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Nerding Out over the Solar Eclipse


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I'm a little surprised I haven't seen a thread dedicated to the eclipse on here, although I've seen it mentioned in other threads.  Being in St. Louis, we're in the path of totality.  I wish I were at home because I live south in Arnold, where it's an even better view.

 

My company is throwing a party and giving out glasses to people.  My wife's going out with her high school kids to watch it, my oldest is watching with a school event, and the youngest will watch on TV with his grandmas.  

 

We've been talking it up and feeding into the enthusiasm for the kids.  If they're going to be interested in science, they have to see how excited we are as adults, right?  They can get a lot of mileage out of their excitement this young.  My first solar eclipse was (of course) only a partial viewed through a shoe box, but it cemented my mild obsession with astronomy.  My oldest already wants to be an astronaut, and I want to encourage my kids at this age to explore and develop new passions.

 

Is anyone else psyched for it?  Do you have any special plans?

Adventurer, Half-Dwarf Chaotic-Good Paladin

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Character Sheet Training Logs Challenges Prepping for Adventure PrepAdventure Prep Fall BabyWhen Are We Again, Anyway?WhirlwindThe Leaf's LocusHarnessing Hamingja New Roots More Beginnings, More Roots Cleaning Up Facing The Hailstorm Yo Ho Yo The... Keto Life For Me? Taming the Beast Another Step Towards the Future Baking, Suburban Homesteading, and Health, The Adventurers of the Lucky Vale IIIIIIIVVVI, VII VIIIIX

Spoiler

Perennial goals: Sleep 7+ hours a night, retain (and continue to learn) French and Spanish as a family, increase Spanish Proficiency for work and play,  read like a maniac on my own and with my kids, carry heavy stuff

Long term goals: Cut to 13-15% bodyfat, And now that I'm grown I eat five dozen eggs, so I'm roughly the size of a baaaaarge! -> Someday I'll challenge a Disney world Gaston to a push up contest and win

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Here's a picture I was able to grab before a cloud jumped in front of me.

IMG_3765.PNG

Adventurer, Half-Dwarf Chaotic-Good Paladin

Ne me dites jamais les chances!  ¡Nunca me digas las probabilidades!

Character Sheet Training Logs Challenges Prepping for Adventure PrepAdventure Prep Fall BabyWhen Are We Again, Anyway?WhirlwindThe Leaf's LocusHarnessing Hamingja New Roots More Beginnings, More Roots Cleaning Up Facing The Hailstorm Yo Ho Yo The... Keto Life For Me? Taming the Beast Another Step Towards the Future Baking, Suburban Homesteading, and Health, The Adventurers of the Lucky Vale IIIIIIIVVVI, VII VIIIIX

Spoiler

Perennial goals: Sleep 7+ hours a night, retain (and continue to learn) French and Spanish as a family, increase Spanish Proficiency for work and play,  read like a maniac on my own and with my kids, carry heavy stuff

Long term goals: Cut to 13-15% bodyfat, And now that I'm grown I eat five dozen eggs, so I'm roughly the size of a baaaaarge! -> Someday I'll challenge a Disney world Gaston to a push up contest and win

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And agent!

IMG_3770.PNG

Adventurer, Half-Dwarf Chaotic-Good Paladin

Ne me dites jamais les chances!  ¡Nunca me digas las probabilidades!

Character Sheet Training Logs Challenges Prepping for Adventure PrepAdventure Prep Fall BabyWhen Are We Again, Anyway?WhirlwindThe Leaf's LocusHarnessing Hamingja New Roots More Beginnings, More Roots Cleaning Up Facing The Hailstorm Yo Ho Yo The... Keto Life For Me? Taming the Beast Another Step Towards the Future Baking, Suburban Homesteading, and Health, The Adventurers of the Lucky Vale IIIIIIIVVVI, VII VIIIIX

Spoiler

Perennial goals: Sleep 7+ hours a night, retain (and continue to learn) French and Spanish as a family, increase Spanish Proficiency for work and play,  read like a maniac on my own and with my kids, carry heavy stuff

Long term goals: Cut to 13-15% bodyfat, And now that I'm grown I eat five dozen eggs, so I'm roughly the size of a baaaaarge! -> Someday I'll challenge a Disney world Gaston to a push up contest and win

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LOL

Adventurer, Half-Dwarf Chaotic-Good Paladin

Ne me dites jamais les chances!  ¡Nunca me digas las probabilidades!

