Why is the clock on Miss City Hall so ugly?

[Jimmy Snyder]

I'm not sure if you were there but they have a ride like that called The Log Ride at Knott's Berry Farm here in California. At the same park they also have (or had) a ride called Sky Jump or some such that just drops you several meters really fast while standing in a cage.

For a short time I lived in La Mirada, CA just a few blocks from Knott's Berry Farm, but I never went in. I think the log ride was here in NJ, perhaps in Clementon, but I can't remember for sure.

 

[BobG]

I'm too afraid to go on one. I was on kind of roller coaster which consisted of a car that looked like a log and ran in a track of water. When it got to the end there was a sudden drop of about 25 feet at about a 30 degree slope. I did not enjoy the feeling at all and so I don't experiment any more. However, I rather wish I could get over my fear because I want to experience weightlessness and it seems that some roller coasters do a true freefall for a short time.

I actually like these rides. You're so wet at the end that your date doesn't realize that you peed your pants out of fright.

 

[Moonbear]

I'm too afraid to go on one. I was on kind of roller coaster which consisted of a car that looked like a log and ran in a track of water. When it got to the end there was a sudden drop of about 25 feet at about a 30 degree slope. I did not enjoy the feeling at all and so I don't experiment any more. However, I rather wish I could get over my fear because I want to experience weightlessness and it seems that some roller coasters do a true freefall for a short time.

That's not a coaster, that's a log flume ride. Those I can do, and love! They are pretty gentle, not a lot of sudden jerks and twists, and not too high of drops. Definitely no upside-downs.

I just came back from New Hampshire, where on our last day of vacation, we took our kids to http://www.storylandnh.com/info.html#3" at least ten times!

Woooooooooo Hooooooooooooooo!

(my 6-year-old, can not stop talking about it.)

Now THAT looks like my size roller coaster! I do like coasters that remain upright the entire time.

By the way, I've officially sworn off any form of wooden coaster. They may LOOK tame compared to their steel counterparts, but the ride is so bumpy and jerky, especially around turns, that the last time I was on one, I swore I got off with a concussion.

I can handle ones with a single loop-de-loop, but no more than that, and none that send you upside-down while twisting. They look like loads of fun, but it's no fun when you need to spend an hour recovering from the nausea.

 

[BobG]

Why would that be? I bet the survivability rate is a lot better than mounting the Annapurna

Better than shooting the rapids in the Royal Gorge, for that matter. (That's why I'm also afraid of the water.)

]http://www.adventureblog.org/images/royal-gorge-river-rafting_45.jpg

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

That's not a coaster, that's a log flume ride.

A healthy pine tree, growing on the side of a mountain, is cut down in its youth. Its limbs are severed and the corpse is dropped onto a watery sliding board called a flume. When it gets to the bottom, someone stabs it with a tong and drags it over to a lathe which whittles it down to a toothpick just in time for the next log to get tonged. I am not jealous of the tree. I do not feel the urge to go down the flume with it. Besides, I can't stand that feeling of falling. The Ferris Wheel is enough of a white-knuckle ride and a little bit of that goes a long way with me.

 

[Moonbear]

A healthy pine tree, growing on the side of a mountain, is cut down in its youth. Its limbs are severed and the corpse is dropped onto a watery sliding board called a flume. When it gets to the bottom, someone stabs it with a tong and drags it over to a lathe which whittles it down to a toothpick just in time for the next log to get tonged. I am not jealous of the tree. I do not feel the urge to go down the flume with it. Besides, I can't stand that feeling of falling. The Ferris Wheel is enough of a white-knuckle ride and a little bit of that goes a long way with me.

Oh, don't worry, no actual logs were used in the making of the ride.

