A location-transmitting device autonomously transmits a signal containing location data for the location-transmitting device to any nearby wireless communication device. In the automatic failover configuration, the primary database system remains available even in the absence of both the standby and the observer as long as the standby and the observer become absent sequentially. The thimble device includes a thimble body having an external arcuate edge with a rope groove for receipt of a wire rope therein. With the closest individual transparent pixel being identified, the transparency effect of the identified pixel relative to the associated opaque pixel is computed.