Steve Martin and John Candy starred in the holiday movie classic Planes, Trains and Automobiles, writer/director John Hughes’ first big foray away from writing about teenage angst. Martin played Neal Page, a marketing executive desperate to get back home to Chicago to see his wife and kids for Thanksgiving, who along the way is thoroughly aggravated by shower curtain ring salesman Del Griffith (Candy), and the many, many, many mishaps that befall the two throughout their travels. Here are some facts about the film that are not pillows.

1. JOHN HUGHES ONCE HAD A HELLISH TRIP TRYING TO GET FROM NEW YORK CITY TO CHICAGO.

Before he became a screenwriter, Hughes used to work as a copywriter for the Leo Burnett advertising agency in Chicago. One day he had an 11 a.m. presentation scheduled in New York City on a Wednesday, and planned to return home on a 5 p.m. flight. Winter winds forced all flights to Chicago to be canceled that night, so he stayed in a hotel. A snowstorm in Chicago the next day continued the delays. The plane he eventually got on ended up being diverted to Denver. Then Phoenix. Hughes didn’t make it back until Monday. Experiencing such a hellish trip might explain how Hughes managed to write the first 60 pages of Planes, Trains and Automobiles in just six hours.

2. HOWARD DEUTCH WAS ORIGINALLY SUPPOSED TO DIRECT.

Deutch directed Pretty in Pink and Some Kind of Wonderful for Hughes. Hughes decided to direct himself after Steve Martin signed on. Deutch got to direct The Great Outdoors instead.

3. STEVE MARTIN THOUGHT THE SCRIPT WAS TOO LONG.

The comedian, who had written his own screenplays, thought the 145-page length of the script was a lot for a comedy. When Martin asked Hughes where he thought they might cut scenes, Hughes was confused by the question. Martin later claimed that the first cut of Planes, Trains and Automobiles was four and a half hours long.

4. HUGHES ACTED OUT THE ENTIRE MOVIE TO SOMEONE ON HIS JOB INTERVIEW.

Reid Rosefelt went in to meet Hughes for the unit publicist position. Rosefelt recalled in his blog that he found it strange, but admirable, that Hughes did not allow Rosefelt to see the script to the movie he would potentially work on and promote beforehand. After the two grew more comfortable with one another at their meeting, Rosefelt asked what the movie was about—he only knew Steve Martin and John Candy were starring and it was called Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Hughes then performed the entire movie for him. Rosefelt didn’t get the job.

5. JOHN CANDY ARRIVED ON SET WITH EXERCISE EQUIPMENT.

On the first day of shooting, the crew brought in treadmills, weights, and other exercise equipment for Candy to use in his hotel suite. Martin said Candy didn’t use any of it.

6. IT WAS ALL MEANT TO BE SHOT IN CHICAGO, BUT THERE WASN’T ENOUGH SNOW.

Some exterior scenes were filmed in Buffalo, New York. Martin said that the cast and crew pretty much lived the plot of the movie. “As we would shoot, we were hopping planes, trains, and automobiles, trying to find snow.”

7. THE CONSTANT DELAYS ON PRODUCTION WERE VERY BENEFICIAL TO ONE ACTOR.

In John Hughes: A Life in Film, Kirk Honeycutt wrote that one actor, who played a truck driver, was only supposed to have one line and work for one day. Hughes chose to keep him on standby. The actor ended up working enough days while the crew waited for the snow to come that he was able to make a down payment on a house. It’s very possible this was Troy Evans, who was uncredited, as the shy truck driver in the movie. He went on to appear, credited, on ER for the show’s final five seasons as Frank Martin.

8. SUSAN PAGE WAS WATCHING ANOTHER HUGHES MOVIE, SHE’S HAVING A BABY.

In the scene that goes back and forth between Neal trying to sleep next to Del clearing his sinuses and Neal’s wife (Laila Robins) watching TV alone in their bed, she is somehow watching She’s Having a Baby, which wouldn’t be released in theaters until February of the following year. Kevin Bacon stars in that movie, and made a cameo in Planes as the guy who out-hustles Neal in getting a cab. Some people believe Bacon—who was officially listed in the credits as “Taxi Racer”—was playing his She’s Having a Baby character, Jake, in that scene.

