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Re: Photo Album

Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 1:35 am
by AmriloJim
Amarillo has had 31 movie houses since 1907, and I collect images and historical notes about them. One image is a street view of the Fair Theatre, which opened in 1921. At first I thought the framework sign on the roof would be neon, and I thought it might be interesting to 'recreate' what the animated stick figures might look like.

So, I fired up GIMP to add neon. To get a bigger canvas for work, I shot a 300dpi scan from a vanity press paperback copy of the photo. That's when got a very close look at the old photo and realized the sign was actually driven by incandescent bulbs ('sides, neon signs weren't invented 'til 1923).
Then I added a semi-opaque black layer to simulate dusk and bunches of little dots.

Voila...
http://image66amarillo.com/personal/192 ... i_1280.gif
I can't post the image itself here, as this board does not support animated GIFs. It's also a somewhat large file, so give it a few moments to load.

Re: Photo Album

Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 7:11 am
by Hansontoons
AmriloJim wrote:Amarillo has had 31 movie houses since 1907, and I collect images and historical notes about them. One image is a street view of the Fair Theatre, which opened in 1921. At first I thought the framework sign on the roof would be neon, and I thought it might be interesting to 'recreate' what the animated stick figures might look like.

So, I fired up GIMP to add neon. To get a bigger canvas for work, I shot a 300dpi scan from a vanity press paperback copy of the photo. That's when got a very close look at the old photo and realized the sign was actually driven by incandescent bulbs ('sides, neon signs weren't invented 'til 1923).
Then I added a semi-opaque black layer to simulate dusk and bunches of little dots.

Voila...
http://image66amarillo.com/personal/192 ... i_1280.gif
I can't post the image itself here, as this board does not support animated GIFs. It's also a somewhat large file, so give it a few moments to load.

Nice!

Re: Photo Album

Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2016 9:33 pm
by Hansontoons
Ok. My neighborhood suffered flooding over the Memorial Day weekend.

Several weeks back, a lot was cleared of trees and a large mound of dirt appeared. At ground level around the mound, there was probably two or three feet of water during the recent flood. The house directly across the street had about 2ft of water.

I am really, reeeeeealy going to be interested if someone is actually building a home to move in to, or if some clueless speculator has financed this...
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Re: Photo Album

Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2016 10:03 pm
by GlytchMeister
...so what's the problem? As long as the mound is higher than the flood, it's a good idea, right?

...oh. Wait.

Unless they don't put in foundation support pylons... Because once that dirt gets saturated, that's all gonna turn into a mudpie, which won't support a house...

Re: Photo Album

Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2016 10:28 pm
by Hansontoons
GlytchMeister wrote:...so what's the problem? As long as the mound is higher than the flood, it's a good idea, right?

...oh. Wait.

Unless they don't put in foundation support pylons... Because once that dirt gets saturated, that's all gonna turn into a mudpie, which won't support a house...
I'll check it out tomorrow during the morning Jasper walk. So far I've not noticed any sort of support. They brought in dump trucks full of fill dirt, pushed it around with a front-end loader and some bobcats and have appeared to call it good.

We've not had a decent rains since Memorial Day, the first one we get will tell the tale. If you note, the forms are built right up to the edge of the mound.

Re: Photo Album

Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2016 10:57 pm
by lake_wrangler
Matthew 7:26-27 wrote:26 And every one that hears these sayings of mine, and does them not, shall be likened to a foolish man, which built his house on the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
Some people just don't learn from others' mistakes... :roll:

Re: Photo Album

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2016 2:16 pm
by AnotherFairportfan
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Re: Photo Album

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2016 2:24 pm
by Sgt. Howard
lake_wrangler wrote:
Matthew 7:26-27 wrote:26 And every one that hears these sayings of mine, and does them not, shall be likened to a foolish man, which built his house on the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
Some people just don't learn from others' mistakes... :roll:
The only architectural advise in the whole Bible- and my property is entirely sand... high desert sand...

Re: Photo Album

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2016 6:40 pm
by lake_wrangler
Sgt. Howard wrote:
lake_wrangler wrote:
Matthew 7:26-27 wrote:26 And every one that hears these sayings of mine, and does them not, shall be likened to a foolish man, which built his house on the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
Some people just don't learn from others' mistakes... :roll:
The only architectural advise in the whole Bible- and my property is entirely sand... high desert sand...
Well, there is another architectural piece of advice in the bible, but it's related to finances... don't start building unless you know you have the money to finish it, or you might end up with a house and no roof (lw paraphrase...)

