Dave_in_TX Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 1 hour ago, Skywagon said: Completely overcast in Houston Here in the Austin area also. Link to comment
Skywagon Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 Cleared just a bit and we got to see it for a few seconds.... Link to comment
taylor1 Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 Not a cloud in the sky here. We are going to get 70% 1 Link to comment
Hosstage Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 Top picture is thru the special glasses? Link to comment
TEWKS Posted April 8 Author Share Posted April 8 23 minutes ago, Hosstage said: Top picture is thru the special glasses? Yes, well the ones they’ve been handing out to everyone, I just pressed it to the camera lenses. Not what I was hoping for but… Link to comment
TSConver Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 Camera shots are hard unless you go full manual with a real camera. Here are a couple leading up to totality in IN. 4 Link to comment
TEWKS Posted April 8 Author Share Posted April 8 Must of been my cheap ass glasses because my pics didn’t come out like those ^. Link to comment
wbw6cos Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 Pat, imagine the effect those cheap ass glasses had on your eyes. 1 Link to comment
TEWKS Posted April 8 Author Share Posted April 8 I know, this very well could be my last piece of work not done in braille! Link to comment
wbw6cos Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 Y'all did not look like you were in a hurry to go put out a fire; drive a lot faster than that!! 2 Link to comment
Dave_in_TX Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 The clouds never cleared here. Only indication of the eclipse was that we got night time like darkness for a short period. 1 Link to comment
TEWKS Posted April 9 Author Share Posted April 9 2 hours ago, wbw6cos said: Y'all did not look like you were in a hurry to go put out a fire; drive a lot faster than that!! Believe it or not, the three hours of classroom instruction was all about driving the speed limit when responding to an emergency call. That’s bullshit, I didn’t get into this business to drive the speed limit! 1 1 4 Link to comment
Dennis Andress Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 13 minutes ago, TEWKS said: Believe it or not, the three hours of classroom instruction was all about driving the speed limit when responding to an emergency call. That’s bullshit, I didn’t get into this business to drive the speed limit! The range on the new new fangled electric fire trucks oughta slow you down... 1 Link to comment
TEWKS Posted April 9 Author Share Posted April 9 I won’t ever see that evolution, thankfully! Link to comment
Skywagon Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 18 minutes ago, Dennis Andress said: The range on the new new fangled electric fire trucks oughta slow you down Range. 2000 miles. Use the pumps on the truck- Range 20 miles Extra fast charger using a gigawatt just slightly over 100 hours. 2 Link to comment
syntorz Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 Don't know how she does it, but daughter #1 always gets great images with her iPhone. No add-ons or tricks, just stock phone. We were in Mt Vernon, IL along with what seemed like the rest of IL and MO population. 6 1 Link to comment
Camhead64 Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 We were 99% here, no photos, I'm not clever that way in the least. My wife made a batch of cookies and spent the afternoon on the deck with the grandkids and her daughter. Very special afternoon for her. Wife remembers the last one here in Maine, got to watch it through her dads welding hood back in '63. 1 Link to comment
TEWKS Posted April 9 Author Share Posted April 9 39 minutes ago, Camhead64 said: Wife remembers the last one here in Maine, got to watch it through her dads welding hood back in '63 Funny, I didn’t realize that the eclipse glasses were so dark, the question came up yesterday, could you weld with the cheap paper glasses in a pinch? I bet you could. Link to comment
RandyShields Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 54 minutes ago, TEWKS said: Funny, I didn’t realize that the eclipse glasses were so dark, I just figured out last week that we were expected to have 75% of the sun blocked here in NC, so I ordered eclipse glasses for my wife and me on Amazon -- $5 for two pair -- children's version with the instructions in Spanish (they were the cheapest I found). When they arrived on Saturday, they were flimsy and the film was so dark, I couldn't see anything, even when I put them under a bright light in the house. So I angrily headed out to the garage to send them back, muttering something about you get what you pay for. Well, I noticed that the afternoon sun was bright and directly overhead, so I took a flyer and put them on to look at it. Wow, I could see the sun perfectly, and realized we would be able to see the eclipse just fine (in fact, we did). Like Tewks, I just hadn't remembered from wearing similar glasses as a kid how dark they are. 1 Link to comment
