...Hand me that tambourine, willya? Or a bottle of Uncle Hiro's Ichiban Ibuprofen, whichever's handier. I would like to have some witty insight or pointy observation or at least the various changes I'd rung upon Tam's Roman-execution Burma Shave sign ("A Legion That Dares/To Disobey/Will Quickly Learn/The Price They'll Pay/S.P.Q.R" -- you know they'd've done it if they'd thunk of it). But I don't have much.
What I do have is one of my old notions made real. Those WAKE UP! rumble strips along the highway could be pulse-width modulated. To do what, you might ask, and the answer is, to do this:
Yes, the road plays the William Tell Overture as you drive over it. But you'd better get out there quickly if you'd like to hear it in your own car: the town has gotten plenty tired of havin' a road that plays the William Tell Overture every freakin' time it is driven on....
Once is a surprise; twice is a marvel. 200 times a day? Optimized for some speed above the limit?* I'll take "Repaving" for $100, Alex!
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* Speed Traps Of The Future? "But officer-d00d, 'Stairway' don't play right unless you're doin' 85!"
How soon before some mega-company has their advertising jingle cut into the local roadway?
ReplyDeleteCould lead to some interesting nighttime guerilla activities.
rickn8or: That's what happened--Honda paid the town to have the modulated rumble strip built into the road. I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time. Idiots. Thing is, it's modulated for the exact speed AND for a Honda Civic. (Weight and wheelbase, I guess.)
ReplyDeleteI think it's modulated for how fast your car's tires rides over the strips. Doesn't matter what car it is or how heavy; it's the frequency of the tires hitting the strips that make the notes. Of course, only in the Loony Left Capital of the US would they do something like this. Obviously, someone's got way too much freaking time on his hands.
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