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Articles by Wilda Beast
Six Flags closes 9 North American roller coasters after families watch man fall to his death
12 But like obviously centrifugal force didn’t hold this guy in. Goliath doesn’t have any loops, so centrifugal force doesn’t apply. After leaving the station, the train turns left toward the 200-foot (61 m) chain lift hill. From the top, it drops 170 feet (52 m), reaching a maximum speed of 70 mph (110 km/h). It then climbs the first camelback hill before descending the ride’s tallest drop of 175 feet (53 m). A banked left turn leads to a second camelback hill with a 129-foot (39 m) drop.
Songs they made you sing in elementary school
August 23, 2026, 10:47pm 1 Watching The Three Godfathers yesterday, and hearing Harry Carey, Jr. sing The Streets of Laredo, made me remember that we sang that song in elementary school - in 7th grade, I believe. Then I remembered other songs we sang: I Ride An Old Paint Jamaica Farewell Greensleeves I’m sure our teachers tried to each us the history and relevance of these songs, but I don’t remember a word of that. I do remember most of the lyrics, however.
I'm taking another Amtrak adventure. Also, seeking tips for Glacier National Park
July 16, 2026, 12:21am 1 I enjoyed my last Amtrak trip so much, I decided to take another one. This time, I booked a whole vacation package to Glacier National Park through Amtrak Vacations. Besides the trains, the package includes a stay at the historic Glacier Park Lodge, meals at the lodge, the famed Red Bus Tour, and a boat tour of Two Medicine Lake. I will be taking the Coast Starlight from Sacramento up to Portland, connecting to the eastbound Empire Builder to East Glacier.
I canceled an email address I had for 33 years
July 13, 2026, 3:42pm 1 I had an email address I got when I first got out of college. It started as a NetCom account which later was bought by MindSpring which in turn was bought by Earthlink. I long ago stopped getting internet service from them but ha paid for the email address because of Nostalgia and convenience (I had some accounts tied to it). Little by little they raised the price of the account to the point where it was silly to keep it.
How do I manage extra subscriptions under Prime?
July 9, 2026, 4:04pm 1 Amazon Prime offers a one click option to join MGM+, AMC+, Hallmark+ etc. When a movie is only on that streaming. I’ve had MGM+, AMC+ for almost a year. It’s cheaper than constantly paying rentals. I access these under My Stuff. My subscriptions are at the bottom of my list. I don’t have a account to log directly into MGM+, AMC+ etc. Web sites. My access is through Prime. I created a trial Hallmark+ today. How can I cancel?
How does a mariner arrange to have a rarely used drawbridge opened?
July 6, 2026, 7:21pm 1 So I went down a rabbit hole of reading about the historic draw bridges around California’s Delta Region, which led me to this video of the Miner Slough Bridge opening. While the bridges on the main channel of the river open fairly regularly, this one on a relatively small slough sees hardly any boat traffic anymore. From what I understand it’s pretty much just opened once a year to test the mechanism, which is what I initially assumed was happening in this video.
Would you mind if someone parked in front of your house?
In the clover lawn thread @Stratocaster posted: My wife, OTOH, gets pissed off if someone parks in front of our house. I didn’t want to hijack that thread but that reminded me of this encounter I had the other day. I live across the street from a school, and teachers, parents, and other school employees routinely park on the street in front of my house.
Symbolism Behind Company Logos
June 19, 2026, 8:32pm 1 The brief side discussion about logos that supposedly represent airplane propellers over in the thread about companies known for two completely disparate products got me thinking about meanings behind corporate logos more generally. Many logos are just meaningless swoosh things, or the company’s name written in a stylized way, but there are plenty that do have some meaning behind them.
Why would my car's power window stop working, and then suddenly work again?
May 15, 2026, 9:36pm 1 Yesterday I went out to lunch. It was a nice spring day and my car is a convertible, so I put the top down and rolled down both windows while driving there. Got food, went back to the office. Got back to the office, put the top back up and went to roll up the windows. Except the passenger side window wouldn’t go up. Nothing happened when I used the switch on the driver’s door. I tried the switch on the passenger’s door, and nothing happened when I used that one, either.
