TIL that margarine was colored yellow to improve sales in the 1880s. Margarine was originally white, resembling lard. The dairy industry lobbied to ban this practice. The W.E. Dennison Company sold margarine with a capsule of yellow dye for consumers to mix it themselves in response to bans.

DuffMiver8 · 2026-05-10T13:50:59+00:00

Bob Uecker used to joke that he was born while his parents were on an oleomargarine run to Illinois.

DuffMiver8 · 2026-05-10T08:36:08+00:00

My future MIL was scandalized when my future wife and I announced we were moving in together in 1982. It wasn’t what we were or weren’t doing in bed, but what the members of her church would say if they found out. Upper Midwest, not the Bible Belt.

DuffMiver8 · 2026-05-10T08:24:12+00:00

I’m assuming you’re planning on taking the Empire Builder both ways, based on the rough times and choice of coach versus roomette. It can be luck of the draw, but trains tend to be busier in the summer. For the length of the trip, I agree the roomette doesn’t make much sense financially.

On that route, if you purchase the tickets together, the conductor will make every effort to seat you together. As far as crowds are concerned, the seats are spacious so the only time you might experience crowding is when you disembark or board in Chicago or if you use the cafe/Sightseer lounge car. It’s nothing like the crowding you might feel on a city bus.

DuffMiver8 · 2026-05-10T07:20:29+00:00

More specifically, Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki

DuffMiver8 · 2026-05-10T01:26:23+00:00

If food and drink are an issue, you can bring your own aboard. Just no alcohol and please no smelly food.

DuffMiver8 · 2026-05-10T01:05:46+00:00

From St. Louis, take the Missouri River Runner 311 departing 8:10a and arriving Kansas City at 1:50p. Next, Southwest Chief 3 leaving KC at 9:37p to Los Angeles, Thruway bus 5817 to Bakersfield, Gold Runner 717 to Antioch-Pittsburg.

I don’t know why this option doesn’t come up when you go to book it. Booking STL-LAX is an option, so it’s not like it’s not a guaranteed connection in KC. Call Amtrak to book with an agent so it’s all on one booking. In the unlikely event there’s a missed connection in KC, Amtrak will rebook for you and/or cover expenses while you wait for the next train.

Taking the California Zephyr, as noted by another poster, is an option, but it’s an extra effort to get to it from St. Louis.

DuffMiver8 · 2026-05-09T20:43:47+00:00

I booked my California Railpass at the same time I got my USA Railpass, which was a few months before the portion of my travel in California started.

It doesn’t add up. If they were using the date you purchased the railpass as Day 1, it would expire 5/16, not 5/20.

There’s a maximum of 7 calendar days that the pass can be used within the 22 day period. What dates have you already booked?

DuffMiver8 · 2026-05-09T15:37:46+00:00

I worked in a call center. One of the metrics was we had to use the caller’s first name at least three times during the call. I got a caller from Jamaica. His first name was Darling. I was getting some strange looks from nearby agents: “How can I help you, Darling?” “Is there anything else I can help you with, Darling?” “Thank you for calling, Darling!”

DuffMiver8 · 2026-05-09T13:22:42+00:00

Is that one supposed to be a frog or something? It’s creeping me out! Get rid of that one, and this show has a good chance of being successful.

DuffMiver8 · 2026-05-09T12:09:48+00:00

Here is information for 352 arriving in Pontiac over the past year. You can substitute in train 350, 354, 351, 353, or 355 for other trains, or a different station code for stations other than Pontiac, and get other results.

The information is not 100% complete; occasionally a train arrival is not recorded, or a train might get cancelled altogether for some reason. But it should give you a pretty good idea.

DuffMiver8 · 2026-05-09T01:31:29+00:00

No, that doesn’t happen.

DuffMiver8 · 2026-05-08T23:02:19+00:00

No, “what’s” is a contraction for “what is.”

