Monday, September 30, 2013

Andy Hall and Google Earth


A match made in Heaven -- for folks looking to disparage the Virginia Flaggers?

Well, let's see. There's been much made over the "woods" and the "trees" at the location making the flag impossible to see. Andy also -- with what passes for humor with him, I guess -- noted, "Good luck moving the overpass." He was referring to the overpass that lies just to the north of the flag's location and hides the site from view for southbound motorists..

The problem with that is, way back when the project was first generating publicity, Susan Hathaway told the Times Dispatch that the flag would be visible to northbound motorists...  She didn't explain what would obscure the view for southbound motorists -- the overpass -- because, presumably, she didn't want to give such an enormous clue to the location.

When I pointed out Susan's comment, references to "moving the overpass" miraculously dried up.

So then, it was the trees or nuthin'. Andy posted these graphics. If you can't read his yellow caption, it sez, "Flag behind these trees."


He also includes this comment with the image below: "If they’ve going to make the flag visible from the northbound lanes of I-95 in any meaningful way, they’re going to have to cut a lot more than the narrow strip directly in front of their leased plot. Clearing the trees directly in front only makes the flag visible for a second or two was you come abreast of it, roughly 75-90 degrees off to the left from the driver’s view looking ahead."


What Andy seems to forget is that Google Earth photos sometimes aren't updated for three years. The Google Earth image of the leased property is not current. But even more pertinent than that, is this: Andy's triangle of necessary tree-clearing and the approximate location of the flag pole are way off.

I have some Google Earth images and photographs with info for folks to consider, too.  Let's start with this one, just to get our bearings.


What Andy doesn't convey to his readers is that a great many of the trees showing in his GE images have been cut down. You can tell from the above image that the tree cover is substantially thinner than his "Flag-behind-these-trees" image.  The image above was shot, BTW, from the Bermuda Hundred Road overpass that lies roughly perpendicular to the Interstate. It is looking southwest.


This image of the Dedication contains a number of interesting elements. It was taken from the overpass embankment, looking south (the backhoe is a reliable element for orienting the viewer). Most of the trees that were on the wooded lot in the Google Earth images are gone, daddy, gone. We can see the fence that marks the VDOT right of way. According to one Flagger, structures have to be twenty feet back from the right of way. In this case, it's not just the pole, but the flag itself that  is ubject to this requirement. Thus, add fifteen feet to the 20-foot clearance, and the pole stands about 35 feet back from the fence.

Through the remaining trees around the perimeter of the cleared area, one can see I-95 to the left and the grassy area and some buildings on the right, which are clearly discernible in the Google Earth images. (My image below is north looking south.


This puts a whole new way of looking at Andy's gigantic un-overcomable tree argument...


What we see is that most of the trees have already been removed. Looking at the Dedication photo, and the Times Dispatch photo, we see that most of the remaining large trees that would obstruct the view of the flag are on the private-property side of the VDOT fence. (Andy's location of the flag pole is in error, as well. It is not backed up to the overpass embankment, as he depicts,.)

That being the case, once the remaining trees are removed from the location, northbound travelers will have no problem at all seeing that big, beautiful flag welcoming them to the Capital of the Confederacy!


16 comments :

  1. Connie, Now that, was flippin awesome! And so unanswerable and in-your-face. Bravo!!!

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  2. Wow, you have a bigger imagination than I thought. Are the Flaggers going to be able to clear trees on VDOT land?

    You have taken great liberty with your red line denoting what area has already been cleared...I think you are claiming more than reality.

    Bet of luck making that flag pole grow in height...

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  3. From the pictures already posted, it seems you are embellishing the size of the flag just a little.

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  4. Clear trees on VDOT land? I have no idea.

    But if you use perspective and follow the VDOT fence in the Dedication photo (use a full size photo, they're online), you can see that most of the tall, thick trees are on the private-land side of the VDOT fence.

    I also have no idea what VDOT's policy is for cutting trees on Interstate rights of way, except I read that they wanted to cut down ALL trees in ROWs adjacent to Hot Lanes. I don't think I-95 is a hot lane, or at least, not in this area.

    In any case, the strip of ROW in the photos shows thin, short trees. You'll be able to see a flag above them, or through them once the remaining big trees are gone.

    The problem you floggers have is that you can't feel good about yourselves and your accomplishments such as they are. You have to find somebody you can stupidize so you can feel intellectually superior to them, or evilize, so you can feel morally superior to them.. But the VaFlaggers are neither stupid nor evil That is how you conceptualize them,and write about them but that's not who they really are. And so the reality comes out, and YOU all are the ones who end up looking stupid and mean.

