i like that this dude in the 1st post was already cognizant of the upcoming 1
The next one in the States won't happen until 2017, I think.. and it's only going to brush the Northwest.― Brian MacDonald, Sunday, October 28, 2001 8:00 PM (fifteen years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― johnny crunch, Thursday, 17 August 2017 18:44 (six years ago) link
keep chasing that darkness, brian
i'm thinking about a spur of the moment all-day drive to see eclipse in nebraska, a little near omaha. any denizens in the area know of traffic snarls or other concerns?
Keep an eye on @Nebraska511 on Twitter. It's the Nebraska Dept. of Transportation and they're updating. There's also phone apps.
(on my way to Alliance, Nebraska in the western part of the state)
― Elvis Telecom, Saturday, 19 August 2017 17:37 (six years ago) link
things I have either heard people say or seen posted re the eclipse: "Will cell phones still work?"
This one has a sort of tangential relevance, at least here in Oregon. Near the path of totality there will be far more people than normal, no more cell towers than before, and much of this combination will occur in highly rural areas. The cell phone capacity is likely going to be totally overwhelmed.
― A is for (Aimless), Saturday, 19 August 2017 17:44 (six years ago) link
"Are you guys worried about shortages? Everything will be closed for a while cause of the eclipse, so people are going to stock up on food and water." (Kiva checkout line)
people are totally stocking up on food and water. everybody has gone batshit crazy about this for the past week. at my workplace we've gotten special emails about how to prepare for the emergency, with stuff talking about the power grid going out, nobody being able to get anywhere, etc., etc. it's not like there are a whole hell of a lot of roads that will take you to salem.
― The Saga of Rodney Stooksbury (rushomancy), Saturday, 19 August 2017 19:29 (six years ago) link
I'm drunk in a Nebraska cattle pasture. AMA.
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 21 August 2017 03:55 (six years ago) link
So, then, everything's just fine for the nonce.
― A is for (Aimless), Monday, 21 August 2017 05:21 (six years ago) link
my house is in 99.6% coverage area. path of totality is 15 miles north. but that 15 miles could take a couiple hours to travel thx to traffic.
def the "once in a lifetime" opportunity appeals to me, and everything you read says "if you can get to totality, you MUST!" but i'm also wondering if i should avoid the stress and just enjoy 99.6% from the roof of my house.
thoughts, ilx?
― alpine static, Monday, 21 August 2017 07:10 (six years ago) link
i vote totality.
― StanM, Monday, 21 August 2017 07:22 (six years ago) link
99.6%, but I'm not that excited by the whole thing anyway.
― louie mensch (milo z), Monday, 21 August 2017 07:43 (six years ago) link
If you could do the 15 miles by bike I'd say totality. Wrap up a picnic basket and find a quiet spot if possible.
If not: 99,6%. You won't even notice the difference, really. I went to France with some buddies to see one, 15 years ago or so. We made a camping trip out of it which turned out to be memorable, one for the ages. And worth way more than the eclipse itself. We found a spot by a small lake. Went there an hour early - it was in the afternoon - and it was p magical to see all the birds and swans in the lake going to sleep again, thinking it was night. Then after an hour waking up again as if nothing happened, as if it's completely normal to sometimes have an extra 'night' during the day.
If anything, the effect of a solar eclipse is best seen in nature, in animals. So I'd advise a spot like that. It doubles your value and is much preferred to standing in a loud crowd going ooh and ahhh with their spex on.
― Le Bateau Ivre, Monday, 21 August 2017 10:23 (six years ago) link
and taking photos with a flash...
― koogs, Monday, 21 August 2017 10:53 (six years ago) link
I love you but I've chosen totality.
― Jeff, Monday, 21 August 2017 11:05 (six years ago) link
I also saw the France one (18 years ago, if we're being precise) - instead of driving to Cornwall like everyone else (idiots!) we got Le Shuttle and watched it from a field just outside Amiens. A+ would gawp again etc
― imago, Monday, 21 August 2017 11:22 (six years ago) link
Ha, we were near Amiens! 18 years ago already, sheesh.