Joe Frickin' Friday Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 It was, in a word, epic. Randall Munroe summed it up well: The mouseover text: "A partial eclipse is like a cool sunset. A total eclipse is like someone broke the sky." In August 2017, we had a partial eclipse here in Ann Arbor, about 25% occlusion. I had two welding helmets, and we were able to watch through those. It was interesting in a "huh, that's kind of neat" way, but not particularly mind-blowing. This one was different. If we had stayed in Ann Arbor yesterday, we would have maxed out at about 98% coverage. If we had just gone south to Toledo, we would have had a little less than two minutes of totality. By going another 60 miles east to Sandusky, we enjoyed almost four minutes of totality, and it was very much worth the trip. I knew that shots of the sun/moon taken on an ordinary phone camera wouldn't turn out good, so I dug my old point-and-shoot digital camera out (hadn't touched it in maybe 7 years!) and bought a couple of new batteries for it. It wasn't exactly a $3K DSLR camera, but it did have a 20X zoom lens, a big improvement over my phone. I set the camera on my tiny Ultrapod, one of my more useful toys (camera in this pic isn't my camera, but it doesn't look much different): I brought the welding helmets, but we also bought eclipse cameras and a couple of handheld camera filters like this one: The partial eclipse was pretty cool. Seeing the world get darker and darker, in spite of a nice blue sky overhead, was quite strange; it's not the same as when things get dark due to cloudy skies. And then of course the last thirty seconds before totality arrives, your eyeballs run out of adjustment and it starts getting REALLY dark REALLY fast. The parking lot lamps turned on, the birds shut up, and then...WOW. It's like you're standing in a '70s album cover, just completely surreal. The sun is turned inside out: all the visible light is coming from the corona, and none from the disc. The sky wasn't really black, but it was a really pretty almost midnight blue, except for maybe the bottom 10-15 degrees down by the horizon, in every direction, where it was kind of a peach/pink color. Absolutely stunning, far and away the most profoundly cool astronomical thing you can see with your bare eyes from here on Earth. Oh yeah, the pictures. The disposable eclipse glasses and camera filters were really strong, I guess maybe because they didn't want any liability concerns? The best views of the partiality with our eyes was with the welding lenses (we took them out of the helmets and just held them in front of our eyes). But somehow they didn't work well for camera shots. Those mostly looked like this: The best photos really did happen with the disposable handheld camera filter. I set the camera on the Ultrapod on the trunk of my car, and used a 2-second timer so I could push the button and get my hands off of the camera before the exposure started, getting a good clear shake-free shot each time. Some partiality shots, cropped so that the sun really takes up most of the frame (zoomed to the max, the solar disc actually only took up about 15% of the frame width): 2:24PM: 2:43PM: 2:58PM: 3:08PM: Those shots were neat, but they were novelties next to what happened when totality arrived and I put the filter down. I got several shots like these (taken at 3:12, well into the totality): But the single best shot, I think, happened a split-second before totality arrived: In this shot you can see the "diamond" in the "diamond ring" as the last tiny portion of the solar disc is still visible, and you can also see glowing red solar prominences around maybe half of the perimeter of the disc. I really like this one. And in just a few minutes, it was over. The sun started coming out again, the birds all sang "WTF" together, and we packed up and headed home. Traffic from Sandusky to Toledo was negligible - but as we cruised toward Toledo, we watched our "time to destination" increasing intead of decreasing as US23 north from Toledo got more and more jammed up. We stopped to walk around downtown Toledo