The BMSMCOG Award for 2011 goes to this fellow.
As seen in the basement of City Hall:
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Simply marvelous.
Posts Tagged ‘KPIX’
Proper: “Vince Crop Dusters, Inc” Vest Wins the Prize for Best MSM Camera Operator Garb
Thursday, August 11th, 2011Dirty Harry 1970′s Time Capsule: Groove on KGO’s Orange Chopper and KPIX 5′s Robin’s Egg Blue Van
Monday, May 23rd, 2011Well, Dirty Harry debuted 40 years ago so let’s use his movie series to see what the 415 looked like back in the 1970′s.
From The Enforcer, here’s KGO Radio’s groovy orange Bell 47J Ranger, looking not that much different from the choppers they used on M*A*S*H*.
Above the old Embarcadero Freeway and close to the build site for Embarcadero 4 (our youngest Embarcadero, it turns out) and Embarcadero 5, the crazy Hyatt Regency Embarcadero Hotel:
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And back then, the Equinox revolving restaurant actually revolved. See it atop the Hyatt?
“The Hyatt Regency San Francisco is a large, imposing exposed concrete structure. It was built in 1972, designed by notorious architect John Portman. He is known for his outlandish designs. The Hyatt Regency here is no exception. It’s hard to describe, but I’ll try. It was built as a modern concrete structure around an atrium with extensive use of odd angles…presumably to take advantage of the odd, triangular-shaped property and beautiful bay/city views. From some angles it looks like a normal building, others like a pyramid, and from yet others like spires shooting up to the sky. It’s extremely unique and enjoyable to look at by us architecture and engineering dweebs. To everyone else, it’s a big gaudy hotel that is seriously starting to look dated architecturally.”
Now here’s Harry leaving City Hall back in the mid-1970′s – can you imagine an uglier color than this blue?
I can’t.
Anyway, stay groovy…
And I Can See Those Fighter Planes – Military F-18 Super Hornets Above San Francisco
Monday, March 8th, 2010Not too often you see regular military fighter jets above San Francisco these days, you know, just flying around on some mission as opposed to performing an airshow. Last time for me seeing something like that was when a pair of U.S. Air Force F-15′s roared low and fast over the Western Addition about a half-decade ago.
Here’s the view from Haight Ashbury yesterday, through the Blue Gum Eucalyptus trees. Don’t bother looking at the misfocused photo ’cause you probably won’t be able to see them, but KPIX / CBS5 has some footage from Oakland International Airport yesterday. There they are lined up next to the King Airs and whatnot at OAK.
Speaking of airshows, remember this alarmist headline from a few years back: “Blue Angel Kills Thousands in SF crash”
Of course, no spectator has died at an airshow in San Francisco ever, I don’t think. And actually, no airshow accident has killed or injured a spectator in America in the past half-century or so that writer Tim Redmond has been alive. (Let’s not talk about Russia or Ukraine – spectators die all the time in those places.)
And of course, a crash like that one in San Diego wouldn’t kill anybody in San Francisco because the Blue Angels would react differently to a sudden loss of power. And if there were a crash for other reasons, it would be simply unpossible for that to kill “thousands.”
Anyway, if you ever want to say that you don’t like the Blue Angels, it’ll be up to you to just say that you don’t like the Blue Angels or, instead, to make a blog post going, “Blue Angel Kills Thousands in SF crash.”
Your choice.
Anyway again, this “Military Aircraft operation” might have brought a nuclear aircraft carrier to the waters of the Farallones, who knows.
Look to the skies! They are ever changing.
Suit and tie comes up to me
His face red
Like a rose on a thorn bush
Like all the colours of a royal flush
And he’s peeling off those dollars bills
Slapping them down, one hundred, two hundred,
And I can see those fighter planes
And I can see the fighter planes
Across the mud huts as the children sleep
Through the alleys of a quiet city street
Up the staircase to the first floor
We turn the key and slowly unlock the door
A man breathes deep into saxophone
Through the walls we hear the city groan
Outside is America
Outside is America
Never Walk the Stairs to the Top of Sutro Tower – Just Take the Elevator
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010Like these guys.
It would take forever to make it up the stairs to the top of controversial landmark Sutro Tower, so a swaying elevator car is the preferred method.
Click to expand to get a closer look at a sunnier, more colorful San Francisco:
Take the tour.
Our New and Improved Sutro Tower Now Has New and Improved Digital Broadcasts
Thursday, November 19th, 2009Not that you’d really be able to tell, though. Sutro Tower Inc. has just finished a project that had some of the digital TV broadcast antennas (not “antennae” – that plural term is only used for bugs in our silly English language) gaining a higher altitude.
Not much howver, maybe a seven-percent increase, max. Does that make a big difference? No, not for most people, but at least STI is trying.
