I especially love the stadium comment…. 🙂

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Long live the king. RIP, sir.

Farewell to the master of insults: Tributes pour in after legendary comedian Don Rickles passes away aged 90 at his LA home

and his ‘spiritual heir’ from over ten years ago – fast forward to about 7:50..

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So following on from the previous post regarding touring the Shuttle Trainer at Boeing’s Museum of Flight, here’s the rest of all the ‘plane nerd’ photos from most of the rest of the museum – enjoy!

I have to say, despite no flash, that ridiculous new phone of mine actually takes decent pics…..click on one from the gallery, then click it again to get the high-res version….

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So for a bday thing, a friend and I went to the Museum of Flight yesterday and specifically to check out the Space Shuttle Trainer they have. When NASA’s Shuttle program ended, there was of course a mad dash by all the museums everywhere to ‘get’ a Shuttle. Boeing’s Museum of Flight naturally wanted one too, but ended up getting something arguably better – the full-on Space Shuttle Trainer mockup that was actually used in Johnson Space Center for hands-on training by the Shuttle crews.

It’s important to note – this is not a flight simulator – rather, this was meant to simulate and train on nearly everything else (equipment, evac, procedures, operations, etc.) – the thing is huge and has a fully-accurate, replica cockpit and crew module underneath, built to full scale.

So regular visitors can go in the main cargo bay and in the tail section, but only special tours (yes, costs extra) can go in the pilot section and the crew module. Naturally we did that!

What follows are pics from the tour. I’ll post all the ‘plane photos’ tomorrow from the other parts of the museum we went to, but the Shuttle tour was our first priority yesterday. Definitely very cool and the tour guide was well-informed. The main take-away for me is simply how impressive a technical achievement this thing is – in one of the movies you can watch (sadly about the Challenger and later Columbia disasters) they note at one point that at re-entry to the atmosphere, the heat outside is hotter than the surface of the sun – boggles the mind. In many ways the Shuttle is a tougher and more impressive achievement than even Apollo was, despite the program not ending up near as ‘affordable’ as they predicted nor as long-lived in the end.

here’s to you, NASA!

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Click on a gallery pic, then click it again to get the high-res version….

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even though in my usual way, I found out about it 4 years AFTER(!) it happened…but still cool…

On the scene: ‘School of Rock’ cast reunites for 10th anniversary screening

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I *totally* want to take this class!

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Articles like this, with props to the late, amazing Alan Rickman, are a big part of why….! Their movie rental selection, and the fact they are now a nonprofit – doesn’t hurt either. 🙂

DIE HARD: Hans Gruber & the Fine Art of Villain Leadership

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Still one of the most unpredictable comics out there – I think he’s become a bit more somber since his near-fatal car accident but still brings it! So glad he was all right, sad about his friend who didn’t survive….

Tracy Morgan Jokes With Jimmy Kimmel About Using Walmart Settlement to Buy Bronx Zoo

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