DISCOVER Magazine. Science, Technology and The Future
Current Issue
Subscribe Today »
  • Renew
  • Give a Gift
  • Archives
  • Customer Service
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Newsletter
  • Health & Medicine
  • Mind & Brain
  • Technology
  • Space
  • Human Origins
  • Living World
  • Environment
  • Physics & Math
  • Video
  • Photos
  • Podcast
  • RSS
Bad Astronomy
« Mars, up close and personal
GLAST resort »

Highway sign of the times

‘

As someone who loves Steve Martin’s "L.A. Story", "The Day the Earth Stood Still", and, of course, UFOs, I must admit to laughing myself silly over the antics of this clever person.

I can think of lots of fun things to do with this knowledge.

P.S. I am at an astronomy meeting today and tomorrow, and I have intermittent internet access. I was hoping to write some blog entries based on the meeting, and I probably will, but posting will be a bit lighter for a day or two.‘

Share

October 4th, 2006 11:11 PM by Phil Plait in Cool stuff, Humor | 22 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >

22 Responses to “Highway sign of the times”

  1. 1.   SMEaton Says:
    October 4th, 2006 at 11:57 pm

    Holy Bruce Campbell, BAtman!
    Without a doubt that’s the best thing I’ve seen this week.

  2. 2.   Chip Says:
    October 5th, 2006 at 12:22 am

    “Klaatu Barada Nikto” – is on my license plate frame. Folk in the know on SciFi enjoy it. (My car is very alien looking.)

  3. 3.   Troy Says:
    October 5th, 2006 at 12:23 am

    I thought that was Klingon (Instead it is a robot halt command). Cute story.

  4. 4.   Congratulations to the CEC 2006 blog winner: Mike RamchandMike Ramchand -- Centplus Tech Says:
    October 5th, 2006 at 1:05 am

    [...] Highway sign of the timesPS I am at an astronomy meeting today and tomorrow, and I have intermittent internet access. I was hoping to write some blog entries based on the meeting, and I probably will, but posting will be a bit lighter for a day or two. [...]

  5. 5.   Tom T Says:
    October 5th, 2006 at 5:23 am

    Reminds me of the time I was waiting in a fast food joint when the register went into its standby mode and started flashing advertisements. The first was for $.99 for 3 tacos. The second line was, ‘Good Morning, Dave, My name is HAL’.

    Somebody had some fun that morning.

  6. 6.   Blake Stacey Says:
    October 5th, 2006 at 6:27 am

    I remember one night when we discovered the construction signs on Massachusetts Avenue had password “ABCDE”. Oh, there were merry antics after that. . . .

  7. 7.   Just Al Says:
    October 5th, 2006 at 6:55 am

    In heavy traffic and thus at a time I could not stop to get a picture, I passed a highway sign my passenger swore to me said, “Slow to impulse power.”

    Since this was early evening, I’m betting it remained at least until the next morning.

  8. 8.   DouglasG Says:
    October 5th, 2006 at 7:12 am

    If it were Bruce Campbell, I would have to be “Klaatu Barada … Necktie!”

  9. 9.   Irishman Says:
    October 5th, 2006 at 7:50 am

    The sign is funny. And I note the perpetrator states that he only did it because the signs were still up and flashing after the road construction was complete, so it wasn’t causing any danger by eliminating an important message (say, WATCH OUT FOR THAT GIANT HOLE!).

    Still, I’m worried that showing something like this will inspire some other, less responsible folks to tinker with their road signs, and thereby put people in danger. YMMV.

    You may be expecting people to have sense enough not to do so. You must not know many people, like cell-phone drivers, drunk college students, teen-agers, those folks that cut across three lanes on the Interstate to make the off-ramp they “almost” missed, etc.

  10. 10.   Thomas Siefert Says:
    October 5th, 2006 at 7:54 am

    uh oh, there goes my passwords…..

  11. 11.   tjm220 Says:
    October 5th, 2006 at 9:01 am

    That’s a funny story, my first thought was ‘Army of Darkness’ when I the picture. I’m not sure how many people would be put in danger if signage was tinkered with in an active construction zone. My experience is that people tend to ignore them and try to rearend me on the freeway.

