UMs: Lost Artifacts/Civilizations part 3

Right off the heels of a lost treasure post, we come back to the lost artifacts and civilizations again. So, you just get some background vibes going and read on:

We call them the Minoans. However, their language has never been deciphered to the point we don't even know what they called themselves. Who were these ancient advanced seafaring people during the Bronze Age in Crete?
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/jrcyo1/the_minoans_were_an_ancient_seafaring/

The African Kingdom of Aksum/Axum was one of the most powerful kingdoms of it's time, but no one knows why they went into decline and disappeared:
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/m1xi9p/for_a_time_the_african_kingdom_of_aksum_was/

Ancient bronze Dodecahedrons from more than 1500 years ago are discovered relatively often, but we still don't know what they were used for:
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/d5ji8m/the_mysterious_bronze_objects_that_have_baffled/

A 2,000-year-old vessel off a Greek island contains what people think was a rudimentary computer, but how does it work and what does it do?
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/e47k8h/the_2000_year_old_computer_how_did_the_missing/

Kind of a different one, here. An archaeologist lost in the Yucatan Jungle discovers someone claiming to be a 1000 year old blind Mayan priest guides him to safety:
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/4y7zod/in_1931_a_renowned_archaeologist_found_himself/

Forgotten Films: The Black Hole

Ah, Disney, you stupid morons. No, I'm not talking about their latest efforts aimed at making kids gay and grooming them for abuse ('ol Walt would want to kill these people if he were alive). No, I'm talking about when they actually just tried to make entertainment that wasn't trying to kill the souls of children.

Back in 70s, Disney wanted to make their own high-budget sci-fi movie and began making the movie The Back Hole. Unfortunately for us and for the movie, a little flick called Star Wars came out to unprecedented success for a sci-fi film, and subsequently shoved dollar signs into the studio heads and their meddling nearly (or according to some, actually) ruined the movie. 

Some of the set design was just gorgeous

When you watch it, the movie immediately sets up an atmosphere of foreboding, creepy mystery with it's excellent theme song (I can't gush enough about it), then with the massive and empty, almost gothic looking starship which you later learn is run by an egomaniac. The movie has some fabulously beautiful scenes and really is at it's best when setting up and showing off the creepy tone and atmosphere and unsettling aspects of the story. It also features some really good actors of the time, and has perhaps the most controversial ending to any Disney film ever. 

Sadly, Disney will be Disney, and as soon as the success of Star Wars was seen while in the middle of production, they immediately insisted the movie be more of a adventure film to emulate the success of Lucas' film. This translated to a wildly shifting tone in the film, going from ghost ship vibes to cutesy robots, then to zombified crewmembers, to more cutesy robot segments, to high adventure chase scenes, to literal hell. To say the tone is uneven would be an understatement. 

One of the coolest effects shots in the movie.

Nobody I know really recognizes it as a great or even good film, but darn if it isn't memorable. Personally, I always loved this movie, despite all the imperfections and missteps. Not just for what it did do, but for what it wanted to do. To me, the movie seemed like it was really trying to be more of a horror movie in space before suddenly shifting in tone to a more adventure flick by the end. I honestly think that the movie Event Horizon (despite being far more extreme) had at least a little inspiration from this film, as they have a lot of similarities. I feel the movie just missed the mark by Disney trying to be like Star Wars while also fearing they would ruin their family-friendly reputation. 

This is another movie I would actually love to see remade to fully embrace the horror sci-fi experience, and it seemed Disney was on track to do exactly that in 2009 when they announced the movie would be remade. However, the dumbassess at Disney announced in 2016 the remake script was "too dark for a Disney film" and then put it on hold.  I guess I should have expected that from the douchebags who brought you the bull crap Star Wars sequel trilogy, screwed over the character of Boba Fett, and then blatantly try to groom kids by selling such gems like this to them:

Kill Disney. The company needs to go down already.

Farmstead

 There are far too few good places to eat in St.George, UT. Most places out there are either chain restaurants or just plain garbage. So color me surprised when I try out the Farmstead bakery out there and it's not only good, but pretty great. They have a great assortment of baked goods, consisting of donuts, croissants, cookies, baguettes, and danishes. They aren't limited to that and they also have salads, sandwiches and pizza as well, everything tasting top tier. To top it all off, they also have a nice and actually functional website you can peruse. Just beware that they are currently closed on Mondays and Tuesdays for some odd reason. 

