I thought I wouldn't be able to see it since I worked today, the whole staff is planning on going outside for a few minutes to watch.

How do we know these protective glasses are legit?

To answer your side question: No but Raj does.

This was the first total eclipse in a long time that went across the continental US. but i grew up in Oregon and there was an eclipse in 1979 that was visible in WA, OR, ID, MT, and ND. I saw that one. Frankly didn't seem all that amazing to me. Probably comes from understanding things. If I were in the 12th century or something, a few minutes of darkness in the middle of the day might have been something to be upset about, if I didn't know why it was happening. And someone - an astrologer or whatever - who had predicted it might have been impressive. But night-time is basically just the sun being eclipsed by the Earth, and these days, it's like Sheldon and the Pythagorean Theorem. Meh.

@ArcticFox12 said:

The eclipse is apparently like 80 something percent in my area. I got the protective glasses , said a few Hail Mary's, tempting fate that they actually work.

Side question: Does Sheldon care about eclipses or does he consider them a banal , insignificant astronomical event?

On the East Coast.

Forgot all about it.

Remembered around 5.

Although, I am kinda wondering what folks plan to do with those $99.99 paper glasses they bought for the event. Are they good for catching-a-few-rays on other days?

As for Sheldon; I think he would give it a . After all It did involve the moon.

I call your attention to his already demonstrated interest in the Moon ("The Lunar Excitation" episode) AND, more importantly, to the fact that his MeeMaw calls him her "Moonpie".

@FormerlyKnownAs said:

@ArcticFox12 said:

The eclipse is apparently like 80 something percent in my area. I got the protective glasses , said a few Hail Mary's, tempting fate that they actually work.

Side question: Does Sheldon care about eclipses or does he consider them a banal , insignificant astronomical event?

On the East Coast.

Forgot all about it.

Remembered around 5.

---

Although, I am kinda wondering what folks plan to do with those $99.99 paper glasses they bought for the event. Are they good for catching-a-few-rays on other days?

---

As for Sheldon; I think he would give it a . After all It did involve the moon.

I call your attention to his already demonstrated interest in the Moon ("The Lunar Excitation" episode) AND, more importantly, to the fact that his MeeMaw calls him her "Moonpie".

I kinda feel ripped off. They weren't kidding when they said partial, you could barely tell it got any darker where I was. I didn't even see a piece of the moon covering the sun.

Whatever, I'll find a better spot to watch the next one in 2024.

I believe Sheldon cares about the individual celestial bodies involved as separate entities but not the mechanics of one blocking the other ; and he would definitely scoff at people falling prey to the media marketing it as something to watch.

@FormerlyKnownAs said:

I call your attention to his already demonstrated interest in the Moon ("The Lunar Excitation" episode) AND, more importantly, to the fact that his MeeMaw calls him her "Moonpie".

But only MeeMaw can call Sheldon Moonpie, no one else.

I wasn't in the shadow of the eclipse. Since I missed it I later sat down and re-read Asimovs short story "Nightfall".

On the good side it was refreshing to have something sciency hyped, even if it wasn't much to see where I am. It was neat to have television interrupted for this kind of event instead of the usual generic political speech/press conference/OJ coverage.

On the ridiculous side the pricy glasses, and the worry that cell phone towers might overload due to too many people taking selfies with the sun. Too bad it wasn't a giant meteor hitting the earth for those people to take selfies with.

Sheldon wouldn't care unless Hawking cared, then he might be interested. Then Stephan Hawking probably didn't care either.

Leonard would use the eclipse to try to talk Penny into the sack

Howard would use it to talk about his astronaut days

Raj would be happy but then sad as he has no one to share it with.

@znexyish said:

On the good side it was refreshing to have something sciency hyped, even if it wasn't much to see where I am. It was neat to have television interrupted for this kind of event instead of the usual generic political speech/press conference/OJ coverage.

Hyping and TV interruption etc for what is basically kind of a nothing-burger, might get a lot of people mad at "science," not excited.

@znexyish said:

On the ridiculous side the pricy glasses, and the worry that cell phone towers might overload due to too many people taking selfies with the sun. Too bad it wasn't a giant meteor hitting the earth for those people to take selfies with.

I know i shouldn't but

@Knixon said:

@znexyish said:

On the good side it was refreshing to have something sciency hyped, even if it wasn't much to see where I am. It was neat to have television interrupted for this kind of event instead of the usual generic political speech/press conference/OJ coverage.

Hyping and TV interruption etc for what is basically kind of a nothing-burger, might get a lot of people mad at "science," not excited.

