March 30, 2020

Sunrise.

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The eastern view, at 6:50 a.m.
Posted by Ann Althouse at 10:53 AM
Tags: , ,

17 comments:

Temujin said...

Wow. That looks like a mountain of sky.

3/30/20, 10:54 AM
Etienne said...

"Before the epidemic began, the city's crematoriums typically cremated around 220 people a day."

Officially, Communist China says 2,500 people died in Wuhan.

This doesn't add up, as furnaces have been running non-stop every day, and the crematoriums report 42,000 urns have been given out.

42,000 divided by 220 is 190. So it hasn't been 190 days since the virus hit.

3/30/20, 11:03 AM
Ann Althouse said...

It was a strange sunrise today. I saw that the cloud cover percentage was in the middle -- somewhere around 30 to 60% (I forget exactly what) — and I thought that meant it would be an excellent sunrise. But it's not just the percentage of clouds that matters. It's whether they're spread out in a way that lets the sun through. Today, there was a thick bolster of clouds at the land level. ("Horizon" is the wrong word.) The sun was largely hidden, and when it finally broke through, it was more like the sunrise on a clear day — just way too bright for a photograph. The point that you see in this photograph is the most colorful, interesting moment.

3/30/20, 11:09 AM
Ann Althouse said...

"at the land level" = at the land level from my point of view.

I need another way to express the position where the sky meets the land from my viewpoint. It's not the horizon because I don't have a view of the horizon.

The shoreline?

3/30/20, 11:14 AM
PJ said...

A beautiful shot. Much more interesting than brightness-at-land-level of any color, and quite distinctive.

3/30/20, 11:16 AM
Original Mike said...

I think when you're looking out across the lake, horizon is a fair description. What's the difference between the two; less than a degree?

3/30/20, 11:18 AM
PJ said...

I have heard the term "horizon line" for that. It's not the actual horizon, but it serves as one for compositional purposes.

3/30/20, 11:23 AM
Tommy Duncan said...

It is a glorious day here in SE Minnesota. Yard work and firewood production beckon. Vaya con Dios...

3/30/20, 11:44 AM
tcrosse said...

According to Merriam-Webster, the horizon is:
"the line where the earth seems to meet the sky : the apparent junction of earth and sky". Nothing about the line where the water seems to meet the sky, nor does it exclude the line where the near east side of Madison meets the sky.

3/30/20, 11:57 AM
Lyle Sanford, RMT said...

weird pic! took a while for me to "see" it.

3/30/20, 12:15 PM
Ann Althouse said...

"I think when you're looking out across the lake, horizon is a fair description. What's the difference between the two; less than a degree?"

I think it needs to be a line where you could locate a vanishing point in a drawing with correct perspective. The shoreline is too close for the placement of a vanishing point. In terms of composition, I think "horizon" is wrong.

But it is horizontal!

3/30/20, 12:46 PM
Ann Althouse said...

From the Wikipedia article "Horizon":

"In many contexts, especially perspective drawing, the curvature of the Earth is disregarded and the horizon is considered the theoretical line to which points on any horizontal plane converge (when projected onto the picture plane) as their distance from the observer increases. For observers near sea level the difference between this geometrical horizon (which assumes a perfectly flat, infinite ground plane) and the true horizon (which assumes a spherical Earth surface) is imperceptible to the unaided eye[dubious – discuss] (but for someone on a 1000-meter hill looking out to sea the true horizon will be about a degree below a horizontal line)."

3/30/20, 12:48 PM
Ann Althouse said...

More Wikipedia:

"The horizon or skyline is the apparent line that separates earth from sky, the line that divides all visible directions into two categories: those that intersect the Earth's surface, and those that do not. The true horizon is actually a theoretical line, which can only be observed when it lies on the sea surface. At many locations, this line is obscured by land, trees, buildings, mountains, etc., and the resulting intersection of earth and sky is called the visible horizon. ... The true horizon is horizontal. It surrounds the observer and it is typically assumed to be a circle, drawn on the surface of a perfectly spherical model of the Earth. Its center is below the observer and below sea level..."

3/30/20, 12:50 PM
Ann Althouse said...

I need to go lie down.

3/30/20, 12:52 PM
tcrosse said...

It has been said that North Dakota is so flat that on a clear day you can see the back of your own head.

3/30/20, 12:59 PM
tcrosse said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
3/30/20, 12:59 PM
wildswan said...

"Ann Althouse said...
I need to go lie down.

3/30/20, 12:52 PM"

Horizontally?

I think I posted this once before but it fits again:

"When I grew old
And the financial crisis began,
I came to live in Wisconsin
By Lake Michigan.
And I keep looking over there,
Where color on color rules a line,
As if all the lines of print I ever read
Has been resolved
Into one last meaning -
One final blue
Horizon line.

3/30/20, 5:32 PM

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