Missed goals

 You know, I was pretty exited to have written on here every day for a year straight, but life just ends up happening. I got hit head on by another driver which broke my foot, opened up my knee, and shattered the cup of my pelvis that holds my leg in place, as well as cracking both sides of my jaw, which saw me in the hospital for over two weeks, and I'll be in a rehab facility for another 6 or so weeks. 

So, that's why things have been quiet around here for some time, and unfortunately, it may continue to be so for a while as I learn to walk again and otherwise recover. As things become less painful and I'm able to focus a little better, I'll start writing things on here again. 

Sunday Slither

Velvet Revolver - Slither

An underappreciated band

hat tip to Razorfist for letting me know about these guys. Could have sworn I posted them here before, but I couldn't find it anywhere, so here ya go:

Liege Lord - Broken Wasteland - Master Control (1988)

Forgotten Films: The Blob (1988)

A movie that I thought was great as a kid that I recently went back and watched is the remake of the classic 50s movie The Blob. Now I don't enjoy most horror, but the kind that is of the cosmic variety I can't get enough of and this is one of the best examples.

Compared to the original, there's not much changed from the basic concept (which always was paper thin) but a lot of the details are a bit different and overall, I think the human element of the story is a lot better in the '88 film, as it focuses more on the monster. It certainly takes itself just a bit more seriously while still having more intentional humor throughout. But the real fun comes from the absolutely amazing practical and special effects throughout that are gloriously 80s and far more gory than the original but most of the affects still look great.

It just seems that when people bring up all those lists and talk of gloriously great 80s effects movies, this one hardly ever seems to get mentioned, and that's just a darn shame because this movie is nothing less than great.Trailer included below:

More songs from films I like

BURNING SENSATIONS - Pablo Picasso

A brief history of the F-16 at Hill AFB, Utah

Beautiful pic of the F-105s flying with F-16s for the 466th Fighter Squadron's transition.

After the service of the F-105 had ended at Hill AFB, the immediate replacement was the F-16 Fighting Falcon, or as the pilots and crews call it, the Viper. Despite the fact the F-16 had significantly less range and payload capability than the F-105 it replaced, it did offer significantly enhanced capabilities in almost every other area, such as a more advanced and sophisticated radar, far greater bombing and gunnery accuracy, BVR A2A capability, greater payload diversity, smart weapons arsenal, and is far more maneuverable.

However, they first F-16 arrived at Hill long before the type was operated there, as there was a scheduled stop there after flying out of Edwards AFB for one of the test flights in 1977.  Ogden Air Logistics Center (ALC) was also already designated as the primary maintenance center for the type in 1974 during the development of the aircraft. 

The 388th Tactical Fighter Wing received its first F-16As for operational use in late 1979 and it was the first squadron in the US Air Force to become operational with the new jet, replacing the unit's old and venerable F-4E Phantom IIs that were used in Vietnam.

The 388th's celebratory paint scheme for the 5 millionth F-16 flight hour.

The unit gained quick prominence with the type by winning the RAF bombing competition in 1981, and also winning the worldwide USAF Gunsmoke gunnery competition twice, once in 1987 and again in 1993.  In May of 1989, the very first F-16C Block 40 was issued to the unit and they also had the distinction of celebrating the F-16's 5 millionth flight hour among all the variants in December of 1996. 

The 388th Fighter Wing flew four thousand sorties during both Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, with no losses. After the war the wing continued to deploy elements of its combat squadrons to support postwar treaty enforcement in Operation Southern Watch. 

During the Global War on Terror, the wing began deploying F-16s to Bagram AB, Afghanistan in 2009 to support ground forces in Operation Enduring Freedom. They continued to support operations in that country as part of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel until 2016. 

An F-16 from the 466th flying over the Great Salt Lake

Along with the 388th, in 1983, the Reserve 466th Fighter Squadron called the “Diamondbacks”, it was the first Air Force Reserve unit to operate the F-16 and has had a VERY storied history operating the Viper since. 

Within the first two years of operating the type, the squadron immediately earned top honors at the Air Force’s Gunsmoke gunnery meet. In 1994, the unit deployed to Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, in support of Operation Northern Watch in Iraq. 

As for the history of combat deployments, they went on to support Operation Southern Watch at Al Jaber Air Base in Kuwait and while there, the unit became the first F-16s to deploy precision guided munitions in combat in 1998. Later on in 1999, while again deployed in support of Operation Northern Watch, the Diamondbacks also earned the distinction of being the first F-16 unit to employ the Litening II targeting pod in combat.

While deployed to Iraq to enforce the no-fly zone over Iraq in support of Operation Southern Watch, they were also tasked with flying classified combat missions into Afghanistan immediately after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Afterward, they were the first F-16 unit deployed in Operation Enduring Freedom and are credited with destroying multiple important Al Qaeda assets, and provided close-air support missions to ground troops. 

In the following years, as the Global War on Terror continued, the 466th became the first unit to fly F-16 in combat missions during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. Again, in 2005, the Diamondbacks deployed to Iraq to fly close-air support missions out of Balad airbase for allied ground forces.

