austin_dern | The place is a madhouse, feels like being cloned

It was mostly a week of comics on my mathematics blog, but you can catch up with that here and now:

And ready for some real soap-opera comic strip excitement? Then you'll need to know What's Going On In Judge Parker? Is Something Happening In Apartment 3-G Suddenly? The answer is I don't know!

Now a big bunch of Rye Playland pictures because you're worth it.

More of the exit facade. We particularly liked how the wizard and the dragon seem to be deep in discussion about this crystal ball.

Dragon prop from the top of the Flying Witch dark ride at Rye Playland. The metal mechanism behind it is another ride, I think the log flume.

Looking across the midway at the Dragon Coaster: after the first drop the train races into the dragon's mouth and through its middle and then you leave in a way they haven't worked out a tasteful answer for yet.

Gorgeous tower at the north end of Rye Playland's midway and the park itself.

Panoramic view from just north of Rye Playland, at the boat ride dock and a picnic area and the water beyond.

Reverse panoramic view from the north end of Rye Playland, looking at the dock and beyond that the park.

North entrance to Playland, with small gates to accompany the main tower. Beyond that, the Crazy Mouse ride has a car puttering along.

Did you ever wish you were ... big?

The other arcade at Rye Playland. Attack From Mars is everywhere. Cyclone is tolerably common but still a great fit for an amusement park's arcade. The Flintstones, based on the 90s movie (remember the 90s movie?) we were playing a lot at Blind Squirrel League although it's left that spot. Bugs Bunny's Birthday Bash is a comparative rarity. It's never played in competitive pinball, as it has a couple of fun pranks that make it unsuitable for tournament play. (Particularly, there's a funny randomly-generated prize at the end of each player's game that can give them extra points, or steal points, or --- and this is the killer --- take points from or even swap scores with another player. There's no way to turn that off, either.)

Trivia: David Steinmann, chief designer of the Mackinac Bridge, also composed a poem to the structure, The Bridge at Mackinac. One verse read: ``In the land of Hiawatha // Where the white man gazed with awe // At a paradise divided // By the straights of Mackinac --- ''. Source: Engineers of Dreams: Great Bridge Builders and the Spanning of America, Henry Petroski.

Currently Reading: Neither Snow Nor Rain: A History of the United States Postal Service, Devin Leonard.