News:

Welcome to our site!

Main Menu

The Eclipse in Retrospect

Started by SGOS, August 23, 2017, 04:36:57 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

SGOS

Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on August 28, 2017, 09:22:25 AM
That's more due to a litigious society than user stupidity. "I wasn't warned knives are sharp! Give me a million dollars!"
The coffee was hot.  How was I supposed to know?

chill98

Quote from: SGOS on August 28, 2017, 08:24:06 AM
I think it's important to realize that totality  needs to be understood as a different than looking at a partial eclipse with glasses, which is why I didn't want to be considered elitist.  You know, "You ain't seen nothing, until you seen what I seen."

It was a first for both them and myself.  They remarked when we got back together that thinking a partial eclipse is similar in some way to a total eclipse can be assumed true only by someone who has never seen totality.

  But thinking that a partial eclipse is enough to get the idea of the experience of totality isn't correct.  The partial is an interesting sight in it's own right.  It's interesting to think about a huge body like the moon passing in front of the sun, and since it does it in an hour or so, it's neat to consider how fast it has to be moving to accomplish that. 

If understanding the mechanics without actually attending the symphony is where it's at, I get that, but hearing the symphony is a different experience from understanding music theory. 

I knew it would be very cool to see, but it went beyond my expectations.  The girl with the 1/2 solar glasses taped over her i-phone only decided to view it because of the talk of other people around her.  And when it was over, she was really glad she had seen it.  It had become a big deal for her.  She said she only decided to do it because it was her hometown and she had a place to stay, plus visiting family.  After it was over, she said it was totally worth it, and her and her boyfriend (from texas) were going to start planning for the next one, which will be on home territory for the guy.  And all the kids who were running around playing and being kids, stopped and watched the sun quietly, bursting out in excitement at totality, just like us grown-ups.  They got it too.

Like you describe so well with the Hearing the symphony is a different from understanding the theory.  A partial is not the same, even if it is 99%.  Totality is a different experience.

I wondered if this was where Tolkien had gotten the idea for Eye of Sauron.  I thought about the impact on ancient cultures who witnessed these events now that I had seen it for myself.  And I was really glad we moved locations, gaining an extra 45 seconds of totality.

Camping the next several days brought encounters with other people and their perspectives.  One lady had viewed it from Rocky Mt. Nat. Park up at the Alpine vis center.  They had set up a bunch of scopes for people and she got a pretty good shot.  She watched a moose come out onto the alpine meadow to eat; and that is what the park narcs were observing, the effect on wildlife.  Another lady was just south and east of where we were and on a hilltop, where she could see the shadow coming across the prairie until it hit her site.  Another girl had driven to casper wyoming at the last minute, only to find herself sleeping in a ditch because there were no campsites left, who couldnt wait to show us her pics.  It seems Casper knew how to throw a party!  A guy I chatted with talked about the tent cities across the landscape of wyoming.  And as we drove down from Scottsbluff to Colorado, for over 100 miles, there were police at every intersection directing traffic, hours after the eclipse had ended.  Like 6 hours later, they were still out there at these far-flung intersections, directing traffic.   The people around us from colorado were joking about how they had shut the state down for the day, no one was left.  I would estimate 25-30% of the people stayed another night on location to avoid the traffic mess in these places with few roads to anywhere.

And when I return to work tomorrow, I will recommend that everyone there have the same experience I did, in 2024.  Pictures are not the same.  A partial is not the same as totality. 

Gawdzilla Sama

Quote from: SGOS on August 28, 2017, 09:44:35 AM
The coffee was hot.  How was I supposed to know?
Actually, "the coffee" was considerably hotter than it was supposed to be, well above the temperature McD's established for that drink.
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

trdsf

Despite the disappointment with the weather, the trip to Nashville was pleasant enough.  Even though I'm not particularly a fan of country music, I quite enjoyed seeing the Grand Old Opera (my inner editor rebels at 'Ole Opry').  Also, the Parthenon in Centennial Park was nothing short of amazing.

But wow.  The motorists and pedestrians both are shocking.  I'm amazed the morning local news wasn't just wall-to-wall accident reports.  In simplest terms, Nashville drivers generally give a shit neither about which lane they're in nor whether you're in their way, they're coming through, and fuck you for existing.  And pedestrians are exactly the same way.  'Excuse me' is apparently not a phrase of any relevance to Tennessean pedestrians.

And the other thing is that you are actively assumed to be both straight and Christian.  Two shows were nearly ruined for me by the unnecessary intrusion of religious -- and specifically Christian -- performances.

Overall, nice place to visit but I don't think I could live there.
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Baruch

Nashville Parthenon ... definitely something to see ;-)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenon_(Nashville)

Saw it in 1997, after the Athena statue was put up.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Unbeliever

Didn't that piss of the evangelicals?
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

Baruch

Quote from: Unbeliever on August 29, 2017, 12:27:17 AM
Didn't that piss of the evangelicals?

So?  - Dick Cheney

Don't stereotype regions and religions.  Nashville has C & W music ... and any Baptist will tell you, that is the Devil's music.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

trdsf

"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Cavebear

Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on August 28, 2017, 09:22:25 AM
That's more due to a litigious society than user stupidity. "I wasn't warned knives are sharp! Give me a million dollars!"

People who do something stupid should not be rewarded for their stupidity.  It is one thing to discover after the fact that some drug causes unexpected harm.  It is quite another to complain a coffee was hot or a knife was sharp.
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!