h a l f b a k e r yIt's as much a hovercraft as a pancake is a waffle.
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In many countries, there are hefty architectural feats
that ensure dry spots around the city. For example, an
entire city in Italy, Bologna, is covered with brick
awnings to help with their rainy climate. Well...,
people used to throw their literal shit out of the
windows back in the day and
that might have had a
small role to
play.
Anyways!
This idea is for less fortunate places. Places that lack
any real cover from the rain, but they still have street
lights. Why don't we
make giant umbrella attachments on these lights, and
when there is a storm you can walk up to one of the
lights, press a button, and a giant umbrella unfolds
over
the top for you and any other passers-by.
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Annotation:
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The umbrellas should be permanently open over the
lights, so that more light is reflected down to the
ground and light pollution in cities is lessened. |
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brilliant idea, although with regard to the light
pollution aspect there is currently a massive drive in
many UK cities to replace old fashioned street
lighting with more modern devices which are not
only more energy efficient but also cast the majority
of their light downwards in an effort to let us once
again look to the stars |
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I think it's a good idea except that street lights are usually up very high and if it's raining sideways they wouldn't offer much protection unless they were very large umbrellas. |
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[xandram], a true problem. I suspect that after the
restrictions of size due to neighboring street lights and
obstructions to the road during open/close events, but
accounting for potential telescoping rods, the umbrellas
should be able to open with a diameter somewhere
around
20-25 ft. Rain will still get in during those sideways
downpours. |
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I am particularly interested in letting such a massive
machine be operable by the public. That is, I think
people would love it and maybe even use it during hot
sunny days or just for the heck of it. I guess that's
alright with me. |
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If only a few cities specifically did this, the pictures of the
umbrellas would be good postcards. |
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Why not have a transparent umbrella at much lower height than the light? I am with whoever that wants the umbrella always fixed open. |
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Many of them are wooden. Traffic lights are almost always
metal, but not so for street lights. |
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Jesus, fine. Only to be used during showers. Wimp. |
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You would be safer beneath a metallic
streetlight/umbrella in a lightning storm simply
because it would function like a lightning rod and
take the energy to ground No? |
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Major improvement in electrical efficiency plus a way
to stay more dry equals major bun. |
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One flaw: heavy rain falling off the rim into the
street would create rather dangerous low-visibility
walls of water for drivers. |
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// One flaw: heavy rain falling off the rim into the street would create rather dangerous low-visibility walls of water for drivers // |
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So instead of an umbrella with water falling off the outer edge, make it a funnel with water diverted down a drain at the middle - just the same coverage but without losing the rainwater. |
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Bonus: fit miniature turbine generators inside the drain tube so that fallng rain generates power to run the light. |
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// If only a few cities specifically did this, the pictures of the umbrellas would be good postcards. // |
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Or if each city had a distinctive umbrella style. |
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// You would be safer beneath a metallic streetlight/umbrella in a lightning storm simply because it would function like a lightning rod and take the energy to ground No? // |
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Just put signs under the umbrellae advising people on how to stand there safely during an electrical storm: All points of contact with the ground equidistant from the pole, and all on the same type of ground (sidewalk, road, grass). Don't touch another person unless both of you *combined* follow those rules. Move by jumping. |
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