The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco

Panorama of the original Palace circa 1919. All pics sourced from the Wikipedia article. 

One of the most iconic landmark buildings in San Francisco other than the Golden Gate Bridge may just be the Palace of Fine Arts. Constructed specifically for the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition (another rabbit hole unto itself), the building was constructed specifically to look like a decaying ancient Roman ruin. The architect, Bernard Maybeck, viewed it as making a fictional ruin from another time.  

The original complex of buildings built for the expo. 

The complex of buildings created for the Exposition, most of which were demolished afterward, which is nothing short of just criminal. Thankfully, the Hearst family (yes, THAT Hearst family) started a "Palace Preservation League" to keep the palace preserved from demolition.  

After being preserved, it had a rather varied history of things being located there. The 30s saw it being the home of many lighted tennis courts, then the WW2 years saw it become a military motor pool, the post war years saw it become a UN limousine motor pool, then became a city park department warehouse, and a temporary fire department headquarters. 

After all this kind of usage, the palace was falling apart, as it was made of substandard materiel as it was only expected to stand for the duration of the Expo. So, in 1964 the entire facility was demolished, only leaving some of the original steel frames. Then, the effort to reconstruct it was started with more durable materials to ensure a more permanent structure, which was completed in 1974. In reconstructing it, there was painstaking effort to recreate it exactly as it was in both shape, size and color, the only difference other than building material, was the lack of some of the original murals that adorned the original structure. 

The palace is also a popular filming location, with scenes filmed in it for movies and shows such as Vertigo (1958), Time After Time (1979), So I Married An Axe Murderer (1993), The Rock (1996), Mission impossible (tv series), and Game of Thrones. It was also included by the developers into the game SimCity 4. Another show business connection it has is the Lucasfilm headquarters were located very close by at the Letterman Digital Arts Center just behind the Palace, and a plaque for the foundation is embedded in the Palace floor underneath the dome. It was also likely the inspiration for the architecture for Naboo in Star Wars Episode 1. 

Of course, in 1964 the Exploratorium was hosted there for a majority of the new structure's lifetime until 2013. In 2010, there were renewed efforts to start new restoration works and ensure the structure was seismically sound. Today, it operates as a facility available for rent for trade events or weddings. 

The Electric Theatre

Looking pretty nice these days. All pics from atlas obscura. 

When I was a teenager, a good friend of mine worked at the theatres in St.George, and was promoted to manager.  Now back then they were all owned by the same person, so this means he was a manager of ALL the movie theatres there. So, every now and again, I'd pal around with him and bug him at work and goof off in the projection rooms, including the one in the old Electric Theater at 68 E Tabernacle St. I had a lot of good memories of getting cool movie posters, big parties, all sorts of shenanigans in the theatres down there.

The lobby looks vastly different than in the 90s, in that it's not run down and trashy anymore.

It was still operating as an actual theatre then, and boy was it run down. Little did I know, that unlike most things in Southern Utah, the history of it is pretty interesting. Built in the year of 1911, it was the first theatre built in the southern end if the state and was THE first building in the city to incorporate early refrigeration/air conditioning. 

The historic marker that doesn't mention the recent renovation. 

1999 was it's last year of operation as a theatre and shuttered it's doors. Later, in 2013, it was bought by the City of St. George as a project to create an art district along with a couple of neighboring buildings. It took nearly $3 million dollars to both modernize the building and restore it to it's more original look that it currently has. After having reopened in 2015, today it is host to a number of live performances, mostly by locals. You can check out their schedule at their website here: https://www.sgcity.org/arts/artsfacilities/electrictheater.

Ground Branch

So, so many years ago I heard of a very small group of developers wanting to make a true spiritual successor to the Rainbow Six franchise. Some have since attempted this, and in my opinion failed miserably. Not to mention the actual Rainbow Six franchise, which not only become a non-tactical mainstream game, but also cowtows to the commie Chinese government censors. 

So, what does that leave us? I already talked about Ready or Not, which aims to be more of a SWAT series spiritual successor, but has a few of the same vibes. But as for an actual, improved one for one experience, I think there is only one out there and it is called Ground Branch.

This being made by a very small team of devs, and they have been developing this game for nearly 15 years. They have had a number of things to delay them, including completely switching game engines, getting bought out by a publisher, and outsourcing and hiring other teams to make modules/components to the game. 

