In Defense Of Milk Duds

[TrueTomHarley]

Though the educational opportunities at the London Museum are immense, I am fearful that @JW Insider squandered them all to hang out at the vending machines where they stock Milk Duds. Approvingly he commented that "the vast majority of staff are there to help manage the huge gift shop (and restock things like Milk Duds in the vending machines)"

Still, he was there to learn more about God - and Milk Duds are truly the food of the gods, so perhaps the time was well-spent after all. 'Do they stock Milk Duds in the vending machines?' was my first question that came to mind when he invited some. Actually, I'm not sure I have ever eaten any. If so, it was not often, and long ago.

I used to eat Necco wafers all the time, though, and to this day, I will reach for some when I see them. They are second only to candy corns, which I stay away from, because if I don't I will eat them until my stomach says: 'you idiot! what did you do that for.' As a boy, I used to walk to the nearby drug store with my friend to pick up some Necco wafers and if you got distracted reading Mad Magazine at the magazine section, a clerk would remind you that it was not a library. They really were just a nickel then - what are they now, $5? - and maybe that is how they got their name.

Driving to Pittsburgh recently - a trip I had to make more than once because of snafus with the Pennsylvania DMV,  I uncharacteristically fueled my trip with 2 Snickers bars and coffee. My stomach let me hear about it, but I don't like to stop and eat on such trips when I just want to get them over with, and a full meal makes me drowsy.

The Pennsylvania DMV is more finicky than the NYS DMV, and I did not think that was possible. Actually, I take it back. The NYS DMV was once pure torture - I can recall a local politician years ago campaigning to bring them to tow - he spoke into the camera with a live DMV loonnnnngggg line as backdrop. Some fellow in an adjacent DMV line once told me he was there to solve a situation caused by the seller of his car having died. 'He's going to wish he had died before this is over,' I told the one behind me.

But that was long ago. The NYS DMV, against all expectations, has for many years, gotten its act together and now delivers refreshingly pleasant service, if you consider such things 'service.' You may, but it is a little like the "full service" toll takers sign you will sometimes see at the bridge crossing, instead of a bin to throw your money into. "Worth every penny!" I sometimes tell the Thruway toll taker when I am paying up. One of them wisecracked back: "It is not!"

[JW Insider]

@TrueTomHarley,

They have just opened a new wing of the Museum to cover the most important features of the Anglo-American empire...  Visit it just after the Pharaoh Necco exhibit.

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

If you ever get the chance, go to a factory in Hershey, Pennsylvania where they make Milk Duds and ask for the tour. 

As you get closer to the neighborhood where the factory is, the whole area smells like chocolate. 

They have a catwalk above the factory floor you can walk on and look over the entire operation without interference,  as the chocolate is rolled into perfect spherical balls, by many millions of Dung Beetles.

[JW Insider]

Bugs and Kisses,

JWI