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Austin - something that is pissing me off


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I grew up in Austin I’ve lived here for 30+ years of my life. I went to school here, I learned to drive here (at the hole in wall place next to the old Horseshoe Lounge). I’ve been living in Singapore for the past 6 years and have just been back for the last few months to remodel my house.

 

What pisses me off is why are the street lights so fucking dim now? What sense does it make to have these provide basically no visibility? I am not talking about the fringe part of the city, I live in central Austin. Today, at 24th and Pearl (heart of west campus), I came within inches of hitting a guy because I couldn’t see him.

 

Trying even to turn off of south Lamar is super hard because there is no lighting and no road markings. Backing out of my mom’s driveway in Barton Hills is just a 50/50 shot as they Tim have literally turned off the street lights on her street and it is pitch black.

 

Coming from a place like Singapore where everything is super well lit and marked this is a crazy contrast.

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3 hours ago, South Austin said:

Part of the whole “dark skies” initiative to reduce ambient lighting at night so we can see the stars and shit.

I don't live in Austin but I'm glad to hear this.  People need to turn off their own lights at night too.  One of my neighbors has a flood light in the backyard that would make Clark Griswold proud.

Edited by WBT
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2 minutes ago, WBT said:

I don't live in Austin but I'm glad to hear this.  People need to turn off their own lights at night too.  One of my neighbors has a flood light in the backyard that would make Clark Griswold proud.

My neighbor at my old house also had flood light.  It was motion-sensored, so it was off during most of the night, but if a squirrel or rodent happened to trigger it, it would shine right into my bedroom window for a couple minutes. 

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53 minutes ago, WBT said:

I don't live in Austin but I'm glad to hear this.  People need to turn off their own lights at night too.  One of my neighbors has a flood light in the backyard that would make Clark Griswold proud.

 

48 minutes ago, South Austin said:

My neighbor at my old house also had flood light.  It was motion-sensored, so it was off during most of the night, but if a squirrel or rodent happened to trigger it, it would shine right into my bedroom window for a couple minutes. 

 

30 lashes under singapore law.

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, WBT said:

I don't live in Austin but I'm glad to hear this.  People need to turn off their own lights at night too.  One of my neighbors has a flood light in the backyard that would make Clark Griswold proud.

Don’t you have a pellet gun?

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1 hour ago, WBT said:

I don't live in Austin but I'm glad to hear this.  People need to turn off their own lights at night too.  One of my neighbors has a flood light in the backyard that would make Clark Griswold proud.

I have a neighbor like that and they leave the fuckers on when they go out of town.  Worst part is those damn lights shine straight at my bedroom window and it's like daylight in my room at night.  Well it was until I invested in a pellet gun and took those fuckers out earlier this week.

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Some of you guys need to learn how to have a conversation with your neighbors.

 

And this is what pisses the OP off after having been gone for years?   I would have guessed it to be the New Yorkers.  Californians used to catch all the hell, but during the pandemic it's the droves of New Yorkers that are ruining the vibe around here.

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2 minutes ago, Samson's Wig said:

And this is what pisses the OP off after having been gone for years?  

No shit.  There are a lot of other worse things about Austin over the past several years (traffic, soaring home prices, tech bros, trying to re-name Town Lake, etc.) that rank above subdivisions not being lit up enough.

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7 hours ago, South Austin said:

Part of the whole “dark skies” initiative to reduce ambient lighting at night so we can see the stars and shit.

My neighborhood has that bullshit, and it pisses me off.  I'm much more concerned about hitting a goddamned deer as I drive home at night, not getting hit myself when I go for a jog at 6:00, or being able to see the local hoods trying to break into cars than I am anyone's ability to see fucking Cassiopeia.  

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2 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

Sweet! 
My problem with the modern telescopes .....I wouldn’t have any idea how to operate the digital electronics they seem to be loaded with these days.

takes some getting used to for sure...but once you get the hang of it, makes things far more convenient and allows for richer viewing experience (when it works).  Line up three objects and store them and the rest of the night, you can track to any object in the sky with a push of a button which is nice when looking at certain dso's that aren't visible to the naked eye even in ideal ultra dark conditions.  you'd never know those things were there and then look through a large telescope...boom, galaxy you didn't realize was there.  also a nice thing is once you lock on, it automatically moves itself in micro-increments to track the object so you can hold anything in the middle of the view piece without having to constantly adjust it manually.

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3 hours ago, sidis said:

west lake hills resident...we do not have any street lights at all in my neighborhood and it is fucking glorious.  here's a pic of saturn i got through my 11 inch celestron nexstar telescope last winter less than 3 miles away from downtown. 

IMG_6579.JPG.0a49c7c226ec199f3586918b60287c2b.JPG

I always thought that if Saturn passed within three miles of downtown, it would look bigger.

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Team space porn, so my first reaction was to think OP’s night vision was skewed by the bright lights of a hyper big city. But, there are a couple of spots on Mopac that are darker than rest of it. The posts about safety are persuasive. I thought the dark skies initiative focuses on light beaming up, not illuminating the ground.

 I suspect we could satisfy both sides, but we can’t have nice things.

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7 hours ago, Ghost of LL said:

My neighborhood has that bullshit, and it pisses me off.  I'm much more concerned about hitting a goddamned deer as I drive home at night, not getting hit myself when I go for a jog at 6:00, or being able to see the local hoods trying to break into cars than I am anyone's ability to see fucking Cassiopeia.  

you don't jog

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Another board I frequent has lots of posts about camping.  These guys are always asking about the best LED lights to illuminate their campsites.  It boggles my mind.  The less light the better anytime you are sitting outside enjoying yourself.   I bitch at my kids when they fire up a flashlight when the ambient light would have been adequate.  

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2 hours ago, Your Mom said:

Another board I frequent has lots of posts about camping.  These guys are always asking about the best LED lights to illuminate their campsites.  It boggles my mind.  The less light the better anytime you are sitting outside enjoying yourself.   I bitch at my kids when they fire up a flashlight when the ambient light would have been adequate.  

Red light is the answer. Buncha jackasses. 

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