Coffee as food?
May 7, 2026, 7:55pm 1 I admit I’m a coffee fiend–I used to joke that if I didn’t have water available, I’d just snort the grounds (caffeine cocaine ). Haven’t said that, what about using coffee as something to consume outside of brewing?
Can "They"" turn on your smart phone camera and watch you?
I just watched a guy on a TV show claim this although he was being detained for smuggling so he might not be the best source. Or maybe he is. Yeah, if your phone is compromised like by side loading something dodgy. If “they” were able to install some sort of malware / spyware on your phone, then yes.
Explain the legality of riverboat casinos to me
May 3, 2026, 8:48pm 1 The discussion of money laundering in Ozark made me think of this question: There are only two states in the US that allow actual casinos on land, Nevada and New Jersey, and in NJ they’re only allowed in Atlantic City as I understand it. Then there are casinos on tribal lands, because they’re considered sovereign. Then in some states there are riverboat casinos. So, you can’t gamble on land, but it’s legal if you’re on a boat? Why would that be?
Have you owned an automobile (or truck) from each of the Big 3 automakers?
13 Nope, only Mazda, Subaru, Subaru, Subaru. Nobody in my extended family’s ever owned an American car… they were considered to be of low quality and reliability, though that’s honestly probably just low-key racism at work. They’d never buy a Korean or Chinese car either, only Japanese (even though none of them are even Japanese). Shrug. Personally I’d get a Rivian if I could afford one, but none of the Big 3 make anything that’s even remotely appealing.
Does Weird Al belong in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?
March 2, 2026, 3:52pm 1 A few days ago, I was actually considering starting a separate thread for a discussion of “Weird Al,” and whether Dopers felt he belongs in the RRHoF (spoiler: I do). Annual “No Weird Al-bogus” post. So, does Weird Al belong in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? I say, absolutely and unequivocally. He pulled parody music from the depths of AM radio/Dr. Demento and made it popular and relevant again.
Does my car really *need* all the services the dealer is suggesting?
So my car is approaching 30,000 miles, so I figure it’s probably due for an oil and filter change and tire rotation.
Fact checking the claim that "California has plenty of water, we just let most of it run into the ocean."
The claim in the OP is one often leveled by conservative politicians at California, but I didn’t put this in P&E because I am hoping to get a factual answer. This claim seems to be based on on the ruling from rears ago that a certain amount of water needs to be allowed to flow into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to protect the endangered delta smelt.
One of my garbage bins went missing
February 4, 2026, 5:41pm 1 Yesterday was my normal garbage pick up day. Since we have curbside compost collection where I live, I put my bag of food scraps and other compostable material in my green waste bin, and my regular garbage in my garbage bin, and put both bins on the curb. When I got home from work yesterday the garbage bin was more or less where I’d left it, but the green waste bin was gone. Nowhere to be found. This is very strange. Did someone steal it?
How effective are fire drills?
February 3, 2026, 6:19pm 1 Taken from this post in another thread: Airplane simulators: How can they be trusted? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board Actual studies and/or personal experiences welcome. Do fire drills, in home and at business, actually prepare people for the real deal? Do they actually cause people to react differently, and better, then if they don’t occur on a regular basis?
Does anyone understand DoorDash and other companies DoubleDash Strategy?
I’ve tried to ignore this issue for as long as possible. I use DoorDash. It’s the most most popular delivery/shopper Service in my small Town. Today, I was out of Refresh Optive Eyedrops. I used Doordash to order from Walgreens the eyedrops, Tylenol, and some Werther’s Original Caramel Hard Candy for a snack. DoorDash offers me Double Dash. A 2nd order without the delivery and handling fees. Sure! A fresh cup of McDonald’s Coffee is always nice.