In 2007, the 466th Fighter Squadron began flying and maintaining a shared fleet of F-16s alongside the 388th Fighter Wing in what was called "Total Force Integration". Finally in September 2015, the 419th began it's transition to the new F-35A which eventually completely replaced the F-16s in the unit by September of 2017. 

Despite the F-16 no longer being based with any unit at Hill AFB, it is still the primary logistical and maintenance hub for the type on the western half of the US, so F-16s can still be seen on occasion going in and out of Hill. Recently, the Air Force has also determined the F-35 is both too expensive and maintenance heavy to fully replace the F-16, and so they type will be upgraded for the foreseeable future until a 1:1 replacement can be designed.

Pics and sources:
https://www.hill.af.mil/About-Us/Organizations/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/388th_Fighter_Wing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/466th_Fighter_Squadron
https://www.419fw.afrc.af.mil/About-Us/History/

Vito's Bountiful

Pic was swiped from the USA Restaurants site.

Right off of the Main street in Bountiful and 100 South is Vito's. They label themselves the Philly King of Bountiful and they are right. There aren't a whole lot of places you can get a solid Philly sandwich in the state, and this is certainly one of them. Among a huge variety of Philly sandwiches they also offer great meatball subs, Rubens, and Italian sausage subs.  

The place is rightfully jam packed during the lunch hour, so I would recommend going during any other time of the day to save you some time. Also, last I checked, they don't take cards and are a cash-only establishment, as it is nearly a one man operation. That being said, they also don't have any official site I know of , so you'll have to google the place for a menu if you want to know before you go. 

Again, Utah is the nerdiest state

Believe it or not, the Disney company was not always seen as the truly evil empire it currently is, and they actually put out good stuff every now and again. One of those great gems they put out was the 2009 movie Up. Spawning many memes and being a generally great movie overall has given it great longevity and fondness in the eyes of most. 

Enter now the address of 13222 Herriman Rose Blvd in Herriman, Utah is a a near perfect exterior and interior replica of the protagonists house from that movie. Created by the Bangerter Homes company specifically as a way to promote themselves and create a tourist destination, the company received permission from Disney to create it and painstakingly researched every known detail with Disney in order to create it. 

It is now privately owned and the owners do have a website detailing it's history and some FAQs about visiting here: http://www.therealuphouse.com/ Also, Disney itself loves the promotion given by the house and made a short film about the family living there that you can see on youtube:

The only shame about the place is that it's stuck in the general area of Provo which is basically the leaky butthole of Utah, with the highest concentration of jerks in the state. 

The internet Archive

The logo of the organization

Located in an old Christian Scientist church in San Francisco’s Richmond district, lies one of the most indispensable and yet often overlooked and underappreciated projects/resources of the modern age: The non-profit Internet Archive. Strangely enough, the location itself was chosen for the project as the building resembles the logo for the organization. 

A picture of the building taken from their site.

Perhaps most famously, they are the ones who operate and curate the famous Wayback Machine that seeks to catalog and archive all websites on the internet, including defunct ones. Starting in 1996, it is offered as a free service to all for finding old sites that no longer exist, seeing how changes were made to sites over time, or (my favorite use) to see how blowhards and politicians have walked back or reversed their claims or statements over time. This in itself is a monumental project, but it isn't the only thing that they do there. 

They consider themselves an open library to all and also offer a project in which they are digitizing books, have an archive of TV news broadcasts, audio recordings of live concerts, as well as archiving free software, and projects to digitize a variety of other physical media among many other projects. It's near impossible to detail it all here, but you can go directly to their site to find out more: https://archive.org/about/

As an added bit of interesting trivia about the location is that the church's chapel is still intact and has more than 120 ceramic sculptures of the Internet Archive’s current and former employees situated among the pews that were created by a local artist. Another interesting tidbit is the fact that the massive amount of data servers needed for the project are so vast, that they serve as the building's heat source! Pretty neat eh?

Watching from the sidelines is interesting:

As I have stated before, I didn't think the Ukrainian conflict to be particularly interesting or noteworthy when it started, but the longer it goes on, the more fascinating I find it to be. So far, I think there are some interesting lessons we have learned in Ukraine outside of the combat:

1. The Russian logistics system is a joke and cannot cope with the pace of operations or losses.

2. They are a joke because Russian corruption is rampant and is also a joke on an international level.

3. Ukrainian resolve and nationalism is no freaking joke and with good reason, as the aggression/instigation is purely one-sided.

4. For supposedly being the world's second largest military power, Russia is also having a really hard time with combating the world's 22nd largest military, and are now on pace to be losing a majority of the ground they took.

5. Win or lose, it will be interesting to see how quickly the US/western nations either abandon or turn on Ukraine when THIER corruption comes to light or the forefront of the news. 

As a small bit of evidence to prove Russian incompetence, I present a video from the Funker530 channel on youtube:

Russians Are Wearing Fake Ballistic Helmets Into Battle

Kill 'em all (thanks to Metallica for the title)

I have generally been keeping away from most domestic politics and news on here lately, but I was utterly flabbergasted by the last week's speech by our former Vice President. He openly called Trump and his followers as a "clear and present danger to the United States" which is unprecedented, as that is president speak for open war. 

