Random Object Photographs

[oldbrownhat]

...He also noted that almost every household in Switzerland possessed an automatic rifle with ammo and all the other accoutrements to go with it, because every able-bodied male had to serve and took his equipment home when his training was finished....

Reminds me of a story about military-mad Kaiser Wilhelm II who visited Switzerland around 1910. The Swiss military, which numbered about 100,000, put on a very impressive show of their prowess and marksmanship.

"Very impressive", remarked Kaiser Bill. "But what if I were to invade Switzerland with a million men?"

"Well," replied his host nonchalantly, "we would each fire ten times and then go home."

 

[arjay]

And here I'm scratching my head trying to figure out which circuit a line is on in my basement

A dozen years ago my sister bought a cute craftsman style house with a 60s era kitchen in a small farming town out east. I took the kitchen down to the studs,replumbed and rewired it and built a new craftsman style kitchen. I had planned to feed the circuits from a sub panel in the basement as the main panel was in the detached garage 100' away. I found no way to shut off the power to the sub panel and hired an electrician to tie in my circuits hot. Some years later we learned the previous owner had fed the sub panel from his sisters house next door

 

[Beemerguy53]

Which, to put the cat among the pigeons, might beg the question, "Where have we gone wrong?" Matter of balancing a lot of values, of course.

I love my country and its ideals, but I'm not blind. We are a very large but very young and immature nation, with no single unifying national culture of civilized conduct. We have an unprecedented level of personal freedom compared to citizens in other countries, coupled with -- to be frank about it -- an attitude of disrespect for authority and disregard for the law that permeates our entire society at every level, and that permits people who are inclined to do so to do whatever the heck they want.

What really strikes me is that the criminal justice systems in Germany and Austria are extremely lenient by our standards, yet they have very little crime compared to us. It's just in their culture not to do certain things.

Here are some photos to illustrate what I'm talking about. Those bikes, at a subway stop in downtown Munich on a winter day, are just parked there, not chained. The second photo shows unchained bikes at the entrance to the Altstadt (Old Town, a pedestrian area) in Oldenburg. That display case in the Marienplatz in Munich is full of merchandise, but it sits there unmolested. I took the photos of the Meyer Jewelry store in Oldenburg in 2014, on a national holiday when everything was closed. Note the expensive watches in the display windows, with no bars or grates over them...can you imagine that in any American city?

 

[oldbrownhat]

...This is a pic of the interior of the bus, after it had thinned out a bit.....

Re-reading this sub-thread and seeing that pic again made me notice something that hadn't struck me before: It is so CLEAN! It looks like it has just been meticulously wiped down and polished and you could do open-heart surgery on the floor if need be.

 

[pmanton]

42 years ago Mt. St. Helens went off with a big bang.

 

[oldbrownhat]

42 years ago Mt. St. Helens went off with a big bang.

I remember that, and some time later, driving across WA state from Vancouver, BC to visit a (might-be) girlfriend at Gonzaga University in Spokane. There was a lot of dust from the eruption all along Rte.90 (?). For years I had a jar of volcanic dust from that eruption.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

With the mutilated Cow Talk, got to thinking how many of you boys have actually seen a dead cow out in the wild.
I have seen a few, this was the last one.
This was a car kill on Open Range BLM Land.
When you are in the Boonies driving through Open Range you cannot be too careful!

 

[TXBryan]

Sorghum Breeding Nursery - Texas High Plains

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Today I was up on Sandia Crest which is the Mountain just East of here.
I was up on the observation deck looking back into the Rio Grande Valley.
Some folks were gathered in the middle of the deck and I heard them talking about cars.
I walk over and look down into the parking lot.
OMG! I tell the car guys come here and look at this! There's a New King of the Mountain Car! You won't need to ask me what car I'm talking about.

 

[03hemi]

Today I was up on Sandia Crest which is the Mountain just East of here.
I was up on the observation deck looking back into the Rio Grande Valley.
Some folks were gathered in the middle of the deck and I heard them talking about cars.
I walk over and look down into the parking lot.
OMG! I tell the car guys come here and look at this! There's a New King of the Mountain Car! You won't need to ask me what car I'm talking about.

Nice Vette. lol

 

[snowman]

I just want to interrupt at this point and say that in my 19 years on this forum this is certainly one of the most interesting & entertaining threads I've seen thus far.

Thanks to all the contributors.

Regards,
Andy

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Presently There are several huge forest fires here in NM.
Large numbers of resources are being used including Water Bombers.
So I travel up to Cochiti Lake to photo them scooping water.
Unfortunately they had the entire lake locked down and I couldn't get close enough to even see the lake.
But here's a Water Bomber climbing out after taking on a load.