A 747 map just like in Rogue Spear!

However, all the time seems to have paid off, as the game is available now as an early access title and despite being in a pre-alpha state, is coming together very nicely. No other game has given me quite the same feeling as the old R6 games, but this one delivers in spades. Heck, even some of the maps are near identical to some that were in Rogue Spear, along with some more inventive ones like the Bin Laden compound in Pakistan. 

Very in depth customization for gear and weapons.

Personally, I don't recommend buying games in an early access state, so I would tell most people to wait until an official release to ensure you not only get a product, but that the one you get is both good and what is promised. However, if the current state of the game is is any indication of the future, things are looking really good. That, and if you are like me and just are comping at the bit for an experience like the old Rainbow games, even if in an unfinished state, then go sign up!

I'm calling it: the Russians are effing retarded

 A couple weeks ago I was having a discussion with some friends about why Russia has decided to commence the invasion of Ukraine. I stated that I think it's because they instilled a KGB agent as their leader and they are under the delusion that the Soviet Union should make a comeback in a big way, as that's the only power system they like. 

I remember hearing from someone much smarter than me, something along the lines of: tyrannical/radical leaders aren't the source of the extremism of the populace and they are not exerting their influence on the populace. Rather, they are brought about by the extremism and sentiment of the populace at large. So by that logic, the Russians can not be saved and they are too stupid to get or allow freedom in any form. Exhibit A:

So, if that is the opinion of the average Russian, we should nuke them while we have the chance. As long as they are at their current level of corruption, we shouldn't fear any retaliation, as the fuel in their ICBMs are probably replaced with water at this point. So in that spirit:

UMs: Lost treasure part 2

Again, we find the world is nothing but a big couch to find other people's loose change in. So put on the music again and read on.

The lost city of Z has been long been the thing of legends, but now there is a renewed effort with modern technology:
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/760d4n/drone_technology_could_help_discover_the_lost/

Hidden messages in a song to hint towards a treasure. The only thing missing is satan worship and backwards lyrics:
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/6cefki/clarence_clarity_an_obscure_outoftheordinary/

A golden owl buried somewhere in France that is worth over 1 million francs:
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/2mffmy/in_search_of_the_golden_owl_buried_for_7876_days/

Another European mystery, this time in Hungary called "The Seuso hoard" consists primarily of silver:
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/51yr5b/the_seuso_treasure/

The Lost Dutchman in the Superstition Mountains is a classic, but might as well post a write up for it here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/27ckfl/the_lost_dutchmans_gold_mine_peralta_stones_and/

So this is the future rifle? Well, it kinda sucks.

Spoiler alert: they settled.

Just heard the news not too long ago that SIG has won the NGSW contract becoming the new rifle and squad automatic weapons of the US Army. 

Now, I fully predicted that SIG would be the winner of the contract, simply by virtue that that Army is notoriously superstitious and because SIG was the only somewhat traditional-looking competitor left, it would win by default. So, here we are. 

Now, I am in agreement with the Military Arms Channel on this one. I think this is a monumentally boneheaded decision by the Army. First, is that despite the new rifle offering a number of advantages, namely: much better range, better terminal ballistics/lethality at range, better accuracy at longer ranges, better suppressor compatibility, less wind drift, and an excellent sighting/range finding system, and lighter ammunition than 7.62 NATO. 

However it does this at the massive cost of, increased weight compared to 5.56 NATO, increased recoil, it's significantly heavier than legacy systems, no magazine compatibility requiring additional new logistics, increased bulk/size of ammunition, and the inability to convert older 5.56 rifles to the new cartridge, as well as wasting all that R&D money when commercial off the shelf solutions were present that would have been significantly cheaper and easier to implement. 

I also agree with MAC that a far better option would have been to adopt either the 6mm ARC, or the 6mm optimum (PPC), as they could be used with existing magazines and rifles with relatively little modification and cost, while offering nearly all the advantages of the 6.8 without any of the disadvantages. 

Once again, the Army missed an obviously good option.

Musée Mécanique

In English, it is translated as "Mechanical Museum" and is a family owned collection of mostly old coin-op penny arcade games, a majority of them from the age of the between war period of WW1 and WWII. 