In not so many words, he has said that there is no place for political violence in America ever, but has openly condoned such act before by the groups on his side before and in this same speech is calling for it happen to those who support or have supported Trump, which is nothing less than state sponsored terrorism itself. He says a peaceful transition of power and the discussion of opposing ideas needs to be be encouraged, unless you are a Trump supporter, then you are is in his words, "unacceptable".

In the end gives some meaningless platitudes about unity and peace, but it rings pretty hollow after calling half of America domestic terrorists and calling for violence against them. I can't help but also feel like this was meant to be intentionally provoking to the other side, I'm just shocked that he was willing to be so inflammatory to such an unprecedented and insane degree, even with his feckless mental condition.

So, as an american who voted the wrong way, can read English so can confirm there was election meddling, I'm armed, I voted for Trump, and will gladly vote for Trump again, and I guess because of Biden I am now the domestic terrorist/extremist he is warning about, so to his speech I say:

Movie songs Sunday

Lost Picasso (I Don't Want To Be)

A brief history of the Republic F-105 Thunderchief in Utah

A very rare desert fox camo scheme used on only one Thud based at Hill AFB.

The Republic F-105 Thunderchief was an amazing machine and marks a huge turning point in aircraft technology in the US Air Force. It was a part of the Century Series of aircraft programs that were meant to rapidly increase the aeronautical technology capabilities in the military. Created specifically as a supersonic nuclear strike aircraft to penetrate Soviet air defenses in a potential world war 3 that never happened, in reality, the "Thud" (as it was known by pilots), gained fame an infamy in the Vietnam War with conventional bombing and Wild Weasel missions. It was the primary aircraft used for strike mission in the conflict, it shot down over 27 MiGs in the war, flew over 20,000 sorties, was the first aircraft in the USAF to have a dedicated Wild Weasel variant, but also had the dubious distinction of having 382 examples shot down in Vietnam, almost half of all the 833 examples built. 

Another Thunderchief sitting on the flight line at Hill.

However, I'm not here to give a detailed account of the plane, but rather a history of it at Hill AFB, Utah. Before I can do that, a little history on the group based there. Activated in 1956 as a unit of the regular Air Force, the group and its three squadrons trained in C-123 assault airlift operations and eventually operated other aircraft such as the T-33, F-80, F-84, C-119, C-124, and C-46 aircraft.

1972, the Air Force Reserve modernization program renamed the the unit at the base to the 508th Fighter Group, and it is at that time that they were given the F-105, after much of it's involvement in Vietnam was already over. Being that the unit was now a part of the reserves, it was really towards the twilight of the Thud's career and they operated the B, D and F variants of the F-105 until the aircraft was ultimately retired.

The Hill AFB taxiway right before the 24 ship formation event. taken from the 419th Fighter Wing's Twitter account. 

In June of 1983, the unit at Hill was the last remaining U.S. Air Force unit flying the Republic F-105 Thunderchief and the unit flew a diamond of diamonds 24-ship formation as a celebratory farewell to the “Thud” being withdrawn from service after 25 years of being in USAF inventory. For the 419th, it was to be replaced by the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon. Today, on the inside of Hill, AFB itself, they still have a standing gate guard of an F-105D, as well as having both an F-105D and a two seat F-105F Wild Weasel variant that are displayed in the Hill AFB museum. 

The famous diamond of diamonds formation flown for the retirement ceremony.

However, that's not all of Utah's history with the F-105. As mentioned earlier, the Thunderchief was used as a cover for the crash of an A-12 spyplane crash in 1963, which I wrote about earlier. However there are a couple of different actual F-105 crashes that did occur in Utah in the 60s.

On the 23rd of May 1963 (nearly the same time as the A-12 crash), aircraft serial number 59-1773 crashed near Kanab, Utah resulting in the destruction of the plane beyond repair. 

A second crash occurred the next year on May 14th, 1964 when serial number 60-0412 crashed near Wendover after flying out of Nellis, likely going to the UTTR bombing range that also resulted in the total loss of the aircraft. 

In both instances, the cause was listed as in-flight fires that caused the loss of control of the aircraft. Thankfully, in both instances it is said the pilot ejected safely and there were no casualties. 

Transition time! A retiring F-105 flying formation with the new F-16 near Hill AFB.

Sources and pics from:

https://www.419fw.afrc.af.mil/News/Article/2382042/in-history-wings-epic-24-ship-flyover/
https://twitter.com/419fw
https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/type/f105

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/151583

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/151557

http://www.livingwarbirds.com/republic-f-105-thunderchief.php

The retardation of Rockstar Games: RDR2

For shame such a cool game is getting killed

I realize this is old news at this point, but I'm shocked that I didn't mention it here before. Red Dead Redemption 2 is a massive success with gamers and is a huger success in terms of sales for Rockstar Games, but a while back they said that they will no longer be supporting the online component for the game within a few months. 

This does nothing but prove two points, one: Rockstar Games are again proving that they are incompetent morons; and two: is that the reasons for them doing this just help to illustrate that the gaming industry is blatantly wrong for not giving players the ability to host their own online servers. 

