[Congressman Billybob]

I think y'all will find this interesting.

[JOAT]

That is a great photo. My friends and I came to the same conclusions as the other as well after viewing it.

[MHGinTN]

One of your finest, John ... and somewhat poetic to boot! But I am reminded of the smell in Tuscaloosa, AL, of the paper mills. I once asked a resident what that smelled like ... he replied that it smelled like homes and cars and college educations. I didn't embarrass myself further.

[Christian4Bush]

Bump for BillyBob's website

[isthisnickcool]

[karnage]

YOU are a bright light on FR, Billybob. And that's saying a lot. I always enjoy reading your posts. Carry on, and God Bless You.

[concentric circles]

The U.N. may be the last to see the reality of economic success, but our own state department and democratic party will not be far behind.

[Liberty Valance]

Great article. The pic didn't show up for me but it didn't need to because you've told the story so well. Thanks for posting.

[ElkGroveDan]

If that's the same image I think it is, I used to have a poster that came from national Geographic hanging on my bedroom wall when I was a kid.

I believe that it could stand some updating. Even from this image, the American West, particularly Las Vegas and California's Central Valley would be much brighter. I also suspect Eastern China and the South Pacific would show a whole lot more civilization.

[landerwy]

I see that kid of mine left the lights on again!!! :~)

[GVnana]

Note especially the Korean peninsula

Very telling, isn't it?

[PGalt]

Good piece John.

Ever notice how parasitic, socialistic cock-a-roaches run when you shine the light of truth on them?

[spinestein]

[In general, the brightest lights (marking the greatest development) are in the nations with free societies and free market economics. The darker nations are the socialist nations and dictatorships. The darkest of all are the communist nations.]


The anti-capitalists see every bright spot of light as an evil stain on the Earth; humanity ruining the planet for the rest of nature (which was here first).

The free market societies are the worst offenders in their view, and they believe we should all give up our cars and air conditioners and live by picking berries and digging tubers.

I've talked with some of these people from time to time, and they're kooks but there are more than a few of them.

[Soothing]

Dear Congressman, what bout Australia and Canada, how do you explain they are much darker? And since the photo was published 5 years ago, you need updated info for sure.

[Jimmy Valentine's brother]

Great piece.
Indeed perhaps the great intellectuals of our leading universities will indeed one day see the light as a simple country boy does today.

[Paul_Denton]

Awesome photo.

[Brett66]

That is amazing, just by looking at the lights you can tell which nations are the advanced ones and which are not. Africa literally is the "dark continent".

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Well they do say that about a quarter of the energy used by the entire world is used in the US . . . this is pretty much a picture of that!

[SaltyJoe]

While I generally agree with the assessment of North Korea, it should be noted that Central Asia is extremely arid especially in the area formerly known as Tibet. Other less illuminated dry areas are the Sahara, and Australia.

Maybe the angle of the satellite photo obscures the light beams from Russia, Alaska, and Australia? Maybe some people just want to sleep at night?

Also, the deep dark jungles of both Africa and South America don't seem to have a lot of bulbs lighting up the night sky. Maybe it's the trees that are in the way? Maybe I'm just being silly?

But what is overwhelmingly obvious is that people like fresh water. We're funny like that. I'll be a US penny that the dryer areas would become better lit at night if there were more irrigation of fresh water (hint: Las Vegas and Nevada in general).

Sometimes bright lights at night only signify a certain measure of financial success. Look at Saudi Arabia. I've been there briefly. It's dry dry dry! I remember the gov't there too. They didn't like outsiders very much, and that part of the world didn't like their women to walk about at night either. I wouldn't want to dwell their as I wouldn't want to dwell in North Korea. Yet, Saudi Arabia has some pretty bright lights.

Therefore, I'm going to have to use the McCarthy conspiracy theory to explain why North Korea is so dark: one of the 57 card carrying Communist in the U.S. Department of Defense alerted Pyongyang as to when the night-sky-picture-taking satellite would be snapping shots of the Korean Peninsula. For the exact time that this satellite was overhead, Kim Jong Il gave a "lights out" order. The North Korean SOF shot out any lights still burning and then imprisoned the previous caretaker of that light. Thus, they averted whatever knowledge we might have gained over their military strength.

I'm sure that if having a brightly lit sky at night is the ultimate measure of earthly success, then during a scheduled night-sky-picture-taking satellite shot that every nation seeking the inglorious achievements of human respect would have been burning flares by the millions to upstage their neighbors. I'm sure that there would also be a multitude of others giving a disrespectful "moon" to reflect more of the artificial lite. It may even make the Guinness Records?

Until then, I'll just categorize this as a "cool photo", and say "thanks for the post!"

[perfect stranger]

Thanks for the article Congressman. I found it most interesting.