Build Your Own Carnival Ride 192
SoCalChris writes "Check out these guys who are building their own dark ride similar to the ones found at carnivals and theme parks. The ride is complete with PLC's in each of the cars, and one more PLC for the entire ride. The ride also features a blocking system like professionally built rides."
Already?! (Score:5, Informative)
Google's Cach [216.239.51.100]
call me anal (Score:4, Informative)
For those who don't know what a Dark Ride is (Score:5, Informative)
The Dark Ride and Funhouse historical Society
This is insane (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Link or Mirror? (Score:4, Informative)
I don't, but my friend Google does:
http://216.239.35.100/search?q=cache:j8SrIlANLtUC
Re:This is insane (Score:4, Informative)
-Peter
Mirror (Score:4, Informative)
*ahaning throws the URL at the rabid users and gets out of the way as quickly as possible... as if feeding starved dogs*
Convenient mirror... (Score:5, Informative)
Grab the
Jouster
While I know money is an object (Score:5, Informative)
From the second page of the article:
If you are going to do something like this, please invest in a decent tool. EMCO machine tools are the sorriest pieces of crap you can find. Look at a used machinery auction and buy a good Clausing-Colchester lathe [clausing-industrial.com] and a Bridgeport or Lagun milling machine [lagun.com].As another alternative; if you're going to drop this much money on buying machine tools, just to build one ride, contact a local job shop and work with them on making the parts.
Re:call me anal (Score:1, Informative)
Re:call me anal (Score:1, Informative)
Let's just take a look at the dictionary definition of "apostrophe" (www.dictionary.com):
"The superscript sign (') used to indicate the omission of a letter or letters from a word, the possessive case, or the plurals of numbers, letters, and abbreviations."
Last time I checked, capitalized acronyms (TLA's, etc.) are still just a subset of "abbreviations".
Re:call me anal (Score:2, Informative)
I think it's actually correct to use an apostrophe for acronyms with periods, e.g. Ph.D.'s, and not use an apostrophe for acronyms without periods, e.g. TVs.
Re:call me anal (Score:1, Informative)
I have 2 cents that says the only reason that you use an apostrophe in the case of abbreviations is because you're replacing the missing period. Of course, this doesn't exist in most modern typography for acronyms, so there's nothing to replace.
Oh look, I just used another apostrophe.
Re:Convenient mirror... (Score:3, Informative)
Grab it in ZIP [thereifs.com], BZ [thereifs.com], or convenient browseable form [thereifs.com].
Jouster
The use of an apostrophe is indeed. . . (Score:5, Informative)
It's a contraction. The apstrophe substitutes for the "e" in the suffix "es," which is an older, but still acceptable form.
The dropping of the apostrophe in pluralizing acronyms is a modern phemonemon that comes about because of the modern practice, unjustifiable by traditional usage, of treating acronyms as if they were actually words.
They are not. They are abbreviations.
KFG
Re:call me anal (Score:5, Informative)
I agree. Can't people follow the simplest English punctuation? :-) Check out
Bob The Angry Flower [angryflower.com]
for a tutorial for the apostrophe impared.
Re:The use of an apostrophe is indeed. . . (Score:5, Informative)
And the word is controller. Which pluralizes to controllers, not controlleres.
So, while you may be right in general, that doesn't make PLC's any more acceptable than before.
Mirror (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.chrisnaimee.com/sd/dr1.htm [chrisnaimee.com]
http://www.chrisnaimee.com/sd/dr2.htm [chrisnaimee.com]
http://www.chrisnaimee.com/sd/dr3.htm [chrisnaimee.com]
http://www.chrisnaimee.com/sd/dr4.htm [chrisnaimee.com]
http://www.chrisnaimee.com/sd/dr5.htm [chrisnaimee.com]
http://www.chrisnaimee.com/sd/dr6.htm [chrisnaimee.com]
http://www.chrisnaimee.com/sd/dr7.htm [chrisnaimee.com]
http://www.chrisnaimee.com/sd/dr8.htm [chrisnaimee.com]
http://www.chrisnaimee.com/sd/dr9.htm [chrisnaimee.com]
http://www.chrisnaimee.com/sd/dr10.htm [chrisnaimee.com]
Re:Just GREAT!!!! (Score:2, Informative)
No!
Kinda scary when you think about it, eh?
There are some in state laws, but that does not stop the traveling carnivals from doing whatever they want.
If you live anywhere near cedar point [cedarpoint.com](near=within 4hrs drive) it is big, there is a lot to do, and they have an excellent record where saftey is concerned.
This is definitely a gray area. Here's evidence: (Score:2, Informative)
Purdue University [purdue.edu] has a nice blurb on how to properly use apostrophes. One of the uses is "Forming plurals of letters, numbers, and symbols" to avoid confusion.
This [www.ucc.ie] page says you can us an apostrophe when the acronym ends in S to avoid confusion. Their example was if you said "The DHSSs of Europe are getting together next week" it would look strange so you can use "The DHSS's of Europe are getting together next week"
This [pcroot.cern.ch] says use an Apostrophe whenever there is punctuation in the acronym. Many other publications say you can't.
Since acronyms and codes are getting more popular they have to get more complex to be unique. You wouldn't want someone getting confused between multiple Non-Maskable Interrupts and a Navy Manpower Information System. Why not make it NMI's instead of NMIs so it doesn't get confused with a NMIS.
Many people seem to agree that you shouldn't use apostrophes to pluralize acronyms but I don't. I think the "ends in S" rule is good but what about the "could be confused with another acronym which is this one with an s on the end" rule. How do you know there isn't an acronym out there that is that one with an S on the end? How do you know there won't be one tomorrow?
You cant!
The bottom line is that the purpose of language is to communicate effectively. If I can do that using 31337 sp33ch then that's ok. It's like the whole stupid he/she vs they thing. (They has always been acceptable as a singular gender neutral pronoun despite many people's assertions otherwise).
To sum it up:
Language rules are here to help us communicate and any rule that restricts our ability to do so effectively is invalid by definition no matter how much some know-it-all wants to convince you otherwise. It's the way it always has been and the way it always will be.
Build your own carnival ride? (Score:2, Informative)
-Dan