Join me here if you think all this eclipse hype is overblown

[Garga]

I saw 90% totality in 2017. It was pretty fun. 

100% totally was entirely, completely 100% different. I like how someone said that 99% totality is like a pretty stream, but 100% totality is like Niagara Falls. Accurate.

Even the teensiest sliver of the sun lights the entire sky. I even exclaimed over that to my friend (Ginerva—who posted up thread) that the power of the sun was such that even a speck of it lights the sky. If you didn’t have your glasses, at 99% totality, you might not even realize there was eclipse going on if the day was a bit cloudy. 

When it was totally covered, it was astounding. Everything changed. The entire world looked different and you could look directly at it and see a solid black moon with a tiny white rim and ruby-colored dots along the edges (solar prominences, viewable to the naked eye.) 

 

And tell me about tourists. I live 10 minutes from Gettysburg. Tourists gonna tourist, yanno? Gotta love the tourists. They never look both ways before crossing the street in Gettysburg, like they have magic forcefields around them. Gotta love ‘em.

 

It was a precious moment. My life won’t change, but it was a precious moment and I hope to be an old lady remembering it.

[SKL]

39 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

This is a pretty good example of why it bugs me that people extrapolate their own experiences onto others, as if we all think and feel and respond to things the exact same way. I've seen many waterfalls, including Niagara. It's nowhere near the top of the list of the ones that inspired a feeling of excitement or awe in me.  

ETA: I suppose the point I'm trying to make is that if people would frame things based on what they experienced ("I" or "me") it would come across as much less arrogant, hubristic, and irritating than the "you" approach. And @maize--This entire post isn't aimed at you. Your post was just my jumping off point. The assumptions many are making have been bothering me since yesterday.

Have you seen both totality and something less?

So far, I don't know anyone who has seen both and doesn't agree that they are not remotely comparable.  This includes plenty of humble people.

If you haven't seen both, then I don't understand second-guessing the experiences of those who have.

It's fine if it's not your thing.  Maybe waterfalls aren't your thing, but that doesn't stop Victoria Falls from being one of the wonders of the natural world.

[Kassia]

A friend of mine posted photos of a partial she's seen with the total one yesterday.  Of course, photos never really capture the experience but it's a good way to see the difference. 

[Alice]

I think one reason for all the hype is that there are less and less big shared experiences, especially non-virtual ones. I think a lot of people just appreciate being able to get excited about something that other people are excited about and that isn't really controversial. I mean even the "controversy" of some people not getting the hype isn't the same as the amount of discord and venom over so much else in society. There really wasn't any harm in getting excited about it or harm in not being excited about it. So much else right now just feels heavy and like you have to pick a side and it matters. 

We are in an area that was at about 88%. I thought it was really cool. Our office blocked out a time when it was right before and at peak and we all went outside to see. There were lots of other people and just an atmosphere of people being excited. There were several people walking by that didn't have glasses and I offered them mind to see and they were really happy, including one elderly man who was just absolutely thrilled to have seen it. That was just a fun human experience. And it was fun to know that my kids were looking at it after school and my husband at his work and my son who was in totality and also all the other humans who were excited. 

 

Edited April 9 by Alice

[MEmama]

1 hour ago, SKL said:

Have you seen both totality and something less?

So far, I don't know anyone who has seen both and doesn't agree that they are not remotely comparable.  This includes plenty of humble people.

If you haven't seen both, then I don't understand second-guessing the experiences of those who have.

It's fine if it's not your thing.  Maybe waterfalls aren't your thing, but that doesn't stop Victoria Falls from being one of the wonders of the natural world.

No one is second guessing anything🤷‍♀️ Not everyone feels the same amount of awe over the same things, it's really no big deal. But being talked to in such a condescending way is really annoying and baffling. Pretty sure we know what nighttime looks like, doesn't take much to imagine a fleeting moment of darkness during the day.

Personally I'm more awed by small things, the stuff most people walk by without noticing. I've always been that way--the big stuff I usually find meh (including Niagara Falls, and yawn yes, I've been several times). But I'm mesmerized by moss, that really lights up my imagination and wonder. The enormous cathedrals of Europe leave me sad for the centuries of the exploited, but I can stand in front of a simple century old house and marvel at small architectural quirks and wonder about all the lives that have passed the dooryard. I know my attention to detail annoys most people so I keep it to myself, but whatever. It's cool we all get off on different things.

