For ages I had been meaning to go to the Tekoi Test Range to check it out. It's not too many hours away from me, and I really wanted to take a day to go there, but never got around to it.
For a long time, it seemed I just couldn't find much info on it other than what I could infer on the CLUI site and the very muddled and poorly written Wikipedia page on it. Maybe my google-fu just sucked at the time, but I honestly don't remember anything showing up when trying to find out more about it roughly 10 years ago. Thankfully, someone on youtube has again beaten me to the punch and made a couple of full videos on it. One video exploring the location and another video explaining not only what was done at the facility in relatively good detail, but also has some actual footage of the tests done there.
The only thing not mentioned in the video is the variety of the rockets tested there. Some of the more prolific ones other than the Trident SLBMs motors that were tested at the site are likely to be:
Today the site is supposedly used by a local drone manufacturer for tests, and is listed a potential filming location.
As an added note that is just barely related, Skull valley is also the same place one of the greatest gunfights in movie history was filmed. I highly suggest you Google search Way of the Gun if you are unfamiliar.
A little known, but influential site in Utah Cold War history, is the Buckhorn Wash Underground Explosive Test Site #8. Also know today as simply the MK tunnel system. I'm not sure how I initially found out about them, but for this article I'm using the Cold War Tourist site as a source, which has excellent write ups on the program and it's sites. Go give it a look see, it's an excellent site with details on a lot of other places of note.
Morrison Knudsen was a company contracted by the US Army in 1948-1952 to set off controlled detonations on the naturally occurring rock in the San Rafael Swell area in Utah as a part of the Underground Explosion Test Program. The purpose of these tests was test the suitability of the rock and to refine the design of underground structures to defend against aerial explosive attacks of various sizes and in various locations across western states.
The site is Utah has three sandstone tunnels of various sizes, in which 19 explosions were set off at various depths above the tunnels with payloads ranging from 320 lbs. of explosives to a whopping 320,000 lbs. of explosives!
Being a very soft rock, the sandstone there was likely deemed unsuitable, and then another phase of the UET program later began testing in the granite cliffs of Unaweep Canyon, Colorado. These tests likely directly contributed to the eventual development of the famous Cheyanne Mountain Complex later. Although I don't have any sources or info to back it up, I did hear somewhere that the info from these tests also contributed to the development of the underground facilities built for the Titan II missile launch complexes.
Utah is a funny place and I will admit a lot of it is because of the dumbass voting habits of Mormons. Despite being one, I can't help but admit that Mormons as a group tend to vote very stupidly.
All three variants of the Minuteman missile from History.com
For example, there was a big fuss back in the day about not basing Minuteman ICBMs here, with huge protests about it at the state capital that occurred back in the 70s. Instead of basing the missiles here, the USAF just based the logistical and maintenance headquarters here instead of actual missiles. Yet, to this day, it is still a hot topic here considering the Minuteman missiles are planned to be updated/refurbished, so lawmakesrs are still huffy about it.
Yet at the same time, nobody here seems to have any issue with the state being completely riddled with Uranium Disposal Cells, which, IMO, are far more potentially dangerous. Looking at history, it seems like ICBMs are pretty benign, considering they are highly maintained, very secure, and the goal is to NOT use them (and we've done pretty well so far). Whereas nuclear waste handling facilities have had a far worse track record for accidents, as well as the fact that not all dump sites are official or even regulated.
Both images from the Center for Land Use Interpretation
So, all you retarded Mormons who think you did any good at all, had better be proud of yourselves for stopping those icky ICBMs, cause look what you did instead, you idiots. I bet if we actually had ICBMs here, we would have had better oversight for how the nuclear waste is handled in the state. Just for fun, here's a list of disposal sites in Utah:
A good friend of mine has a little youtube cooking channel and it reached 100 subs early last week. Figured I'd share it here for anyone interested, as I do find him to be pretty funny. Nice to see the channel grow. Pretty sure I was like the 9th subscriber or something when he went live with his first episode.
Not too long ago, Jeff Bezos said that if their new Lord of the Rings show Amazon is producing ends up a failure, they are getting out of the business of producing their own original shows permanently. Well, since he's too dumb to see that it's guaranteed to be a failure already, let's move on to talk about Netflix.
Now there's a company that seems to put out original crap a lot more often than hits. They have had a slew of garbage shows produced, and even the good ones they put out tend to have some serious flaws *cough* Bird Box *cough*. Although, I will admit Squid Game was actually very enjoyable, but we'll see if that trend continues. Anyways, there's still an unending amount of reviews and articles about how disappointing most Netflix originals end up being.
