Why should I?

For some reason the only thing that I have been seeing at all on any news or social media for the past few days is some drama that may or may not be staged at some worthless awards show.  To all that, I say: 

Youtubers to watch: Yeonmi Park

North Korea is a fascinating if not terrifying topic for a number of reasons, the fact it is so isolationist, is a horrendous dictatorship with an extreme cult of personality, it is openly hostile to other countries, and is hostile to it's own citizens, even. 

So much like the Soviet bloc from back in the day, I am fascinated by tales from those who escaped from the regime, and not only shared their tale of escape, but those who shed light on what's behind the curtain. I wrote about Yuri Bezmenov before, who not only defected but was a high ranking KGB official and he shed light on how they operate. 

Here though, is Yeonmi Park, who was born and raised in North Korea and escaped, to later become a US citizen. She wrote a book about her experiences, as well as she has a HUGE youtube channel that addresses a number of interesting topics about not only what life is actually like in the hermit kingdom, but also about her journey to become a US citizen, the culture shock of living in the west after escaping North Korea, how to help take down the North Korean government, as well as sharing her perspective on popular political issues in the US and Korea, and shedding light on events happening in North Korea. 

Although, I think the best aspect of her channel is that she also has a number of videos of interviews with other people who have defected/escaped from North Korea. It's absolutely fascinating to hear their experiences and motivations as well as their opinions and views on the elsewheres of the world. Below is one in which she interviews a fellow youtuber and North Korean escapee about her experiences. 

Anyways, she has a plethora of videos about a number of interesting things, and I highly recommend you give her a watch when you get a chance.

Missing the Road Island Diner...in Utah

There are a lot of small, out of the way, little known towns in Utah that are only really known for the local rodeo. However, in Oakley, Utah there sits a now empty, classic Streamline prefab diner made in the famous age of art deco. Built in 1939 as #1107 from the line, immediately after being finished, this exact diner was displayed at the 1939 World's Fair in New York City to promote the new idea (at the time) of prefab diners. 

Again, this exact diner had quite the storied history, and has seen operation in quite a few places over it's lifetime. Right after the World's Fair in NYC, it was bought and sent to Fall River, Massachusetts, where it was operated for 14 years. Afterwards, it was bought by a Greek immigrant by the name of Tommy Borodemos in 1953 and was moved to Middletown, Rhode Island, where it was operated for 4 generations as Tommy's Diner until closing in 2006. 

A picture taken shortly after it's grand opening in Massachusetts when it was known as McDermott's Diner.  

In 2007, it was bought by it's current owner, who spent a full year restoring it and took three months moving it to it's current location in Oakley where it operated again as a diner for 15 years.  It was one of only four pre-war Art-Deco streamline style diners to still be in operation at the time, and is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2009. 

"But Saint Grendel, was the food any good?" Heck yeah! I would have highly recommend giving the place a try. Despite not living anywhere near there, the wife and I, along with my brother in law have made the trip out there just to try out the food multiple times and have not been disappointed in the least by either the food or the atmosphere. Unfortunately, as of July of last year, the place closed it's doors seemingly for good because of continual staffing shortages. Hopefully, sometime in the future it can be revived, as it was a grand piece of art deco and great place for tasty eats.

A more modern pic of the Diner in it's current locale.

Video evidence of previous info

So, it seems divine providence has smiled down on the blog, as the good 'ol youtube channel Periscope Films has recently put up a video on Friday of the Coleman Company days of the Hurricane Mesa test facility. 

In this video they specifically mention testing of the ejection system for the F-105D Thunderchief , which is one of my favorite of the century series aircraft, tied with the F-101 Voodoo. The only downside here, is much like a lot of other periscope films, the original audio is missing, so I have no idea of any of the specifics happening other than what I mention earlier. Still, it's an interesting watch.

 

Miami Viced

Tons of great memories made in that digital town, and it's still the best game in the series. 

Grand Theft Auto - Vice City (Main Theme Extended Mix)

UMs: Unexplained Events Part 1

Okay, if you don't know the drill by now, well, I'll still explain it. First you put the lotion in the basket. No, I mean put on the best version of the UM song and then read the following stories from another category, unexplained events:

The Night Stalker serial killer is captured, but the person responsible is never identified and never claimed the reward. 
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/ht5fcg/what_happened_to_the_man_who_helped_capture_the/

A 25 year-old unsolved math problem is solved by a user on 4chan that remains unknown:
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/9w0155/who_is_the_4chan_poster_who_helped_advance/

I saw good mini documentary about this guy before, but if you haven't heard of James Hampton, read on:
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/o640cr/a_religious_notebook_in_a_mysterious_undeciphered/

Sometimes the Catholic Church is is just an unintentional mystery machine, such as this case:
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/imdlwc/other_pope_john_paul_iis_secret_cardinal/

The silent twins June and Jennifer Gibbons. They refused to communicate until one died, the other stated she was finally free:
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/4kesy4/june_and_jennifer_gibbons_also_known_as_the/

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed - Announcement Trailer

It seems a new Ghostbusters game was just announced a little while ago, I think the concept is good, hopefully the game turns out that way. I stated on here how much I really liked the official game that came out a few years ago, hopefully this one is just as good if not better.  

