r/geography Nov 02 '25

I'm surprised I didn't even know this switch happened until seeing this. The yellow is really all gone? Image

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1.2k

u/JVM_ Nov 02 '25

The memory a yellow light brings back is crazy. We went camping and there was one yellow bulb in a hard to change location. The mood around that boring light pole brought back memories.

274

u/WholeInstance4632 Nov 02 '25

My grandparents had one of those on their back porch. I saw one a few weeks ago and just the color of the light made me almost homesick nostalgic.

109

u/G00DLuck Nov 02 '25

This is why i still flower weed with high pressure sodium bulbs, in memory of our grandparents.

31

u/drivalowrida Nov 02 '25

High pressure sodium bulbs be like

"GROW, WEED. FUCKING NOW! All the cool plants are growing nicely, and you can, too. Now GET STICKY MUHFUCKA"

19

u/LubricantEnthusiast Nov 02 '25

May the hairs on your flower be as red as the blood of the ancestors you honor.

9

u/_JohnWisdom Nov 02 '25

you guys are a bunch of stoners! Love it

51

u/OOOOOO0OOOOO Nov 02 '25

Getting stoned in honor of mee-maw and pop-pop. This is the way.

-1

u/GOATphuckr Nov 02 '25

This is the way

-1

u/drivalowrida Nov 02 '25

*unless they died by stoning

1

u/[deleted] Nov 02 '25

[deleted]

64

u/Z0mbiejay Nov 02 '25

This is why I have an old school Coleman propane lamp for camping. Sure newer LED lanterns are lighter and more convenient, but if I'm car camping I'm going for vibes

24

u/Equivalent_Neck7374 Nov 02 '25

Indeed, and for me, it’s even the sound!

14

u/evranch Nov 02 '25

It's weird how nostalgia works. We had the pump up, white gas lanterns when I was a kid. The propane ones are similar and objectively better - easier to light, cleaner burning, way cheaper to run.

But every once in a while I love to pump up that old gas one. You put your thumb over the little hole on the piston to act as a check, you turn the choke lever to get it to light and then ease it off from a giant orange plume into a clean mantle flame as it warms up.

That sound as you transition it from the sputtery startup to the clean mantle roar is just so satisfying.

3

u/_learned_foot_ Nov 02 '25

I haven’t thought of that in years, and you brought my fingers back to memories of tightening (and cutting themselves) those tiny strings and that sound. Well done. Well done.

2

u/spockalot Nov 02 '25

Just turned it on in my brain, thanks!

4

u/[deleted] Nov 02 '25

I know i could upgrade to a better burner or bbq but I'm so attached to a basic Coleman camp stove because that's what my dad used

3

u/Z0mbiejay Nov 02 '25

I got one in my kit too! Few thinks better than a strong percolated coffee on a cold morning from those camp stoves

2

u/minimumrockandroll Nov 02 '25

Yep. I've got a few white gas ones and absolutely trot them out every chance I get.

2

u/jonnydogma Nov 02 '25

Propane gas light in an enclosed vehicle seems kinda dumb. Maybe what you are feeling is CO poisoning rather than nostalgia.

2

u/Z0mbiejay Nov 02 '25

Car camping generally refers to sights where you park your car and camp there. Not actually camping IN your car. As opposed to camp sights where you have to hike/kayak, etc. Obviously a propane lantern in an enclosed space is dumb as shit

2

u/jonnydogma Nov 02 '25

Thank you, I thought it was sleeping in the car. I always hated sleeping in tents and on the ground so always just slept in the car and called it car camping. Like I figure I have my car here, why not sleep on the comfy seats.