Re: Photo Album

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2016 6:42 pm
by lake_wrangler
Sgt. Howard wrote:The only architectural advise in the whole Bible- and my property is entirely sand... high desert sand...
As I recall, even if your property was solid rock, the type of abode you have would not make much use of it...

*Now tries to picture a double-wide trailer home with a custom-made foundation built on solid rock...*

Re: Photo Album

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2016 10:27 pm
by Hansontoons
I'm traveling now and don't have means to post the photo of the forms built on the mound. The cement slab will be rebar reinforced, looks like standard spacing, I'd have put more in at least around the edges, and has a grid of trenches across the slab area. The trenches are maybe 16" wide, 20" deep, and will act as beams to support and stabilize the slab. I didn't see any holes that would form a post in the ground. They were going to pour this last Monday, I didn't see the result. It'll be interesting to see how they finish it out. My daughter told me that an inch of rain fell today at the house, if any washout around the edge of the slab occurred I'm certain it will be repaired by the time I get home.

But how will it finish up?

What a nail-biter!

Stay tooned!

Re: Photo Album

Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2016 12:23 am
by lake_wrangler
Who knows... Maybe they had tried to purchase some land that was slightly higher up, and couldn't get a hold of it, and now they are hoping for another flood, and a repeat of what happened in 1876 in Swan Quarter, North Carolina, where a whole church, newly built and about to be dedicated, was pulled off its foundation, floated down the street, took a couple of turns along the way, and settled on the plot of land that had been denied to the congregation before...

Yes yes, it's true... Snopes even confirmed it...


You know, they laughed at Noah, too... ;)

Re: Photo Album

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2016 5:31 am
by shadowinthelight
Tonight by my front porch. The first time I have seen a live cicada before molting.

Image Image Image Image

Video here.

Re: Photo Album

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2016 1:21 pm
by Sgt. Howard
Live Bait

Re: Photo Album

Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2016 7:28 pm
by Hansontoons
Hansontoons wrote:I'm traveling now and don't have means to post the photo of the forms built on the mound. The cement slab will be rebar reinforced, looks like standard spacing, I'd have put more in at least around the edges, and has a grid of trenches across the slab area. The trenches are maybe 16" wide, 20" deep, and will act as beams to support and stabilize the slab. I didn't see any holes that would form a post in the ground. They were going to pour this last Monday, I didn't see the result. It'll be interesting to see how they finish it out. My daughter told me that an inch of rain fell today at the house, if any washout around the edge of the slab occurred I'm certain it will be repaired by the time I get home.

But how will it finish up?

What a nail-biter!

Stay tooned!
OK! Back from travels, Minnesota and Massachusetts are now behind me.

Here's the photo I described. And the note about washout? On my first walk with Jasper after returning, I did note an area of unsupported slab due to washout. There are several dump truck loads of dirt on that corner of the slab, will be interesting to see how they eventually reinforce the entire slab.
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Re: Photo Album

Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2016 7:58 pm
by Hansontoons
This is going well... we've had several inches of rain over the last week or so.
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Re: Photo Album

Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2016 3:13 pm
by Catawampus
Reminds me of a house that I once saw being built about twenty years ago in a ultra-fancy housing area. It was at the bottom of a ravine, with a creek. They diverted the creek by dumping a big pile of loose sand in its path, then started building the great big house on top of the sand. The sand wasn't even packed down or boxed in or anything, just dumped in a pile. They'd get a portion of the house built, the creek would wash out the sand on one side, the house would fall apart, the workers would dump more sand, they'd rebuild the part of the house, and the whole process would continue. I never got to see the end result, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were still trying to build that house today.

Re: Photo Album

Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2016 2:56 pm
by GlytchMeister
Hansontoons wrote:This is going well... we've had several inches of rain over the last week or so.
Somebody called this shot... Can't remember who...

Re: Photo Album

Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2016 3:35 pm
by Catawampus
I'll just leave this here.

Re: Photo Album

Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2016 5:50 pm
by lake_wrangler
Catawampus wrote:I'll just leave this here.
Such carnage! Make it stop! I'll have nightmares for weeks! :o

:lol: :lol: :lol: