Riches Beyond Imagining

Apparently one of the largest gem and jewel heists in world history - in the Top 10 for sure - happened just a few days ago along Interstate 5 in California. Keep an eye out for extraordinary riches!:

In the early hours of July 11, two armed guards left their Brink’s big rig, giving a gang of thieves a 27-minute window to make the huge snatch, its total value still a mystery. 

...The team of burglars bypassed the truck’s locking mechanism and used the storage containers to haul away precious gems, gold and other valuables from a Brink’s tractor-trailer, say multiple law enforcement sources not authorized to discuss the crime.

How much the thieves netted during the 2 a.m. snatch is hotly debated. Brink’s said it was less than $10 million based on the insurance. A federal law enforcement source and some associated with the International Gem and Jewelry Show world said the total appears to be closer to $100 million.

“We are talking multi millions here. It is a huge amount of money,” said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau Sgt. Michael Mileski, a veteran of investigating armored car and bank capers. Mileski said the $10 million is a base, and it is expected to escalate.

...Outward signs of the riches inside were not obvious. But Mileski said the guards driving such trucks are openly carrying firearms and that could alert someone watching trucks.

Arnold Duke, president of the International Gem and Jewelry Show whose exhibitors displayed the items in San Mateo and were moving them to Pasadena, said the truck contained many 70- to 100-pound plastic containers filled with jewelry, gems and watches.

“We are looking at more than $100 million in documented losses,” he said. “This was an absolutely huge crime. One of the largest jewelry heists ever. We are talking gold, diamonds, rubies, emeralds and loads of luxury watches.”

“There were 15 exhibitors each with $5 [million] to $10 million in merchandise,” he added. “These are small businesses with their entire wealth vested in that truck. It has destroyed them financially and it affected their health in some cases.”

Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar (2021)

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Last updated: February 11, 2023


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Quick Summary:

(From imdb) Best friends Barb and Star leave their small Midwestern town for the first time ever to go on vacation in Vista Del Mar, Florida, where they soon find themselves tangled up in adventure, love, and a villain's evil plot to kill everyone in town.

I started watching this 2020 movie, which was ostensibly filmed in Cancun, Mexico City, and Albuquerque. A comedy set by the sea. At the movie's start, Barb and Star are employees of a department store called Jennifer's Convertibles. They chat on a floor-model couch and do nothing all day. Suddenly they discover they've lost their jobs and must find a new direction in life. They leave Jennifer's Convertibles, which is located in a building attached to the Capitol Bar in Socorro, and a friend in Socorro Plaza suggests a new direction. (See video link) The whiplash is almost enough to send me to the hospital. The whole Socorro mindset is on a different planet than the Hollywood mindset.

   

There are some Albuquerque filming locations too.

Notes on Individual Scenes

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Idyllic bike ride neighborhood - roughly 8600 Ashton Pl. NE. 

Park - 13th St. and Roma Ave. NW 

House - 1220 Roma Ave. NW

Roadside with white fence - Sure looks like up on Rio Grande Blvd. NW, but I wasn't able to figure it out. 

Open fields - Looks like Los Poblanos open space 

Owl/tree/Elevator to Lair 

Soft Rock, NB. 

Jennifer Convertibles - 102 Plaza Street, Vertu Fine Art Gallery, Socorro, NM 

Socorro Plaza 

Barb and Star's House - 1301 Fruit Ave. NW (see films like "Afterwards").

Lair/Plane/ Escalator 

Palm Vista Hotel, Spa, and Salon 

Palm Vista Motel - Downtown Inn

Buried Treasure/Dancing/etc. 

Vista del Mar City Limits - Tingley Drive (35.077821°, -106.665669°) 

School - Likely Escuela del Sol Montessori 

Walk in swamp 

Credits - Filmed in Cancun, Mexico City, and Albuquerque

Petro Dreams in the Rio Grande Rift

Is there a there there, at all? Wondering why this fever has settled on Los Lunas?:

LOS LUNAS — Valencia County commissioners voted 3-2 shortly after midnight Friday to approve a measure that could open the door to local oil and gas exploration, a move that came after nearly seven hours of public comment from dozens of people.

About 150 people showed up for the hearing at the Los Lunas Transportation Center on Thursday, filling the facility to capacity and leaving standing room only for many participants.

