AuburnChris

http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=207111

Intercot is saying there will be an announcement "shortly" with more official details.

Intercot tweeted this morning that there will be an announcement today confirming a long-standing rumor: Disney is removing the Sorcerer's Hat at the Studios. What do you guys think: Great news, or the greatest news?

At least one way of countering Disney's requirement that you use their modem occurs to me, but it would be beyond the technical expertise of your average person (i.e., you would have to be at least as geeky as me to experience this attraction) and it would be evil, so I will default to Carol's answer and say no, you have to use their modems.

If you want, feel free to ask me any sort of geeky (or non-geeky) question, and I'll answer them in a Dear Abby- type column. There's no way that could go horribly wrong, is there? Of course there isn't.

(If you are interested in actual questions being asked of someone who's far geekier than even I am, try Randall Munroe's "What If?" series at http://what-if.xkcd.com/1/ .)

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Here's our three finalists for our Tackiest Fiend contest! Voting begins now, and ends at 9PM Central time on Sunday night, the 10th.

Without further ado, here are our contestants!

Finalist #1:

Mickey-themed tie-dye, two separate floral prints, and horizontal-striped leggings. We should have sent a poet. Most importantly, no two items match.

Finalist #2:

We have a soft spot for cupcakes around here, and that blanket is covered with 'em. What's the bag for? Nobody knows. But what puts this over the top is the comb on top of Vader's head there. Why does Darth Vader need a comb?

Finalist #3:

Someone made those gloves on purpose. They said to themselves, "You know what the world needs? Creamsicle-colored striped gloves." Then they followed their dream, and made it happen. That's America right there, is what that is. Plus, he's wearing houndstooth pants, and you know what Jen and I think about how tacky houndstooth is. 

WHO WINS? YOU DECIDE!

Your votes will decide the winner! To recap from the entry thread:

1st place: A day pass to a Walt Disney World theme park of their choice and some snazzy Snarky Fort Fiends gear from our store.  (retail value over $200)

2nd place: A Snarky Fort Fiends package of shirts and stuff (retail value over $50)

3rd place: A Snarky shirt and sticker (retail value over $20)

Get to voting, people!

That don't make since the tow trian can tow frow anywhere on any beam.

The tow car is mostly metal, and it's taller than the trains are. If the problem was lightning, the solution is probably not the tow car.

Also, the tow car is probably not on the EPCOT line, so it'd have to switch at least a couple times to get to them.

Let me have the folks at InvisionPower take a look at this- there seems to be some problem with the upload script. I'll put a ticket in for them to look into it.

Tim, can you post the picture you're trying to use in a post here? I might be able to see what the difficulty is. (Or you can post it to Photobucket or imgur.com and post the link here, if that works for you.)

We have Site 62.

There's not much at all different between where the photos were and where they are now- I'm guessing the difference might just be caching on your device. Literally nothing changed in the apps (you can tell because there was no app update from Google or Apple)- it's just that the pictures are in a slightly different place now, and that place is actually faster hosting that where they were before.

It might be worth forcing the app to close and re-open, maybe? That helped the version on my phone (Android Moto X) pick up the pictures better.

Using Verizon, no pictures just yet, but using my home (Charter) wi-fi, they showed right up. It should clear up for everyone by the end of today.

If it was from Invision Power, that's the company that provides our forum software. It might have done that if you liked the post, maybe. If it happens again, could you get a screenshot before deleting the like? That'd help track it down.

TCD,

Here's a link to all you need to know about Auburn gameday:

http://www.auburntigers.com/gameday/fanguide.html

Of note: Tiger Walk begins around 2 hours before game time, but you'll want to get there around a half hour before that to get a good spot- last week, the team got there a bit early because they wanted to make sure they avoided road construction on I-85 between Montgomery and Auburn. (They spend the night in Montgomery to stay clear of the gameday craziness.)

You need to go to Toomer's Corner sometime early in the afternoon or late morning to get a lemonade, and right after the game (hopefully) for the victory celebration.

You should plan to be in your seats in the stadium about a half-hour before game time, the Eagle flight is scheduled for 16 minutes before kickoff, and it would be a crime to miss that.

I'm still trying to wrangle some tickets, and if I can get them, we'll have the RV there at the hayfield lot off Lem Morrison Drive. We'll let you know where we are if we get to go.

post

Thread, RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE!

This thread had gotten eaten by evil database gremlins, I was able to work some magic on the topics database to bring it back.

They've already done that, I think. He got escorted off campus while trying to watch a softball game, if I recall correctly.

