Totality Tales - Both Strange and Bizarre

[Ron Schmit]

So, I want to start a new thread where we can put our tales from totality. Specifically, I would like to capture the strange and bizarre things that you heard during this eclipse season. Just how far have we come?

I am reminded of totality of 1998, in Aruba. I was there as staff, with the Science Museum. The day before the eclipse, I was manning an information table in the hotel lobby. The person next to me was representing the hotel. I was there for astronomy questions, she was there for hotel questions.

A man came up and asked the hotel rep, "I heard the beaches are closed tomorrow. Is that true?" Now one beach, Baby Beach, was going to be closed. NASA was setting up there and didn't want to have any interruptions. But the hotel lady responded with, "Yes, they are going to close the beaches, because they don't know what the eclipse will do to the oceans."

Our work here is not finished.

[Ron Schmit]

Saw this one on a website tonight:

Protecting Creatures' Eyes

Most animal eyes operate in a very similar way to human eyes, with light-sensitive receptors in the eye that can be overloaded by the very focused light that comes with staring directly at the sun. For that reason, animals are just as likely to damage their eyes if they stare directly at the sun, or a partial solar eclipse.

However, unlike humans, animals might be less prone to stare right at the sun, Angela Speck, director of astronomy and a professor of astrophysics at the University of Missouri, said at a news conference with NASA on June 21.

Others aren't so sure and are fitting their precious pups and kitties with eclipse glasses, just in case.

Shaking my head.

[Ron Schmit]

You probably saw this one last week.

Someone on Facebook asked if it could be moved to a weekend instead, cause kids are in school.

[tugger]

You just can't make this stuff up anymore.....

[cmac7203]

OMG here are funny!

[Ron Schmit]

After an eclipse presentation, a woman, dressed in typical Indian clothing, comes up with a question:

Her: "The people back home are reminding us that we have to bathe before and after the eclipse, and that pregnant women should stay inside..."
Me: "Well, there are a variety of cultural practices associated with eclipse phenomenon."
Her: "But is there any scientific basis for this?"
Me: "Ah, yeah... No."

[Ron Schmit]

My daughter's friends were headed into the mountains of Tennessee, to view the eclipse. One of them reported that as he ran back to the parking lot to grab an item left in his car, a naked man emerged from the woods. Dirty and disheveled, but with a large grin, he approached our friend and told him that he was very excited about the eclipse. He shared that he was a member of a group that lives on nothing more than sunlight.

So, I guess that's a thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inedia

Must have gone to bed a bit hungry, yesterday.

[tugger]

Not sure if this applies since it happened AFTER totality....
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-new ... -you-want/

Find it hard to believe the eclipse caused that much damage. Ever 30 days the sun and moon are on the same side of the Earth, yet this happens during an eclipse.....yeah right

[Deane Clark]

My daughter's friends were headed into the mountains of Tennessee, to view the eclipse. One of them reported that as he ran back to the parking lot to grab an item left in his car, a naked man emerged from the woods. Dirty and disheveled, but with a large grin, he approached our friend and told him that he was very excited about the eclipse. He shared that he was a member of a group that lives on nothing more than sunlight.

So, I guess that's a thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inedia

Must have gone to bed a bit hungry, yesterday.

Yet another way to weed the stupid ones from the gene pool.

[Deane Clark]

When told I was packing for my eclipse trip, a neighbor of mine asked when it was. I replied "1:00 Monday", and she asked "AM?"

[FF2Rydia]

Find it hard to believe the eclipse caused that much damage. Ever 30 days the sun and moon are on the same side of the Earth, yet this happens during an eclipse.....yeah right

Even less believable when you consider that the collapse occurred two days before the eclipse (collapse on Saturday, company statement blaming eclipse on Tuesday).

[Ron Schmit]

I know events in nature are not everyone's cup of tea, but wow... Could you at least just report the news without all the shenanigans?

Shepard Smith's Eclipse Coverage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgoSwMKKq1o

I'd say this fits in the bizarre column, though I've never seen this guy in action before; maybe this is a typical day for him.

[Ron Schmit]

Rapper Calls Off Shows After Staring at Solar Eclipse

By JASON GREEN
PUBLISHED: August 23, 2017 at 11:14 pm | UPDATED: August 24, 2017 at 12:22 pm

Brooklyn-based rapper Joey Bada$$ might want to think about changing his name to Joey Badeyes after staring at Monday’s solar eclipse without proper protection.

On Twitter, the performer, whose real name is Jo-Vaughn Virginie Scott, asked his 825,000 followers if they thought he was crazy for viewing the eclipse with his naked eyes and nothing more.

“I’ve sungazed before and afterwards saw colors for a whole day,” he said. “I didn’t die tho.”

Scott said in a follow-up tweet that he was “pretty sure” our ancestors lacked UV ray-blocking eyewear and didn’t go blind as a result.