Discussion thread for the "Polls only" thread (Part 3)
system January 29, 2026, 6:21pm 1 Frodo January 29, 2026, 6:22pm 2 As I was saying before being rudely interrupted by Discourse: It’s not a poll but it looks like a poem. Frodo January 29, 2026, 6:28pm 4 You scared the hell out of me, seeing a poll under my post I thought I had mistakenly posted in the “Polls Only” thread! well, you were the first (real) poster in the Part 3 thread Ceci n’est pas une discussion. (Pardon my franglish).
Pick a sandwich please
January 28, 2026, 9:19pm 1 Sandwich 1: Sesame seed bun, deli ham, slice of smoked Gouda cheese, (canned) pineapple slice, Sriracha dredge over the pineapple and a touch of mayo. Sandwich 2: Sesame seed bun, cream cheese, pickled jalapenos, sweet relish, tangy sauce and deli roast beef. Sandwich 1 Sandwich 2 No thanks
Ever had a product where they drastically changed the standards, but maintained the same designations?
January 23, 2026, 1:02pm 1 I think the classic example would be womens’ clothing, where what used to be a size 6 is now a size 2 or whatever. Same amount of fabric covers the same amount of body, but the purchaser can think she now fits into a smaller size. Pretty sure they did the same thing with men’s “relaxed fit” jeans. I recently bought new golf clubs. Modern manufacturers have changed various factors such that a new club with the same number goes further than an old club.
I recently recompiled out software with version 6.0 of the Talise API. After making this change TALISE_initialize() always returns TALACT_ERR_RESET_FULL. If I switch back to version 4.1 of the API, which is what we'd been using previously, everything works fine.
Related places with four compass-point names (explained better in the OP)
January 13, 2026, 6:42pm 1 There’s North Dakota and South Dakota, but no East Dakota or West Dakota or just plain Dakota. Are there any groups of related nearby places that consist of a North X, East X, South X, and West X? On New York’s Long Island, there are the Hamptons, which consist of the towns of East Hampton and Southampton, the latter of which contains the hamlets of Northampton and Westhampton. Sorta what I’m looking for, and possibly the best example.
So the ICE agents were booking at the Hilton?
January 7, 2026, 1:45am 1 Isn’t that a bit high end for federal agents? Or is Hilton not as expensive as I think?
Any nice hotels on nice lakes?
November 14, 2025, 9:37pm 1 Up until this year, I thought there must be quite a lot of decent hotels that are right on a good looking lake. After all, I knew about American and Canadian wilderness resorts that have at least one example of this, and I had stayed at and enjoyed the Wilderness Lodge at Disney World that was successfully modelled off of them.
Car companies with "themes" to their model names
This is a bit of an offshoot of the cars named after geological features thread. How many car companies can we think of that have or have had a certain “theme” to their model names?
How often and how far do I need to drive an old car?
October 15, 2025, 12:10am 1 I have a 2007 Acura that I don’t use too much, but I’d like to keep it running for at least another year. Runs fine. How often do I need to take it for a ride and how far should I go to keep the tires round, the engine lubricated, and the battery in shape?
What are my options for a comfortable car?
October 12, 2025, 5:07pm 1 I need a new car. I want something that is comfortable to drive. I once drove a car with gas suspension and I liked it. It felt like I was gliding on the road. I don’t know if gas suspension is required for that level of comfort though. I also want something with good sound insulation so I can have a conversation while driving. I don’t need tvs in the back or anything like that, but I do need Apple car play. Adaptive cruise control is nice too.
Does the Fraternal Order of Eagles (FOE) still exist?
Some Google News digging reveals they’re still in operation in many parts of the country as recently as last month. There’s not a lot of news articles about them, and none that I saw that were about any kind of nationwide operational or fiscal crisis. Their wiki page hasn’t been much updated in ~15 years. Suggesting they’re probably composed mostly of aging members, and like all such social fraternal orgs, seems now to be dying of old age.