Someone wrote in the paper today that part of Updyke's sentence should have been that he must report to serve a day in jail with no television, internet, radio, or phone access each day that the University of Alabama plays a football game for the next 10 years. 

I like that idea better than him spending a few more months in jail now.

Thanks, TCD! Glad you enjoyed the pics (and my merciless hijack of your trip report)!

Usually, at a football game, people start to leave once the outcome isn't in doubt. This is especially true in spring games, where there's not even an outcome to worry about. Not this time. The stadium continued to fill, and then it -kept- filling. They had originally announced that the upper decks would be closed, but halfway through the first quarter they opened them, because they had to- people couldn't find a place to sit in the lower bowl. Eventually, most of the upper deck was full, too. They announced an official attendance of 83,401, which is close to a sellout, but not quite. I think that's a generous estimate, actually- just before they announced the official attendance, the radio team was guessing around 70-75k, and that sounds about right to me. Still, either of those numbers is an Auburn A-Day attendance record.

They weren't here for the game, though. Not really. They came for the trees. After the game ended, people started filing out and moving in one direction and one direction only: To Toomer's Corner.

Nobody got in their car. Nobody left early. EVERYONE went to Toomer's. On the way, I walked past the pond TCD and Jen were talking about:

83,401 people were attempting to stand under those oaks at once. And throw toilet paper at them, one last time:

The trees will be taken down Tuesday, and the wood from them will be used to create souvenirs and various pieces of art. But today, they stand, and they wear a LOT of toilet paper. Neighboring trees were not safe, either:

The following picture is of interest only to Five Guys hamburger fans and my wife. It is the former location of our store when we lived in Auburn. It's less than half a block from Toomer's Corner:

If you took "There will not be a picture of a man in orange pants jumping rope while on a unicycle in this trip report" in the office pool, I have bad news for you:

They announced the final future plans for the Corner at this event. This was the best picture I could get of them. It looks like they're going to keep the brick gates where they are, and put two new oaks beside them. It should create a little more open space, which would have been a good thing to have today- I told Jen it was like Mardi Gras, but with toilet paper. It was occasionally difficult to move around due to all the people.

Aubie climbed up on the brick gates and paid his respects to the trees:

The woman standing next to me tried to toss Aubie a roll of paper, but she forgot an important point: Aubie can't see for crap inside that thing. She succeeded in chucking a roll of TP at Aubie's crotch, which I happened to record for posterity:

She felt bad. I can't imagine Aubie felt any better, but he carried on like a trooper:

It's surprisingly hard to get action shots of a tiger throwing toilet paper at a tree.

One last look at the trees, this time with Samford Hall at my back, looking towards the Corner:

And that's it. Hope you enjoyed it!

Well, I lied. Just a couple of football pics here, because all of the ones I took were of the "These are unidentifiable football mans doing unidentifiable football things" variety, and that doesn't make for good story. The game itself was, well, nice. The pace was quick, as you'd expect from a hurry-up-no-huddle style coach like Gus Malzahn, but it's painfully obvious that there are still vital pieces of the puzzle missing at Auburn. We have no identifiable starting quarterback, but we have a JuCo transfer and this year's Mr. Football in Alabama coming this fall to help with that. Our defense looked better, when Malzahn wasn't having fun picking them apart a bit with his playcalling, but most of the razzle-dazzle stuff was still under wraps.

Heeeeeeere come the Tigers!

Usually, the quarterback is untouchable in spring games. In this play, though, the snap is being taken by one of our wide receivers in the Wildcat formation. Note: You can see Coach Malzahn 10 yards behind the offense. This is where he was the whole game.

Today's score: Jumbotron 1, Chris' cell phone 0

This one worked out a little better- it shows the final score (as if anyone cared about the score of a spring game), and it's a great segue to our next topic: The final rolling of the Toomer's Corner oak trees.

I think I have enough to start with. I drove into town at around 10:00 this morning, three hours before game time. People were getting an early start rolling the trees, apparently:

Here's a better look at them, you can tell the poison really did a number on them. Sad, but: it forced some people to do some research. It turns out those particular oaks are "only" about 76 years old, not 130 as originally thought. There's a picture taken in the 1890's of Toomer's Corner showing an oak tree in about the same place as these, but that oak was cut down by the 1920s- there's another picture from that time showing a stump where that tree was.

Anyway: Here's a bit better look at both trees, taken out of my car window:

Then, it was time to park and visit the stadium.

Here's Coach Heisman, I think you can read the inscription below the bust about why he's there next to Cam, Bo, and Pat.

