you?

This book reminds us that children used to be perfectly capable of taking care of themselves if we let them...if we weren't all scared out of our wits by molesters and semi-automatic weapons and drugs and porn and stalkers and computers, we'd still remember the kind of America found in this hilarious read. It's to our shame that we can't.”

-Feliks commentary on the book. Found at Goodreads.

Let me simply posit this; to all those men (not to intentionally exclude women, but I am a man addressing myself to other men) who have made something of their life. Maybe you are a barber, a motorcycle mechanic, a car salesman, or a cook, isn’t it true? To make it in this world, you need to stretch your neck out. You need to take risks, bend the rules a little. You need to apply yourself.

Book cover from the New Adventures of the Mad Scientist club. — The cover to the book “The New Adventures of the Mad Scientist Club”. This is the sequel to the first book. It is also good, though personally, I really prefer the first book overall.

Those times when life got tough, did you go and get permission? Did you go and ask for consensus? Did you politely ask for others opinions, or did you just go out and do whatever it took to achieve your goals? Was it easy? Nope, I’ll wager that it was hard, or at least uncomfortable. You might have to make sacrifices. Right? Right???

Part of the need to accomplish these tasks were goals. These goals were like this golden orb that lay there, just out of reach that you needed to obtain. You would work towards those goals. You would keep those goals in mind while you fought and persevered. A goal might be a car. A goal might be the love of your life.

A man is nothing without a goal.

A goal might be something more honorable and important, like saving the world. As everyone can’t be an evil villain like George Soros. Or, a wealthy trillionaire like Bill Gates. Someone needs to wear the mask of a hero…

Speaking of heroes…

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

In the 1960’s, most Americans were worried about the “Red menace”; Communism. Yikes!

Here, in pockets around the globe, progressive socialists had gotten control of various governments and were implementing progressive social “utopias”. This included the Soviet Union, “Red” China, Northern Vietnam, Cambodia, North Korea, and other socialist paradises.

In these utopias, everyone lived in a progressive liberal society.

In these nations, in these societies, everyone was equal. There wasn’t any racism. Everyone knows what they can speak about and what they dare not say. Everyone wore approved clothing so not to offend anyone. Everyone conformed to society for the good of all. All they had to do was give all their possessions, body and soul to the all-powerful central government…

…and the citizens were quite miserable as a result.

Ah, but that didn’t stop them from expansion. They were out to take your (American) freedom away, don’t ya know. They sent out spies, and agents of destruction. As a result, we had to set up spy networks to counter their spy networks. We had to be ever vigilant against the evil of liberal progressive socialism. This meant a network of trained and motivated experts.

Enter “The Man from Uncle” where a special force of well-trained agents went to fight the roots of the evils that manipulated governments. Because, while we were all busy fighting the “Red Menace”, the true evils laid hidden, for they were the REAL levers of control behind the scenes.

Here, the secret agency (named U.N.C.L.E.) went to fight a very sinister agency that was set on destroying the global world order (named T.H.R.U.S.H.). In many ways it is sort of a cross between the Clinton’s financial network and the George Soros organizations.

The Man from Uncle television series. — The Man from Uncle was a television show that united the cold war foes into an organization that would fight the “Deep State”. For it was recognized then, as well as now, that the “Deep State” was the source of all the ills that befell Mankind.

Against this backdrop were groups of evil villains. For, after all, there are more powerful people than well-established individual nations.

These villains would form their own networks of confederates and together they would implement all kinds of mischievous and dangerous activities. Movies and shows about this emerging phenomenon were everywhere in the 60’s. We have secret agent James Bond fighting all kinds of evil doers like Doctor No.

Evil has no borders, and calls no nation home.

We had agent Flint saving the world from militant feminists who were hell bent on depose the ruling American patriarchy with a feminist matriarchy. Ah, Mr. Flint. There were others, of course. We had Alec Leamas, Joe Turner and Harry Palmer.

We also had television shows like “Get Smart”, “I Spy”, “Mission Impossible” and “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” as they battled T.H.R.U.S.H..

