Not to downplay our defeat in the senate on Tuesday, but I was out doing some fun flying last night and am happy to report that despite an awful lot of disgusting, wasteful lighting, I saw a number of good examples as well. Interestingly, one of the best was the perimeter lighting at the prison. As seen from above, the light fixtures were invisible. No sign of the light source at all. Just a pleasant glow on the ground below. I guess officials there know about the bad guys hiding in glare. Other good spots included the newer car dealerships. I think most of the folks on this list will agree most car places are over lit but at least the excess light goes down. No sign of it from above. And there were a lot of nice residential street lights and the lights in the center of the freeway (I-15) shine down only. And have you noticed how many of the direction highway signs (as opposed to the commercial billboards) have lights that shine down onto the sign and not up into the sky? Makes me wonder about the testimony from one of the opposition the other day that said the law required billboard lights to shine up. So, while we do have a long road ahead there is a shielded light at the end of the tunnel. Ok, we're off to see the shuttle. (I think there's a song in there somewhere...) Patrick p.s. If any of you would like to do a night flight, I've found a plane I can rent for $40 an hour. I'll pay half.