Mike -- It looks good on you

The cold beer can go in the other ear.

Go for it Mike. My suggestion is to start with a small hole and gradually stretch it over time.

I've heard other's stories about odd coincidences they've experienced but never really had one personally until yesterday. I'm hoping others will add to this thread with their own stories.

Here's mine...
Yesterday I was returning to our Island on the ferry boat. Up on deck I overheard a tourist couple talking about one of the small islands they could see. They clearly were confused about which one it was on their map so I decided to offer some local knowledge and started a conversation. In talking I learned they were from Vancouver (which is over 6000km away from here). I told them I had been to Vancouver last year to visit a jail project there. Here's the coincidence: It turns out the man just happened to be the architect of the jail I had gone to visit! How freaky is that?

Regards, Ross

Imagine you and the other aphids want to build a cathedral. You decide to use twigs and sticks to support a leaf. The resulting covered space lets your little aphid hearts soar. A true cathedral.

That last image is very informative about your ideas. It has me thinking that the leaf as roof idea could be explored as a tent-like structure for a more pure expression of some of the ideas. It could be fun no?

Regards, Ross

Many of you may know the architect Gregory La Vardera, a early adopter of SketchUp who sells modern house designs via his website. His work has been featured in Dwell. In the last year Greg has been kind enough to steer two different clients my way. Greg felt those clients who wanted to build in my neck of the woods would be better served having a local designer -- and I came to mind. Both clients were interested in the same design by Greg, a design he calls the Plat House. I worked with the first client and adapted Greg's design to suit their particular needs and local conditions. That house was built less than three miles from my home here in Prince Edward Island, Canada.

The design I attach in this thread is for the second client who intend to build in 2008. Their two acre site, in rural Nova Scotia, is a spectacular ocean-front one and they want to build on the crest of a steep bank above the beach. If you look at my drawings and those of Greg's Plat house I think you'll see lots of differences but still lots of the same 'feel'.

The attached images are straight SU exports that I assembled into panels using Xara Xtreme Pro. This is part of the first presentation to the client.

Regards, Ross

Hi Brad
Welcome aboard this crazy fun-ship! One thing you'll find around here is you can ask questions too! Really! The crew and those of us along for the ride have a tremendous amount of experience in a diverse variety of things. While SketchUp brings us together the journey takes us into uncharted waters. Together we might discover great things but if we don't it doesn't really matter as we all build valuable friendships.

Regards, Ross

Hope you had a great birthday marcday! Now that the party is over who's going to clean up the mess? E Wink

It certainly does have some messy vitality. Fun to see.

Regards, Ross

Hi Angus
I like your model. Must have been really challenging to make. Is it acurate? -- I mean would it work?

I attach a pic I made for fun. I removed your textures and gave everything a simple grey colour. I then used Podium to render it. I then combined that render with a jpg export from SketchUp - a technique that might become known as the 'Chippwalters Method'. In my case the export was the lines but also included a gradient background (created using the gradient viewport ruby script).

Regards, Ross

PS - Are you going to be making some hands?

While it is now regrettable that the gas pipe was installed where it was, you lived with it that way for five years. No offence but rather than think the Contractor lazy, perhaps you really were the lazy one for not confirming all dimensions before you bought new equipment.

Here in North America renters typically aren't allowed to do any renovations. It sounds like that is different in the UK. Since you are a renter I wonder if you could approach your landlord about splitting the costs on having the gas pipe relocated. My thought is the landlord accrues a benefit by having it updated so it seems reasonable (to me at least) that the landlord might agree to pay some of the cost. (The benefit being that should you ever leave, the unit will be more rent-able).

Regards, Ross

I think you should continue to make the model. Doing so is no reflection on your views whether Ethanol production is good or bad. The point of the model is to help others understand what is really being proposed and to help inform them. Some might buy your developer client's viewpoint that such a development does not belong where it has been proposed. Others might see your model and think "oh that's no big deal". Your model will not sway any of the zealots on either side. What it can do is help put some more of the facts on the table.