Yes, I know that the reason why is that Rockstar wants to push micro-transaction with their dumbass shark cards and gold in the case of RDR2, but they are shutting it down as players freaking hate the paid services and are cheating as an alternative to paying to win. As a result, there is a rash of cheaters on Rockstar's servers that they are unable to control in any meaningful way, who are doing nothing but griefing other players, making the whole experience awful. 

If they had just given players the ability to host and regulate their own servers, this would not be a problem that Rockstar would even have to manage or spend money on at all. Yes, it would increase your development costs and time, as well as cut into your micro-profits, but would see a far larger return on investments, as that would allow for people to more freely mod the game, increasing long term sales and popularity, as the community would self police their own servers. 

But hey what do I know? Heaven forbid you actually let people play a game online that they paid for, instead of freaking pulling one of the highest grossing games from being able to be played at all. I honestly hope this ends up in multiple lawsuits against them and it proves very costly to them.

Forgotten Films: Radioactive Dreams

So, unlike most posts I make about forgotten films, this one is a bit more justifiably so. I can't really say it's a great movie at all, but it is one that I like nonetheless. Because of that I don't really universally recommend it to everyone, but I will recommend it to those who are sufficiently nerdy. 

A movie that typifies not being the sum of it's parts, but the parts are really cool. Like the poster here, absolutely awesome. 

Radioactive Dreams is a movie about a couple of kids that are stashed away by their fathers in a remote bunker/fallout shelter when a nuclear World War 3 breaks out. Starring They have enough food and water to last them 15 years, and they develop a near unhealthy obsession with becoming PIs like in the old pulps they read. They then find a way to break out of the bunker, and the movie is mostly about them encountering the crazy new world around them while attempting to become legit PIs as they get tangled up in a mystery revolving around missing launch keys for an un-launched nuke. 

The movie has a very unique visual style, with both 80s punk vibes and also has a heavy influence form old detective pulps from the 30s and 40s, to the point that the two main characters last names are Phillip and Marlowe (hint, hint nudge, nudge, wink wink). The soundtrack is so delightfully over the top 80s, that it almost feels at times that the movie was really a vehicle for the soundtrack than anything. 

What most people who watch it may know is that it was one of the many movies that really inspired the Fallout series of games. Although Mad Max and A Boy and His Dog were the bigger influences on the setting, this movie I think is the one that really inspired the more absurdist and dark humor that is in the games. It's also likely that it was also the source of the juxtaposition of 30s and 40s culture with the post apocalyptic setting. 

Despite these neat facts, the movie is pretty disjointed in tone, you just can't really jive some of the slapstick elements with some of the really dark crap happening in the story. That stuff seems to really work in the Fallout games, as they do it far more gracefully with less slapstick and more dark humor, but for the film, it's pretty jarring. It also suffers from having some pretty unsatisfying story threads, all while being a little too focused on the music at times. 

It seems I'm not alone it this appraisal, as the film wasn't given a wide release in the US, was never even released on DVD, and you can't even find a trailer for it online in the English language! But on the bright side, the film is so forgotten, I found multiple copies of the full movie that you can watch on youtube for free that I will link below.

Still, if you want something really out of the ordinary for a post apocalyptic film, and don't mind something a little disjointed, or if you're just a massive fallout fan, or love 80s pop music, go give it a shot. 

The Nacho House in Bountiful, UT

Another one of my favorite local eateries is the wonderful Nacho House in Bountiful. To be honest, good Mexican places are a dime a dozen here in Utah, but this place is certainly a step above the rest, especially after the the closure of so many after the Cantonese cough and sneeze. 

The place has great service and plenty of room to accommodate a sizable crowd, and they have recently remodeled, and I haven't been able to go there since they've done so. 

However, the thing that makes them really stand out is the fact that they have one of the greatest dishes I have ever heard of: bacon-wrapped chimichangas smothered in white cheese sauce. I mentioned it on here years ago, but I figure I needed to give a proper shout out to the restaurant overall. IN any case the chimichangas are to die for, and it's not the only good thing there, as everything on the menu is good, so go check them out. 

They used to have their own website, but it seems they have scaled back to just a facebook page you can visit here:

https://www.facebook.com/NachoHouseSLC/

The shipwreck graveyard at Land's End, CA

Taken from the NPS site page.

One thing I never fully realized as a kid while playing on the beaches of San Francisco's western shore is just how many shipwreck debris I was playing in on a regular basis. 

For hundreds of years, San Francisco has been quite possibly the largest port on the western coast and with good reason. However, the frequent heavy fog, massive tidal forces, combined with large swaths of jagged rock just under the waterline outside of the bay, has made the land between Land’s End and the Marin Headlands a hot spot for shipwrecks and has claimed over 300 ships.

The sheer number of wreck is difficult to document here, so instead I'll link to the National Parks Service site that has a page with a short listing of about eight of the most notable ones that you can read about and is well worth the visit: https://www.nps.gov/goga/learn/historyculture/vestiges-shipwrecks.htm

Utah is the nerdiest state

Valley View Memorial Park in West Valley City, Utah has something pretty unique as far as gravestones go that caused a bit of a trend among the nerdy peoples of the world who pass on to the next. In the Southwest corner of the cemetery there lies a Steven Allan Ford who passed away on September 7, 2010. But what is unique about his grave is that it reads under his name and dates ”MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU ALWAYS.”

