SUMTER COUNTY, FLORIDA

 

Sumter County is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population is 129,752. It has the oldest median age (68.3 years) of any US county and the highest percentage of residents aged 65 and older—at 55.6% in 2014-2018. Sumter County was created in 1853. It was named for General Thomas Sumter, a general in the American Revolutionary War. The county in the past, and to this day by some, is nicknamed "Hog County" most likely because it is home to a large population of wild hogs.

ASCENT MKE

 

Ascent MKE is a mass timber hybrid high-rise apartment building in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The 284-foot, 25-story high-rise is the world's tallest mass timber structure, edging out Norway's Mjøstårnet. It features 259 luxury apartments, retail space, an elevated pool with operable window walls, and a sky-deck.

ASCENT MKE - 700 E. KULBOURN AVE., MILWAUKEE, WI

WORLD'S LONGEST PUTT (NON-TOURNAMENT)

 

NOTE: See April 17, 2019 Blog Post for “THE LONGEST TELEVISED MADE PUTT”

On September 26, 2023, the “World’s Longest Putt” competition was held at The Baths at Blackwolf Run Golf Course in Kohler, Wisconsin. After the formal competition was completed, Jay Stocki, and some of the other competitors spent two days trying to break the Guinness record for longest non-tournament putt made – 395 feet. On the second day, Stocki made a 401 feet 2 inches putt. This is now the record for the longest golf putt (non-tournament).

ATLAS-1 (TRESTLE)

 

ATLAS-I (Air Force Weapons Lab Transmission-Line Aircraft Simulator), better known as Trestle, was a unique electromagnetic pulse (EMP) generation and testing apparatus built between 1972 and 1980 during the Cold War at Sandia National Laboratories near Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  ATLAS-I was the largest NNEMP (non-nuclear electromagnetic pulse) generator in the world, designed to test the radiation hardening of strategic aircraft systems against EMP pulses from nuclear warfare.  Built at a cost of $60 million, it was composed of two parts: a pair of powerful Marx generators capable of simulating the electromagnetic pulse effects of a high-altitude nuclear explosion (HANE) of the type expected during a nuclear war, and a giant wooden trestle built in a bowl-shaped arroyo, designed to elevate the test aircraft above ground interference and orient it below the pulse in a similar manner to what would be seen in mid-air.  Trestle is the world's largest structure composed entirely of wood and glue laminate.

A Boeing B-52 strategic bomber being prepared for EMP testing at Trestle in 1982.

CHRISTMAS, FLORIDA

 

FERRARI WORLD ABU DHABI – FORMULA ROSSA

Formula Rossa is a launched roller coaster located at Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Manufactured by Intamin, Formula Rossa is the world’s fastest roller coaster with a top speed of 149.1 miles per hour. The coaster train accelerates to its top speed in 4.9 seconds using a hydraulic launch system which generates a release velocity similar to that of steam catapults on an aircraft carrier. Riders experience up to 1.7 G-force during acceleration and up to 4.8 g throughout the ride. The roller coaster track is 1.4 miles in length, ranking it sixth in the world for steel roller coasters. Due to the high air speeds and thus risk of an impact with airborne particulates or insets, all riders are required to wear safety glasses.

FERRARI WORLD ABU DHABI

Ferrari World Abu Dhabi is a mostly indoors amusement park on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Ferrari World is covered by a gigantic free-formed roof with a surface area of approximately 2,000,000 square feet. The Ferrari World roof would cover the Vatican City in Rome. If the Ferrari World building was stood on its end it would be tallest man-made structure in the world at over 300 stories. The Ferrari shield logo on the roof measures 213 feet in length and covers an area of 32,000 square feet. Ferrari World Abu Dhabi has the record for the largest space frame structure ever built.

FERRARI WORLD ABU DHABI

HUNTS POINT COOPERATIVE MARKET

The Hunts Point Cooperative Market Inc. is a cooperative owned by its member stockholders. The company operates and maintains a facility in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx for its member shareholders and other tenants, all of which are primarily involved in the process and distribution of meat and meat products in the tri-state area. The facility is the largest of its kind in the world and is the major distribution hub for the New York City metro area.   ·         Approximately 2400 employees work in the Hunts Point Coop Market ·         The market was originally built in 1972 as a 40-acre facility with 6 buildings but now is over 60 acres with 7 buildings ·         The Coop consists of 52 companies that process and distribute meat and meat products in just under one million square feet.

HUNTS POINT COOPERATIVE 2008

RUBICON POINT LIGHT

The Rubicon Point Light is a small lighthouse on Lake Tahoe in California. It has not been operational since the 1920s or 1930s. The lighthouse at Rubicon Point has the highest elevation of any American lighthouse. It stands 6,300 feet above sea level at a point where it could be seen from most places around the lake.

RUBICON POINT LIGHT
By Vards Uzvards from San Francisco, CA - Lake Tahoe (p8312148), CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10408202

THE JAMNAGAR OIL REFINERY

 

The Jamnagar Refinery is a private sector crude oil refinery owned by Reliance Industries in Jamnagar, Gujarat, India. The refinery was commissioned on 14 July 1999 with an installed capacity of 668,000 barrels per day (106,200 m3/d). Its current installed capacity is 1,240,000 barrels per day (197,000 m3/d). It is currently the largest refinery in the world.  The entire complex, as of 2013, consists of manufacturing and allied facilities, utilities, off-sites, port facilities and a township (415 acres) with housing for its 2,500 employees, on over 7,500 acres (11.7 sq mi) of land. If all the pipes used in the refinery were laid out, one after another, they would connect the whole of India from north to south.

THE JAMNAGAR REFINERY AT NIGHT

ARLINGTON COUNTY VIRGINIA AND TURNBERRY TOWER

 

Arlington County is a county in the state of Virginia. The county is in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C.  In 2020, the county's population was estimated at 238,643, making Arlington County the sixth-largest county in Virginia by population and the largest unincorporated community in the United States.  The Turnberry Tower, located in the Rosslyn neighborhood, is a 26-story high-rise, and is the tallest condominium building in the Washington D.C. Metro.

TURNBERRY TOWER

MARION STEAM SHOVEL AKA THE LE ROY STEAM SHOVEL

 

The Marion Steam Shovel, also known as the Le Roy Steam Shovel, is a historic Model 91 steam shovel manufactured by the Marion Steam Shovel and Dredge Company of Marion, Ohio. It is located on Gulf Road in the Town of Le Roy, New York.  it is believed to be the largest intact steam shovel remaining in the world, and may have been used in the excavation of the Panama Canal.  A model 91 steam shovel set what was then a world record in 1912 when it dug 5,554 cubic yards (4,246 m3) of earth from a pit at the site of Gatun Dam.  The Model 91 required eight workers to operate. Four worked in the main section. The operator sat in the front booth and used levers to move the hoist and lift and lower the bucket. When it was time to move the shovel, he took care of that as well. A cranes man, who sat on the left-hand side of the boom, controlled the crowd engine, which allowed him to set the depth of the cut and release the bucket's contents when it was full by tugging on a wire rope attached to it. In the rear was an engineer who tended the boiler and a fireman who shoveled the coal.  Outside the shovel a crew of four took up and laid the track along which its flanged wheels moved. They also set up the jackscrews necessary to stabilize the shovel in front of the rock face it was digging and dismantled them when it was time to move.

MARION MODEL 91 STEAM SHOVEL