Random photos, comics, etc.

[Ryan Gallagher]

I had a similar grocery experience to Frank's once at a small neighborhood grocery store. The young girl in line in front of me had some kind of episode and collapsed, probably a seizure from the look of it... I managed to catch her fall slightly to avoid a knock on the head. I stayed until the ambulance arrived, cause I knew the cashier and I were the only two who really witnessed and could relay to paramedics what happened.

Everyone else already checked out happily left without even considering staying.

The grocery put me on the employee discount list for life for my behavior... unfortunately I moved away from that neighborhood and am not near by much anymore.

[Randy Stankey]

I had that happen while I was watching a movie at the local theater.

My wife and I were watching a movie when some guy, behind me, started shouting, "Carol! Carol! Wake up!"

I was a civilian at the time but, since it was a theater where I used to work, I still knew the people who worked there. I put my movie aside and went back to offer assistance. The woman (the man's wife) was sitting there, all stiff and glassy-eyed. She was clearly having some kind of "episode." It only lasted a couple of minutes before she came to, again.

I asked the guy whether his wife was known to have any kind of condition that would cause this. Epilepsy? Narcolepsy? Previous strokes? Was she taking any drugs, prescription or otherwise. I went down the list of all the things that I i could think of which could cause this to happen but the answers were all negative. Not being a doctor but having first aid training from being a lifeguard and from being a security guard in a major hotel, my only guess was that she was having a transient ischemic attack. (TIA) i.e. "mini stroke"

There wasn't much I could do but to check her pulse and all that basic stuff. The woman claimed that she was better and didn't want anything else. I had to plead with her husband, saying that, if this really WAS a mini stroke, it could happen again at any time when you least expect it. If it happens again, she might not wake up, next time. It took some amount of explaining.

Finally, I just said, "Hey! I'm just a good Samaritan...some random guy...but I would feel really guilty if something bad happened to your wife and I could have done something to help." I said, "Please! Let's call an ambulance! If the doctors say that nothing is wrong, you can just go home. Everything will be all right and you can call me stupid." Finally, the guy relented.

I went out to the lobby and found the manager and had him call the ambulance. I waited outside to flag down the ambulance and usher them in to the theater because I was really the only one who knew who the victim was. I gave the ambulance crew her vitals and explained what I saw and why we called the ambulance. The EMT told me that, yes, TIAs can "double up" and the more times it happens the less chance the patient has to survive.

They took the woman and her husband to the hospital and I never did get any report back as to her condition.

I suppose if something bad happened to her, I would have heard so... fingers crossed... I guess everything turned out okay.

That's the last I heard.

[Frank Cox]

I've never had one of those.

It wasn't here, exactly, but I was standing in line at the till at the grocery store this morning and the fellow next to me had a stroke and collapsed.

I know a stroke when I see one so one of the workers brought a chair and we got him off of the floor, and my friend the "Coop cop" called the ambulance.

Not much else you can do in the field, unfortunately, but they were just loading him into the ambulance when I left with my groceries.

No idea who he was. Random old coot, I guess.

I suppose if you're going to have a stroke then it's best to have it where there are other people around.

When I got home I told my wife that the trip to the store was more adventurous than I had planned.

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

Disregard...

[Steve Guttag]

I just changed a battery on an ICMP 2.0. The server had been installed only 3 years. The battery was down to 2.850 and had issued the warning of "low-battery."

[Leo Enticknap]

image.png

I think this must be close to a record. ICMP battery I replaced on a service call earlier this week. I found the sticker on the side intact, as you can see, so I think that 2018 date is genuine (in other words, I don't think the battery was replaced between then and now, and whoever did it failed to label the battery holder cover); Barco recommends every 4 years for the swapout: this battery had gone for just over seven and a half. It measured 2.98 volts after I pulled it out.

[Ed Gordon]

My girlfriend, whose father was a producer, has told me the same story, before. She heard it from either her father or one of his friends.

Ed's version is virtually identical to the one my GF told me. Given the same story from two reasonably credible sources, I think it's probably true.

I found the interview Ellen Burnstyn did with Alec Baldwin. It was in relation to the 75th anniversary of the Actors Studio. The story originated from Bob Surtees ASC.

The interview is online at https://open.spotify.com/episode/2mCifdhWDezqdRt8NrswhG

You will find the Surtees story at 17:08

[Ryan Gallagher]

Our favorite ghost is of course Walter Norris, a former projectionist and union president who actually passed in the booth during R1 of Casablanca. He crossed over instead of the projectors. The white screen made them go check on him. The building in theory has a few others, never seen any.

We open our summer series with Casablanca every year, unsure if that tradition started after his passing or if it was always the case.

[Randy Stankey]

My girlfriend, whose father was a producer, has told me the same story, before. She heard it from either her father or one of his friends.

Ed's version is virtually identical to the one my GF told me. Given the same story from two reasonably credible sources, I think it's probably true.

[Ed Gordon]

This reminded me about a story that actor Ellen Burstyn passed on that a director of photography had told her about and actor who passed away while shooting movie. Shooting was nearly complete. They needed to get a shot taken from behind the actor when he died and slump over in his chair. They discussed it and decided they would prop up the actor and get the final shot. The DP would not divulge the name of the movie or the deceased actor.

Oddly enough the list of performers dying while performing is rather long.

[Frank Cox]

Thankfully I've never had one of those.

The closest I came to that was one night when an elderly chap came out after the show was over and said, "I can't get my wife up." After checking on her I called the ambulance and they took her away.

[Randy Stankey]

At first I thought it was some guy who died waiting for his popcorn, food and drink to arrive. . .

Oddly, there was a death at one of the theaters I used to service.

The guy walked in to see a 12:00 show but, when it was over, the guy was still sitting there, apparently asleep. The usher who cleaned the theater just swept around the guy. Come the end of the 10:00 p.m. show, the guy was still there. The usher told the manager that there's a guy who won't leave. So, the manager goes in, taps him on the shoulder and says, 'Hey, buddy! The theater is closing! Time to go home!" The guy was stone dead!

A different usher cleaned the theater after each show and nobody communicated the fact that there was a straggler in the theater. They all just, basically, swept around the guy's feet.

[Jim Cassedy]

You're sure he wasn't some guy who was talking loudly while the show was on?

At first I thought it was some guy who died waiting for his popcorn, food and drink to arrive. . .

[Frank Cox]

You're sure he wasn't some guy who was talking loudly while the show was on?

(I have a skeleton I put in my lobby. I tell people that's the last guy who didn't pay for his ticket.)

[Jim Cassedy]

One of our corporate clients had a Halloween movie party here yesterday.
This was one of the "guests".
T5Spook_1.jpg

The scariest thing was that he wasn't wearing any pants.
(Then again, pantless people are pretty plentiful here in San Francisco)
T5Spook_2.jpg
Fun Fact: This building was abandoned for almost a decade. The graffitied section
of wall under the stairs was 'preserved' to show what most of this place looked like
before they did a complete restoration of the buidling.
HalloweenStairs.jpg

"Boo"