Mike Pearson's Adventures on a Pale Blue Dot

I've seen this truck in action at Mission Raceway. Always a crowd pleaser in it's own warped kinda way. The rumour is that this truck single handedly caused global warming. And then there is this...  

To start. None of these images today are mine. Sad story really, I haven't been out in the bush for a while to hunt down new derelict machines. That will change one day soon, but for now... let us all enjoy other peoples passion for rust and entropy. This fella, John Findra...bless him...builds models of rusted, busted old vehicles. The music might be a bit much on this next video....adjust to suit yourself.  

During my search for the fella that rode on the back of a jetliner ( Rick Rojatt, the Human Fly .. see link to story and pics here.. http://adventuresinmikeslife.blogspot.ca/2012/10/the-man-who-did-impossible.html    ) I ended up swimming in aviation lore of the 1970's. One of the legends of the 70's that is still a mystery today is the tale of DB Cooper. This man hijacked a Northwest Orient Airlines 727 passenger jet, and after some drama....ended up jumping out of the jet's back door with 200,000 dollars of ransom money and a parachute strapped to his back. He was never seen again. It is unknown whether or not he actually survived the jump. For the full story on the hijacking and very interesting investigation...I would recommend a trip to Wikipedia and/or the book store or library. What I want to point out this time around is not the crime, but the bad crazy idea of jumping out of a jetliner. ( DB Cooper did it at night, into a rainstorm ) With Felix Baumgart...

Owner of the once famous West Vancouver restaurant, The Attic". One time owner of a James Bond movie Aston Martin car. Trumpet blower. Owner of white suits. I was only his establishment twice as a youngster. A treasured part of a journey to the city was to make sure that the Aston Martin in the window was spotted and noted on the way by. Here is a great little bio-pic on the man himself, Frank Baker. The last line in the short film is the best I've heard in ages. Frank Baker ( white suit/top hat ) in 1969     The link to the story about Frank's "Bond" car...and the other ones too http://www.driving.ca/news/story.html?id=d8eeed12-0698-43f1-a886-64f03c85ce2a Memories of "the Attic" in West Vancouver http://foodists.ca/2011/07/03/whats-a-smorgasbord-mommy-memories-of-frank-bakers-attic.html   http://life.nationalpost.com/2011/09/17/vancouver-diners-on-their-favourite-restaurant-memories/   http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/wes...

It's 9pm on Sept 30/2012. As I write this, the Denman Cinema is showing it's last film. The West End theater is closing it's doors permanently. The last film is Back to the Future, Part III. Part I and II played earlier in the day. A few other flicks played this afternoon. I went this today to get a few parting photos. I went to the Lebowski fest last night...for some unknown reason, I didn't bring a camera to that shindig. Today the owner was incredibly sad, close to tears when I thanked him for the times he gave all of us in the neighborhood. In the video, they are packing up...tossing out the excess and unwanted. I wish them well. There has to be some sort of silver lining for people like these who try so hard to do the right thing. The rumour is that this beautiful theater is being replaced with a DollarRama. Seriously.