  12. 12.   tsg Says:
    October 5th, 2006 at 9:47 am

    “Insert 25 cents for important message.”

    “Hang up and drive.”

    “Look at the road, not at this sign.”

    I could have endless fun with this.

  13. 13.   MTyler8 Says:
    October 5th, 2006 at 10:34 am

    I laughed so hard my eyes are still watering. Thanks for the heads-up on this one!

  14. 14.   Cindy Says:
    October 5th, 2006 at 10:38 am

    I remember the Boston Globe running a picture of a street sign in Mass Ave in Cambridge that ran right past MIT. The students had taken out the rivets and rearranged the letters to say “Boston/Back Bay monster eats MIT”.

  15. 15.   Kyle Says:
    October 5th, 2006 at 12:37 pm

    When I went down to New Orleans with the PA National Guard to help out the Katrina folks, we ran a food/water/ice line for a few weeks. At one location, there was a road sign advertising the fact we were there for any passers-by. When they drove through the line, there was a big cardboard sign made up by the other troop present that advertised who they were. Since we actually had more people from our troop working that line, we added our troop letter as well. Someone from the other troop took offense to that, and used an exacto knife to cut our letter out. Later, it was asked by a lieutenant from the other troop if anyone knew how to change those signs. Nobody did, but I volenteered to try. I won’t say how I did it, but the system is password protected that I managed to get through via a minor miracle. A half hour later, I learned the system well enough to change what it displayed. That made the Lieutenant happy, and it made the guys in my troop happy when they learned that it had two changes…
    From an hour before we were there to two hours after, it advertised food, water, and ice and our hours… and the rest of the time it loudly advertised “Bravo Troop, 2nd of the 104th CAV”, and on the next frame “Salutes your resolve” and for the next “Food, Water, Ice” and the frame after that the hours we were there.
    One night everything ran late, the sign changed, and the Lieutenant saw :) I remember saying to him, “Try cutting THAT out with an Exacto knife. Sir!”

  16. 16.   Carey Says:
    October 5th, 2006 at 3:51 pm

    We had a scrolling one line sign in our high school cafeteria that I was responsible for programming. A friend and I had been teaching ourselves to juggle (using beanbags colored and shaped like penguins) in the cafeteria during our “aide” period our senior year, and surprisingly never got in trouble for it. I programmed the sign to say “Please do not toss penguins in the cafeteria.” I never got in trouble for that either. I’m pretty sure no one really noticed. I hated high school.

  17. 17.   bkallee Says:
    October 5th, 2006 at 5:01 pm

    Priceless

  18. 18.   antaresrichard Says:
    October 6th, 2006 at 12:35 am

    “Gort! Meringa!” Gosh, I wish I had my flashlight in hand! Enjoyed the post.

  19. 19.   skeptigirl Says:
    October 6th, 2006 at 12:45 am

    Troy Says: I thought that was Klingon (Instead it is a robot halt command). Cute story.

    Not exactly “halt”, Troy, you must be younger than the movie. It was the command for the robot to retrieve and revive (Mr.) Klaatu, though it did stop the Robot from killing the girl. (Always had to be a girl rescue scene even if the hero rescued her by proxy. It’s a wonder I don’t have a complex.)

  20. 20.   Wendy Says:
    October 7th, 2006 at 7:12 am

    So — I like most of the same movies. I will watch some of the ones on the BA movie list I have never seen. Here’s one of my favorites that was not mentioned.

