Solstice simultaneities

December 21, 2023. Sunset 4:54 PM. San Francisco, CA.

December 21, 2023. Sunset 4:54 PM. Albany Bulb, CA.

Such a serene and patient journey into the sunset of the shortest day of the year. Thank you, Joann for this slow and peaceful moment. I love how the glow is gradually replaced by the glitter!
JoAnn

several hours plus a couple of hours-- how long was that?

December 20, 20223. Sunset 5:34 PM. Chandul, India.

“Sunset(ish) today in Chandul, India while driving from Kolkata to Asansol. We drove several hours from Kolkata to Asansol and again a couple hours from the Daltonganj train station to Ramanujganj, but Always had a driver thank god”
- Joe P

Same time. Same sky.

December 17, 2023. Sunset 4:52 PM.
Thea by the Bay Elisabeth in town. Are we looking at the same cloud formations????

Emeryville, SF BAY. "Emeryville Marina now." -Thea

San Francisco, CA. "Pretty spectacular! Happy to be back in SF as of noon today. Here through the end of the year".
-Elisabeth Beaird

probably pretty everywhere

December 13, 2023. Sunset 4:50 PM. Albany, CA.

"Sunset from Indian Rock. Hope it's pretty there, too "
- Krys
(looking West over the San Francisco Bay. You can see both the Bay and the Golden Gate bridges)!

still covid careful around here

December 10, 2023. Sunset 5:50 PM. San Francisco, CA.

Even under the weather, Tony pops down from next door to join us at sunset-- standing apart from our returned friends, Elisabeth and Richard who arrived just in time-- bearing their own bells and noisemakers (as usual)-

We’re still riding the earliest sunset for a few more days—The turnaround is imminent…

doesn't look real

December 8, 2023. Sunset 5:38 PM. Key West, FL.

"From my cousin Roseanne… Key West sunset yesterday"
- Joe Pofrifka
wow - lucky cousin!

good sounding marathon

December 6, 2023. Sunset 4:42 PM. San Mateo, CA.

Taking a break from the daylong setup for our final Electronic Music concert at College of San Mateo-- All student composed, performed and produced-- it's a marathon and sounding really good! The concert was on Dec 7th at 7:00 PM, and it was amazing—Congratulations everyone!

sunset bottoms out!

November 30, 2023. Sunrise 7:05 AM. Sunset 4:51 PM
This whole month slipped by without a single recording of the daily events. So here are both the sunrise and sunset for the last day of November.

We are beginning to really slow down as far as the amount of light we are still losing each day. In fact, beginning tomorrow, Dec 1, we will hit the first of a string of the absolute earliest sunset for the year.

YES—for the next 11 days, the sun will set at 4:50 PM before lingering for 30 seconds per day as the end of the day opens up. Sadly the sun will continue to rise later each day well into January. Miraculously, the Solstice will still end up being the shortest day—something to look forward to.

Setting time is determined by values aligned with power on Earth, not the sun

Q: What time is it?
A: It depends on when and who you ask(ed)

Prior to the need to coordinate time over vast distances, I imagine that people generally used local needs and criteria for knowing the time. Perhaps the sun directly overhead was a good enough reference to communicate with others in the immediate community, relying more on relative time than an absolute fixed number.

The standardization of time as we have come to know it, is a relatively recent enactment and was brought forward by the railroads in the 1800's. The necessity to coordinate schedules of moving parts over distances seemed to be a reasonable impetus for standardizing time. Yet who chose the reference point? The governments of Great Britain, a once colonial power and the United States, a rising economic power in the world, agreed on GMT. What about everyone else in the world?

India objected. To this day has a single time zone for the entire continent- splitting the difference between what would have been different 2 time zones into a single time zone that was offset by 1/2 hour. If you check to see what time it is in India, it will be offset from UTC (GMT) by 5:30 standard daylight time.

China also objected and adopted a single time zone for the entire country. Unlike India where it was a simple matter to split the difference between 2 times zone, China had to choose a reference for the standard. How to choose-- Geographical- select a place in the center of China's landmass? Or Beijing, the capital and the seat of power, which is located in the east.

And now here we are again: Nobody likes changing the clocks but who decides whether or not we stay with standard time all year or daylight savings time all year.

The absurdly named Sunshine Protection Act, is the bi partisan Senate proposal which favors keeping daylight savings time all year. As if keeping the clock set an hour ahead actually accomplishes an extension of the sunlight. Obviously, all it really does is shift the fixed amount of light available away from the morning into the evening. So instead of the sunrise occurring at 7:30 AM (in this latitude, at least), it will cross the horizon at 8:30 AM. The trade off is beginning our days in the dimness of winter instead of ending them there at the close of the day.

As states are weighing in with their preferences for maintaining Standard or Daylight Savings time, we have yet another opportunity to get nasty and dig in.