As a boy I would watch The Man from U.N.C.L.E. with my father. He would sit there with his wine and cheese wedges, and I would eat my potato chips while we watched television together. For me the shows were all black and white, but that was because at the time our television was a black and white TV set.

My father liked the main character, Napoleon Solo while I preferred his Russian counterpart Illya Kuryakin which reminded me of the singing group “The Beatles” who were quite popular at the time. We would watch them operate in secret, while fighting the equally secret evil organization T.H.R.U.S.H.. Of course, they had all these secret codes, interesting devices, gadgets and inventions. As a boy, I was quite enraptured by them. I would imagine what it would be like if I too were a secret agent, using these contrivances and fighting evil to save the world.

What better thing for a young boy to aspire towards?

Prank Central

However, as exciting as it all looked, my attention was elsewhere. For I was young, and boys like being mischievous and playing tricks. It’s a boy thing I suppose. (I just don’t remember any girls doing these types of things. Though, I am quite sure that they were involved in more cerebral activities playing “head games” with other girls.) Boys like to see the physical results of their torment. They want to see girls react in horror to a toad. They want to light firecrackers outside people’s bedrooms, and set bags of dog poo on fire on people’s porches.

Advertisement for toys and gadgets inside a vintage comic book. — When I was growing up, we would find these types and kinds of advertisements inside of our comic books and magazines. They would be full of all kinds of fun things to amuse a young child.

I remember as a boy how we had somehow come across a gadget catalog that was advertised in the back of one of the comic books that we would often read. You know the kind. Pages and pages of things like magic tricks, pranks, books on Black Magic, fake (pellet shooting) fingers, trick buzzers, masks and ”pea shooters”. As a kid, we loved it and wanted everything. We must have circled over a hundred items in that catalog.

I think that it is an interest of growing children to expand and explore these tricks and devices of prankster humor. Too bad that the days of yodeling pickles are long gone. Indeed, you need to leave the ultra-sanitized United States to find some politically incorrect playthings for your child to enjoy.

…Or, do you?

Let me introduce the reader to the Archie McPhee store.

This is the kind of place that is a young boy’s wet dream. Inside the store (physical as well as the Internet version) are absolutely enormous assortments of useless pursuits. They’ve got boxing nuns and bacon scarves. They’ve got yodeling pickles and finger hands. Don’t know what a finger hand is, well then go HERE to find out. They have stuff that only a madman could think of.

“Less talk. More monkey.”

How about rotisserie chicken flavored candy canes, emergency inflatable toast (why?), rubber chickens (big and small), and propeller beanies. Ah we all wanted one of these as a kid. They have trick gum, Holy toast, and bags of busted businessmen. They carry x-ray glasses (yes, you wanted these didn’t you?) and hypno-glasses, wind-up lederhosen, and strange action figures to include horrified movie victims. They’ve got everything from plastic arks, to singing fish. It’s a childhood delight. This store brings out the little kid in all of us. It’s many things, but above all, it’s the go-to place for plastic poop.

I just can’t stop! It’s such an amazing place.

“If there’s a heaven for the deranged, Archie McPhee is probably it.”

-Josh B in Seattle

How about vinderhosen, an emergency Santa kit, crime scene sandwich bags, and classic disguises. What about underwear for your pet squirrel, inflatable turkey (again, why?), and contemporaneous prayer cards. Here is probably the only place where you can find cool World War II occupation money. How about medical posters from India, they’ve got religious themes, cat themes, food themes, mad scientist themes, and themes that defy description. I am not at all kidding!

The Archie McPhee store in Seattle. — There is a store in Seattle. The rest of us are limited to visiting their (most comprehensive) website.

Do yourself a favor. Let your child buy something from this store. Give them ten dollars to spend, and wait while they go back and forth, back and forth deciding what to buy. It’s all in good fun.

Build your Own Gadgets

When the children are old enough, or for you adults that just never grew up (like me, heh heh) there are outlets for obtaining the tools and supplies to build your very own mad scientist lair. Over the years I have bought from these various outlets and cobbled up some pretty interesting gadgets. In the past I have made such things as television bicycles, remote control automobile deactivators, electronic snooping equipment detector, remote control devices for insects, and all kinds of household appliances.

