I had heard of them...my brother used to make furniture and was trained to run one.  But I never actually saw one until they got this one at the park.  The CNC machine doesn't actually make the full cut in one pass...it's like a mill or a router, but computer controlled so it's repeating exactly the same moves, over and over again, slightly deeper each time, until it cuts all the way through.

I haven't seen the laser cutter yet, but I'm pretty sure I saw the letters that were cut with it before it broke down.  The CNC machine, cutting polycarbonate, leaves a hazy, almost frosted finish and a very sharp edge.  But a few of the letters had a clear edge and slightly rounded corners at the cuts (they wouldn't have given me my not-a-paper-cut), because the heat from the laser lets all the tiny little jagged edges that the CNC cutter would leave (which is why the edges were frosted) melt just enough to flow into each other so you get a clear, clean edge that is like looking through ice, sort of...

And in further "I'm doing what today?" news...I spent a couple of hours, a couple of days ago, changing out cables on a lighting control for some LED-neon tape (lack of research on the director's part...he ordered LED tape from one company, a DMX-capable controller from another company, but didn't bother to look into how one connects to the other...luckily, between extra parts that had been delivered and an old project at the park that got changed after the initial purchases of equipment had come in, the park electricians were able to cobble together a way to use some cables they had in storage to get our problem cleared up...but they only modified one controller, and a handful of connector cables.  So, I copied their work on the one to make the other viable for us).  Today, I finished getting it installed and connected it to some LED tape that Macyn had run around the front edge of the stage...

Except when Macyn laid it out, he was envisioning power coming from the other side of the stage.  So I had to peel up all of it, flip it around, tape it back down, and then get it connected to the controller.  But it worked!  And as I moved on to another project, I heard a loud sound from the stage and a bunch of startled cries, looked up to see the choreographer looking in my direction with a distressed look on her face, before she called my name with an equally distressed voice...

They broke a cable on one of the illusions (one that was built back in 1992, one of the ones with the dubious history...)  We broke the other one when we first started working on trying to refurbish it, so I already knew, more or less, how to fix it...but I was NOT expecting to replace a cable today (or any day, really).  But I got my 'miracle worker' status refreshed...it broke just before they went on their dinner break, I had it fixed almost an hour before they got back...had to make a couple of tweaks to get it dialed in, but yeah...they lost maybe ten or fifteen minutes of rehearsal time over it, and she was thinking it would be down for an entire day.  Figured out what happened and how to make sure it didn't happen again.  Five years ago, I'd have been like, "Ummm...well, I ~think~ I might be able to figure it out, but it's really outside my skill range..."

Told a few people, "I did NOT have 'stringing a new cable in Death Drill on my bingo card for today!"

--Also found out a few more details about the 'dubious circumstances' under which the former owner had perished...that illusion and its brother have a whole soap-opera backstory all their own!  The owner lived in Vegas, was doing shows there, and decided he was going to relocate to Branson, MO, and negotiated the sale of his house.  Before he moved, he was found dead, partially consumed by a tiger that had escaped from the tiger habitat he maintained...and the guy he'd arranged to sell the house to claimed that, since the paperwork had already been signed, the property and everything on it was his (and it was nobody else's business whether he had paid or not, since the only other party to the contract was dead and therefore couldn't contest the claim).  The magician's family decided it wasn't worth fighting over the house...but they donated all the tigers to zoos and animal parks, and they loaded up all of the illusions and put them in storage...and then apparently endured years of shady magicians coming out of the woodwork and offering them, like, $20,000 for ALL of the stuff (having someone build just one of these illusions would easily be a $50,000+ prospect, and while they didn't know what fair market value was for all of it, they did know that these guys were trying to rip them off...)

They reached out to the guy who used to work with the magician, basically doing all the kinds of weird repairs and improvements that come up (a more intricate and advanced version of what I do) and asked if he knew anyone working in magic who wouldn't try to screw them over on it...and he suggested our director...who, when contacted, told them he couldn't afford to pay them fair market value for it, but did offer them SIGNIFICANTLY more than anyone else had...between that, and wanting the illusions to be back on stage again, they made the sale.  So, the one I fixed tonight was involved in at least two lawsuits brought by David Copperfield (the first was against the guy who made it, because Copperfield didn't want him building illusions for anyone else--the guy basically said, "Screw you, I've got enough money, I'm not making illusions for ANYONE.  So there!"  That ended that lawsuit (Copperfield nominally won, because the guy stopped making illusions for other people...but it cost Copperfield his primary illusion-builder).  The second lawsuit was against the magician, claiming that the illusion was a copy of one of Copperfield's...didn't hold up in court, Copperfield's used a gigantic buzzsaw blade and this one uses a steel auger, and Copperfield cuts himself in two and then puts himself back together, where in this one, the magician has the auger run through him, and then the box opens up to reveal that he's not there and he reappears somewhere else in the theater.)

