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Aerial Photographs of the 1906 Earthquake
hansoloaf writes "In 1906 San Francisco had a devastating earthquake - registering around 7.7 to 8.3 on the Richter scale. George Lawrence had devised ways to take aerial photographs and went to SF to showcase his technology. He used kites and custom built cameras that could take photos while up in the air."
And people thought Phillip Torrone was ahead of the times :-)
Quick, someone go get some satellite photos of the server!
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
When I lived in SF, all the natives (hard to find) referred to that quake as "The Fire". Because the ensuing fire destroyed more of the city than did the quake. Because (as was revealed in early 1990s research) when the city started to burn, the wily (don't call them) Friscans torched all their own buildings. To collect the insurance money in a huge suck off the insurance companies to the East. Since the oldest buildings had been built only a couple of generations prior, and most had been built in the prior generation, they cashed in and wiped Victorian architecture to the sand. SF is charming, and mostly harmless, but don't turn your back, or you'll get the suckerpunch.
--
make install -not war
It's an innovative use of technology at the time to accomplish something pretty amazing. It might not be regarded as news, but it's an interesting thing to hear about at the very least. Besides, how much of anything on /. is truly news that people care about? We have more iPod and game articles than anything else!
-- Reality is for people who lack imagination.
Here is the Google cache view of the 2004 slashdot effect on rtpnet.org servers. Notice the missing pictures - sign of destruction this natural disaster left in its path.
[alk]
It should also show you that there have always been nerds.
... ok, have fun, you deserve it."
/.
Hang in there, guys. One day you'll do something cool like take a picture of total devastation.
You'll be famous for 15 minutes, chicks will be drawn, you'll be tricked into marrying one, and then years later when she asks if you'd mind if she went out with her friends from work you can say, "Well
Then you can be like me, free at last to read
sigs, as if you care.
I propose that Slashdot Scale = 1 / (time it takes after post for server to explode)
"Nobody reads /. for the articles, just the comments!"
/. to start using Coral and FreeCache?
:(
So how are you supposed to comment on a site which gets Slashdotted in seconds? Is it too much to ask for both readers and the people who get their sites totalled for
Dag, yo.
This guy enbodies the hacker spirit. He didn't "invent" anything in the strictest sense, but it's a damn clever hack using the teconology available to him.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
http://slushdot.org/mirror/earthquake/landscape.ht ml
There was a big fire that torched most of the city, and some of it was intentionally set, but most of it was caused by the quake itself (wooden buildings, fire/candles/oil-lamps as primary heat and light source, etc.) There was no conspiracy to bilk those big eastern banking interests, and since this was 1906 I would point out that _all_ current architecture was Victorian. In fact, because of the fact that the entire city was basically re-built in 1907 it probably has the largest collection of Victorian buildings left in the US.
The efforts made to stop the fire, using fire fighting technology that was "primitive" at best, were truly herculean. The cause was not helped by the fact that the earthquake had also destroyed most of the water mains and distribution infrastructure. [A couple of blocks from where I used to live there was a fireplug with a big brass plaque next to it that declared that particular plug to be the only one in the city that did not lose pressure during the firefighting effort after the quake (20th & Church next to Delores Park for locals)]
What eventually stopped the fire was a decision by the authorities to create a major firebreak by essentially blowing up a 1 block wide path down Van Ness Ave.
actually, now we have live coverage of the quake, with MSNBC news bunnies emoting over the destruction as it occurs.
of course, I'll tivo it and watch it later, after South Park, which will have its earthquake episode next Wednesday.
Kites are hardly groundbreaking
Hard ground, on the other hand, is often kitebreaking.
100 years later, the quake is still causing damage (in this case to webservers...)
Only 3 weeks was awesome and they were glad to have it. Just 54-60 years before was the California Gold Rush when the travel time was a lot longer. If you went by land it was 5-6 months IF you arrived at all. Lots of people died along the trail. If you went by sea it was more like 1-3 months IF you lived. Lots of people died of disease by crossing Panama on foot or were lost sailing all the way around South America.
Nowdays, people get pissy when their four hour flight gets delayed for an hour because of bad weather. People don't really realize how much and in how short a time things have changed in this world. There are people alive who can tell you about the 1906 earthquake and fire because they were there. The last of the civil-war widows only died a year or two ago.
People talk about "Ancient History" but it really wasn't all that long ago.
Available at the Library of Congress website.
Dog is my co-pilot.
Don't know if it's a hoax, but I thought it pretty interesting.
Found It!
THE WORLD IS GOING TO END!!!! eventually.
> the period of 1901-1910 is known as "Edwardian"
Doc Ruby is no scholar, as any first semester student of architectural history could tell you. The "Victorian era" began in the 1880s and lasted well into the 1940s. It encompasses Craftsmans, Prairies, Monterey Revivals, Tudors, and yes, even "Edwardians".
r7
All you guys pissing about with "this is old" or "so what" are missing the point...this was innovation and the photos are quite unique considering the time period. Check out the design on the kites. Don't be such 4th graders...oh, wait. This is slashdot--you probably are 4th graders.
I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
If you think you're on a technology news site, then I think you got a little lost somewhere on the web.
this is _exactly_ the sort of story that makes slashdot worth reading....
SCO, Politics and the MPAA/RIAA can all go fuck themselves...
Advanced users are users too!
The fact was that quake damage was not covered by insurance. Fire damage was. If your property had been destroyed in the quake you got none. If it had survived the quake but been later destroyed in the fire resulting from the quake you got your money back.
So their was a very large scale fraud. Including doctoring evidence like photographs AND messing with the death toll.
I am afraid you are getting your evidence from what the authorities of the time wanted you to believe. It is an amazing story really but the evidence is clear. These arial photos just prove it more. Just compare them with some of the other "official" photographs of the time. Buildings they show standing are gone here.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Am I the only one who finds it blackly humorous and more than a little creepy that one of the few buildings remaining standing in the first picture is the California Casket Company??
Me? Debunk an American myth? And take my life in my hands?