Here are some of my favorites;

McMaster-Carr

If there was ever a catalog for inventors it is this. It has everything from hardware to materials (that can be bought in small quantities). To use these parts, you will need to have an idea of what you want to build. Then you go through the catalog to find parts or components that you can use. It is wonderfully, and functionally illustrated. Additionally, most of the parts have PDF drawings, and CAD drawings that you can export to your CAD system and made up on the computer. I, of course, highly recommend it.

“The best way to describe McMaster is to say that they carry everything you need to build anything. Items that you could normally only order through factory distributors, or materials that could only be ordered in large quantities, are easily available in any size and quantity, no matter how small. (No minimum order, either!) Their prices are excellent and they tend to only carry good merchandise. Amazingly, when I order stuff at 5:30 p.m., it arrives the next morning with their normal shipping. Their catalog has long been difficult to get because you had to be a reasonably sized business with a Dun and Bradstreet number and established credit to have them mail it to you. But now that they have added an online service, everyone can easily order from them with a credit card.”

— Alexander Rose

As a point of curious interest, they used to have a large thick catalog in a bright yellow cover. I used to keep an old catalog, I think it was #93, in my bathroom and would spend my time looking through all the cool stuff while I was on the throne attending to my needs. As I stated previously, this is the go-to-first catalog for emerging Mad Scientists.

Mc Master Carr Catalog — If you have an idea, a concept, a gizmo that you want to build; well Mc Master is your first stop. It is where I go to get the parts I need to cobble together designs and make specialized parts.

Science Hobbyist

When I was a boy, I used to read the Scientific American magazine. In the 1960’s the magazine was appropriate for most people, including myself, interested in science. (Then during the 70’s and 80’s they just became another mouthpiece for the professional elite in the ivory towers in universities. The articles became too specialized and dry for casual reading.)

Anyways, back in the 1960’s the magazine had a section titled “The Amateur Scientist” which was a wonderfully illustrated section describing how a hobbyist can make their own gizmos and gadgets to explore scientific principles with. This website is sort of the modern day equivalent.

A page from the Scientific American section titled The Amateur Scientist. — Here is a sample page from the section in Scientific American titled “The Amateur Scientist”. Just by reading the articles I believed that I too could make my own scientific experiments and inventions.

This site “Science Hobbyist”, should be your first stop if you want to begin cobbling up devices, and making interesting stuff. For starters, I would suggest this section on projects to start a project or two that you might be interested in. You can go HERE to find out some projects for practical jokes. You can go HERE for some really strange projects (after all that’s what Mad Scientists do). This should be a starting point for Tesla coils and other interests such as lasers and infrared goggles.

Radio Shack

When I was growing up, Radio Shack was THE place to get parts and supplies for all sorts of cool stuff. In fact, when I was in High School around 1974 through 1977, it was almost the ONLY place where you could get computer parts and accessories. Indeed, around 1977 they cornered the PC market with nearly 100% market share.

Of course, poor management caused that market share to fall like a rock, and the CEO was sacked a few decades alter when the market share was under 1%. I wonder why that won’t happen to those in charge of the Federal Reserve. Oh, but I digress…

Anyways, Radio Shack has these cool little books and booklets called “The Engineers Notebook”, which is sort of a “cookbook” for playing with electronics. You can cobble all kinds of cool things together using the easy to read instructions and diagrams. Want to make a countdown times for a self-destruct button? Want to make a bug to listen on to what others are saying? Want to make a gadget to shock your friends? All here. Go for it…

The Art of Electronics

Speaking of electronics, if you are really interested on playing around with electronics, then don’t go for a boring text book. Go for a text book that was written by an enthusiast. Read “The Art of Electronics“, and get the LAB book as it is amazing!