for a bit, catching the tail end of a city-held eclipse watching party on the river front. After killing some more time with appetizers at a local Lebanese restaurant, we decided to try our luck with traffic. It was pretty heavy, and we covered about half of the last 50 miles on rural roads instead of the highway, but we managed to get home in about 80 minutes instead of the more typical 45 minutes. No complaints - I would happily do this again if there was another eclipse happening there next year. So yeah, Randall nailed it. Go see the next total eclipse you can, wherever it is. And don't half-ass it, thinking "91% should be pretty cool." Don't do that; 91% eclipsed is not 91% as cool as 100% eclipsed. Save your money, plan ahead (we booked our room almost a year ago), and go cross "saw a total eclipse" off of your bucket list. 5 2 1 Link to comment
Joe Frickin' Friday Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 3 hours ago, TEWKS said: Funny, I didn’t realize that the eclipse glasses were so dark, the question came up yesterday, could you weld with the cheap paper glasses in a pinch? I bet you could. Yep - my welding lenses were shade 12, about the least that's safe for viewing the sun. Our eclipse glasses (and the camera filter) were quite a bit darker than those welding lenses were. 1 Link to comment
TEWKS Posted April 9 Author Share Posted April 9 Good to know, somebody left a portable welder at the fire station that I’ve played around with in the past. The helmet that was left has no head harness so you have to hold it with one hand. Very awkward. Link to comment
EdM Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 14 hours ago, TEWKS said: Believe it or not, the three hours of classroom instruction was all about driving the speed limit when responding to an emergency call. That’s bullshit, I didn’t get into this business to drive the speed limit! Its red, it cost more than a Ferrari, gotta drive it like a Ferrari. 1 Link to comment
EdM Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 1 hour ago, Joe Frickin' Friday said: Yep - my welding lenses were shade 12, about the least that's safe for viewing the sun. Our eclipse glasses (and the camera filter) were quite a bit darker than those welding lenses were. My old welding helmet has a #10 lens in it so I doubled up with the gas welding #5 goggles to get over the required #13-14 recommended lens. We only had about 25% here. No discernable effect unless you looked at it happening and saw the small thumbnail of coverage. 1 Link to comment
duckhawk64 Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 Yesterday. Flew from Middleton, WI to Morris, IL and topped off fuel. Cruised to Putnam Regional Airport in Greencastle, IN. Nice place. DJ with good music, restaraunt, breakfast. Eclipse on the tarmac. Music paused for totality. Straight shot home with a a bit of tailwind, 2.5 hours. Still had 9 gallons of fuel left. Yeah, I was tired last night. 100 miles on the RT this morning. 7 1 Link to comment
Motorhead1977 Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 I only walked outside behind my office building in Albany NY for this photo but the 97% +/- of totality was "worth the trip" 1 Link to comment
wbw6cos Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 How about 74 minutes in the totality? 1 Link to comment
Joe Frickin' Friday Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 I put my pics together into this background wallpaper for my computer: 8 Link to comment
Joe Frickin' Friday Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 My brother-in-law got this shot of his shadow, using his binoculars to project images of the partial eclipse in just the right spots... 1 Link to comment
syntorz Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 A total eclipse (I'm a veteran of the 2017 and now 2024 events) is such a powerful and moving experience that we're planning for the 2028 event in Australia. And I absolutely *hate* air travel. Link to comment
duckhawk64 Posted April 12 Share Posted April 12 Youtube video of eclipse. My Pilot pal took it. 2 Link to comment
JCtx Posted April 14 Share Posted April 14 Guess it looked different at different locations. I caught it in TX, coming back from Austin to El Paso, so caught it in Junction (after Fredericksburg), and during totality, there was just a ring around the moon. And it didn't get nearly as dark as on that video above, and only at the very last moment. Even a few seconds from totality it was still bright. I was expecting a more gradual darkening, but it happened almost instantly. Link to comment