AI search results can be crazy stupid (cars named after plants)
October 2, 2025, 9:00pm 1 I wondered what cars have been named after plants. The only one I could think of at first was the Toyota Sequoia. So I Googled it, first on my phone and later at home. One surprise was that I got different answers. Hmmm. Both reminded me of the Nissan Leaf and the car company name, Lotus. good. Both also mentioned the Toyota Corolla but here I disagree. Yes, the ring of petals around a flower is a corolla. but that is because it resembles a crown.
AOL is finally shutting down its dial-up internet service
August 14, 2025, 3:57pm 1 AP News – 11 Aug 25 AOL’s dial-up internet is finally taking its last bow. Yes, while perhaps a dinosaur by today’s digital standards, dial-up is still around. Is AOL dial-up like the “Abe Vigoda of technologies”? Show of hands, who here is surprised to learn that was actually still around. My hand is raised.
Why is Nvidia so valuable?
August 12, 2025, 4:56pm 1 As I type this, NVDA has a market cap of $4.44 trillion. In terms of competitors, AMD and Intel are each only worth about 8% of that. Broadcom at about $1.4 trillion can at least sit at the same table. But why? The market must think that there’s no competitor that is even close in the chip/GPU/AI arena. Why is there so much confidence that none of its current or future competitors, or China or other countries, will be able to compete with it technologically?
What to do with Thai chilies?
Last weekend I wanted to make my own drunken noodles, and while I was at the Asian market procuring ingredients I picked up a package of Thai chilies (also known as bird’s eye chilies or chile padi). The store did not have bulk individual chilies, so I got a 0.65 lb package. I only used 4 of them in the noodles (these are small but rather potent peppers; a little goes a long way), so I have a bunch of chilies left. So I need to figure out something to do with the rest of them.
Dating and the sending of nude pictures
July 23, 2025, 4:49pm 1 [Disclaimer] There was some recent unpleasantness regarding that midwestern gambler guy and his misogynistic posts, which were often sexual in nature. Also, the last time I discussed a personal relationship issue, I was fairly criticized for being too gratuitous. It is my hope that we can discuss an interesting sociological phenomenon without being disrespectful. Oh, and if you remember my last threads about my dating life: she pretty unceremoniously dumped me.
New low in spam attampts
July 8, 2025, 8:25pm 1 I just got the following: " Greetings from the organizing committee of Inscitech Meet on Genetics and Genome Research..! It is with great pleasure that we invite you to join us as a Distinguished Speaker at our upcoming international conference to be held from June 15–17, 2026, in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Stew recipes
May 21, 2025, 4:47pm 1 I love stew. I usually make a stew every Sunday and eat it most of the week. Most of mine are variations on well known recipes, but some are more original than others. Please share stew recipes! Here’s one of my recent favorites: Ham and bean (and mushroom and cabbage) stew Makes enough for 6 very hearty bowls (maybe ten servings for more modest appetites) -2-3 lbs ham, chopped into chunks. I use sliced ham hocks, but you can use any kind of ham. -4-5 cans of beans.
Sequels you wouldn't know are sequels from the titles
May 20, 2025, 4:56pm 1 A lot of sequels follow the usual pattern of just slapping a “2” onto the title of the first film…or at least referencing it in some clever way (see 22 Jump Street or I Still Know What You Did Last Summer)… …but SOME have entirely NEW titles that don’t connect the movies at all and you wouldn’t even know they were connected unless someone told you, you read about it, or were already in the know somehow. For example: Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger.
HELP! Microsoft is driving me crazy [mcaffe/avast/office/support pop-up]
April 22, 2025, 4:20pm 1 I don’t know if anyone else is having this problem, but for last 3 days Microsoft has been very aggressive–intrusive, like every 3 minutes!–with popups trying to get me to subscribe to mcaffe/avast/office/support. So I have to go through skip buttons until I get to end, then I can back to where I was. Is there a way I can stop this? Thanks for any help.
Making Chili Colorado for the first time this weekend!
