Sunnyvale, California, 2024

Some random pics from Sunnyvale, California...

We visited one of the Google offices, got some snacks and saw some sights on the campus. They have bikes in case you need to get from building to building quickly.

Google bikes

A lot of the buildings have secret rooms that are not on the floor layout maps. We discovered two rooms, though one was occupied by someone else so we didn't go inside.

Secret room that felt a bit Mediterranean

Door to nautical-themed room (also occupied room)

The office buildings have recreational rooms. This one had a ping pong table!

Game room decor

Team #1

Team #2

Serving

One of the rooms is a blinged-out private movie theater with a jungle theme.

Jungle theater

A lot of other cosy spaces provide a break from the usual office decor.

Is it an alcove or a couch?

An odd vase

Mass transit just outside the buildings

Hammocks!

My daughter relaxing

Two boys snoozing

We went to Sunnyvale's downtown hoping to get some mochi donuts but the shop was sold out of donuts at 7 p.m. The place was way too pink anyway.

The picture doesn't do it justice

We walked over to Murphy Street for other options and wound up at a gelato place.

Restaurants on Murphy

View in the other direction

Ice cream shop

The Shrine of Our Lady of Peace is also in town. A three-story tall statue of Our Lady was commissioned by Msgr. John Sweeny in 1980. Delaware artist Charles Parks worked on it at his workshop, building it outdoors. The work drew crowds in Delaware, so when the statue was completed and moved to California in 1982, it again drew crowds and became a pilgrimage site. 

Immaculate Heart of Mary statue

Regular, life-sized statue of St. John Paul II

We went to Laughing Monk Brewing for dinner one night. I had a personal flight (the official flight is ten samples!) of four beers. In left to right order below: Hefeweizen (wheat ale, 5.3% ABV) was a very good hefe; Irreverent Wit (Belgian-style white ale, 5.3% ABV) was not as good as the hefe; Holy Ghost (Pilsner, 5.2%) was a charming name but just a regular pilsner to me (I am not a pilsner fan, but at least I give it a try now and then unlike IPA); Midnight Velvet (Stout, 5.8% ABV) was a smooth drinking stout that I enjoyed best of all the beers.

Beers!

We also got the Bavarian pretzel which was very nice.

Pretzel on a hangar

The logo

Omescape is a local escape room with one room that has a cooking challenge. The room is called Undercooked. We had a very large group, nine people, so we ran the room twice. In it, players need to make menu items by finding ingredients and recipes hidden throughout the room, which included the main kitchen, a pantry, and a garden area. Group #1 finished with $180, 15 completed dishes, sous chef status, and five stars. Group #2 finished with $130 at 17 completed dish and five stars, though the computer that tracked recipes reset during their time so the employee had to input some data manually. So the results are not conclusive. But my team won.

Group #1

Group #2

We had dinner at Metro City Restaurant and Bar where I had a delightful peanut butter porter. That's the only picture I took there!

So nice, I drank it twice!

We had another visit to Google, this time by the Visitor Experience, located near the main Googleplex. Gradient Canopy is the newest showcase building created by Google. It blends aesthetics with practicality and efficient use of environmental resources. The roof is covered with solar panels but they are arranged to create a tile effect that gently slopes to the edge. This helps to use solar energy while allowing natural light into the building for the workers. It also gathers rainwater for use in the building and surrounding gardens.

Gradient Canopy building

Unimpressed tourists

In addition to work space for employees, the building has a Google merch store, a cafe, and the "huddle" space for special events. The events space includes a small theater that runs a promotional video for the building when other things aren't going on. 

The Huddle logo

In the walkways and gardens around the building are several works of art. The first we saw is Quantum Meditation II by Julian Voss-Andreae, made in 2022. The creator's background in quantum physics inspired this statue that "disappears" in a direct view.

Quantum Meditation II

The vanishing bit

Back to a solid

Further on is Curious by Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson Art from 2022. The bear's fur is made of more than 160,000 pennies. 

Curious

Doesn't disappear with a front view (though my child is almost invisible)

Go by Hou de Sousa (also from 2022) is inspired by the ancient Chinese game. Each of the pieces (600 in this work) has a question asked by Google users, though that is a small portion of the 3.5 billion queries they get each year.

Go

The Orb by Marc Fornes is a self-supporting aluminum sculpture hand assembled.

The Orb

Zachary Coffin's Rockspinner is a multi-ton boulder that can be rotated by just about anyone thanks to ball bearings and engineering ingenuity. 