This issue is so trivial compared to all the hatred, fighting and suffering happening right now all over the world. However, the reaction to fight for one's position with enmity is not trivial. Yet, here we are. For now, with regard to Standard Time/Daylight Savings time, we will all (except for AZ and HI) move the hands of our clocks around-

An act of cooperation and agreement, for the moment.

handy little bell will travel

October 31, 2023. Sunset 5:53 PM. Brooklyn, NY.

J Train crossing the Williamsburg Bridge, over the East River.
"ringing the bell on the key chain" - Elisabeth Beaird

not quite at ease...

October 18, 2023. Sunset 6:28 PM. San Francisco, CA.

Sunsetting. Tail wagging, Kiki keeps a watchful eye on her former arbitrarily chosen enemy.

Look up and cover your eyes to view the Ring of Fire!

Annular Solar Eclipse tomorrow morning 10/14/23! 8:05 AM - 9:17 AM (Pacific Time)

What's an Annular Solar eclipse and how is it different from a Total Solar Eclipse? https://www.space.com/difference-between-total-solar-eclipse-and-annular-solar-eclipse FYI-- The path of annularity, where the greatest amount of the sun is blocked by the moon, runs from Oregon to Texas. “So viewers in the Bay Area will not see the full eclipse, but rather only a partial eclipse, with the Moon appearing to take a ‘cookie bite’ out of a portion of the Sun"-- Gerald McKeegan, Chabot Space and Science Center.

family affairs

October 8, 2023. Sunset 6:42 PM. San Francisco, CA.

This was the place to go this evening for neighbors with visiting family members to entertain. Hello and welcome everyone!

Lighthouse Field (3)—Alex Wand

Oct 18, 2023, 06:14 AM. Lighthouse Field (3)

I missed this one from Alex Wand- have a look and listen when you get a chance.

I am a fan of Alex's and I love this site where you can post you own sounds-- Check it out if you have a moment. Thank you, Alex for the post and your kind words—

PS this is a site where you can post and listen to sounds from around the world-- https://aporee.org/maps/

Shine On Harvest SUPERMOON—

tonight September 28, 2023

https://www.almanac.com/content/full-moon-september "This year, look for September’s full Harvest Moon to appear just after sunset on Thursday, September 28. It then reaches peak illumination at 5:58 A.M. Eastern Time on Friday the 29th, drifting below the horizon shortly thereafter."
Photo Credit: Colleen Quinnell/ The Old Farmer's Almanac

22 seconds shy

September 26, 2023. Sunset 7:00 PM. Sausalito, CA.
Celebrating the Equilux and the day before her birthday with my friend Lynne. Plenty of fresh air!

This day is actually 22” shy of actually equal time of light and dark, but the closest we will come this year.

So many thresholds crossed this week

September 25, 2023. Sunset 7:02 PM. San Francisco, CA.

So many thresholds crossed this past week, I didn’t keep up!
Wishing a belated Happy Rosh Rosh Hashanah celebrating the year #5784 to my friends and family who have now reached today’s sunset on Yom Kippur. Yom Tov. The evening meal is in sight.

Find YOUR Equilux!

September 25, 2023

For anyone who missed celebrating (or mourning) the Equinox on the 22nd, there is another opportunity to balance on the tipping edge of light into darkness on the Equilux—which is the actual day of equal day and night—It depends on your location in the world in relation to the Equator- For those of us in the Bay Area, it’s tomorrow September 26th
To find the day where your place on the earth crosses the light line- check into the website for timeanddate.com

flashback to July 4th sunrise

September 25, 2023. Sunrise 7:10 AM.

"From my daughter Ella in Little Havana this morning!" - Joe P
WOW! What a wondrous sight to behold first thing in the morning. Thanks Joe ❤

(July 4th, 2023- sunrise)

Autumn arrives in the wee hours today

September 23, 2023. Sunset 7:04 PM. Berkeley, CA.

"Sunsetting at the Berkeley Marina, An apt message for all of us" - from someone in our group of Equinox observers- I don't know who, but thank you. This is lovely--

As is the video from the very next moment.

Happy Equinox!

September 22, 2023, Sunset 7:04 PM. Live Oak Park-Berkeley, CA.

Another Equinox performance of Wendy Reid's magical tree piece #66 “ambient bird 433” returns again to Live Oak Park on the Fall Equinox
- a few minutes before sunset.
Thanks to all the performers and audience members who shared their attention, dogs and grey parrots with us. Love and special thanks to Wendy and lulu.

Coming soon! The Equinox is on the 22nd this year--

We will be celebrating again in a free public performance at Live Oak Park in Berkeley with Wendy Reid, her grey parrot, lulu and a small band of musicians.

