Woulda made more sense to post about it a month or two ago. By now airfares and hotel rooms are going at exorbitant rates, if available at all. But anyway, August 21, a total solar eclipse will go all across the country on a diagonal line from northern Oregon to South Carolina. It'll go through, or near, some major cities; Portland, St Louis, Nashville, Columbia SC, pretty easy drive from Atlanta.

http://www.eclipse2017.org/2017/maps.htm

https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/

I'll be going to Nashville. Paying three times the normal rate for my hotel room, but it's a life experience and all that.

A partial eclipse will be visible over much more of the country. Just make sure to get some good eclipse glasses. You can find them all over the place on Amazon, but apparently there are a lot of sketchy ones out there that don't block as much light as they should. The American Astronomical Society is compiling a good list of reputable, certified manufacturers.

https://eclipse.aas.org/resources/solar-filters

I'm meeting people in Nashville. We were planning on going to a nearby state park, until we learned the park was opening at 5:30am to try to accommodate the crowds for the 1pm event.

So we're just gonna stay in walking distance to the hotel, which will cut down the totality by about 30 seconds, but it's a reasonable tradeoff.

A coworker is going to Greenville, though.
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as long as you have a safe way to view it.

yeah, one of my supervisors got a bulk order of viewing glasses. Should be good :)
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i have to hand out eclipse glasses to kids

I still remember how disappointed I was when we had a partial eclipse when I was a kid and all we had was a pinhole viewer. Nowadays I could be impressed by a pinhole viewer, but as a kid I felt like I was being cheated.

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Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." � Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

though maybe now it's more comprehensive than is useful.

The only important thing is that you want them to be ISO tested and certified for solar viewing. The scary thing is, with all the hubbub and one-time purchases, there are a LOT of glasses out there with fraudulent ISO labels on them, even at reputable places like Amazon. That doesn't necessarily mean they're dangerous, just that they're not as carefully made and could be dangerous.

The ones I got are from Lunt Solar Systems. They're just the cheap paper things, but Lunt is an extremely reputable company. They normally do their business in solar telescopes, which would basically just melt if the filters weren't up to snuff. So they know what they're doing. I got a ten pack from Amazon for like fifteen bucks.

This was a week or two after I paid more for a three pack of nicer-looking plastic ones, also from Amazon. They look less nerdy (as if that matters when you're surrounded by a thousand other nerds staring directly at the sun) and CLAIM an ISO certification, but they came from a no-name Chinese manufacturer and just generally set off alarm bells to me.

The no-name Chinese ones seem to work, but I get a better image in the Lunt ones. Also, this could just be in my mind, but I felt like I got a headache more rapidly with the no-name ones than with the Lunt paper ones, even though they didn't seem significantly brighter. You can't really tell by eye how bright they are outside of the visible band, so I decided better safe than sorry and threw out the plastic ones.

Long story short, I'm happy with the paper ones from Lunt, but I'd trust anything listed on the AAS site. They know what they're talking about.

Staying in Memphis the night before and then driving the rest of the way the next morning.

for viewing the eclipse safely
Worth going to your local science museums to see if they're doing similar...
Or this link shows the safety certified versions available for purchase:
https://eclipse.aas.org/resources/solar-filters

At first Ii had no interest but, a coworker made it sound so magical lol. Plus, lately I've had this fascination with the moon...

Or so I've heard. I've never experienced one.

But they say most animals get confused and suddenly go eerily quiet. And the air gets noticeably cooler.

Of course this one will be such a media circus that pretty much anywhere you go you'll be surrounded by people. So that wouldn't be as fun.

this will be nice to witness with my grandchildren...

When it's anything other than 100% totality its unsafe to look at (and you probably wouldn't be able to anyway). When I was a kid we had a pretty good partial eclipse and I wasn't able to look at it and all the excitement turned to frustration.

Kid sized eclipse glasses https://luntsolarsystems.com/product/lunt-solar-sunsafe-certified-kid-size-eclipse-viewing-glasses-4-pack/ available for immediate delivery.