Or (maybe) not:

"I don't care what you say about me, as long as you say something about me, and as long as you spell my name right."

-- George M. Cohan

We had a partial eclipse here in Michigan. It was a complete letdown. It gets darker on cloudy days. Oh well. Was still a good excuse to relax in the pool for the day.

@censorshipsucks06 said:

We had a partial eclipse here in Michigan. It was a complete letdown. It gets darker on cloudy days. Oh well. Was still a good excuse to relax in the pool for the day.

Well, in addition to your "pool for the day" there were some other positives. It gave:

1. Experts a chance to expound.

2. The media something new to chirp (endlessly) about.

3. Retailers a nice $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$-day.

4. Science a chance to strut-it-stuff AND bask in the limelight.

5. Party-people something else to check off their bucket list.

6. Eyes/minds a (brief) respite from DC-$#!+.

7. Folks like me a chance to at all the hype-swallowers.

All-in-all it was a FeelGoodTime.

@FormerlyKnownAs said:

@censorshipsucks06 said:

We had a partial eclipse here in Michigan. It was a complete letdown. It gets darker on cloudy days. Oh well. Was still a good excuse to relax in the pool for the day.

Well, in addition to your "pool for the day" there were some other positives. It gave:

1. Experts a chance to expound.

2. The media something new to chirp (endlessly) about.

3. Retailers a nice $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$-day.

4. Science a chance to strut-it-stuff AND bask in the limelight.

5. Party-people something else to check off their bucket list. 
   

6. Eyes/minds a (brief) respite from DC-$#!+.
   

7. Folks like me a chance to at all the hype-swallowers.

All-in-all it was a FeelGoodTime.

I was outside when it happened and couldn't even tell the difference. It got slightly darker for a few minutes, all that hype for a major let down.

Like you mentioned, one positive we can draw from this is got a lot of people interested in astronomy , albeit temporarily. Also, it distracted us from the race relations issues literally eclipsing all other conversation for a day.

@FormerlyKnownAs said:

@censorshipsucks06 said:

We had a partial eclipse here in Michigan. It was a complete letdown. It gets darker on cloudy days. Oh well. Was still a good excuse to relax in the pool for the day.

Well, in addition to your "pool for the day" there were some other positives. It gave:

1. Experts a chance to expound.

2. The media something new to chirp (endlessly) about.

3. Retailers a nice $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$-day.

4. Science a chance to strut-it-stuff AND bask in the limelight.

5. Party-people something else to check off their bucket list. 
   

6. Eyes/minds a (brief) respite from DC-$#!+.
   

7. Folks like me a chance to at all the hype-swallowers.

All-in-all it was a FeelGoodTime.

I like your assessment!

Here in Connecticut, we experienced a partial eclipse - around 2:30-ish it got somewhat darker, with a few clouds around but the sun peeking out as the clouds moved. I glanced up a couple of times wearing only my Michael Kors sunglasses and I'm pretty sure I saw something like this, sans the dark sky:

http://duncan.co/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Partial-Solar-Eclipse-Oct-23-2014-3.jpg

I joked with my neighbor and told him I looked at the eclipse and think I hurt my eyes He laughingly said "You're not supposed to look at it!"

So that was my eclipse experience.

@Gothish520 said:

Here in Connecticut, we experienced a partial eclipse - around 2:30-ish it got somewhat darker, with a few clouds around but the sun peeking out as the clouds moved. I glanced up a couple of times wearing only my Michael Kors sunglasses and I'm pretty sure I saw something like this, sans the dark sky:

http://duncan.co/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Partial-Solar-Eclipse-Oct-23-2014-3.jpg

Needless to say there is not a scientific bone in my body; because all I can think about when looking at that is: "Pac Man"!

@CalabrianQueen said:

I was outside when it happened and couldn't even tell the difference. It got slightly darker for a few minutes, all that hype for a major let down.

Like you mentioned, one positive we can draw from this is got a lot of people interested in astronomy , albeit temporarily. Also, it distracted us from the race relations issues literally eclipsing all other conversation for a day.

I may have been cynical about the whole "buying-glasses-thing"; but not about the event itself.

There were, of course, the scientific and historical aspects. But, I think we got something more.

The days leading up to it, and especially the day of, had a lot of “Christmas-like” vibes surrounding it.

That is, people were all happy, bubbly, and affable while excitedly looking forward to the Big Day. It was the topic of conversation on everyone’s lips. You could talk to a complete stranger at the checkout about it without getting ignored or stared down.

For one pleasant moment we were all on the same page. Generally, all that lively 'togetherness' only seems to show up during the Christmas holidays.