Random Photos

[jtbell]

The Lake Lure [NC] Flowering Bridge, re-purposed from an old highway bridge after a new one was built alongside it:

This is a panorama made from five separate photos. Here's a larger version.

It's early in the year, so there aren't many flowers out yet.

 

[morrobay]

The Flathead V8. From when cars didn't look like they are made out of Electric shavers.

 

[fresh_42]

The photographer claimed he hadn't performed any manipulations. This is the original shot.

 

[Andy Resnick]

 

[fresh_42]

View attachment 340973

"Where is the newspaper?"
"Dad, you're so old-fashioned. Here is my iPhone."
I didn't care. The fly is dead.

 

[jtbell]

More from Lake Lure last weekend. The lake itself was almost non-existent! Fortunately it's only temporary. [And as I note in a later post, this is a small, shallow section of a much larger and deeper lake.]

 

[jack action]

"Lake Maintenance"

Here are two words I never thought of seeing together!

 

[BillTre]

"Lake Maintenance"

Here are two words I never thought of seeing together!

Its a fisheries and aquaculture thing.

 

[nsaspook]

My solar panel plants are looking pretty good.

 

[berkeman]

Its a fisheries and aquaculture thing.

Where'd they put the fish during this maintenance?

 

[BillTre]

Where'd they put the fish during this maintenance?

Depends what they are doing.

Fish can be pumped out for harvest using special pumps.

 

[jtbell]

Where'd they put the fish during this maintenance?

I expect the fish migrated to deeper parts of the lake. The section I visited, with the marina, beach and water park, is at the end of the western arm of the lake, where the Broad River flows in. See e.g. Google Maps. This section is much shallower than the rest of the lake. I haven't found a depth map yet, but I did find a site noting that the lake has a maximum depth of 104 ft.

When I left, I drove along the south shore for a while before turning south. This road (US-74A) is rather twisty so I had to keep my eyes mostly on the road, not the lake. Nevertheless, I remember seeing clear stretches of water, with lake houses and their docks perched several feet above the current water level, at the top of bare slopes.

 

[BillTre]

Maintenance can involve doing different things with different requirements.

Lakes and ponds made for production purposes are often designed with features like deeper areas at one end where the fish will collect when the water level is dropped.

In addition, a big thing in aquaculture design and engineering is designing tanks and ponds for which are self cleaning to different extents which minimizes the maintenance required.

Fish are usually raised in batches (as opposed to continuous cultures) so the fish can be completely removed, simplifying maintenance.

 

[collinsmark]

======== Possibly off topic =========

But continuing the current tangent, a new video from Practical Engineering was released today about fish movement in man-made systems, particularly in this case: a dam. It's quite fascinating.



=============================

 

[Averagesupernova]

======== Possibly off topic =========

But continuing the current tangent, a new video from Practical Engineering was released today about fish movement in man-made systems, particularly in this case: a dam. It's quite fascinating.



=============================

I always thought that when the lights dimmed for about a second it was because a fish had gone through the turbine. Haha....

 

[morrobay]

Thats $214 .for one lobster ? .So asked my Thai girlfriend to ask the vender.* She calls lobster shrimp in LINE translation

 

[BillTre]

They are panulirus (very small (tini-wenie) pincers) lobsters not humarus lobsters (big pinchers).

 

[DennisN]

Springtime is slowly arriving, so here are some early spring flowers:

 

[nsaspook]

Spring is coming.

 

[jtbell]

We're getting the first spring flowers here, too. For some reason, these like to grow in the cracks in our ancient asphalt driveway.

Once upon a time, a biology professor was conducting a botany lab by walking around campus with his students, identifying and sketching plants and flowers. A student spotted some small purple flowers. "What are those?"

Professor: "Hmm... damn if I know."

When the professor reviewed the students' lab notebooks, he found one with a careful sketch of those flowers, labeled "purple damifino".

So that's how I think of these when I see them every spring, even though they're more pink than purple.

 

[jtbell]

 

[jtbell]

Today I was at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds for a coin/stamp/postcard show. Nearby was one station of the "State Fair Flyer" chairlift ride. I noticed the station's name is "Wilbur".

Hmmm. I thought, I bet the other station's name is "Orville". I hiked to the other end, and sure enough...

 

[berkeman]

Well clearly I'll need to do more reading about this encoding...

 

[Ibix]

Well clearly I'll need to do more reading about this encoding...

One channel pushes the needle left/right and the other up/down, IIRC. I think the arrows may be trying to point out vinyl structures that are "mostly a ridge" and "mostly a joggle".

Edit: or possibly the orthogonal directions are the two diagonals - that might make more sense.

Edit 2: apparently it is the diagonals: https://www.stereophile.com/content/how-does-stereo-vinyl-record-work.