But on Tuesday, Scott took to Twitter again to announce the cancellation of his Cleveland, Chicago and Toronto performances. The stated reason: “unforeseen circumstances.”

Uh-oh.

Staring at an eclipse can cause a condition called solar retinopathy, which leads to a decrease or distortion of a person’s central vision.

The damage is typically irreversible, with symptoms appearing anywhere from hours or days after the event.
Louis Tomososki, one of the more famous cases, was partially blinded in his right eye in the 1960s when he and a friend looked at an eclipse without solar filters.

But a quick glance — one or two seconds — is harmless, ophthalmologist Jacob Chung told NorthJersey.com.

“Five seconds, I’m not sure,” he said, “but 10 seconds is probably too long and 20 seconds is definitely too long.”

[Deane Clark]

Don't know who's dumber; him or the flat earth guy.

[Ron Schmit]

Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update got Neil deGrasse Tyson's view on the eclipse. I mean, not HIM, but... Well... You know, it's SNL:

Weekend Update: Neil deGrasse Tyson on the Solar Eclipse - SNL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx4MyFq ... DFjH0ayNNK

I laughed out loud when I saw The Vest.

[Ron Schmit]

Hard... to... see... Just... a... little... bit... further...

Eclipse ladder.jpg

[Ron Schmit]

Here's a story by David Pogue. I've read this guy on CNET before. Typically, he does the "so, you're new to technology" stories, walking you through the basics of that new phone or the latest social media ap. Here, he's writing about the eclipse. I had expected less, but he really nailed it:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/learned- ... 48974.html

[Ron Schmit]

Totality from Carhenge: https://vimeo.com/231039051

What an odd, and yet perfect, spot from which to watch the eclipse.

[Ron Schmit]

Eclipse Confuses Sunflowers

http://earthsky.org/todays-image/photo- ... ug-21-2017

[Ron Schmit]

They. Put. Sunscreen. ON. Their. Eyes.

http://nbc4i.com/2017/08/25/patients-tr ... port-says/

ON! THEIR! EYES!

[TrenaJ]

Here's a story by David Pogue. I've read this guy on CNET before. Typically, he does the "so, you're new to technology" stories, walking you through the basics of that new phone or the latest social media app. Here, he's writing about the eclipse. I had expected less, but he really nailed it:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/learned- ... 48974.html

Ron, He really does "Nail it". At the start of our eclipse planning, late last year or early this year, I was content with picking a spot and sticking with it through clouds and rain. As the time passed I began to understand our popular phrase "Clear Skies" in a new way. With our trip, on our way to NE Nebraska, the whole trip dynamic changed to finding Clear Skies and we ended up in Casper WY for this wonderful event. I have to say I am hooked and want to goto Chile even if it's "only" 60 seconds. Witnessing this event does "change" you in so many different ways. I am so very glad my family and friends were so open and welcoming, to us changing destinations and making everything work for that perfect moment.

[Ron Schmit]

Because, of course!

South Carolina couple sue Amazon over faulty eclipse glasses

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina couple is suing online retailer Amazon over what they claim were faulty pairs of eclipse glasses that resulted in eye injuries, headaches and blurry vision.

In court papers filed in federal court this week, Thomas Corey Payne and Kayla Harris of Charleston said they began experiencing the symptoms after viewing the total solar eclipse Aug. 21 using glasses purchased on Amazon.

A spokeswoman for the Seattle-based retailer declined to comment on the pending litigation.

On Aug. 10, the retailer began notifying customers via email of a recall of potentially hazardous eclipse glasses that it couldn't verify as having been manufactured by reputable companies, although it did not reveal the scale of the recall or release a list of affected vendors.

Payne and Harris say they got no such notice. After viewing the once-in-a-lifetime celestial event, they say they started experiencing headaches, dark spots in their lines of vision, changes in perception of color and distorted vision.

Payne and Harris accuse the retailer of negligence and unfair trade practices, saying Amazon "negligently advertised, marketed, and distributed defective, unsafe Eclipse Glasses" in the run-up to the eclipse. The company's Aug. 19 recall email, attorneys for the couple wrote, "was tragically too little, too late."

http://www.startribune.com/south-carol ... 442459753/

I would be willing to lay money that if Amazon had NOT recalled any glasses, we wouldn't have heard from these people. <sigh>

[Ron Schmit]

Camera Gear Destroyed by the Solar Eclipse of 2017

https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2017/0 ... e-of-2017/
.

solar-eclipse-damage-12.jpg

.
All gave some. Some gave all.

[Deane Clark]

Ouch! That 600mm Canon.

[Ron Schmit]

I really don't relish those "I told you so" minutes. I think schadenfreude is an ugly and sad pursuit. So, I find no smug satisfaction in this; just pity.

The solar eclipse burned a crescent wound on a woman's retina. She wasn't wearing proper glasses.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-s ... smsnnews11