― Le Bateau Ivre, Monday, 21 August 2017 11:24 (six years ago) link
this eclipse glasses shortage business is totally bogus tho fwiw
― yellow is the color of some raisins (Doctor Casino), Monday, 21 August 2017 13:05 (six years ago) link
Finally, all those oversized Amazon boxes reveal a purpose
http://i.imgur.com/UYuFldx.jpg
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Monday, 21 August 2017 13:56 (six years ago) link
huge recall of glasses that a coffee chain was giving out, this will end well
― sleeve, Monday, 21 August 2017 14:38 (six years ago) link
Have ye ever tried blinking, but for longer.
― jk rowling obituary thread (darraghmac), Monday, 21 August 2017 14:45 (six years ago) link
Also holy shit @ sleeves overheard quotes. Poll that shit.
I got a refund and a "we can't guarantee these" for the glasses I got, but I looked at the uneclipsed sun with them for a few seconds at a time the other day and I think they'll be ok for my purposes -- just a few seconds every few minutes.
― May contain peanuts, tree nuts, soy, wheat, pits or pit fragments. (WilliamC), Monday, 21 August 2017 14:46 (six years ago) link
from a friend - "It turns out there are all types of fake eclipse viewing glasses. My mother the scientist called me yesterday to give me the tip of how to test whether you have safe eclipse glasses. Put on your glasses and look directly at a bare light bulb. If you can see the light bulb filament, they're no good, if you see darkness, you are good to view the sun. Keep your eyes safe!"
― sleeve, Monday, 21 August 2017 14:50 (six years ago) link
― alpine static, Monday, August 21, 2017 3:10 AM (seven hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
can't beat the roof of your house imo
― marcos, Monday, 21 August 2017 14:53 (six years ago) link
i have to work today but at least the astronomy department is hosting the eclipse party right outside the library where i work
we're a few hours from totality, i think we will have 80% here
― marcos, Monday, 21 August 2017 14:54 (six years ago) link
I think I have one incandescent bulb left in the house.
― May contain peanuts, tree nuts, soy, wheat, pits or pit fragments. (WilliamC), Monday, 21 August 2017 14:55 (six years ago) link
"Nitrous Oxide while we climax and experience totality and conception, is OK with me."
the new Adam Ant single
― Dean of the University (Latham Green), Monday, 21 August 2017 15:23 (six years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/cvTCQib.jpg
― StanM, Monday, 21 August 2017 15:32 (six years ago) link
NASA Raw feeds https://www.nasa.gov/eclipselive/#NASA+TV+-+Eclipse+Views+(Raw+Feed)
― nashwan, Monday, 21 August 2017 16:47 (six years ago) link
i'm about to experience this the best possible way (i.e. w/ 30 excitable teenagers who don't know a whole lot about how the sky works)
― the late great, Monday, 21 August 2017 16:48 (six years ago) link
Dying at sleeve's overheard quotes
― Neanderthal, Monday, 21 August 2017 17:10 (six years ago) link
Most popular guy at Homestead National Monument? Has to be @BillNye. He stopped by our NET table, but has been on the move! #Eclipse2017 pic.twitter.com/3kkt6KYO6X— Dennis Kellogg (@Dennis_Kellogg) August 21, 2017
― Eazy, Monday, 21 August 2017 17:12 (six years ago) link
not in path of totality, don't care
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Monday, 21 August 2017 17:23 (six years ago) link
we'll add that to not_good_enough.xls
― the late great, Monday, 21 August 2017 17:28 (six years ago) link
92% or whatever in Seattle was reasonably cool, v satisfied with my eclipse, glad I didn't try to haul myself down to Salem
― .oO (silby), Monday, 21 August 2017 17:48 (six years ago) link
NASA feed couldn't even stay on the eclipse for the whole totality, kept breaking away to show us some random website. And went back to the presenters just as the sun was reappearing through the mountains. Pah.