"Far and away the finest book on the subject of electronics ... in the last decade. I cannot recommend this book highly enough to anyone whose research or experiments require some electronics." 
Optical Engineering

"A delightful book...The circuits actually work, the schematics are all readable." 
Review of Scientific Instruments

"This book is filled with a tremendous diversity of valuable information. More importantly, this book is a joy to read...It's not at all like studying--it's too much fun." 
EDN (News Edition)

"This book provides a painless way to learn about electronic design. It is also a good read for those already experienced in electronics." 
EDN (Magazine Edition)

"..it comes as close as any book we've seen to fulfilling the promise inherent in its title...written as though to educate the novice, but practicing engineers will encounter many useful tidbits they didn't know, hadn't thought about, or had long forgotten." 
Analog Dialogue

This book was written as a joy by someone who took a real pleasure in cobbling things together. It is super easy to read, and very interesting to boot. If you have the slightest interest in electronics, you will totally relish this tome.

The Art of Electronics. Here is a stack of the various editions by a fan. Trust me, if you love cobbling things together, then you WILL become a fan.

Websites to DIY Gizmos

In the internet today, it can become pretty daunting if you do not know the correct “buzz words” or Google-approved code words to use in your searches. If you are not careful, you will be sent to websites that are nothing more than product stores offering cool geeky products, but nothing that would interest a true Mad Scientist.

Well, never fear. Here are some FUN links;

Make electronic circuits on paper! And they work!
Hack-a-day (I especially like their rail-gun projects.)
40 epic cool geeky DIY projects
DIY Electronics (Make your own cool geeky stuff from kits.)

Normally, I really do not like many of the websites on the internet. Basically, you have some millennial who constructed a website for profit. They googled similar terms and packaged it in some kind of “hipster” presentation of the day. It’s all packaged nonsense for a profit.

What is missing is HEART. That is to say; websites written by people who LOVE… LOOVVVVEEEEE the subjects that they are writing about. They can go on and on and on about them. Sort of like me and what I like to write about. For instance, HERE is a website that has some heart. That is different from these other websites…

The people who made up these websites don’t eat and drink and love gadgets and gizmos. It’s just a job to them. They are setting up a business model and their plan is to create an income stream off of it. Never the less, they DO have some benefit, if they can help point you in the right direction.

Go visit these two sites, and you will see what I mean…

How to get started in DIY electronics projects (Um, worth a a look. Check it out.)
Another “how to get started” website. It has some promising things here.

Supply Catalogs

There are many places where you can get parts for your inventions. The best place is at companies that specialize in the purchase of excess inventories at factories. You can pick up radar dishes used on military ships, the inner workings of laptops, and all kinds of stuff for a mere fraction of what it costs to make. There are stories galore about these places. One man in Canada used military surplus to open up dimensional doors. Another used the equipment to build a personal submarine. While still another blew up his garage by pressing the wrong button. You got to be careful, don’t ya know.

Electronic Goldmine

This should be your first stop when looking for cheap parts, and orphaned mechanisms to use in your creations. You can find things from cameras used in cell phones to robotic parts here. The only problem is that most of the parts do not come with instructions or schematics. However, a little bit of experimentation and simple observation can help determine what goes where and how. I especial like the “grab bag” of who-know-what that you buy really cheap…

Surprise box of parts from the Electronics Goldmine. — Surprise box of parts from the Electronic Goldmine.

I once took a sensor board used for checking microwave leakage from appliances, it cost me a dollar, and turned it into a bugging sensor. You know, all electronics emit radiation. So, this little device was able to go over a wall or automobile and find out where electronics are. Heh heh. Another time, I took a speaker and turned it into a low frequency generator that I used to attract fleas with. (It was more sanitary than a bug bomb.)

Surplus Shed

Here is another website that offers surplus stuff. It has a different set of products and some are quite interesting indeed. You can make a pretty impressive telescope from the parts here. They mostly seem to carry things related to optics. This site is very good if you want to fry an ant’s nest.

American Science and Surplus

There are other places on the Internet from which you can order amazing things. May I also suggest another very interesting store, the American Science and Surplus store. It’s most especially good for young boys and girls who have a mad scientist interest. Here are a mixture of chemistry sets, military surplus, industrial surplus, jokes and gizmos, and just plain strange stuff. You can make your own chewing gum. You can grow crystals. You can make all kinds of liquids and potions that glow. You can start on rock collecting, or get started making mechanical gizmos. Explore and have fun.