A picture of the entrance at it's current Fisherman's Wharf location. All pics sourced from Wikipedia. 

It's another of my fond childhood memories of going to the Cliff house in San Fran to go to the arcade, and I can't really think of anything off the top of my head to compare to it. 

The museum was started by a man named Ed Zelinsky who started his collection at age 11 and first displayed his collection at the Playland amusement park in the 1920s. After the closure of Playland in 1972, it moved to the basement of the Cliff House where it resided for most of it's operational years until moving to Fisherman's Wharf in 2002.  The move from Cliff House was said to be temporary, and was and extremely unpopular move to the locals, and it created somewhat of a controversy at the time.

Old school arm wrestling arcade game. 

The museum itself, however, is quite the enjoyable experience and feels like an interactive time capsule. Even Dan Zelinsky (the current owner and son the original founder Ed Zelinsky) who started working there in the 1970s, stated "You have to understand that people grew up with these kind of machines ... To the generation before, these were the video games. Many visitors haven't been here since childhood, but when they walk through that door, they are going back in time."

As for the exhibits themselves, Wikipedia states: The museum has a collection of over 300 mechanical games and amusement devices including music boxes, coin-operated fortune tellers, Mutoscopes, video games, love testers, player pianos, peep shows, photo booths, dioramas, and pinball machines. It displays about 200 of them at their current location. Beyond this the Museum also boasts some unique and rare historical pieces such as dioramas, a steam powered motorcycle, automatons, and even machines made of toothpicks created by prisoners of San Quentin. How's that for interesting, eh?

Even early video games can be had there. 

Many people would agree the museum is a must see for anyone visiting the San Fran area, and as an added bit of trivia, was also featured in the movie The Princess Diaries, which is the only major piece of media I can think of that includes it. 

The other Kirk is great, too

So last week I mentioned how there's just not a whole lot of celebrities that I'm interested in. I've already stated that even with the ones I do like, I still wouldn't want to meet most of them. I just don't get the mystique around most of 'em as they are ultimately people who are just doing a job that gets them a lot more recognition than the average person. Having said that, some have more interesting jobs than others and I really liked meeting John Eaves. 

So another person I had the chance to meet at the very same ComicCon here in SLC was Kirk Thatcher. He's probably a name that people mostly associate with a number of the Muppet movies, both directing and writing. He's also notable for being a part of ILM for a number of years as well. Me on the other hand, being a big fat trekkie, remember him best as the punk on the bus in Star Trek IV. 

I was able to attend a panel with him telling the story about how the whole thing panned out, and the story has been told before and is pretty well known. But hearing it from his mouth was especially entertaining as you'd expect and he also had a great Leonard Nimoy impression that was worth the admission alone. All in all, a great time had by all. 

I also know I posted this video here before, but eh, why not?

Clear Lake

Ghost towns have always intrigued me, and especially when there's really nothing left of them, no evidence to prove they were even there other than a marker. Well, that's what you get if you are driving along Highway 257 between Milford and Delta, Utah. A blink and you miss it opportunity to a (unusually) very well detailed monument and plaque with excellent pictures to memorialize the location. A real contrast to the location which has not even a single ruin left standing to mark it.

Not much to see from the road, so it's easy to miss.

Basically it was a little town born around 1881 and really grew in the 1890s because of the railroad boom. It grew to a decent size before immediately becoming ravaged in the 1930s due to the great depression. It also didn't help that the nearby lake that the town got it's name from also dried up completely because the state seized it for use on other farms, with nothing left in the lake to this day.  

Jacob's pic of the monument there.

The highway is a route I like to take on occasion and it's something I passed by many a time before finally checking it out. Ultimately, there's a lot of really neat history and documentation on the plaque that worh seeing if you are there. But, I would personally recommend the excellent write up for it on Jacob Barlow's site that's worth checking out, as he has much more info on it and more pics of the plaque and location.

