At the Solstice, in Praise of Darkness | Hacker News Reader

At the Solstice, in Praise of Darkness

nytimes.com

50 pointsprismatic18 comments

The first thing I did when I bought my house out in the country was to have the power company remove the security lights. Now it feels quiet and dark at night instead of feeling like a parking lot.

I feel like someone should send you a thank-you note or something. Fortunately I can't see my neighbors' floodlights from my house, but they certainly impinge on the darkness whenever I go for a walk. Rural security lights are a plague.

They just do this on request? Isn't this municipal lighting for everyone?

He means the floodlights (usually motion-triggered) attached to his own house.

No he doesn't.

Many homes in the country, far outside of town, will have what is essentially a single street light in their yard.

Here's a picture:

https://www.extension.iastate.edu/smallfarms/select-outdoor-...

Growing up, we had one and I can't think of any neighbor that didn't have one. "Security" was real, both from thieves and wild animals. Neither were a significant threat, but they weren't a nonexistent threat either.

Since we are afraid of darkness I tend to think we do this for our own peace of mind. It is eyes, not light, which deters thieves and wild animals.

Yeah, those. We actually had two, on the two poles from the electric company that went through my yard. All my neighbors have them too, but not me anymore! :D

Honestly, there aren't any wild animals in the area that are going to attack me or my kids. And as for thieves, most robberies occur during the day, not the night. They're for peace of mind, and nothing else.

I took a lovely stroll across the farm last night. Completely cloudy so no stars, just a very faint glow. It was even nicer because my idiot dog is finally listening to me when I tell her not to menace the cattle. (I think one of the cows may have administered a little well-deserved spanking recently.)

I was born on the winter solstice, and there's something about that stillness in the darkness that I love—people are on holiday, and you have the space to linger over your thoughts.

Beautiful! The author has a great voice. I’ve always loved the dark, ever since I was young. I’m greatly anticipating the spring, but in the mean time I relish in the dark; spending time with family, friends and loved ones.

As I allergy sufferer I hate the approaching of Spring since it means about two months of hiding indoors waiting for the first hot days of summer to kill the grass and end all the pernicious pollination. Thus I have learned to embrace the long winters.

Greetings from 60 degrees northern latitude. When I woke up at 9 a.m. today, it was still dark. The sunrise is at 9.24 am and sunset is 3.11 pm. At midday when the sun is at its highest, it's barely above the treeline, 6.5 degrees above the horizon.

On top of that, the sky is completely overcast with thick clouds this time of year and they either absorb all light or emit darkness.

But I'm not complaining, we've had hours of sunlight in December. Hours! A few years ago there was only 20 minutes in the whole month, that was a bit dark.

But come summer solstice, it's payback time. Living with the midnight sun is magical.

A shout out to all the northern dwellers of HN!

/me waves back from the same latitude :)

>But I'm not complaining, we've had hours of sunlight in December. Hours! A few years ago there was only 20 minutes in the whole month, that was a bit dark.

Why does the # of hours of darkness vary year to year?

Is it something like an atmospheric effect of solar refraction through the atmosphere during dusk with a dependence on weather-patterns?

It's the relentless overcast cloud cover. By sunlight, I mean actual sun visible. I should have said sunshine.

There's very little difference in the number of day/night hours, only the little variations where our calendars don't match the motions of the heavens.

I grew up at about 40 degrees northern latitude. I've been living in the Philippines temporarily for the past two years, and the only time I get homesick is at Christmas and the winter solstice. I'm now about 10 degrees above the equator, and it's just not the same at all. Essentially the sun rises and sets here the same time every day as far as anyone notices (even though there is a slight variation).

There something about an obvious solstice that makes you physically, psychologically, and spiritually more aware that time moves inevitably on.

I love the height of winter, and the cozy feeling it's companying darkness brings. Where I live we only get 4 hours of sunlight in December, cut even shorter most of the time due to clouds.

I adore seeing the stars, but I do not enjoy the night. Multi-week observatory shifts in grad school burned away a lot of my earlier warm feelings for all things nocturnal.

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