The Sword and Laser discussion

Just like in 2017, I’ve made myself an eclipse hat.
2017 model: https://www.instagram.com/p/BYEOBV6BH...

I wasn’t too excited for this eclipse because I assumed the weather would be bad, especially considering we had 9 inches of snow on the ground Saturday and our power had been out for 2 days due to the nor’easter.

But today is perfect. Sunny, clear blue skies, 61 degrees, and almost all of the snow is gone.

So I made a hat. Out of a box. The bigger the box the bigger the image of the sun inside. It works the same way as a camera obscura. If you don’t have clouds, you still have time to make your own.

Here’s how to do it, very simple: https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/b...

I had a 4-foot wardrobe box in the basement, so I’m going Kaiju this year.

Nice!

I was not nearly as creative as Trike. But I did venture down to Southern IL to see totality. And it was very awe inspiring. This was my first one, and much like seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time it is an experience that pictures do not due justice to. The whole event was very cool overall, but the instant of totality was just next level.

I spent the night before a few hours away, and was very glad to get down to Flora, IL at a golf course where a good number of folks had gathered. I got there about 12:30ct, and totality hit about 2pm. I was glad for the extra time to soak in everything, and eat some lunch. Hung out for a bit afterwords and then made the long drive home, about 8 hours. I actually had less traffic jambs then I expected, but it was still slow going for a while. But either way, it was totally worth it.

It was an amazing experience. We had 95% here, which was impressive enough. We have an educational farm 2 miles from our house that has soccer fields, so clear viewing nearby. We got some wispy clouds at the peak but no biggie. There were a hundred or so people there.

The big hat was popular with the kids. My neighbor snapped a pic with one of them using it. The box was bigger than any of the kids. 😂

https://www.instagram.com/p/C5g76pKPc...