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Total Solar Eclipse (US) of 2017

Smiley90

Stop shitting on my team. Start shitting on my finger.
Haha Amazon, giving me a refund for my glasses and telling me not to use them.

You fuckers ship shit so slow I'm stuck using them since anything I ordered today won't appear until two weeks after the eclipse

same

is potentially destroying my eyes worth it?

hell yeah.

... RIP.

I tested them and they appear to be working just fine tho...

Though Amazon wouldn't give me an outright refund, they only said to return them, which hell no I'm not doing
 

diablos991

Can’t stump the diablos
Haha Amazon, giving me a refund for my glasses and telling me not to use them.

You fuckers ship shit so slow I'm stuck using them since anything I ordered today won't appear until two weeks after the eclipse

They refunded mine too. I sent the people I gave the glasses to the email.

I bet they still work fine. The damn things are like looking through welding helmets.
 

AndyD

aka andydumi
They refunded mine too. I sent the people I gave the glasses to the email.

I bet they still work fine. The damn things are like looking through welding helmets.

Someone said it's a matter of how early you can look at the sun. Some glasses you can look all the time, others once it's 10, 20 30% covered and so forth. I wonder if the threshold is just not 0% on some.
 

Wilsongt

Member
I hope they give us the day off. Between students moving into dorms, and all of this nonsense for 3 minutes is going to make being on the roads a bitch and dangerous where I live.
 

Damaniel

Banned
I hope they give us the day off. Between students moving into dorms, and all of this nonsense for 3 minutes is going to make being on the roads a bitch and dangerous where I live.

I expect that not only will I-5 and surface roads in the totality area be clogged the day of the eclipse (I live in Portland, so about 25 miles from the edge of totality), the freeways that feed into I-5 will probably be clogged as well. I'm seriously tempted to stay home from work that day rather than risk getting stuck in traffic that isn't all even headed south.

Someone said it's a matter of how early you can look at the sun. Some glasses you can look all the time, others once it's 10, 20 30% covered and so forth. I wonder if the threshold is just not 0% on some.

The American Paper Optics glasses are all legit - I tested them on a mid-day sun after I got mine, and I stopped looking at the sun through them after about 3 minutes because I had better stuff to do. They're so good at darkening the sun that I bet you could look at it for as long as you wanted with them.
 

Slacker

Member
Would you be nervous about a middle school taking its students out to see the Eclipse? We're in TX, so no total blackout here if I understand correctly. They have eclipse glasses for everyone but I've read without supervision there is still some danger. Hopefully they know what they're doing.
 
Would you be nervous about a middle school taking its students out to see the Eclipse? We're in TX, so no total blackout here if I understand correctly. They have eclipse glasses for everyone but I've read without supervision there is still some danger. Hopefully they know what they're doing.

I mean, the dangers need to be explained to the students but beyond that there's not much to be done. I'm sure a lot of classes are going to be taken outside to view the event.
 
Just so people know, even a 99.5% partial eclipse has NOTHING on a total eclipse. even 99.5% coverage means it's still about as bright as 4000 full moons. For this especially it's all or nothing!

I've had reservations in Portland for 2-3 months, was a bit too late to get anything closer. Gonna get up REALLY early and drive down to Salem for the totality!

Oh really? Where I'm going to be is said to get 99.9% and for 100% I should travel 5 miles southwest. I thought being that close I could be lazy and it wouldn't really matter, but I guess I'll get my lazy ass in the car for the extra 5 miles considering how much of a difference even small amounts make.
 

johnny956

Member
Oh really? Where I'm going to be is said to get 99.9% and for 100% I should travel 5 miles southwest. I thought being that close I could be lazy and it wouldn't really matter, but I guess I'll get my lazy ass in the car for the extra 5 miles considering how much of a difference even small amounts make.

Yup, even 99.9% is substantially brighter then the 100% coverage. Make the trip!
 