This would be where you can get toys and gear for your growing children. There are all kinds of scientific goodness here.

Fair Radio

This website, Fair Radio, is a great source for used military electronics and equipment. It’s really not the place to purchase parts to cobble up designs. It is the go-to place to obtain things related to really big projects. I once knew someone who bought the laser rangefinder out of a tank from them. Their stuff can be quite eclectic. With all kinds of things ranging from mine detectors to weather balloons. Never the less, it is worth a look.

Aircraft communication and radio station. — There are all kinds of interesting things that you can buy, as long as you know where to go.

I once lived in an apartment in Milford, Massachusetts. It was an old Victorian mansion renovated into six apartments. I really liked the place, the location and the convenience. That was, unfortunately, until a section eight family moved in and had the entire neighborhood over for all night teenage parties to six in the morning. You know, it’s one thing wanting to help out low income people, but it’s another thing entirely when your rent is very large (because you work) and your neighbor gets a much larger apartment and pays nearly nothing for it (because they don’t).

Ah… Welcome to Massachusetts.

via GIPHY

For some reason, our new neighbors decided to host teenage parties in the apartment. (I remember knocking on her door at 4:30 am asking them to turn the music down. The woman looked at me in a daze and asked “Oh, you need to work tomorrow?” It was only Monday night, for Pete’s sake!) Anyways, teenagers could come over starting at 9pm and play basketball inside the living room. (On the wooden floor, in the firggin’ living room.) They would crank up the music to level that made it impossible to think, talk on the phone and sleep. They would do drugs; typically smoke “crack” that would fill up the entire house with smoke. When the parties would get large, over thirty teenagers, the noise would be excessive, and police would come. They would break up the parties. Book the juveniles, and arrest the tenants. The peace and quiet would last one or two days, and then it would repeat. It was a nightmare.

It was really a problem, and the laws in Massachusetts could not do anything about it. My landlord couldn’t do anything either. Once they moved in they refused to pay rent, and the State protected them for six months until they could be forcefully evicted. (What a scam, huh? You get someone to take you in. No financial deposit. No first, lasts rent and security deposit. Just a paper from the welfare office. You don’t pay rent, and you can’t get evicted. It’s legislated squatting.) The youth and their instigators were protected. They were starting to break the windows in our vehicles parked outside, and were engaged in all sorts of hyperactive activities that were too rowdy for a quiet neighborhood. I could not sleep. When I would arrive at work, I would be sleep deprived, and terribly irritable. After about two months of sleepless night, I took matters in my own hands. I devised a contraption to put an end to their rock concerts.

I took a furnace igniter from Fair Radio, and placed two long wires in it. Then put the device on a five-minute timer starting at 10:30 at night. (After 10:30 it would turn on and off in five minute intervals.) The result being that I had a device that was an unshielded electric arc generator. I made a Jacob’s Ladder. (How to make one can be found HERE.) Being unshielded meant that all their loud electrics would get fried by noise. Thus when they blared their music, after five minutes a horrible howl full of static would assault their ears and blow out their speakers.

The first time it was used was amazing. It was wonderful. W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L. There must have been sixty teenagers (60) next door. There couldn’t have been anywhere to stand inside. Kids were crapping and urinating outside our bedroom windows, and sitting on all of our cars and vehicles. The music was thumping. It was mostly black urban rap at jet engine noise levels…. It was still early. At 10:30pm, I plugged in the Jacob’s Ladder. Turned on the timer and let it rip.

The screeching howl must have permanently damaged the eardrums of each and every teenager. This continued for about thirty seconds. Then it stopped. They turned off the stereo. They mulled about. Talked some. Brought another keg of beer over. Then, they turned on the music again. For five minutes it played on. Then, I hit the “on” button to the gizmo. The howling screeching was horrible.

This continued for about an hour. They would wait. Turn on the stereo. Five minutes later, I would turn on the device. They would shut everything down…. Heh heh. This continued for about two hours and then they broke up and went elsewhere.

