Darkness

[altivo]

I think when "Daylight Saving Time" ends we should call it "Darkness Saving Time" because that's what the effect is. I left work in pitch darkness, where a week ago the sun was still showing. It seems to me that we need later sunsets at this time of year much more than we need them in July.

According to spaceweather.com, Comet 17P/Holmes has grown a tail now, and then over the last day or so, the tail appears to have separated from the main body of the comet the way a chameleon's tail will pull off if you grab it unexpectedly.

I shall leave Argos to ponder his captivity for the night. I'm partway through the chapter but having trouble staying awake enough to write the rest. Perhaps in the morning it will flow more easily.

Comments

[atomicat.livejournal.com]

When it first blazed it was a full moon and so bright I could read. Now it's overcast with no end in sight. Bugger.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

The way of comets. I think more of the spectacular comets in my lifetime have been hidden behind cloud cover than ever allowed themselves to be seen, at least by me.

[chibiabos.livejournal.com]

Its dark here at 4 p.m. :/

[altivo.livejournal.com]

You're in the eastern end of the time zone then. Maybe even should be in the next zone over. Growing up in Michigan, we had what amounted to daylight time all year round anyway, because Michigan belongs in the Central zone but is in the Eastern zone. That's a political thing that goes back a century or more.

Consequently I expect the sun to set at 5 only as we get right down to December. Now I'm in the Central zone, roughly at the middle where things are the "standard" way, and the sun is already setting at 4:45. That has bugged me ever since I first went to school in Chicago back in 1971. It seems that our circadian rhythms don't give up that easily.

[chibiabos.livejournal.com]

According to Time Zone maps, I appear to be slightly west of the PST centerline. The PST time zone extends approximately 300 miles east of here, though the PST/MST border isn't a straight Meridian ... due east of here it follows the Idaho/Montana border but a bit farther south it jumps west across Idaho to the Idaho/Oregon border and a chunk of eastern Oregon is in the MST. THat looks to be the westernmost touch of MST in the U.S. http://www.worldtimezone.com/time-usa2.htm

(I'm about 20 miles northeast of Seattle as the pegasus flies)

[chibiabos.livejournal.com]

I wonder if lattitude has more to do with it ... I'm at 47D 43' 56.8".

Hmmm, according to http://aa.usno.navy.mil/, sunrise here is at 7:06 a.m. and sunset at 4:37 p.m.

There are a lot of trees here, and its in a valley, so that's probably not taken into account but does affect when sunlight leaves the pastures and barn at work which is when I notice it, which is around 4 p.m. Sun is already low and shadows long by 2 or 3 p.m. Sunrise at my house is closer to 8 a.m. ... my house is farther down the valley from the ranch/dog boarding facility where I work.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

OK, that makes sense for a 4:37 sunset right now, It's about the same as what we have here. Being among mountains makes a lot of difference though and if you are covered by shadow in the late afternoon, the day could seem short indeed.

Where I am it isn't really flat, but rolling hills and occasional low ridges are what we have so they don't cast a lot of shadow like that.

[alaskawolf.livejournal.com]

the same here too :( i miss all the daylight from summer . soon it will be dark almost all day

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you really get the extremes. I sometimes wonder why you don't move to the lower 48 since you don't seem to much care for the climate up there. ;p

[vimsig.livejournal.com]

have you seen this:

http://www.dailymotion.com/related/3061393/video/x3dei2_orangina_ads

[altivo.livejournal.com]

So far no. It hasn't worked on any machine I've tried it on.

[vimsig.livejournal.com]

It is an advert for 'orangina' that to my mind is really well done; there is a sexy furrie thing going on

[altivo.livejournal.com]

So I gathered. I've seen people talking about it for a week now. Here all I get is a black screen. Either the server is overloaded or it's just too big to fit through the sodastraw.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Is it a furry comet then?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, it was definitely fuzzy when I saw it. We've had clouds here for several days now, so I don't know what it currently looks like.