Wednesday Night ONT - September 16, 2026 [TRex]

Good evening Horde! The time has come for mid-week shenanigans of the overnight variety. The bar is open and fully stocked. Step up and place your order.

Welcome to the Wednesday night ONT which means another edition of random overnight fun and games. Pull up a chair and join the fun. Good will offerings of amusing puns are encouraged. Pants are optional. Be nice to your fellow commenters and AoS contributors.

If you're a troll, go away.

This is a Tucker, Candace, Megyn, and Bill Kristol free zone. Please.

ONT Department of Movie Trivia

Did you know why the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory has a different name than the book upon which it is based?

The previous inception of the Wonka brand came from materials licensed from the British author Roald Dahl. His classic 1964 children's novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and its film adaptations are the sources of both the packaging and the marketing styles of the Wonka brand. Dahl had licensed the "Wonka" name to film director Mel Stuart. The film's producer, David L. Wolper, convinced the Quaker Oats Company to advance $3 million to finance the film in exchange for the right to use the Wonka name to sell candy bars. Quaker, which had no previous experience in the film industry, bought the rights to the book and financed the picture to promote their new "Wonka Bar." The title of the film was changed to Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory for promotional purposes.

Wikipedia

Now you know.

One of our neighbors in a past life was in the movie. They had a framed golden ticket in their house. May be the only one I've ever seen.

I'm less intrigued by the very specific times than I am impressed that cows in this area can read and follow instructions.

ONT Nostalgia

Where and when? (No, I don't know the answer.)

ONT Art Department

It may be ceramic, but ouch!

ONT Fashion Department

Piper will have to tell us whether this is AI or not.

ONT Department of Star Wars

The future is now. Story from The War Zone:

U.S. Admits It Has Weapons In Orbit

Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink made a bombshell admission this morning, disclosing that there are on-orbit weapons deployed right now to protect America's interests in space.

"Today, we continue to ensure we remain ready to meet the challenges of evolving threats, wherever they exist," Meink said during his keynote address. "This is why the United States now has on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the joint force against hostile adversary action."

"That phrase was very well thought out. So whatever I said before is what I say again," he said when asked if he could elaborate in any way on those capabilities at a question-and-answer session immediately following his speech. "It is critically important that we maintain our dominance not only in the air, but in space, and so we've had to take steps to make sure that when we're threatened, we can take care of that."

The question is not whether this capability exists. The question is why it is being acknowledged and why now.

Mandatory Maiden

Some say Still Life is one of the most underrated Maiden songs. Hard to argue.

This is not AI. Would watch.

Niche YouTube Channel of the Week

Tonight's feature is a YouTube channel called A Boat in the Woods. Joshua is a professional carpenter that gave up his day job to restore a 32 foot wooden Japanese fishing vessel built in 1966. The boat is in terrible shape and he has never restored a boat before.

A friend let Joshua set up shop for the restoration on their land (thus the name of the channel). Initially, Joshua intended to live off the grid in a cabin next to the boat and harvest lumber from the nearby forest for the restoration. That initial plan ran into challenges.

Did I mention this is in Nova Scotia? Weather is always an issue.

The first upload to YouTube was October 30, 2024 and the bulk of the almost two years has involved a little bit of boat work and a lot of surrounding logistics and weather battles. A successful YouTube channel typically involves storytelling and viewers are invested in Joshua's journey - even if the work is fixing his truck, building shelter for himself or the boat, or sourcing lumber. YouTube economics and viewer support has let him pursue this project full time.

Friends help here and there, but Joshua is tacking this project mostly by himself. It is an impressive amount of labor and he is very handy.

The channel has over 148,000 subscribers. Each video typically gets between a hundred and two hundred thousand views. He tries to post a new video each week. The most recent video shows moving the boat to a new and better location (which is an outdoor shop built from two shipping containers and lots of lumber).

The video below was posted after 18 months and gives a very good story of the struggles to that point. Much has happened since, but this is a better intro and overview. Simple but compelling content.

Pittsburgh Scanner

The Pittsburgh police scanner is an internet treasure. Thank you people of Pittsburgh and thank you Pittsburgh scanner!

UFO for the big ONT finish:

Bonus points if you know the Iron Maiden connection.

Land acknowledgement: Dino's ancestors roamed the earth long before any of these nitwits complaining about stolen land showed up. To date, Dino's mailbox has not overflowed with rent checks sent by said nitwits who are presently living on Dino's ancestral land. Dino acknowledges the gravity of the situation and the fierce moral imperative involved. Go ahead. Be stunning and brave.

Back rent and correspondence can be sent to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com where it will be promptly sorted and processed. Are you lurking ????

posted by Open Blogger at 10:00 PM

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