On a rail

I think all young boys go through a phase in which they are crazy about trains at some point or another, and I was no exception. I'm not as crazy about them now, but what I would really like to do is take my wife's family to Jamestown and Sonora, California to ride the Sierra Railroad. 

It's got a great museum there, that has some interesting history tied to the gold rush and mines in the area (with the mines closed as recently as 1994). It's also the location for plenty of movies, which I mentioned on this blog before. 

However, what I really remember it for is the filming of a majority of Back to the Future III there. Totally not ashamed to admit it's the sole reason for me wanting to go back with the wife's family, despite the sets having burned down in a wildfire many years ago.  Thankfully, as a kid, I was able to see it before it being lost to time by the fire, but I still think it would be a really cool family trip to take, as we are all big fans of the trilogy.

Just a shame that it's not there anymore.

If we have time, I also stumbled across a fun interactive map of filming locations for the movie, that would be a fun trip to go on as well.

Random trivia

I do like looking up random holidays/days of observance on a whim, and the site nationaltoday.com is indispensable for that kind of random crappy trivia. Today, it turns out, is National Mousse Day, one of my favorite forms of chocolate! Though, I have heard that there is strawberry mousse out there too, I'll have to give that a try. Can't think of a better way to mark the end of the month, so grab yourself some while you can. 

On a related note, it's also National Mason Jar Day.

Fantasy world

I used to love reading all the Tom Clancy novels back in the day, and I still like them and the techno-thriller genre he helped spawn. I loved them because they did provide some realistic scenarios that I find very interesting to read, but as time goes on, and I get older, I have become just a little disillusioned with them.

Why? Well, I realized they are no different from high fantasy, as they are based on the extremely fictitious concept that three letter government agencies like the CIA or FBI are anything close to resembling competent or honest at all.

For some very extreme examples, here's the latest video from DJ Peach Cobbler that I not only found entertaining, but introduced me to a whole slew of new plans by the retarded agency I had never heard of. 

Again, more Sunday music

Grim Reaper - See You In Hell

Fools and their money

are often parted as the saying goes. Now, I do actually attempt to be somewhat responsible with my cash, but on occasion, someone comes up with a crappy gimmick idea that hits the right spot for me, and I think this one is it:

The perfect gift for a man who wants to smell like a cockpit: Russian defense firm launches aftershave that 'captures the scent' of the inside of their new fighter jet

Holiday happiness

The most wonderful time of the year is made possible by all the things that make you fat. Seriously. I don't really get the people that don't love Christmas, cause even if you aren't into all the other celebratory jazz, there's still all the awesomely tasty goodies that come from it. 

Personally I love all the stuff about it, the weather, the good cheer, family get togethers, and the gift giving. But even though it's not the real reason for the holiday, we all have those seasonal commercial goodies we all like: the egg nog, Meier's cold duck, wassail, cranberry sodas and punch, gingerbread cookies, tamales, pumpkin cookies, Martinelli's sparkling cider, mint chip cookies, a resurgence of white chocolate, Terry's chocolate oranges, a wave of peppermint flavored stuff, and pumpkin spice everything.

Nectar of the gods, right there.

This is why I'm trying some new diet all the rest of the year.

Afterlife

Went and saw the new Ghostbusters: Afterlife on Sunday, and I feel the need to give a minor spoiler-free review.  I have to say that there are so many ways this movie could have gone wrong, and it still has some noticeable flaws, but it is an excellent movie that helps repair the damage that was done with the 2016 movie. It remains a jump scare comedy that is very enjoyable, and manages to also be very heartfelt, and will have you tearing up at the end if you have any shred of humanity left. 

It's worth watching more than once. Just be sure to stay to the absolute end of the credits!

Also, I feel ashamed to admit that at the time, I had no idea we were watching the movie on Harold Ramis' birthday. I like the serendipity there, as the new movie is dedicated to his memory and rightly so. I can't imagine that guy to be anywhere other than a far happier place, but even if he isn't, he's got the tools and the talent.

Totally one my childhood heroes growing up. Happy birthday, you new-age Mr. Spock! (also shamelessy ripped from reddit)

Laziness or nerdyness? You decide.

Recently, I managed to build a kind of Frankenstein-ed hodgepodge of a M-16A1 type of AR, assembled from an assortment of spare and new parts. I put it together to give as a gift to friend and I really like the way it turned out. It's certainly not a completely correct representation, the barrel is a heavier profile and is a couple inches short, the color is black instead of grey, and the lower is an A2 design. Other than that, I still think it looks pretty good. 

Very nice. Just ignore the open triggerguard.