Pic taken from the Atlas Obscura article. 

What is really odd about it is that it's not just a Star Wars superfan's last statement, but he was listed as the first officially licensed minister of the Temple of the Jedi Order and ordained Jedi Priest after it being declared an official religion in the US. He was even the officiator of his own brother's wedding as such. Unfortunately for Steven and the rest of us, he was (as is obvious) a bit mentally damaged as his cause of death was that he took his own life. Still, his legacy goes on as his gravestone will always be an oddity that is world renowned in nerd circles. 

Source:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/grave-of-utahs-first-jedi-priest

Sunday strain

Christian values being espoused in hip-hop songs is just as rare today as it was in the 90s. So I do have to give special mention to Lauren Hill for not just doing so, but actually being successful at it with this hit. Unfortunately, it seems she had something of a mental breakdown not long after her hit, and she really just kind of disappeared from the music scene afterwards, as she really couldn't make the magic happen again after that.

Lauryn Hill - Doo-Wop (That Thing) (Official Video)

A-12 crash site in Utah

A small pic of the exact aircraft involved. Taken from the Habu.org site.

On May 24, 1963, Ken Collins was the pilot performing a test flight of the CIA A-12 known as Article 123 after taking off from Area 51 that day. Ken stated the flight was pretty uneventful until making a turn to head back when he said that the plane suddenly "didn't feel right". It was an ominous observation as after he had dipped into the clouds and he lost sight of his chase plane, the A-12 would pitch nose up and flip over and then start tumbling to the ground in an unrecoverable flat spin. Thankfully, Ken ejected before the plane hit the ground, but the plane was a total loss, and cost at the time, 35 million dollars (equaling nearly 339 million in today's money).  

The same exact aircraft under construction at the famous skunk works. Pic also taken form Habu.org.

The plane would crash within the western part of Utah, just south of Wendover, west of US Highway ALT 93 and east of the the Nevada-Utah state line border. Being 1963, this was a massive potential security breach for the CIA's new super-secret squirrel aircraft of the time, and was heavily spun in newspapers of the time. Even as recently as 2003, the CIA maintained the crash was an F-105 out of Hill AFB that was carrying a nuclear weapon in order to deter people from visiting the wreck, though even that was covered up by the CIA, as they stated there was no remaining wreckage at the site. Being that it's the CIA, that was all a lie, and there is still plenty of wreckage still at the site today. 

One of the many pictures of wreckage you can find at the Dreamland Resort site's documentation on finding the site and it's modern state. 

I can't really provide all the juicy details of all the excitement of both the crash and the re-discovery of the site more than 15 years ago, but you can read all about them both at the following links. If you want to check out the Salt Lake Tribune for a more detailed story of Ken's ejection from the final flight of Article 123 that is very well written, you can see it here:

https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=51976355&itype=CMSID

For an even more interesting story be sure to read the story by Peter W. Merlin on the Dreamland Resort site about how he tracked down the lost crash site with the help of workers who responded to the wreck as well as working with Ken himself to find it, then check it out here:

https://www.dreamlandresort.com/pete/oxcart_down_6.html

Makes for some very good reading and another interesting addition to Utah trivia/history! Also, for the ultimate in blackbird history and info, head over to habu.org.

Khan we have some good news?

So, big thanks to Peter over at Bayou Renaissance Man, as he shared it first on his blog, but because of him I heard the news that one of the oldest Unsolved Mysteries has finally been solved! Behold:

ARCHAEOLOGISTS UNEARTH TOMB OF GENGHIS KHAN

A pic taken form the Archaeology World article

No, it's no late April Fool's joke and no, they aren't undecided on it, it's pretty dang well confirmed. Makes for some pretty exciting and informative reading. Speaking of which, Archaeology World sounds like it would be a pretty entertaining site to haunt regularly. 

Smokin Bones BBQ

For those who don't know, my wife doesn't really profess to be a snob about many things at all, but she is very much one who discriminates BBQ places intently because she spent her mission in San Antonio, Texas. So, if you go to a BBQ place that doesn't live up to true Texas BBQ quality, well, ya done goofed!

So, it's really worth it and we are willing to really go out of our way to find a place that does live up to the hype. Even more impressive is when I get to introduce her to the place in question. One of those that fits the bill is the Smoke and Bones BBQ in Bountiful UT. 

Check out their site for more info: http://www.smokinbonesbbqut.com/

The place is in a small little blink and you miss it spot and it's not too roomy on the inside either, but this was a regular haunt for me and many of my friends, as it was not far from where I used to live and work, so my waistband hates them. But if you really want some dang good BBQ, there's not more than two or three other places I can think of in the entire state that even compare. 

Forgotten Films: Cronos 1993

Cronos is a very interesting movie to me as it's something that is quite tonally different from other films about the same topic. To boil it down basically, it's a vampire movie. However, unlike a lot of other vampire movies out there, it doesn't glorify any aspect of vampirism, nor does it try to state there is any kind of sensuality to it. In fact, I'd say it presents it more like a kind of (almost) family friendly fairy tale with just some very dark elements to it. 

In essence, when I watch this film I get a more Twilight zone-ish vibe from it in that the impetus for the condition isn't biological, but is actually technological (which is pretty unique) as well as the fact that it really could have been used for good or evil depending on the constitution of the person who used it. 

