Good Morning, Oppo

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 03/17/2020 at 09:59 • Filed to: good morning oppo, Planelopnik, wingspan

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How’s everybody doing today? It’s Day 2 of our extended Spring Break Staycation courtesy of that asshole virus. To help make the time go by, my family !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! at the local food bank last night, where we assembled boxes of food for elderly shut ins. It was nice to be doing something rather than just sitting around. We’re going back again on Wednesday and Friday.

This isn’t a particularly fascinating photo (I imagine somebody can tell me all about those Braniff vehicles), though this 707-138B has an interesting history. It began its life as VH-BEM flying for Qantas, one of its so-called “hotrods,” a shortened variant to improve range and performance. It was then sold to Braniff as N108BN, and that registration stuck as it was later converted to an executive transport and passed through the hands of Frank Sinatra, Las Vegas entrepreneur and billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, then TAG Aviation. Travolta bought it in 1998 and it was re-registered as N707JT (for obvious reasons) and christened Jett Clipper Ella after his son and daughter. Since garaging a 707 isn’t exactly cheap, Travolta entered into a maintenance agreement with Qantas to take care of the airliner, had it painted it in original Qantas colors, with Travolta acting as an ambassador for the airline. In 2017, after Travolta was unable to sell the plane, he decided to donate it to the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society in Australia. The historic airliner was originally scheduled to be repatriated last fall, but paperwork and other regulatory issues pushed the date into 2020.

Boeing 707-138B
cn/serial number: 18740/388
Delivered to Qantas in September 1964 as VH-EBM
To Braniff International Airways in 1969 as N108BN
To Boeing in 1975 as N108BN
To TAG Aviation in 1977 as N108BN
Re-registered in 1990, with TAG Aviation, as N707XX
To Jet Clipper Johnny LLC in 1998 as N707JT

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Source: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn 03/17/2020 at 10:23

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This is on a wholly unrelated note (except as to era), but are you familiar with Roy Budd’s score for Get Carter ? I know you have some familiarity with the Mancini and Schifrin scores of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, and Get Carter is in that vein. Top Gear used to borrow bits of it on challenges and things.

ttyymmnn > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 03/17/2020 at 10:30

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I am not, but I will definitely check it out. Thanks!

user314 > ttyymmnn 03/17/2020 at 10:40

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I was off for a week starting the 9th, and while I was out they started phase one contingency plans, which meant half of us would work from home while the other half came in, then after two weeks we’d switch. That lasted until yesterday, when word came down from on high that all employees for whom it would be practical (I’m in banking, so some of groups have to be in the office, at least for now) would WFH until further notice. Fortunately , we’ve been anticipating this very type of situation, so (thanks to my former boss) we’ve had laptops and teste d   off-site, or tried to WFH, at least once a month. Going to be an interesting situation as time goes on, but hey, at least I’m going to be saving on transit fees!

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > ttyymmnn 03/17/2020 at 10:48

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Somewhere I have a copy of Architectural Digest featuring his house. Two of my favorite things in one - mid-century modern architecture and jet airliner s. Add a 20 car garage and I’d be in heaven.

shop-teacher > ttyymmnn 03/17/2020 at 10:49

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Cool Scout on the tarmac!

Ash78, voting early and often > ttyymmnn 03/17/2020 at 10:56

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I can’t NOT hear the South Park jingle with Braniff.

Technically that tune was from Cannibal: The Musical but I didn’t learn that until years after South Park came out.

What a cheesy gem of a movie that is.

facw > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 03/17/2020 at 11:01

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https://www.redfin.com/MD/Baltimore/4000-N-Charles-St-21218/unit-804/home/10836818

ttyymmnn > user314 03/17/2020 at 11:02

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My wife, who works at a university, has been working this week to set up virtual conference rooms etc so they can continue to have meetings, make  promotion and tenure decisions, etc. She found out that hard way that her work PC doesn’t have a camera or microphone to test the set up. It seems that none of the department’s PCs do. So she had to go out and buy a bunch. 

ttyymmnn > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 03/17/2020 at 11:03

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Just the fact that you can stand in your living room in your bathrobe with a cup of coffee, look outside, and see a frickin 707. It’s nuts. And the really crazy thing is, he’s not that good of an actor.

ttyymmnn > shop-teacher 03/17/2020 at 11:05

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It would be fun to restore one in that BI livery. I wonder if they painted them in all different colors like their airliners. 

ttyymmnn > Ash78, voting early and often 03/17/2020 at 11:06

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I never watched South Park, so I don’t get the reference. But it’s a catch tune. Of sorts. 

Ash78, voting early and often > ttyymmnn 03/17/2020 at 11:10

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It was Parker & Stone’s college project, so they did a musical based on the real-life story of cannibal Alferd Packer.

You need to watch South Park, maybe seasons 3-current. They just do such an amazing job with satire, usually hitting multiple levels at once. And almost always controversial.

World War Zimmerman is one of the better episodes (came out right after the Trayvon Martin shooting), but it’s better to start earlier so you can understand the characters.

South Park is one of the gems of Gen X’s contributions to pop culture.

user314 > ttyymmnn 03/17/2020 at 11:39

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Interesting. All our laptops have cameras and mics (so they’re Skype/Lync ready ) , but we’ve all taped over the cameras...

ttyymmnn > user314 03/17/2020 at 11:49

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Laptops yes, but these are desktop PCs. Since it’s a university, probably not the latest ones, either. All my Macs have camera/mic, and yes, all of them have tape on the camera. So does my son’s Chromebook. A year or so ago, he got an email from some scammer claiming to have hacked his camera and recorded him “pleasuring himself.” Sorry, asshole, but nope. 

user314 > ttyymmnn 03/17/2020 at 11:54

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Ah, gotcha. 

The Snowman > ttyymmnn 03/17/2020 at 12:17

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Creamsicle is not a bad color combo on that scout 80.

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > ttyymmnn 03/17/2020 at 12:18

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the foodbanks are in trouble here....most of the volunteers are elderly

they are currently trying to get the gubment to organize somekinda coupon for the countries poorest to be able to exchange for food in case they have to shut even more locations.... also to help deal with the sudden increase in people with no income...

i have some pretty mixed feelings about having to go to work tomorow....but at least i still have work

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > facw 03/17/2020 at 13:03

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Nice!

Only Vespas... > ttyymmnn 03/17/2020 at 14:25

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Nice work! I was aware of JT’s 707 but not of it’s history. Braniff was so cool, despite being a local airline of  the Southwest. Nice Scout as well. Even notice how hard life is for ramp vehicles at airports? They really get beaten up despite never leaving the airport. Good move to volunteer. I am going to look into doing the same.

user314 > ttyymmnn 03/17/2020 at 14:29

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Matt Parker and Trey Stone’s original production company from ‘97 to ‘06 was called Braniff, after the airline, and this slug card was shown at the end of every ep:

The company has since been renamed South Park Studios. 

ttyymmnn > Only Vespas... 03/17/2020 at 14:46

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I’ve got a few regular websites and forums I use to troll for old pictures, particularly Good Morning posts. This one popped up this morning, and said it was JT’s plane. Of course, that meant that I had to confirm it, then I found out all the other interesting info.