I am a creature of natural light, the more brightly lit my sim environment is, the happier I am.  My lighting needs evolved into a dream I did not think could be possibly realized.  I need light for simming because I have an odd neurological vision challenge when indoors, with dim light I get disoriented and can fall.  I first used incandescent lights, you know, the Thomas Edison types.  They were so hot I could actually light a match by holding it an inch above the bulb's surface, my brothers and I would play that game and like Tom Hanks in Castaway we would say "whoooahh, I have made fire!"  But we were not memorized by it, fire just reminded us of the flights we'd take to our vacation spots, and the smell of the hickory flavored smoke in the campgrounds as it settled at dusk.

My computers did not like the hot incandescent lights, I could only fly Sublogic's FS2 on my C64 for two hours, and on the Atari ST I replaced my C64 with, still my personal fav computer of all time, before those computers would croak and bomb.  I'd have to quit for the day.

I changed to the cooler fluorescent lights but soon got headaches and did not know why.  It is just the way fluorescent work because the light zips back and forth within them at an irritating and cold frequency.  They became all the rage when the first "Green" lights came into vogue, but in the workplace I would get wicked headaches, and in flight training, I'd enter the aircraft with a headache because of the fluorescents in the FBO.

Finally, LED lights came into the horizon.  But they were a scam at first, they were dim, and not the right color, and did not last as long as claimed.

But we are in the Future now.  Today I went to Family Dollar and picked up two natural light bulbs for eight bucks, I only needed one, they last forever.  They are cool to the touch, or gently warm, they are not a fire hazard like the brief halogen craze was, those if they fell over could set curtains on fire. They do not "hum" or make noise like fluorescents do.  They are not a scam anymore.

Light is an amazing energy booster for simming, I backlight my monitor with a desk light on top of my computer tower which serves as a nice light stand, it cheers me up.  Not to lapse Religious, but ******* said "I am the Light of the World", and I think what that really means is the future is now.  If we replace our incandescents and fluorescents with LED warm and natural lights, we will cool our homes, ease our troubled headaches, save gobs of energy, and ease our depression.  The 787 uses LED Mood lighting to help travelers with Jet Lag.  LED lighting in the cockpit should be used to backlight the gauges and reduce stress, since the sun can be blocked when flying.

The future of the Jetsons is coming upon those folks of my age who saw that cartoon in the 60's.  But I liked the Flinestone's aircraft too, with their raptors taking flight their boarded passengers.  I think those old dinosaurs are still teaching us how to solve our world's challenges, as well as the new blood born into this world every day.  Flying and travel will grow and grow and spread light across the world, the promise of the Wright Brothers, Glenn Curtiss, Santos Dumont, and Eddie Rickenbacker, and Lindburgh of course.

Meet me in St. Louis still runs in my head, and although I did not go into the gateway arch, I walked all around it thinking of those heady days of Barnstormin' in the Light.  My Mom's first flight was in a Piper Cub, in the early 40's during WWII....  And that is how I was born as an aviation geek, in Chicago, like the series Chicago Hope...

Thanks for letting an old simmer ramble.  Read and crumple the paper when you are finished reading, I like the crumpling sound, or burn it on the pilot's campfire...

John

Edit: For the life of me, I do not know why the word J^E^S^U^S is censored here.  I noticed it was commented out.  It's a name used by many men in Latin America, where my ex wife is from, and should not be censored or shamed.....

Edited June 18, 20196 yr by John_Cillis

It's no coinsidence that light helps mood in general. In the northern latitudes such as Norway,Sweden or Finland, bars (or pubs) as they are known in my part of the world are artificially lit in the winter time to avoid depression. There are only a few hours of daylight in that part of the world in winters. Here's one such example probably unique in the world. https://inhabitat.com/giant-sun-tracking-mirrors-bring-light-to-a-small-norwegian-town-during-dark-winters/

 

I remember reading the story about the Wooden Gym Horse from Stalag Luft 3, where three POW Airman Officers tunneled out to escape and hit a "Home Run", making it back to Britain, via Sweden and Denmark.  Towards the end of the book, while the escapees were held in protective custody in Sweden, the Swedish girls celebrated "The Festival of Light" with the escapees.  The officers were so touched by the gentle love their benefactors gave them, and the light it brought at the end of their long, long, tunnel escape.

John

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wooden_Horse