Edited April 9 by MEmama

[KungFuPanda]

1 hour ago, Pawz4me said:

This is a pretty good example of why it bugs me that people extrapolate their own experiences onto others, as if we all think and feel and respond to things the exact same way. I've seen many waterfalls, including Niagara. It's nowhere near the top of the list of the ones that inspired a feeling of excitement or awe in me.  

ETA: I suppose the point I'm trying to make is that if people would frame things based on what they experienced ("I" or "me") it would come across as much less arrogant, hubristic, and irritating than the "you" approach. And @maize--This entire post isn't aimed at you. Your post was just my jumping off point. The assumptions many are making have been bothering me since yesterday.

It feels icky. Like the kids in designer sneakers who make fun of the kids in the cheap knock offs. Let people enjoy their lesser eclipse experience without insisting that it’s not good enough. 

1 hour ago, KSera said:

We do lots of fully EV road trips and are super happy with the experience, fwiw. Would never again choose a vehicle with a gas burning engine. 

Sounds like a lot of people didn’t plan very well (a Tesla has way more than enough range that no one should have planned to arrive in need of a charge right when they left). You also have to admit it’s a pretty unusual situation to have huge numbers of people leaving on a road trip simultaneously. That’s not typical behavior. Gas stations sometimes get backed up for hours when there’s a panic event and everyone’s trying to gas us up for it all at once. That said, yeah, obviously the charging network needs to continue to be built out, as it is and will be. 

I’m wondering how many charging stations they have in Vermont. A lot of people who live where it gets really cold are understandably hesitant to go fully electric. I’m sure that have enough for locals and tourists but generally tourists aren’t trying to leave town at the same time. 

[SKL]

I don't see what's wrong with acknowledging that some things need to be experienced in order to be fully understood.

It's fine if a person isn't into that.  I haven't experience bungee jumping off a cliff.  I am OK with that.  I'm not going to get mad if someone else tells me I'd have to live it to understand it.  It's not a put-down. 

Though, it was a bit of push-back because some posters insist that 100% isn't significantly different than 97% in this context.

The original tone of this thread was a bit condescending TBH.

Personally I declined to comment until I had experienced the experience.  I've now lived both and can compare.  But that makes me arrogant.

[Danae]

3 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

It feels icky. Like the kids in designer sneakers who make fun of the kids in the cheap knock offs. Let people enjoy their lesser eclipse experience without insisting that it’s not good enough. 

 

Partial eclipses are awesome. Visiting the Mojave desert is also awesome. But visiting the Mojave desert and not seeing the Grand Canyon is not the same experience as seeing it, and someone saying “eh, I got within a mile of the Canyon, that’s close enough” doesn’t know what they’ve missed.

 

[SKL]

3 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

 it’s not good enough.

Pretty sure nobody said or implied that.

[AmandaVT]

5 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

I’m wondering how many charging stations they have in Vermont. A lot of people who live where it gets really cold are understandably hesitant to go fully electric. I’m sure that have enough for locals and tourists but generally tourists aren’t trying to leave town at the same time. 

Not enough - I would guess that was the problem. And yes, we looked into getting an electric car and having friends who can barely make it 40 miles in the winter before needing to charge again makes it a nonstarter for us right now. I love the idea, but it has to be more practical for where we live before I could do it. 

Aunt and uncle update from this morning - when my uncle woke up in the middle of the night, he peeked out the window and there was STILL a line. This morning, it was down to about 15 cars. I feel so badly for them! 

I think most Vermonters were excited for the influx of tourists during a normally non-touristy month. Many towns were going to block off roads and have block parties with food and good viewing. I'm hoping that we were welcoming and friendly to those who came from out of state. We are used to getting large numbers of tourists during ski season and leap-peeping season - just not normally during mud season! I'm also hoping that not too many people tried to venture off the main roads and attempted the dirt roads yesterday. We just had over a foot of snow last week that turned the dirt roads into disasters and without good tires, people could have had some really rough driving. 

[MEmama]

11 minutes ago, AmandaVT said:

I'm also hoping that not too many people tried to venture off the main roads and attempted the dirt roads yesterday. We just had over a foot of snow last week that turned the dirt roads into disasters and without good tires, people could have had some really rough driving. 

That was the concern here too. A foot of heavy wet melting snow on top of the mud + people who have no idea what they are in for is not a good combo. I haven't looked at the news yet today but I do know the northern areas were planning to make a LOT of rescues. 

[DawnM]

We are not anywhere near where totality was and had not even an inkling of discussing traveling to see it.

[KungFuPanda]

44 minutes ago, SKL said:

Pretty sure nobody said or implied that.

I said what I said and do did the post immediately above yours. 
 

