Question:
Omar ponders… >So why are Brits so obsessed with dark skies >and stars? Are they nuts? I never heard that >kind of shit before.
They want to catch the aliens behind the crop circle phenomena in the act, not scare them away. ;} Suzanne
Response:
You Go Ozzy give them Brits hell and if they don’t like it There is always plenty of room for you here in the states.
Omar ponders… >So why are Brits so obsessed with dark skies >and stars? Are they nuts? I never heard that >kind of shit before.
They want to catch the aliens behind the crop circle phenomena in the act, not scare them away. ;} Suzanne
Response:
So why are Brits so obsessed with dark skies and stars? Are they nuts? I never heard that kind of shit before. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Osbourne, 50 next week, has apparently taken up > gardening at night. His new-found green fingers, better > known for gripping the necks of bats on stage, are not, > however, the problem. Seventeen 4-metre-high lights he > has erected around his Buckinghamshire estate are.
Response:
Ozzy’s night lights are new leylandii by Maurice Chittenden THE darkness of night is broken by a sheer wall of light. Suddenly, something stirs in the shrubbery: Ozzy Osbourne, the tattooed heavy metal singer, emerges with a trowel in his hand. Osbourne, 50 next week, has apparently taken up gardening at night. His new-found green fingers, better known for gripping the necks of bats on stage, are not, however, the problem. Seventeen 4-metre-high lights he has erected around his Buckinghamshire estate are. The lights, which emit a bright orange glow similar to that of sodium street lamps, have enraged neighbours, who say they ruin the night sky. They have also angered Chiltern district council, which says he should have got planning permission. Osbourne, who lives in a listed Queen Anne building in the former Quaker village of Jordans, insists he needs the lights for security and gardening. He is to appear before a planning inspector in January to appeal against moves to take them down. Osbourne’s is just one of many battles being waged in Britain’s countryside, where light pollution is increasingly regarded as an even bigger nuisance than leylandii, the quick-growing conifers whose foliage can cast neighbouring gardens into permanent gloom. The growing popularity of garden lighting, high-power security lamps and other outdoor illuminations has been blamed for obscuring the stars, destroying privacy and driving away wildlife – including the very bats that the Black Sabbath singer was renowned for preying on. In one famous incident he bit the head off a live bat that had been thrown onto the stage by a fan – apparently mistaking it for a toy. Satellite pictures of Britain show that few areas still enjoy the darkness needed by nocturnal animals. Among the worst sources of light pollution are sports grounds, petrol stations and shopping centres. So great is the problem that astronomers are moving their telescopes to remote moors, glow worms are being put off breeding and government officials are conducting a survey of how it can be controlled. It is a growing dilemma for councillors. Chiltern has refused Noel Gallagher, the leader of Oasis, permission to put up six floodlights so that he can play football after dark at his home in Chalfont St Giles. In Hertfordshire, Baby Spice, real name Emma Bunton, has been told to remove five lamps from a wall outside her neo-Georgian house. In Suffolk, Griff Rhys Jones, the comedian, claims he is the victim of light pollution: he has complained that he was not consulted about plans to floodlight a school playing field near his farmhouse. He is not the only star to suffer. The British Astronomical Association claims that 35 years ago, people living in a small town could see 2,000 stars in the night sky. Today they will be lucky to see a handful because of the glare from security and floodlights, coupled with the glow from Britain’s 6.5m street lamps. Bob Mizon, co-ordinator of the association’s Campaign for Dark Skies, said: "We don’t want to switch anybody’s lights off but the amount of lighting is often totally unnecessary. A front garden can be lit up with a 40-watt bulb." Libby Purves, the broadcaster, who also lives in Suffolk, is a keen supporter of the campaign. "It is spiritual impoverishment," she said. "A child may not see the moon, let alone the stars." The situation is so bad that the Institution of Lighting Engineers, fearful of a backlash, has issued guidelines on how to install outdoor lighting so as not to upset neighbours. Patrick Baldry, its president, said: "What is needed is flat lighting where the light shines only downwards." Linda Bateman, chairman of Chiltern’s planning committee, came across Osbourne’s lights late at night. "They were so bright I thought I was approaching a main road," she said. "I have no objection if Ozzy wants to do gardening at night, provided he doesn’t do it in a floodlit garden. I have noticed the deterioration in the night sky since I moved here 10 years ago. I can’t say Ozzy is totally responsible, but it doesn’t help." Osbourne, whose records include Bark at the Moon, has offered to replace the orange lights with white ones and claims he still suffers because of his wildman reputation. The singer once grumbled: "Everybody who visits my house expects me to sleep upside down in the dungeon."