I was reading about there being a lot of fakes out there. Which is so unfortunate

She said everything went still and swore even the water in the bay went still.

But the total eclipse is only visible along a relatively thin line. This one is only special because the total eclipse goes through a lot of major cities.

There was one in 91. That's the one that I saw. But I think it was only visible as a partial eclipse through all of America. My memory is rough, but I think the total eclipse went through Mexico in that case.

You think it will be ok to check it from there? Id rather it be an intimate moment for my family and I...

As long as it isn't blocked by trees or clouds or whatever.

I agree, it's much better to avoid crowds, unless you want to meet some nerdy astronomy buffs, but you can do that at any star party. And the astronomy buffs will all be traveling to the path of totality anyway.

I'll let you know how we make out..

how long does it last?

I thought you could just look up and see it but I guess it makes sense to be in certain cities to get the full effect

https://m.mic.com/articles/182467/where-can-i-see-the-2017-solar-eclipse-youll-be-able-to-view-from-anywhere-in-the-us#.5u4p36xyn

just read it's the first one on this scale since 1918 or some shit like that.

Kid sized eclipse glasses https://luntsolarsystems.com/product/lunt-solar-sunsafe-certified-kid-size-eclipse-viewing-glasses-4-pack/ available for immediate delivery.

Just a heads up.

https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/dont-have-eclipse-glasses-make-a-pinhole-projector-to-view-the-great-american-eclipse/70002363

Your kids will be frustrated that they can't actually look at it.

They pulled us out of middle school to look at a partial eclipse with tiny homemade pinhole viewers, and I was so disappointed I wanted to go back into class.

You can get good filter glasses for literally a buck or two. No reason to skimp.

they had less than 50 pairs left at one of my libraries when i got mine today.

considered driving down to NC or Nashville.
but doesn't look like i will be able to- might have to settle for the partial.
that makes me sad.

enjoy the experience!!

Another big one will come through the US in 2024.

https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/future/

Or you're such a world traveler you might have other options.

driving down to SC today!!

yay!

this was all decided last night.
im too excited.

i just picked my plane tickets from LA (ouch) but yeah. i'm a member of the couchsurfing community and was offered a place to crash in salem, where it enters totality around 1030am that morning. this post has me realizing this is a bit of a roll of the dice- better come up with a backup plan if she had to cancel!

airbnb rates are ridiculous but i found a low-cost room via airbnb in portland an hour away for the preceding weekend to basically have a cosmic rave stretch of days for my first time in the city!

Speaking of the crap-shoot, though, it'll be really fucking annoying to go through all this and have it be cloudy. Wouldn't be the end of the world. We'd still get to experience the darkness of the totality. But I want to see the whole process.

I have some friends who are mapping out the routes that they'll drive on the morning if they need to go search for clear skies. I really hope it doesn't come to that.

It's always cloudy here for celestial events.

I can't witness it with the kids :-(

my son dropped the ball. He fell asleep and forget to hit send on the order for glasses and the next morning they sold out. this was two weeks ago. we couldn't find any others that would get to us for today...

The children and I rode around all day yesterday looking for some. Nothing.

we're not speaking to my son lol

/
I truly is heartbreaking. There's a viewing party at work. I'll see it and there's a live viewing on TV. I told them to watch it and I'll call them during it.

at least I got to tell them about the sun and moon, right?

#noproofread

and when the eclipse comes, its cloudy

but not regular cloudy

what if the clouds basically form a big pinhole viewer

how disappointed would you be?

I'll see like a 70% partial eclipse anyway. Also good enough.

reporters on the ground in oregon saying the temp dropping bigly for like two minutes was a trip.

LOL @ the bay area being a big bust. niggas was running to amazon to get them back to the future glasses, and all they got was clouds. shit's been grayscale all morning.

.