9. EDIE MCCLURG’S IMPROVISATIONS IMPRESSED HUGHES.

McClurg, probably best known as Grace, Principal Rooney’s secretary in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, played the St. Louis car rental employee upon whom Neal dropped 18 F-bombs. For the first few takes, McClurg simply raised her finger and had a standard phone conversation with a customer. Then Hughes told her to improvise talking on the phone about Thanksgiving. She then came up with the stuff about needing roasted marshmallows and taking care of the crescent rolls because she can’t cook based on her own life. When she finished, Hughes asked her how she came up with those details so quickly. When McClurg explained she just got it from her own life just like he does with his scripts, he said, “Oh yeah!” She claims people to this day ask her to tell them they’re f*cked.

10. A SCENE IN A STRIP CLUB WAS CUT.

After their car blew up, Neal and Del went inside a strip club to use a phone, where Del got distracted by the dancers. Actress Debra Lamb didn’t know that her scene was cut until she went to a screening.

11. JERI RYAN WAS ALSO CUT FROM THE MOVIE, BUT HER SCENE WASN’T.

It was the actress’s first role. She was one of the passengers on the bus ride and couldn’t help but laugh at Martin and Candy’s antics. They reshot the scenes without her.

12. ELTON JOHN WROTE A SONG FOR THE MOVIE.

Elton John and lyricist Gary Osborne were almost finished writing the theme song when Paramount insisted on ownership of the recording master, which John’s record company would not allow. The song has never been released.

13. IN THE ORIGINAL ENDING, DEL FOLLOWED NEAL ALL THE WAY HOME.

Hughes decided during the editing process that instead, John Candy’s character would be “a noble person” and finally take the hint from Martin’s character, and let Neal return home alone, before Neal has a change of heart and finds Del again.

14. IN THE SCENE WHERE NEAL THINKS ABOUT DEL ON THE TRAIN, MARTIN DIDN’T KNOW THE CAMERA WAS ON.

In order to get the new ending he wanted, Hughes and editor Paul Hirsch went back to look for footage they previously didn’t think would be used. Hughes had kept the cameras rolling in between takes on the Chicago train, without his lead’s knowledge, while Martin was thinking about his next lines. Hughes thought Martin had a “beautiful expression” on his face in that unguarded moment.

Inexpensive paper microscopes may be headed for a classroom near you—and you can buy one too. Several years ago, Stanford University researchers unveiled a microscope that can be built from a single piece of paper with an LED and a lens, allowing aspiring scientists to explore the micro world for less than a dollar. Now, a Kickstarter campaign is making Foldoscope’s technology available to consumers ahead of the product’s wider commercial release, as Popular Science reports.

The origami microscope comes with a glass lens that boasts a high enough magnification to see red blood cells and watch live bacteria, at 140 times magnification and a two-micron resolution. The Kickstarter kit comes with associated lab tools like microscope slides and tweezers. The Foldoscope is also compatible with a smartphone, so you can take videos and photos of the amazing stuff you see on those microscope slides, and the kit comes with a cellphone clip to make that process even easier.

Your kit won’t cost as little as $1, though. At the classroom scale, the company can sell the packs cheaply, but for individual consumers, the Kickstarter kits start around $18, reflecting the cost of the extra tools. However, teachers can currently buy 20 packs of microscopes for just $25, or you can donate the classroom kit to a school (scheduled for August 2017 delivery). The makers of Foldoscope hope to sell 1 million microscopes next year.

If you’re stingy, you can always use your own paper at home create a Foldoscope for free, but for most people, it’s easier to just shell out for the pre-folded kit. Regardless, see how the devices are made in the video below:
 

 
[h/t Popular Science]

Fans of Jim Henson’s 1982 fantasy film The Dark Crystal know a little something about patience. Though the movie didn’t receive unanimous praise from critics or break box office records, its loyal cult fanbase has been hoping for a follow-up film for nearly 35 years. And it looks like all that waiting has paid off … kind of. Next year, The Dark Crystal will finally be getting a sequel, but it will take place on the pages of a comic book from Archaia Entertainment, Nerdist reports.

The 12-issue series—titled The Power of the Dark Crystal—is based on the actual screenplay for a now-abandoned movie sequel by David Odell, Annette Odell, and Craig Pearce. Writer Si Spurrier (X-Force) will handle this new script, as Kelly and Nichole Matthews (Toil and Trouble) take on the art duties. Not a whole lot is known about the book’s plot, but Archaia and parent company Boom Studios did write up a brief taste of what’s to come:

“Years have passed since the events of the original film, and though Jen and Kira have ruled Thra as King and Queen, bringing Gelfling back to the land, they have become distracted by power and can no longer feel or see the needs of the world the way they once did.”

