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by rezonant 307 days ago
Guerilla Public Service. If you've not heard of Richard Ankrom who fixed an exit sign on the 110 freeway, check it out. He made a documentary about it (and there are countless other videos on YouTube covering the story).

https://youtu.be/Clgl63CWOkM?si=CZQEzUsY9gWjWbLU

He did it so well, the modification stayed in place for years.

If you can do it right, I say go for it.

1 comments

Unfortunately you left out the fact that despite his good intentions, it's illegal, and he would have been arrested if caught.
Here’s a short list of other illegal things:

- lemonade stands without a business license

- posting fliers on traffic light posts, yard sale signs, etc

- turning over a solid double yellow line to get into a plaza

There are lots of “illegal” things we do every day, because they are better for society than strictly following the law.

OK so if I understand you right, you're implying that it's only “technically” illegal but it won't be enforced?
Ya, it's a fair question, my claim isn't very clear in my comment. I think there are two elements that I care about:

1. Exactly what you said, it's illegal but is seldom enforced

2. I would rather break the law to improve the world, than to follow the law and watch it fall into chaos.

I'm with you on #2, but even more than that, I'd rather live in a world in which detrimental laws are easier to change/fix...
Ya, that's fair, and very noble of you. I think this sort of thing is often the divide between engineering and politics. Engineers want to do the thing. Politicians want to make it easier to do the thing. I realize those are loose definitions, and I'm just some internet guy, but I like my definitions. As you get promoted, you move away from engineering, and further into politics. Personally I don't have the patience for much politics, even though i recognize that it is good and important.

All that to say -- I think you should be promoted :)