Here’s the antenna of KPIX-TV (OMG, that’s the home of Eye on Blogs – big ups, Brittney Gilbert!) a way up top, like 1700 feet above sea level. Now Channel 5 is as high as possible:
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The Future is Now, and what’s labeled “CURRENT” is history:
From this:
To this:
Well, they were still wrapping the KPIX, KRON, KTVU antenna assembly, but you get the idea.
So it looks like we’re all set with the Great Digital TV Conversion of 2009. As long as Sutro Tower doesn’t get hit by a shooting star….
…we’ll be all right.
Sutro Tower Has Regrown Its Antenna Antlers – Now Ready for a Digital Future
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009San Francisco’s famous Sutro Tower (owned by Sutro Tower, Inc., the buyer-offer and $hutter-upperof San Francisco’s mid-town NIMBYs) has a new look for Fall.
Here’s Before (a way back in August 2009)…
…und jetzt After, the way it looks these days (when being buzzed by a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 NG heading to El Lay, camera right, see it?)
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Très chic! Non?
Now, she’s all set for the next meteor shower:
Courage.
After a Late Rutting Season, Sutro Tower Starts to Lose its Antenna Antlers
Monday, August 10th, 2009Well here’s this scene this morning up on Mount Sutro (former home to the SF-89C Mount Sutro Nike Missile Control Station, don’t you know.) Can you see what’s missing?
Sutro Tower is losing antennas (that’s right, not antennae or antennea or anything else) and getting other updates all in the name of Our Digital Future. Get some deets here at the Burrito Justice.
The West Stack appears all nubbed out these days, no? Click to expand.
Make your necessary adjustments and your Wheel will come in just fine every evening, as per usual.
How can it be.
Believe me
Sutro Tower, Digital Television, and Buying Off the NIMBYs of Twin Peaks
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009All right, you already know about Sutro Tower, right? Well, here’s an update. Digital TV is here, not that you care, cause you get cable from the Comcast monopoly.
But, just in case you’re struggling with a free digital to analog converter box you just got from the govmint, there might be some good news coming in a few months when they lift the digital antennas up higher on the tower.
So, do you see this vertical array in the middle of this photo? Them’s the digital antennas:
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Kind of an afterthought, they were, so there was a big fuss about getting them up there. They weigh a ton (or rather 10 tons, actually). I’m a little hazy on all the deets of high-def and digital and whatnot, but whatever, this 125-foot long array is not long for this world. Check it:
See? All the “DT” antennas are going up all the way to the top (and losing the DT suffix). Match up the chart with real life here:
So what this all adds up to is that there’s a chance your reception will improve in a few months. No promises, however. Most of the people who are bummed with DTV are still going to be bummed with DTV, but it’s a Worthy Effort. Listen to a KQED Forum podcast from Scott Shafer and Glenn Phillips, field agent for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
And, as always, re-scan if you run into trouble. What’s that? You still can’t see Wheel and all your stories? Sorry.
Oh, and what about the Not In My Back Yard millionaires who never cottoned to Sutro Tower in the first place? Well, they’ve been bought off for peanuts.
Check it:
a. $ 3,000.00 per year to the Midtown Terrace Home Owners Association. The initial contribution payable prior to December 31, 2008. Subsequent contributions to be made on or before July 1 of each year.
b. $ 4,500.00 one time contribution to the Twin Peaks Improvement Association for an open space improvement project.
c. $ 6,000.00 one time contribution to the Forrest [sic] Knolls Neighborhood Organization to replace the Forrest Knolls [sic again - Run Forrest Run!] entrance sign.
d. $ 10,000.00 one time contribution for the benefit of the surrounding area to purchase two drinking fountains one each at the walking paths around two area reservoirs. The contribution will be payable only when the fountains are approved by the appropriate agencies and actually purchased.
How’s them apples?
Anyway, hang your antenna high and hope for the best.
Digital TV: San Francisco Bay Areans Say Good-Bye Comcast Cable
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009Here’s what you do, you get a free Digital to Analog TV Converter Box and then kick Comcast cable to the curb. (Of course, if you have a newer TV, you don’t even need the converter box.)
Get a sneak peek of the stations you’ll get here, based upon your specific location. And read a report from one San Francisco resident who seems pleased with the whole transition to digital.
It’s new, it’s you!
Click to expand.
If you like Spanish and Chinese language programming, you’ll love digi-TV. Plus, you can get KQED Channel 9 three ways.
What about NBC? Well, they left the 415 a while back and now base their operations out of San Jose. Consequently, they broadcast from San Mateo County. Consequently, you might have a little trouble tuning in the NBC.
Anyway, more and more people are saying good-bye to their local cable overlords. What have you got to lose?
San Francisco’s Sutro Tower on a Foggy Day
Tuesday, August 12th, 2008The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches 5
and then moves on.
The formerly-controversial Sutro Tower, as seen from the northwest through the window of an Emirates Airbus A380 super jumbo jet.
See the entire Sutro Tower mise-en-scene here, courtesy of Telstar Logistics’ Todd Lappin.
