What's going on, Albuquerque?

Jesus Loves U

I snapped this image on the night of Monday, March 4 with my iPhone. It shows an illuminated roadwork sign for southbound drivers on Carlisle Blvd., just south of Montgomery. Just beyond where the sign appears, traffic merges from two lanes into one because of a recently-started construction project. But, rather than alert drivers to that, it appears that someone associated with the project thought it better to proselytize for Jesus. I've emailed the image to Mayor Berry and to D'val Westphal at the Journal. Are you as offended as I am by this abuse of public property, or should this raging secularist just chill?

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Permalink Reply by ramon t on March 5, 2013 at 10:17am

Yes, the raging secularist should probably just chill. Those signs are very easy to hack.

http://gizmodo.com/5136970/hacking-road-signs-is-frightningly-easy-...

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Permalink Reply by Black Dog on March 5, 2013 at 10:33am

If they're easy to hack, that's scary in its own right. Could safety be compromised?

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Permalink Reply by Adelita on March 5, 2013 at 10:34am

So Black Dog, if you could hack one of those signs, what would you want it to say?

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Permalink Reply by Black Dog on March 5, 2013 at 10:39am

I'd like them not to be hack-able.

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Permalink Reply by misterhinkydink on March 5, 2013 at 11:59am

I prefer them hackable.

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Permalink Reply by Balletmom on March 5, 2013 at 1:08pm

Misterthinkydink, thanks! I had a good laugh. Is the last one Klingon?

But it probably is a safety isse..... but we all need humor any place we can find it.

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Permalink Reply by misterhinkydink on March 5, 2013 at 1:18pm

It's from 'The Day the Earth Stood Still'. As for the safety, does it saying 'Construction Ahead' really help? There's one of these signs, some flashers and some barrels. That looks like a hazard to me no matter what the sign says.

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Permalink Reply by Balletmom on March 5, 2013 at 1:20pm

The Day the Earth Stood Still! One of my first and favorite sci fi movies- how did I miss that.

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Permalink Reply by Black Dog on March 5, 2013 at 2:34pm

D'val Westphal of the Journal looked into the situation after I emailed the photo to her this morning. Here's what she emailed back to me a short while ago:

"city says vandals broke in and reprogrammed the sign, which is not a city sign but is being used by the business that is working in the public right of way to hook into the water system.
sign company reprogrammed it when they learned it had been broken into."

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Permalink Reply by RunLikeADog on March 5, 2013 at 3:36pm

Well we are all certainly glad this huge injustice has been remedied for you, Black Dog. Just curious if you report any other graffiti and vandalism.

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Permalink Reply by Lahjik on March 5, 2013 at 8:32pm

Yes it is a safety issue but if the contractors doing the signage (or the contractors in charge of the project) would maybe, ya know, CHANGE THE FREAKING DEFAULT PASSWORD it wouldn't happen.

I'm thinking the highway department should add in a fine for each instance of improper signage and they'd make a point of locking the controllers up and enacting a little data security. That also might cut down on the instances of mis-directing signs like "lane closed" still up after the work is done for the night.

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Permalink Reply by Black Dog on March 5, 2013 at 9:30pm

Thanks to everyone for a lively discussion. Today I learned that highway signs can be hacked. To RunLikeADog, yes, I have reported instances of grafitti and vandalism. Call me old fashioned, but I think it's good citizenship. Also, would your comments have been as condescending had the message on the sign been hate speech, rather than a Bible verse?