 

[bigwheelzip]

Chatting after dinner. My cousin's wife and I on swings, riverside in Greenville's Falls Park, while the guys were bringing back coffee.
A real treat that they retired just up the road in NC.

Sent from my motorola one 5G using Tapatalk

 

[oldbrownhat]

Chatting after dinner. My cousin's wife and I on swings, riverside in Greenville's Falls Park, while the guys were bringing back coffee.
A real treat that they retired just up the road in NC.

There is something to be said for enjoying the simple things in life

 

[Onomea]

With the mutilated Cow Talk, got to thinking how many of you boys have actually seen a dead cow out in the wild.
I have seen a few, this was the last one.
This was a car kill on Open Range BLM Land.
When you are in the Boonies driving through Open Range you cannot be too careful!

The cow in the middle is thinking, "Mom told us to look both ways, you idiot!"

 

[Onomea]

Today's leisurely four-mile walk took us up and over the local mountain/big hill and down the other side for lunch, and then back up, over and home. Here are some pix I took along the way:



Many of the homes we passed are on stilts, cantilevered out over the mountainside. Lovely views, but precarious in a land of earthquakes and mudslides.







Sure glad I've had my knees replaced! This set of stairs used to be a real killer for me, especially coming back down. I've been enjoying walking in places where I have strong memories of difficulty with my knees. Pain free cruisin'!

 

[Onomea]

Here's another pic, shot through some guy's garage:



Some of the houses are quite old. This one's surely empty:



Also, passed newer, modern homes:



This place is always kinda spooky. It's an insane asylum. Probably inactive, but, who knows?



Note the little, low door on the left side. That's for tradesmen, servants, etc. The doc surely had his chauffeur drive him through the gate. Bet he wasn't walking home!



While very narrow, these are two-way roads up on the little mountain. The mirrors are set so that drivers can see one another coming, and wait for one another to pass before proceeding. Driver's are respectful of pedestrians, giving a nod of appreciation to us as we step aside, and to other drivers who show them courtesy by yielding right of way as they pass.



Gratuitous car pic. I like Mazdas.

 

[CH4]

Dinner time!

 

[oldbrownhat]

Tens of thousands still without power in Ontario and Quebec after deadly storm

As many as 5 killed as line of thunderstorms rolled through

 

[Onomea]

That's quite a storm, OBH. "...As of early Sunday morning, about 269,000 Hydro One customers were without power, while Hydro Ottawa reported more than 700 outages affecting more than 170,000 customers..." Winds of 120 KPH = 75 MPH.

Hope those folks get their power back soon. Looks like quite a clean up ahead.

 

[Nevada Ed]

Post 5146;

Grew up in a house that was located in Mill Valley, Calif.

I would say that 20% of the homes were some how elevated by post, pillers or other type of structure, to be build on the steep hill sides.

Terracing the land was a MUST, if you wanted to use it.
We had three main levels in our back yard........
the lawn with patio and a rose guarden........
the Gardens with fig, pear and apple trees......
and the lower section that had a chicken pen and berry bushes.

We walked to school back then when in HS. Going was easy.........
coming home was a drag, all up hill.

 

[Rustyt1953]

The water tower in Johnny Cash's home town of Kingsland, Arkansas. The naughty sniper was charged with "criminal mischief" and faces up to 16 years.

"How high's the water mama?"

 

[timjake]

My back yard yesterday after getting 13.9 inches of snow from Friday afternoon through Saturday morning.

 

[oldbrownhat]

My back yard yesterday after getting 13.9 inches of snow from Friday afternoon through Saturday morning.

I can't in all good conscience give that a "like", but rather a pretty solid "EEUUUUUUWWWWW".

 

[timjake]

Well, we desperately need the moisture. We've been in Red Flag watch/warnings for over a month. My main concern is the trees and bushes. All this heavy, wet snow is really putting a strain on them since the leaves are there and that's a lot of weight for those limbs.

 

[DUSTYDOGDAN]

Rusted machine in Nevada

My wife is from Northern Nevada and this is was out in field and I had to take a photo of it.

 

[BLUEDOT37]

I just want to interrupt at this point and say that in my 19 years on this forum this is certainly one of the most interesting & entertaining threads I've seen thus far.

I agree but I, apparently wrongly, assumed it's for people to post their own taken pictures, not ones found anywhere & re-posted with no indication of where the picture came from, credit for who took it, & with the implication it's their own.

.

 

[RobertJ.]

My wife and I had business to attend to at my BIL's property, so I snapped these photos from his vast array of vintage trucks and autos:

 

[DUSTYDOGDAN]

Same night in Nevada

Here is another photo from Northern Nevada.

 

[Onomea]

Yesterday, late afternoon:



Trash removed:



This is a handy app for removing unwanted stuff from photos. (Took a guy in the distance out, too, before posting the first pic.)