Hmm...even the Ferris wheel is rough for you? Do you at least do the carousel...on a horse that moves, not one of those chickens that just stands still? (Ha ha, for the first time ever, I just noticed the humor that the animals that don't move up and down on the carousel are usually chickens...well, roosters I suppose. )

Does this mean that if I visit you in NJ, we're going to have to stick to the kiddie pier at Point Pleasant or Seaside Heights? (When I was a kid, I used to LOVE the octopus ride at Seaside Heights, because one of the turns took you out ever so slightly over the edge of the pier so you thought you were going to fly into the ocean!)

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

When I was a kid, I used to LOVE the octopus ride at Seaside Heights, because one of the turns took you out ever so slightly over the edge of the pier so you thought you were going to fly into the ocean!

At Seaside Heights they have a ride now that I hereby wish upon all my enemies domestic and foreign. I'll hold your jacket for you while you ride. It is simple as dirt. It is a ferris wheel of about 100 feet radius, but instead of an entire wheel, only a diameter exists. On either end of the diameter is a cage that they strap you into and which is free to rotate about a pin which attaches it to the diameter. Then they whip you around so you literally don't know which end is up. I love it. I could watch it for hours. Wait there's another. It's like a slingshot. You get in a capsule attached to two bungee cords attached to two towers. They pull you back about a hundred feet and shoot you at the moon. Then there's the ski-lift to nowhere. My wife is wild about it and we can't go there without riding it. It's not just like a ski-lift, it is a ski-lift. However, it doesn't lift, it just runs parallel to the ground for about 3 or 4 city blocks. It goes very slowly so that the pedestrians outwalk it by a lot and so it lasts a long time. For me the trick is to disengage my fingernails from the handlebar in time to jump off at the end. Wheee.

 

[junglebeast]

When I was a little kid my dad took me to a roller coaster at the fair. Not one of the big nice ones, this was just a portable circular track that the carnies had set up. The only form of harness was a metal bar which was lowered over my chest. However, being a child of about 8, this bar was in no way restrictive for me...I could have just stood up and walked out of the chair at any time. This would not have been a problem due to centrifugal force, except that they kept stopping the coaster upside down on the top of the circle. Every time this happened I was falling out of the chair and had to hold on for dear life. I was screaming for help as loud as I could but nobody heard me or cared, so I had to endure this for what seemed like an eternity. I've been scared of roller coasters ever since.

 

[Moonbear]

At Seaside Heights they have a ride now that I hereby wish upon all my enemies domestic and foreign. I'll hold your jacket for you while you ride. It is simple as dirt. It is a ferris wheel of about 100 feet radius, but instead of an entire wheel, only a diameter exists. On either end of the diameter is a cage that they strap you into and which is free to rotate about a pin which attaches it to the diameter. Then they whip you around so you literally don't know which end is up. I love it. I could watch it for hours. Wait there's another. It's like a slingshot. You get in a capsule attached to two bungee cords attached to two towers. They pull you back about a hundred feet and shoot you at the moon. Then there's the ski-lift to nowhere. My wife is wild about it and we can't go there without riding it. It's not just like a ski-lift, it is a ski-lift. However, it doesn't lift, it just runs parallel to the ground for about 3 or 4 city blocks. It goes very slowly so that the pedestrians outwalk it by a lot and so it lasts a long time. For me the trick is to disengage my fingernails from the handlebar in time to jump off at the end. Wheee.

Oh, I've seen the rides that you're describing...the one that just whips you around a big pole, and that slingshot thing. Yep, I would definitely enjoy those with you...watching from the ground!

But the sky ride has been there as long as I can remember. I loved it as a kid. Now they're kind of boring. It's only a hazard to flip-flops...you'll spot them scattered along the roofs of the buildings you pass over as you ride it. But, when you're a kid, and a short one at that, it's great to get a birds-eye-view of everyone and every thing. I think my parents may have had an ulterior motive though. We always parked the car at the parking lot nearest to one end of it, and then by the time we worked out way to the other end of the boardwalk and were too tired to walk back, they decided it was time for the sky ride! It does move faster than parents who are trying to drag two tired kids back to the car at night.