It's not my first foray in building one, as the AR that I have for myself is one I put together as well. When I did so, I was at my brother in law's house and I got one of the best compliments from my nephew, "I don't know of anything more Saint Grendel than for you to come in here with a box full of metal parts, and leave with a functioning firearm."

I obviously have a preference for the retro style ARs.

Assembling ARs is pretty fun and I like to call it extreme legos. The lower receiver has a few things that can be come three-handed affairs, but is still very simple overall to assemble. As long as you aren't dealing with a complete idiot, you can teach anyone to put one together, as they are quite simple. It's even more simple if you just assemble your own lower and just buy a complete upper (or vice-versa). 

However, what I really want to do, is to assemble a G36. This sucker was built to be modular from the get go, so assembly is just stupid easy. Basically all you need is a torque wrench, a vise, and a couple small specialized tools for installing the barrel to the receiver. Pretty similar to assembling an AR upper, but simpler, as there's really nothing else left to do. After that, the remaining parts are self contained and it's basically the same as putting it back together after field stripping it. 

Now that is one pretty rifle. This is the exact build I'd like to go for.

They do sell parts kits for the type I want with the barrel length I like at a few places, but the problem is two fold: first, the specialized tools needed to install the barrel are both expensive and hard to find. Then, I would also need to get a TG36 receiver from Tommy Built in order to make it, but it's a shame that the guy never seems to keep anything in stock for long at all. So, who knows if I'll really be able to build one anytime soon.

Añunga Ñunga!

More lazy music posts. I liked this song a long time, but now I can't help but think of Oregon in a nostalgic way every time I hear it.  

Irakere - Añunga Ñunga

Broken record time!

Not sure if I had written about it here before, but back when I was a kid (around 8 or so), I was sent to a week (or two?) long summer camp in the Marin Headlands located in the barracks of old Fort Cronkhite. The goal was to immerse kids in lessons on ecology and marine wildlife and get kids on board with various eco-values both legit and not. I really liked it, we did all sorts of hands on stuff and got to see a bunch of different animals.  Though, even as a kid, what was far more interesting to me was the location and it's history, which was almost completely ignored by the staff there at the time.

The old barracks I stayed at for the trip.

Fort Cronkhite was set up in the 1930s as the threat of war in the pacific became an increasing threat, and across the Rodeo Lagoon from the barracks, there was a large coastal artillery battery set up there to defend the critical San Francisco port. 

A 16in artillery emplacement of the time (1940s)

What the emplacement looks like now. This is a far more improved condition than when I got to see it as a kid. 

I got to climb all over the ruins of the gun emplacements when I was there, and was completely enthralled by the idea that there was this massive piece of World War II history that was just left dilapidated and completely ignored by everyone.  Back then, they were certainly describable as ruins, as they were falling apart and we weren't allowed inside. In hindsight, this is likely because they didn't want anyone to get hurt on the meth needles, as most of the coastal defense structures were popular druggie hangouts. 

Since my childhood, they have been subsequently been restored to a certain degree, as they certainly look a far sight better now. Still, I had no idea at that age that there was so much more to it while I was jumping around the concrete emplacements. 

I had no idea that at the crest of the hill above the artillery emplacements was the dilapidated remains of a subterranean Nike Ajax and Nike Hercules SAM site for ballistic missile defense called SF-87/88. Technically a part of Fort Barry, construction started on the SAM facilities in 1954 and were operational later that year. Security was paramount at these sites and people stationed there were not allowed to discuss their work with any outsider, as the missiles were often armed with nuclear warheads themselves. They were designed and anticipated to be used to intercept incoming Soviet bombers and ballistic missiles. The site was operational until 1974, and was decommissioned and lay dormant until sometime in the 80s when restoration began by a local military vehicle collectors club. 

The missile site when operational. You can see the same barracks I stayed at in the background.

It took more than a decade of restoration, thousands of dollars, plus untold hours of time by volunteers to get it to the point it is at today. Now it is an amazing replica of the the facility at the time it was operational (minus one or two structures) that is open to the public for tours on a regular basis and (if you are lucky enough) will occasionally have Army Nike site veterans to come to assist with tours. They will also on occasion raise the restored dummy missiles from their underground storage to launch position!   

The infamous bay area fog providing some excellent dramatic lighting for this shot. All photos sourced from Wikipedia. 

Despite the trash heap my old home state has become, I would still love to just visit certain places in (The Peoples Volksrepublic of) Kalifornia just for little while, especially this one, as I've never been able to go to the restored site yet. Any plan I have to go back to my home state, would definitely involve going there.

The missiles lowered into their protective underground shelter.