Slashdot Mirror
World's Northernmost Town Gets Nightlights
Velcroman1 writes "On October 26, 2,000 Norwegians watched the sun set. The next time they'll see it rise? Sometime in February. Extended nighttime is an annual occurrence for the residents of Longyearbyen, Norway — Earth's northernmost town. Located at 78 degrees north latitude in the Arctic circle, Longyearbyen experiences a phenomenon called Polar Night, in which the town remains in perpetual darkness for four months each winter. To lighten up the seemingly endless night, Philips has started an experiment called 'Wake Up the Town.' And anyone who's complained about the brief daylight hours in winter will want to know how it works."
Some people think it's pretty. Some people realize exactly how much of that is wasted energy, or even in its way, pollution.
It's hard seeing the stars. It's brutal seeing a bunch of turtles trying to head for the sea but ending up in a parking lot.
It may be me but that linked article very much reads like one big advertisement. Having the sponsor's name all over the place isn't helping of course. Anyhow great marketing, they even managed to get it on slashdot while it has nothing to do with tech whatsoever - and light therapy isn't something new either.
It's a gimmick. There's no gigantic artificial whole-town sun or anything. Certainly nothing "ultimate".
Philips makes an alarm clock that includes a gradually-increasing bright light. They're couching this in the terms of an "experiment", but there's no actual science being performed. They just picked a north-of-the-arctic-circle town and gave away some of the product as a publicity stunt, and then sent out a text release, which is being published as news.
I live in Boston, which is north enough for me. I have a different Philips lightbox product, and I think it does provide a useful regulation of my mood in late winter afternoons. But I don't think the science behind it is particularly well developed, even if it seems promising. I thought for a second as I started to read the aticle (after I realized it wasn't the giant artificial sun thing) that it was a real scientific experiment with control groups and so on. Even then, it'd be hard to really control, because you can't exactly do a double-blind study. But, it's actually even lamer than that.
I would love to be there. 24hours of light in summer! In winter you can go temporarily in some other place; but in fact, MOST people, face the same even at much lower latitudes: if you stay at the office from - say - 9.00 to 18.00, you will barely see the sun anyway.
For this reason, to me 24 hours of daylight in summer far outweigh the darkness in winter.
I had to read TFS a few times, because I kept reading: "On October 26 2000, Norwegians watched the sun set." I'm a big sleeper, but even so, 10 years of darkness seemed really hardcore to me.
I wouldn't call a settlement with just 5 permanents a town. Heck, I wouldn't even call it a village. It's more of a scientific outpost.
Longyearbyen on the other hand is a real town, a small one, but a town.
What's even more depressing is seeing someone bitch about FOXNews every time it's mentionned somewhere.