Weekend Update 4/25/21

[Ed Kapuscinski]

[serious thread drift]

I have to laugh at this obsession to make image files smaller, when the real problem with page loading speed is garbage code. Ever look a the page source for a typical web page these days? 99% fat, 1% nutrient...

Get web developers to efficiently code pages, and then we'll start to see real improvement.

[/serious thread drift]

I disagree.

Compared to binary file data, the transfer of "big code" vs "little code" and even in-browser rendering times is minimal. It takes a LOT of raw text to make a page big enough to make any noticeable difference.

Images and other binary things are really the tall pole in the tent.

While this stuff may seem silly to us spoiled users in places with infrastructure, keep in mind that a HUGE portion of the web using world has only ever experienced it through a smartphone (over a sub-optimal connection). These things matter to those people. And there are a LOT of them.

[arbomambo]

   I haven't posted in the weekend updates in quite a while, but certainly not because I haven't had anything to post!
Super busy with 'The Turquoise Room' (the upstairs hobby room), and the 'Fair Weather' modeling area (modeling area in the garage)

  Helping complete The Turquoise Room, are the finishing touches on the T-TRAK layout table. This is the hollow core table I created to allow the display and testing/operation of T-TRAK modules as they are constructed and finished. Over two years ago, I purchased a bolt of Navajo pattern material to create skirting panels for the table, but, alas, since neither Denise, nor I, sew, the project remained on the back burner until very recently, when we found an excellent seamstress/upholsterer in are area.

  I first covered the top of the table with a heavy duty vinyl black shelving paper, painted the edges with a red earth flat latex interior paint (the same color I use on my T-TRAK module fascias), then stapled a khaki tan strip of velcro around the circumference of the table.







 Underneath the table is a convenient area to store trains!






  With the skirting applied (made of separate panels, allowing easy access to the storage underneath), the table really helps accent the theme of The Turquoise Room.

[CRL]

I don’t know about any of the computer jargon thrown around, but my iPad pulled up @GaryHinshaw telescope photo just fine.

My only question is what end does he look into to see anything? 

[arbomambo]

  I also worked on the garage 'Fair Weather' hobby area.
I completely arranged the hobby desk area in the garage, adding a small flat screen smart TV with Blu-Ray player (for train videos, of course!), and setup my downstairs airbrush studio - spray booth and compressor set up on a heavy duty rolling cart. To this end, I FINALLY purchased a type of compressor I've dreamed of for 30 years! Why it took me so long to pull the trigger, I can't say.










  I also received my new masks - even though we both have our vaccinations, we still 'mask up' in an elbow-to-elbow environment.

[cjm413]

Yeah, I think they did UP too. The main problem for me with the MicroTrains model is that it is vertically challenged.

The few 40' MTLs that I still have (I bought them when they first came out) are kept for nostalgic reasons at this point.

I know that the doors are wrong on this Roco model, but this will be a placeholder until something better comes along - and it didn't cost me a dime! (well, roofwalk, paint, and decals will cost me some dimes).

Anyway, this should be fun (the Roco tooling looks pretty nice with that paint removed BTW).

Mark

The UP ones I've seen are in yellow/silver paint for cars with cushioned underframes that isn't correct for the rebuilt PS-1's, but may be correct for a similar, but non-PS class of cars.

MTL/Kadee also offered BN.

[C855B]

... 100% compatible with Chrome and Opera, neither Firefox nor Safari natively support WebP. ...

Interesting, it's never been an issue for me with just Firefox, and I don't use add-ons. I didn't even know about WebP until I was working on a website for a friend, and the browser I used for editing, SeaMonkey, didn't understand the .webp images. But Firefox did.

EDIT: Newest SeaMonkey fixed it. Apparently .webp handling is now in the Mozilla core. Goodbye, Safari, it was nice knowing you. 

[Philip H]

@arbomambo - spray booth and compressor set up on a heavy duty rolling cart

Any pictures of this?  I want to do something similar . . .

[Dave V]

@arbomambo ,

I'll be honest, while I already have two layouts in various stages on incompleteness, your work is really inspiring me to do some T-Trak stuff.  It'd certainly be more portable than even my self-contained (and heavier than planned) CMRy and I think I'd love to try my hand an AZ/NM scenery too!

It'll probably remain a daydream, at least for a long while...

[arbomambo]

Any pictures of this?  I want to do something similar . . .

Here are a couple of quick pics of the compressor and spray booth on the rolling cart.

[arbomambo]

@arbomambo ,

I'll be honest, while I already have two layouts in various stages on incompleteness, your work is really inspiring me to do some T-Trak stuff.  It'd certainly be more portable than even my self-contained (and heavier than planned) CMRy and I think I'd love to try my hand an AZ/NM scenery too!

It'll probably remain a daydream, at least for a long while...

Dave,
How’s this for inspiration!
One of our friends from the Georgia T-TRAK group, Jaime Valdez, just completed this gorgeous scratch built trestle T-TRAK module in time to debut at a train show in Savannah last month!

[EJN]

I don’t know about any of the computer jargon thrown around, but my iPad pulled up @GaryHinshaw telescope photo just fine.

My only question is what end does he look into to see anything? 

It's a radio telescope.

See here: https://chime-experiment.ca/en

[CRL]

It's a radio telescope.

See here: https://chime-experiment.ca/en

Would that be AM or FM Capt Obvious? All we can get at night on our AM Radio Telescope is that Mexican Nebula Tijuana Alpha.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Dave,
How’s this for inspiration!
One of our friends from the Georgia T-TRAK group, Jaime Valdez, just completed this gorgeous scratch built trestle T-TRAK module in time to debut at a train show in Savannah last month!

Shut the front door. That's awesome!

[svedblen]

.
Goodbye, Safari, it was nice knowing you. 

I’m on an iPad (iPadOS 14.5) running Safari and have no problem seeing Gary’s .webp picture.

[Steveruger45]

It's a radio telescope.

See here: https://chime-experiment.ca/en

So where is the speaker?