The night, what we lack in this modern world.

[Dr. Harry]

No, primitive is NOT being able to fill the sky with light - it's our mastery of electricity that lets us light up the night. I'd like to see those other animals that think they're so smart try to drown out the stars. In your faces, dolphins and chimpanzees!

Primitive vs. elegant, as opposed to primitive vs. bestial.

If you can get a hybrid that gets 60 miles to the gallon, why use a Model T?

(The only other comparison I could think of was neutron bomb to A-bomb. I've been doing too much war gaming ...)

 

[bento]

A few weeks ago I decided over Thanksgiving week break to take the wife and kids on a "scientific" vacation. We'll be going west to the McDonald Observatory and then north to Carlsbad Caverns. I always wanted to visit the Observatory, which is run by the University of Texas (Austin) and will probably be the first time my kids ever see the night sky without all the light pollution.

 

[Thunderfoot]

Growing up in the middle of nowhere was awesome. On summer nights I could go outside and just look up and stare for hours. Living in suburbia is definitely not the same, however, it does allow for some really cool, OMG moments when you get to see people that have never seen that kind of sky observe one for the first time.

I was a leader for a bunch of Boy Scouts hiking at the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. We were at the base of Mount Phillips during the second night of the Perseid Meteor Shower in '97. We were lucky enough that we had a stop over at that camp site and didn't have to be up at 0-dark thirty. We sat there looking up at a sky so full of stars that it looked about to burst and then the shower started. Each one of those boys just stared in wonder and every so often you could here a small gasp as a meteor would explode and scatter, something you miss in areas of light pollution. One of my fellow leaders shared duties with me teaching the Astronomy merit badge, one of those, occasionally asked for badges. We had 8 requests to start the badge when we got back to Maryland. Though I'll never forget that sky, I'll never forget those looks of interest and 'starry-eyed' wonder even more.

Yeah, light pollution is bad.

 

[Harmon]

In my youth I spent a lot of time in the woods- camping and hunting, I got to see the night sky a lot, but never appreciated until a few years ago when I looked up and realized that I hadn't seen the night sky in some time.

My fondest memory that included the night sky was frog gigging with my Dad and some friends. We stopped to rest and laid down on this grassy knoll and watched the stars and listened to the summer night. I hope I never lose that memory.

 

[Dr. Harry]

I was a leader for a bunch of Boy Scouts hiking at the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. We were at the base of Mount Phillips during the second night of the Perseid Meteor Shower in '97.
Yeah, light pollution is bad.

Zowie. I addition, the Persied meteor shower in the late 90's were particularly good. This last August, I was at my in-laws house off the road in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan.

Very good sky, but the gigantic lights added less than a mile away at a power substation just cut at me.

The effect was like being subjected to someone else flatulence in the center of a flower garden.

 

[Thunderfoot]

<SNIP>
The effect was like being subjected to someone else flatulence in the center of a flower garden.

Oddly poetic and quite apropos... in a sick and twisted kind of way.

 

[Roadkill101]

I have excellent night vision. I find I can navigate better in area's of darkness without a flashlight than with one (such as when camping). With the exception of a heavily overcast sky. I imagine Light Pollution has something to do with my seeing so well in the dark.

 

[Nyaricus]

So, kinda a random comment here, but after I read this the first night Ranger Wickett posted it, the piece actually inspired me to write a piece of poetry. I'm none too certain if it's anything good, great or indifferent, but I can say that I grew up at my cabin under the star-studded sky, and it was a wonder at night to see them all. So, without further ado: my poem.



Unfolding the Empty Hands

Under this heady blanket of stars,
in the deep wood.
Where the satyrs chase their slender-hipped nymphs,
'round the sacred circle,
in the hidden glade.

A stage where the predators of night,
beget widows, widowers and orphans.
Which therein lies a seed of truth,
concerning life.
Germinating.

Escaping the grasp of mind and hand
of day dwelling, mechanical man.

"But oh, do the stars look pretty."


---

cheers,
--N

 

[Ferret]

I saw a great night sky, most of the laps where I live were orange and low, but I live on the seaside so that helps, and on a flat. Pretty much made out the milky way, and it looked gorgeous.

 

[Thunderfoot]

So, kinda a random comment here, but after I read this the first night Ranger Wickett posted it, the piece actually inspired me to write a piece of poetry. I'm none too certain if it's anything good, great or indifferent, but I can say that I grew up at my cabin under the star-studded sky, and it was a wonder at night to see them all. So, without further ado: my poem.



Unfolding the Empty Hands

Under this heady blanket of stars,
in the deep wood.
Where the satyrs chase their slender-hipped nymphs,
'round the sacred circle,
in the hidden glade.

A stage where the predators of night,
beget widows, widowers and orphans.
Which therein lies a seed of truth,
concerning life.
Germinating.

Escaping the grasp of mind and hand
of day dwelling, mechanical man.

"But oh, do the stars look pretty."


---

cheers,
--N

Ny, we have to hook up some time...I could do wonders with this and a descent band.