April 3, 2018 10:14 pm Update

|

I bet they could open the Adirondack Northway to bicyclists from Lake George to Peru for only a few million in signage and it could bring in tens in millions in tourism dollars.

I guess there is a few substandard bridges that would have to replaced, but I bet that section from Lincoln Pond to Elizabethtown on the Northway would be a blast to ride on a mountain bike or road bike.

I am betting bicycles on the Northway will be in the state budget eventually. Television stations and newspapers will mock the idea of riding bicycles on the Northway, and talk about how dangerous it must be. The state’s experts will disagree noting the inherent safety of expressways, and the cyclists organizations will celebrate the new highway they can ride. The DOT will put up the signs, it will become a trendy tourist thing for like 5 years and except for a few sections like Underwood to Elizabethtown, few sections of the Northway will get much bicycle riding.

Wayback Machine

|

Wayback Machine

"Research shows 85 percent of motor vehicle-bicycle crashes follow turning or crossing at intersections. Freeway travel eliminates almost all those conflicts save at entrance and exit ramps—which, at least on those freeways where cycling has not been banned, have sufficient room and sight for cyclists and motorists. An analysis of crashes in Arizona showed no safety problems with cycling on freeways. Fewer than one motor vehicle-bicycle crash a year was recorded on nearly 2000 shoulder-miles open to cyclists in Arizona.“

Teardown of an LED plug-in night light. – YouTube

|

This is probably the more wasteful LED-based night light ever invented.

It actually uses more power when the light is switch off by the photo cell rather then on. And it uses big-fat 1-watt resistors to limit the current flow to the LEDs, producing upwards of 2-watts of heat, whenever is plugged in. Capacitive droppers are bad news, but resistive droppers are even worse, especially when your using 240 volt electricity with them.

The moral of this story: don't build electronics like this unless your goal is to burn more coal. It doesn't matter if it's only taking a few watts of power, you shouldn't go out of the way to design things as energy inefficient as possible.