4 ms·

...and get better sleep.

WarOnPrivacy 6y ago
Amen. I would kill for this. I keep my own outside lights off, so there's a bit less blindy light pollution on my end of the street. It's the same reason I never report the nearby street lights when they go out. The best outdoor light is less.
- LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
  Ahem... I seem to recall that the masts of most streetlights are rather thin. Which meant that one could kick them a few times in ways that make the mast swing. Which could be rather large and abrupt swings at the top, which led to "Wackelkontakt"/ loss of contact, and thus darkness. It was even reversible! Your own personal kick switch for public street lights!
  - WarOnPrivacy 6y ago
    I've used high lumen, hand-held lights to kill streetlights. I haven't found a spectrum of laser that works, yet.
    - epanchin 6y ago
      https://petapixel.com/2015/02/19/a-laser-can-turn-off-streetlights-that-interfere-with-your-astrophotography/ https://petapixel.com/2015/02/19/a-laser-can-turn-off-street...
      - WarOnPrivacy 6y ago
        Nice. I've got a red but it's probably too low power. My green and blue are 1W & 3W but they're too low a wavelength. High powered reds are relatively cheap. I'll look into it.
  - luckylion 6y ago
    That's a good way to get in trouble, and rightfully so. We're not having streetlights because we want to kill insects, we have them for safety reasons. You do not want to travel in absolute darkness in a city with cars around. Trying to interfere with that because you're too lazy to buy a black-out curtain is a terrible idea.
    - LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
      What if I'd like to be able to see some stars from my bed? Furthermore, not every light, sign makes sense at the place it is. They are mostly stamped out at regular intervals "because we say so".
      - luckylion 6y ago
        > What if I'd like to be able to see some stars from my bed? "My comfort should trump everyone's safety"? Still no.
        LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
        And the cars you spoke of are stealthed, running dark, or what? /me shakes head and thinks "Here is your sign! Hold it!"
        WarOnPrivacy 6y ago
        "Anything that smells like safety automagically justifies the damage it does. Only monsters want less appearance of safety."
        jacobsenscott 6y ago
        I'll take "what?" - with "what?" being my headlights only point straight ahead. They don't curve with the road or illuminate the sides of the roads where kids/animals can dart out. I live in a neighborhood with lots of kids and pets. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0386111212000325 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S038611121...
  - formerly_proven 6y ago
    The way that ("Lampen austreten") works is because the vibration causes the plasma to "disembark" from the electrodes, which opens the electrical circuit, which prevents further power flow into the lamp, which lets the plasma cool down quickly. There's a thermal cutoff switch in the lamp that prevents it from re-igniting on a hot lamp, so the entire lamp needs to cool down before it turns back on.
    - LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
      That could be the case, but at the time I felt it was of more mechanical nature. Because in my case they didn't turn back on, not for days, until kicked back into working order.
k__ 6y ago
This. I had a big orange street lamp hanging right in front of my bedroom for years.
- kaybe 6y ago
  In Germany you can generally call the city office and complain and they will put some metal there to block the light from falling into your house. It might be an option in other locations as well.
  - mattbk1 6y ago
    We were able to do that for an alley light here in small-town Minnesota USA.
  - lm28469 6y ago
    Don't houses in Germany, and western Europe, have blinds ? I only had this night light issue when living in the US
    - hocuspocus 6y ago
      Not everywhere in Germany, or in Western Europe for that matter. I cannot explain why many regions that are fairly up North don't have solid outdoor blinds or shutters.
    - vinay427 6y ago
      Where did you find a house in the US without blinds? I honestly don't think I've ever seen one without some sort of window covering. The solid exterior blinds that I slightly prefer are much less common in the US, but both still block light adequately in my experience.
      - lm28469 6y ago
        Everywhere I slept in California, from SF to LA and a few places in between had these awful vertical blinds which can't even block moonlight: https://persianascanet.com/wp-content/uploads/Verticales-PVC9.jpg https://persianascanet.com/wp-content/uploads/Verticales-PVC...