...In the end, three of the five commissioners voted to approve a new “natural resource overlay zone,” which allows developers to apply for exploratory surface and subsurface mineral development in the county without changing existing zoning on targeted properties. That could potentially expedite the permitting process to extract natural resources like oil and gas.

...Don Phillips, a former oil and gas exploration geologist, warned that drilling in the Rio Grande rift underneath Valencia and surrounding counties would be extremely dangerous, potentially damaging the freshwater aquifer that serves the entire mid-Rio Grande corridor.

The Albuquerque Basin — an undeveloped zone potentially rich in hydrocarbons — is a highly fractured formation with numerous fault lines, Phillips said. Drilling there would likely disturb those fault lines, turning them into conduits for oil and gas to contaminate the basin’s freshwater aquifer, while greatly heightening the risk of earthquakes.

“You’re just asking for trouble, in my view,” Phillips said. “I just think if you start drilling water disposal wells in this basin, the probability of creating earthquakes is going to be 100%.”

About 20 people spoke in support of the overlay zone, including members of the Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico, the New Mexico Business Coalition, and employees and consultants with Albuquerque-based oil and gas firm Jalapeño Corp., owned by longtime oilman Harvey E. Yates Jr.

Most said opening Valencia County to oil and gas could bring huge economic benefits to the area, including jobs and tax revenue. In addition, a huge array of safeguards are already in place to adequately protect the environment and local communities, they said, including stringent state laws and regulations, plus immense improvement in technology that makes oil and gas operations highly secure.

“Regulations already on the books have been studied, sliced and diced and proven effective for environmental protection,” said Independent Petroleum Association Executive Director Jim Winchester.

The fruits of oil and gas development have immensely improved the quality of life for everyone over the past century, Winchester added. And without the ordinance, “you’re cutting off a bunch of Valencia County residents from tax revenues for schools.”

Copshop (2021)

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Last updated: March 7, 2023


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(From imdb) On the run from a lethal assassin, a wily con artist devises a scheme to hide out inside a small-town police station-but when the hitman turns up at the precinct, an unsuspecting rookie cop finds herself caught in the crosshairs.

I didn't have high hopes for what seemed to be just another cop movie, but I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. Really quite good! I guess Gerard Butler is improving over time. Nevertheless, I wasn't able to determine a few key locations - the cliffs at the start and the Gun Creek Police Station especially. 

Notes on Individual Scenes

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Mesas and cliffs - Unfortunately, I don't know where this is. It sure looks like the cliffs at San Ysidro, but it doesn't quite work. So, it's someplace else, but probably from the same geologic formation. 

I-25 sign for Cochiti Pueblo, Highway 16, Exit 264 (35.518814°, -106.220063°) 

Dirt road 

Driving east on Highway 16 (35.526844°, -106.231978°) 

Distant view of casino - altered image 

Casino at the Downs, 145 Louisiana Blvd. NE

Driving along bend in highway 

Gun Creek Police Station 

Office - official seal 

Building with murals 

Longhorn Motel.

Longhorn Motel.

Longhorn Motel.

Longhorn Motel.

Longhorn Motel.

Grove by Rio Grande 

Highway 16 again (35.552196°, -106.290646°) 

Ambulance pulls over (35.541327°, -106.277876°)

The Commando (2022)

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Last updated: February 11, 2023


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Quick Summary:

(From imdb) A DEA agent returns home with PTSD after a botched mission and must now protect his family from a home invasion when a recently freed convict and his henchmen come after their stash of millions hidden inside of the agent's home.

Notes on Individual Scenes

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View of ABQ from the Rail Yards 

View about 608 Four Hills Rd. SE, looking south 

Main house - 5120 Isleta Blvd. SW.

Prison, Correctional facility - Big bldg 

View towards Sandia from railroad and Pacific Ave. SE 

Mickey Rourke next to building 

Two (unknown to me) roads in the South Valley 

House 

Auto repair place 

Police Dept. - arched entrance 

Rourke on roadside 

View of city 

Driving south on Four Hills Blvd., same place 

About 208 U.S. Route 66 (35.066687°, -106.430569°) 

Railyards flashback 

Driving in Tijeras Canyon - same place - U-Turn 

View of warehouse complex - where is this?

City view 

View of cement wall with twisties 

View of city at night 

Cop does U-Turn - East 333 (35.064309°, -106.449679°)