Needless to say, they eventually had to find other places to hold their youthful teenage celebrations. Sometimes, when the system fails you, and you need to do something, a creative (and unexpected) solution is always preferred.

Mad Scientist with his assistant. — You don’t mess around with a Mad Scientist. Who knows what creative solutions he may come up with to counter your nefarious activities.

Herbach & Rademan

This is a great source of supply for motors and generators and all sorts of gears and stuff. I once worked with an electrical engineer in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He used the electrical motors from here and put them in an old car without the engine. He added some batteries and made a fully electric car. It was pretty darn cool. H&R is a pretty good place for motor controllers, decent low-priced motors and the like.

If I wanted to make a two story tall robot (Japanese style), or a mechanical metal spider the size of a truck (Russian Style), I would get the parts from this store.

AllElectronics

AllElectronics is not a surplus store. Rather it is a regular store that sells electronic parts and individual assemblies. It is quite useful for throwing together some prototypes and making things work from scratch. For instance I used the voice module in a prototype for a room air purifier I was working on. When the filter became too dirty, a voice would come on saying “Please change the filter.”

You know, we first experimented with a man’s voice (one of the techs) but it sounded too ominous. It sounded like Boris the Great was coming to eat you. Then we asked the group secretary to do it, and it sounded hilarious. This was because she had a strong Brooklyn accent.

You can find things like strobe modules, and power strip modules. All would contain instructions and hook up diagrams to help in the installation into your projects. There are also all kinds of project boxes and other kinds of hardware that are quite useful in your mad scientist creations.

Inspiration

As a boy, I was inspired by Ray Bradbury and Robert Heinlein. If you have teenagers, I would suggest you buy them one of both of these two Ray Bradbury books, and let them devour them. They are filled with awe, mystery and excitement. They are works of art that inspires and directs.

DREAMERS! BE ENCOURAGED. YOU ARE UNDERSTOOD.

Ray Bradbury’s R is for Rocket is a book about and for dreamers… and those who truly desire to understand them. A common character type in his work is the wide-eyed, yearning dreamer who reaches too high, often for a dream beyond his capacity, and who inevitably teeters on the brink of success and failure.

It’s no surprise that Bradbury produced so many pieces that gave voice to themes of blue skies since he himself was a dreamer, a voracious reader and enthusiastic writer from an early age, a man who thrilled himself (and his fortunate readers) on the wild imaginings of his literary soul.

In R is for Rocket, the story “The Rocket” is an excellent example of the author’s heartfelt kindness and sympathy for — and identification with — the hopes and heartaches of a dreamer, in this case one Fiorello Bodoni, a middle-aged, married-with-many-children man obsessed with dreams of rocket travel and space exploration in the face of those who are quick to discourage him.

Excerpts from the story:

“I will ride up in one someday,” said Bodoni.

“Fool!” cried Bramante. “You’ll never go. This is a rich man’s world.” … “No! We live in shacks like our ancestors before us.”

“Perhaps my sons—” said Bodoni.

“No, nor their sons!” the old man shouted. “It’s the rich who have dreams and rockets!” … “No, Bodoni, buy a new wrecking machine, which you need, and pull your dreams apart with it, and smash them to pieces.”

The old man subsided, gazing at the river in which, drowned, images of rockets burned down the sky.

“Good night,” said Bodoni.

“Sleep well,” said the other.

I have read and loved Ray Bradbury’s stories for over forty years because his prose is beautifully delivered and because, as a dreamer myself — who often reaches too high for his own good — I identify deeply with his wonderfully tragic heroes. There were many times that his captivating tales allowed me to escape from grim childhood days and nights, and for that I say to him, now in the Great Beyond for Great Writers: “Thank you!”

This review was written by Kevin Polman, author of THE EXTRA KEY and STORIES.

What you can do…

If you have children, I would strongly advise you let them play.