Now they are moving on to adapting my favorite show of all time, Cowboy Bebop. This upsets me for a few reasons other than the one mentioned above. When adapting something that already exists, they tend to love to deviate from the source materiel as well as not use anywhere near the appropriate budget to not appear as a half assed production. The openly admitted to completely disregarding the input of the original director and writer, ShinichirÅ Watanabe, who has already disowned any association with the production.
Then add to the fact that the chick who plays Faye Valentine in the new production has already jumped on the high horse of calling the fans sexist for thinking her costume sucked. Add to that, the fact that she never bothered to learn anything about the original character before complaining about her, since one of her arguments was that she wasn't properly tall enough and bimbo looking enough to look like her (nevermind they are they are nearly same height, and the actress has performed in far skimpier outfits).
The only thing that is remotely good I've heard so far about the production is that John Cho insisted that he's too old to play the main character, but is still going ahead with it. however, he did manage to convince Netflix to hire the original composer and he actually watched the whole show to get the character right. Good on ya, Cho, but it's just not enough to give me any hope about it.
I'll still give it a try, but it seems they are hell bent on making it a complete remake of the original series, and have completely changed the nature of multiple characters. I think remaking it is a massive waste of time, as the original show is animated and holds up far better than live action with CG these days. Just on a technical perspective alone, the new show will be outdated far faster. Once again, this is a situation where I think they would have been better served by making a companion piece to the original series instead. That's all fans have been clamoring for since day one was more of the same, not make it different. Heck, as I've said before, any show that is a success (and isn't forgotten), doesn't need to be remade, because by changing it you've already likely lost some or most of what made it good to begin with.
Come to hear now that reviewers are not impressed with what they have seen so far either. I generally go by audience reviews rather than pro reviewers, but the audience also gives most of the marvel movies high scores, and most of them are garbage, too. Well, there's still the original if you want to watch a show that's sure to be good that doesn't call you sexist.
Not gonna lie, I'm just too lazy to post on the weekends, so I usually type up these music posts way ahead of time and then just choose which one to do on the weekend. That being said, I still like posting stuff I think is good, so enjoy:
Historical humor is a fickle thing; there's plenty of it around, but rarely does it make me actually laugh. Even more rare is when a guy on youtube who does videos mostly on video games makes the funniest historical joke video I've ever seen. That, and I gotta lighten things up around here after the past few days.
Let's face it, every guy who is dating someone whom he isn't sure is the right one to marry, will eventually make a pros/cons list of marriage to that woman, and war crimes is certainly not a dealbreaker when on the cons list.
Don't really expect more of these kind of videos on his channel, but he does have some interesting ones on topics other than video games that are really good. Though, even his takes on video games are pretty insightful/thoughtful, unlike most people doing that kind of thing on youtube.
Lots of stuff going on in the world this week it seems. One thing I also neglected to mention was that yesterday was Pepero Day. Most people in the US, I would gather, have never heard of Pepero Day, and to be honest, the only reason I know about it is because of Jeannie on MXR.
Basically, Wikipedia describes it as a South Korean holiday similar to Valentines day, but revolving around the sweet stick cookies called Pepero. Wikipedia gives an account of what started it, but I would throw that to the wind and say it was more likely to be a marketing ploy by the company itself that started it, since the tradition seemed to start the same year the product was introduced. Though, there's nothing wrong with that if people are having a great time with it.
They came first, and I can't help but like 'em a bit better.
I like the standard chocolate and cookies and cream flavors from Pepero, but I hope no one from Korea takes offense to me preferring the original Pocky (especially the strawberry, yum-o!). I do know some Koreans who like Pocky better, so hopefully I won't be starting up more rooftop Koreans.
Roof Korea is best Korea. Also found on a subreddit called r/roofkoreans.
On a sadder, related note, I only found out recently that two of the three men in the iconic pictures above, have likely passed away last year, some of them due to complications with the commie cough. The exception being Mr. Park (pictured at bottom). I found out about it via the Reddit post on it and it's certainly worth a read. I especially love the comment below the post from the author about interviewing Mr. Park; when asked if he would do it again, he said “If I won’t, who will? Will you?” I love that guy already.
I may have touched on this before on this blog, but Veteran's day wasn't always known as such. The day was specifically commemorated as Armistice Day because of the ceasing of hostilities between all factions on the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month in the year of our lord 1918; ceasing what we know now as World War 1, but known at that time as simply "The Great War".
The Great War was, and still is one of the most horrifically large losses of life the world over, and most unfortunately, one of the most pointless. World War 2, on the other hand had very good reasons for being fought, but without the Great War, would likely never have been needed to fought at all.