From what I see, the movie is really well appreciated, but not overly well known, and I think the real reason there is that it is blatantly an actual foreign film, and despite certain characters speaking English, others do not and are subtitled, which give the movie a very different tone than most. Also, it was never really given a wide theatrical release in the US, but has gained a very supportive following afterwards. In any case, it's an excellent movie and is worth watching if you have the chance.

the Paramount Mountain logo

Pic sourced from the wiki page.

A interesting little bit of Utah trivia that I'm surprised I haven't mentioned here before is the origin of the Paramount Pictures logo. Apparently, William W. Hodkinson, one of the co-founders of Paramount, is a native of the Ogden Utah area and drew the initial logo on a napkin in 1914. It's said that he used the Ben Lomond mountain to the north of Ogden as the inspiration for the original logo. However, this is just rumored and has no official documentation as such.

Also, if the Ben Lomond name sounds familiar, it is because it is named after another mountain range in Scotland that is said to be visually very similar. Anyways just a quick random thought for you.

Generation Zero

The concept art comes really close to what the game is like.

Generation Zero is a game developed in Sweden and takes place in the same country during the 80s. The premise being that you are among a group of teenagers coming back from a trip to an outer island only to discover that the local population is gone due to extermination by rouge military robots. The game has a unique setting that allows for a little more fun when exploring, and it has a fun premise that provides for some interesting combat. 

The game is not without it's faults, though. The game feels far too empty, with the looting being pretty bland for the most part, there's also not enough survivors to interact with, nor enough remnants of people to explore.  It makes for a very uneven feeling while exploring the world, with there being all sorts of interesting places and architecture to see from afar, but then it feels like a bit of a let down once you get there to find it's mostly generic when you are actually exploring inside it. 

See? The screenshot is pretty close.

This isn't the only issue, as the landmass you inhabit is massive, but can be a bit frustrating as there are no powered vehicles to use, and the game kind of devolves into a walking simulator at times. There are bicycles you can use, but they feel pretty unpolished and buggy, and seem like more trouble than they are worth. There is an in-game explanation for this, but still it feels flimsy. Some of the player gear seems to be pretty unbalanced and a bit underwhelming, such as the gas mask not actually giving you full protection from gas at all. 

To be frank, it seems the game may have either been rushed so that it doesn't include features initially planned, or that there were technical hurdles in which they couldn't implement more into the game. To me, it would have been good to have the world be populated with more human NPCs both friendly and enemies to interact with as well as the numerous death robots.

Despite this though, there are some great aspect to the gameplay. It's meant to be a drop-in cooperative PvE experience more than anything. As I mentioned before, the combat and guns are enjoyable, with a good customization and quality system, all sorts of player customization and armor, a decent story, and I do find the setting and scenery to be utterly enjoyable. Since launch, they have also added a good number of DLCs, that add a larger variety of weapons as well as expanding the crafting system, as well as the feature of base-building. So far, I say it's certainly far from being a perfect game, but that's also what gives it some of it's charm. Overall, it if you can get all the DLC with the game while it's on sale, it might be worth it to you, as you can certainly do worse. 

Youtubers worth watching: Wendigoon

Big thanks to my brother for tipping me off to this guy. he does a great series of videos on mysteries, cover-ups and conspiracies that are pretty darn in depth but still very entertaining. He's got over a million and a half subscribers, so it's not like he's an unknown or anything, but I figure I'll give a shout out to him here anyways. Here's video he did on a case that was actually featured on the show Unsolved Mysteries that got a hell of a lot more crazy and complicated after it aired on that show:

It's worth checking out all his other videos as he does a really good job on a lot of other topics some of which are a bit shorter. For example, he did an awesome video on the Mystery Flesh Pit National Park that I thought was absolutely great, so check it out, too. He also does some shorter videos that are very interesting, like this one about a bizarre series of hiker deaths in Siberia around 1993:

Daft Punk - Derezzed

TRON: Legacy never grabbed my attention like the original movie did, but you certainly can't fault it on it's utterly amazing soundtrack. 

Daft Punk - Derezzed

The Boeing Condor

In flight pic from theadvancingblade site.

I mentioned the Boeing Condor in my article about Hiller Aviation Museum where one of the prototypes currently resides, but I figured a more in-depth write up on it was required, as it is a very unique aircraft. 

Created in the late 1980s as an unmanned, remote controlled reconnaissance test bed, it has a wing span of over 200 feet, which is longer than the first flight of the Wright brothers. Overall, the Condor's wingspan is even larger than both the Boeing 747 or the Boeing B-52 bomber as well as having an unprecedented level of flight duration of nearly 80 hours without being refueled. Constructed out of all-bonded carbon fiber composite materials, this gave the Condor a very light weight as well as a fairly low radar cross section despite it's immense size, it's propulsion method of piston prop engines also helped give it a very low heat signature as well.

A nice size comparison from theadvancingblade site.

The ground control stations and crews who operated it were able to pre-program the flight pattern of the aircraft on the ground, or remote control it via a system of satellite communications suites in the aircraft spine much like other UAVs today. Alternatively, they could launch the Condor with a pre-programmed flight, and cancel the programming mid-flight for it to be remote controlled on the ground at any time. 

