Great Eclipse of 2017

Until a slender, 3,000-mile long, 70-mile wide storm cell develops and blocks everyone's view of totality.

 

Damn you Putin!

 

Weather expected to be great out west and progressively more cloudy in the east. Columbia, S.C., warning people that better chances for clearer sky may be in the northwest portion of the state. Imagine the traffic as people panic in the final couple of hours to avoid their cloudy sky and get to a clearer one.

 

They were discussing this yesterday on NPR.

Pretty interesting.

The solar eclipse that made Einstein famous

 

Funny thing about that ... a lot of people tend to think of that as the confirmation of general relativity, but for Einstein it was no big deal. The theory's being able to account for Mercury's perihelion shift, when others couldn't, told him he had it.

 

I'm nowhere near the path and will completely miss it. However, I am thoroughly enjoying the Chiquita banana commercial "The Banana Sun."

Chiquita Claims the Upcoming Solar Eclipse (Well, Partially) With Wacky ‘Banana Sun’ Idea – Adweek

No idea if it's national. I've seen it on Hulu and my VPN is set to LA.

 

My hometown's in the path, and my mother says everybody's lost their shit over the eclipse. She was in a fast food joint the other day and overheard two ladies talking about it. One said she couldn't understand all the fuss but she was looking forward to seeing it. The other said, "I don't guess I'll see it, I can't stay up past dark like I used to."

 

My wife wanted some of the special glasses you need to vieww the eclipse. No one around town had them. Turns out we could get them at the Wendy's locations in Bowling Green (hour south of me) for $1 each tax included (no food/drink purchase necessary).

So we drove down one day after work and bought some for us, family, friends. Got some for her uncle's business (which he paid us back for), and then he gives away/auctions them off on facebook.

My wife sold a couple to online friends for $2 each (to recoup the purchase, gas and time we spent). We were then accused of "price gouging" on facebook (even though we were the cheapest option).

We then see the same brand of glasses we bought on local facebook swaps for as much as $15 each.

I let my business know they were available and then they went and bought 200 from Wendy's. I got a big pat on the back from all of the building leaders. One, for coming through after we part of the Amazon recall (so our company had lost the glasses). Two, for saving money (initial glasses were $3; these were $1 and were certified).

Anyhoo, a few days later, I am approached at work about trying to solicit on company property (an offense since it is NOT for charity). I never took a dime from anyone on property and never asked anyone to pay me. I said I had extra if coworkers needed some for family/friends and some coworkers, including my supervisor, offered to pay me.

Sigh.

 

The centerpiece story in the "in the path" paper I did yesterday: "Where is the flood of people that were supposed to be here? Uh, maybe on Sunday?"

 

A lot of visitors from out of town. I think the worry is that people who live near the Totality zone will drive up on Monday since hotels and camping spots are booked solid. It really won't take a whole lot to cause a big traffic mess. If you look at the arc of totality, not a lot of major metros. not even places with easy access to Interstates, a lot of two-lane highways and such.