BackTalk with Becca

Deep in the KTEH archive, we found a tape labeled "Things You Should Know about San Jose." We loaded it on to our old one-inch machine and found a fascinating historical tour of San Jose done in 1981. In this clip, we we take a tour through San Jose's early beginnings from the bank of the Guadalupe River, to the Peralta Adobe and to the Fallon House. It's interesting to see how those building have changed even more over the last 30 years.

These days, If you're busy harvesting in Silicon Valley, you're not on a farm. You're on Farmville, a very popular "social game" said to have 30 million players a month.

Social Gaming is booming. E-Marketer projects the social gaming market will exceed a billion dollars this year…and that ain't hay.

KTEH's Robin McElhatton filed this story for Nightly Business Report.

Last year the This is Us crew met-up with a lot of remarkable Californians who have a connection to our national parks, Betty Soskin, the oldest park ranger, Greg Smestad a member of one of the oldest families in California, Dr. Masako Miura a survivor of the internment camp Manzanar, 96 year-old Ernie Pruitt, a former member of Roosevelt’s Citizens Conservation Corp and several more.

The inspiring stories of their lives, and their relationships to the parks, were featured in an hour special edition of This is Us. That special will be re-broadcast tonight. Here's a clip from the show.

KTEH is the newest contributor to the national program, Nightly Business Report.
We are very excited to work with NBR and to have the opportunity to report technological trends and innovations that develop in Silicon Valley to the nation.

Local reporter, Robin McElhatton has joined the KTEH team and will cover the business of technology, bio-tech, Green industry and other issues in Silicon Valley.

"If there's an important business news story on the West Coast, our viewers can be sure that the Nightly Business Report will be there to report it," said Mykalai Kontilai, Chairman and Chief Executive of NBR Worldwide. "Having a reporter on the ground in Silicon Valley will give Nightly Business Report access to many of the business leaders and decision makers who shape our world."

Mc Elhatton's reports will also appear on KTEH and KQED.org/news. Locals will find Ms. Mc Elhatton's face a familiar one. She has a 20 year history of covering Silicon Valley on television and radio. She was previously an anchor for KLIV-AM in San Jose, and also covered technology for KICU-TV in San Jose.

Nightly Business Report is the nation's most-watched daily business news program. NBR can be seen on KTEH weekdays at 6:30 pm.

This is Us Crew Atop a WWII Sheridan Tank at MVTF in Portola Valley

As part of our Veteran's day show, we visited the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation. It's the largest collection of 20th century military vehicles in the world and it's right here in the Bay Area - Portola Valley, actually.

Scud missle in launcher at MVTF

There's tons -literally- to see. Among the 289 items in the collection are tanks, armored cars, self-propelled artillery, towed artillery, antitank, and antiaircraft guns, support equipment and inert ordnance. There's even a scud missile launcher …..and a missile.

My favorite was the Kettenkrad - half motorcycle and half tank, perfect moving soldiers through mud and snow or garbage cans to the curb. Don't laugh, there are websites where you can buy these crazy looking vehicles.

John Gregg, Becca King Reed, Phil Hatcher and Kettenkrad

The collection's Tank Expert, Phil Hatcher, tells me those who collect German military vehicles consider these to be an affordable example. In some states you can even drive them around town. (Wouldn't you like to have one of these the next time your competing for a spot in the Safeway parking lot ?)

The folks at the MVTF were deeply knowledgeable and helpful. They opened all the doors and let us see everything. They even gave me a ride on the Sheridan tank. We brought back lots of fascinating video of the collection and great interviews with Phil Hatcher and the foundation president, Bill Boller. You can see it all on KTEH, November 10 at 7pm. If you can't wait, call the MVTF for a tour.

John Gregg & Simon Gordon Shooting the Open For This is Us Veteran's day Special

Recently producer, Trinh Banh and the This is Us crew dropped in on Syndicated Radio host Greg Kihn at
KFOX. The former rock star turned DJ was in rare form.

Kihn's last album, Horror Show, hit the airwaves in 1996 but you can still hear him every morning on KFOX….chatin' up his listeners. He was kind enough to speak with This is Us, too. Watch the story on January 5th at 7pm on KTEH. Kihn talks about what it was like to be a falling star, his successful career as a novelist and what lies ahead now that is future is no longer in Jeopardy.

His Holiness, The Dalai Lama, Poses with the press. Photo Courtesy Sameer Yagnick

This is Us senior producer, John Gregg, attended a press conference held by the Dalai Lama last week.
Gregg has been working on a profile of local monk, Ven. Thupen Danyo, who is spearheading the development of the Gyuto Vajrayana Center and monastery located in San Jose.

Gregg was hoping to get a comment from the Tibetan leader about Danyo's local efforts to preserve Tibetan culture. He was not disappointed. His Holiness answered with the hope that the center would be a place of learning, a forum for dialogue between religious groups and between Buddhists and scientists.

Although he took some difficult questions, throughout the conference His Holiness was upbeat and even joked with the press. When the last question was answered, he happily announced, "photo opportunity!"
Most of the reporters were happy to oblige.

His Holiness The Dalai Lama at the San Jose Convention Center. Photo, Courtesy Sameer Yagnick

Here's a clip from our shoot at Long Marine Lab in Santa Cruz. Dolphin, Puka, and his trainer, Traci Kendall, demonstrate how dolphins create sounds.

Cat in The Hat Knows a Lot About That starts on KTEH Mon-Fri at 10am & 2:30pm.
Voiced by award-winning actor Martin Short, Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat guides friends Sally and Nick – with a little help from the Fish, Thing 1 and Thing 2 – on fun-filled adventures where they make natural-science discoveries, from how bees make honey… to why owls sleep during the day.

There's plenty of adventure and silliness, THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT THAT! will spark a preschoolers’ natural curiosity, and get them invloved in the process of scientific exploration and discovery.

click Here to explore the fun website!

Later this week This is Us will be shooting at Long Marine Lab so we did our site survey this morning. The first thing that caught my eye was a Blue Whale skeleton - 87 feet long.

Blue whales are the largest animals ever to live on earth- bigger than dinos, even. These enormous creatures live on krill, tiny shrimp like critters. Right now the bay is full of krill so it's very possible to see a Blue whale in the flesh.

Blue Whale, Long Marine Lab, Santa Cruz, CA

Not all of the animals at Long Marine Lab are skeletal. Some very lively dolphins, an otter, and the world's only trained elephant seal also live there. Scientists are studying what life undersea is like for these animals and how human activity effects them. Join us on October 20 for a peek inside the Long Marine Lab.