And on to Auburn's 3 Heisman Trophy winners. TCD showed you Cam and Bo, but he didn't know Pat Sullivan, the 1971 winner. He came from a brief period in Auburn's 60's-70's history when we began to experiment with this "forward pass" thing that we'd heard about.

I walked down to the athletic complex, where they had opened up the practice fields for fans to come and gawk at. There were games for the kiddies, and a punt-pass-and-kick competition as well:

These signs were posted all around the fields. What a scofflaw I am!

I try to get out, but they keep dragging me back in. As I headed back to the stadium, the band was getting ready to warm up under the tree outside the south entrance:

General admission means I get to sit where I want, right? Well, then! Nothing but the best for me- 50-yard-line seats right below the scholarship deck, underneath the upper deck overhang so the evil daystar cannot scorch me:

After I claimed my seat, several event-staff types showed up and started telling people who tried to sit below me that this section had now become reserved seating for scholarship donors, because apparently lots more people showed up than they anticipated. I studiously avoided making eye contact with them, so they wouldn't have an excuse to ask me to move. They never did.

Next: Football! And toilet paper!

<insert standard "why does nobody ask Alabama fans what r*ll t*de has to do with elephants" complaint here>

I'm sure if you go back through my post history, the full story of War Eagle and the reason Auburn is named the Tigers are in there. Think of it as a scavenger hunt.

I'm taking over this trip report, pursuant to Paragraph 12, Section 8 of Article 2 of the Fort Fiends Constitution, which plainly states that any trip report called "War Eagle" is subject to hijack by the site administrators.

I went to A-day (Auburn's spring football game) today, and my phone (and its extra battery) came with me. As soon as the pictures get uploaded, I'll start posting them.

 The pond in question is located in an open area on campus which we were told was the original location of the football field.

TCD

By process of elimination, that's the pond in the open square directly behind Samford Hall, from the perspective of your photo. It's not really a "pond," it's a 10x20 foot rectangle of water. Occasionally, there are fish in it.

In ancient times, AuburnJen's dad and his fraternity cohorts might have dumped a case of Jello in that pond during a cold winter's night, and the entire thing set solid. The fish were briefly surprised.

Edit: And I'm beaten like Auburn in 2012.

TCD, congratulations to your daughter on her impeccable taste in graduate education facilities. :)

Some of the stories you were told either were wrong or have changed since I last heard them, though, and I would be remiss in my duties as An Insufferable Auburn Fan if I didn't elucidate:

The University Seal set in the concrete in front of Langdon Hall is not to be stepped on, true, but the consequences for doing so were that you would not graduate from Auburn if you did, and no amount of pond-water chugging would change the fact. 

The lathe, I was told, would rotate exactly once each time a virgin walked past it. (It has not moved since 1936.) You may have gotten the "Approved For Telling Prospective Students' Parents" version of the story, I suspect.

The reason that "AGRICULTURE" and "MECHANICS" are over the doors of Samford Hall is that before Auburn was known as Alabama Polytechnic Institute, it was Alabama Agricultural & Mechanical College. (It was never known as Alabama A&M, however.) Before that, it was founded as East Alabama Male College.

A personal note: My first college job was in the art department of the bookstore you visited there on Toomer's Corner.

The stadium looks smaller on the outside than it does from the inside, because it's built into a natural valley. Ground level outside the stadium is about at the level of the middle of the lower bowl.

Cliff Hare (the stadium was known as Cliff Hare Stadium until 1976) was a member of Auburn's very first football team, then became dean of the Chemistry department, and also served as the rough equivalent of Athletic Director at Auburn, as well as president of the Southern Conference (which later became the SEC.) Ralph "Shug" Jordan was Auburn's coach from the 50's to the mid-70's, and won Auburn's first National Championship in 1957.

Neither of them shot any Yankees, but then again, they never met BuckeyeFortFan. Shug Jordan actually landed on Omaha beach on D-Day, does that count?

Actually, from what I can recall, there's not really that many buildings at Auburn named for Confederate veterans- most of them are either named for people in Alabama with a large amount of disposable income (the Lowder Business Building), or important names from Auburn history (All of the Hill dorms, for example, are named for the first women to graduate from Auburn (after it stopped being East Alabama Male College)).

I miss my motorhome.

It misses you too. I just asked it. :)

It's difficult to get a particular 100% accurate number for the site depth, largely because sites are usually slanted, so the depth on one side is not equal to the depth on the other side. As for difficulty, generally most sites are "Average", with the more difficult sites marked as such due to some obstruction in the way- there are some sites with trees or lightposts in inconvenient places that can make them harder to get into than others.

I'm fairly confident in the accuracy of the site dimensions overall- otherwise I wouldn't have put them in the app.