Orange Skies and Snow

[rowyn]

I woke at 5AM this morning. The sky glowed a pale, uniform orange, and I knew it was snowing. I don’t know why the sky turns orange and glows when it snows around here, but it does. Something about the way the streetlights reflect off the clouds and the snowflakes. It makes me feel as though I am on an alien planet, or in some cyberpunk future. Surely, on Earth, in modern times, the sky does not glow pale orange at night.

But it does. Maybe cyberpunk is now, and I just haven’t noticed yet.

Sometimes I want to go away. I want to drive into the distance, away from all the people and streetlights and houses. I want to go some place where it still gets dark at night. Not just dimmer, or shadowed. Dark. I remember going camping as a child, in tents at national parks that didn’t even have flush toilets, much less lighted paths. At night, it was so dark that I needed a flashlight to go to the outhouse. I couldn’t see anything, not even my own hands, with trees spread sparsely around me.

Does it get that dark, any where, any more? Did it ever, or am I just imagining it? Is my memory just wrong?

A couple I know moved recently to a small farm, off a gravel road, where the houses are a half mile or more apart. Lut and I are going to visit them for a party this weekend. They’re afraid the husband, who is in the National Guard, will be called up for active duty in the Gulf, so they’re hosting and early birthday party. Even Lut will go for that.

Maybe I’ll get to see if it still gets dark at night.

Comments

[prester-scott.livejournal.com]

Maybe cyberpunk is now, and I just haven’t noticed yet.

There is a good case that is true. What part of cyberpunk has not, in its essence, already come to pass?

[rowyn]

I think koogrr put it better than I would have: "Cyberpunk already came true. It just came true in the least cool way."

[koogrr.livejournal.com]

Yes, it does.

Although Cyberpunk already came true. It just came true in the least cool way.

[rowyn]

It just came true in the least cool way.

You have said in nine words what I was going to struggle to express in a hundred. Thank you. :)

Does it?

[kagetsume.livejournal.com]

There are places where it still gets incredibly dark when night falls. One example I remember vividly was when I was going through Arizona/New Mexico with family. While we were going through one of the reservations out there, we decided to stop and shut off the car lights. The darkness was amazing; as were the stars above. Without light pollution, the night sky is remarkably beautiful and full of small points of light, muchmoreso than most are used to seeing anymore. It's a pity I dislike the desert, or that's the sort of place I'd want to live. Growing up out in the middle of nowhere in the midwest spoiled me. Nights were quiet, except for insects and birds. The sky, while still not as vibrant as seen in the SouthEast, was beautiful as well. Anyway, just felt I should answer your question.

-- Kagetsume.

Got Dark?

[krud42.livejournal.com]

Actually, one needn't venture out into the wilds of the West or whatnot (though the darkness would be at its, um, "peak", there). All that's really required is to be in woods that are at least an hour from a major metropolitan area, or twenty minutes from the nearest moderately-sized city. (These are "60-mile-an-hour" driving times, btw. I guess I could have used miles instead of minutes then, huh.)

ANYway, we get light pollution by us, but I can travel five miles south of here and get nearly total darkness. So yes, Virginia, there is a Darkness. (Ooh, how cozy does THAT sound?)

As for the Cyberpunk thing... eh. We're still not running around on virtual paths, using our limbs to navigate "cyberspace". (An exception to this, perhaps, is someone wearing VR goggles while playing Everquest or something. But even that isn't really what cyberpunk was about, is it? Not as I recall from Gibson.)

Re: Got Dark?

[rowyn]

I think Koogrr got it right. Cyberpunk happened: it just wasn't nearly as cool as it sounded in all the movies and books.

But maybe I'll get to see some darkness this weekend, just the same.

Hmm.

[krud42.livejournal.com]

I had put a rather lengthy comment on here, but it didn't take. Anyway, here's the synopsis of it:

1. Cyberpunk, as defined by most sci-fi authors, has not come to pass. Yet.

2. Though I live in a light-polluted area, I need only travel 10-15 minutes to find total darkness near me. (But then, I don't live near a major metropolitan area.)

My sincerest apologies if this echos an earlier comment from that somehow shows up later. ':P

It can take a fair distance

[telnar.livejournal.com]

The last time I actively tried to escape light pollution was when I wanted to watch a meteor shower from Las Vegas. On that occasion, 20 miles out of town wasn't nearly far enough to reach total darkness (although it was sufficient to get a good view).