I’m really not upset. I’m just making an observation and was empathizing with @Pawz4me’s feelings about the conversation.  There really isn’t a great reason to act like the people in the cheap seats are at a whole different ballgame. I don’t care, but I understand why someone might feel a bit irked when they thoroughly enjoyed the experience they had. 
 

I could have gone to my uncles house, and I seriously considered it, but in the end I chose to attend a 4 day conference in the other direction and spare myself 17+ hours of driving. 

[Pawz4me]

7 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

 

I’m really not upset. I’m just making an observation and was empathizing with @Pawz4me’s feelings about the conversation.  There really isn’t a great reason to act like the people in the cheap seats are at a whole different ballgame. I don’t care, but I understand why someone might feel a bit irked when they thoroughly enjoyed the experience they had. 

My irritation is more along the lines of people who are claiming that if everyone had the experience they did (totality) they'd all be filled with the same awe and wonder and transcendence. That type of thinking is entirely too arrogant and self-centered for me. It's like if I insisted that people who think they don't like dogs can't have a valid opinion if they've never owned one, and that if they'd just get one they would without a doubt magically develop the same love for them that I have. I realize that's not true, because we're all different and have different likes and interests. And that's perfectly okay, and it would be incredibly arrogant and almost bullying for me to insist that I was right and they were wrong. It would also be extremely rude of me to barge into a thread for those who don't like dogs, especially if there were multiple current threads going on for people who love them.

And with that I'm going to bow out. Awhile back we discussed our superpowers and I said one of mine was being able to say what I wanted to and then walk away, so I'm gonna exercise that power right now. I don't feel that discussing it more is going to accomplish anything.

[SKL]

6 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

My irritation is more along the lines of people who are claiming that if everyone had the experience they did (totality) they'd all be filled with the same awe and wonder and transcendence.

I don't think anyone said that.

I think the point people were making was that in this context, 100% isn't just 103% of 97%.  It's a completely different thing.

You still don't have to care any more about that completely different thing.  It's just a factual clarification.

[QueenCat]

We lived in a different state in 2017 & had totality there, but I didn't know I was supposed to take the glasses OFF during the few minutes of totality so I didn't totally get. We were in totality yesterday & knew what to do. It was AMAZING. But I wouldn't have traveled for it. Well, not beyond the 10 minutes we drove to a friend's house to watch it while sipping on our eclipse cocktails. 

[regentrude]

1 hour ago, MEmama said:

 Pretty sure we know what nighttime looks like, doesn't take much to imagine a fleeting moment of darkness during the day.

The impressive thing isn't that it gets dark during the day. It is that it happens extremely suddenly, you see the corona, and Baily's beads which are caused by the mountains on the moon, see the diamond ring effect.

It's fine if you're not into it. But dissing totality "because we know what nighttime looks like" is missing the point.

[marbel]

@Catwoman I guess you should have put "JAWM" in your subject line even though it seemed pretty clear without it. Sorry your thread got derailed. 

30 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

It would also be extremely rude of me to barge into a thread for those who don't like dogs, especially if there were multiple current threads going on for people who love them.

 

Yep. 

[KSera]

1 hour ago, AmandaVT said:

Not enough - I would guess that was the problem. And yes, we looked into getting an electric car and having friends who can barely make it 40 miles in the winter before needing to charge again makes it a nonstarter for us right now. I love the idea, but it has to be more practical for where we live before I could do it. 

I don’t want to derail by saying too much on this side topic, but just so people don’t get the idea evs aren’t usable in cold areas, they totally are. Anyone only getting 40 miles in the cold is driving an older, low range EV. Range has greatly increased in the past few years (and continues to do so). We’re glad to be in an EV when we’re in cold, snowy mountains because we can stay warm without using up a bunch of gas to do so. Takes very, very little of the battery to keep warm in an EV. 

[regentrude]

39 minutes ago, KSera said:

We’re glad to be in an EV when we’re in cold, snowy mountains because we can stay warm without using up a bunch of gas to do so. Takes very, very little of the battery to keep warm in an EV. 

How well does the battery charge holds up when the car is parked for a longer time in very cold temperatures? 

[Kuovonne]

My family is in the weird situation where we felt the trip was worth it for the family members who went, but is also okay with the fact that we left another family member at home and she completely missed everything, even the partial eclipse. I wish all of us could have seen totality, but if I had to choose again, I would probably make the same choice to split the family. 

 

Totality was amazing. But special effects in movies may have blunted how I feel about amazing. 

