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Baboon Redux – Earth at Night

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Today’s post was first offered by Captain Billy of the Muskellunge in December of 2012.

Ahoy!

Me an me boys is mighty pleased t’ see that them scientists at NASA is finally startin’ t’ look at th’ planet Earth through pirate eyes! They has just released brand new detailed pictures of our world after dark, wi’ the sparlklin’ lights of th’ cities glowin’ fer all t’ see!

There’s lots of bright spots, an that gives us hope!

Dividin’ th’ light from th’ dark is th’ same method me an’ me boys uses t’ tell the th’ planet’s booty-rich zones from them what don’t have much booty at all. When we’s sailin’ down th’ coast, deliberatin’ about where t’ go scavengin’ next, we always heads t’ th’ light. Just like yer sposed to do in them dreams about dyin’.

An when we arrives at th’ next happy, well-lit place wi’ our daggers drawn, th’ people is always surprised on account of they didn’t notice us comin’ – they was blinded by their own glare. That there’s somethin’ t’ keep in mind on a planet-wide level.

Our Earth is mighty special-lookin’ from afar – quite attractive t’ interstellar swashbucklers.

I ain’t sayin’ there’s space pirates.

But I ain’t sayin’ there ain’t.

The twinklin’ lights is pretty at night. But if you wants t’ keep th’ peace, best t’ always draw yer blinds an’ sleep wi’ one eye open!

Yer seafarin’ pal,
Capt. Billy

I suppose the Captain has a point – when I go on a nigh time walk, I notice  some houses  carefully draw the blinds and others are less private, challenging passers by to be  polite and look away.

Are you polite?

57 thoughts on “Baboon Redux – Earth at Night”

  3. Oh boy, am I polite! The last several years I’ve actually been trying to be a little less polite in certain situations that don’t really deserve politeness. With a couple of extended family members I’ve actually (gasp!) said what I thought. Makes the conversation much more interesting.

    Just realized I’ve been missing the Cap’n. Thanks, Dale.

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      2. I don’t know about BiR, but, with some people I know, if I said what I thought, they would be appalled and offended. Some might get really impolite and argue and yell. And some of them might never speak to me again. Which, in some cases, could be a good thing.

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      3. I don’t know about you, but I have a persistent habit of saying what other polite people are only thinking. And, it’s caused me some problems. Example: while visiting my older son’s new family in Atlanta (he left two older kids here with his ex), I asked what I thought was a perfectly benign question. He had two very young kids shortly after remarrying. My question: “Dave, what does it feel like to be raising a second wave of kids?” He looked at me and barked, “Mom – how could you even ask a question like that?!!!!” Oops. His new wife later told me that he doesn’t like to bring his “old” family up. Ever.

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  4. I have only looked in one window, although I looked in that one about 83,000 times (give or take 10,000). The door to my back yard was directly across from my neighbors’ living room window about 20 feet away. Two families lived in that home from 1976 to 2013. Both families kept that window open, “open” meaning the shade was up and curtains pulled aside. Any time I opened the back door I was looking into the neighbor’s living room. Since our dogs required me to open that door to let them take a whizz in the back yard, I must have looked into my neighbor’s living room about six times a day for 38 years.

    There was another window toward the back of that house, a bedroom window. It was kept private by curtains. Once–just once in 38 years–a young woman was disrobing by that window when I let the dogs out. That’s the day I learned I am the kind of guy who looks away.

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  5. If I am tempted to look in uncovered windows I remind myself that I could get into trouble doing that. A person who sneaks around looking in windows can be arrested. I don’t think there is much chance of being arrested for glancing in open windows as you walk down the street. I can’t completely resist briefly peaking in uncovered windows.

    I usually keep my own windows covered at night. I don’t want to offend anyone who thinks I should not give people the opportunity to peak into my house. I would not be offend if any one satisfied their curiosity by looking in my windows. I just don’t want to offend people who like to maintain a high degree of privacy.

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  6. Do I look in uncovered windows: what time is it? is it dark out? How close to the window am I? Some people like Sandy leave windows open for people to look in .