    Altho the science is impossible, time travel, I have enjoyed watching Frequency with Dennis Quaid over and over and over again, and recommend that it has to be watched from BEFORE the opening credits start rolling.
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0186151/

  21. 21.   antaresrichard Says:
    October 7th, 2006 at 2:35 pm

    Still it’s nice to know that Helen Benson, the sensible skeptic played by actress, later best actress (‘Hud’ 1963) and real life heroine Patricia Neal, had the courage to stand her ground against world opinion (even though she and feminine dignity once again have to lose some of it to Gort -read male- via the obligatory faint and being carried away captive by the strong man scene. Why couldn’t Gort just extend his hand?).
    Notwithstanding, Helen’s willingness to put herself in harm’s way literally saves the world, making me, among other things, one very grateful, nearly “burnt out cinder”.
    I know, it’s only a film. “Neemray Klaatu netherwah…”

  22. 22.   skeptigirl Says:
    October 8th, 2006 at 12:23 pm

    I forgot there was the obligatory girl fainting with fear in that scene. And of course she must remain unconscious until just the right moment, rather than when one becomes horizontal and increases venous return as in a real vaso-vagal fainting incident.

    I wonder if females had really evolved an unfortunate unnaturally selected universal fainting reflex with fear rather than fight or flight if the human species would have survived.

    Men on the other hand, have the ability to be knocked unconscious for convenient lengths of movie time. It would be nice if such injuries really didn’t result in brain swelling and subsequently longer periods of recovery time, but it would be very unfortunate if it were really that easy to render a man unconscious with a single blow.

Leave a Reply





    • About Bad Astronomy


      Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He's written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic and fights the abuse of science, but his true love is praising the wonders of real science.


      The original BA site (with the Moon Hoax debunking, movie reviews, and all that) can be found here.


      Contact me: The Bad Astronomer "at" gmail "dot" com


       
      Keep Libel Laws out of Science
       
       Bad Astronomy was chosen as one of Time.com's Best Blogs of 2009.


    • Science Getaways


      Science Getaways: Vacation with your brain!


    • Subscribe to BA


      Subscribe to Bad Astronomy using RSS! RSS feed button


    • Death from the Skies!


      Order a copy of Death from the Skies! from Amazon, or Barnes and Noble.

      "If things worked the way I wanted them to, any reporter about to do another 'sensational' story on deadly meteors would consult this volume, and bang! common sense would find its way into the news. How strange would that world be?"
      -- Adam Savage, Mythbusters


      "Reading this book is like getting punched in the face by Carl Sagan. Frightening, but oddly exhilarating."
      -- Daniel H. Wilson, author of How to Survive a Robot Uprising


    • Recent Posts

      • Maiden flight for ESA’s Vega rocket tonight
      • Another interactive way to scale the Universe
      • An ear to the ocean
      • The staring eye of a crescent moon
      • A hoopy frood
    • Social/Networking/Cool Stuff


      Google+


       Twitter




       Facebook


    • Post Categories

    • Archives

    • Blogroll

      • Bad Astronomy (old site)
      • Bad Astronomy and Universe Today Forum
      • BAFacts Archive
      • Commenting Policy
      • Computer Support
      • Contact Information
      • DM: 80 Beats
      • DM: Cosmic Variance
      • DM: Discoblog
      • DM: Gene Expression
      • DM: NERS
      • DM: Science Not Fiction
      • DM: The Intersection
      • DM: The Loom
      • James Randi Educational Foundation
      • My use of the word "denier"
      • Planetary Society Blog
      • Politics and Religion posts
      • Press Kit
      • Q&BA Archive
      • The Antivax Bible
      • Universe Today
    • RSS DISCOVERmagazine.com: Latest Articles on Space

      • Maiden flight for ESA’s Vega rocket tonight | Bad Astronomy
      • Another interactive way to scale the Universe | Bad Astronomy
      • The staring eye of a crescent moon | Bad Astronomy
      • When the Moon hits your apse in a way-cool time lapse | Bad Astronomy
      • Funhouse galaxy | Bad Astronomy
    • RSS DISCOVER Blogs: The Loom

      • A Planet of Viruses: Autographed Book Sale
      • Animal Friendships: My cover story for Time magazine
      • The Future of E-books–podcast of my interview on Wisconsin Public Radio
      • Thursday, February 16: Science and social media panel in New York
      • A Scientific Jonah: My profile of Joy Reidenberg in tomorrow’s New York Times


  • Kalmbach Publishing Co.

    Copyright © 2012, Kalmbach Publishing Co.

    Privacy - Terms - Reader Services - Subscribe Today - Advertise - About Us