And I'll admit...there's an odd sense of satisfaction to taking this 32-year-old piece of history and getting it back in good operating order again.  It's a really cool illusion, and it is at the same time one of the most complex and one of the simplest pieces we've done.  I told the techs, the first day, "Working on a show like this...you will never watch a magic show the same way again.  You may not realize how they're doing the bit, but you recognize the bit, and instead of being impressed with the 'magic', you become impressed (or annoyed) with the skill (or lack thereof) they display in performing it.

I know about magicians and their secrets... but it would be a shame if these were never documented for posterity.

didn't get a chance to read  Roys  post..i'll read it when i come homw.

 Football for me..then later  one the Girls Last  race  for the Healthy Kids   running thng..Gwen ( 2nd oldest) can lock up a 1st place trophy..the little  one  is  5th in her age group.

 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 one question..check you sheets?... Did i evcer  award  the  medlas  for Paradise. It was broguht up to me by Nikki... i can tell my ther NPCs  who have sheets, be cause i  ad them  on (  example :  (2) two Gold stars ..ect ect

 Let me know, because i want them out there, ..if you record them, they are on your Unirom.

Thanks...see you all later

OK..i sent out  the  'mail' in PMs , your  awards  will be consided  , haveing be   dropped at yoru quarters  a couple days ago...the ctach is, you still have to add them to your sheets.

wow?  That  Illusion stuff is convoluted ! Copperfield is a bit of a dick  for worrying  about that and screwing over a guy ( and thus other people ), because  he's a diva

I would have like to see the  guy  get on TV  and have a show " this is how illusions  work' and display all of Copperfield's tricks!

Can they do that to Nutbush..
This message was last edited by the player at 07:06, Mon 20 May.

In reply to Admiral Hack (msg # 190):

Through our director, I've ended up overhearing conversations from a few people who work in the industry...apparently, Copperfield really is kind of a dick, over all...one of those guys who, because he made so many illusions so big, and was the first to make them widely seen (he used to do TV specials every couple of years), thinks he's the hottest ticket in magic...it's his world and the rest of us are there to watch him do magic in it, basically.  Criss Angel is kind of the same way (we used an illusion a couple of years ago that our director bought from Angel...he had very explicit instructions on how to do it, even though some of those instructions seemed to actually weaken the overall illusion.  We were talking about it last week and I stated that I still think that Angel sold a deliberately inferior version, so it was kind of like advertising for him..."Criss Angel does this illusion in his shows!" except his version looks better because there aren't things that don't work right, seemingly by design.  Our director looked at me for a minute and kinda smiled and said, "You might be right about that...it's something he would do...")

If you ever get the chance, catch Piff the Magic Dragon.  He's apparently one of the nicest guys working in professional magic today, and he's got such a tongue-in-cheek delivery...there's a few vids of him on YouTube--his appearances on Penn and Teller's Fool Us, I think there was an appearance on America's Got Talent (even though he's originally British), and an hour-long video called "Reptile Dysfunction" that features a lot of clips from his act, along with him doing bits with people around Vegas.  Got to see his show last summer and enjoyed it immensely.

 Its  funny who some of those people get? They get to where they  are with help of   other people, and of course, people enjoying the shows . stunts, the way the play ect ect.

 But then turn on the  'little people' and  brown nosed the  money.

  without  thinking of  one off hand, there a re Movies  i won't  watch, because of a man/woman who are dicks or bitches..they don't care, of course. It just makes me feel good they don't get my money, or a  tick of the  TV  ratings.

In your case, you have to work with them, or around them, its not  a fun thing.

Hum... Is Tarja pushing MI suits


This message was last edited by the player at 20:37, Yesterday.

well..you are part right... Tarja is pushing AI..to have a unit., so far we had a couple wash outs.

the person whi is talkign to  Roy is Annikki..a NPC , that Tarja  went through me to have  for the PG

In reply to Admiral Hack (msg # 195):

Thanks AH,

Without a NPC name in the post it's easy to think otherwise.

yeah? the player  has  3 PCs, that's the limit. so she has to share space.

I think I'd like to push for angel leather outfits personally. lol perfect for a ball or a brawl.

 I guess, when Nikki retires she can go to Paradise, and buy some Angel Cattle, and  figure out  how to make them work like angel silk

In reply to Admiral Hack (msg # 199):

Ahha... So the origins of flying Cows will be Paradise.

where do you think  'hey diddle diddle' came from... and  of course 'holy Cow"

In reply to Admiral Hack (msg # 201):

Exactly.

Guess who will be riding said winged cows?... Rainbow Unicorn Princess Haley! that's who! so the cows will have rainbow feathers on their wings and the bulls will have 1 center horn and be fluffy!

