In The Mind Of A Geek
Ramblings December 14th, 2007For better or worse, I have an active brain. I was starkly reminded of this when I received an email this morning:
These rocket scientists are concreting solid steel pillars to stop vehicles from parking on the pavement outside a sports bar downtown Bugtustle, KY. They are cleaning up at the end of the day.
How long do you think it will be before they realize where THEIR vehicle is parked?
First of all, this is email spam hilarity at it’s finest! Most people would read the witty comment, look at the picture and have a nice chuckle whilst they merrily carry on with their morning. Not me!
First I wondered if this picture was real and I immediately set out on snopes.com to do some sleuthing. Not finding anything there I started looking for signs of Photoshopping…do the shadows look right, are there any off-colored pixels? Convinced that the photo was probably real, I began to wonder about the construction and installation of the pillars. Maybe they were removable or maybe they were on hydraulics and could retract into the ground (I saw that in a really cool movie once).
In the end, I decided to do what any self-respecting geek would do, fire up Photoshop, move the van, see if it would fit between the 2 pillars in the foreground. Sure enough:
They may have to pull their side mirrors in, but they’re far from helplessly trapped.
UPDATE (which really makes things worse): I failed to account for the viewing angle in my original analysis. Because I am viewing the image in perspective, I need to account for the difference in size between objects in the background and objects in the foreground. With that said, I measured the width of a sidewalk tile at the front of the van and one at the back of the van. I averaged the two and came up with my van position base scale (VPBS). I then measured the width of a sidewalk tile between the 2 pillars. The foreground tiles were 119% the size of the VPBS tiles so I increased the width of the van proportionally and came up with this:
Now we’re talking about a seriously tight squeeze, but I still believe the van was able to escape without incident.
In the end, the joke seemed less funny. Maybe I should have glanced at it, chuckled and went on about my business like everyone else did.
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December 14th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Awesome, sweetie! Only you would waste a good hour of your day to bring the world the truth…
December 17th, 2007 at 5:52 am
Being originally from Kentucky, I was very intrigued by this. While the visual deconstruction of the photo is awe inspiring and rather humorous, I found myself wondering, does Bugtustle exist. I am currently unable to find a Bugtustle KY. Even if it did exist, its absence from googlemaps/mapquest would most likely preclude it from having : a downtown, a sports bar (in back woods KY, its just a bar, we don’t have fancy names for our bars), a building high enough for the picture to have been taken, grand paved sidewalk areas, someone able to send a picture via internet, internet, and any care about vehicles being parked outside.
There is in fact a Bugtussle, however it is in Tennessee, and while the possibility for a typo is probable, the location of Bugtussle TN also precludes it from having any amenities in the above photo.
My guess is this picture was taken in some big fancy city where they have things like sports bars.
December 17th, 2007 at 10:02 am
@Tal
First of all, let me say, it’s great to find a brother in geek-dom. Second, this is excellent follow-up research…thank you!
I never thought to question the location where the picture was purported to have been taken. Your knowledge of the area and social mores was very insightful.
In the end, I am completely convinced that the photo and accompanying email have no comedic value whatsoever.
December 18th, 2007 at 7:03 am
In an effort to determine the photo’s origin, I was wondering if the street signs can be enhanced? I messed around with it, but my photoshop knowledge is next to nothing. Even if they can’t, they appear somewhat foreign, maybe European? Or Disneyworld?
December 20th, 2007 at 7:36 am
THANKS! I was certainly curious!
December 20th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
Just received that pic in an email today. My impression was that the pillar at the bottom right was photoshopped into place as the area around the lower half is blurry. Don’t know for sure though. I doubt anyone would try and back the van out of an area so tight so short of removable pillars, I’m pretty sure there is some photoshopping going on. The van looks like it belongs though…if that was PSed in, they deserve applause for doing it so well.
February 10th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
haha… what idiots