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Sign of the times
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coppice:
I don't really care what kind of lights they use most of the time, but when there is fog the narrow orange lines of a low pressure sodium lamp really seem to cut through without creating massive glare.
james_s:
It may also help that low pressure sodium lamps are physically gigantic compared to other HID lamps and LEDs, so the optics are completely different and the light intensity from a given area of the source is relatively low. Despite their complete lack of color rendering they do have a very soft smooth light, generally speaking I prefer them over high pressure sodium.
Zero999:

--- Quote from: Stray Electron on May 19, 2021, 09:53:51 pm ---  It seems to me that considering how zealous some of the Federal agencies are about protecting any kind of endangered or "of special concern" species, that if even one of those were killed in this event, that the USG would immediately shutdown all of the street lights, outdoor advertising, bill boards, and and all of the extremely well lit night time activities and every other source of light pollution in Philadelphia.

  I remember when a major dam project in Tennessee was abandoned in the 1970s after they found some sort of rare snail that no one knew existed and decided that it needed to be protected at all costs under the Endangered Species Act.

--- End quote ---
That sounds amusing, but bear in mind that if those snails died, it might be devastating to the local ecosystem. The river could become overgrown with weed and many fish who depend on the snails for food die too.
--- Quote from: coppice on May 19, 2021, 11:13:53 pm ---I don't really care what kind of lights they use most of the time, but when there is fog the narrow orange lines of a low pressure sodium lamp really seem to cut through without creating massive glare.

--- End quote ---
I think longer wavelenghts scatter less in fog and being monchomatic light could also help as there aren't different wavelenghts being scattered at different amounts.
Rick Law:

--- Quote from: Stray Electron on May 19, 2021, 09:53:51 pm ---  It seems to me that considering how zealous some of the Federal agencies are about protecting any kind of endangered or "of special concern" species, that if even one of those were killed in this event, that the USG would immediately shutdown all of the street lights, outdoor advertising, bill boards, and and all of the extremely well lit night time activities and every other source of light pollution in Philadelphia.

  I remember when a major dam project in Tennessee was abandoned in the 1970s after they found some sort of rare snail that no one knew existed and decided that it needed to be protected at all costs under the Endangered Species Act.

--- End quote ---

Sometimes we forget that by all estimates, we are rare.

By all estimates, life started on earth almost right after it can start, implying life is not rare.  Intelligent life is a subset of all life, so we believe intelligent life is rarer than mere life.  By the same logic, we believe technology-capable intelligence is even more rare.

If technology-capable intelligent life is indeed as rare as we think, we are what made earth special.  At least that is what current evidence is pointing.  Without us, earth will be merely another planet with biologicals like plenty of other rocks floating in space are.

So, I suppose, lighting up for us to be safer is not a bad thing, advertisements not withstanding.
penfold:

--- Quote from: Rick Law on May 20, 2021, 09:29:14 pm ---If technology-capable intelligent life is indeed as rare as we think, we are what made earth special.  At least that is what current evidence is pointing.  Without us, earth will be merely another planet with biologicals like plenty of other rocks floating in space are.

So, I suppose, lighting up for us to be safer is not a bad thing, advertisements not withstanding.

--- End quote ---

Ahh, but what makes humans especially interesting is that we are one of the extraordinarily few species that go to extraordinary lengths to protect other species.
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