@benjojo Those are the ones you can kick out, right?

@benjojo Like this: https://youtu.be/b5PP2o8abrc

@benjojo @f2k1de very helpful if you want to do astro observations/photography, but there's one pesky lamp in the distance -- just have a buddy kick it every couple minutes (it'll stay out until it has cooled down enough to re-ignite)

@benjojo and what about low pressure sodium lamps, with the lowest possible CRI but highest efficiency of all light sources?

I just learned that their production ceased in 2019 😔

@Oskar456 @benjojo CRI?

@mirabilos @benjojo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_rendering_index

@benjojo When I was a child I disliked them. Something about the colours of everything being wrong made me uncomfortable. But in retrospect I see the appeal. (Not to mention that the alternative is a much harsher light.)

@benjojo those used to fuck up trees in large cities, it threw their clock off to where they'd start leafing out in the winter and stuff.

@benjojo not nostalgic about the tech, but the color was definitely better for fucking up your night vision less

@benjojo not weird

@benjojo Same!

I simply got one for home 😅

@benjojo I loved that too. They replaced the last few on our street earlier this year and it's not the same but the new lights are so much more power efficient. I console myself with that.

@benjojo horrible for colour inteligibility but at least they don't have a huge blue peak in the spectrum like the LED ones do. or, even worse, stroboscopic issues from crap drivers.

@benjojo the orange glow is the best

@benjojo @catsalad the yellow orange glow of low pressure sodium, and the weird effect it had on colours is a defining part of my childhood.

It is a thing that oddly feels like home to me!

@benjojo warmer vibe than the cold white LED lights we see everywhere now

@benjojo@benjojo.co.uk fear not

@Stellar @benjojo I feel bad my first thought was piss glasses

@clarfonthey@toot.cat @benjojo@benjojo.co.uk portable mexico

@benjojo required by law on the big island of Hawaii, if you want to live the monochromatic night life 😃

@benjojo i definitely miss them too.

@benjojo Mercury vapor all the way for me. (Okay, maybe not on environmental grounds.)

@benjojo

I didn't mind them one way or the other for road lighting.

Some of the older industrial plants I did work at had them inside the buildings. It made identifying colour-coded conductors a bit of a challenge, has to be said.

My city received a batch of bad LED street lamps. When they failed, the light changed to violet or blue. Which was pretty, if not practical.

@benjojo I agree. It's such a warm and pleasant atmosphere.

We still have them here where I'm at in the US, but the Midwest is generally 5-10 years behind everyone else lol. New developments or replacement streetlamps get the awful white lights.

@benjojo I used that distinctive orange color to light a play set outside a suburban convenience store

@benjojo @catsalad we used to have those all over san diego because of a light pollution regulation in support of Palomar Mountain Observatory. Then the regulation expired, and they all got switched to fucking LEDs that are hard on the eyes.

We used to be a society.

@benjojo yes, i am surprised to say that i do miss the high-pressure sodium glow.

would be a fun project to make a realistic HPS lamp using 589nm LEDs as a base, and then mixing in other wavelengths until plant leaves look right under it

@benjojo I will never forget arriving in Lisbon at night for the first time twenty years ago, entering Alfama in this light. Saudades

@benjojo I've found myself missing them as the bright white LED ones are too much at night. Weird thing is LEDs come in all sorts of colours, and you get dimmable ones. No need for such a harsh light *all* night.

@benjojo you know the systems where you activate street lights by phone call or text? Maybe extend it to include a personal preference of color temperature on demand? 😜
Or make it an art installation that changes color temperature based on weather and time of day to catch that feeling perfectly on every nice evening.

@benjojo No, no it's not. the dull yellow had a warmth vs the clinical pure cold white. Also, they replaced the one outside our hour and now it's like a floodlight on the bedroom.

Still at least we can see everything ... Pity so can everyone else.

@benjojo for me it's less the technology and more the warmth of the light, cold light makes me sad

@benjojo The light bulb in my room is an LCD but with colored glass to give the light a look a lot like this.