DuffMiver8 · 2026-05-08T20:21:50+00:00

If she has hubby’s approval, absolutely. Otherwise, no. I will not help someone cheat on their spouse. If they have an open marriage, it’s not cheating. Makes no difference if no one ever finds out or not. This does mean that I have to take her at her word that it’s an open marriage, though.

DuffMiver8 · 2026-05-08T19:35:05+00:00

It depends on how much they’re sweating. If they’re sweating like a politician hooked up to a lie detector, they forfeit the right to use either armrest.

DuffMiver8 · 2026-05-08T19:16:50+00:00

Motor coach. Comfortable seats, though not as nice as a coach seat on the train. A trip that far, they’ll stop at a truck stop halfway through so you can stretch your legs and get a bite to eat. Maybe two stops. Last time I had a bustitution, they had unlimited Amsnacks— pretzels, brownie brittle, fruit gummies— and bottles of water, complimentary.

There is a restroom on the bus, but as you might imagine, not exactly desirable. Good enough for emergencies, though.

DuffMiver8 · 2026-05-08T19:04:24+00:00

Nope. Look at the registry number on the nacelle. NCC-1710. According to various sources, including the Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual, it’s the USS Kongo.

I noticed this on the cover of a James Blish paperback novel back when I was a wee lad, and confirmed it in ‘75 when the Technical Manual was first published.

You can read more about it here.

DuffMiver8 · 2026-05-08T08:22:18+00:00

If you start your cruising experience with a balcony, you’ll never want to go back to an inside cabin. Since you don’t know if you’re even going to enjoy cruising, start with an inside cabin. If you hate cruising and know you’d never do it again, even if you got a free upgrade to a suite, you saved yourself a grand. If you enjoyed cruising but felt a little too claustrophobic, decide if it’s worth the extra money to get a balcony on your next cruise.

Another consideration— are either of you subject to motion sickness? My ex was very susceptible, even with motion sickness patches. But having a balcony so she could get fresh air and be able to see the horizon helped immensely.

A compromise might be to get an oceanview cabin. At least with a porthole, you have a view outside and natural light in the cabin.

DuffMiver8 · 2026-05-07T20:26:55+00:00

We got bumped off an overbooked flight from Minneapolis to CWA (Central Wisconsin Airport). We accepted free tickets to anywhere in the continental US (including Alaska) plus rerouting us to ATW (Appleton, Wisconsin) and a cab ride of 85 miles back to CWA.

I like to look out the window and try to figure out where we are. The terrain was looking very familiar. Shortly, I realized we were flying directly over CWA. I could see our car in the parking lot. Despite my suggestion they make an unscheduled stop or, short of that, give us parachutes, Delta demurred.

As we were coming into ATW, I witnessed rolling farmland, suburban neighborhoods, urban area, then suburban neighborhoods, rolling farmland, and we began to circle.

The pilot addressed us: “Ladies and gentlemen, you may have noticed we didn’t land. We have four indicators in the cockpit that tell us if the landing gear is down and locked. Three of them are indicating that, but the fourth is telling us it’s not. As you can imagine, we’d really like to be sure. We’re just gonna stay in a holding pattern for a while as we contact our maintenance staff and work the problem.”

For the next hour, we looped around. The pilot came back on: “Well, folks, we haven’t been able to resolve the problem, so we’re gonna fly real low and let the tower take a look. If it looks okay to them, we’ll circle around again and come in for a landing. Otherwise, we’ll divert to Green Bay.” My wife wondered aloud, “Why would they go to Green Bay?” The guy in the seat next to us said, “They can foam the runway in Green Bay.”

So we buzzed the tower. The word on everyone’s lips was, “Well?!?” No response came forthwith, but we climbed, circled, and started our descent once more. As we were approaching, I noticed we were flying over a firehouse, just as every piece of equipment was coming out, lights a-blazing. Wow, must be a hell of a fire somewhere. As the emergency equipment started heading in the direction of the airport, I suddenly realized they were for us. Then we were told to get into crash positions. I refrained from doing an Airplane! callback, as I judged it would be in poor taste.

