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What are those grids of glass in the sidewalk and why are they purple?

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Re: What are those grids of glass in the sidewalk and why are they purple?

#111

Post by kazagistar »

jacquesm wrote: post #104
Cougher wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's in America, it isn't a matter of not being able to afford it; we choose not to, instead prefering to waste it on military spending. Our country really could be great again if we chose to stop that madness.

You're about to engage in several major public works worth of military spending.

Just to emphasize, that's not like a train station worth. It's like a complete bullet train system between all major USA cities would cost less then the iraq war. That's the scale of the invisible, opportunity cost "infrastructure damage" cause by these wars.

Re: What are those grids of glass in the sidewalk and why are they purple?

#112

Post by chrisseaton »

tialaramex wrote: post #107
Cougher wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"A 1960s building is old, but 80 years isn't really enough to inspire awe;" That's absolutely untrue. Plenty of buildings inspire awe immediately upon completion and plenty of them have gone through their entire life-cycle within a span of 60 years. Try Quarry Hill Flats for a start. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=quarry+hill+%2Bflats&t=opera&ia=im... "there are plenty of existing structures several hundred to several tho…

Also, we're not just talking about a "structure" like the pyramids or various ancient monuments, Penn Station had an _function_ it was needed for. Not many "several thousand year old" structures with a function exist except as museums now. There's a house somewhere that's been continuously inhabited for about a thousand years (Faroes maybe?) and a few of the forts or religious buildings still in use are older, but mo…

A friend of mine’s dorm room at college was a thousand years old.

Re: What are those grids of glass in the sidewalk and why are they purple?

#113

Post by kaybe »

ilammy wrote: post #28

Modern people accustomed to ubiquitous electrical lighting would probably think of 19th century and beyond as quite dark.

The house we live in (from 1903) still has the original gas lines everywhere. That means there is a hook in the middle of the ceiling connected to the gas pipes for you to hang your gas lantern, but also one or two wall outlets in every room for those.

I suppose the neighbouring houses all had those de-installed, but our electricity installation is from ~1930 as well, so the owners were never fond of renovations, it seems. (It works surprisingly well for its age.) I often wonder about the people who lived here and their lifestyles.

Re: What are those grids of glass in the sidewalk and why are they purple?

#114

Post by subroutine »

barrkel wrote: post #106
subroutine wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A 1960s building is old, but 80 years isn't really enough to inspire awe; there are plenty of existing structures several hundred to several thousands of years old. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_known_survivi...

Age isn't what inspires the awe, though.

Then why are we talking about the age?

Re: What are those grids of glass in the sidewalk and why are they purple?

#115

Post by dexwiz »

BinaryIdiot wrote: post #72

This is fascinating. I've walked over those countless times and always wondered what they were. I am curious about this one bit though: > When vault lights were first installed, much of the glass was clear. But when the manganese is exposed to UV rays for long periods of time, it photo-oxidizes and turns purple or pinkish. Hence, the reason so much of the glass is now purple. > This process can take decades. So when…

Depends on what it was doped (not dyed) with. Dopants like magnesium will slowly move through the glass over time and with exposure to might or heat. These new formations may or may not be optically active in our visible range. Some may be more or less intense or change color over time. Many metals may have many colors based on their state in glass, such as gold.

Re: What are those grids of glass in the sidewalk and why are they purple?

#116

Post by taeric »

philwelch wrote: post #88
taeric wrote: post #2

I thought this was going to be in Seattle. :) It is neat to notice these all over the place. The underground tour is more than a little crazy to see just how built up the city literally is. My favorite related topic were the spite mounds.

If you've already done the normal underground tour, there's also a late-night version where they talk about the seedy underbelly of early Seattle, i.e. all the prostitution and body-snatching and other assorted crimes. Or at least there used to be one.

They mentioned a bit of that on our tour. With kids ranging from 5 to 10, it was kind of funny to see the looks. (My kids, to be clear.)

I got the impression it wasn't much of an under belly, as it was a large part of the life around here.

Re: What are those grids of glass in the sidewalk and why are they purple?