This does not mean sit them down in a structured environment and teach them how to do some kind of organized activity. I mean set them down with a broken radio, give them a pair of wire cutters and let them go to town. Let them go explore an old abandoned building. Take them to a state park and walk and explore there. Let them know about the Indians who used to live there. Walk them to a junk yard, and let them spend all day at it. Go to a local stream under a bridge, while you take a nap, let the kids play.

Spend time with them. Let them know that it is just fine to go about and throw things together. Give them the resources and then stand back. Give them some room. Let them figure it out on their own. Let them be children without supervision.

Take Aways

Boys like to build things.
Boys like to watch the reactions of others when they do something.
Funneling these interests into fun and innocent activities can be rewarding.
In the past, boys were free to build and experiment.
There are avenues to keep this interest alive if you know where to look.
A thinking person can use their scientific skills to provide answers to pesky problems.

RFH

I use this forum as a way to disseminate some of the things that I learned though my life.

So, if you, the reader, were so interested, I would welcome your stories about the shows and movies that you watched growing up and how they influenced you. I would welcome tales about how you did “experiments” with your chemistry kit, or made electrical devices to pull practical jokes with. I would love to hear about your various adventures.

This is my callout, to you the reader, to assist all of us in solving these mysteries. After all, this is a far better use of the internet than for looking at Justin Bieber videos.

FAQ

Q: Who was Vincent Price?
A: He was an iconic actor who made many famous horror movies in the 1960’s and 70’s. He greatly influenced culture at the time as his movies were typically B-grade horror flicks, and thus were provided free for children to watch at home.

Q: What is the Mad Scientist Club?
A: It is a series of stories written for children in their pre-teen years. It describes a normal life of a boy in the 1960’s. Today the behavior of the boys would be considered criminal, and the DHS might come and arrest the parents.

Q: What is the Man from Uncle?
A: This was a spy vs. spy television show that was popular during the 1960’s. It was full of spys and technology and top secrets of the day.

Q: Is it fun to be a mad scientist?
A: It is worth a try. Everyone has a little bit of crazy inside of them. Tools, and a little bit of creativity can create wondrous things, and great pranks.

Q: What does this have to do with MAJestic?
A: This has nothing to do with MAJestic. I am permitted to chat about anything that I am interested in. I like science, gadgets and playing around. So here you are. Perhaps reading this might enable you to get a little into my head. So that you can see that I am just a normal guy (or asshole, if you prefer).

Posts Regarding Life and Contentment

Stories that Inspired Me

Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

Notes

First draft on 8MAR18.
Revised by request 24MAR18.
Revised by request 27MAR18.
Revised by request 4APR18.
Revised by request 20APR18.
Ready for internet posting 23APR18.
Added section for inspiration. 9JUL18.
Added GIF 11JUL18.

LOL. Big thanks for that! - MM

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The Early History

A Dangerous Poison

Changes during the 1800s

Enter the Progressive Utopists

How Tomatoes became Bland

Easy to Ship

Even Ripening

Ignore the Vine

Full of Water instead of Volatiles

Today

Enter the Busybodies

What Can We Do?

Links

Conclusion

There is Hope

Take Aways

RFH

FAQ

FR Posting

Posts Regarding Life and Contentment

Posts about the Changes in America

More Posts about Life

Stories that Inspired Me

Articles & Links

Children Need to Play

Play is based on Interest

The Purpose of an American Playground

History of American Playgrounds

Playgrounds in The United States today – Safe

Playgrounds in China Today – Play

The differences between the two playgrounds.

China Playground Manufacturers

United States Playground Manufacturers

Why American Playgrounds became so pathetic

Busybodies to Erase Play

Organizations Against Playgrounds as places for Play

Employment Opportunities

Other Places & Other Ideas

Junk Playgrounds

Nature Playgrounds

What can you Do?

Take Aways

RFH

FAQ

Other Great Articles on Playgrounds

Links about China

Articles & Links

Vincent Price and His Movies

The Mad Scientist Club

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Prank Central

Build your Own Gadgets

The Art of Electronics

Websites to DIY Gizmos

Inspiration

What you can do…

Take Aways

RFH

FAQ

Posts Regarding Life and Contentment

More Posts about Life

Stories that Inspired Me

Articles & Links