In reply to Nicole Rutledge (msg # 203):

I think they spiked your drink.

or not enough.  It's okay I got some of my papaws best moonshine and we have the Hermes gin. As well I snagged some unopened bottles of Angel champagne and Burian brandy and a few other things in my quarters. as well as I can say aboard ship I have only been drunk once polishing that rum Shadow had us drink becoming aces.

In reply to Nicole Rutledge (msg # 205):

Humm.. If Justin, provided a bottle of Grandfather would he be able to wrangle a sampling invite?

;^)

Okay, I've gotta say it again...our contractors are AWESOME.  We were scheduled to do a fine-tuning light focus tonight (at the lighting designer's suggestion, for the date...)  When I tried to find out earlier today what time to tell the contractors to show up, I got some evasion that ended up being, "Well, I haven't really had a chance to see the lights when it's not full daylight, and I'd like that, and a little time to think about it, before I finalize any focus points."  (Which is fair, and I'd rather go that route than have a 'final' focus and then have him ask to change five or six things a couple of days later...)

So I told the contractors, 'If you get here around 8:30, everyone will be back from dinner.  I'm not sure how much focusing we'll actually do tonight, but I know we need to reconfigure the LED wall display for sure...hopefully, that won't be the only thing we need you to do...'

Well, they were working on something else up in the area earlier in the day, so by the time they got my text, they were already done with that and already in the area...so they came early.  And promptly solved a problem that I'd all but given up on (we had already changed our video wall layout, due to slowly dwindling numbers of operational LED panels...we bought the hardware to change it even more...from a 6 wide by 5 high array to 7 wide by 4 high, but the mounting bars that we had on hand all had eye bolts threaded and then welded to the top, so we couldn't use them.  They cut through the welds and got the eyebolts unscrewed, so we could mount the correct hardware).  Jumped right in without a second of "Well, that's not really what we're here to do" or anything like that.  Got that done, got the seventh 'stick' of LED panels assembled and wired in, and started looking at how to reconfigure the controller to send the signal correctly.  Found out the software we needed only runs on a Windows system--everything there, including all of the laptops people had for whatever they were doing, were all Macs...so I left the park, ran to the theater, grabbed my laptop and headed back, and they got the software downloaded and figured out how to get it to do what we needed it to do, we spent a bunch of time fiddling with settings to get it looking right...

The director had earlier said, "If you can't get that carrier for the LED panels taken care of, let's just skip it for this year and we'll figure it out later."  Now, he's got his seventh column of LED panels, everything checked out okay with the lights (aside from two lights that...well, one randomly reset itself, somehow...one of the contractors helped me wrestle a ladder out into the house and set it up so I could climb up and check them and that light just suddenly started working again after I bumped a couple of controls.  I don't even remember changing any settings on it, but suddenly, it was doing what it was supposed to.  The other light was just plain old dead...I disconnected the power cord from one of his neighbors that was working and hooked that up to the light, and got a whole lotta nuthin'...so, we'll have to take that one down and swap another in its place (I think I actually have one or two of those that didn't get used in the plot...I'll have to check on that tomorrow!)

But they came in, as they always do, and busted their butts to make me look like I can accomplish damn near anything the director puts on my list.  And they never make a big deal about it.  And when I said that we'd likely actually be doing focusing tomorrow night, one guy was like, "Well, I'm booked..." and the other one immediately said, "I'm not..."  Just, truly, great people to work with.  Still remember the first day I found out we'd hired them, specifically--my boss had told me they'd found new contractors (because the guys we used the year before had been a MASSIVE disappointment--they'd hung lights for a couple of things for us, for Halloween, and we had to go back through and do a LOT of clean-up to get things really presentable...), but didn't say who they were.  When I saw their vehicle parked in front of the theater, I recognized the name--they have done a lot of rigging work for various events that I've worked on through the years, and while I never got to know them there, the company name definitely had a reputation for giving you quality work, no matter how large or small the job...and they do some BIG jobs (the head of the company has worked on the Superbowl halftime show for, like, the better part of a decade, now.)  Unlike some guys we've hired in the past, they didn't come in and say, 'Oh, you need to upgrade this, and this, and you should buy a bunch more of these, and that equipment is crap..."  They came in and said, "Okay...what have you got?  Let's figure out how to make it work the best way we can..."

And any time they come lend a hand, I walk away feeling really great about what we've accomplished in the time they were there.

In reply to Justin Kase (msg # 206):

You keep you grandfather in a bottle? lol

Is he a genie? if he finds out in story you could possibly get that invite... only Anteela, Harry, and Lizzy knows she has it and only Anteela has tried it.  Harry almost did but she had gotten shots and if she drank any her stomach would have been ripped free of lining.

In reply to Nicole Rutledge (msg # 208):

It's a Port.