AndyD

aka andydumi
Oh really? Where I'm going to be is said to get 99.9% and for 100% I should travel 5 miles southwest. I thought being that close I could be lazy and it wouldn't really matter, but I guess I'll get my lazy ass in the car for the extra 5 miles considering how much of a difference even small amounts make.

Do it. Do be careful, get there with ample time ahead and after. Our department of transportation has started putting out travel warnings as they are afraid of people pulling over or slowing on the highway and causing acceidents. The partial eclipse is 3 hours long with the totality only about 2 minutes long.
 
Do it. Do be careful, get there with ample time ahead and after. Our department of transportation has started putting out travel warnings as they are afraid of people pulling over or slowing on the highway and causing accidents. The partial eclipse is 3 hours long with the totality only about 2 minutes long.

I do plan on getting there early and totality is only 5 miles away from where I'm staying so I'm not too worried about that part.

The part I'm a little worried about is getting back to the airport. Totality is at 10:18a, I'll probably hit the road around 10:45 or 11, and my flight isn't until 2:45p. But it's about an hour drive away which could turn into many hours depending on how stupid people are that day. That's enough buffer room to allow for some pretty bad traffic but considering how many people will be in the area, it could get worse than bad.
 

MetatronM

Unconfirmed Member
Just realized I'm going to be flying during the eclipse. I'm taking off at 2:20 pm and flying up the east coast from Florida to NYC.

Looks like the eclipse crosses off the coast of GA/SC around 2:45 pm, and I'm guessing even if we take off on time we probably juuuust won't get there in time. Should still be cool, though.

I wonder if I'll need glasses.
 

DJ88

Member
Fuuuck.

For the longest time I had been fine with staying here in South Florida and seeing about 80% coverage, I thought it didn't sound too bad, would still be really cool to see. But in the last few days after hearing so many people say a Partial is peanuts compared to a Total, I'm seriously considering making an 8 hour drive to South Carolina to see the Total Eclipse.

The one thing stopping me is the damn weather outlook. I saw an article say the entire East Coast has the most likely chance of being cloudy, and I'd hate to make that drive for nothing. If I can get a guarantee of clear skies in SC, I will make that drive.
 

Chris R

Member
They refunded mine too. I sent the people I gave the glasses to the email.

I bet they still work fine. The damn things are like looking through welding helmets.

Yea, I tested my glasses back when I got them. Can't see SHIT with them, and was able to look at the sun with zero damage for 20+ seconds.
 
I live in Eugene Oregon so the sky will darken, but not completely. I am contemplating hitting Salem, but the traffic on the i5 will be crazy on that day. Hmmm not sure what to do.

edit: It seems that Corvallis will experience full eclipse as well. Might head there then since it's only 40 mins away.
 

Keyouta

Junior Member
I really wish I could fly down to the US to go see this, but I don't think I'd get the time off. I already took off a few weeks in June, and then today for an appointment. Kind of sucks since this is like a once-in-a-lifetime thing, for it to be so close.
 

Mihos

Gold Member
We rented a house boat and will be on the lake watching this.


Pro Tip:
If you have a pair binoculars, take off one lens cap and let the sunlight go through the open lens down to the ground. You will get a good large screen view of the eclipse. You can do it on normal days also, if you just want to look at sunspots etc.

That map makes it seem like I won't see shit since I'm in Boston? Is that true

I expected everything to be pitch black, Riddick style :p

You won't see shit

Also the online maps (even NASAs) don't account for terrain altitude, so the 'edges' of totality will actually be a bit smaller.
 

louiedog

Member
I fortunately booked a trip which is about 2 hours from totality months ago without realizing it was during the eclipse so this works out for me. I'm a little worried about the people I'm with taking traffic and planning to get there in a timely manner seriously though.
 

Geist-

Member
Man, I'm actually glad I'm living where I am now for once. I'm directly in the path of the totality. I'm so fucking hyped.
 

muu

Member
I got some glasses from a Maker's Fair a few months back, what's the best way to verify they're good enough to use?