― koogs, Monday, 21 August 2017 18:18 (six years ago) link
92% here. Cloudless and dusky at 1:20.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFVTWEVhxY8
― May contain peanuts, tree nuts, soy, wheat, pits or pit fragments. (WilliamC), Monday, 21 August 2017 18:19 (six years ago) link
I have decided that the funniest part of Trump going blind would be that he would NEVER admit that he went blind— slackbot (@pareene) August 21, 2017
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Monday, 21 August 2017 18:27 (six years ago) link
Here just south of Portland, we reached a maximum of about 99.5% occlusion, so we missed seeing the corona and having stars visible, as you get with totality. Still, it very cool. At the moment of max it was about as dusky as fifteen or twenty minutes after sunset, but only briefly. When the light came back, it seemed to do so very rapidly, because my brain had slowly adjusted to the light diminishing and was surprised by the sudden reversal.
Best observation of the day: the dappled sunshine that filtered through the trees and shone on the ground was all crescent-shaped as the moon occluded the sun, and when the moon had passed its max and began to move off, the crescent-shapes flipped over. Kind of like having a natural pin-hole viewer. Cool!
― A is for (Aimless), Monday, 21 August 2017 18:38 (six years ago) link
That's the bit I remember from the UK partial eclipse in 96, walking to the dentist with crescent shaped dapples.
― koogs, Monday, 21 August 2017 18:44 (six years ago) link
it is incredible to me how bright the sun is, even at a distance of 93 million miles, even when it is more than 60% occluded as it was here
― the late great, Monday, 21 August 2017 18:50 (six years ago) link
also keeping in mind that we only get about 0.00000005% of the sun's radiation
― the late great, Monday, 21 August 2017 18:52 (six years ago) link
crescent shadow photo
here to report eclipses are really cool. it made a bunch of tiny half-moons (well ~actually~ half-suns) appear in this tree shadow! v neat pic.twitter.com/r2byoU4iaX— Haley Byrd (@byrdinator) August 21, 2017
― officer sonny bonds, lytton pd (mayor jingleberries), Monday, 21 August 2017 18:59 (six years ago) link
somewhat underwhelming in the northern climes :(
― Dean of the University (Latham Green), Monday, 21 August 2017 19:01 (six years ago) link
"When is this gonna start?""I think that was it""I guess it's brighter now.."
― sleepingbag, Monday, 21 August 2017 19:10 (six years ago) link
i looked right at it
it was nice talking with you all
― global tetrahedron, Monday, 21 August 2017 19:10 (six years ago) link
my house is in 99.6% coverage area. path of totality is 15 miles north. but that 15 miles could take a couiple hours to travel thx to traffic.def the "once in a lifetime" opportunity appeals to me, and everything you read says "if you can get to totality, you MUST!" but i'm also wondering if i should avoid the stress and just enjoy 99.6% from the roof of my house.thoughts, ilx?― alpine static, Monday, 21 August 2017 07:10
― alpine static, Monday, 21 August 2017 07:10
well, we decided at the last second to go. hit no traffic (took a very rural route through Oregon), watched the whole thing and it was truly awesome. temperature dropped, it totally got dark, saw stars and holy shit ... the sun was weird lookin'!
― alpine static, Monday, 21 August 2017 19:46 (six years ago) link
Nuclear fusion in the sky!
― calstars, Monday, 21 August 2017 19:50 (six years ago) link
whoa so jelly
― the late great, Monday, 21 August 2017 20:01 (six years ago) link
We had a local contingent of School of Rock playing at our community gathering. They played not a single sun or moon related song. They ended with a Soundgarden song ... that was not Black Hole Sun. We just assumed they were trolling everyone.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 21 August 2017 20:23 (six years ago) link