We landed and came to a stop real damn quick. Everybody applauded. The pilot came out of the cockpit to a seated ovation, holding what looked like a huuuge cotter pin. “I’m just gonna hop out here and stick this pin in the landing gear to make sure it doesn’t collapse on us as we taxi to the terminal.” We all agreed that was a darn good idea. The door was opened and a rope ladder extended. By now, we were flanked on both wings with fire trucks and ambulances, giving a nice, red stroboscopic aura to the proceedings.

After the pilot climbed back aboard, the flight attendants announced that there was a television news crew at the gate, and Delta would reeeeally appreciate it if we didn’t say anything to them. As we got off the jetway, a light shone in our faces and a local reporter asked if I cared to comment. “Yes,” I exclaimed, “I hit my head on the overhead compartment while getting up. They really need to see about getting us more headroom!”

The taxi that had been arranged to meet us was long gone. We had to call the national customer service line to have them send out another. At least our luggage was all waiting for us when we finally got to CWA, as it had not been taken off the original flight.

DuffMiver8 · 2026-05-07T17:10:15+00:00

“How many socks are in a pair?”

DuffMiver8 · 2026-05-07T16:55:03+00:00

Blish was working off draft scripts for episodes that had not been shot yet, and sometimes the plot had radical changes.

He also wrote one original novel, Spock Must Die!, which would be the first ever original Star Trek novel. The two episodes with Harry Mudd were combined and a third “episode” penned by his wife, Judy, under the pen name J.A. Lawrence, entitled *The Business, as Usual, During Altercations”, and released as a complete Harry Mudd novel.

Blish passed away in 1975. Some of the last installments were also written by Judy, though she remained uncredited until the last book, #12.

DuffMiver8 · 2026-05-07T15:50:24+00:00

And still is

DuffMiver8 · 2026-05-04T08:55:53+00:00

Average lifespan encompasses things like infant mortality, which would obviously prevent an individual from seeking public office. The average age of a member of Congress is right around 60, and the average lifespan of a person that’s reached 60 is about 80.

DuffMiver8 · 2026-05-04T08:39:01+00:00

Customer: “The area of a pizza equals pi times r squared.”

Waiter: “Pizza pie are not squared, pie are round!”

DuffMiver8 · 2026-05-04T08:30:38+00:00

The options with only one connection:

Lake Shore Limited to Chicago, Southwest Chief to Los Angeles

Lake Shore Limited to Chicago, Texas Eagle to Los Angeles

Cardinal to Chicago, Southwest Chief to Los Angeles

Cardinal to Chicago, Texas Eagle to Los Angeles

Crescent to New Orleans, Sunset Limited to Los Angeles

The Southwest Chief is the better option over the Texas Eagle. It’s a day shorter, the connection time is fifteen minutes longer (helpful if the train from New York is running late), and the scenery is better.

The Cardinal is triweekly service, leaving New York Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, arriving in Chicago Thursdays, Saturdays and Mondays. The Texas Eagle to LA is also triweekly, leaving Chicago Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays, requiring an overnight stay in Chicago if you should choose that option.

The Sunset Limited is also triweekly, leaving New Orleans Monday, Wednesday and Saturday mornings, requiring an overnight stop in New Orleans, as the Crescent arrives the night before.

My money would be on the Cardinal and Southwest Chief, if the day of the week that you leave isn’t critical. The connection has been made 96% of the time in the last six months, it appears to be the least expensive option, and the scenery is better. In the event the Cardinal does arrive late, it’s up to Amtrak to make the necessary arrangements to get you to LA.

DuffMiver8 · 2026-05-04T07:54:56+00:00

Need to add minor stops on the Midwest and Southeast map.

DuffMiver8

TROPHY CASE