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Previous: (Just for fun) Baby-chick egg | Main | Next: Microsoft Access Visual Basic editor help
April 14, 2006 12:03 AM
Broken: Emergency exit
A reader submits a picture taken in Fort Lauderdale, Florida:
At the Broward Convention Center, I noticed this Emergency Exit sign posted between two water fountains on the side of the restroom entrance and 100 feet from the nearest real exit.
If I had strength like the Incredible Hulk I could break through the wall in a pinch...
I bet there's supposed to be an arrow affixed to the sign, or some other indication of what direction that nearby exit is in. However, without such an arrow, I'd say that's definitely broken.
At least you could get a refreshing drink of water while you wonder where the exit is... :-)
If there was no arrow when it was put up maybe its a crude DWA (designated waiting area) for the wheelchair bound.
On the full-sized image, it looks like there are fade marks indicating where an overlaying sign once existed.
No, it makes perfect sense. When you really, really, REALLY have to GO, because its an EMERGENCY, this sign is posted right at the bathroom that you need.
Those aren't fade marks. The dark area in the sign is a warp in the time space continuum caused by a black hole behind the sign. If you get close to the sign, it will suck you right in - completing your emergency exit.
I think if you turn on both fountains at once the wall slide into the floor creating an escape route.
>Wasn't this already posted once? I rember seeing it a few months back.
It showed up in Popular Science a while back. Maybe you say it there.
Looking closely, it appears photoshopped. I am not sure, but it looks like some text more text was on the sign and got edited out.
Platform 9¾:
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platform_9%C2%BE
"The Hogwarts Express is a fictional magical train in the Harry Potter series. It is ridden by students between London and Hogsmeade. The train starts from King's Cross station platform 9¾, which is invisible to Muggle eyes and is reached through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10."
>Looking closely, it appears photoshopped. I am not sure, but it looks like some text more text was on the sign and got edited out.
Yes, there is a rectangle that appears slightly set off from the rest of the sign, however this could also have been caused in real life by the removal of some overlapping sign.
Captain Obvious also told me: "It would be somewhat odd to make such a large sign and put the text at the top like that leaving so much empty space underneath"
This is This is defiantly photo shopped. You can see the repeating patters from the cloning tool when it was used to erase the words. It probably said “Emergency Exit is located at either end of the building,” or something. Too bad, I was hoping they were referring to the drain.
I suspect that this sign is being taken out of context. It appears to me that this sign is at the end of the hallway leading out of the washroom and to exit you turn left since there is a wall to the right(bottom right hand corner of the picture).
About the blank area on the sign, I suspect that either a glued on sign was removed or the bottom half of the sign was painted over. However, I must admit that it is possible that the poster photoshoped it in order to make it seem more confusing.
I'd be willing to bet a map is supposed to be framed in that darker space. NCSU libraries had a lot of signs on the wall such as that one, with headings like "evacuation route" that were, for a period of time, blank, until they were eventually populated with the highlighted exit-route maps they were intended to hold.
I always thought, while they were empty, how cool it would be if they each housed an interactive touch-sensitive map of the place (since the blank area looked a lot like a powered-off LCD panel).
I think they are refering to the water. An emergency exit for water down the drain of the water fountain.
Maybe people there are secretively mutants with the power to change into water. Then they could just go down the drains.
Although a little late, here is my challenge to those who thought it was a photoshopped image...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mfgilm/tags/thisisbroken/
My little son played a lot with the water fountains.
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Previous: (Just for fun) Baby-chick egg | Main | Next: Microsoft Access Visual Basic editor help
That's what I call a sticky situation!
Posted by: Chris at April 14, 2006 12:10 AM