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Science is Drokking Fantastic Because...

Started by The Legendary Shark, 21 July, 2011, 11:05:57 PM

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Mattofthespurs

Quote from: Hawkmonger on 20 March, 2015, 09:15:09 AM
Does anyone know where I could get some of those protective glasses for watching the eclipse through? Despite Cox and O'Brien advocating them last night on BBC2 I don't see them for sale anywhere...

I was trying to source some for my Son's school. With two weeks to go, and needing about 20 pairs, the cheapest I could find was nearly £8 a pair :o

Ended up buying 15 copies of this month's Sky At Night magazine at £4.99 a pop. The magazine included a free pair of glasses per issue.  :P

TordelBack

Cloud cover was near total in South Dublin, with occasional drizzle, but despite that we kept the kids back from school for an hour (since there were no plans for watching there, which is a bit of a disgrace) and we set up basecamp in the park across the road and waited, our pinhole camera and earnest upraised faces being gently mocked by passersby. Who were laughing on the other side of thir faces when, after only one pevious glimpse at about 8:50 to even indicate where the sun was, bang on the point of maximum occlusion the clouds parted and were treated to a perfect view, if only for 30 seconds, and our slightly soggy bits of cardboard were suddenly in demand.  In the minutes before the birds had all settled to roost in the trees, the inceasing coldness was palpable and the briefly revealed remarkably thin ring of sunlight was blazing bright aganist the deep grey sky.  Absolutely magic.

Other glimpses followed,  not the same sustained progression I enjoyed tracing back in 1999, but just as exciting, the missus and I described where we were and what our lives were like the last time, and the kids were enthralled by the whole thing.  Love eclipses, just love 'em. 

Do hope the alien hunters were out in force on the Faroes, perfect place to bag one.

The Legendary Shark

Clouds here were just thin enough to be an absolute boon - we could look without hurting our eyes and we also had a welding mask to pass around between us when the clouds occasionally broke. I tried to project it through my cheapy old Aldi telescope, which I'd forgotten I'd rescued, but it didn't work. Still, bloody brilliant sight!
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Albion

Quote from: Hawkmonger on 20 March, 2015, 10:45:35 AM
Now, we wait....


There wasn't an eclipse in Day of the Triffids. It was a meteor shower.
Dumb all over, a little ugly on the side.

The Legendary Shark

It wasn't a meteor shower - it was an orbital weapons platform.
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Dunk!

Quote from: Albion on 20 March, 2015, 11:38:35 AM
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 20 March, 2015, 10:45:35 AM
Now, we wait....


There wasn't an eclipse in Day of the Triffids. It was a meteor shower.
Eclipse means Audrey 2 has arrived.
"Trust we"

Albion

Dumb all over, a little ugly on the side.

The Legendary Shark

I read the book at school and remember our teacher made a big thing of it being a Russian or American orbital weapons platform. The blindness, he said, was a metaphor for the people of the Earth being blind to the dangers of weapons proliferation.
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Albion

It is said the Triffids came from Russia.
In the book they visit Pulborough, which is where I work, and in the village I grew up in, West Chiltington, there is a road called Wyndham Lea.
Dumb all over, a little ugly on the side.

Albion

Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 20 March, 2015, 12:12:32 PM
I read the book at school and remember our teacher made a big thing of it being a Russian or American orbital weapons platform.

I have seen it mentioned today that the weapons thing is hinted at in the book so you may well be right Sharky.
Years since I read it.

Sorry for the off topic stuff folks, back to the science......
Dumb all over, a little ugly on the side.

The Legendary Shark

Well, Science (Fiction) is Drokking Fantastic too!
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The Legendary Shark

#1106
Well, Science (Fiction) is Drokking Fantastic too!
.
Double-posts, less so. Grrr...
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Dandontdare



I dug out my old glasses from 1999 and watched it while walking from Hebden Bridge to Todmorden along the canal. This followed a great gig by one of my favourite singers at my favourite club last night and a very pleasant stay with delicious cooked brekkie at my favourite B&B.

Good music in good company, good food, good beer, a bracing walk in lovely countryside and awe-inspiring celestial entertainment thrown in to boot. It's not been a bad couple of days.

I, Cosh

Quote from: Tordelback on 20 March, 2015, 10:56:01 AM
Other glimpses followed,  not the same sustained progression I enjoyed tracing back in 1999, but just as exciting, the missus and I described where we were and what our lives were like the last time, and the kids were enthralled by the whole thing.  Love eclipses, just love 'em. 
This is quite marvellous.

It was cloudy here but still got a fairly decent effect. It was cloudy in Penzance last time too. Looking at NASA's eclipse website yesterday, it turns out there's one across the continental US in 2017 and my pal's house in a South Carolina is about four miles from the path of totality. Told her to expect visitors.
We never really die.

Hawkmumbler

Quote from: Albion on 20 March, 2015, 12:29:13 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 20 March, 2015, 12:12:32 PM
I read the book at school and remember our teacher made a big thing of it being a Russian or American orbital weapons platform.

I have seen it mentioned today that the weapons thing is hinted at in the book so you may well be right Sharky.
Years since I read it.

Sorry for the off topic stuff folks, back to the science......
The derailment is my fault, I believe, for my shocking attempt at a joke that clearly didn't stand up to scrutiny!