Editor's note:In his Breaktime Column (DN 08.06.01), Ken Foote raised questions about how best to deal with the problem of guardrails that block the view of scenery from the road. Many readers sent in their analysis and suggestions. We include some of the more novel, insightful comments below:
One possibility would be to mount video cameras behind the guardrail and TFT displays on the front and simply project the scene from the back to the front of the rail. This strategy has been employed even with moving objects and is known as active camouflage. The active camouflage system also brings the added benefit of being able to sell ad space to help pay for the system.
Timothy P. Mallory Design News reader
There is no water thickness which will refract light rays which aren't incident upon the window. If the guard rail is blocking the light from getting to the window, that's the end of the story!!!
Tony Marinucci Novellus Systems San Jose, CA USA
While prism-shaped glass or even water-filled glass in a vehicle would indeed provide light refraction, it still will not change the fact that the car's windows are below (or level with) the guardrail. You see, the light rays coming from the scenery are originally being blocked by the guardrail so that they never make it to the car's windows (but they DO make it to the truck's windows because of the steeper angle).
Therefore, modifications to the car's windows would not solve this problem. Installing such equipment will only provide an additional view of the ground or guardrail (boring). However, let's suppose for a moment that you installed a glass prism on top of the guardrail itself! Now THAT would be an entirely different matter! The lower part of the prism (the thicker section) would refract the light at a greater angle so that it strikes the lower portion of the car's window (the stump of the oak tree would appear to be just above the guardrail). The upper part of the prism (the thinner section) would refract the light at a less severe angle (the top of the oak tree would "appear" closer to its "actual" location. For a prism with a sharp edge at the top, this refraction would approach zero so that the tops of the mountains in the distance appear in virtually the "correct" location.
One must bear in mind that this scenery image will be somewhat "squashed" due to the refraction. Trees will appear wide and stubby. So will the mountains. But it all looks better than the blasted guardrail!
I had to reply to your editorial about owning a cell phone (DN 08.06.01). I agree with you about the bad phone manners and the hazards of driving with one. But you really did not need to go out and buy one. Next time you really need a phone, just hold up a sign, "Emergency, Need Cell Phone, Please."
I agree with you about these stupid urban legends (DN 05.21.01) I wonder if most of them are started by spammers hoping to harvest e-mail addresses from the many generations of forwards. I've had messages with hundreds of addresses stacked up on top of some stupid joke. Even worse, there is a JavaScript exploit that can, be used to make the recipient's computer forward the message to a mailbox of the originator's choice, and it's all done invisibly.
I really enjoyed all the input on why tea bags cause explosive boiling after microwaving the glass mug full of water.
Do you remember what happened in chemistry class when you added a boiling stone to liquid that was already hot? The microwave is going to create hot spots within the smooth ceramic mug. The tea bag will act like a boiling stone with thousands of tiny nucleating points where vaporization can take place. This will result in massive instantaneous vaporization that will throw your hot water all over the place.
Have an opinion on engineering? Want to add information to an article you've read in Design News? Tell us about it. We welcome your opinions. All, of course, are subject to editing for brevity. And, you must sign the letter and tell us your company's name. Send them to:
Letters, Design News, 275 Washington St., Newton, MA 02458, or e-mail them to: kfield@cahners.com
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