So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[ChiTownScion]

Oh.... and the passenger cars of the train bringing Federal agents to Chicago in "Public Enemies" (1934) were all built later and were painted in a 1952 paint scheme. I did exclaim, "Cool! They used Milwaukee Road 261 and I remember when they filmed at Union Station!" but the error was noted.

 

[EngProf]

Pointing out rail related inaccuracies has gotten me into trouble. While viewing "The Color Purple" in a theater with my wife, I merely pointed out that the Panama Limited:

1. Did not run through the state of Georgia:

2. Was dieselized at the time purportedly depicted on screen with a steam locomotive;

3. Could not have been pulled by that engine as steam locomotive shown was actually used in freight service; and

4. Ran on the Illinois Central. Not the Southern Railway.

And while watching "Public Enemies, " I noted that the locomotive used to haul an allegedly 1934 train had not been delivered to the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific (Milwaukee Road) until 1944.

You'd have thought that she would have welcomed the corrections. <shrug>

That's Hollywood for you...
John Wayne and all the other cowboys fought Indians and stagecoach robbers all through the 1870's and 1880's using 1892-model Winchesters.
Errol Flynn and his troops fought the Civil War with 1873 rifles and pistols.
And don't forget Roy Rogers' 50-shot "six-shooter".
There are so many firearms-related anachronisms in movies that I have become reconciled to them and never mention them out loud.
(Also, there are good technical reasons for using the incorrect firearms, so I give them a partial pass for the anachronisms.)

 

[Fifty150]

There are so many firearms-related anachronisms in movies that I have become reconciled to them and never mention them out loud.

Dirty Harry had a 6 shot revolver. I remember him asking that guy on the ground, if he fired 6 shots or 5 shots. You feeling lucky, punk?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Two worthwhile lessons I've learned....

1. Many writers are lousy historians.

2. Many historians are lousy writers.

So I guess it all evens out in the end...

 

[Harp]

Two worthwhile lessons I've learned....

1. Many writers are lousy historians.

2. Many historians are lousy writers.

So I guess it all evens out in the end...

Separating the wheat from the chaff is half the fun and three-quarters the work.

 

[Harp]

The odd day melded an odd week, took yesterday off, and this morning I am totally unprepared
for The Queen's Plate up at Woodbine in Toronto, or Del Mar's Pacific Classic and all undercards thereto,
so therefore allowance made and have recused myself. Boloed the range. Completely.
Such occasionally happens. Adjust, adapt, and make the terrain work to advantage.

Considered calling a redhead for a breakfast invite, she's cute and a traveling around town
English Lit PhD teaching in Covid times, but she likes to spend Saturdays tending her lawn and garden.
....don't want to be dragged into any clipper-cutter fatigue details, so-s, dunno. I'll throw on another
coffee pot and consider the matter further.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

That song mentions "Track 29" and Pennsylvania Station. Penn Station in New York had 21 tracks.

Maybe because twenty-one doesn't rhyme with "shine"?

"Pardon me, boy
Is that the Chattanooga Choo-Choo?
Yes, yes, track twenty-nine
Boy, you can gimme a shine"

 

[GHT]

Two worthwhile lessons I've learned....

1. Many writers are lousy historians.

2. Many historians are lousy writers.

So I guess it all evens out in the end...

Churchill never said "history will be kind to me, for I intend to write it," in the midst of World War II, or at any other time. What he did say, in 1948, was: "For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all Parties to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that history."

He had a way with words, did our Winston.

 

[Harp]

Whatever currency History accords his ghost today is hardly unearned lucre.

 

[Hercule]

Oh.... and the passenger cars of the train bringing Federal agents to Chicago in "Public Enemies" (1934) were all built later and were painted in a 1952 paint scheme. I did exclaim, "Cool! They used Milwaukee Road 261 and I remember when they filmed at Union Station!" but the error was noted.

A 1952 paint scheme in a 1934 film? How prescient!

 

[GHT]

A 1952 paint scheme in a 1934 film? How prescient!

A truck in the 19th century? That's nothing, here's one in the 13th century.

The film is "Braveheart," set towards the end of the 13th century.

 

[Edward]

View attachment 356300
A truck in the 19th century? That's nothing, here's one in the 13th century.
View attachment 356301
The film is "Braveheart," set towards the end of the 13th century.

And, sadly, that's not even the worst of Braveheart's historical boo-boos!

