h a l f b a k e r yExperiencing technical difficulties since 1999
add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random
news, help, about, links, report a problem
browse anonymously,
or get an account
and write.
register,
|
|
|
Please log in.
Before you can vote, you need to register.
Please log in or create an account.
|
Pending Cone
After this buffoon moves his car, don't let anyone else park here | |
I was walking through a Wal-Mart parking lot tonight
when
I overheard some cart pushers talking about a car was
parked in front of some shopping carts against a curb,
wedging them into some bushes. It would have been
impossible to move the carts without lifting them over
the
car. I took
a look myself and noticed it was an expensive
luxury car (since they tend to be driven by the
inconsiderate), but I digress.
What if there was some way to keep an eye on the
parking
spot and wait until the car moved? Then, once the car
moved, put up a cone so nobody parks there until the
carts
could be removed?
In certain other situations, such as event parking or
when
road work is commencing, sometimes crews want a
certain
car to be the last one parked in a particular parking
spot.
They need a "pending cone".
In short, this is an inflatable and automatic cone. In its
packed state, the device would resemble a Frisbee. A
worker would slide it under the offending car, centered
between the wheels to avoid it being crushed by the tires
when it pulls out. A light sensor in the cone would detect
sunlight when the car moves away, and it would inflate a
couple of seconds later. (This wouldn't work at night
unless
another detection system of some sort is employed,
using
magnetism or sonar.) The inflated cone would deter an
average law-abiding citizen from reusing the parking
spot.
[link]
|
|
Tow it and have the tow truck driver re sign or cone the area. |
|
|
The driver could use your idea with 2 minute timer to actuate the cone as he and the limo exit the scene stage right. |
|
|
Inflatable cones are certainly Baked. |
|
|
An upward-looking PIR would trigger the
timer on detecting a warm engine. |
|
|
For best results, two cones joined at the top
by plastic tape marked "POLICE LINE DO NOT
CROSS" would be effective. |
|
|
Such cones could be used for all sorts of stuff. In addition to marking the site of carts which need to be moved back to the store, a cone could mark the site of dog poop needing to be shoveled up, weeds which need to be pulled, payment forms which need to be filled out and mailed, laundry needing to be folded, and so on. One would need great stacks of these cones to properly benefit from their use. In theory one could reuse the cones once the designated job had been done. Perhaps the cones could come with a reminder to the person who actually does the designated job to return cones to the cone dispensary once the job was complete. |
|
|
sp: Buffoon - unless there's some kind of streetwise
urban thing going on here I don't know about. |
|
|
Someone has to mark out all those car-parking spaces -
if there's a potential access issue with a given space,
then really, that space shouldn't have been marked out
in the first instance - and should perhaps instead be
replaced with a small garden or mystic-frieze. |
|
|
Maybe a huge portable car crusher that moves in and squashes the offending vehicle into a cone shape, and then paints it bright orange? |
|
|
The cart jockeys could have called headquarters and had them announce the license number of the car and say it was on fire or being broken in to, etc. What's one less boneheaded customer, after all? |
|
|
Also an excellent to the fitting of neon under-
lighting. |
|
|
I can imagine something similar along the lines of a spike gate; broad and thin it stands tall and conforms harmlessly to being backed over folding on a spring hinge. but should a car try to drive across it the other way the hooked blades would rip off the bumper fascia. |
|
| |