Heavy Metal

I think I may have mentioned it here before but I do like that film. It's got some issues, it ain't perfect, but darn if it isn't an entertaining watch with an excellent soundtrack. That, and Harold Ramis helped produce it, so some of it has to be good regardless. By far the best portion is the B-17 segment, but there's a lot of great stuff in there.

The floating graveyard is now dead

Despite living in California for a good portion of my youth, there are quite a few places I would have loved to go visit that I never really had the chance to see while I was there. One such place I would love to go see is the former NAS Alameda, the USS Hornet Museum, and if it still existed, the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet. 

The Hornet is well known and well preserved, it's also just a place that is chock full of interesting history, both in the warship itself and it's continued role in being a museum and movie set. The list of combat accomplishments and historical significance of this ship is just too long to list here, but is well worth reading a summary of it on the Wikipedia page. 

Unfortunately, as for the Reserve fleet, it appears that Californians can never just enjoy anything fun or interesting, so as of 2017, the fleet has basically ceased to exist. I only had a chance to see it myself from a distance once or twice growing up, but it was always something that fascinated me. Most of the ships were sold off for scrap after people complained of "possible" environmental concerns, but the most significant of them was thankfully preserved as a museum as well, the famous USS Iowa, and is now located in L.A.

A picture of the reserve fleet in 1962.

The Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet was created 1946, as a consequence to the massive surplus of ships freed up after the end of WWII and was administered by the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD). In it's peak in the 1950's, the site was home to over 2,000 mothballed ships that were taken off the naval registry. There were over 300 ships anchored there most of it time, but the number had steadily declined as the more obsolescent ships were either sold off or scrapped. The bulk of the ships stored there were oilers, supply ships, surveyors, salvage, and replenishment ships, but at times there were also the occasional frigates, guided missile cruisers, and icebreakers. Some other notable ships that were stored there at one point was the Sea Shadow experimental stealth ship, Glomar Explorer that was created to salvage the Soviet sub K-129, and the USS Vancouver amphibious landing ship. 

As of this year, there are still a couple boats left at the site that are awaiting their fate, but it won't be long until they are all gone. Thankfully, the Youtube channel It's History put together a little video that gives a brief overview of some of the more notable boats that were stored there. 

Wasatch Warm Springs building

Pic sourced from the Warm Springs Alliance website.

Located at 840 N 300 W in Salt Lake City, Utah is an old, interesting looking, and very Catholic mission-like building that is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, and was built to be a bath house utilizing the nearby warm springs. 

A horse drawn trolley in front of one of the original buildings. Taken from the WSA site.

The springs here were used by the local Native Americans such as the Shoshone and Utes even before the arrival of Mormon pioneers to the valley.  However, the pioneers settling there quickly developed the springs and constructed numerous bathing facilities at the site, many believing the warm sulfurous water had rejuvenating and healing properties.

One of the later buildings at the same site. Also from the WSA site.

The first/original building there was constructed soon after the arrival of the Mormon pioneers, in 1850, and was commissioned by Brigham Young himself in 1848. It was to not only serve as a bathhouse, but also as the meetinghouse for the 19th ward at the time.

A view of the back of the building. All remaining pictures sourced from City Weekly.

The current building was constructed in 1921 to replace the old and decaying original building, and was named Wasatch Warm Springs Plunge. It is currently listed and the look if the building was quite intentionally inspired by the old Catholic missions predominant across California. 

When it opened, it featured not only a large municipal swimming pool but a secondary deep plunge reserved for private parties, a dozen private soaking tanks, a barber shop, hair dresser, large locker rooms, five private rooms on the upper floor available for rent, and even men’s and women’s masseurs. 

Pictures of the more recent decay inside.

Unfortunately, the Hot Spring Lake that fed the waters to the facility was completely drained sometime after 1915 and after numerous health concerns, the baths were closed in the late 1940s. After the facility had changed hands numerous times, it fell into a state of disrepair and it was officially condemned in 1953, and eventually the land was absorbed by the state. However, the health concerns were rectified by changing from the usage of hot springs water to becoming a freshwater pool and operations resumed until finally closing operations as a municipal pool in 1976.

In it's last gasp, the facility was partially refurbished/restored in 1983 to house the The Children's Museum of Utah for most of it's existence until they were renamed to Discovery Gateway and moved out of the bathhouse out to resettle to it's current location in The Gateway mall. However, most people would agree the building remained quite dilapidated during the years housing the Children's Museum of Utah as well.

Another view of a separate pool left in disrepair. 

Presently, the building sits empty, but in the past few years, a group of locals called the Warm Springs Alliance rallied to see what could be done to restore the facility and the hot springs as well. They have met with success and have made significant progress in preserving the building and have been working to restore it. You can read up on the group and their progress at their website at https://www.warmspringsalliance.org/

A big thanks to Catalyst Magazine for most of the info on the building's history and current renovations; you can check out their article here: https://catalystmagazine.net/past-present-collide-warm-springs/