Character Sheet Training Logs Challenges Prepping for Adventure PrepAdventure Prep Fall BabyWhen Are We Again, Anyway?WhirlwindThe Leaf's LocusHarnessing Hamingja New Roots More Beginnings, More Roots Cleaning Up Facing The Hailstorm Yo Ho Yo The... Keto Life For Me? Taming the Beast Another Step Towards the Future Baking, Suburban Homesteading, and Health, The Adventurers of the Lucky Vale IIIIIIIVVVI, VII VIIIIX

Spoiler

Perennial goals: Sleep 7+ hours a night, retain (and continue to learn) French and Spanish as a family, increase Spanish Proficiency for work and play,  read like a maniac on my own and with my kids, carry heavy stuff

Long term goals: Cut to 13-15% bodyfat, And now that I'm grown I eat five dozen eggs, so I'm roughly the size of a baaaaarge! -> Someday I'll challenge a Disney world Gaston to a push up contest and win

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1 hour ago, Guzzi said:

8dd846c89f8964fb729491be6a6b9931.jpg

Sorry. Couldn't help myself.

 

LOL. The colander works great if you project it onto the sidewalk though. Trees would do the same thing, acting like a pinhole projector.

 

We were in about 97% totality path. We had a campus-wide viewing event (college campus) from 2pm til about a half hour ago. Two projectors and a dedicated solar telescope. 

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We weren't in the path of totality here but i think we got about 97% coverage.  I didn't have any glasses so went old school with a pinhole projector and some paper on teh floor for the people who couldn't be bothered to move.  I made 5 boxes for various people.

 

CijRLHH.jpg

 

y8EfAMx.jpg

 

It was a very cool experience and i got to geek out over science which i love.

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That takes me back to childhood.  The youngest is 2 and he was set up to do that but apparently he fell asleep as soon as the sky started to darken.

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Adventurer, Half-Dwarf Chaotic-Good Paladin

Ne me dites jamais les chances!  ¡Nunca me digas las probabilidades!

Character Sheet Training Logs Challenges Prepping for Adventure PrepAdventure Prep Fall BabyWhen Are We Again, Anyway?WhirlwindThe Leaf's LocusHarnessing Hamingja New Roots More Beginnings, More Roots Cleaning Up Facing The Hailstorm Yo Ho Yo The... Keto Life For Me? Taming the Beast Another Step Towards the Future Baking, Suburban Homesteading, and Health, The Adventurers of the Lucky Vale IIIIIIIVVVI, VII VIIIIX

Spoiler

Perennial goals: Sleep 7+ hours a night, retain (and continue to learn) French and Spanish as a family, increase Spanish Proficiency for work and play,  read like a maniac on my own and with my kids, carry heavy stuff

Long term goals: Cut to 13-15% bodyfat, And now that I'm grown I eat five dozen eggs, so I'm roughly the size of a baaaaarge! -> Someday I'll challenge a Disney world Gaston to a push up contest and win

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We had an eclipse picnic at one of the big local parks that had a bunch of activities set up. Unfortunately, they ran out of viewing glasses, but one of the park rangers had a viewing device for sharing so we got a look at it during the peak. We only had 80% coverage, and for the longest time it was partly cloudy. But then it cleared up right before peak. So, all in all, it was cool but not as spectacular as we had expected. Like, unless you knew about the eclipse, you would have no idea that it happened. 

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NASA dropped some pretty sweet images of the eclipse, too.  In particular, I love one from space showing the eclipse over cloud cover, and the composite image showing the ISS photobombing the eclipse.

 

I listened to a live audio description by MindsEye, our local nonprofit that provides audio services for the blind.  Normally, audio description has been paired with things like theatre shows and movies, but we're branching out and described the eclipse too!

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Adventurer, Half-Dwarf Chaotic-Good Paladin

Ne me dites jamais les chances!  ¡Nunca me digas las probabilidades!

Character Sheet Training Logs Challenges Prepping for Adventure PrepAdventure Prep Fall BabyWhen Are We Again, Anyway?WhirlwindThe Leaf's LocusHarnessing Hamingja New Roots More Beginnings, More Roots Cleaning Up Facing The Hailstorm Yo Ho Yo The... Keto Life For Me? Taming the Beast Another Step Towards the Future Baking, Suburban Homesteading, and Health, The Adventurers of the Lucky Vale IIIIIIIVVVI, VII VIIIIX

Spoiler

Perennial goals: Sleep 7+ hours a night, retain (and continue to learn) French and Spanish as a family, increase Spanish Proficiency for work and play,  read like a maniac on my own and with my kids, carry heavy stuff

Long term goals: Cut to 13-15% bodyfat, And now that I'm grown I eat five dozen eggs, so I'm roughly the size of a baaaaarge! -> Someday I'll challenge a Disney world Gaston to a push up contest and win

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There was a total eclipse over the English Channel in 1999.  I was 17 and determined to see it so me and a friend traveled by bus for 18 hours to get to Plymouth in Devon, the south west of England.  

 

There was all sorts of events set up and we decided to watch it from a park that was set up with beer tents, food stalls, entertainment etc.  It clouded over for the actual eclipse but the atmosphere was amazing!  It really did go dark, unlike back home in Scotland where it was just as if the sky had clouded over a wee bit. 

