atomic_fungus (atomic_fungus) wrote,
atomic_fungus
atomic_fungus

#5813: 88% coverage

I saw it! Despite hazy cloud cover I saw it!

88% is the most of the sun I've ever seen covered by the moon. I remember taking my little camera obscura to grade school in 1979, but today I stood in my own back yard and looked at the eclipse, alternating between the camera obscura I made this morning, and the face shield that came with my welder.

In 1994 there was a partial eclipse, and I recall taking a few minutes' out from work (as an on-site PC tech) to look through welding glass. The place I was doing the work, they did metalwork, so that was lucky. But that wasn't like today; today there was just a thin crescent of Sun visible. The local cardinal came out and started singing his goodnight song, and some crickets started chirping.

7-hour drive one-way to see the totality, and neither Mrs. Fungus nor I wanted to drive that far. Next eclipse over the US is in 2024, and maybe we'll be better positioned to make a trip like that.

It certainly won't be from the Moon. Not for us. Maybe a select few.

*

Right below the picture of an astronaut watching today's eclipse from the moon is another graphic that makes what is wrong with antifa perfectly clear: "People who are proud of what they're saying don't cover their faces when they say it." With images representing the KKK, ISIS, and antifa.

*

A few slots below that, Howard Cosell, flanked by Bruce Jenner and OJ Simpson: "Ladies and gentlemen, I've looked into the future and you will not believe this shit." Heh.

* * *

Back to the eclipse: The eclipse is racist because it doesn't go through many predominantly black areas. That's right: the motion of one celestial body around the Earth, which temporarily occludes the view of another celestial body, is racist because its maximum shadow doesn't fall on any black people.

The stupid just makes my brain ache.

* * *

John Kass hits one out of the park again. If people are really, really intent on eliminating all traces of slavery and racism from American history, and want to ban the Confederate flag and take down all the memorials, then we really need to disband the Democrat party, too.

They are the party of slavery, Jim Crow, racism, the KKK. Democrats fought against civil rights for blacks from the 1860s through the 1960s. If we're going to purge the public square of all evidence of past racism we must also remove the Democrat party.

* * *

Related: someone pointed out that Confederate memorials did not become a problem until after Donald Trump was elected President. They sure weren't a problem when Obama was President!

* * *

Bits:

Went to see Luzia a second time, because damn.

*

During our viewing of Star Trek: The Motion Picture we provided our own entertainment during the slow parts. Mrs. Fungus began saying, "You don't know me!" like Ms. Pancakes from Rick and Morty whenever Uhura appeared. I kept throwing out the line, "Now bend over that barrel!" which I will have to explain further because there's no convenient reference link to that one.

In WoW, there's a quest chain in Westfall, which is started when you find a treasure map. It takes you on a trip around the zone, each clue getting you one step closer to Captain Sanders' treasure.

One clue leads you to the ruins of a house, where a clue is stashed in a barrel, and somehow the clue got mangled into, "Good work, treasure hunter!" (from "Good work, matey!"). And one time when we were doing that quest together, Mrs. Fungus said that--"Good work, treasure hunter!"--and I responded, "Now, bend over that barrel! This is the part of treasure hunting I like best!" And she laughed.

So, "Now, bend over that barrel!" has been a running joke for quite a while. And here's how it worked during the movie:

Jim: Bones, I need you! Now, bend over that barrel.

Bones: This is what I hate about Starfleet!

Like that. Or:

Spock: I have been monitoring your transmissions to Starfleet. I understand you're having trouble with your warp engines.

Kirk: Yes. But first, bend over that barrel.

Spock: Of course, captain.

Besides that, of course, was the...sphincters...that V'ger trapped the Enterprise between. "Captain, it appears that we've been trapped behind a space anus."

...and pwople wonder why I don't watch Mystery Science Theater 3000? I don't need a bunch of puppets to make wisecracks for me!

* * *

Well, the eclipse is over and the world didn't end. Further bulletins as events warrant.
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