We are in the middle of a well-lit city, but our street only has two streetlights, and the one in the middle hasn’t worked in over a decade. The street’s probably three blocks long, so that’s a lot of velvety, comforting darkness, and it dead-ends at a wooded park.
As a result, we have a lot of wildlife, including a family of owls.
Oh, and we are decidedly not boojy-wah-zee. Our theory is that a street full of cheap, rusty cars isn’t very tempting to pilferers of the poorly-lit.
I am now curious what scenario prompted the OP’s idea to make this pitting.
My guess was food delivery driver or vampire Mormon.
Got lost on the way to the casino.
Hey, it is really difficult for a hardworking burglar supporting a degenerate gambling habit in today’s security-conscious environment; infrared door cams, laser trip wires, home owners who swapped out their Chocolate Lab for a Rottweiler, and now they won’t even do the curtesy of lighting the area up so he can see what he is doing without making himself obvious by using a flashlight or wearing a big set of mil-surplus NODs. It’s a hard life, man!
Stranger
Excellent point!
But you forgot the sharks with frickin laser beams that now infest our moats koi ponds. Infrared laser beams so the bad guys can’t see them targeting you.
I abhor light pollution. I live in what the OP would probably consider one of the dark bougie neighborhoods that they are complaining about, and I’m still annoyed by a few of my neighbors who keep bright yard lights on all night.
We made do in relative darkness at night for thousands of years before we developed bright outdoor lighting. If you just give your eyes a chance to adjust, you can see in near-darkness better than you might expect. In my younger days when I camped in Michigan’s UP, we’d take night trail walks, where we’d never turn on our flashlights except for a second at a time to get our bearings, or make sure that large dark blob wasn’t a bear. Even with no moon you could make out the trail. And if you’ve never seen the Milky Way in an area with absolutely no light pollution, you have to put it on your bucket list.
Meanwhile, gripes about the proliferation of high-intensity security lights and motion-sensing beams in neighborhoods continue apace.
I wish there were less lights.
We have a fairly dark patch and part of it is a wildlife “highway” (they like to use it to get to our small fruit orchard). I would see them moving around early morning while I was drinking coffee I put out a motion activated camera and in the last few months, during dark hours it has recorded skunks, raccoons, deer, foxes, and coyotes.
Shoot anybody we know?
Thanks for confirming my impression of you.
You would hate where I live, then. Very rural, no street lights, no sidewalks, no businesses, and the occasional gravel driveway. Not many people, actually. Just trees and corn fields. Really dark at night, especially when there’s no Moon. And very quiet, with only hawks, owls, and the occasional barking of coyotes breaking up the silence. I love it.
You’re welcome?
This might help–there’s usually a lever on the left side of the steering wheel. Sometimes you have to push it forward, or there might be a sort of cylindrical dial at the end. If you do this, beams of light shoot out of the front of your car. Play with it a little more and you’ll find an even brighter light! Pro tip: Try to keep your car on if you’re going to use these beams for a long time, or they will suck all the energy from your battery.
Shot up Lasix on the way to the track. Lost his roll on ‘Greasy Salmon’ and ‘Fat Boy Town Pool’ in the Third. Makes you wonder if he’s ever lost more than his own money… like Ed Norton in ‘Rounders’. Could you imagine some degenerate gambler having to crawl on his knees to his father to ask for his share of his ‘inheritance’ early so that the local bookies won’t break his legs?
That’s what I think of when I think of “Degenerate Gambler” : a fish that stinks from the head.
I’d have more respect for the “it’s dark out in the country, we enjoy the stars” bougies if they weren’t also “it’s stinky out in the country, let’s re-zone out all these farmers.”
This. Though these days I carry a flashlight to aim right at my feet if needed, at least at new moon, because at my age I’m more likely to break something if I fall.
Also: light pollution is a serious problem for a lot of species; not only for those members of our own who like darkness and/or astronomy.
Carry a flashlight if you’re afraid of the dark or of the footing; and no, you don’t need a super bright one. Even with my eyes one of those little pocket ones will do fine. Probably the one in your phone will work, for that matter.
This is not “Bougietown”; this is farm country. And I am very much not a rich folk. And I don’t give a damn about the finances (or gender or color or religion as long as you’re not proselytizing) of whoever comes to visit or for that matter just gets lost and winds up on this road because Google thinks it’s the next one over or because they can’t read a dead end sign. I just like it dark, and object to our species trying to turn the whole planet into downtown Manhattan. If that’s what you like, stay in the places that are like that already.
Why live there, then?
It ain’t shit and it ain’t just humans. There are a shitload of species that need the dark. Get a damn flashlight instead of trying to readjust every inch of the whole planet to suit your particular preferences.
I don’t mind dark neighborhoods, but it would be nice to be able to read house numbers, such as when I’ve visiting someone’s house for the first time. It might also help if you need emergency services to find your house.
I’m in a dark Santa Barbara neighborhood. I’m a five minute walk to a creek and to a small working organic farm. Five minute drive to the ocean.
We just returned from a vacation to a remote-ish place with no street lights. We spent a lot of time in the yard of our rental home just staring up at the stars and the Milky Way. It was a treat to see them (especially since so many planets are appearing close to the moon right now), because our home neighborhood is so lit up that we forgot there were such things as stars and planets.