 

[Danger]

A healthy pine tree, growing on the side of a mountain, is cut down in its youth. Its limbs are severed and the corpse is dropped onto a watery sliding board called a flume. When it gets to the bottom, someone stabs it with a tong and drags it over to a lathe which whittles it down to a toothpick just in time for the next log to get tonged. I am not jealous of the tree. I do not feel the urge to go down the flume with it. Besides, I can't stand that feeling of falling. The Ferris Wheel is enough of a white-knuckle ride and a little bit of that goes a long way with me.

Holy crap! Jimmy is channelling Bicycle Tree! Somebody call an exorcist!

Considering the elite status of several PF members in the scientific community, I bet that one of them could arrange a ride on the 'vomit comet' (zero-gee parabolic flight to train astronaughts for micro-gravity in space).

 

[Moonbear]

Holy crap! Jimmy is channelling Bicycle Tree! Somebody call an exorcist!

That's a name I haven't heard in a long time! Careful, don't say it three times, he might come back!

 

[protonchain]

I used to be afraid of getting on one, and the first one I ever got on was when I was i think 15 or 16. I won the local science fair 1st place prize and went to the international sci fair in kentucky. There we headed to 6 flags and because I didn't want to look like a wimp, I got on.


I

don't


regret


doing that

Holy cow I love RCs.

 

[Danger]

he might come back!

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

It's only a hazard to flip-flops...you'll spot them scattered along the roofs of the buildings you pass over as you ride it.

This year it's scrunchies and beaded necklaces. There were a thousand of them tossed onto the roofs.

 

[Danger]

Hahaha Danger I actually love your posts. 2 quick spincter contractions, lol.

Thanks; I appreciate that. I can manage to squeeze out a reasonable one once in a while (joke, I mean, not...)

Vaughan, you say? Did you say Vaughan? Man, I saw that place on the news an hour ago. They just got flattened by a tornado. I hope that you don't live there, or are okay if you do.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

By the way, I've officially sworn off any form of wooden coaster. They may LOOK tame compared to their steel counterparts, but the ride is so bumpy and jerky, especially around turns, that the last time I was on one, I swore I got off with a concussion.

I think that is the idea, sort of. I went on a wooden coaster for the first time at Disneyland a while back and they intentionally made it so it felt rickety and like it was going to tip over or jump the tracks.

 

[Danger]

Whoa! I just saw the beginning of the CBC National (but switched to 'Wolverine & the X-Men' for obvious reasons). Vaughan has been declared a disaster zone.

 

[DaveC426913]

Whoa! I just saw the beginning of the CBC National ... Vaughan has been declared a disaster zone.

Vaughan. Vaughan.

Oh yeah. That's where people live who want to be Torontonians but can't afford it. It's in the same direction as Hudson's Bay, right?

 

[DaveC426913]

Considering the elite status of several PF members in the scientific community, I bet that one of them could arrange a ride on the 'vomit comet' (zero-gee parabolic flight to train astronaughts for micro-gravity in space).

I realized recently that, while getting into orbit in my lifetime might be impractical, taking a ride on the Vomit Comet is definitely doable! And there's a flight in Vegas - this fall!

 

[Danger]

It's in the same direction as Hudson's Bay, right?

From here, it is. Now I'm back on the CBC news and see that Hurricane Bill is ripping toward the Maritimes. Usually, those buggers start running out of steam before they get that far north, but this is supposed to still be at hurricane strength when it hits Nova Scotia on Sunday morning.
There are some serious advantages to living inland. (We have our share of tornadoes here, but they're small and rarely hit anything other than gophers.) Our big problem is hail, which can reach baseball size here. We had about $45,000,000 in damages last year. Last week, a bunch of local farms got pummelled, and the vet clinic was overrun (after hours). One hailstone whapped a horse on the snout so hard that they had to remove the shattered bones in order for it to breathe. It was touch-and-go for a while, but apparently she's going to be okay. A garbageload of others had serious impact trauma as well.

