I get misty looking at these images as the Valkyrie is my all-time favorite aircraft not only for its beauty but also for sentimental reasons. My mom worked for North American (XB-70 program), then North American Rockwell (B-1 program), then Rockwell International (Space Shuttle program). As a kid growing up in the high desert of SoCal, in the shadow of Edwards AFB, I was a propeller head about anything with wings and while "normal" kids idolized professional athletes, my childhood heroes were the test pilots at Dryden. For reasons to long to explain here, I was fortunate enough to meet many of these guys - some on multiple occasions. Guys like Chuck Yeager, Scott Crossfield, Fitz Fulton, Joe Cotton and Bob Hoover were like Gods to me but they were Gods whose hands I had the honor of shaking.

The demise of the XB -70 was a sad and tragic one. Sad because we never saw what this marvel of engineering could do and tragic because of the loss of life that preceded the program's demise. As late as the 1980's in my hometown, the plane was legendary. Even though we were desensitized over the years by seeing all the weird and wacky stuff they flew around the Antelope Valley, the Valkyrie remained a standout in our collective memory. Although I was never able to see it fly in person (since I was born WELL after it died), I get goosebumps when I see images of it to this day. Much the same as when I see the Right Stuff for the umpteenth time.

Thanks for writing this one!

This isn’t Last Call, but I’m going OT anyway. My triplet daughters turned 13 last month but because of holiday silliness and the need to accommodate visiting relations, we put off the 3X13 bash until this past Saturday. It’s two days later and I’m still exhausted. More on that later. The headline here is really:

You Know You Have Teenagers When Their Birthday Parties Get Busted by the Po Po.

You see, my wife is a bit insane. She decided it would be a good idea to host 80 13-14 year-olds at out house for this three-hour shin-diggity. The entertainment was a DJ and my son’s band (he’s 14 and plays drums like Keith Moon and John Bonham somehow brought a child into the world together). We also had a party service bring in a blackjack table/dealer and roulette table/dealer (attendant? What do you call those guys?). I took the better part of last week off for the preparations, which also included finishing the downstairs bathroom remodel (the paint was still a bit tacky as the guests started to arrive).

We had a huge food spread on the dining room table that was decorated with this frilly stuff surrounding the chafing dishes. It seems the frilly stuff was quite flammable and easily catches fire if someone drops a napkin over one of the tea lights which then acts as a fuse. The fire was put out before damaging the table so, no biggie. The party was schedule to go from 6-9pm. Imagine my surprise when San Diego’s Finest show up at the stroke of 9 on a noise complaint! The band was finishing their last song as the po po were pulling up. The rozzers seems amused that they were called to break up a b-day bash for 13 year-old girls but wrote me up a warning since they were in the neighborhood anyway. Seems the offended neighbor called at 7 but I was actually stoked that they arrived when they did; it was a great way to end the party. The kids were all very impressed.

Gambling, rock n roll, fire, busted by the cops. Isn’t that how teen parties are supposed to go down? I have a felling my girls’ street cred among their peers has shot through the roof.

This sounds like fodder for a South Park episode.

No

If you can get him aus of Deutschland:

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/cto/1470839089...

If he's dead-set on a new Project Fraulein, this one is a real looker:

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/cto/1475587589...

BTW, Worst CL Ad ever. Figures it was by the owner of a "Slandnose":

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/cto/1478735587...

If you can get him out of Deutschland:

<a href="http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/cto/1470839089..." target="_blank">http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/cto/1470839089...

If not, this one's a looker:

<a href="http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/cto/1468800150..." target="_blank">http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/cto/1468800150...

You'd only be making half of us jealous. The other half, it seems, are buying into the right wing(nut) teabaggers who are flapping their arms and going off at every opportunity about "Obama the Mad Socialists" and how he's gonna turn us into a *gasp* socialistic state. Silly f-tards. I've said it before and I'll say it again, try to find a Canadian or European who'd give up their system in favor of what we have here. Just try.