Go for it! And be happy to cash the cheque. There is no ethical issue for me.

Here's one I made -- it was crudely drawn intentionally just to see how a sketchy animation could look. That's the way I type...

Regards, Ross

I'm really happy too. It reaffirms those Google folks are really a smart bunch. I get the feeling Google appreciate the unique qualities of all their people vs. having everyone fit a mould. I imagine Craig is about as unique as they come. (It's likely there's no other motorbike-racing, kung-foo-fight'n, wall-punch'n freaks on the Google payroll!)

Craig -- Keep up the good work! Keep being yourself (but stay away from the fight clubs).

Regards, Ross

It shows what a sheltered life I lead in my part of Canada: I don't know anyone who I would bet has used pot in the last year. That reflects a few things -- I don't know many people and that use isn't necessarily as prevalent as that report might make it sound. No doubt there are people I know who might well be users but they certainly aren't smoking in public or stoners. Maybe the researchers asked a bunch of people in bars about their use. I doubt they got an accurate cross section of all Canadian society. When I was in the Netherlands I saw people smoking pot out in the streets --- I've never seen that in Canada.

Regards, Ross
(in Prince Edward Island, Canada)

Granted - now you remember everyone's name all the time but aquantiances are creeped out - wondering if you are a stalker!

I wish there will be no economic recessions.

Seems like the kind of book well-suited for bathroom reading.

I thought this word and definition were good:

GOOLE (n.): The puddle on the bar into which the barman puts your change.

Okay so this thread is about the 'How It's Made' tv program. Why the "New Fantasy" part of the title? What's that have to do with anything?

Invader ZIM, I guess what I'm asking is why did you think this topic would be something good to discuss? If there's something about it that interests you then it might have been better if you started the discussion by explaining your interest. Do you have any particular interest in cultured skin tissue? What about traffic lights interests you? If there is then you should have taken the time to write about those interests in your first posting. That would have given this thread context and allowed a meaningfull discussion to follow.

I realize you (Invader ZIM) are probably the youngest member here. Most of the rest of us, as you can see from our avatar pics, are probably older than your parents. We can all get along and have meaningful discussions but it does require each of us to try and communicate clearly. Your original title for this thread, the "quote", and your words have not communicated very well. If you walked up to some random adult in a mall and said "New Fantasy How it's Made Episode: Today...on How it's Made. Blood, human skin, hybrid vehicles, and traffic lights!" I'd suggest they wouldn't understand what you are talking about. It's not much different here. Most of the discussion here in this thread has been about trying to figure out what your point is.

In general please take enough time to re-read your words before you submit them to assess if others will be able to understand your point.

By the way I like the TV show and watch it occasionally with my kids. We always learn something from seeing it.

Regards, Ross

With this thread it seems likely many have their conversion factors wrong...

In most of the world gas is sold by the litre. There are 3.785 litres per US gallon. (There are 4.54 litres per Imperial gallon so if you were converting to them your prices would be inflated). For our 'per gallon' comparisons to be valid we must all be using the same "gallon".
Because the original question was asked relative to USA prices if you are converting from litre prices you need to multiply your price by 3.785 and then do a currency conversion so your price per US gallon is also in US dollars.

In my case (Atlantic Canada) we pay about $1.09CAD per litre. That translates to $4.12CAD per US gallon. Making a currency conversion we are paying $4.01US per US Gallon.

Taxes are a big part of the fuel cost in most parts of Canada. That and transportation costs (getting the fuel from the refineries to the consumers) translate into why our gas prices are higher than most Americans pay. I think Mike (alpro) makes a good point. How much gas prices affect us is very dependant on how much you have to drive. That would vary widely geographically. Statistics on this (I've searched) do not seem to be available online but it does seem to reason that on average Europeans travel less miles in cars than North Americans. Gaieus doesn't even need a car where he lives and works so for him it would matter relatively little if fuel was $15/gallon in his area. (Of course high fuel prices do affect the costs of goods & services so higher prices really would affect him. Just not as much as the guy who has to commute two hours a day to work).

Regards, Ross