Many times as I see this day pass, many people from a European origin or residence will point out the sweet and reverent tradition that is common in that part of the world of wearing a red poppy in commemoration of the sacrifices made in the war. Originating specifically because of the poem In Flanders Fields which documented the aftermath of a battle in Belgium in 1915.
A picture of a bronze memorial of the poem at it's author's birthplace. Pic from Wikipedia.
Some people tend to lament that wearing the red poppy is not more common in the US, but I tend to disagree. I don't think the tradition is bad at all, not in the least. However, as America did not enter the war until 1917, it would seem to me a little presumptuous for Americans to don it (though I certainly don't object to it at all), as the battle in Flanders wasn't fought by us at all.
As well, being Americans, we tend to (and have intentionally set out to) be different from our European brethren. This shows in almost all things we do, even up to and including spelling words differently from our English friends across the pond. In fact, German ancestry was was far more common and was far more celebrated in the US until the events of WW1, but most Americans decided to disavow their ancestry due to their fierce belief in American ideals and patriotism. Weather right or wrong, the point is simply proven that Americans love doing things their own way, and I don't see why we shouldn't continue to celebrate that.
As for me, I generally try to do something nice for my co-workers, as most of them are veterans, by getting some donuts for the office or something. Generally, most of them can't stand people verbally thanking them for their service, and I can kinda see why. At the end of the day, I'll like to remember all veterans, but will always try to remember why the day was commemorated for the end of WW1 as well. Usually doing so by watching the last episode of Blackadder, which always surprises me by how heartfelt and touching it's final scene is.
I generally believe in treating others with respect by default, but I certainly don't believe in treating all ideologies with respect. Especially when the tenants of that ideology insist on disrespect to individuals without regard to judging them fairly. I prefer the philosophy of "by their fruits ye shall know them", so that's why I can't stand modern feminism or other 'woke' ideologies at all.
This one's gonna induce some broken feefees
First off, they seem to think that they need to have more "representation in media" because they have been treated unfairly and have suffered through the #metoo fiasco(which I feel has permanently hurt those who were actually abused, but that's another argument for another day). They insist on having their own movies, but then just rip off existing movies instead of coming up with their own stories. I mean, if you really believed women were smart, strong, and independent, why can't you come up with your own damn movie? Instead you straight up bastardize existing franchises like Ghostbusters, Star Wars, Star Trek, and now possibly Indiana Jones. Then, when they inevitably bomb, because they suck, you call fans of the originals misogynist or sexist (including female fans!), even after you've irreparably ruined the franchise.
Then there's the pay gap myth. Not too many years ago in my dating days, I was at the home of a female friend, with another girl I dated briefly. Somehow that damn retarded 'pay gap' study came up, and the girls I was with insisted that it was horrible that women were still being "oppressed" or "marginalized" or "unfairly treated" because it proved they were being paid less than men. I quickly brought up that the study never accounted for the fact that men tend to work significantly more hours, tend to qualify for higher level positions, as well as the fact there is already an existing law that makes paying someone less for the same amount of work in the same position based on sex is illegal! But they refused to accept my argument despite the obvious. Needless to say I don't associate with them anymore, as they seem to think I was problematic for more reasons than just that.
Because I don't buy into your crappy "pay gap" myth.
Even if the pay gap myth was true, I'm of the same opinion of Bill Burr on the subject. Society still expects me as as man in the event of an emergency to assist women and children first, and I'm expected to die for that if needed. So, I'll happily take my "I'm going to die first tax." since I'm also registered for the draft by law and they aren't.
Even classical feminists of the suffrage kind of annoy me in that they pissed and moaned about getting the right to vote, but refused any of the responsibilities for doing so (hence why many women did not actually want the vote). They didn't actually believe in equality, as they were not required to be a part of the draft or local volunteer fire brigades, or any other responsibility associated with the right to vote.
Fast forward to today, and now that women may soon be a part of the draft, they piss and moan about it again. Except now, they insist women be a part of combat units but then refuse to meet the basic physical requirements for those roles and wonder why they are so disrespected in the ranks. It's because you did nowhere near the amount the next man did to get the same position/posting/rank, so you don't deserve the same respect.
Needless to say, the pun is intended in the title of this post. That, and I can't help but notice a lot of behavior that results in extreme feminists 'eating their own' so to speak, that I talked about before. To wrap up here, I believe in treating others with respect regardless of color, gender, etc, but not all cultures or ideologies. Recognizing there are differences in us all is not bad and nature itself has determined dimorphisim is the best way for us to thrive. That, and if the fruit of feminism is nothing but vitriolic screaming, denying science, and peddling lies, it's not good at all.
Also, the latest Freedom Toons on the subject is amazing if you haven't seen it before.