 

[tonyb]

The car ahead of me at a drive-thru today. Note that the temporary plate expired almost a year ago. What do you suppose the odds are that the vehicle is uninsured?
I see very little traffic code enforcement around here, leastwise as compared to how it is out in the Seattle area, where a burned-out license plate light will likely get you pulled over.
Having once been severely injured — bodily and economically — by an uninsured driver, I very much favor getting uninsured vehicles and their drivers the hell off the road. Yeah, I know, insurance is expensive and most people need a car to participate in this economy and all that, so the incentive to operate a car without insuring it (or even licensing it) is strong. The penalties for it ought be at least equally strong, and certain.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'm astonished at the number of cars I see on the street here with no number plates at all. At first I thought it was because of town offices and the DMV being closed due to the Unpleasantness, but those offices were all reopened by last fall, so what's the excuse now? These aren't rusty old beaters either -- this morning I drove to work behind a Lexus with no visible plates. What's the deal? And where are the cops who pull me over just because my renewal sticker is peeling off?

 

[Harp]

And where are the cops who pull me over just because my renewal sticker is peeling off?

Oak Lawn, Illinois cops (it's a quiet town outside Chicago) track down license renewal sticker-less plates.
Drove home late one nite around 2.00AM and the parked squad car with officers armed with flashlights,
looking for my car, w/o an annual renewal sticker. I explained that I had sent a check in but hadn't yet
received the sticker in the mail. Still writ up, spent the next seven months cutting through spools of town
red tape bureaucracy. Finally, I submitted a bill to the police department for my time.

 

[tonyb]

…
Still writ up, spent the next seven months cutting through spools of town
red tape bureaucracy. Finally, I submitted a bill to the police department for my time.

And of course they paid it immediately, sent along with a letter offering their deepest apologies for the inconvenience.

A neighbor out Seattle way (nice guy; I regret losing touch with him) told of riding shotgun in his car, with his lovely (truly) missus at the wheel. They got pulled over because the cops’ gee-whiz crime-fightin’ tools told them that the plate on the car was registered to a person with a suspended driver’s license, as indeed it was, which is why the neighbor, the fellow who was the registered owner, left the driving to his wife.

 

[tonyb]

I'm astonished at the number of cars I see on the street here with no number plates at all. At first I thought it was because of town offices and the DMV being closed due to the Unpleasantness, but those offices were all reopened by last fall, so what's the excuse now? These aren't rusty old beaters either -- this morning I drove to work behind a Lexus with no visible plates. What's the deal? And where are the cops who pull me over just because my renewal sticker is peeling off?

I renewed my vehicle’s annual registration online, from my iPhone, while seated in that very vehicle. Took maybe five minutes. Not even. The new tabs and registration document came in the mail a week or so later.

In this state, there’s really little excuse.

 

[Fifty150]

In California, there are registration machines. You enter your vehicle information, pay with a credit card, and your registration and license plate sticker comes out of the machine. It's about as easy to use as an information kiosk at the shopping mall, or an ATM. Those machines are found in grocery stores, next to the lottery ticket machine and the machine with a crane for stuffed animals. If you can buy a candy bar from a vending machine, you can pay your registration and get a sticker.

 

[Fifty150]

To protect the innocent, my real place of employment has been changed.

As I walk into the changing room, there was a note on my locker to see the Crew Leader. The Shift Supervisor was also there.


"Listen, we'll make this quick. Your girlfriend called The Store Manager. She asked to have your assignment changed. She says that she wants you home at nights, and she needs you to have weekends off. Look, this isn't a burger joint. We don't sell fast food. It's not like you're french frying potato, and your girlfriend thinks you should be the taco bender. You are a Pimp. This is a Pimp Station. Your girlfriend has absolutely zero input on how we pimp around here. Got it? Tell your girlfriend that she can't call The Head Pimp In Charge, to suggest how we staff shifts. This isn't a daycare, she's not your momma, and you eat whatever cookies are served with your milk."


What? The? F.C.U.K.? So that's what it was all about. Just before I left to report for my shift, she says, "Why do you have to work nights & weekends? Aren't there any day-pimping jobs that you could do?"

This was just too much. I've never met anyone so crazy. She actually called my job, and tried to tell them how to schedule the shifts. Are you kidding me? There's a whole city full of hookers, 24/7, and not enough pimps to corral them. This isn't an easy job to get. Full benefits, a pension, a union, and a lot of overtime. Even if you pass the pimping entrance exam, there's a waiting list that goes for years. There's a budget shortfall, and City Hall is even talking about defunding pimping.

Who does that? What kind of a crazy, controlling, self centered, insecure girl, actually calls her boyfriend's job to tell his boss how to run their shop?

 

[Just Jim]

Who does that? What kind of a crazy, controlling, self centered, insecure girl, actually calls her boyfriend's job to tell his boss how to run their shop?

An ex-girlfriend.