syntorz Posted April 14 Share Posted April 14 30 minutes ago, TEWKS said: How’d this one get forgotten.. Because Pink Floyd is forgettable? < syntorz ducking as all of bmwsportouring.com hurls their empty beer/bourbon/wine bottles in his direction > I never understood the appeal, there just wasn't real musical 'quality' to their work, at least to my ear. To each, his own. 2 3 Link to comment
John Ranalletta Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 My kind of eclipse. Got milk? 1 1 1 2 Link to comment
TEWKS Posted April 15 Author Share Posted April 15 18 minutes ago, John Ranalletta said: My kind of eclipse. Got milk? Take those (a whole package of double stuff) and chop them into pretty small pieces in a food processor. (not a fine dust) (but small) and add a stick of cream cheese to them and mix well. Make small balls out of them and put in fridge for a half hour. Melt down some chocolate (Ghirardelli) melting wafers and dip the balls in the chocolate (and ya I know that sounds wrong) but they are out of this world! 1 Link to comment
John Ranalletta Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 52 minutes ago, TEWKS said: Take those (a whole package of double stuff) and chop them into pretty small pieces in a food processor. (not a fine dust) (but small) and add a stick of cream cheese to them and mix well. Make small balls out of them and put in fridge for a half hour. Melt down some chocolate (Ghirardelli) melting wafers and dip the balls in the chocolate (and ya I know that sounds wrong) but they are out of this world! so. I have this eating disorder. At least, that’s what I prefer to call it. Others prefer “over eater” or “fat ass”. You’re not helping. 3 Link to comment
TEWKS Posted April 15 Author Share Posted April 15 1 hour ago, John Ranalletta said: so. I have this eating disorder. At least, that’s what I prefer to call it. Others prefer “over eater” or “fat ass”. You’re not helping. You’re one of those guys that can hide the eating disorder, me not so much! Link to comment
John Ranalletta Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 This is way off topic, but, I've figured out my eating disorder. We've all seen how a dog reacts when you put it's bowl down before filling. I'm like that walking through the kitchen. "Kitchen" = "eat". Doesn't matter when I've eaten last or will eat next. Hunger has nothing to do with it. "I'm in the kitchen. I'm gonna' eat". Kitchens in Europe tend to be very small, off-to-the-side rooms for food prep only - no eating. I need a pair of blinders. Yeah. That's the ticket. Blinders. 1 1 Link to comment
John Ranalletta Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 2 minutes ago, TEWKS said: You’re one of those guys that can hide the eating disorder, me not so much! No. You're wrong. I got a glimpse of myself an hour ago at the gym. I have "chest in drawers" disease = when your chest drops into your drawers. The worst part is at my advanced age, my legs are sore a lot. Sure can't be that extra 40lbs of avoirdupois, could it? It's like carrying around a bag of softener salt all day. 1 Link to comment
TEWKS Posted April 15 Author Share Posted April 15 1 minute ago, John Ranalletta said: I got a glimpse of myself an hour ago at the gym. Well at least the battle is still being fought! Talked about my gym in the other thread but she had us running around the building this morning, and I ain’t a runner and it’s a big building! 1 Link to comment
Hosstage Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 I hated running. Didn't mind wind sprints, but running just was not the long suit for these stubs for legs. As far as that Oreo recipe, if I get a chance at a bowl of those, just stay out of the way. Probably best you just go get one of your own. 2 Link to comment
wbw6cos Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 9 hours ago, TEWKS said: Take those (a whole package of double stuff) and chop them into pretty small pieces in a food processor. (not a fine dust) (but small) and add a stick of cream cheese to them and mix well. Make small balls out of them and put in fridge for a half hour. Melt down some chocolate (Ghirardelli) melting wafers and dip the balls in the chocolate (and ya I know that sounds wrong) but they are out of this world! I will take the batch that you bring to START. Thanks buddy!! 1 Link to comment
TEWKS Posted April 15 Author Share Posted April 15 2 minutes ago, wbw6cos said: I will take the batch that you bring to START. Thanks buddy!! I’m not sure how well they’ll travel but let me give it some thought. 1 Link to comment
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