[BronzeTurtle]

"barge in on a thread"...on a public message board where someone wants to have a hot take without being bothered.

Making a statement like a full solar eclipse is meh, but I don't want to discuss it with anyone seems a bit rich. ON an education board where people are ostensibly maybe trying/tried to teach their kids about the wonders of the natural world and value science? Science, physics, natural phenomenon that people have been amazed by for centuries? We figured it all out so Sorry kid, just go outside at night or watch it on TV, it's basically the same thing and gosh don't we all hate the rubes who come out and cause traffic? Lets stay at home instead and snark on people who like the thing. aren't all those solar scientists who spent their lives studying this sort of thing idiots? I mean millions of dollars spent studying our sun? How silly they must have felt charging up their EVs! That's the spirit!

You can be not that interested in something and also know it's amazing because nature is amazing. Science is cool. We aren't that far removed from the people who looked up at the sky in fear that the world was ending even if we want to think we are. I probably sound more riled up than I actually am, I just do think being dismissive of being extremely interested in a natural phenomenon is just so crazy. I get not being interested enough to study something yourself or not wanting to go to much trouble to see it. I don't get making fun of other people or taking glee in them having hardship in order to go see it. And if they hype gets one kid interested in studying the sun or astronomy? well, then the traffic is probably worth it.

Edited April 9 by BronzeTurtle

[KSera]

1 hour ago, regentrude said:

How well does the battery charge holds up when the car is parked for a longer time in very cold temperatures? 

The main thing is that it takes more energy to start a cold battery, so if you’re parking overnight in the cold without somewhere to plug in (which can be just a regular outlet to trickle charge from), you want to keep the battery over 20% charge when you park. In cold weather, it’s good to have cold weather features on the car—a heat pump and battery preconditioning for example, both of which are common features now. Those improve battery efficiency. Heated seats are also great for using little energy to heat the car until the battery warms up. 

Fwiw, Norway, Sweden and Iceland have the most evs per capita, so cold weather is definitely not the show stopper it’s been made out to be, even though it does make an impact to be considered in driving habits—not discounting that it has an effect.
Chart: These countries have the most electric vehicles per capita

 

Also might be of interest is this chart of chargers per ev or per mile by state:

https://electrek.co/2022/01/23/the-best-and-worst-us-states-for-ev-charging/

[MEmama]

4 hours ago, QueenCat said:

to watch it while sipping on our eclipse cocktails. 

Now eclipse cocktails I can get behind! 🍸

[Scarlett]

I am not much of a science person, but I can appreciate a natural phenomena like a total eclipse of the sun.  
 

The whole ‘ugh tourists’ sounds too much like NIMBY to me. I bet plenty of businesses were happy with the tourists being there. 
 

I did not love the extra hours it caused us on the drive home but we just went with the flow.  The drive on the back roads of AR brought back a lot of memories and reminded me how beautiful the state is. 
 

People love to share experiences with others. Our party was small because it is tax season and my CPA family can’t stop for a minute right now. And the nephew who won’t leave the family property managed to sort of ruin the experience for me. And Dh.  Now that is a real live ugh but some here think we are the devil for wanting him gone. 
 

Anyway to each his own. I love looking at snakes in the zoo but I don’t want one in  my house. I don’t care if other people have them in their house. I love my dog but I put her away if I have guests who aren’t dog lovers. 
 

I think saying people  who like or hate a certain thing are ugh or less than is rude. 
 

[Catwoman]

9 hours ago, marbel said:

@Catwoman I guess you should have put "JAWM" in your subject line even though it seemed pretty clear without it. Sorry your thread got derailed. 

Yep. 

Thanks!

Considering my thread title, I’m guessing that adding JAWM to it wouldn’t have made any difference. Obviously, people can post in any thread they would like and say whatever they would like to say, but I do think it was a little rude when there were already existing threads that were very pro-eclipse.

It’s kind of amazing that people seem to feel the need to shame me for having started a thread for the people who didn’t care about the eclipse, particularly when I intentionally didn’t go into the pro-eclipse threads and try to hijack them. 

I even said in my OP that I hope the people who wanted to see the eclipse got good weather for it and that they enjoyed it, but apparently because some others here and I don’t personally see anything life-altering or tremendously awesome about an eclipse, we need to be lectured about it. 🙄

 

 

[Catwoman]

8 hours ago, BronzeTurtle said:

"barge in on a thread"...on a public message board where someone wants to have a hot take without being bothered.