The Power of the Dark Crystal #1 will hit comic book store shelves on February 15, 2017, with a cover by Jae Lee (Batman/Superman) and June Chung (Birds of Prey).

[h/t Nerdist]

There are plenty of interesting lamps to illuminate your workspace—but why not opt for one that will inspire you to obliterate your work? This new Death Star lamp from ThinkGeek has arrived just in time for the release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The officially licensed gadget uses the ominous space station’s shape for the base, with a blueprint-style pattern for the shade design.

With a push of the superlaser, users can turn on the top of the lamp; with a second push, they can make the base glow; a third push turns off the top light and leaves the base illuminated. All the lights are long-lasting LEDs, which cannot be replaced by the customer. That said, the LED lights are meant to last 60,000 hours—roughly seven years of continual operation. You can get your own for $50 here.

[h/t io9]

Many of us have at least one loved one who never can stay in one place for too long. For that frequent traveler in your life, heavy books or gift cards to local restaurants probably aren’t going to cut it. This holiday season, get them one of these products that are made to complement their adventures.

1. ZENDURE PORTABLE CHARGER; $30

Long-haul flyers can take solace in always having a little extra juice for their phones and e-books. Zendure’s portable charger raised more than $216,000 on Kickstarter, for good reason. It’s crush-proof, so no need to worry about it getting squished in suitcases or overhead bins. It turns on automatically when you plug your device in, and it can hold 95 percent of its charge on stand-by for up to six months between trips. It comes in silver or black, and for a few more dollars, you can upgrade to more battery power.

Find It: Amazon

2. THE NEW YORK TIMES: 36 HOURS EUROPE; $40

The wanderlust-prone are sure to find a city they’ve never been to in The New York Times’ book-length collection of their popular “36 Hours” travel series. The newly updated European edition features 130 cities across the continent, with itineraries that highlight the best that each destination has to offer—and shares a game plan for visiting each of them in just one weekend. For those whose travel horizons extend beyond Europe, there are also U.S. and Latin American versions.

Find It: Amazon

3. POLAROID CUBE +; $150

This tiny HD camera will fit in any suitcase, no matter how full. It’s just 1 cubic inch, but can shoot video in full HD or capture 8-megapixel images. It’s waterproof and shockproof, so it’s perfect for rugged adventures and city travels alike. Plus, with a 128° angle lens, it can capture more of the scene than a regular camera.

Find It: Amazon

4. BOSE QUIETCOMFORT 25 ACOUSTIC NOISE CANCELLING HEADPHONES; $300

Every traveler needs a way to block out some of the less glamorous aspects of jet-setting. Bose’s headphones come with a high recommendation from The Wirecutter, whose reviewers spent 30 hours testing 20 different noise-cancelling headphone models. The lightweight, comfy QC25 model has great noise-cancellation, and collapses down to a smaller size for storage.

Find It: Amazon

5. RIFLE PAPER CO. PASSPORT POCKET NOTEBOOKS; $11

Rifle’s passport-themed notebooks are a stylish reminder of the joys of travel. The miniature booklets are the perfect size to carry around in a back pocket or small bag, with 64 unlined sheets and natural vellum pages. They come in packs with two different designs, so if you really like them, you can even keep one for yourself!

Find It: Amazon

6. LOGITECH KEYS-TO-GO ULTRA-PORTABLE BLUETOOTH KEYBOARD; $45

It’s easier to write those emails home on a standard keyboard rather than tapping away at a touchscreen. For those who don’t bring a full laptop on their trips and opt for a tablet or iPad instead, Logitech’s Bluetooth keyboard—available in black, teal, or red—has full-size keys. It’s also still light, easy to carry in a bag or even a large coat pocket, spill-resistant, and can be used for up to three months on a single charge.

Find It: Amazon

7. ESPRO STAINLESS STEEL 12 OUNCE TRAVEL PRESS WITH COFFEE FILTER; $35

Road-trip lovers can enjoy great coffee no matter what pit-stops they counter with Espro’s travel brewer, essentially a fancy French press in an insulated cup. It has a two-filter brewing process that eliminates the grit that accompanies French presses, and halts the extraction process once the plunger is pushed down all the way, so your coffee doesn’t continue to brew. No need to strain it out of the cup. The insulation keeps it warm for four to six hours. The cup comes in a few different colors as well as a version made for brewing tea.

