I remember very well. I had been working with computers for quite a while but at the time there wasn't much choice or interesting things to do. E-mail wasn't a way of life (yet). My wife went back to school to complete a masters at DePaul University in Chicago. She needed to get into the library files for her studies, so we got a modem (I think it was real hot for the time - about 2400 baud, she got a Uni password and we signed up for and AOL account. It was not a good experience. AOL kept timing out before we could even establish a connection and of course, a landline 2400 baud modem took forever to download anything.

I did keep her from throwing the computer out of the window or any other violent cyber crime, but of course, things improved rapidly through the 1990's. Now we love our DSL.

Thanks Nick. Something like that happened quite a bit when I moved my lap top between office and home, but was suprised when it happened on my office desk top which Is always in two screen mode. Some how I managed to move the component screen off the edge of the world!

I managed to answer my own question. The browser did somehow get out of range. I disabled the secondary monitor in display and re-booted, opened SU and there it was

Anyone found a browser laying around? Somehow my component browser will not appear. It shows up in the pull down menu and it can be activated but there is no dialog box on screen. I re-loaded SU but the settings stayed the same. I just wonder if it somehow went off screen or some other obvious simple thing I managed to screw up. I am working with two screens-but can't locate on either one.

Thanks in advance.

I would like to add my WOW! to the discussion. I just opened this thread by accident, having passed it by with the same feeling Susan expressed several week ago, that it would be and "i wish" rather than this.

AdamB - great work! Hope to see something soon!

Our friends at PPB have a similar thread- Thought I would share my "special" ride here too.

Kris,

I agree 100% on the ease of bidding using PDF's. Most all of the contractors we work with here in the midwest, California and Florida all have local repro houses that gladly provide plan house services. The clients all have Acrobat reader and would rather not have rolls of paper cluttering their offices as well.

Jim Smith

rhankc and James,

In Indiana (USA) the state has had centralized review of plans for many years. All of it was paper which as you can imagine would be and was resoundingly a bottleneck. A large project might take months to review. As of about five years ago the state started an all electronic submission and review. The drawings are submitted as a PDF or DWF in a single file along with specifications and a copy of the state design release form. They review the submision and e-mail an acknowledgement of receipt along with a project file number and the calculated review fee. You send a check with a copy of the form or you can use a charge card to pay the fee. They promise and usually keep their word on a ten working day turnover. Once the design release is approved by the state, you can apply for the actual building permit through the local city or town building department. Any comments the state has about the plans are on the design release form. Usually the state does not require a re-submission unless you really have some major issues. They leave it to the architect and local building officials to comply with the small stuff. Really quite quick painless overall.

In Florida, they have started electronic stamping but their system is very cumbersom and I prefere to send paper (they still require an embossed stamp on each sheet- very primitive).

Bottom line - I am licensed and work in 8 states and I pray for the relief of electronic stamping and submissions - (as long as they don't make it a IT nighmare as Florida has).

In what areas are you guys practicing?

Jim Smith

Here are two turnstyles i found in my collection. You might also try to look in google warehouse, I didn't check there.

Security_Turnstile.skp

Security_Turnstile_Full_Height.skp

I noticed a number of posts I made yesterday are missing. Also, not sure if it was related, but I had to log in again. I have checked the remember me button, but was, alas, forgotten.

Eric,

Thanks for the link. I have been doing some pro-bono work for an organization called "Every Child Ministries" headquartered in Hebron, Indiana, that has a regular program of building shelters, schools, clinics etc. in Africa - recently in Congo. I have forwarded the interview with Sinclair to the director. They typically load up one or two ship containers of materials and equipment and take it to wherever they are working and build pretty much conventional structures -- maybe this will give them something to think about, it certainly has given me some thoughts.

Thanks again

Jim

Crown Point Indiana,
My adopted home town (originally from Chicago), infamous for a jail break by 1930's bank robber John Dillinger - used a phoney gun and stole the sheriffs car for his get away.

On a lighter note, this city was home of the original marriage mill,
(no waiting-no tests etc.), before Las Vegas - Rudolph Valentino and Ronald Regan being two notables married at the courthouse (a beautiful old building ca. 1872 that I have helped restore, by the way.

The Indianapolis 500 had its start in Crown Point in 1909:

"Believed to be Indiana’s first major car race, The Cobe Cup continues to be an annual event for Crown Point, Indiana. Now a ceremonial event, the once grueling race was originally held south of the County Courthouse. First held on June 19, 1909, this 25 mile race was the forerunner of the Indianapolis 500. Awarded the winner’s cup for the Cobe race was a Swiss-born man who later became quite famous: Louis Chevrolet.

The first (and only) 25 mile Cobe Cup was an enormous financial flop. Promoters anticipated an onslaught of race fans, all eager to buy tickets and flock to waiting stores to purchase souvenirs. What happened, however, was quite the opposite: the Cobe Cup had a grand total of one paying ticket holder. More frugal race fans opted for lawn chair seating along the race route, as opposed to the ticket-charging grandstand.

What was once a financial flop has become a sentimental success. The Cobe Cup Cruise, as it is also referred, is an annual summertime delight for those who showcase their vintage cars and for those who view the cars along that historic 25 mile route."

We're proud to be the home of astronaut Jerry Ross - space walk record holder among other accomplishments in space. And of course.... I live there...nawww.

Thanks Mike,

very handy to have all these in one place. I have a small utility for stickies and another called snippy for screen capture, nice to have these all together. The color capture and magnifier are great.

Jim

I don't know if this is an answer to your needs, but this little (free) program called "snippy" will copy anything you circle on the screen - a free hand pen is the default or you can hold "shift" and get a rectangular bounding box. The image can then be pasted into a word processor document for additional markups. Kind of handy, small rea-lestate in the hard drive and FREE.

(www.bhelpuri.net)

Jeff, thanks for sharing the link to those papers. Interesting reading. I agree with many of the three papers observations and conclusions: hand sketching is quick, beg for change and improvement, allows expression of though processes, allows close interaction with client to find solutions, etc.

It is also true that not everyone can express themselves well - not only lack of ability but lack of training. When I went through school 100 years ago, I had five years of art courses along with the rest of the stuff crammed into the BArch program. Not that much art today.

Many of the younger guys I work with are not quite up to it. Some DO have sketchbooks and can sketch so it's not dead yet.

The computer has taken its toll on hand drawing. I use my SketchUp for design -a lot - but, most of the time SU is the first refinement, the original ideas still flow through the graphite (and/or pentel) and quite often in the presence of the client. They tend to be as amaized at seeing a drawing appear on paper before them as they are later seeing the SU graphics change and rotate before them on the computer screen. This personal touch seems to humanize the whole process.

In my opinion, having lived through the era of no computers to computers everywhere, hand drawing is not dead yet; it still can play an important roll in the creative thought process

Hi everyone,

I was out of town for a few days and came home last night to find the Google sneak attack on our forum. I guess it is their's to mess with, but we don't have to take it - thanks to the VERY FINE work of Coen and the moderators. I really like the layout and features.

The hard core SU family has spoken!!

(Thank you RonS for the PM which alerted me to this disaster)

Jim Smith

Tom,

thank you for these great-small trees!!

Thanks for the books Gidon. Great addition to our "electronic" library shelves.

Jim

thanks Mateo - I put them to good use to help dress up a so-so remodeling project.

I have found this site very informative - good technical reviews, a lot of comparison photos etc. for any price range or mega pixel range.

http://www.steves-digicams.com

Jim