Making a statement like a full solar eclipse is meh, but I don't want to discuss it with anyone seems a bit rich. ON an education board where people are ostensibly maybe trying/tried to teach their kids about the wonders of the natural world and value science? Science, physics, natural phenomenon that people have been amazed by for centuries? We figured it all out so Sorry kid, just go outside at night or watch it on TV, it's basically the same thing and gosh don't we all hate the rubes who come out and cause traffic? Lets stay at home instead and snark on people who like the thing. aren't all those solar scientists who spent their lives studying this sort of thing idiots? I mean millions of dollars spent studying our sun? How silly they must have felt charging up their EVs! That's the spirit!

You can be not that interested in something and also know it's amazing because nature is amazing. Science is cool. We aren't that far removed from the people who looked up at the sky in fear that the world was ending even if we want to think we are. I probably sound more riled up than I actually am, I just do think being dismissive of being extremely interested in a natural phenomenon is just so crazy. I get not being interested enough to study something yourself or not wanting to go to much trouble to see it. I don't get making fun of other people or taking glee in them having hardship in order to go see it. And if they hype gets one kid interested in studying the sun or astronomy? well, then the traffic is probably worth it.

Or, you know, maybe if you are so offended by those of us who weren’t excited about the eclipse, maybe you should have just skipped this thread altogether.

It’s not like the thread title didn’t tell you exactly what it was about. 🙂 

[Catwoman]

10 hours ago, Pawz4me said:

My irritation is more along the lines of people who are claiming that if everyone had the experience they did (totality) they'd all be filled with the same awe and wonder and transcendence. That type of thinking is entirely too arrogant and self-centered for me. It's like if I insisted that people who think they don't like dogs can't have a valid opinion if they've never owned one, and that if they'd just get one they would without a doubt magically develop the same love for them that I have. I realize that's not true, because we're all different and have different likes and interests. And that's perfectly okay, and it would be incredibly arrogant and almost bullying for me to insist that I was right and they were wrong. It would also be extremely rude of me to barge into a thread for those who don't like dogs, especially if there were multiple current threads going on for people who love them.

Thank you for explaining this better than I did. I agree completely!

[Catwoman]

12 hours ago, MEmama said:

No one is second guessing anything🤷‍♀️ Not everyone feels the same amount of awe over the same things, it's really no big deal. But being talked to in such a condescending way is really annoying and baffling. Pretty sure we know what nighttime looks like, doesn't take much to imagine a fleeting moment of darkness during the day.

Personally I'm more awed by small things, the stuff most people walk by without noticing. I've always been that way--the big stuff I usually find meh (including Niagara Falls, and yawn yes, I've been several times). But I'm mesmerized by moss, that really lights up my imagination and wonder. The enormous cathedrals of Europe leave me sad for the centuries of the exploited, but I can stand in front of a simple century old house and marvel at small architectural quirks and wonder about all the lives that have passed the dooryard. I know my attention to detail annoys most people so I keep it to myself, but whatever. It's cool we all get off on different things. 

It’s so bizarre! I never expected people to be this insistent that this eclipse was so life-altering and awe-inspiring, and to seemingly be upset that some of us just didn’t care about it.

Why do they care that we didn’t care?

Nobody said they couldn’t enjoy the eclipse. I’m happy for them if it was a great experience for them. What I don’t understand is why anyone is acting like something is wrong with us because we didn’t care about it. Why not just post in the pro-eclipse threads and share their feelings with others who feel the same way? It’s not like they’re going to change our minds about it here on this thread, particularly because the eclipse is already over, anyway.

As you said, it’s cool that we all get off on different things. It’s just weird that some people seem to want to insist that everyone should get excited over the same things that they do and get kind of offended if we don’t.

[BronzeTurtle]

2 hours ago, Catwoman said:

Or, you know, maybe if you are so offended by those of us who weren’t excited about the eclipse, maybe you should have just skipped this thread altogether.

It’s not like the thread title didn’t tell you exactly what it was about. 🙂 

No... I definitely knew what the thread was about. I participated to push back against the ideas floated (not all by you, I realize) that the people who might be interested in the solar eclipse are tourists (I think that part was in all caps?) who tried to leave in the middle of it to beat traffic and/or got stuck charging their cars and why don't we all just watch it on television. But thanks!

[BronzeTurtle]

2 hours ago, Catwoman said:

It’s so bizarre! I never expected people to be this insistent that this eclipse was so life-altering and awe-inspiring, and to seemingly be upset that some of us just didn’t care about it.

Why do they care that we didn’t care?

