MetaFilter posts tagged with sunlight

Camp Sundown visits the Yankees

zarq — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:20:58 -0800

"The Yankees' best game this season came after the lights were dimmed." On July 24th, the New York Yankees hosted Camp Sundown in the Bronx -- a group of kids with xeroderma pigmentosum (XP). XP is a life-threatening sun-sensitivity disorder, in which DNA cannot repair damage caused by ultraviolet (UV) light. Kids with the disease develop malignant melanomas and carcinomas if they are exposed to sunlight or bright fluorescent lights. "Camp Sundown gets its name because the youngsters that attend cannot go outdoors during the daytime or even stand under fluorescent lights because ultraviolet radiation, any UV radiation, is their mortal enemy. It will give them severe burns, it will give them squamous cell skin cancer, it will cause malignant tumors to grow in their eyes and mouths, and make many of them blind as their condition reaches its late stages. The sun and blue skies we wish for in spring and summer will cruelly ravage their bodies. The kids, these fragile, beautiful kids, who want nothing more than to be whatever we like to call ordinary in this world, are afflicted with a genetic condition called Xeroderma Pigmentosum that takes the lives of most people with the disorder before they reach the age of 20. It is rare, so rare there are only between 150 and 250 sufferers in this country, maybe two or three thousand around the world."
For more information, see the XP Society, and their Camp Sundown page. The NJ Star-Ledger site has a video of the event.

We won't dance, we won't sing, we won't talk / We just gonna watch how it bends

filthy light thief — Fri, 22 May 2009 13:53:52 -0800

Mix one part music from indie-pop band, one part hand-drawn animation, and one part found 8mm film footage (mostly reels randomly bought off eBay without knowing the contents). Result: "Sunlight" music video (hosted on vimeo), inspired by said track from the band Harlem Shakes. [via mefi projects]

Data.gov - a new toy for data geeks, librarians, and transparency advocates everywhere

gingerbeer — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:46:00 -0800

Data.gov is live! The Obama Administration is trying to bring transparency and a little sunshine to those cold, hidden government databases, like the FBI, NOAA, and the Census Bureau. Data.gov is getting some mixed reviews. There’s not a lot of data in it yet, although you can suggest your favorite federal database (you do have a favorite federal database, right?) It may not be any better than what private citizens have already done. The Sunlight Foundation has already announced a competition to build the best application and visualization for the data. What can you find?

Open Source Disclosure: Improving Congressional Transparency

filthy light thief — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 22:17:51 -0800

The Sunlight Foundation's open source development team, Sunlight Labs, have announced the winners of the first annual Apps for America contest. Over 40 entries were judged, with Filibusted (Hold senators accountable for blocking legislation) getting top marks. Legistalker (The latest online activity of Congress Members) got second, and there was a 4-way tie for 3rd. [via mefi projects] The Sunlight Foundation have been featured on the Blue before, and Sunlight Labs was previously seen on the Blue with Capital Words, allowing you to see what the most often used word was on any given day in the U.S Congress. They have a few other projects posted that didn't make it to the Blue.

chuckdarwin — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 04:06:54 -0800

Birds start singing in the spring because of a biological response to longer days.

How to reduce global warming? Block out the sun.

jayder — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 17:36:24 -0800

Instead of reducing emissions, maybe we can block out the sun. This is a proposal offered by the United States in response to a draft of a UN report on climate change, prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. According to the linked article, the U.S. has resisted a treaty that would involve binding targets for emissions reductions, and is instead pushing for the exploration of techniques for blocking out the sun, including (according to the Sydney Morning Herald article) "putting a giant screen into orbit, thousands of tiny, shiny balloons, or microscopic sulfate droplets pumped into the high atmosphere to mimic the cooling effects of a volcanic eruption." This is via Yale Law professor Jack Balkin, who speculates that there is Biblical precedent for this proposal.

Goodby Sunshine?

ahimsakid — Thu, 13 May 2004 12:48:28 -0800

Global Dimming?!? In the second half of the 20th century, the world became, quite literally, a darker place. Defying expectation and easy explanation, hundreds of instruments around the world recorded a drop in sunshine reaching the surface of Earth, as much as 10 percent from the late 1950's to the early 90's, or 2 percent to 3 percent a decade. Has anyone been following this? Heat I might do without for a while, but I've grown very fond of light.

global dimming

stbalbach — Fri, 19 Dec 2003 04:47:45 -0800

Global Dimming. Records show that over the past 50 years the average amount of sunlight reaching the ground has gone down by almost 3% a decade. "It's an extraordinary thing that for some reason this hasn't penetrated even into the thinking of the people looking at global climate change. It's actually quite a big deal and I think you'll see a lot more people referring to it."

Skot — Thu, 04 Jan 2001 09:11:30 -0800

Sunlight: It's What's For Dinner. This guy claims he's been living on nothing but water and sunlight for about a year. :::Cough::: He also exhumes the hoary myth about using only 10% of your brain. My favorite is the author credit: "By A Staff Reporter."