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From the Vaults

Musical ramblings from the manager

FTV: Bussolo or Compasso?

      The picturesque Italian village of Amalfi claims to have an illustrious maritime tradition, although the harbor there barely holds the couple of boats that remain in the local fishing fleet.  Even the tourists from the cruise ships plying the Mediterranean are bussed in because the ships can’t anchor there. In the town square, there […]

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FTV: Klaatu

      Perhaps you have seen the cover of the album Goodnight Vienna.  It pays homage to the 1951 Sci-fi classic movie The Day the Earth Stood Still.  There in the doorway of the prototypical 1950’s flying saucer stands the nine-foot tall robot Gort.  Next to him, with helmet tucked under the arm of his silvery […]

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FTV: The Great Ballantine

    Warning:  If you are able to identify the person named in the title above,  you are about to confront an age old conundrum. (or perhaps it is an old age conundrum).  It goes like this: If you make a cultural reference and no one else in the room has any idea what you are talking […]

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From the Vaults: ElonX.2

      Rumor has it that Robert Downey, Jr. used Elon Musk as his template for the billionaire industrialist playboy Tony Stark (see Stan Lee’s Marvel Universe under ‘A’ for Avengers and ‘I’ for Iron Man).  Certainly there are differences:  Stark has Pepper Potts, amazing holographic computer technology, no children, and, of course, there is that […]

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From the Vaults: ElonX

 “About four hours before a launch, the Falcon 9 starts getting filled with an immense amount of liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene.  Some of the liquid oxygen vents out of the rocket as it awaits launch and is kept so cold that it boils off on contact with the metal and air, forming white plumes […]

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