Amtrak Empire Builder

[VIDEO] As I hit the sack tonight, I wanted to share this vid with you. I've never taken Amtrak's Empire Builder. This would take you through Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana with one section to Seattle, Washington and another to Portland, Oregon.

This video of over 30 minutes shows a British man named Paul leaving Portland, OR going through big sky country arriving in Chicago's Union Station. It's an interesting look at a trip I can only imagine although it's time for me to travel again perhaps go somewhere I have never been. Seattle or Portland are places I've never been.

It must be very nice to create a YouTube channel which through either advertising or donations that could provide an income so that you could literally travel all over the world as Paul has. His channel is very interesting but the incidental music provides a very nice soundtrack to his travels. This is probably stock music but I could never imagine taking an Amtrak train and having hip-hop instrumentals as the sounds of the passing country, suburban, and urban landscapes.

Let's not forget, for the most part he shows us the meals he takes aboard the train in the dining car. He certainly travel in style with a sleeper car berth which also would enable those passengers to a complimentary meal in the diner. Then he also shows us that his sleeper car has a shower for those passengers.

The people's champ

I guess we could say we are certainly living in populist times. Donald Trump was a very unlikely presidential candidate somewhat representing a form of populism and then we have Bernie Sanders who represented a different form of populism. One form of populism proven more popular or potent than the other since one populist movement elected a man to the White House and the other well he couldn't even win his party's nomination.

Regardless, sometimes I have thought what if I combined two of my favorite past times or subjects professional wrestling and politics. What if I as a candidate sported a wrestling championship belt emblazoned with text "people's champ". Perhaps I as a candidate utilizing social media video could cut campaign speeches in the style of wrestling promos. Though I know I can't be violent in my speech, it would be important to cut through the cutter and present something different. Something the public wouldn't expect, worst case scenario is that this would be too different and I wouldn't be successful anyway

The people's champ could be a euphemism of populism, a people's movement. Say in Chicago, Illinois people are sick and tired of being taxes and having very little in return. Bad schools, awful public safety (as I wrote on my other blog downtown Chicago is even seeing an uptick in violent crimes), the costs of goods continuing to rise, etc. I'm sure people are having enough of this and perhaps there needs to be a people's champion in Chicago, Cook County or Illinois. Unfortunately in this year's primaries this candidate hasn't emerged, and sadly the Republicans aren't even woke.

I have very dubious graphic design/sketching skills but this people's champ belt would be done in the design of the big gold belt made famous by "The Nature Boy" Rick Flair during his time in WCW. Then I can imagine in script lettering "people's champ" on the front of the belt. Of course a championship belt isn't complete without an American or democracy or popular themed side plates. It should be designed well to really catch the eye of the public. Depending on the importance of this public figure any videos seen of this candidate - the so called people's champ - and the belt will hopefully be seen in a museum.

Big Gold Belt

I'm surprised that the President hasn't done such a thing as he has the money to do it. Perhaps he isn't as huge of a wrestling fan as I thought, especially since he literally fought Vince McMahon and was involved in shaving the WWE's owner's head. I could possibly relish Trump lifting that belt over his head during a campaign rally.

Well a wrestling fan can dream about the imagery of "sports entertainment" used in a political campaign. And I realize in publishing this post my idea could be snatched away from me. Oh well, and unfortunately I don't know when a future candidate will emerge who will truly become "the people's champ". Will be the political world's version of The Rock or Diamond Dallas Page who have been referred to during their wrestling careers as "the people's champ".

Perhaps I should realize this could be an idea that could backfire. Perhaps depending upon where you may attempt to run for office voters could be jaded to this idea. Then one may wonder how one could afford to create their own championship belt. There will be some questions, however, there is and will always be a way for those questions to not matter. Besides imagine a people's champ movement in populist politics.

Children's TV nostalgia

[VIDEO] Watching this brings back some interesting memories. In the late 1980s our home was connected to cable TV for the first time. It was my first exposure to Nickelodeon - a network advertised for children. However this wasn't exactly my first exposure to the children's game show Double Dare. It aired in syndication around the nation back then in addition to airing on cable.

Before I became fascinated with pro-wrestling or Star Trek it was game shows. In the late 80s it was hard to change the dial during the daytime without running into a game show. Especially without cable if you only got the channels 2, 5, 7, 9, 11, 32, 50, or 66 (before they became a Spanish network) in Chicago.


Think about it. There was The Price is Right, Classic Concentration, Card Sharks, Blockbusters, Jeopardy and surely some others that had been then in production. There wasn't a game show out there for the younger audience especially children. Double Dare certainly fit the Nickelodeon network back then with the emphasis on slop or messes or even green slime.

I remember when in about 1988, a family version of Double Dare aired on the emerging FOX TV network. It didn't last beyond that summer, but it was interesting to see a version of a children's game during the prime time hours on a broadcast network on Saturday. It was much different than the game show I became used to.

Of course as happens over time, things evolve. Double Dare ceased production in the early 1990s. I grew up a bit after that and lost interest in Nickelodeon as a regular viewing option. It also didn't help that periodically the cable subscription would be cancelled for reasons that likely include costs. If I recall having options beyond the regular broadcast networks weren't as readily available as they are now. Our local cable company eventually evolved into Comcast and these days there are more competition as far as TV services.

As much as I want to get into the technology of cable or even cable boxes between then and now, I'll save that for another time. This post is about nostalgia for one of my old favorites from my youth. And as an aside Nickelodeon tried to bring back Double Dare for a new millennium and sadly it didn't take. I wouldn't even watch it when it was in production in 2000, however, who knows if the executives at Nickelodeon might consider bringing back this game show one more time.

BTW, for a few months last year on Sunday nights Buzzr aired episodes of a 1970s game show also called Double Dare. It counts a young Alex Trebek as host for it's one year in production. It wasn't as sloppy and messy as the Nickelodeon show, however, to my adult sensibilities it was an interesting game of wits and risk. It also was the first game show with that name although it proved not to be an issue when the Double Dare I'm most familiar with aired in the 1980s.

Business Insider: 50 things to stop wasting your money on

I have to do my own research on this but I hear that with Trump's tax reform you can no longer claim a credit on student loans. I suppose this will be seen with this year's taxes.

Otherwise there are at least 49 other things to stop wasting your money on!