well thats something you dont see everyday...

I believe the lamp is base up in this case!

Yes it is indeed base up. Seen it myself.

doesnt a SOX Lamp fail early should it be opperated base down?

How the lamp can be base up in this fixture?
I don't see any mounting for installing the lamp base up.
This fixture looks like most of the fixtures of the base down fixture.

When you look at the fixture from the right spot you can see a mounting that partially blocks light. I have seen the mountings in acorns missing their glass.

Yes base down burning can cause the end seals of the arc tube to crack due to excessive sodium build up in these small areas.

nope LPS must be base up or side....NEVER base down..if base down the sodium liquid will go to the cathodes and will ruin them forever.....so it must be base up!

These acorns have a base-up bracket. I have seen a 6.6A series plug-in adapter that had capabilities for two 55w LPS lamps base-up for acorns.

These acorns have now been removed.

That sucks. Do you know why?

They installed new parking lot lighting that led to the removal of all these older lights.