Nobody said they couldn’t enjoy the eclipse. I’m happy for them if it was a great experience for them. What I don’t understand is why anyone is acting like something is wrong with us because we didn’t care about it. Why not just post in the pro-eclipse threads and share their feelings with others who feel the same way? It’s not like they’re going to change our minds about it here on this thread, particularly because the eclipse is already over, anyway.

As you said, it’s cool that we all get off on different things. It’s just weird that some people seem to want to insist that everyone should get excited over the same things that they do and get kind of offended if we don’t.

Being interested in science is not "getting off" on anything.

I am not insisting that an eclipse is life-altering.

No one cares if you are or are not excited about the eclipse.

No one is upset you are not interested in it.

Some people are trying to explain why it might be more interesting than you think.

You know in school when you were a kid and you thought something was really neat and the cool kid rolled his eyes and made sure you knew how dumb it was to care about learning stuff or being excited about something you found interesting? And the whole time it turned out the actually fun people were the people who were interested in stuff around them, or at least didn't make fun of those who did? Or maybe you did make fun of the people who got excited about astronomy or science in school, how do I know?

You made a thread to ad hominem and laugh at people over the folly of going to see a full solar eclipse. And ended it by saying you don't mean to be insulting, lol. I commented on that, and only that aspect. Not how much I care about what you personally think of an eclipse.

Anyway, it's an education board. I thought it was worth noting.

Edited April 10 by BronzeTurtle

[maize]

17 hours ago, Pawz4me said:

This is a pretty good example of why it bugs me that people extrapolate their own experiences onto others, as if we all think and feel and respond to things the exact same way. I've seen many waterfalls, including Niagara. It's nowhere near the top of the list of the ones that inspired a feeling of excitement or awe in me.  

ETA: I suppose the point I'm trying to make is that if people would frame things based on what they experienced ("I" or "me") it would come across as much less arrogant, hubristic, and irritating than the "you" approach. And @maize--This entire post isn't aimed at you. Your post was just my jumping off point. The assumptions many are making have been bothering me since yesterday.

Late responding because I've been driving all day to get home.

The point that not everyone will find themselves awed by the same things is a totally valid one. My point was more that no-one who hasn't experienced a thing can be confident they wouldn't find it awe-inspiring based on having experienced a slightly related thing.

And a 99% vs 100% eclipse really, truly are only slightly related things.

I don't mind that not everyone is awed by a total eclipse. I'm just very aware that presumptions about the experience based off of a partial eclipse are going to be way off base.

I'm also glad to be back home 🏡 😌 

[Ginevra]

@Catwoman, have you heard the saying, “It’s not nice to ‘yuck’ someone’s ‘yum’”? 
 

It does not bother me at all if someone else doesn’t care about the eclipse and did not drive/fly/stay at hotel and miss work to see totality. That is a totally valid decision to make. 
 

What bothered me was the view that anyone who went somewhere else to see it is merely an obnoxious TOURIST with no sense. I don’t see it as any different from descending on another town for college move-in day, a sports game, a fireworks display, a popular race/marathon, leaf-peeping in the fall, snow sport season, New Years Eve, July 4th…it increases crowds and traffic in the locality and yes - some people do anti-social things and don’t plan well. (Drive on their last gallon of gas? Don’t bring any food along? Leave garbage like a damn litterbug? Drive like a dingbat?) But I very much doubt any of us are LOCALS *ALL* the time and are never mooching off the fun in somebody else’s town. 
 

It seems unkind to me to post a thread raining on the parade of other posters just because you don’t see what’s so special about an astronomical event. It would be like putting up a post on Easter to counteract the “He is Risen!” posts by putting up a “Come in here if you think Easter Sunday is a stupid waste of time.” 

[SKL]

6 hours ago, Catwoman said:

Or, you know, maybe if you are so offended by those of us who weren’t excited about the eclipse, maybe you should have just skipped this thread altogether.

It’s not like the thread title didn’t tell you exactly what it was about. 🙂 

OK so be honest ... did you actually not look outside during totality (since you said you live in the totality zone)?

Kuz in your OP, you declared that interest in totality is so ridiculous that you weren't even going to look at it despite it being in your literal backyard.

And if you really behaved that way, that is way beyond refusing to participate in the "hype."  It's childish.

I have a relative who posted on facebook last week, "Am I the only person in the path of the eclipse that could care less about it?" and she got a few likes and supportive comments.  Yay?  Then when the eclipse happened, she admitted it was kinda neat.  To answer her and your question, no, you guys aren't the only ones who disdain others' interest in natural phenomena.

[SKL]

6 hours ago, Catwoman said:

Or, you know, maybe if you are so offended by those of us who weren’t excited about the eclipse, maybe you should have just skipped this thread altogether.