With two examples built by Boeing for testing, the Condor flew out of a facility at Moses Lake, Washington, and in that testing, it immediately began breaking aviation records of the time. It set an altitude record for a piston powered aircraft of 67,000 feet (compare that to the jet record of 123,523 feet) as well as setting another record in that it was the first to fly a fully automated flight from takeoff to landing, another record it set unofficially was an endurance record in 1988 by flying continuously for more than 50 hours. The test program flew 188 hours of test missions overall between the two airframes before it's end.

A closeup of the fuselage and antennae from Wikipedia. 

According to the Boeing engineers, the program never was able to mature or achieve its full potential during the testing. They claimed either of the demonstrators could have flown more than 23,000 miles in a single mission, or remained airborne for longer than a week at a time, as well as potentially reach an altitude of 73,000 feet, if needed.

Ultimately, the project was cancelled in 1989, as there were no military customers, as they claimed it would be far too vulnerable to modern Anti-Aircraft weapons and detection systems, since it was not a fully stealth platform, and so cut the funding. The Boeing website for it maintains the Condor would have also had tremendous potential in the civilian market for weather monitoring and atmospheric research, but it did have an expensive and complicated system of logistics as well as launch and recovery compared to other aircraft. They still maintain that it was essential in laying the ground work for more advanced UAV designs that came later on. 

Pics and sources from:
https://www.boeing.com/history/products/condor-unmanned-aerial-vehicle.page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Condor
https://www.hiller.org/event/boeing-condor/
https://theadvancingblade.wordpress.com/2019/05/12/high-ambitions-the-boeing-condor-uav/

Thief Simulator

I don't think I mentioned it here before, but I was big fan of Thief Simulator. It was a very low budget game, with some technical glitches, but was a great amount of fun. Frankly, whenever I'm playing any kind of open world RPG, I always start off by playing a sneak-thief of some kind and am not satisfied enough to try any other kind of build until I've literally stolen everything in the world. So it's nice to see a game just straight up cater to that and have everything built around it. 

I would certainly highly recommend the game despite any flaws as it was great amounts of fun, but I had no idea that the creators had also come up with a prequel of sorts, called American Theft 80s. The premise is pretty self explanatory, with it being set in the USA during the 80s, and has all the retro aesthetics and sounds, but otherwise plays very similarly to the original game, but with a few more RPG elements, which is a welcome addition. So, I'm planning on snagging that one up and trying it out as soon as possible. 

Thomas Judd's Store

One of the oldest operating businesses in St. George, UT

Another one of the fun little places that's out of the way that you can check out in St. George is the Thomas Judd store. The place is a nice little cafe that serves soups, sandwiches, and other snacks, but is primarily known for their selection of specialty sodas, candy (some of which they make themselves) and their own brand of Ice Cream they make locally.  A little, but refreshing location with a bit of history you can read about on their site here:  https://juddsgeneralstore.co/

Strangely neat

Pic from the original posts linked below

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon a really cool couple of posts in the r/abandoned subreddit of someone who came across the filming location for the Hawkins Lab in Stranger Things that actually is an abandoned mental asylum. There's not too much info on the facility itself, but they did put up an excellent array of very cool pictures of the place that I thought was fascinating. Feel free to check it out at the source:

https://www.reddit.com/r/abandoned/comments/w3eiuy/abandoned_insaine_asylum_where_stranger_things/

https://www.reddit.com/r/abandoned/comments/w3spba/more_pics_from_the_georgia_mental_health/

Cult Films: Drop Dead Gorgeous

I remember ages ago, as a teenager I partially saw this one on late night TV and thought it was hilarious then, but didn't remember the title of it for the life of me. I had to search for it for a few years until I was finally able to find it and nab a copy for myself. You'd think that a movie about a beauty pageant in a small Minnesota town would be relegated to chick-flick territory, but this is just a movie that I can't help but love and I heartily recommend this one to just about everyone I know.

Back in the day, this movie was universally panned by just about everyone and completely flopped at the box office. However, compared to other teen comedies of the time, I say this one has aged far better than nearly all of them and has a much more enjoyable tone than just about all the rest. 

I think my opinion has been proven correct as it has undeniably gained a massive cult status in the years after it's release. Even Allison Janney (the actress who plays Loretta, and later went on to star in The West Wing and I, Tonya) says she is recognized and asked about this film more than any other of her roles she has done. The cast is also pretty star studded and includes not only Kirstie Alley, Kirsten Dunst, and Denise Richards (of course a 29 year old would be playing a teen) but it was the film debut of Amy Adams, has a small but effective role for Will Sasso, and has a cameo by Adam West. 

Lona Williams is the writer of the film and is most known for having written for the early seasons of The Simpsons (you know, back when it was funny and relevant), and she even has a gag-role playing one of the judges for the pageant who has absolutely no lines in the entire movie.  She was inspired to write the film as she actually was a beauty pageant contestant when growing up in a small town in Minnesota.  

The premise here is pretty simple, yet effective, so I'll just put the trailer here for you to decide, but I still just say to go and watch it, as it still deserves far more appreciation than it gets.