    Thus, you have Brooks Simpson patting himself on the back for getting the location "almost right" or whatever terminology he used -- but the fact is, HE WAS LOOKING ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE INTERSTATE.

    And now Andy. Could Andy not see that huge cleared area in the photos of the Dedication and realize that his Google Earth images were obsolete? I mean, he's supposed to be s smart.... And what about his idiotic, "Good luck moving the overpass" faux pas? And his ridiculous claim that it's in a "gully." Or was it somebody else who claimed that? I'm losing track of who made which dippy claim.

    The screeches and howls of derision from the floggosphere because of the floggers' own misperceptions is marvelous for showing the true gut-level hatred these folks have for the Flaggers -- and for no good reason. There is not one logical reason wny Al Mackey should hate the Flaggers enough to call them incompetent. Ditto, Simpson. His derision is so pervasive, it seems to possess him like an evil spirit.

    Meanwhile, the flag raising went off exactly as planned, and the project is on track (remainder of clearing, the fence, the lighting). But you all's misperceptions certainly provided you with an opportunity to show your hatred.

    There are probably white supremacists who are morally superior to you floggers.

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  5. The screeches and howls of derision from the floggosphere because of the floggers' own misperceptions is marvelous for showing the true gut-level hatred these folks have for the Flaggers -- and for no good reason.

    Not me. I said two things from the beginning of this escapade:

    1. it's incredibly obtuse

    2. I just don't care.

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  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. It doesn't happen very often, Ms. Connie, but I need to offer a correction regarding a statement in your comments. Actually, the event did not go off exactly as planned. The truth is that it went much, much better than we had planned or ever imagined. It was an overwhelming success in every possible way, far above and beyond our expectations. :)

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  8. LOL now the floggers have become tree hugging environmentalist !
    Yammerin about erosion and tree growth.
    What about the view from outer space ? If they are gonna cover all the possible views, ya gotta take into account what E.T. will see on his way to Richmond.

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  9. Thanks Va Flaggers, for the correction. It's one I'm happy for my readers to see!

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  10. Connie said, "There are probably white supremacists who are morally superior to you floggers," and reminds me of a Titanic story.

    Archibald Gracie was the son of a Confederate soldier, and one of the brave men of the Titanic who put women and children on the lifeboats. He frantically searched for six "unprotected" women on board the Titanic. Gracie felt it was his duty to save the unprotected women who were traveling alone, as was the custom in the South. After saving all six of the women, and many more, he went into the water and survived by climbing onto an upside down lifeboat.

    Archibald Gracie's father was a leader in the Confederate Army in the War for Southern Independence who died when Archibald was very young. Archibald Gracie always wanted to be a brave and courageous man like his father. His mother trained him in principles of biblical manliness.

    Just 14 years earlier when the French ship La Bourgogne sank, claiming 549 of the 711 lives aboard, the men on board, not having been raised in a Christian culture, much less Christian homes, raced to the lifeboats and beat the women over the heads with oars. The brutality, the barbarism was stunning. Where there is no Christ, men act like animals. Where Christ is God of a nation, it’s ‘Women and children first!

    How would the Floggers react under similar circumstances? By desecrating and denigrating southerners and their symbols, in principle the Floggers are advocating for women and children to get out of the lifeboats. Like William Tecumseh Sherman in 1864 who murdered 60,000 women and children, the Floggers are calling for women and children to get out of the boat. It doesn't take a genius to see how the Floggers would react under similar circumstances.

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  11. Interesting. Andy shut down the comments to his hate-the-VaFlaggers post JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME! AT 9:40 a.m. Sept. 30 -- just a little over three hours before I posted my Google Earth blog blowing his post clean out of the water. Shew! Is that good timin' or what?

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  12. I'm eagerly awaiting to see who pays the fines for all the non-compliancy issues that will arise there in Chesterfield County.

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  13. I'm eagerly awaiting to see who pays the fines for all the non-compliancy issues that will arise there in Chesterfield County.

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  14. What non-compliancy issues, Ray?

    Name them.

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  15. Interesting. Andy shut down the comments to his hate-the-VaFlaggers post JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME! AT 9:40 a.m. Sept. 30 -- just a little over three hours before I posted my Google Earth blog blowing his post clean out of the water. Shew! Is that good timin' or what?

    Andy shut them down because of George Purvis....he's kind of an ass.

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