Source and pics: https://jacobbarlow.com/2022/04/06/clear-lake-settlement/

DCS: the free stuff

You know, with all my talk about all the Digital Combat Simulator flight sim on here, I've rarely mentioned some of the better aspects of it, which is that there is a plethora of free content for it. The base game itself is free to play and includes the Su-25 Frogfoot and the trainer variant of the P-51D Mustang. I've also mentioned the fabulous A-4E Skyhawk mod here before but in addition to that, here's a list of other mods available with download links that don't require any paid component of the game to work:

A-29B Super Tucano - Not my favorite aircraft, but a great one to include in the game.
AH-6J Littlebird - I can see this one being extremely fun.
C-130 Hercules - I bet you don't see that too much on the multiplayer servers, but I like it.
MQ9 Predator B - Interesting to make a drone mod for a flight sim.
MB-339 - Such a cool and often neglected little jet trainer.
Alphajet - By far my favorite of the Euro jet trainers. 
T-45 Goshawk - Almost a must with all the naval aviation features in the game.
Su-24M - Now that is one heck of a project to develop this mod.
Tu-22M3 - Another cool and underappreciated jet that must have been a complex mod to make.
F-117A - Hey, that's pretty cool. Didnt' think someone would be able to make the wobblin' goblin.
Mig-23UB - Not the best jet out there, but an essential and interesting addition IMHO. 

There's also a slew of commercial, acrobatic, and other military support and civilian aircraft out there, too that can be found with even weak google-fu skills, but I figure if you're playing a combat flight sim, the combat aircraft are gonna be the ones that interest most people. 

Dance with the Dead

 They just never stop being awesome, as you can still just listen to their full albums on youtube. I especially love that they seem to emphasize the metal element smore and more. This time around, we have more than just a song by having the entire album here, so enjoy!

Dance with the Dead - Driven to Madness (full album)

UMs: Disappearances/Missing Persons

Although I have a category for murder, and that would be closely related, I felt this one needed it own separate one. So again, be sure you put on the song for good measure then read on:

A cattle seller in Romania says he's going on a business trip, disappears for 20 years, then is dropped off wearing the same clothes he left in:
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/phutqw/1991_a_man_vanishes_after_telling_his_family_hes/

A local mystery from SLC, where a girl is abducted from her bedroom, possibly by a man she met the previous day. 
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/fjbskd/in_1995_6yearold_rosie_tapia_was_abducted_from/

An adrift ship covered in blood is discovered in 1993 with no one aboard:
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/i9udre/unresolved_disappearance_a_ship_is_found_adrift/

An older one from the year 1284 in Germany where 130 children go missing all at once:
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/blx745/the_mass_abduction_of_130_children_from_a_small/

A guy in Ohio receives death threats in 1982, and is still missing:
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/ihkvi7/in_february_of_1982_leon_moncer_of_bellaire_ohio/

It's from outer space, see?

Geology is far more interesting in it's controversies that it's actual science. For example, in Utah there is a large, uniquely shaped crater called Upheaval Dome whose origins were hotly contested for sometime. It's located a little more than 15 miles southwest of the town of Moab, Utah, just off the Syncline Trail. 

Doesn't really look like much from the ground level.

There were two schools of thought, one being that it was simply remnants of a very large salt dome, as they are very common across southern Utah, though usually not so large. 

However, that theory seems to have now been dismissed as in 2008 scientist discovered shocked quartz underneath it. What does that mean? It is exactly what the competing theory suggested, which is a very large meteorite crater, as the formation of those crystals is only possible with massive amounts of pressure. They suspect it may have happened roughly 60 million years ago, and underground rocks rose up to the surface afterwards, creating the formation as we see it today. 

Viewed from above, the scene is much more dramatic.

Pics from: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/upheaval-dome

Meeting your heroes

Most people would say that's a bad idea, but funny enough, there are still a few good people out there. A few years ago, when my wife and I were first dating, she invited me to accompany her to the SCL ComicCon. I generally wasn't interested with that kind of think as I don't like large crowds, don't have a lot of money for fluff, don't really like most crossover fan-art, and I generally don't like most celebrities either.  

Apparently he even moved to my hometown. how about that, eh? Pic from here.

So imagine my surprise when I was wandering the booths at the Con, when I almost literally stumbled a little unassuming booth run by John Eaves!  I think I have mentioned John Eaves on here before, but in case you aren't familiar, he has worked on a huge slew of good movies as a conceptual artist and is likely most well known for his work on Star Trek. Perhaps most noteworthy was all the work he did on First Contact and in designing the Enterprise-E. He has also been doing work more recent JJ-Trek movies and the show Discovery as well, but I always felt his designs would be more at home in a more modern show that takes place after ST: Voyager (no offense, John). 

One of a couple of books he's got on the topic, this one being my favorite. 

