Re: No Subject ( camera nonsense )

> I think we read a message not so long ago from a 'punk who
> spotted the prototype of these 'bomb-sniffing cameras' along
> a California highway, no?
>
Don't remember the date but when asked to pinpoint the thing so someone
else could actually go take a look there was no response from the
original poster. I wrote it off as babbling.

There is one device above the westbound section of 580 on the Livermore
side of the Altamont pass. About the size of a small SpectraPhysics
Laser, the surface appears solid - i.e. no visual sensor. My best guess
- radar for either speed measurement or traffic density measurement. 
Chemical sniffer - NOT. 
Radiation detector - perhaps, but I doubt it.

Best bet - traffic analysis. These counties here are always fighting
about population growth and the traffic implications. As if one stinking
town owns the entire godamned federal interstate. Little, carpetbagging
Napoleans everywhere you look. 

As for neural systems detecting illegal activity - yeah? what? Two
people talking? Looking disreputable? Having their hands *appear* to
coincide for a second? This "technology", if detected in a public place,
should be zapped and the promoters tarred and feathered*. 

*Superglue or RTV and polyfill may legally be substituted for the
traditional materials. 

m

Traffic analysis is performed using wire loops in the the road. The
sensors mountend on overpasses near truck scales fulfill a different (so
far unknown) purpose.

--Lucky

On Wed, 9 Dec 1998, Michael Motyka wrote:

> 
> > I think we read a message not so long ago from a 'punk who
> > spotted the prototype of these 'bomb-sniffing cameras' along
> > a California highway, no?
> >
> Don't remember the date but when asked to pinpoint the thing so someone
> else could actually go take a look there was no response from the
> original poster. I wrote it off as babbling.
> 
> There is one device above the westbound section of 580 on the Livermore
> side of the Altamont pass. About the size of a small SpectraPhysics
> Laser, the surface appears solid - i.e. no visual sensor. My best guess
> - radar for either speed measurement or traffic density measurement. 
> Chemical sniffer - NOT. 
> Radiation detector - perhaps, but I doubt it.
> 
> Best bet - traffic analysis. These counties here are always fighting
> about population growth and the traffic implications. As if one stinking
> town owns the entire godamned federal interstate. Little, carpetbagging
> Napoleans everywhere you look. 
> 
> As for neural systems detecting illegal activity - yeah? what? Two
> people talking? Looking disreputable? Having their hands *appear* to
> coincide for a second? This "technology", if detected in a public place,
> should be zapped and the promoters tarred and feathered*. 
> 
> *Superglue or RTV and polyfill may legally be substituted for the
> traditional materials. 
> 
> m
> 
> 


-- Lucky Green <shamrock@cypherpunks.to> PGP v5 encrypted email preferred.

Lucky Green wrote:
> 
> Traffic analysis is performed using wire loops in the the road. The
> sensors mountend on overpasses near truck scales fulfill a different (so
> far unknown) purpose.
> 
> --Lucky
>
The wire loops I know about use 60Hz AC and measure inductance. I 
believe that this would make them unsuitable as speed measurement
devices since measurement would extend over a number of cycles. They
might work if they were widely separated but you would have to be sure
there was only one vehicle generating the peaks.

I'd stick with the speed detector radar for now to explain the overhead
doo-dads.

m

The wire loops (in sets of two a few meters apart) are in every stretch of
freeway in California. They report the numbers and speed of all
vehicles. Have so for decades. This allows the Caltrans operation centers
to instantly identify backups due to accidents, etc. Once in a while, the
evening news do a story on these operation centers.

So we still don't know what the grey sensors do. Note that these sensors
are typically mounted only above the two right lanes.

--Lucky

On Wed, 9 Dec 1998, Michael Motyka wrote:

> Lucky Green wrote:
> > 
> > Traffic analysis is performed using wire loops in the the road. The
> > sensors mountend on overpasses near truck scales fulfill a different (so
> > far unknown) purpose.
> > 
> > --Lucky
> >
> The wire loops I know about use 60Hz AC and measure inductance. I 
> believe that this would make them unsuitable as speed measurement
> devices since measurement would extend over a number of cycles. They
> might work if they were widely separated but you would have to be sure
> there was only one vehicle generating the peaks.
> 
> I'd stick with the speed detector radar for now to explain the overhead
> doo-dads.
> 
> m
> 


-- Lucky Green <shamrock@cypherpunks.to> PGP v5 encrypted email preferred.

> The wire loops (in sets of two a few meters apart) are in every stretch of
> freeway in California. They report the numbers and speed of all
> vehicles. Have so for decades. This allows the Caltrans operation centers
> to instantly identify backups due to accidents, etc. Once in a while, the
> evening news do a story on these operation centers.
> 
> So we still don't know what the grey sensors do. Note that these sensors
> are typically mounted only above the two right lanes.

Check out <http://traffic.maxwell.com> for real-time results
of these sensors. You used to be able to get results for individual
sensors, but they made the site "easier to use". 
-- Marshall

Marshall Clow     Adobe Systems   <mailto:mclow@mailhost2.csusm.edu>

Freedom isn't being able to do what you like, it's allowing someone else
to do or say something you hate and supporting their right to do so.

On the 10 Freeway about 2 miles east of Downtown Los Angeles, three are
overhead rails on both sides of the freeway with a "sensor" of some type
over EACH lane. A total of about 10 sensors. There are also cameras all
over the place. I would imagine that it is a future revenue center for the
state of California. Obfuscate your license plate to lower your road taxes.