It’s not like the thread title didn’t tell you exactly what it was about. 🙂 

It would be a fun experiment to post a thread on WTM saying "join me here if you think homeschooling is ridiculous" or "join me here if you think literature is overrated."

[marbel]

I think it's a bit of a stretch to assume that people who weren't into traveling or otherwise going out of their way to view the eclipse as being uninterested in science, the natural world and (apparently), by extension, education.  

And if we're talking about "not yucking someone else's yum," come on, that happens all the time here. Open up any thread where cheese is a topic!  

 

[Catwoman]

4 hours ago, Ginevra said:

@Catwoman, have you heard the saying, “It’s not nice to ‘yuck’ someone’s ‘yum’”? 

It seems unkind to me to post a thread raining on the parade of other posters just because you don’t see what’s so special about an astronomical event. It would be like putting up a post on Easter to counteract the “He is Risen!” posts by putting up a “Come in here if you think Easter Sunday is a stupid waste of time.” 

Actually, if someone posted a "Come in here if you think Easter Sunday is a stupid waste of time," I wouldn't even bother opening the thread because I would assume someone started it to talk about it with likeminded people.

If you didn't like the idea that I might 'yuk' your 'yum,' you probably should have read my thread title and moved along to one of the pro-eclipse threads. It's not like I tricked anyone into reading it -- my thread title was very specific.

[Catwoman]

4 hours ago, SKL said:

OK so be honest ... did you actually not look outside during totality (since you said you live in the totality zone)?

Kuz in your OP, you declared that interest in totality is so ridiculous that you weren't even going to look at it despite it being in your literal backyard.

And if you really behaved that way, that is way beyond refusing to participate in the "hype."  It's childish.

I have a relative who posted on facebook last week, "Am I the only person in the path of the eclipse that could care less about it?" and she got a few likes and supportive comments.  Yay?  Then when the eclipse happened, she admitted it was kinda neat.  To answer her and your question, no, you guys aren't the only ones who disdain others' interest in natural phenomena.

OK, so now those of us who didn't look at the eclipse are "childish." 🤣

Wow.

You really need to get over yourself.

[Goldcrest]

18 hours ago, BronzeTurtle said:

"barge in on a thread"...on a public message board where someone wants to have a hot take without being bothered.

 

What you are doing to Cat on this thread is actually against the board rules if you bothered to read them. Maybe you haven't been around WTM to know the etiquette, but you are the one violating it here. Not Cat. 

 

Quote

 if someone posts, "We don't do Halloween; what can we substitute?" don't take this as an opportunity to prove to them that Halloween is really just fine.) 

 

[BronzeTurtle]

 

 

30 minutes ago, marbel said:

I think it's a bit of a stretch to assume that people who weren't into traveling or otherwise going out of their way to view the eclipse as being uninterested in science, the natural world and (apparently), by extension, education.  

And if we're talking about "not yucking someone else's yum," come on, that happens all the time here. Open up any thread where cheese is a topic!  

 

It was not about not going out of one's way to see it. That is not the sentiment that received replies. Nor was it simply not liking something other people enjoy.

Although I do think it is sort of funny. There are organizations out there like nasa doing so much to get people to care about space or science or anything and I imagine someone walking in to their big observation room which probably has feeds from millions (billions) of dollars worth of equipment gathering tons of data being studied by people being paid to do so and going, "You know who cares about this? TOURISTS!"

And the irony of caring so little about the thing you won't go outside to look, but you post multiple paragraphs on the internet about how little you care about it instead which ends up being a thread that goes for multiple pages because people are like, no I found it really neat! Come on that is a little funny.

 

[BronzeTurtle]

3 minutes ago, Catwoman said:

It's not like I tricked anyone into reading it -- my thread title was very specific.

That is called clickbait. And hey it does work!

[Catwoman]

7 hours ago, BronzeTurtle said:

Being interested in science is not "getting off" on anything.

I am not insisting that an eclipse is life-altering.

No one cares if you are or are not excited about the eclipse.

No one is upset you are not interested in it.

Some people are trying to explain why it might be more interesting than you think.

You know in school when you were a kid and you thought something was really neat and the cool kid rolled his eyes and made sure you knew how dumb it was to care about learning stuff or being excited about something you found interesting? And the whole time it turned out the actually fun people were the people who were interested in stuff around them, or at least didn't make fun of those who did? Or maybe you did make fun of the people who got excited about astronomy or science in school, how do I know?