I remember getting his books of behind the scenes artwork and info as a kid and absolutely loving them, as well as in later years enjoying a lot of the fun stuff he posted on his blog (which may or may not be still working) that has all sorts of cool insight into his work and the industry as a whole. 

I absolutely LOVED being able to meet and talk with him, as unlike a lot of people in show-biz, you can tell it's not just a job for this guy, but it's a passion and a love for not just the work, but for the fans. It was also awesome to geek out with him for a bit as he's also a big aviation enthusiast as well. I've met a few people I thought were cool at Conventions before, but I think this one took the cake and I honestly think that he's the only reason I'd ever go back. 

A plan is just a list of things that don't happen

There are a lot of good movies filmed in Utah, if you check a list at IMDB, it is just endless. Most of them are either filmed in or surrounding one of the national parks or the salt flats. Those two are the most popular spots, but once you start looking at movies NOT filmed in those locations, the list of actually good films seems to be drastically reduced. In fact, I can really only think of four decent movies filmed in Utah that were shot outside of those areas: The Sandlot, Harry's War, Dumb and Dumber, and The Way of the Gun.

All of those movies I would highly recommend as good movies, but this time around I'm talking about The Way of the Gun.  If you haven't seen it, it's got a great cast, and some of the best gunfight scenes in any movie, rivaled only to me by the ones in Heat or maybe Proof of Life. The film is a crime movie that is heavy on the plotting, betrayals and reveals, but the best part of the movie are by far the action scenes. It's far from perfect, with plenty of issues throughout, but it also far from being a bad movie at all, and is certainly worth a watch if you like either genre of action or crime films. 

A still from the chase scene in downtown SLC.

However, I won't talk too much about the movie itself, but rather the production of the film and filming locations. The movie came about by Benicio del Toro encouraging the director/writer Christopher McQuarrie (who wrote The Usual Suspects) to make another crime film. One of McQuarrie's goals was to make a film with very traditionally unsympathetic antagonists to be the main characters of the movie, and actually make you root for them, which I think it really succeeds at. It has some especially strong dialogue with some very quotable lines between the characters Parker and Longbaugh (named after Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). It's ending credits theme is also one of the best songs put to a movie period. 

Almost the entirety of the movie was shot in and around the locations of Salt Lake City and Skull Valley, Utah and it is very noticeable in the film if you have lived around those areas. Downtown SLC being particularly prominent at the beginning of the movie. 

 The Dell, Utah motel used as a stand in for a Mexican motel in the movie. Pic taken from https://deadmotelsusa.com/. 

And a screenshot of how it looked in the movie.

As I mentioned before, the films gunfight scenes are of particular note in this film for a few reasons.  First, the opening gunfight and in particular, the car chase was actually changed last minute, as they were inspired to make it more like a real-life rolling gunfight and car chase that occurred shortly before filming in SLC that was on the local news. Another interesting fact is that McQuarrie's brother was a former member of the Navy SEALs and was the technical adviser for the gunfights, so the gunplay looks very realistic, and included a lot of things that most people try to edit out of their action scenes, such as clearing malfunctions, press checks, proper reloads, gun transitions, and things that most people don't think to include at all, like the realistic round counts and real tactics of stacking and room clearing. 

Behind the scenes shot of the director and Ryan Phillippe on set at the final shootout. Pic from Radiator Heaven site.

You can still go to some of the places where the movie was shot, the downtown areas really haven't changed much other than the freeway on and off ramps. However, a lot of the places filmed as a stand in for Mexico around the Skull Valley area really no longer exist as they did just a few years back. There's lot of scenes filmed at a motel that used to exist in Delle, UT that have pretty much been bulldozed away.  

One set/location that I would love to know if it still exists is the Mexican Brothel at the end of the movie, which was also filmed in Skull Valley, but I haven't found any trace of it so far on google maps or in my travels. The place has become somewhat of a white whale for me, and I'm still eager to know if it is still out there, though I have the full expectation of it having been demolished at some point. 

Another shot from the final battle

Frank Oppenheimer and the Exploratorium

The absolutely gorgeous Palace of Fine Arts. All pics sourced from Wikipedia.

One of the more special memories of my childhood was visiting the Exploratorium in San Francisco with my Mom and Dad. Back then it was located in the amazing Palace of Fine Arts and it was always impressive to go there, though it has since moved to Pier 15 where it resides today.