Find It: Amazon

8. NATIONAL PARKS EXPLORER MAP; $55

For the roving outdoor explorer in your life, consider this map of some of the best wilderness destinations in the U.S. It comes with tree stickers so they can mark off the national parks they have checked off their bucket list. With 59 parks in total, the vintage-style design shows off the many places that could serve as their next vacation plan.

Find It: Uncommon Goods

9. CITY MAP GLASS; $14

Let your favorite cross-country explorer celebrate their favorite city with tumblers depicting the street grids of some of the biggest metros in the U.S. Designed by the Boston-based Brian Johnson, there are currently 17 different city glasses to choose from, each etched with part of the urban street grid, neighborhood names, and the city’s geographical coordinates. Whether you’re looking to honor someone’s hometown pride or future travel plans, these cups make it easy to toast to some of America’s most exciting destinations.

Find It: Uncommon Goods

10. TRUNKSTER CARRY-ON; $345

The price tag on this one may seem high for a suitcase, but this isn’t just a bag. You can track its location via a smartphone app, and it has a built-in scale to ensure you never go over your maximum weight. There’s a removable power bank with USB ports to charge your devices located on the top of the suitcase. Plus, it’s exactly the size of most airlines’ maximum carry-on luggage allowance.

Find It: Trunkster

11. MEN’S ORGANIZING TRAVEL 4-PACK & WOMEN’S ORGANIZING TRAVEL 4-PACK; $46

Keeping organized on the road can be tough, but these cloth bags make it easy to keep essentials separate and handy. They’re printed with images of what should go inside, whether it’s underwear, a hair dryer, or dirty clothes. There are two sets—labeled as men’s and women’s—with different images, in case your favorite traveler needs a bag for earbuds more than one for a hairdryer.

Find It: Uncommon Goods

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It’s 8 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day and you just realized you forgot to thaw your turkey. What do you do?

Don’t panic. You just need to call 1-800-BUTTERBALL. Yes, it’s real, and yes, they really do have poultry experts standing by to help you with your last-minute snafus, flubs and foul-ups. And they’re open 24/7. If you wake up in a cold sweat at 2 a.m. thinking about salmonella or whether you can bathe your turkey with your toddler (see below), never fear—Butterball is there for you. And it’s not just about Thanksgiving. The line is open in December to help you with those holiday feasts as well.

When the hotline first opened up to panicked chefs in the early ‘80s, a mere six “home economists” responded to 11,000 phone calls during November and December. These days, their staff has expanded to more than 50 and they answer more than 100,000 calls. 

Those 50 staff members have heard it all. They get the typical questions you’d expect turkey experts to get, of course: how long will it take to thaw the turkey, how do I stuff a turkey, are there any allergens in Butterball products?

THE QUESTIONABLE

But there’s also the, um, unexpected: “Can I brine my turkey in the washing machine?” and “The family dog is inside the turkey and can’t get out.” It was a chihuahua, in case you’re wondering, and the Butterball expert did manage to help the owners get the dog out safely.

Another inexperienced caller worried that her turkey wouldn’t come out of the oven because she figured it was going to rise like bread does.

One Butterball employee actually stayed on the line while her caller walked through a grocery store and painstakingly picked out ingredients for his Thanksgiving dinner.

More recently, a hotline employee was surprised to hear from a wife who came home to find the turkey floating in the tub while her husband gave the kids a bath. Believe it or not, because the turkey hadn’t been removed from the package, it was salvaged, but the kids complained about the chilly water.

Don’t feel bad if you have to call the Butterball hotline for assistance, though. Even President Bartlet knows when to call in the experts:

By the way, there’s also an option for those of you who prefer assistance in the form of written word: talkline@butterball.com. This year, between November 17 and November 24, they’ve also added a texting option.

This post originally appeared in 2011.

It’s fair to say that some word origins are pretty straightforward—straightforward being a fine example of that. Then there are those word origins that are so obscure, the word in question offers few clues to its history. Tragedy, for instance, might come from the Greek for “goat song” (perhaps a reference to actors in Ancient Greek tragedies dressing in animal furs, or maybe because a goat was once offered as a prize). A glass of punch takes its name from the Hindi word for five (because the original recipe for punch had just five ingredients: water, liquor, lemon juice, sugar, and spices—although the Oxford English Dictionary says that the original recipe was milk, curd, ghee, honey, and molasses). And the less said about avocados and orchids the better, frankly.