I put my glasses on and look up, broke out in tears and ran off...
folks at work probably think I'm crazy. I really wanted to see this with my grandchildren...

they text me like, "Gigi, people wasting glasses on dogs"

Got a few decent looks.

oh for real? good to hear. i was just at the theater yesterday.

i guess pleasanton got looks some too.

working from home in the hills... nothing but operation dark storm.

https://twitter.com/nbcnews/status/899707810623229953

baron looks mad tortured.

Particularly when you got Eric and Don Jr.

Seriously arrived in town and drove straight to the beach. It was cloudy but about 5 minutes before totality a clear viewing spot cleared up. Had the glasses for the whole family. Everyone in awe. Then at totality, fuck man. Took off the glasses and watched the sun dance. Then we all ran and jumped in the ocean.

Amazing!


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Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." � Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

sounds fly :-)

Saw nothing. It looked like there was about to be a thunderstorm.

Boo!

B4 that I looked at the sun via my boss' welding glass. That was cool.

Thanks to the clouds I was able to see the sun with my naked eye - it looked like a nice fat sliver. I can still see.

http://imgur.com/a/1O0pi

i took pics with the glasses over the phone. Actually came out good.

i fucking give up on you as a person.

you deserve whatever happens to you for being that stupid and that attached to smart tech that you can't even appreciate a once in a lifetime event unless it's through your phone so you can post pix on instagram and facebook though thousands of professionals w/professional equipment will make videos and photos available that are better than anything you recorded leaving you free to actually experience the thing totally but no you had to take your lil amateur video that NO ONE GIVES A SHIT ABOUT b/c they're so busy making their own amateur video that NO ONE GIVES A SHIT ABOUT.

fuck this entire generation. i hope the robots eat them.

at the sky wit da glasses and mostly no phones between face and spectacle. i was astonished.

but yeah, this is the ONE event where i thought, "who gives a fuck about your phone, kid. how many different ways can you film and post for likes the same sun and moon that 3 billion other people are filming and posting for likes."

then again, nowadays youngins are filming their dead family / s/o's before calling 911, if they call at all.

brainwashed.

though i've seen enough videos and photos in my facebook feed that've made me smh.

my cat almost bled to death recently and when i've told the story ppl have asked why i didn't take pix of him in that state. i almost punched the first person who asked me.

>though i've seen enough videos and photos in my facebook feed
>that've made me smh.

yeah i purposely stayed off social media (just watched the local news). i can only imagine.

Tune in 6pm

It wasn't THAT cool. I thought the coolest part was how the sun shining through trees projected a bunch of tiny eclipse shapes on the ground. I have no idea how that works.

you really did have to be in the path that got 100% blockage to appreciate the thing fully.

we only got 89% here and it wasn't shit.

i have seen professionally shot video from the 100% path and it was much better. i understood why ppl search out the event. the sky went DARK for like a couple of seconds. like, 100% dark. totally cool. the rest of us just didn't have that experience.

and even seeing video of 100% isn't enough. i wish i had gone down to be in the path of totality.

It was 93% here. I could see it really clearly with the glasses. I thought it would get darker though.

i think we had 76% and I was looking up who I needed to write to get my money back. My son got to look at it at school and he thought it was the coolest thing ever. Which made it a little better. I talked to him about it over the weekend and showed him videos on why it happens. Really hyping it up for him. Then after I saw it I was like damn he is going to call me a liar. When I picked him up the first thing he told me was how cool it was. There is hope for the youth.

Was a little cloudy at times, but not enough to ruin the "main event" for us here at 10:33am MST. I had the cereal box joint and some co-workers had the proper shades I was able to view it directly and indirectly. Kinda cool for a few minutes to experience something in a group setting before we scattered back to our own offices/cubicles.

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I don't like the beat anymore because its just a loop. ALC didn't FLIP IT ENOUGH!

Flip it enough? Flip these. Flip off. Go flip some f*cking burgers.(c)Kno

Allied State of the National Electric Beat Treaty Organization (NEBTO)

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7 years from now. Hopefully I can get to view the total eclipse then.

Partial was cool though.

also hitting near buenos aires.