Frank Oppenheimer, bother of (the perhaps more famous) J. Robert Oppenheimer, both of whom were participants in the Manhattan Project, was the founder of the Exploratorium. Despite having been (correctly) accused of being a member of the communist party by the House Un-American Activities Committee and subsequently blacklisted from any physics teaching positions, he continued to hold a passion for science and was able to teach again in 1957.

In 1959, while working at the Physics department of the University of Colorado, he became enthralled with the idea of promoting/provoking more curiosity and inquiry into the various fields of science. 

A rendition of Frank Oppenheimer

An early idea influencing him was in 1959 when he received a grant from the National Science Foundation to create interactive exhibits for his "Library of Experiments" which formed the basis of what would eventually become the Exploratorium and many of the same exhibits would be included in it.  

Frank himself acknowledged that another large inspiration for his Exploratorium came in 1965,while he was conducting bubble chamber research at University College, London. There, he was exposed to many European science museums, which inspired and drove him to create something similar to them in the United States, as there was little like it here.

A picture of the inside when it was still located at the Palace.

Coming back to America, he was asked to help plan for a new section of the Smithsonian, but declined to do so, as he was determined to implement what he called his "San Francisco project". After conducting a kind of back-channel grassroots campaign of visiting various local scientists, businesses, city and school officials, relatives, and even friends, he received the support and funding to bring the project to fruition. With that, and a 50k grant from the San Francisco Foundation, he could then start his project. 

Oppenheimer was a passionate patron of the arts and always insisted it has an intrinsic relationship with science, so it is no coincidence that his project was initially located in the Palace of Fine Arts upon opening in late 1969. Partly because of the little funding he had for such a large project (as well as his likely high enthusiasm), the Exploratorium opened with many of it's exhibits still under construction. Oppenheimer viewed it as an opportunity to let the public see the process of it's creation, as it lended to the participatory nature of the museum. Another reason being his insistence that there was no charge to enter the museum for the first 12 years it was open.

A pic of the front door of the current location.

Franks's close friend and physicist George Gamow, died about a year before the opening of the museum, but was quoted on a sign within the museum which reads, "Here Is Being Created the Exploratorium a Community Museum Dedicated to Awareness" and is still displayed in it's current location. Many of the first exhibits were also created with the help of both the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) and the Ames Research Center (NASA) at Moffett Field. 

As wikipedia states: Since the museum's founding, over 1,000 participatory exhibits have been created, approximately 600 of which are on the floor at any given time. The exhibit-building workshop space is contained within the museum and is open to view. In addition to the public exhibition space, the Exploratorium has been engaged in the professional development of teachers, science education reform, and the promotion of museums as informal education centers since its founding.

Since it's opening, it has also expanded by having a massive website created for it, as well as assisting with exhibits located outside it walls, and there are even multiple apps you can download for it. 

Oppenheimer himself served as the first director of the museum, and was personally involved in nearly all aspects of its daily operations for the rest of his life. He was noted for being on site in person, whether on the public floor of the museum often to answer questions and guide patrons personally, as well as oversee operations daily, right until his death in 1985. 

Sources:
https://www.exploratorium.edu/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Robert_Oppenheimer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Oppenheimer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploratorium

Max Payne remaster/remake

Catch the actual announcement here.

You know, I was just thinking about all the older PC games that I loved that could use a good remastering due to the tech just not aging too well.  Well, it seems that Remedy Entertainment has entered an agreement with Rockstar to have the original two games to be given a remastering. As long as they don't try to reinvent the wheel and they keep the story and characters exactly the same, I can see this being pretty darn good. Count me in. 

Kinda the opposite

 I was having a conversation at dinner the other day with some family, and the topic of the Ukraine conflict came up. It seems most people, including the family, agreed that they have pretty much stopped following it at all lately. I on the other hand, was not overly interested when it started but I seem to get more and more interested in the details as time goes on. 

In related news, I am totally not a fan of the Ukrainian government, but I absolutely love the land and the people over there. So, I not surprised by this at all:

Destroyed Armored Vehicle In Ukraine Gets The "Wolverines!" From 'Red Dawn' Treatment

Like I said, love those people. They got good taste.

Which of course spawns this little gem as seen on twitter:

Nice.