But then there are those word origins that are hiding in plain sight: words whose origins, after a just little consideration, seem obvious once you know them.

1. SECRETARY

The original secretaries were officers or aides working in the courts of European monarchs, a sense of the word that still survives in the titles of positions like “secretary of state.” As close associates of the king or queen, these secretaries were often privy to a lot of private information—which made a secretary literally a keeper of secrets.

2. PANDEMONIUM

You might well know that this word was coined by the poet John Milton, who used it as the name of the capital of Hell in Paradise Lost in 1667. And you might also have figured out that the pan– here is the same as in words like pandemic and panorama, and literally means “all” or “every.” Put together, that makes pandemonium literally “a place of all demons.”

3. PREPOSTEROUS

Preposterous is one of a handful of so-called oxymoronic words in the English language, whose roots combine elements that contradict one another. A pianoforte, for instance, literally produces a “soft-loud” sound. And the contradiction is even more obvious in words like bittersweet, bridegroom, and speechwriting. The preposterous meaning of preposterous derives from the fact that it brings together the prefixes pre–, meaning “before,” and post–, meaning “after”—and so literally describes something that is back to front or in the incorrect order.

4. BREAKFAST

That meal you have first thing in the morning? It would have originally “broken” the previous night’s “fast.”

5. MONTH

The months of the year were originally calculated from the phases of the moon, and ultimately a month is essentially a “moon-th.” Another Moon-related word that’s staring you in the face is lunatic: originally an adjective, describing someone whose behavior was affected by the phases of the moon.

6. NAUSEA

The first few letters of words like nausea and nauseated are closely related to maritime words like nautical and nautilus. That’s because nausea was once specifically used to mean “seasickness,” and in fact derives from the Greek word for a ship. Moreover …

7. ASTRONAUT

… the astro– of astronaut is related to the root of words like asterisk and asteroid, while the –naut comes from the same seafaring root as nausea. Put them together, and an astronaut is literally a “star-sailor.” Likewise …

8. DISASTER

… a disaster is literally an ill-starred event: a catastrophe blamed on an ill-fated astrological misalignment of the stars and planets.

9. DISAPPOINT

It stands to reason that if you can appoint someone, then you can disappoint them; in fact, the word originally meant (and literally means) “to remove someone from office.” The current sense of “to let down” or “to fail” developed in the late 15th century from the earlier use of disappoint to mean “to frustrate someone’s plans” or “to renege on an engagement.”

10. FREELANCE

Yes, the “lance” in freelance is the same one carried by a medieval knight, at least in early 19th century fiction. That’s because the original freelancers were mercenary knights in stories like Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe—characters who carried no allegiance to any specific cause, and could instead be paid or hired to fight.

11. EQUINOX

The equinox is the date at which the Sun passes the Earth’s celestial equator, on which night and day are exactly equal; appropriately enough, the word itself literally means “equal night.”

12. BLOCKBUSTER

The original blockbusters were enormous bombs developed by Britain’s Royal Air Force for use in raids on German targets during the Second World War. To the RAF, they were officially known as HC, or “high-capacity” bombs. To the pilots involved in the raids, they were known by the unassuming nickname “cookies.” But to the press, these enormous bombs (the largest of which weighed 12,000 pounds and contained 8400 pounds of explosive Amatex [PDF]) were nicknamed blockbusters—bombs powerful enough to destroy an entire block of buildings. After the War, the military use of the word fell out of use so that only a figurative meaning, describing anything, from films to political speeches, that had a similarly impressive impact, remained in use.

13. MALARIA

Mal– essentially means “bad,” as it does in words like malfunction and malpractice, while aria is the Italian word for “air.” Ultimately malaria was so called because it was once said to be caused by the stagnant air and choking fumes the emanated from areas of marshland or swamp, rather than the infected mosquitos that inhabited them.

14. JOURNEY

Once you remember that jour is the French word for “day,” it’s easy to figure out that a journey is literally a day’s traveling—while a sojourn is literally a one-day stay; you write up a day’s events in your journal; and you can read accounts of the day’s events in journalism.