My kids spin the rock

On the way to the Googleplex we saw Halo designed by SOFTlab in 2022. The thin films inside reflect different waves of light causing a multicolored show that was rather amazing.

Halo

Inside Halo

We finally made it to the Googleplex, the main headquarters buildings of the company. The area has several statues of the Android operating system mascot, one of which is seen below.

Googleplex and Android

The complex has a dinosaur skeleton. Rumor has it that the T-Rex (named Stan) was attacked by a flock of pink flamingos. Apparently he ate his assailants, if his scat is anything to judge by.

Stan got no nutritional value from the birds

Dino poop (why doesn't Google clean this up?)

The central area also has a volleyball court though no one was using it while we were there (and we did not bring a ball, alas). 

Exercise room and sun room in one?

I was amazed to see this tree growing out of the underground garage. I'm sure in a hundred years it will cause trouble.

Has it been imprisoned for some crime?

Book Review: How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.

How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.

The modern cultural reputation of the Catholic Church is negative. Recent scandals like the coverups of priestly sexual abuse add to historical complaints about the treatment of Galileo, the Jews, Native Americans, and so-called witches. Such a focus leaves out a lot of things the Catholic Church has done and continues to do. This book argues that core principles and features of Western civilizations were created and refined by the Catholic Church.

It's fairly common to read about the preservation of knowledge and classical literature by the European monks in the chaos after the fall of the Roman Empire. Less acknowledged is the institution of the university system, where information (along with professors and students) flowed freely between school in England, France, Germany, Italy, etc. Master's degrees and license to teach granted scholars status and mobility. Any topic could be discussed and students were expected to argue both sides of an issue, enabling them to have better discernment of the truth. Systematizing and rationalizing knowledge had many benefits. One was the Scientific Revolution, which requires an assumption of a rationally-ordered universe that can be known through observation and reflection.

Much less well known is the Church's contributions in the field of law. In the twelfth century, Church rules and information were brought together from various sources (the Bible, Church Fathers, papal writings, etc.) and systematized into Canon Law. European nations adopted this model, moving away from using local customs and trials by fire or combat (which don't show the truth or the guilt in a situation). Sixteenth century clergy argued about the Native Americans and what rights they had. Did Conquistadors have the right to impose religion and government on inhabitants of the New World? The foundation of international law and human rights began at this time as the humanity of the people living in the Americas was recognized if not respected. 

This development is founded on the key principle introduced by the Catholic Church. All human life is sacred, deserving respect and care. In the classical world, the sick and injured were considered expendable. No one even questioned the abandonment of disabled infants. They were left to die of exposure. In that patriarchal society, a baby girl could easily be subject to abandonment even if healthy. Women had few if any rights--divorce was a male privilege as was education and government participation. The Church's emphasis on the fundamental equality of everyone led to civil reforms and, even more importantly, to the creation of hospitals and what we now call nursing homes, where the chronically ill are cared for, not left on the street to fend for themselves.

This book is a great review of the contributions of the Church to our world. It is straightforward and persuasive. 

Highly recommended. 

Sample quote, on the dawn of international law and human rights:

In sum, Spanish theologians of the sixteenth century held the behavior of their own civilization up to critical scrutiny and found it wanting. They proposed that in matters of natural right the other peoples of the world were their equals, and that the commonwealths of pagan peoples were entitled to the same treatment that the nations of Christian Europe accorded to one another. Thant Catholic priests gave Western civilization the philosophical tools with which to approach non-Western peoples in a spirit of equality is quite an extraordinary thing. If we consider the Age of Discovery in the light o f sound historical judgment, we must conclude that the Spaniards' ability to look objectively at these foreign peoples and recognize their common humanity was no small accomplishment, particularly when measured against the parochialism that has so often colored one people's conception of another. [p. 149]

California Great America Theme Park

We went to California's Great America theme park in Sunnyvale, California. It is a combination of amusement park and water park. The kids' cousins have season passes, so we got in for discounts (including free parking!). We went with the cousins and my brother-in-law, so we had a lot of veterans to lead us around.

The main entrance has a nice fountain to greet visitors.

Looks like any other park

The first ride the kids went on was Gold Striker. I and the youngest decided not to ride. It's an impressive wooden coaster that rattled the older kids around a lot.

Gold Striker

Very near by is the Railblazer, another challenging rollercoaster that was a lot of fun for the kids.

The older kids, being daredevils, next went on the Drop Tower, which takes riders way, way up and then lets them plummet back to earth. Again, my youngest was not too enthusiastic (he'd ridden something similar at Hershey Park and did not want to repeat the experience). 