Because I wanna

Another favorite

The Hives - Hate to Say I Told You So

UMs: Aviation Mysteries

Another topic that I'm exited about for this week's unsolved mystery post. This time around we are looking at some aviation related mysteries. I think by now you know what to do. Just kidding! Here's what you are looking for, now go and read on:

The Lady Be Good, a wreck that inspired the Twilight Zone, Flight of the Phoenix, and others, but we still haven't solved where some of the crew ended up:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Be_Good_(aircraft)#Analysis_and_conclusions

A 'phantom' plane crash that nearly went unreported, but just can't be confirmed:
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/94wf4b/on_january_30_2004_several_people_witnessed_a/

The theft of an entire 727 in 2003 remains unsolved to this day, and no one can determine it's fate:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Angola_Boeing_727_disappearance

A US Air Force Lieutenant is lost after being scrambled to intercept a UFO over Lake Superior:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Moncla

Dead truth

Original signage still there. All pictures sourced from Wikipedia.

In San Juan County, Utah, not too far from the town of Monticello there lies a little property with some abandoned and unfinished buildings and was known at it's zenith as "Home of Truth".  The place was the home of a very small cult known as the School of Truth who followed a woman by the name of Marie Ogden.

The story starts with Marie being a wealthy and active member of the community in Newark, New Jersey. However, after the death of her husband in 1929, she became increasingly obsessed with communicating with her husband beyond the grave via spiritualism to find the cause of his death and the reason and purpose for life.  After a brief stint with the "League of the Liberators" cult, she created her own following by going on a lecture circuit while claiming to be receiving revelation via her typewriter automatically typing messages to her. 

While on her tour in Boise, Idaho, she announced that she would be creating a commune/collective farm community in the mountains to be away from "city life" and stated she saw the place to create/settle it in a vision. So, in 1933, she and 21 of her followers found the place they would set up her collective on farmland in Dry Valley, Utah not far from Church Rock, where Marie claimed the second coming of Christ would happen. 

The compound they created had 23 buildings spread across a couple miles of land that was separated into three portions called the inner portal, middle portal, and outer portal. The inner portal is where Marie set up her home and lived with her daughter, and said it was constructed on the the exact center of the Earth's axis, to be the only survivable shelter to endure the "calamities of the last days". 

Houses in the "inner portal"

Life in the compound was typical of other extreme cults of that size, which had strict rules of giving up all personal possessions along with dietary restrictions of no alcohol, tobacco, or meat of any kind.  Men were generally assigned to work on the farm, with women tending to domestic chores. There was never any electricity on the site, nor any running water, with only a well being the primary source of it. Furniture was also locally made by hand with only the occasional supplies being bought by Marie herself when going to nearby Monticello. Despite the harsh living conditions, the number of followers increased to roughly 100 by about 1935. 

As time went on, it was said that Maire would go to the top of nearby Shay Mountain to receive additional revelations and was reported to have made increasingly outlandish claims as time went on. In 1934, she started her own newspaper in order to spread her metaphysical ideas to the local community as well as she increasingly taught from the Aquarian Gospel to her followers.

However everything came to a head after a member of her congregation died of cancer, whose name was Edith Peshak in February of 1935. This in of itself was not shocking, but rather the fact that Marie was insistent that Edith was in a state of "purification" and could soon be brought back to life, which started Marie's downfall.  Marie insisted on keeping the corpse out and had allegedly washed it three times a day in a salt solution and "fed" it milk and eggs by injection. 

After two years, there were increasing rumors of the cult's extremism and the fact no resurrection of Edith had occurred, despite Marie continually insisting that it would happen soon and refusing to sign a death certificate. By this time, many had become disillusioned with the cult and left the compound, only 7 followers still residing after that point. Marie was eventually arrested in 1937 and forced to sign a death certificate, but the body of Edith was never recovered. Some in her cult insisted that it was cremated shortly after an investigation was started. 

The unfinished stone chapel.

In later years, Marie became a piano teacher to children in the town of Monticello to make ends meet, and eventually died in a nursing home in Blanding, Utah in 1975, with The Home of Truth property being privately sold to prevent the government from seizing it to pay for Ogden's care. Currently, the buildings there are in a poor state of repair, with the unfinished stone chapel and inner portal fencing and homes being some of the most prominent you can still see. 

Sources and pics from:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/home-of-truth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_of_Truth,_Utah