Jim Steinman is a songwriting beast. He's lucky he had Bonnie Tyler and Meat Loaf, because he was one nerdy looking guy. I will be taking the day off, and if I can't get the day off then I'll definitely be taking my lunch break at 1:00. It's coming right through Nashville is almost directly in the path of totality, and it's gonna happen right around 1:30.
The peak time around here is going to be between 2:30 and 3:00. Since that's when school pickups are starting, a lot of the schools in Georgia are delaying dismissal time. It helps with traffic, and they're going to spend the extra time educating about the eclipse. In the Fall, we have a period of about 2 months where the sun is rising directly in the driver's eyes as cars come around a bend in the interstate, right during peak rush hour. It backs up the interstate for the "sunshine slowdown." (Because people are too stupid to remember from one day to the next to lower the visor, and everybody hits the brakes, but I digress.) I can't imagine all the idiot drivers at school pickup time, that are going to be craning their necks to view "something." The delay is probably a good idea.
Aww, man. I ordered my "eclipse glasses" from Amazon weeks ago. I got an email from Amazon saying they credited my account, and not to use the glasses because they couldn't confirm the glasses were legit. From what I've seen, the legit ones are just as cheap as the counterfeit ones. Why would somebody take the time to print "ISO certified" on the package and spend $0.73 to produced fake glasses when the real ones cost $0.73 to make? I think that must be China's goal - they're going to invade us the week after the eclipse because there will be a wide band of the US with a bunch of blind school children.
Because the fake ones cost less than a penny to make and they're just selling them for the same price as the real ones. I got my order of ten legitimate glasses from Amazon last week, made in USA. I'm glad I ordered when I did because they're out of stock now. I'm gonna be the most popular guy at work next Monday.
I'm kind of excited for this. A guy we stayed with in Australia during our big trip last year is an "eclipse chaser." That is, he flies wherever in the world eclipses happen. I guess he went to some rural village in Africa (or maybe it was South America) for one and he got a case of the glasses just for the event, handed them out to all the villagers. He had a bunch left over so he gave a dozen to us. So, we've got glasses, my family and friends have my spares, and I bought a sheet of the Baader solar filter paper to make my own filter for the camera. It's amazing how cheap the paper is compared to buying pre-built filters - I got an A4 sheet that would let me make half a dozen filters of various sizes for cameras or telescopes (or make some glasses if I wanted) for less than half the price of a cheap astro filter for the camera. We're in the 90% zone, so we're just going to pick a place to drive when it's closer and the weather report is more reliable. Figure we'll sleep in the car if we need to drive a ways.
I'm just going to bring my entire welding screen outside at work. Basically it's a 6' x 8' shower curtain strong enough to block Arc and Mig weld flash. Everyone just stand behind it outside and watch.
They already poisoned our dogs, toothpaste and children's toys. Fucking with our eclipse is going too far.
It's crazy, I got my email from Amazon (a fat lot of good it did for me to think ahead) and I went back to Amazon to get more. Everything was sold out, or the price was way jacked up. So, I went to http://www.solareclipse-glasses.com/index.php?route=common/home to order some of the regular paper ones. I got a 5-pack for $9.99, ordered them Saturday night, and they arrived in my mail at lunch today. I was pretty impressed that they got here via regular mail from California. I thought, they got here pretty quick, I'll just order another 5-pack in case some of my friends want them. Everything is sold out, except the 5-packs that are now $35. That's crazy.
And you just know people are gonna spend money for glasses, travel a long distance to watch it, they're gonna show up and it'll be cloudy.
I took the day off, too. Yeah, Airbnbs along the path (i.e., Idaho Falls) are pretty fucking expensive. Who'da thunk? I may have to settle for 70-something% in Vegas. In terms of welding eye protection, you want it rated at least shade 14. I ordered a legit pair of eclipse glasses; they ran out and cancelled my order. I (hopefully) have some shade 14 welding glasses on the way. Yeah, there's always that. I should probably stay in the desert and maximize my chances of clear skies.
Well, I suppose I shouldn't have procrastinated. No eclipse glasses anywhere in Nashville, it seems. But, Northern Tool had welding masks with Shade 10 rating, and replacement lenses with Shade 8. Shade 10 is fine if you're not watching consistently - after about 20 seconds it feels like you've been staring at a 60w bulb, so I can see why it's not safe at the moment the solar disk gets totally covered. But doubling up the Shade 10 and 8 lenses is damn near perfect.
Guy Ottewell has retired, but if you ever saw his astronomical calendar, you know it was brilliant. He is a fascinating and quirky genius. He still writes a blog and updates his Twitter (https://twitter.com/guyottewell?lang=en), and has updated a previous book of his. You can download it for free with Kindle unlimited. It's quite good. https://www.amazon.com/Under-Standi..._0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1502891883&sr=1-1-spell
https://www.google.com/amp/amp.timeinc.net/time/4902109/total-eclipse-of-the-heart-bonnie-tyler-cruise/?source=dam She shall return!
I wasn't planning on going anywhere, but the Monday forecast for my area, as of right now? Scattered thunderstorms and 80% chance of rain. In other news, it turns out the first glasses I ordered from Amazon are legit. https://eclipse.aas.org/resources/solar-filters No information on whether or not they allow me to see through rain and clouds.
So did anybody else on TiB hear about the pro-coal Kentucky lobby that going to "protest" the eclipse for putting focus on solar energy? Or is that just horseshit?
I found a few stories when I googled it, but none seem reputable. When I checked news for Hopkinsville (Where the protest is supposedly taking place) I got nothing.
Hooray, weather is now 0% chance of rain during 2 - 3 pm. Per Snopes: Audrey, isn't this the big recruitment day for your cult? How's it going? And, are you prepared to deal with most of your members being blind tomorrow?