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Showing posts from October 20, 2019

Wyoming and Idaho

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We are back from a quick vacation. I managed to score three (actually several more) bucket list items in 4 days. 1.) Long Snowmobile Trip. 2.) Yellowstone Park and 3.) Wyoming. I reached my 50th State --Wyoming! And we took a 90 mile snowmobile trip in Yellowstone National Park. We went to the "Craters of the Moon--National Monument and Preserve" in Idaho and also stopped at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) where I got to see (with my own eyes) the very cool nuclear powered twin turbojet engine. It was a successful experiment in the 1950s and 1960s. https://whatisnuclear.com/safety-minutes/htre-3-meltdown.html Of course, I had my Radiacode scintillation detector with me and yes, the apparatus is "Hot". The screenshot of the readings from my three walk-arounds the artifact. I swear you could smell the radiation. There was a very un-natural burnt smell something reminiscent of burned bakelite. Although, I am quite certain the emitted radition was not the source...
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I went flying at my new flying club in Long Beach CA today. It is complicated airspace and lots of traffic and airports, Class Delta, Charlie and Bravo. That didn't keep me from reaching over from my left seat and snapping a picture of The Queen Mary. We will be doing more flying from Long Beach (KLGB).
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Angie and I went to a rock concert Tuesday night at the Fonda Theater on Hollywood Blvd in LA. I hate traffic, so we took the Metrolink train to Union station in LA (we ate our dinner on the train) then 10 metro stops to Hollywood/Vine. It took about about an hour an 45 minutes. It was a Мумий Тролль (Mumiy Troll) concert. He is from Angie's home city - a 9 hour flight from Moscow (Vladivostock). He is very popular in Russia. He has a unique whimsical style that is a cross between Russian folk Balalaika, and David Bowie. He uses decent poetry placed on top of simple -sometimes mocking melodies for popular effect. He has been called "Russias biggest rock band, Mumiy Troll began as one of the most socially dangerous bands in the world as noted by a local Communist party chief in the former Soviet Union; yet, was hailed as Best Band of the Millennium by leading Russian music critics after the fall of communism. Mumiy Troll are the most influential and successful independent arti...
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Angie and I were seen at a tasting event this weekend. https://events.latimes.com/taste/ It was fun and different. Angie received complements on her jacket. It is actually my jacket from when I was 18 years old. It is the real thing from my punk era (before punk was cool).