 

I would love to experience another total eclipse and hope to be able to some day.  Most of the next total eclipses are due to take place over parts of the world that I'm unlikely to be visiting, Africa, India, etc.  There will be one visible from Canada in 2021...

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Ooh!  I've just found that there's going to be one over Europe in 2026!  Visible from Spain!  And just after the school holidays so accommodation should be slightly cheaper too! :) 

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Make Life Rue The Day                             Turning back the clock                                                Recipe book  14

 

Life is far too short to take seriously

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I drove up to Nashville with some friends to get into the path of totality.  It was amazing.  I couldn't get any good pictures, because all I had was a phone camera, but the total eclipse actually looked almost exactly like the one on Heroes. :playful:   We also got to see Mars and Mercury.  I did manage to get video of the shadow bands, which I had never heard of before.

 

We're already talking about the 2024 eclipse in Texas.

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I drove down to McClellanville, SC which was right in the middle of totality. It was awesome. And @Anim07734 is right. Just like in Heroes. :D The shadows got interesting and then the world faded into sepia tones for a bit, and then when totality occurred it was so much more obvious that we were staring into space. (Like, I know, you do the same thing at night, but it's rarely driven home so hard as this).

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Also, anyone else develop super powers?  I developed the ability to make a flawless marinara sauce from scratch.  I mean, I'm probably not gonna make the world safer, but it's going to be a heck of a lot tastier!

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Adventurer, Half-Dwarf Chaotic-Good Paladin

Ne me dites jamais les chances!  ¡Nunca me digas las probabilidades!

Character Sheet Training Logs Challenges Prepping for Adventure PrepAdventure Prep Fall BabyWhen Are We Again, Anyway?WhirlwindThe Leaf's LocusHarnessing Hamingja New Roots More Beginnings, More Roots Cleaning Up Facing The Hailstorm Yo Ho Yo The... Keto Life For Me? Taming the Beast Another Step Towards the Future Baking, Suburban Homesteading, and Health, The Adventurers of the Lucky Vale IIIIIIIVVVI, VII VIIIIX

Spoiler

Perennial goals: Sleep 7+ hours a night, retain (and continue to learn) French and Spanish as a family, increase Spanish Proficiency for work and play,  read like a maniac on my own and with my kids, carry heavy stuff

Long term goals: Cut to 13-15% bodyfat, And now that I'm grown I eat five dozen eggs, so I'm roughly the size of a baaaaarge! -> Someday I'll challenge a Disney world Gaston to a push up contest and win

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I think eclipses are awesome. But the reaction most people have to it...not so much.

 

"How do I stop my kid from looking up at the sun if he doesn't have glasses?"

"My kid's school is taking everybody outside to watch the eclipse and I don't think they have glasses?! I'm picking my kid up early!"

"There's going to be so many accidents when it gets dark, and my kids are getting out of school during peak time, oh my God my kid is gonna die!"

"This is the first eclipse in like 100 years and the last one for like another 50...or something!"

"It's the end of the world as we know it!"

 

giphy.gif

 

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Yeah, that's obnoxious.  In our household and even my extended family, it's all about the beautiful natural phenomenon.  I love that the process of science has given us the tools to accurately predict when, where, and how long we will see eclipses.  

 

In 2024, Carbondale, IL will experience ANOTHER total eclipse, similar to this one.  That's close to my hometown and a bunch of my relatives, and I think for the next one I'll take my family there to see it with their cousins.

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Adventurer, Half-Dwarf Chaotic-Good Paladin

Ne me dites jamais les chances!  ¡Nunca me digas las probabilidades!

Character Sheet Training Logs Challenges Prepping for Adventure PrepAdventure Prep Fall BabyWhen Are We Again, Anyway?WhirlwindThe Leaf's LocusHarnessing Hamingja New Roots More Beginnings, More Roots Cleaning Up Facing The Hailstorm Yo Ho Yo The... Keto Life For Me? Taming the Beast Another Step Towards the Future Baking, Suburban Homesteading, and Health, The Adventurers of the Lucky Vale IIIIIIIVVVI, VII VIIIIX

Spoiler

Perennial goals: Sleep 7+ hours a night, retain (and continue to learn) French and Spanish as a family, increase Spanish Proficiency for work and play,  read like a maniac on my own and with my kids, carry heavy stuff

Long term goals: Cut to 13-15% bodyfat, And now that I'm grown I eat five dozen eggs, so I'm roughly the size of a baaaaarge! -> Someday I'll challenge a Disney world Gaston to a push up contest and win

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@otterbyte and I took the kids down to western NC to see it. We stood in the parking lot of the Sylva Walmart (about 2 miles inside path of totality) for an hour or so watching the moon creep across. The clouds behaved, we had glasses, and it was a perfect view of the totality. Sadly, no good pics. I'm not a shutterbug and the iPhone just turned the corona into a blur. The kids thought it was awesome, too.

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