You made a thread to ad hominem and laugh at people over the folly of going to see a full solar eclipse. And ended it by saying you don't mean to be insulting, lol. I commented on that, and only that aspect. Not how much I care about what you personally think of an eclipse.

Anyway, it's an education board. I thought it was worth noting.

Ok, so the cool kids were clearly not "the actually fun people." 🙄

And those of us who posted on this thread probably also made fun of the people who got excited about astronomy and science in school.

Seriously???

You have got to be kidding me with those ridiculous generalizations! 

 

[Catwoman]

1 minute ago, BronzeTurtle said:

That is called clickbait. And hey it does work!

No. It actually wasn't clickbait.

If it was clickbait, I would have wanted people to come in and argue with me about it.

I think most people (including you) know me better than that.

[BronzeTurtle]

4 minutes ago, Goldcrest said:

What you are doing to Cat on this thread is actually against the board rules if you bothered to read them. Maybe you haven't been around WTM to know the etiquette, but you are the one violating it here. Not Cat. 

 

 

What I am "doing to Cat" is replying to discussion posts on a discussion board in disagreement. I wasn't even replying to her specifically although she did start the thread. It actually explains so much about conversations here if that is against the rules.

[Catwoman]

4 hours ago, SKL said:

It would be a fun experiment to post a thread on WTM saying "join me here if you think homeschooling is ridiculous" or "join me here if you think literature is overrated."

You should do that.

I won't be participating in those threads though, because I enjoy good literature and I think homeschooling is great, but if you don't, you should definitely start threads to talk to likeminded people about it. 

Apparently though, you need to add JAWM to your thread title, because I thought my thread title was very self-explanatory, yet here we are.

[BronzeTurtle]

3 minutes ago, Catwoman said:

No. It actually wasn't clickbait.

If it was clickbait, I would have wanted people to come in and argue with me about it.

I think most people (including you) know me better than that.

Okay. I'm sure you meant well. I do have to do something today other than discuss this and procrastinate on life so apologies for my breach of board etiquette and I'll leave it alone.

[SKL]

7 minutes ago, Catwoman said:

No. It actually wasn't clickbait.

If it was clickbait, I would have wanted people to come in and argue with me about it.

I think most people (including you) know me better than that.

Well I opened the thread because ... one can believe "the hype is overblown" and at the same time not be so anti-eclipse that one won't even walk outside of one's own house in the middle of totality.

There was excess hype around the eclipse, IMO.

So am I not allowed to say anything else about it?  Like, stating the fact that there is a huge difference in experience between a 97% eclipse and totality?

You've done your fair share of contradictory commenting on my threads, including one that was specifically labeled "rant."  But, this is a discussion board after all.

[Catwoman]

4 minutes ago, BronzeTurtle said:

Okay. I'm sure you meant well. I do have to do something today other than discuss this and procrastinate on life so apologies for my breach of board etiquette and I'll leave it alone.

I'm sorry to have picked on you here, but it kind of cracked me up that you were saying you were trying to show people how the eclipse was more interesting than we thought... but you didn't post until AFTER the eclipse was over, so it's not like you were actually trying to convince anyone to change their minds and decide to watch the eclipse after all. 😉 

 

[Catwoman]

The eclipse is over now.

Some people apparently don't seem to realize that you can't convince anyone to change their mind and watch an eclipse that has already happened.

If you watched it and it was amazing and you really loved it, good for you! Seriously. I'm glad you were able to see it and that it was everything you'd hoped it would be and more.

If, like me, you went about your day and didn't care about the eclipse, I'm sorry our thread got hijacked. I have no clue why all of the debate happened after the eclipse, but I can guarantee you that it wasn't to be educational, because... you know... THE ECLIPSE WAS ALREADY OVER.

I have no idea why this thread took on a life of its own, but it's cracking me up that people think they get to feel all superior and decide what everyone else should find exciting and interesting. (Spoiler alert: It didn't work. 😁)

 

[Harriet Vane]

Swinging back in with this thought.

I was not in any way offended by your thread title. And I have had similar thoughts in past about eclipses--is this really that big a deal? I even posted my own thread, originally titled something like Is it worth it to drive to totality? (I don't remember the exact wording of the title, but my original post and my update are still live.)

I posted here in your thread because I did not know before this eclipse how different 100% totality is. I didn't know the huge gulf of difference between 99% and 100%. That was new information for me as of Monday. My opinion about eclipses being overblown changed drastically based on that. So I shared that information here in this thread, because I know how skeptical I was before and how my own opinion changed. I figured it's relevant information.