Toronto is at the same latitude as Florence and Marseilles.
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“Thanks, Gulf Stream! Keep up the good work!”
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Wow.
I also thought you were taking the piss, but checked the website.
It is not available any longer.
Not sure why this isn’t available through the Boing Boing Shop, it feels like a must-have for our mutant community.
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As you can see in the video. The issue in St. Louis is less the latitude and more the constant cloud cover blocking the sun. I’d never had seasonal affective disorder until I lived in St. Louis, but January and February there were really rough on me.
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Unfortunately the gulf stream doesn’t bring more sunlight hours in winter…
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I mean, I get it, and this is not a SAD competition, but where I live on 60°N there’s also constant clouds and rain in winter.
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Argh! How annoying. Now I wish I had not given away the pair I had.
Still, given the simplicity of the rig, it may be hackable. No moving parts. It’s basically a visor with a specific color temperature LED array that’s rechargable and lightweight. Flimsy, even.
Hmm… here are some potentially similar rigs:
… and there are some Luminette versions on eBay because of course they are.
No idea if this is a safe bet, given what I know about Walmart, the goog says they have some light therapy wearables as well for order. YMMV.
I liked having a wearable, something I could walk around with and get work done with, that didn’t require that I stayed at a desk or table for x-amount-of-time because sometimes the work I need to get done requires me to be AFK.
ETA: The light-visor-for-seasonal-affective-disorder worked on me. They didn’t on my dad. I guess I need to say YMMV re these things, but any Happy Mutant who can figure out how to slap some LEDs on a baseball cap or visor could probably spend very little money and still do a little simple self-experimentation.
IANAD but I found after blood tests that I was low of Vitamin D and started taking D3 supplements (5000 IU/day) every winter. Although it may be purely confirmation bias on my part, I feel it has helped my seasonal affective disorder, which I am self-labeling and is not an official diagnosis from a medical professional.
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The only good thing about St. Louie is the many highways you can use to leave?
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The first big snowfall was always the worst. I was a delivery driver in Toronto for far too long and that first big dump of snow always messed everything up. I remember it taking an hour to get from Yonge and College up to St. Clair (and similar treks). I’m beyond glad I don’t have to deal with that any more.
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My mate demanded a trip to the top, his first time in St. Louis. It was a windy day. I’d been to the top of the Arch a few times. I said: fine, you go for it man, I am staying here on the ground today. I was remembering the last time I was up there: the claustrophobic long ride in the elevator, the wobble in the wind and minor vertigo I’d get in waves, when the winds were frisky. Yeah: nope.
I get motion sickness pretty easily.
He grew up on the east coast and never ever gets seasick, having spent his childhood summers in boats on the Atlantic with guys-who-go-fishing etc.
One of the yucky-odd things about February in St. Louis, IIRC, is the not merely the pall and cloud cover and grayness, but the deepening cold… like, colder than December, colder than January. Even as the minutes of daylight were increasing reliably, the biting cold of the metal gas pump handle would seep through my gloves. Metal bench seating was positively mercenary in its ability to suck heat out of me. The windchill was demonic. I mean, WTF: it’s not like St. Louis = Chicago and the north wind was whipping in over a huge lake. How does that north wind have such a galloping reach that it still is so awful? Etc.
The weather gods have some opinions about St. Louis. They really do. And they have zero mercy.
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I’m in Colorado and we laugh at Groundhog Day. Spring is still 2 months away and some of the heaviest snowfalls are on their way. I completely agree with this reporter. February is my least favorite month.
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I vote for November. Wet and cold and you know you have a long, dark winter ahead of you. By December there is at least hope for some snow.
Y’know, I’ve lived in Missouri for almost 40 years now, and have been to St. Louis hundreds of times – but I have yet to go to the top of the Arch. It just doesn’t appeal to me, engineering marvel and all that notwithstanding.
Also, after having read this amazing book:
…the Arch really comes across as a symbol for racism, imperialism, and genocide.
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Not being flippant or something, but I am not sure this is the best idea for your eyes, regarding the spectrum of LEDs, especially in the UV.
Would like to ask a specialist before I wore that…
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I read that book over most of November, a gift from my boss at the engineering office. She had gotten a copy from someone in social justice work here in Austin who said that this was the book* to read about St. Louis and a comprehensive accounting of race and struggle there.
Some of what was in the book was familiar to me, and some left me stunned. The phrase “the banality of evil” gets used a lot nowadays, but the tacit organized war St. Louis, conducted for centuries against Black residents, was scoped in that book in a way that left me feeling physically ill.
I hear you.
I hear you.
Spread that book around.
Let the world know, starting with whoever else you can get to read the book.
*
This book was my previous go-to when trying to wrap my mind around the mess that is St. Louis racial injustice:
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First thought:
Yikes–LEDs have UV? Which ones? Hmm.
Second thought:
Yes, getting a decent LED array that was safe for human health for the purposes of light therapy is a big deal. I wasn’t really arguing for unsafe self-experimentation.
Third thought:
Surely some reputable company has figured out the lightbulb and light wavelengths concerns already, yes?
Light boxes used to treat SAD should filter out most or all UV light.
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Also I find it impossible to pronounce February. Gets my tongue in a twist.
Feb - wu - hairy?
Fe - bju - ary ?
Fe - brewery ?
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Feb-yuh-ree
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my freshman and sophomore english teacher in high school insisted it must be pronounced FEB-ru-uh-ry.
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