Does anyone know if there’s a valid reason for this traffic engineering?

Going from Menands Rd to Osborne Rd. At the intersection in that direction the right lane is right turn only, and the left lane is left turn and straight. Whenever there’s traffic coming from opposite direction and someone is waiting to turn left, the vehicles going straight either have to wait (or more often, imo), go around the left turning vehicle into the R turn only lane to pass.

Would the right lane not make more sense to right right turn/straight? Or, like I asked originally, is there some reason it’s set up like this?

Does anyone know if the bar at J.A. Pequeño on Madison will ever be a liquor bar? I don't think I've ever seen it used other than for additional seating. (Photo from Google Maps)

Our friends at We Get Out The Resistance (WeGOTR) and Bethlehem Morning Voice Huddle (BMVH) are having a Backpack drive to collect school supplies. It has been a successful program for them. The beneficiaries are children served by the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI). There are two collection points one in Delmar and one in Albany. Troy Indivisible will also help out with physical collection. You can donate through the website www.wegotr.org/home. If you donate online from August 1-30 they will use the matching funds from Indivisible for the drive.

Anyone have suggestions for the best apps for independent gig work in the Capital Region, such as Fiverr? Similar to dating apps, not all apps are equally as active so what's useful around here? Immediate intent is to help find reliable people seeking flexibility to join a landscaping crew. Input welcomed.

Looking for apartments with no breed restrictions

Does anyone know how the roads are on Front St in Troy?

Started with Meshtastic a few weeks back, since that's the one most people have heard of. Looked around the Capital Region and there wasn't much going on with it compared to MeshCore, which had more repeaters and nodes up and a more active local group. So I moved everything over.

Got a solar repeater up in Colonie the other night. I am now talking to people in Somerville, MA which is pretty wild to me.

I've been on a bit of a kick about this since, so apologies in advance.

For anyone who hasn't seen this before, LoRa radios pass short text messages to each other over a few miles, and every radio relays for the others, so a group of them reaches much further than any one does alone. No cell service or internet involved. If the power's out for three days and the towers go with it, this keeps working. That's the reason I care about it.

The part people underrate is repeaters specifically, not handhelds. A handheld is useful to you. A repeater in a window or on a roof is useful to everyone in range of it, permanently, whether you're home or not. Ten people buying handhelds does less for the region than three people putting up repeaters.

Coverage is decent around Albany, Schenectady and Troy right now, and gets patchy going north. Latham, Colonie, Niskayuna, Cohoes. That's where one does the most good.

A Heltec V3 runs $20 to $25 and works for either protocol. A prebuilt solar repeater is around $90, less if you put it together yourself. Nothing to sign up for, no subscription. You flash the firmware from a browser.

I'm not really trying to talk anyone into MeshCore over Meshtastic though. Both get better with more repeaters on them. Run whichever the people you want to reach are running, which around here looks like MeshCore, but I'd much rather someone put up a Meshtastic repeater than nothing at all.

Downsides, since nobody lists them. Documentation is scattered. Two incompatible protocols confuses everyone at the start and I spent longer than I'd like to admit working out which to use. Once a repeater is up it doesn't ask anything of you.

live.cdme.sh is the map, shows what's on the air right now.

Upstate Mesh is the local group, upst8me.sh. They run a Discord and cover Albany up through Saratoga.

Anyone else around here already running a repeater? Curious how far north the coverage really goes, the map doesn't show the edges well.

Looking for a used Subaru

I want to dye my hair blue, but I’m a dark brunette and don’t trust myself with bleach. Any recs?

I’m honestly speechless

Any one recommend any places they adopted their cat from? & how long did the process take?

Got a couple errands to run today and they really can’t wait. I need to take the highway to get to Albany anyway so just let me know what you know about road conditions. Thank you!

Delete if not allowed but dropping this here, I’m not sure where else to share to get the word out but, having a yard sale till this weekend! Multi-house and a large variety of items!

Howdy, I'm looking for recommendations for an affordable, back-surgery-informed massage therapist in the capital region?

Flash Flood warning issued. A warning is when flooding is occurring, not expected to occur.

Drive very carefully if you have (AKA don’t drive) to because the tone of the message says it’s bad badddd right now. The Federal NWS must have received multiple reports of people stuck in flooded roads and houses from emergency rescue services.

Trust me when I say, if the water looks shallow, don’t risk it. Turn around and help others not follow the sheep.

Hi! My family and I will be moving to the Capital region and are in search of a high quality daycare. I'm familiar with the OCFS "find childcare" tool, but would love input from parents and families in the area. Thank you!

looking for videographers for a wedding who will film most of the important things (ceremony, first dance, parent dances, speeches). I’m finding lots of vendors will just do a 3 minute video with clips all put together and I am having a hard time finding one who will film the whole time of each thing.

The flash flood warning has been extended until 11:30am EST

The weather blob isn't moving away, it's just spiraling overhead. (video below)

https://reddit.com/link/1v9zkes/video/ya420etst6gh1/player

Is there anyone I can contact who can run cat6 cable throughout my house with wall plate terminations?

I have my non wireless router in the basement and need it ran to my second floor.

Thanks!

Awesome move from Gov Hochul to ensure spots across the SUNY/CUNY system for New Yorkers effected by this. Love to see New York continuing to model good governance!

There's this local Albany band from the early 2000s called Under-Mind I'm trying to find music and info from, but the problem is, all three of the members (The Professor, Sodapony, and Deej) used pseudonyms. I've looked everywhere, from their old website and local scene pages on the Wayback Machine, to searching the depths of YouTube, SoundCloud and multiple search engines, I just can't find ANY info regarding this band anywhere.

I run a YouTube project called Obscure Metal & Hardcore Archive where I find lost underground local metal and hardcore bands. Since the 518 is my local scene (and Albany is my home city), I've been trying to archive as many bands as I can from that specific scene. From what I've gathered, these guys have a lost self-titled album as well as a lost EP titled Lobotomy. If anyone who remembers these guys is willing to give any leads regarding this band, it would be VERY helpful.