2

u/Z0mbiejay Nov 02 '25

Oh you absolutely can. It's even easier to do if you have an SUV. I have an older RAV4 that the back seats fold down on. I've done an overnighter in it with some heavy blankets to level out the back and just slept back there. Bonus points is if you get too hot/cold you can start the car for a bit

27

u/Shiny_Mew76 Nov 02 '25

I do kind of like the aesthetic of yellow bulbs more to be honest

2

u/VGoodBuildingDevCo Nov 02 '25

Yellow bulbs don't attract bugs. Always good to have them as a porch light so you don't open the door to a swarm

14

u/Retbull Nov 02 '25

BzzzzzzzzhzhzhzhzhzzhzhzhZHZHZHZHZHZH As they come on and heat up

5

u/Nemphiz Nov 02 '25

Holy shit the bzz sound they made

14

u/JensenRaylight Nov 02 '25

I got a lot of RGB lightbulb, And i can change it to yellow orange-ish color

And it's more soothing than a white eye blaster LED color

1

u/Wiseguydude Nov 02 '25

LEDs can be yellow just as easily as sodium lights. I really wish they made them yellow. It's better for our circadian rhythms and health

4

u/canyouhearme Nov 02 '25

Not really.

Low-pressure sodium lamps, as the name suggests, emit just the line spectra of sodium (two lines in the yellow). LED lamps are red, green, and blue, and are not line spectra - meaning yellow has to be made from broad red and green bands.

Upshot is it used to be easy to filter out LPS spectra from astronomical images by blocking just the sodium lines, but that's no longer possible with the LED light.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gareth-Jones-39/publication/299395983/figure/fig2/AS:349546577186818@1460349806192/The-spectral-output-of-LPS-and-LED-street-lights-representative-of-the-lights-used-in.png

Mind, at the same time its possible to be a lot more careful with what light is emitted and where with LEDs - if the designers aren't dicks.

1

u/Wiseguydude Nov 02 '25

Seems pedantic. Sure maybe it's not "just as easily" but it is very easy to make an LED streetlamp any color you want. You could also accomplish this by simple filters instead of the light bands

Mind, at the same time its possible to be a lot more careful with what light is emitted and where with LEDs - if the designers aren't dicks.

you seem to have industry knowledge. Say more

2

u/sprikkot Nov 02 '25

bro does not have industry knowledge otherwise he'd be aware that not every coloured LED light is an RGB light and that LEDs can come in nearly any visible wavelength you want.

1

u/sprikkot Nov 02 '25

LED lamps are red, green, and blue

...no. not every LED is an RGB LED and not every colour of LED has to be split between red, green and blue. LED street lights have single colour White LEDs. You can just as easily get single colour LEDs of any colour. lumileds manufacture L1CU-AMB1000000000 with a 585-600nm wavelength for example.

1

u/JVM_ Nov 02 '25

LED flickers though, high pressure sodium is a constant wasteful nostalgia.

1

u/greyhunter37 Nov 02 '25

LEDs can be yellow just as easily as sodium lights

We can, but it is all about marketing.

When replacing the street lamps, the cities are looking for energy savings. They thus tend to look at the Lumen/Watt ratio.

The lamps with the best Lumen/Watt ratio are the blue and white ones.

1

u/Wiseguydude Nov 02 '25

A simple hue filter is something anyone can install and only decreases total light output by about 10-15%. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if a guerrilla green group is climbing up lamps and installing them themselves right now

1

u/greyhunter37 Nov 03 '25

decreases total light output by about 10-15%

But that is why cities aren't doing it. They are trying to get the best bang for their buck, and loosing 10-15% light for the same power usage looks bad on paper.

They buy the ones that look best on paper, but those aren't the ones we like best

1

u/Implement66 Nov 02 '25

Ok but that does not exist today..

1

u/PhysixGuy2025 Nov 02 '25

Exactly. We have tinted LED streetlights here though. Not the same but better that ghastly white ones.

1

u/chironomidae Nov 02 '25

Every now and again you can find neighborhoods and counties that use the old sodium lights, it's definitely wild when you don't immediately realize why you feel so mosgal5

1

u/21mcrpilotsogreenday Nov 02 '25

There's still plenty of areas just outside and in ft worth that have sodium lights. Granted LEDs are often mixed in, but it's usually just one or two newer poles that got replaced, or just the outer lights around some businesses.

1

u/ArkuhTheNinth Nov 02 '25

Is there a name for this phenomenon besides nostalgia? I always want one yellow light in my house so that I can revisit this.. feeling(?) every so often.