March 27, 2025, 5:49pm 1 Just got my dried pasilla, guajillo, and ancho chilies, along with some Mexican oregano, delivered after 2 1/2 long weeks of waiting (Amazon really drags their heels when you don’t subscribe to Prime). Been reading or viewing videos of different techniques and recipes to try to form my strategy for a great batch. Any good tips and tricks for those of you who have made it?
I keep getting text messages of "- - - - - - is your verification code" when I never asked to log into anything. Identity theft?
March 25, 2025, 6:00pm 1 Starting this morning, I have gotten multiple text messages on my smartphone of “(6-digit number) is your verification code” when I have not been trying to log into anything. Is this some glitch, or someone trying to log into some sort of account or service using my email or identity?
Does free (truly free) online tax software actually exist? If so, where?
February 27, 2025, 4:36pm 1 Specifically one that allows for 1099 income to be included. TL,DR: I’m looking for a easy-to-use free online tax software that allows for people to fill out a schedule C in addition to the usual W-2 income. It must also include a free state program and provide the option to print out the final forms as a “file on paper” option at no cost. Reiterating that it must be free.
TV shows and movies set in ambiguous time periods
February 20, 2025, 9:54pm 1 The universe of Severance seems to be set in a weirdly ambiguous time period (which I’m sure is on purpose). Everyone has iPhones, which makes it seem like the present day. But the interior of the Lumen offices seems to be stuck in the 1970s. At work the characters use what look like 1970s or early 80s computer terminals. Outside the office, no one drives a car newer than about 1995. In fact, various characters drive cars from the 1960s, 70s, 80s, and 90s.
What does one do with black garlic?
February 11, 2025, 7:22pm 1 The other day I was looking at the spice section at Trader Joe’s and noticed they had jars of (dried) black garlic. So I impulsively bought one. And now I have no idea what do do with it. Honestly, most of my knowledge of black garlic comes from an episode of Bob’s Burgers. And food bloggers have come up with actual recipes for Bob’s “Bet It All on Black Garlic Burger”. So I could make that. But any other suggestions?
Why *did* the hydrants in LA run dry?
Water is an incompressible fluid. This means you can only push so much of it through a given diameter pipe at a time, and if you draw more than the system can deliver, the pressure drops precipitously, notwithstanding all of the compromised water lines going into houses that have burned down to the foundation and are leaking any water coming into them.
What was Phys Ed/Gym like in your school?
January 13, 2025, 8:02pm 1 I’m assuming we all had to suffer thru this class in high school. For reference, please include when and where you attended. And I’ll start. Baltimore county public schools - high school was '69-'72. PE was mandatory every year. Boys and girls were segregated - no cross contamination allowed! We had uniforms.
Bands where the lead singer plays a non-traditional instrument
January 8, 2025, 4:07am 1 By non-traditional, (I’m thinking of rock bands) I mean other than guitar, bass, drums, or keyboard. Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull being a flutist would count. A lead singer that occasionally bangs on a tambourine wouldn’t be in the spirit of the thread.
Rewatching "Lost" after 20 years
January 7, 2025, 11:01pm 1 I recently started rewatching “Lost” when it started streaming on Netflix and am hoping some other fans (or not-fans) are also watching (or hate-watching) so we can share thoughts on it. Open spoilers throughout. I watched “Lost” in its entirety as it was released, but hadn’t seen it since. I’ve made it through three seasons so far (so I guess I didn’t start rewatching that recently).
European travel during Trump
January 8, 2025, 12:26am 1 My Wife and I are going to Europe in 8 months. Iceland (well not Europe) England Ireland Scotland Norway In this Trump clusterfuck, I’m wondering how two obvious United States citizens will be received. I feel like getting a button, ‘I didn’t vote for him (it really)’ But dammit, i feel somewhat responsible since I live in the USA. The US really jacked things up. Any recent experences traveling since it was elected?
Are bagels popular in England?
November 12, 2024, 7:05pm 1 Given the discussions about what we call cookies, biscuits and English muffins I’m not sure what they are called in England.
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