# Is this "Fail" photo real? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 9, 2017, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fail-photo-real/779411 "2017-02-09T20:47:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![jjakucyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fail-photo-real/779411/41 "2017-02-10T23:41:49Z")
> [@Emergency911](#): > > I am a member of that FD and was there when the architect stopped by and noticed it. He went a little bonkers and the construction manager kept saying, “we build what is in the plans, we don’t ask questions”. Most standard architectural contracts as well as specifications and general notes include provisions that any questionable items or discrepancies discovered by the contractor must be brought to the architect’s attention. That’s also why construction observation by the architect is so important, precisely so such things can be nipped in the bud. Besides that, what sort of fire station gets built with nothing more than a note about the sidewalk? The are supposed to be site plans, and if there was enough room to fit a 60’ sidewalk, how would they have known how far from the building it was supposed to be before it started (right up against the building? A few feet out for a planting bed? Near the street?). Sounds like negligence on both sides. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2017, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fail-photo-real/779411/42 "2017-02-11T06:48:34Z")
There is (was?) a church in San Pablo, California with a door like the one shown as “Exit for your mother in law.” My friend and I joked about sneaking there one night with a ladder to paint “Sinner’s Exit.” ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2017, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fail-photo-real/779411/43 "2017-02-11T07:03:32Z")
Good grief. Building on a hillside may be unwise in some ways, but that’s a lot of what we have in LA. There are cultural and historical reasons–bad ones to be sure but there you go–why there are not as many multi-unit buildings as there should be for a city of our size, and so we have hill-clinging homes. Also, earthquakes and landslides are a terrible danger, but buildings on the flats are more likely to suffer from liquefaction of the sandy soil in an earthquake. I believe that the big old apartment towers that do exist here are mostly retrofitted, but you’d probably be in more earthquake danger living in a small apartment building on the flats (say 10-30 units, 3-4 floors, ESPECIALLY with “underground” parking). Yeah, we sure are morons. Unlike the people who build and rebuild on the flood plains of the Mississippi. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2017, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fail-photo-real/779411/44 "2017-02-11T07:39:49Z")
On “No, we can’t just nudge it over a little bit”, I think the shadow of one span on the other proves the image was faked, e.g. with PhotoShop. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2017, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fail-photo-real/779411/45 "2017-02-11T07:47:41Z")
on the google street view in the upper left corner you can look at all the times the google car was in the neighborhood. it shows that from before 2007 til after 2012 there was no bridge (and the 2007 pic seems to show some significant wear on the paint; so maybe much earlier), something clearly went wrong with the build for something like that to happen. thimk ahed! mc ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2017, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fail-photo-real/779411/46 "2017-02-11T07:49:05Z")
and way to go, **ctrod22** nice find! mc ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2017, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fail-photo-real/779411/47 "2017-02-11T13:38:28Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > I wanted to see what that thread was about, but when I went to it and clicked the links to show the pictures, a Google Image page briefly flashed and then it was immediately replaced with a standard Google home page. What was up with those links? I tried to examine them and they’re hundreds of characters long. My first inclination is to blame Viglink. They replace links with random garbage. But this particular behavior isn’t something I’ve seen before. Maybe add [viglink.com](http://viglink.com) to your block list to see if it fixes it. Otherwise suspect malware on your computer. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2017, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fail-photo-real/779411/48 "2017-02-11T13:57:11Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Emergency911** : > > When it comes to another comment about builders “not being that stupid”… I would disagree. Builders tend to build exactly what is on the plans. [Not always](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyatt_Regency_walkway_collapse). ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2017, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fail-photo-real/779411/49 "2017-02-11T18:25:48Z")
> [@Emergency911](#): > > the construction manager kept saying, “we build what is in the plans, we don’t ask questions”. That manager is _totally_ incompetent–to the point of bordering on criminal negligence. “What is in the plans” includes both the numbers AND the graphics in the plans. If the number “6 feet” is accidentally written as “60”, that’s the designer’s fault, not the construction manager’s.But if the number “60” is written on the plans in a space between two lines which are drawn so close together that they are _10 times_ too narrow for the supposed 60-foot width --then the contractor is obligated to notice the obvious mistake and inform the designer of the discrepency between the text and the graphics. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2017, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fail-photo-real/779411/50 "2017-02-11T23:51:13Z")
Yeah, that constructor manager deserves to get fired until he learns how a scale works. ---
**Author:** ![Clothes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@Clothes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothes)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fail-photo-real/779411/51 "2017-02-12T19:35:15Z")
Here’s a house I’ve driven past many times, and always wondered what the story was. It’s at 5 Summit Ave., Everett, MA: [https://s14.postimg.org/6asnztl5d/house.jpg](https://s14.postimg.org/6asnztl5d/house.jpg) (Yes, I suppose I should just knock on the door - the\*\* lower\*\* door - and ask.) ---
**Author:** ![Clothes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@Clothes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothes)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fail-photo-real/779411/52 "2017-02-12T19:43:50Z")
(That link might be corrupted - try this one: ) [Link deleted by moderator] ---
**Author:** ![yearofglad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b782af/32.png) [@yearofglad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yearofglad)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fail-photo-real/779411/53 "2017-02-12T19:50:40Z")
> [@Clothes](#): > > (That link might be corrupted - try this one: ) > > [Link removed by moderator] This link appears to be spam. ---
**Author:** ![Clothes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@Clothes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothes)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fail-photo-real/779411/54 "2017-02-12T19:58:18Z")
Damn! how about this? [https://s1.postimg.org/tkpfefzrz/house.jpg](https://s1.postimg.org/tkpfefzrz/house.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fail-photo-real/779411/55 "2017-02-12T20:05:34Z")
> [@yearofglad](#): > > This link appears to be spam. I’ve removed the link, which appears to have been inadvertent. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fail-photo-real/779411/56 "2017-02-12T20:12:32Z")
> [@yearofglad](#): > > This link appears to be spam. > [@Colibri](#): > > I’ve removed the link, which appears to have been inadvertent. Odd. For me, the first link went to **Clothes’s** picture. ---
**Author:** ![jjakucyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fail-photo-real/779411/57 "2017-02-12T20:20:05Z")
Both links worked fine for me. Anyway, it looks like a house that was converted to a duplex at some point, when they added some stairs and that new door/vestibule on the 2nd floor. Then maybe it was converted back to single-family, so they removed the stair to that upper door. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fail-photo-real/779411/58 "2017-02-12T20:21:01Z")
> [@Clothes](#): > > Damn! how about this? > > [https://s1.postimg.org/tkpfefzrz/house.jpg](https://s1.postimg.org/tkpfefzrz/house.jpg) My guess is an upstairs apartment that was removed. There would have been an exterior stairway connected to that door which went away. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fail-photo-real/779411/59 "2017-02-12T22:13:48Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Yeah, that constructor manager deserves to get fired until he learns how a scale works. He used to work stage settings for Spinal Tap. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fail-photo-real/779411/60 "2017-02-12T22:59:07Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Odd. For me, the first link went to **Clothes’s** picture. The link in post #51 appears to be fine. There was a different link in the post when he tried to fix it. It went to two different sites each time I clicked it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fail-photo-real/779411.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-fail-photo-real/779411.md?page=4)