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  8. enjoy the day bir

    i look

    every time and until im done
    if they want to the window to provide privacy thats their deal.

    im that way at my house too. if someone has issues with my being in a state less than what they had hoped they meay be in for a surprise.

    last house no window treatments, this house the dogs let me know when anything person, dog squirrel is moving outside.

    i used to do my interior decorating based on what i saw at night in other peoples windows. (not a lot of naked women in my decorating ideas)
    colors, mostly but you get a feel for what you get a feel for.

    this new neighborhood will more interesting on the nature trails than on the streets. the whole neighborhood was built in 1985 and the owners have been here 35 years and whose idea of a good time involves going to bed at 9 15.

    ill report back after ive gotten a feel for the place.

    aint that right boys????

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  10. OT – Just got off the phone with an old friend. She and her husband, sister and father were many-year participants in our annual Christmas Eve celebrations. My friend and her husband moved to Florida eight years ago, and our contact has been sporadic since then. The sad news was that T (her husband) had shot himself. Left no note, no indication that anything was amiss. Went to a park and shot himself.

    So sad. Can’t wrap my mind around what could cause this to happen.

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    1. I’m so sorry. That’s a terrible thing to happen to anyone and one of the most painful ways to lose a friend.

      I have a guess about why he did this: chronic depression. It gets such a grip on some people that even if they fight it with drugs, this happens.

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      1. Thanks, Steve. Don’t know what to make of this. T was only in his mid fifties, had a great career going, and seemed like a guy who had his shit together. Everyone who knew him is in complete shock. I guess we’ll never know what demons he was struggling with.

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    2. its hard to comprehend what could be so overpowering that you would choose no more choices as the option and to leave the open ended questions for the survivors. he must have been in a terrible place. not coming up with answers you like is tough but demons have a power i dont fully comprhend.
      sorry pj. there are no words to bring peace on a choice like that

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  11. Am I polite? Not terribly, but I do lack a certain curiosity about other people’s private lives. Maybe that’s politeness or maybe I just believe in “live and let live” to an extreme or maybe I’m just a dull person (don’t tell me if it’s that last one; I don’t want to know).

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    1. When the cat is in a pouncing mood, I have to sleep with one eye open. Especially in warm weather when the lightweight covers don’t protect me from his claws.

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  18. Hi-
    Busy in show mode here… but it’s lunch for me at the moment, then it’s back to the Boys! Arrr!

    We never close the blinds. Course we’re out in the country and have no neighbors that can see us so that helps.
    We close the blinds to keep the sun out on those summer weekend mornings…

    In the summer when the windows are open, the ducks will make loops around the house ‘quack quack quack quack quack quack quack quack quack quack quack’…. right under the window. That will wake you up.
    One eye open or not, it will wake up. As will the dog barking at coyotes or whatever random animal she’s deemed worthy of protecting us from.

    I’m working on a blog too. I sent a draft to Dale and we agree’d it needed work. And I just haven’t got back to it.
    One of these days…

    Straw– I’m getting a plan forumulated. So far I have straw for Sherilee and Anna. And Jacque want’s chicken poop.
    chime in if you’re interested. Email me at ‘strawmanben at g mail dot com.

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  21. One spring my father got a free load of turkey manure from a friend of his who raised turkeys commercially (and who he always called “the feather merchant), and he spread it all over our grass. It burned the grass and we had a brown lawn all summer, and my mom was so angry. Wouldn’t you know it, though, the following spring we had the greenest grass in the neighborhooed

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      1. I wonder if Dale’s OK.

        And I wonder if it’s time to go to a three times a week blog. I wouldn’t feel disappointed if I knew we would only have new posts on, say, Monday-Wednesday-Friday (or Saturday), and that’s about what we seem to be doing lately.

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    1. I figure that Dale perhaps celebrated Easter with family and possibly away from home, and simply chose to not give the trail high priority today.
      I trust that is something’s amiss, he’d find a way to let us know.

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