Spare parts, cheap

Couldn't agree more with Galileo, kind of strange to think of finding it in a Disney cartoon.  Anymore aren't they all about princesses?

Yes, it certainly seems that way, and part of the mission of corporate greed to license more characters.  But back in the day, the Disney product was quite different.  I'm about three years younger than you guys, so the arrival of the Mickey Mouse Club on TV may not have made much of an impression on you but it hit all my buttons.  It was on five days a week, with each day featuring a different theme, kind of a variety show for kids.  There were cartoons, of course, but also featurettes of a nearly educational nature.  Movie shorts were popular in those days and Disney made some fine, nearly legitimate documentaries.  We've all heard of lemmings jumping off a cliff, but that was a total fabrication by Disney; lemmings don't jump off cliffs but it was accepted as fact.

I remember the introduction of Ludwig Von Drake, a professorial character who was part of a series of educational cartoons, and I think Jiminy Cricket was his sidekick.  A lot of kids learned to spell encyclopedia when Jiminy sang e-n-c, y-c, l-o, p-e-d-i-a! to a jaunty tune.

Wernher Von Braun appeared in a number of  features, discussing space travel and the world of "tomorrow."  There were a couple of odd features about nuclear power and the atomic bomb, but such topics were viewed differently back in the 50s.s

Despite Uncle Walt being an antisemitic FBI stooge, he provided entertainment with a broader appeal than that of the current Disney corporate moguls.  He had some far reaching ideas, such as EPCOT, which fell by the wayside upon his death.  It's too bad, and now we are stuck with a lot of princess movies.

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Mr. Beagles was correct about the lack of a federal ID card for firearms. I was thinking of the FOID, the firearm owner's identification card, which is unique to Illinois to the best of my knowledge.  The FOID is required for firearm ownership and is issued after a background check by the state police.  There is nothing instant about it; it is supposed to take about thirty days to get but current backlogs have pushed it back to about fifty days.  The weird thing is that once you have the card you can buy firearms and they do not need to be registered on the state level but local ordinances may vary.

The individual states hold the upper hand when it comes to firearm regulation and they are all over the place.  I don't expect any federal legislation to come easily.  Each state makes its own laws, and there is little consistency regarding issues like open carry, concealed carry, castle doctrine, stand your ground, or minimum age for ownership.  It's confusing, but once again Wikipedia comes to the rescue with this web page: state gun laws

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...what do they get out of being part of The Institute?

I like it as a sounding board, a place where questions can be asked about unresolved issues without all the noise of current media.  The excursions down memory lane, along with our different backgrounds and experiences, provide a context which keep me honest in my thinking.  I doubt if I can slip anything past you guys.

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With all the hubbub about the latest classroom shooting it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that it's a new or uniquely American phenomenon.  Such is not the case; they go back a long while, in many countries.  The US places #4 when it comes to classroom death toll, with more than forty fatalities at an event in Michigan, way back in 1927.  This article helps put matters in perspective, such as it is: school fatalities

What is revealing is the fate of most of the perpetrators: suicide.  If you want to kill yourself, why take so many innocent victims with you?

I'm not a fan of capital punishment, but I don't see the point of life sentences either, with no hope of rehabilitation.  Little or nothing has been learned from the likes of Gacy, Dahmer, Bundy, or guys like that.  How about this, strip them for parts?  There is a shortage of organ donors and you tell them "Congratulations!  Parts of you will live long and fulfilling lives, and we thank you for your contribution to society! Enjoy your last meal."  Maybe it could be a deterrent.  Facing a life sentence of hard time is one thing but knowing you will distributed piecemeal is another thing entirely.

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I didn't want to bring up anything about politics but this is interesting.  Since Trump's inauguration, 37 legislative seats on the state level have changed from Republican to Democrat.  This is not a good year for the GOP.