 

[jtbell]

And in the 1970s there were quadraphonic (4-channel) LPs, with the four channels encoded into the two physical LP channels in such a way that they could be decoded on playback. There were several incompatible schemes for this, and so the whole concept was never very successful commercially.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadraphonic_sound

IIRC some audio receivers or preamplifiers had multiple quad decoding circuits, with a selector knob that you set according to the type of quad LP you were playing. This was high-end stuff that I couldn't afford in my poor student days.

 

[Rive]

Well clearly I'll need to do more reading about this encoding...

One of my previous workplace tried to dabble into touchless digitalization of wax recordings. (Some 20+ years ago, when it was still relevant/revolutionary). Not something simple...

 

[Ibix]

There were several incompatible schemes for this, and so the whole concept was never very successful commercially.

The neat thing about the stereo system in @berkeman's photo is that both diagonal channels have a component in the horizontal direction that a mono player expects. So if you only have a mono player you get an average of the two channels, but a stereo player plays the two independently. So I think it still works for the less affluent customer. I'm guessing the quadraphonic system did not...

 

[nsaspook]

 

[DennisN]

A caiman/crocodile cub:

Author: Tambako The Jaguar, License: CC BY-ND
Source: https://wallpaperscraft.com/download/caiman_crocodile_cub_1030676/5357x3013

 

[jtbell]

On my way home from Raleigh today, I stopped in High Point NC. This is billed as the "World's Largest Chest of Drawers".

Just outside town, the Furnitureland South complex has what looks like an even larger chest of drawers, but it's only a façade.

Nearby Thomasville has "The Chair".

If one could climb on it, it would be a great place for railfans to sit and watch trains.

 

[Averagesupernova]

I obviously can't take credit for this gif but the large chest of drawers posted by @jtbell sure made me think of Seinfeld. Room for more than just a tourist per drawer.

 

[jtbell]

the "World's Largest Chest of Drawers"

has some history behind it:

https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2148

 

[Rive]

This is billed as the "World's Largest Chest of Drawers".

With already half pairs of socks looks authentic enough

 

[DennisN]

A pretty nice castle!

Photo by Cederic Vandenberghe, location: Eltz Castle, Wierschem, Germany
Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/closeup-photo-of-castle-with-mist-21DP3hytVHw

 

[docnet]

A pretty nice castle!

View attachment 341801
Photo by Cederic Vandenberghe, location: Eltz Castle, Wierschem, Germany
Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/closeup-photo-of-castle-with-mist-21DP3hytVHw

That's the Hogwarts School from Harry Potter! Too bad I didn't get accepted. I read the lunch banquets are incredible there.

 

[BillTre]

 

[nsaspook]

A little bit of Texas style smoked corned beef for my great-great grandpappy, on my mothers side.

To make a proper corned beef and cabbage later and a few drinks waiting for that to be done.

 

[nsaspook]

 

[Andy Resnick]

Sunny weekend in the woods, good opportunity to break out the macro lens and see what's out-n-about:

[Edit: scale bar error...]


This one came out pretty good, too...

 

[morrobay]

Always a photo after a cappuccino.

 

[docnet]

Always a photo after a cappuccino. View attachment 341966

So... What is it?

 

[morrobay]

Part of grab food ad poster on bus. Looks like the same girl.

 

[jtbell]

 

[DennisN]

Two different photos taken recently...

Leaves in spring sunlight:

...and a car in hard rain:

(luckily I had my weatherproof camera with me at that time )

 

[jtbell]

So much for our hoped-for "upset of the century" in the first round of the NCAA women's basketball tournament...

 

[berkeman]

luckily I had my weatherproof camera with me at that time

Did it startle the driver when your flash went off? I'll bet they thought they had been caught by a speed camera...

 

[DennisN]

Did it startle the driver when your flash went off?

No, I didn't use flash (a fast lens (f/1.4 in this case) and high ISO is often sufficient for me). Actually I almost never use flash.

Edit: By the way, I also like to draw as little attention as possible to myself when I'm shooting (and flash is pretty much the opposite ). One thing I have clearly noticed after I started shooting with system cameras is that nearby people very often take notice of me.

I guess nowadays people are so used to smartphones so when the see a system camera they may think, well, he's doing something unusual. And in fact I've been asked quite a few times what I am doing .

And if I'm going around in the city with a big zoom lens, it's even worse, then people REALLY take notice .

And it does not fit my personality at all, I usually don't want to be noticed. But no pain, no gain, I guess.

 

[berkeman]

By the way, I also like to draw as little attention as possible to myself when I'm shooting (and flash is pretty much the opposite ).

I take the opposite approach...

 

[DennisN]

I take the opposite approach...

View attachment 342175

Another genius troller :

(from https://www.boredpanda.com/funny-trolling/)

 

[nsaspook]