Eclipse Plans

[trdsf]

Mom asks if the school can reschedule the eclipse:

I really want to believe she was just trying to be funny... but there's so much evidence that there really are people this thick.  >.<

[SGOS]

Actually, Walmart and Lowe's have both laid in huge stocks; to the best of my knowledge, they are still available, and they are the ISO 12312-2 certified ones.  I laid in a stash for my cow-orkers, who will have to experience partiality rather than totality, and a couple pairs for myself so I could cannibalize one into being solar filters for my digital camera.

Somewhere a Lowes or Walmart probably has them in stock.  But a search in two local Walmarts and two Lowes Stores has proven to be unsuccessful on my end.  Also, according to my last searches on the Internet, which possibly limits me to local stores, say in a 100 mile radius, says, "out of stock."  This was as of two days ago.

But I've decided to use the glasses I have.  I think they are safe.  They are dark enough to prevent me from seeing anything at all, except the sun, which still appears very dim.  When I put the glasses on and look around the sky, I can't even find the sun.  I have to take the glasses off, determine the sun's approximate location, and look there with the glasses, and I still have to search for the sun.  I think the scare is mostly manufactured, and while there are no doubt unsafe products out there, probably on the order of unsafe electronics that blow up when you plug them in, I think this has been blown out of proportion, a great marketing ploy, and a great temptation to the sensationally minded media.  Amazon also gets to sell the certified stuff and prices inflated by a factor of 20 or more.

[SGOS]

I really want to believe she was just trying to be funny... but there's so much evidence that there really are people this thick.  >.<

I made a satirical comment like that at a public hearing years ago.  The audience of 350 and the 5 senators in attendance all caught the joke and laughed heartily.  But most of the media reported the comment as a serious one, which was quite embarrassing.  Although, one media source reported it in such a way that made it clear it was just a passing remark that made an otherwise boring hearing momentarily entertaining.  You have to be careful what you in say and how you say it in public.  If the media is there, make sure they can take nothing out of context, because they will, and they love to turn everything into a controversy.

[trdsf]

Oh, and with regard to my upcoming trip for the eclipse... I LOST MY FUCKING WALLET ON THE BUS YESTERDAY!  ID, bank cards, the lot!  AAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!

[SGOS]

Oh, and with regard to my upcoming trip for the eclipse... I LOST MY FUCKING WALLET ON THE BUS YESTERDAY!  ID, bank cards, the lot!  AAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!

Good grief.  That is a MAJOR pain in the ass.  I'm sorry to hear that.

[aitm]

Why do welders were protective lens? To prevent retinal burns. Same-same staring at the Sun. Sheesh.

I have met people blinded by welding or with partical dot due to that, I have always heard that staring at the sun can blind you, I have just never heard of anyone actually blinded. I suppose someone has, depending on how long. sheesh yerself ya big old meenie!

[trdsf]

Good grief.  That is a MAJOR pain in the ass.  I'm sorry to hear that.

Preferable to losing what I was carrying, which was several fountain pens to display at the monthly club meeting -- just three of which were worth about $600.  I'll find out today if someone did the right thing and turned it in off the bus; otherwise, I can get at least my bank card replaced on an expedited basis and have it in hand before the end of the week.

But yes, major pain in the gluteus maximus.

[SGOS]

I have met people blinded by welding or with partical dot due to that, I have always heard that staring at the sun can blind you, I have just never heard of anyone actually blinded. I suppose someone has, depending on how long. sheesh yerself ya big old meenie!

People don't usually stare at the sun.  It's very uncomfortable.  Even kids that don't know better unconsciously don't look at the sun.  Few would make it to their teens with their eyesight in tact if they didn't have to force themselves to stare at the sun.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I have met people blinded by welding or with partical dot due to that, I have always heard that staring at the sun can blind you, I have just never heard of anyone actually blinded. I suppose someone has, depending on how long. sheesh yerself ya big old meenie!

"snow blindness" is really due to reflected sunlight.

[SGOS]

"snow blindness" is really due to reflected sunlight.

I thought it was from sticking your face in the snow.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I thought it was from sticking your face in the snow.

No, that's your friend. ♫

[trdsf]

And now, your minimum daily requirement of brain-damaged stupidity: Signs the eclipse is the beginning of the Tribulation.  I think the funniest part was when they claimed it wasn't an end-of-the-world prophecy... and then immediately went on trying to connect the eclipse to the end of the world in Christian mythology.

Predictably, the science is wrong - for example, "people will witness a black sun rising over the United States". No, they won't.  The eclipse begins at 9:05 local time and totality isn't until about a quarter after ten.  There is no 'black sun rising'.  It will have been well and truly risen by then.

And that's the mildest of it -- the rest is a desperately flailing (and unintentionally hilarious to anyone with a modicum of astronomical knowledge) mish-mash of numerology, bible passages, astrology, and just plain pulling things out of his ass.

[Unbeliever]

I EXPECT the skies will be overcast and I won't see much of anything.  A mere slight darkening and nothing more.

Oh, great - another pessimist! 

[Unbeliever]

Mom asks if the school can reschedule the eclipse:

Where's Joshua when you need him?

[trdsf]

I FOUND MY FUCKING WALLET!!!!!!