Good day sunshine...

So, perhaps this is old news by now, but our rain Wednesday made me think about a story I read in both the Examiner and the Chronicle that just captured my imagination. The story concerned a small town--Rattenberg, Austria--that 700 years after its founding has decided that it is sick and tired of winter darkness. It seems that the same mountain nook that has shielded the town from enemy attack also blocks direct sunlight between November and February. Sixty other nearby Alpine towns suffer a similar fate.

The solution for Rattenberg: 30 mirrors mounted on a hilltop in such a pattern that light is directed into select common areas of the town. The cost: $2.4 million.

Now, the 440 residents of Rattenberg believe that bringing sunlight into their town will reverse the decline in population, particularly the young people that move away. Before committing these funds, however, I suggest that the Rattenbergers visit an urban club or disco to watch what young people do when the lights come on at closing time--they scurry, lest they be seen under the unflattering fluorescent lights.

The lesson? Perhaps Rattengerians aren't that good looking, and turning on the winter lights could decrease the population even further. I'm just tossing that out for consideration.

In rebuttal, Buster (below) would like to point out that sunbeams are quite nice, thank you.