Posted on 08/05/2006 2:32:45 PM PDT by sully777
"I've been to remote parts of the desert and really have seen the deepness of the Milky Way. And I gotta tell you, it was breathtaking and very lonely...because I wasn't in civilization."
That's a great way of putting it. We live out in the country and there's nothing I like better to do than star gaze. It puts my head back on straight and reminds me of how absolutely INSIGNIFICANT I am in the Grand Scheme of Things. ;)
However, I equate this "movement" with Global Warming, Smoking Bans, Property Rights abuses, etc., everything that the lefties want to use to control the general population.
If people don't want to live near lighted areas, move away from the lighted areas. If people enjoy the hustle and bustle, bright lights and noise of the city, live there.
And guess what? You can still travel from the city to the country and enjoy both lifestyles whenever you want to. Well, for now that is. Not for long if yet another group of Gnatzies get a toe-hold.
"If you want to imagine the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever." ~ George Orwell, from '1984'
One of the major things I miss by no longer being at sea is the night sky. I am not in favor of more laws and regulations, but I would hope people would cut back on improper lighting at night – it would save companies money if not tax deductible.
For quite a while I lived in a very rural portion of the Eastern Shore of Maryland...
It was, though, a small subdivision surrounded by farmlands. Lived there 7 years, not one instance of crime there the whole time.
However, 3 or 4 of the surrounding houses felt compelled to have 8 trillion candlepower unshielded outdoor lights on CONTINUOUSLY every night. Could barely see stars, meteor showers, the aurora, etc.
> someone equates light with sound
And appropriately so. Light invades -and annoys - as effectively as sound.
Already happened.Alpine TX.a few years ago.McDonald Observatory.I believe you need a permit to put up an outdoor light.Not sure though.
Heh heh.
We have a mega power street light in front of our house. When we moved in 4 years ago, it was such a distraction that I vowed to my wife to shoot it out with a pellet gun. She was distressed because she has some sort of problem with it being dark at night and wanted the light to stay on, blazing out any vestige of darkness.
Luckily, something went wrong when they installed our power and the light stopped working. That was September 2002 and no one has repaired it yet.
If they do, I will shoot it out.
I don't doubt that a bit.
I vote to have Mickey D's turn off those stupid search lights they have on top of the restaurants!
We live in relatively rural area and you can see those lights for miles. Really screws up the shooting star watches.
I met with some Japanese people for business, and when driving them from the airport they were really freaked out by how dark it got, and especially when we had to go to a location in West Texas. They had never seen a dark sky, and apparently it might as well be daytime in Tokyo at night they explained.
Yeah, I think a lot of this insane extreme nighttime lighting (especially the continous stuff which is a problem, I have no problem with motion-sensor lights that come on when you approach your front door or enter your driveway) stuff has to do with deep-seated fear of darkness from childhood.
The whole crime prevention thing, in the vast majority of the country, is a complete crock.
And also light pollution has been so bad for so long most people have no idea what a truly dark night sky looks like and thus don't know what they've lost.
And of course most people haven't the slighest interest in ever looking at a night sky, which is something I have a hard time wrapping my mind around, but it's certainly true.
She was distressed because she has some sort of problem with it being dark at night …
Nope. This subdivision was 6 miles from the nearest small town and a good 1 1/2 hour drive from the nearest city of any kind. I assure you that those exceedingly bright lights were not the last defense holding back hordes of MS-13 gangmembers or anything.
Motion-sensor technology isn't exactly James-Bond level technology or cost. Explain to me if crime prevention is the issue why they can't only come on when motion is sensed?
I understand that one!
I have for a long time done some star gazing, although not as much as some people, and have an 8 inch dob. When I first started getting into some nice and dark skies, I realized I was having trouble recognizing some constellations, because they had more stars in them than I was used to seeing!
My dad moved down to Jeff Davis county in Texas in part because of the dark skies.
It's an illogical fallacy: Light annoys you and a fraction of one percent of the population. But don't let me stop you from showing your appreciation for the new laws that these groups wish to force upon the population.
It's neither pollution nor harmful. It's simply annoying to you AND DAMN IT YOU'RE GONNA FIX OUR LITTLE WAGONS!
You haven't seen urban sky glow? Go out after dark on an overcast night. It's for real.
When I was in college, I lived in a tiny little house next door to a sweet old lady. I lived there for five years and no crime, to my knowledge, took place in the neighborhood.
Then, after seeing some scary crime story on TV, she installed a gazillion megawatt London Blitz-worthy light in her back yard, which was directly across from my bedroom. The thing was like a second sun. From that day, we had no night in the neighborhood. I had to cover the bedroom windows with aluminum foil to get any sleep.
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