Surplus in CA

There are some memories I have of CA that are hazy on the details, but are still very strong in their impression on my mind. One in particular was visiting a huge military surplus store located between Santa Cruz and Monterrey, and I was reminded of it recently, so I had to see if I can look it up. 

Now, I honestly can't remember the name of the place, but I'm pretty sure I found it using some simple google-fu. So take it with a grain of salt, but I'm pretty sure the place is J&S Surplus. Thankfully, it seems they are still going strong and they supposedly have a website, but I wasn't able to get to it so your best bet is to go to their facebook page.

Lofi meditations

Relaxing 

90sFlav - Call me

B-58 Hustler Crash in the Great Salt Lake

The original B-58 bomber

A fascinating story came out on The War Zone a few days back about how the Navy assisted with finding an US Air Force RB-58 Hustler that had crashed in the Great Salt Lake back in 1960. To be honest, I think the article on The Drive is pretty poorly written and doesn't have much info as to the how and why of the incident at all, and really just focuses on the aircraft and equipment used, but they did have a scan of an original article written about at the time from the New York Times, which has some good detail, which I will put here for your education on it:

Pretty neat little bit of local history, as I don't think I've read too much about it before. 

Forgotten Films: Dark of the Sun (1968)

The original title of the movie in Britain was just The Mercenaries. 

There's a real shortage of good mercenary movies out there, but among the few that are good, is Dark of the Sun. Released in 1968, it tells a common tale of the time, being set in the Congo, and involves mercenaries being hired to rescue European civilians in a remote mining town, but this is only a cover for the real mission on retrieving 50 million in diamonds in the company safe. There's tension with not only the enemy rebels, but also a potential the enemy within, namely a former nazi being one of the mercenaries on the team, which is of dubious trust. It's a pretty simple premise, but with excellent action and a soundtrack so good, it was reused by Quentin Tarantino in inglorious Basterds. It's also got some big name stars in it for the time, as well as being super controversial for the extreme action in the day. It still holds up and I would highly recommend it. Here's an HD remastered trailer for the movie:

Farr's Ice Cream

One of the greatest unofficial traditions I know of among everyone I know who are Mormons is to go get ice cream after going to the temple. In the city of Ogden, UT, the famous and long lasting Farr's Ice Cream shop is the go to for those in the area, as it's just opposite of the northwestern corner of the temple there. They are certainly a step up from a lot of ice cream places, not just because they are local, but because they have some excellent flavors I have never seen before, my favorite being the lime ricky sherbet. 

Pics taken form the Farr company site.

The company recently celebrated their 100 year anniversary back in 2020, and they have a far more well documented and detailed history than most companies, but it's so extensive, I don't think I'll even try so summarize it here, but rather refer you to the detailed write up they have on their own site about it.

Mystery Flesh Pit National Park

Go to the official site for all sort of cool stuff and killer merch (pun intended).

I LOVE me some good eldritch/Lovcraftian/cosmic horror, and was very pleased when the Mystery Flesh Pit National Park stuff became an internet sensation a little while back. Unfortunately, I never really posted that stuff here for some reason, and I figure it's about time I do so. 

If you aren't familiar with it, a writer posted to reddit and tumbler a bunch of adverts, and brochures he made to look like official National Park Service and corporate promo material delving into a fictional and now-defunct National Park that allowed visitors to explore the inside of a subterranean unidentified super-organism that was inducted into the national park system in the 70s under Jimmy Carter (history's greatest monster) and is located in rural west Texas.

It has it's own website that you can peruse that has all sorts of snippets, articles, and illustrations about the origin, notable people, organizations, technology, biology, safety measures for exploring the park, and the story of it's ultimate demise. https://www.mysteryfleshpitnationalpark.com/

The sights of Elberta, UT

Elberta was a mining town that was formed for those working in the multiple old mines that are located between it and the town of Eureka. After most of the mines closed in 1949, the town almost turned into a ghost town overnight. The only things that really remain in the town are a couple of large farms, a natural gas facility, a Catholic mission, a few remaining houses, and a couple of noteworthy pieces of history. 

Of those pieces of history, the first is the old Sinclair gas station located right of the town's only intersection. Constructed in 1917, it was family own for the duration of it's operation and was open to the public until 1982. It's no longer open, but is still owned by the same family, and is easily seen from the road, and provides some excellent Americana in it's appearance. 

Photo from Atlas Obscura

The other thing it's notable for is the fact that there is a movie set for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints that is nestled between Elberta and Goshen. From what I recall the set is unique in that it's meant to be a semi permanent set to save money over time instead of constantly building and tearing down sets. The set itself is supposed to represent the Jerusalem area, specifically the Sanhedrin but has expanded over time to include other areas like Golgotha and Gethsemane. I've meant to go out there for some time now, as I have passed close by a number of times while on the way to other places, but haven't been able to stop there yet. 

Crappy, low-rez pic from the church news site.

Though don't get too excited about going there if you are wanting to explore, as there really isn't anything else out there.

Sources and pics from:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/old-sinclair-gas-station-elberta-utah
https://www.thechurchnews.com/archives/2011-08-03/utahs-movie-set-where-scripture-comes-to-life-56561