Dropping on the drop tower

The next ride had everyone on it. Psycho Mouse is a slower but not too slow rollercoaster without the big drops or any loops. 

Psycho Mouse

Not far away was Planet Snoopy with its Woodstock Express rollercoaster.  I attempted to ride this but was too big for the car!

Going uphill on Woodstock Express

A close-up

My brother-in-law's favorite coaster is Flight Deck. It was originally the Top Gun rollercoaster but they lost the license and had to rename it. It was thrilling to ride, one of those with your feet dangling as you were spun around along the track. 

Flight Deck entrance

Flight Deck is in the "New Orleans" section of the park, which also has the steel coaster Patriot that was a blast for the older kids. 

"Local" color

Walking off the Patriot

We lucked out because most of the lines were very short. We visited on a Wednesday in the summer, so that might explain the smaller crowds. For lunch we went to the water park where all the crowds were enjoying the pools, rivers, and massive slides. 

Since it's a water park I didn't get any pictures. We established a base by the Tide Pool with our dry clothes (we all changed to bathing suits) and went out to experience various attractions. We rode a tube down a lazy river and enjoyed a gigantic wave pool. The biggest attraction were the water slides. A favorite that everyone rode was the Coastal Cruz, a large circular boat that goes down a big track with plenty of banking turns. We also tried Mission Falls, a two-passenger long boat that drops fast and then goes up a large wall, like a skateboarder, and down the other side. They also have those slides where the rider gets in a tube and then the floor drops out. When I got in line, the line host said we couldn't have jewelry, including wedding rings! So I didn't ride but my older kids did.

Toward the late afternoon, we were tuckered out and decided to head off to dinner outside the park. On the way out, we saw a double-decker carousel that we did not ride. Maybe next time!

Two stories, but not enough excitement

Book Review: Batman: Haunted Knight by J. Loeb et al.

Batman: Haunted Knight storytelling by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale

Before starting The Long Halloween, Jeph Loeb sold DC Comics on publishing some "Halloween Specials" featuring Batman. The natural pairing of Halloween and Batman hadn't been done before. Loeb worked with his long-time artistic partner Tim Sale. This series (three stories) was very popular. Here's a story-by-story rundown...

Fear--Scarecrow is blowing up electric relay station in Gotham, plunging neighborhoods into darkness. Scarecrow then loots and terrorizes the area. Batman works tirelessly to find the next target. Actually, he is getting tired, making him more vulnerable. He has some natural fear of failure that is enhanced by Scarecrow's toxins.

It doesn't help that it's Halloween weekend. Bruce Wayne has a big costume party. One of the guests is a woman he does not recognize but who catches his attention. His fascination with her brings on another fear, the fear of missing out on a normal, happy life. Bruce wants to run away and get some rest with this new woman, to be the billionaire playboy he passes himself off as. 

The parallel plots work very well together. I haven't read many Scarecrow stories, this one feel very fresh and well thought out. We learn something of Scarecrow, a bit about Batman's relationship to Bruce Wayne, and even Alfred Pennyworth (Wayne's butler) gets some nice moments to shine.

Madness--The Mad Hatter is kidnapping kids on Halloween and one of his victims is a teen-aged Barbara Gordon, daughter of Commissioner Gordon. Gordon and his daughter had a bit of a falling out over going trick or treating, resulting in her leaving the house without permission. Meanwhile, Batman has been pursuing The Mad Hatter with little success and a lot of flashbacks.

The story leans effectively into the Alice in Wonderland connection for the villain while also revealing a connection for Bruce Wayne. Gordon's struggles to be a good father add an interesting element and highlights a theme of how challenging relationships can be for parents and children. 

Ghosts--Bruce Wayne has an encounter with The Penguin on Halloween eve. Returning home after the capture, he gets the "Christmas Carol" treatment when he goes to bed. His father's ghost visits him carrying "the chains he forged in life" while he was so focused on being a doctor and not a father. He promises three spirits will come to show Bruce more.

This story was the weakest of the set. The transposition from Christmas to Halloween and from Scrooge to Bruce Wayne has a lot of potential but this didn't quite have the impact it could have. The creators stick to the form of Dickens's classic too much, giving a predictable ending. Bruce winds up in a happier place, though he's hardly as damaged as Scrooge was and he's hardly as transformed as Scrooge was. I was underwhelmed.

Overall, this is an interesting series and readers can easily see the origin of The Long Halloween, which is a classic in Batman storytelling.

Recommended, highly for Batman fans.