 

[wildman]

Heres a cool little wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusement_park_accidents

I for one actually have gotten bored of roller coasters. I used to go to cedar point every summer at least once but now the millenium force just isn't worth the two hour wait.

According to the above statistics, the chances of being injured in an amusement park is one in 9 million. However if we look at the stats, the chances of being killed by the injury is less than one in twenty so the chances of being killed is less than one in 180 million anyone day.

Now for comparison let's look at the chances of dying in your car. About 40,000 people died in the US last year in motor vehicles. Since just about everyone drives that is 40,000/300,000,000 or about 1 in 7500. But of course that is over 365 days so it becomes about one in 3,000,000 anyone day. So the chances of you dying in your car on the way to the park is about 60 times that of dying on that coaster.

 

[Sorry!]

Thanks; I appreciate that. I can manage to squeeze out a reasonable one once in a while (joke, I mean, not...)

Vaughan, you say? Did you say Vaughan? Man, I saw that place on the news an hour ago. They just got flattened by a tornado. I hope that you don't live there, or are okay if you do.

Yeah, Vaughan, Vaughan. Thanks for the concern but no I don't live there. Live in Mississauga. Enviroment Canada says the activity will stay west and north of Toronto I live west and a little south :). Although the my area had many Tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings. The same storm that caused that Tornado rolled through here and last for I would say 30 minutes. In that 30 minutes it caused the power to go out for over 3 hours :(.

I never even knew a Tornado had actually touched down though thanks for bringing that to my attention lol.

 

[DaveC426913]

Live in Mississauga. - Toronto I live west and a little south

When people ask me where I live and I say South Etobicoke, they invariably give me a blank stare. So I roll my eyes and say "Right on the border of Mississauga." And they say "Ah. Mississauga."

 

[Sorry!]

When people ask me where I live and I say South Etobicoke, they invariably give me a blank stare. So I roll my eyes and say "Right on the border of Mississauga." And they say "Ah. Mississauga."

hahaha. People that aren't familiar with South Ontario do the same thing for Mississauga. Even though we're quite a big city with lots of wealth. I always just say near Toronto because everyone knows Toronto. Actually people even know of Oakville even though it is a lot smaller.

 

[DaveC426913]

Even though we're quite a big city with lots of wealth.

Too bad you didn't spend any of that wealth the design of your [strikethrough]Auschwitz[/strikethrough] City Hall.

Oh snap!

http://www.weddingstressrelief.com/wedding_planning/locations/images/miss_city_hall/miss_city_hall.jpg

 

[Danger]

I always just say near Toronto because everyone knows Toronto.

I do the same thing with Detroit. Any time that I mentioned Windsor, people thought that I meant the one in Nova Scotia.

 

[Phrak]

Are you talking about the one at West Ed? I know that it had a semi-serious accident a few years back.
As for the not understanding someone being afraid to get on one, you apparently have no idea of what a true phobia is. As I said, I have a bit of trouble looking over W's balcony on the first floor. A buddy of mine from over 20 years ago lived on the 7th floor of an apartment building. I had to stand in the balcony doorway to grab a smoke (non-smoking apartment). One warm evening, all of his guest were standing out there. I forced myself to crawl on my belly to the edge and look over. I was within two quick sphincter contractions of garbageting my pants. Never again.

That's wild Danger. I had to stop free climbing because I'd wake up from a dream, falling. Something about having a little boy to take care of, I think. Looking down cliff faces makes the hair stand up on my head, and that's Utube! A second story staircase does the same looking over the edge, but I'd strap on a hang glider in two seconds, given the chance. This is someone who would fly a glider without a harness, standing on the crossbar and hanging onto the downtubes, just for the thrill.

 

[Sorry!]

Too bad you didn't spend any of that wealth the design of your [strikethrough]Auschwitz[/strikethrough] City Hall.

Oh snap!

http://www.weddingstressrelief.com/wedding_planning/locations/images/miss_city_hall/miss_city_hall.jpg

hahaha I always wondered WHY that damn clock looks so freaking ugly. I love the library there though.