There's an apartment in the building behind us where the light is always on. I took the picture above at 3 a.m. this morning, when I got up to get a glass of water. That light is bright, but it doesn't illuminate the whole scene the way it does in the photo -- that's a function of the iPhone's "night photography" feature.
When I turned off night photography, this is what I got:
Not as interesting as a photo, but closer to real life.
Anyway, I think the apartment is vacant. I wish someone would go in and turn off the light. I was a child of the Carter years, when we all talked about energy conservation and were instructed to turn off every light when we left the room. The New York Times says this is no longer necessary, because modern bulbs are so much more efficient than they used to be. (In 1974, the paper said just the opposite -- "It all three million customers in New York City and Westchester County cut off a single 100‐watt bulb that might burn six hours a day, the savings would be 1.5 million barrels of oil a year, 10 days' supply." Apparently incandescent bulbs really were incredibly wasteful, with most of the energy expended as heat rather than light.)
Today is just a half-day with students. Parent-teacher conferences begin in the afternoon and run for the next two days, which means Dave will be busy meeting with lots of parents online (which he's going to do from home), but I don't have much to do during this time since far fewer people will be in the school building itself. I suppose I can neaten shelves.
It is extraordinary how well phone cameras can take night time photography.
ReplyDeleteYes, leaving lights on was always a no no from my childhood. While it matters less now, I think it still matters. While halogen bulbs were more efficient than incandescent, they were still quite wasteful. Modern LED lighting is just brilliant.
Perhaps you could line all the books up by size, like my bookshelves.