Amen. I would kill for this. I keep my own outside lights off, so there's a bit less blindy light pollution on my end of the street. It's the same reason I never report the nearby street lights when they go out. The best outdoor light is less.

LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
Ahem... I seem to recall that the masts of most streetlights are rather thin. Which meant that one could kick them a few times in ways that make the mast swing. Which could be rather large and abrupt swings at the top, which led to "Wackelkontakt"/ loss of contact, and thus darkness. It was even reversible! Your own personal kick switch for public street lights!
- WarOnPrivacy 6y ago
  I've used high lumen, hand-held lights to kill streetlights. I haven't found a spectrum of laser that works, yet.
  - epanchin 6y ago
    https://petapixel.com/2015/02/19/a-laser-can-turn-off-streetlights-that-interfere-with-your-astrophotography/ https://petapixel.com/2015/02/19/a-laser-can-turn-off-street...
    - WarOnPrivacy 6y ago
      Nice. I've got a red but it's probably too low power. My green and blue are 1W & 3W but they're too low a wavelength. High powered reds are relatively cheap. I'll look into it.
- luckylion 6y ago
  That's a good way to get in trouble, and rightfully so. We're not having streetlights because we want to kill insects, we have them for safety reasons. You do not want to travel in absolute darkness in a city with cars around. Trying to interfere with that because you're too lazy to buy a black-out curtain is a terrible idea.
  - LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
    What if I'd like to be able to see some stars from my bed? Furthermore, not every light, sign makes sense at the place it is. They are mostly stamped out at regular intervals "because we say so".
    - luckylion 6y ago
      > What if I'd like to be able to see some stars from my bed? "My comfort should trump everyone's safety"? Still no.
      - LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
        And the cars you spoke of are stealthed, running dark, or what? /me shakes head and thinks "Here is your sign! Hold it!"
        WarOnPrivacy 6y ago
        "Anything that smells like safety automagically justifies the damage it does. Only monsters want less appearance of safety."
        jacobsenscott 6y ago
        I'll take "what?" - with "what?" being my headlights only point straight ahead. They don't curve with the road or illuminate the sides of the roads where kids/animals can dart out. I live in a neighborhood with lots of kids and pets. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0386111212000325 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S038611121...
- formerly_proven 6y ago
  The way that ("Lampen austreten") works is because the vibration causes the plasma to "disembark" from the electrodes, which opens the electrical circuit, which prevents further power flow into the lamp, which lets the plasma cool down quickly. There's a thermal cutoff switch in the lamp that prevents it from re-igniting on a hot lamp, so the entire lamp needs to cool down before it turns back on.
  - LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
    That could be the case, but at the time I felt it was of more mechanical nature. Because in my case they didn't turn back on, not for days, until kicked back into working order.

k__ 6y ago

This. I had a big orange street lamp hanging right in front of my bedroom for years.

kaybe 6y ago
In Germany you can generally call the city office and complain and they will put some metal there to block the light from falling into your house. It might be an option in other locations as well.
- mattbk1 6y ago
  We were able to do that for an alley light here in small-town Minnesota USA.
- lm28469 6y ago
  Don't houses in Germany, and western Europe, have blinds ? I only had this night light issue when living in the US
  - hocuspocus 6y ago
    Not everywhere in Germany, or in Western Europe for that matter. I cannot explain why many regions that are fairly up North don't have solid outdoor blinds or shutters.
  - vinay427 6y ago
    Where did you find a house in the US without blinds? I honestly don't think I've ever seen one without some sort of window covering. The solid exterior blinds that I slightly prefer are much less common in the US, but both still block light adequately in my experience.
    - lm28469 6y ago
      Everywhere I slept in California, from SF to LA and a few places in between had these awful vertical blinds which can't even block moonlight: https://persianascanet.com/wp-content/uploads/Verticales-PVC9.jpg https://persianascanet.com/wp-content/uploads/Verticales-PVC...