Who Do You Think You Are?

"Who do you think you are, Miss Philadelphia?" Mom always asked Bop and Zizi.

This wouldn't have burned so much, except Mom had been Miss Philadelphia. She would tell Bop and Zizi that if they were good she just might drive them down in the Wagoneer down to Van der Kamp's The windmill frightened Zizi, and she was always certain that one of those paddles would reach down and spank her or pull her up and swing her around for circles.

Bop, however, was fascinated by it, thinking of it as a symbol of flight, like the propeller of a Pan Am clipper, and she dreamed of one day becoming a stewardess, staffing the first class section -- non-stop from New York's Idlewild Airport to Paris. The very name of the airport evoked glamor and abandon -- running both idle and wild. Bop would pull out a Fiestaware platter from the kitchen and would walk down the hall with a Dixie cup on her had and pretending that her flannel robe was a tailored blue wool uniform. "More coffee, sir? Why it would be my pleasure. And how about an almond wafer? They baked exclusively for Pan Am by Van der Kamp. What, oh, you're going to Amsterdam after Paris? How fitting."

Theme Thursday: Mystery

(This is our contribution to this week's edition of Theme Thursday. Check out the others here.)

While making a tour of Mesoamerica, Abraham Lincoln and Grace Slick stop for tea at the ruins of Copan, Honduras, with their tour guide Sherman. We encourage you to guess the mysterious dialog that ensues as they sip their perfectly brewed matcha while Sherman suggests that they try the local yerba mate.

Lunar Lunacy

Philip Huang makes a passionate case about what will happen if we don't protect the moon.

If you never saw Alton V. Yowells, VII's tips on how to travel to the moon, here it is. He remains neutral on who should or should not go there.

Little Capitol on the Prairie

Mr. Sullivan and Junk Thief drove over to Sacramento today. As we zipped east of Davis, Mr. Sullivan turned and asked, "Do they have skyscrapers in Sacramento?"

"Well, they're more like sky 'reachers'. They don't reach quite high enough to actually scrape the sky."

Not unlike Chicago...or Des Moines...or Omaha...or Kansas City...or Indianapolis -- suddenly on the horizon of the prairie, the Sacramento "skyline" appeared.

"Oh, dear," Mr. Sullivan exclaimed. "They're not exactly structures of juicy proportions."

"More like squirty proportions."
The tour of Sacramento began at 16th and Broadway in the Tower District which is now something of a mausoleum of retail chains past.
It was here that the original Tower Records morphed out of the Tower drug store. Thus, the original sign references cosmetics and film in the plural form.
Mr. Sullivan appraised the extant Tower Theater. Though he found the structure's spire to be appropriately virile, he was dismissive of the surrounding palm trees. "Though fully erect, they are not indigenous. All landscaping should think of aboriginal foliage and fauna."
Within the tombs of the original Tower Records and Books are now R5 Records and just plain Records which were next door to each other. The former had a wretched selection and the drugged out goth staff ignored the sole visiting customer since they considered talking about last night's drug use of higher importance.
The latter was even more disheveled, but the drugged out staff were friendly, and there was a resident cat that reminded Junk Thief and Mr. Sullivan of a Valencia Street used book store. There were DVDs, VHS tapes and records haphazardly strewn about the floor. They had an impressive collection of not only vintage jazz LPs but also of 78s!

Junk Thief Board of Directors Retreat Concludes

This was the scene this afternoon as our board of directors headed down to San Bruno to catch flights and to deal with tighter security screenings. They demonstrated a very effective technique to full body scans: "Wah! No, I don't want a body scan!"
Here we see our Board Chair (left), Vice Chair (right) and treasurer (center). As you can tell, our board of directors adhere to a very rigid hierarchical structure.
Sadly, our two newest board of directors members arrived just as the others departed due to weather related flight delays. We think they have a lot to add, and we had a great discussion over dried salmon. Here are Tilly the Thunder kitten (left) and Billy the Blunder Cat, niece and first cousin respectively of our founding board of director member Miss Millie the Glass Eyed Wonder Cat.

JTTV Season 4, Episode 3 - Astro...Grooves

Following their unexpected reunion last week on the moon's surface after 20 years apart, Alton and Dalton Yowells probe deeper into the stars as they introduce a new segment: Astro...Grooves

Pretty groovy...
Mighty funky...
Makes me wanna....
Shake it like a monkey!

JTTV - Season 4 - Episode 2: Alton V. Yowell's Lunar Adventure

Responding to a viewer question, Alton V. Yowell VII blasts into space and has a surprising reunion on the moon's surface.

This Baby Looks Like It Can Do It