You don't have to eat during the flight, or you can delay eating to be out of phase. I've done that and so far it's been effective over a number of transatlantic flights.
According to the article, the process is basically about removing the lignin from the wood, not adding chemicals. The knife was coated in "food grade oil" to seal it, so I suspect there are no chemicals to worry about here.
It is actually fairly normal to name the sky for the things it has in it (clouds, rain, etc), and it is not a strong indicator of how good the weather is.
Three West Coast Main Line operates speeds up to 125mph/200kmph, so very much high speed rail in US terms - faster than the Acela if I recall correctly.