Ambient Bird with sfSOUND and the Bird Ensemble returns again to Live Oak Park on the Fall Equinox
Friday September 22, 2023 - 6:15pm
Live Oak Park is located at 1301 Shattuck Ave in Berkeley. The precise location of the performance will be just north of the recreation/theatre building, near the creek under the trees. There is no formal seating: stand and watch or wander, sit on the grass, ground, steps, distant picnic tables or bring your own chair/ blanket.
At 6:15pm (preceding the performance), there will be an introduction of the musicians and their instruments.
Sunset is at 7:04 PM. We will ring the sundown with dailybell.

Checking in at the end of the day

September 13, 2023. Sunset 7:20 PM. San Francisco, CA.

"Clair, Phil, Cameron, Mardi and Matt" - NT
Sleepytime for Somebody

Clear Hole in the Sky

September 11, 2023. Sunset 7:11 PM. Brooklyn, NY.

Looking towards the Freedom Tower, the view now blocked by the trees that have grown up since 2001. A quick thunder and lightning storm just passed, clearing the air and opening to the blue and gold sky just above.

RIP dear Gus

September 10, 2023

Gus passed away today and we will all miss him very much. He was a gentle, easy going fellow. Inseparable from his sister Gladys (Gladdy), he was content to follow her lead until she herself passed away several years ago.

After many years of the quiet, only dog life, Gus’s peaceful, elderly years were interrupted by the appearance of Kiki, a lively, quite bossy little diva. As she grew older, Kiki’s personality also grew larger, and Gus began to spend more time at Grandma’s house where he was suitably pampered and resumed his rightful, top dog status.

For us, this evening event has been a part of our lives for the past 15 years. For Gus it was a lifetime. Like so many loved ones we have outlived and whose presence is still felt, their absence is even more profound. May their memory be a blessing.

8/30/23- Gus's last sidewalk sunset

labor of love

Sept. 2, 2023. Sunset 7:37 PM. San Francisco, CA.

Greetings to and from my neighbors! Happy healthy Labor Day.
Thanks Norman for holding down the fort.

Big Blue Supermoon

August 30, 2023. Sunset 7:41 PM. San Francisco, CA.

"Did you see the moon?" Norman from San Francisco to me in Brooklyn. And sadly I didn't see it here!!! The big beautiful blue supermoon. I won't be holding my breath until next time since it won't occur again until 2037. I miss my friends and neighbors and the dogs from San Francisco, too!!

I left my bell in San Francisco

August 27, 2023. Sunset 7:46 PM. San Francisco, CA.

"Only Tony and me" - NT
It looks so nice and foggy and cool there. Still muggy here in Brooklyn, though I am missing that big loud bell.
Welcome back from your summer with your family, Tony!! It looks so nice and foggy and cool there.

tropical good night

August 15, 2023. Sunset 7:56 PM. Miami FL.

"It's cloudy over here-- So not as clear as yours"

-- "This one is a little less cloudy"- Ana L.

so moody...

more Moxi, less deer

August 15, 2023. Sunset 7:53 PM. Brooklyn, NY.

Here we are just around the corner from the Mona Lisa of Williamsburg with my sister, Lisa, visiting from Montana--
Very different sunsets around here from the recent sunrises at her home out there!

lost time?

August 13, 2023. Sunset 8:04 PM. Benicia, CA.

"...I lost time today and ended up doing a little gig with a good friend of mine in Benicia. Here is the sunset..."
- Thea Farhadia
Big sun over a tiny Golden Gate Bridge-- Thanks Thea!

August 9, 2023, Sunset 6:39PM. Jackman, Maine

We depart Jackman and head back to Scarborough tomorrow –
Sunday good news! I was finally able to go kayaking- Wendy C

So right AGAIN!

August 6, 2023. Sunrise 3:31 AM. Norrbotten County, Sweden.
Nice pic: Right?—Joe

From Joe P via Nancy M
“Does Hutch’s sister still post sun pics? Cousin enjoying long days, Norrbotten Sweden”

Hannah says, “another good one”

August 2, 2023. Sunset 8:17 PM. San Francisco, CA.

Thanks for the updates from the West Coast from my niece Hannah who is taking care of our cat and taking advantage of the cool weather and beautiful sunsets while we steam away here in Brooklyn.

homeward bound??

July 28, 2023. Sunset 8:22 PM. San Francisco, CA. "Another good sunset!"-- Hannah—
So many birds- Pelicans going home?

AI Sky?? NOT

July 29, 2023. Sunset 8:14 PM. Brooklyn, NY.

We’d just finished ringing little bells on the subway while riding over the Williamsburg Bridge. Stepping off the train into air freshly washed and still a bit moist, we turned away from the sunset to see this golden sky exploding behind us.

smell the sunset

July 28, 2023. Sunset 8:15 PM. Brooklyn, NY.

The corner of Bedford and Broadway on this hot steamy Friday evening. This neighborhood now has a smoke shop on every block (literally), and the beginning of the weekend around here amps up what has become the iconic smell of this neighborhood - everyday - all day.