#117

Post by subroutine »

Cougher wrote: post #101
subroutine wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A 1960s building is old, but 80 years isn't really enough to inspire awe; there are plenty of existing structures several hundred to several thousands of years old. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_known_survivi...

"A 1960s building is old, but 80 years isn't really enough to inspire awe;" That's absolutely untrue. Plenty of buildings inspire awe immediately upon completion and plenty of them have gone through their entire life-cycle within a span of 60 years. Try Quarry Hill Flats for a start. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=quarry+hill+%2Bflats&t=opera&ia=im... "there are plenty of existing structures several hundred to several tho…

Speaking of bizarrely obvious statements...

> Plenty of buildings inspire awe immediately upon completion

I'm speaking specifically about the age. Some things are special for [what they are], and some things are special for [what they are given their age]. A 1963 Mustang is 'a classic'; 1993 Mustang is just an old car (even though the '94 mustang was built with 30 additional years of auto innovation, people are much more awestruck when they come across the 64').

So to summarize, Penn Station was architecturally marvelous in 1910 when it was completed, but by 1963 it's likely people just thought of it as an old run-down train station. Like a just-old car. Of course now we are like - with a bit of restoration that shit would be a classic.

Re: What are those grids of glass in the sidewalk and why are they purple?

#118

Post by Cougher »

jacquesm wrote: post #104
Cougher wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's in America, it isn't a matter of not being able to afford it; we choose not to, instead prefering to waste it on military spending. Our country really could be great again if we chose to stop that madness.

You're about to engage in several major public works worth of military spending.

I'm totally fine with using public funding for projects that have lasting social good.

Re: What are those grids of glass in the sidewalk and why are they purple?

#119

Post by Cougher »

subroutine wrote: post #117
Cougher wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"A 1960s building is old, but 80 years isn't really enough to inspire awe;" That's absolutely untrue. Plenty of buildings inspire awe immediately upon completion and plenty of them have gone through their entire life-cycle within a span of 60 years. Try Quarry Hill Flats for a start. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=quarry+hill+%2Bflats&t=opera&ia=im... "there are plenty of existing structures several hundred to several tho…

Speaking of bizarrely obvious statements... > Plenty of buildings inspire awe immediately upon completion I'm speaking specifically about the age. Some things are special for [what they are], and some things are special for [what they are given their age]. A 1963 Mustang is 'a classic'; 1993 Mustang is just an old car (even though the '94 mustang was built with 30 additional years of auto innovation, people are much…

"I'm speaking specifically about the age."

Yes. You specifically said that a 60 year old building is not old enough to inspire awe. And I rightfully replied that that is nonsense. My statement was obviously not obvious to you.

Re: What are those grids of glass in the sidewalk and why are they purple?

#120

Post by subroutine »

Cougher wrote: post #119
subroutine wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking of bizarrely obvious statements... > Plenty of buildings inspire awe immediately upon completion I'm speaking specifically about the age. Some things are special for [what they are], and some things are special for [what they are given their age]. A 1963 Mustang is 'a classic'; 1993 Mustang is just an old car (even though the '94 mustang was built with 30 additional years of auto innovation, people are much…

"I'm speaking specifically about the age." Yes. You specifically said that a 60 year old building is not old enough to inspire awe. And I rightfully replied that that is nonsense. My statement was obviously not obvious to you.

Nope. I said "80 years isn't enough to inspire awe". Do you honestly think someone wouldn't consider any building whatsoever to be awe inspiring unless it is over 80 years old?

Let me put it this way - is there any car from 1995 that is awe inspiring? Maybe yes, perhaps some lambos or rolls royce models. But those were killer cars in 1995. Even better brand new. 25 years isnt enough to make them more cherished than when they were new though. They go down in value through those 25 years. But 50 years... they start to surge back up in price. Why? Because the age factor starts to inspire awe - cars if that age driving around are rare sights. With buildings, 80 years or less doesnt quite do it, particularly when there are lots of buildings that are hundreds of years old.

If Penn Station was 300 years old, and someone proposed tearing it down, people would laugh. But in 1960, at 80 years old, Penn was just an old train station in disrepair.

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