Quote Originally Posted by mon View Post
My husband seems to be excited about the eclipse as well. I however am not. I expect it will appear to be a round speck in the sky, a whole bunch of people peering up at it with special glassholes and then seeing professional photos of the whole shebang on the telly a few hrs. later. How is that exciting? Any reason to celebrate works for me and maybe I'm simply a killjoy lotsa $ will be spent and it is a very lovely and harmless activity, am I missing something? Will cats care
Um, you aren't alone.

For some people - like me - It's a mix of science, geekery and a respite from the news of idiots battling it out in the streets lately.

It is a rare event, maybe something that will inspire some idiot kid into picking up a science book and looking at the sky, instead of looking at his feet. Maybe the next Neil Armstrong, John Glenn or Chuck Yeager will show up in a couple of years and say, "Hey, that eclipse in '17 inspired me to get into science, astronautics, astrophysics or aeronautics".

In history, eclipses weren't really understood - the Chinese thought it was a dragon that ate the sun - now? All the romance and boogeymen/monsters have been taken out of it so it's 'just' another reason for people to stand around and look up in the sky and go, 'ooohhhhhh'?

At the most? Someone is going to discover something unique and interesting about the event. At the least?
Maybe some of us will realize that there is something a lot larger in the world/universe than the petty stuff we are all sweating every day of our lives?

I kinda like to think that everyone will be united - even looking at a stupid eclipse - for a few minutes/hours, and that ain't necessarily a BAD thing?


"mamma always told me not to look into the eyes of the sun-
but mamma, that's where the fun is...."

-Blinded by the Light, Manfred Mann