Just so people know, even a 99.5% partial eclipse has NOTHING on a total eclipse. even 99.5% coverage means it's still about as bright as 4000 full moons. For this especially it's all or nothing!

I've had reservations in Portland for 2-3 months, was a bit too late to get anything closer. Gonna get up REALLY early and drive down to Salem for the totality!

Corvallis Parks & Rec still has RV and tent spaces available if you want to get a little closer. $200 seems cheaper than what some people are charging for this.
 

Javaman

Member
If you still have the negatives from developed pictures, you can cut a stack of five or six of the blank ends, staple it, and can stare at the sun looking through it. Did it as a kid and I'm still not blind.
Also if you have an old 3.5" floppy you can use that. The sun looks like an old red LED.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
Confirmed my hotel reservation in Wyoming. Free night points are go!

Going to get up early on monday, check out, and get as far away from I25 as possible. Hoping to find rural areas around the Wyomimg/Nebraska state line to be less crowded, and am betting on the tourists to stick to the interstates.
 
I'm starting to think the parks in Tennessee are going to be so crowded that we'll probably end up at a Waffle House or Wal-Mart or something.

Looking forward to Thursday and Friday when the weather forecast starts trending towards greater accuracy.
 
I feel pretty lucky that my city is TN is gonna be directly in its path. Just outside of Nashville but I hear there's people coming from all over the world for it.
 
If you have the paper style glasses don't give them to kids ahead of time as they could puncture them or scratch them making them less safe.

If you got that email from Amazon about the glasses you ordered I'd REALLY discourage using them at all.

If you're in totality you can just wait until the Sun is fully covered and then not even really need the glasses until it starts to pop out again.
 
I feel pretty lucky that my city is TN is gonna be directly in its path. Just outside of Nashville but I hear there's people coming from all over the world for it.

We're staying with friends in Nashville and trying to drive to Gallatin but I'm guessing we'll never make it all the way to the park or downtown.
 

BFIB

Member
I live in OFallon IL, I'll have 99.9 covered, my parents are in Freeburg, it'll be 100 covered. For those traveling, 159 in IL down towards Red Bud IL should be good. Lots of wide open space on a two lane road.
 
I was going to try to take pictures even though it's only about 70% here in So. Cal but they are price gouging now, a 6x6 is like $60 or more on Amazon :/ I don't know why I waited so long to buy them ;_;
 

Nephtes

Member
Going to Nashville for the eclipse...
Staying in Memphis for a few days though, hotel rooms and AirBnB in Nashville right now is $$$.
Hopefully I can drive from Memphis to Nashville the morning of with no fuss.

Anyone who lives in Nashville know of some fun stuff to do there that isn't staring at the sun?
 

WaffleTaco

Wants to outlaw technological innovation.
Carbondale, Illinois is hosting a huge festival (with Ozzy Osbourne, Five Finger Death Punch,and others). NASA is also visiting here and apparently it's supposed to be where the span is at its widest. It's going to be a busy af week, with John Cena coming in on the Wednesday after the eclipse, student movie-in day the Friday before, first week of classes, and the huge parties typically associated after the first week of classes (also called Solar Bear). I am lucky I don't have to work during the actual eclipse.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
Heads Up:

The hotel I am staying at in Wyoming advised me to bring all food and water myself for the 2 day trip. They're expecting shortages.
 
woo! I just got a week of vacation for August approved, timed for this event. My mother-in-law just bought a condo in eastern TN, so we have a place to stay..

I'd also add: North America won't have many of these events over the next 50 years. When I did the math on my life expectancy and realized that I only have a few eclipses left, taking time off was a no-brainer.

21stCenturyNorthAmericanEclipses

That feeling when you realize you'll most likely be dead during some of these...
Hello+halley+s+comet_206688_5021797.jpg
 

Cromat

Member
Driving down to Nashville for this from NYC. We managed to find a camping spot on the path of the eclipse, hopefully traffic won't be terrible and there are no freaking clouds to ruin everything.
 
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