Here is some boring gossip for you lol. Yes I did get to watch the eclipse yesterday! I'm a public librarian and had some eclipse glasses left over from 2017 so some co-workers and I took a break and watched it. I was not in the path of totality but I think my area saw 80-ish % of the eclipse. A friend of mine in another state works a corporate job and they also watched the eclipse, but they had to sign a WAIVER first. LOLOL. No stinkin' waivers at my library, that's for sure. Everyone was free to ruin their eyeballs on our property!
I absolutely LOVE public; libraries for this reason — no one who used library glasses needed to buy another, reducing consumerism & also allowing the govt/funders to know how important such community-led and publicly-accessible spaces are. I have a lot of feelings about libraries.
Love the corporate job waiver anecdote lol; it's absolutely hysterical (and that's definitely some fun goss hehe) The eclipse looked so very cool from everyone's pictures and I'm definitely very envious since we had nothing happen in our sky that day.
We got about 95% here. Kind of cool seeing the moon eat slices out of the sun, but it didn't get all that dark. My eclipse glasses have instructions printed on them that claim they shouldn't be used after their expiration date (2027), but I don't know if that's true or just CYA hype to avoid potential future lawsuits. The next "big one" isn't due for another 20 years, and I'll be pushing 90 by then, so I guess I'd better put labels on the glasses to keep the great grandkids from hurting themselves. 😎
Oh v cool that you got to see so much of the eclipse! Nothing happened where I live, and I'm definitely taking a page out of my friend's book (he travelled to Mexico to see the eclipse in its totality (pun intended)) and try to maybe to go for the 2026 one in Greenland!
Also, so absurd! Why would they expire, I wonder what specific thing in them somehow turns functionally useless after 5 years? Hmm.
Might agree with your husband there, feels like a way for companies to convince people to buy more. But! I love the idea of giving someone else a chance to view the next eclipse with those glasses, v cool.
I watched from our deck with my 87 year old father-in-law. We saw a YouTube video of a football stadium full of people watching the total eclipse in Indiana and it looked crazy - they were yelling and cheering so much that we had to turn the sound off so my fil's Yorkie would stop barking! I guess it's better than shooting flaming arrows at the sun until it reignites (something that I read that ancient American tribes did back in the day). Hopefully they had people on hand to stomp out errant arrows so the forest didn't get ignited as well! I was happy to see the partial in the peace and quiet of my own backyard. 🌞
I think if we didn't know what was happening (or even that it was gonna happen) the sun going dark randomly when it wasn't supposed to and getting eaten by another entity (that already controls the tides), we'd also wanna shoot something into space wondering if it was an alien invasion, a collapse of our planet, etc. I think it's lovely that the eclipse brought people together, even if it was for a brief moment of time, because it showed us all we're still enthralled by such marvelous phenomena!
and I LOVE the word "herstorical" so much! I loved it when SIX (the musical) subverted expectations when they used 'history' for HIS-tory and this is very much a similar level of awesome.
Have you listened to Normal Gossip? Aside from the absolutely mundane and hilarious gossip stories they tell, Kelsey (the host) also asks people what gossip means to them, and I've gotten so many interesting perspectives from others that way on how they use gossip as a tool for equity, a way to support women, and a way to stay safe.
I have not!! I am immediately adding it to my list of podcasts to listen to. Most people recommend some truly insightful but ultimately it-could-be-a-blog-post podcast and I think a a gossipy podcast might be the way I get into podcasts, finally (my attention wanders easily when there aren't words in front of me lol).
Here is some boring gossip for you lol. Yes I did get to watch the eclipse yesterday! I'm a public librarian and had some eclipse glasses left over from 2017 so some co-workers and I took a break and watched it. I was not in the path of totality but I think my area saw 80-ish % of the eclipse. A friend of mine in another state works a corporate job and they also watched the eclipse, but they had to sign a WAIVER first. LOLOL. No stinkin' waivers at my library, that's for sure. Everyone was free to ruin their eyeballs on our property!
I absolutely LOVE public; libraries for this reason — no one who used library glasses needed to buy another, reducing consumerism & also allowing the govt/funders to know how important such community-led and publicly-accessible spaces are. I have a lot of feelings about libraries.
Love the corporate job waiver anecdote lol; it's absolutely hysterical (and that's definitely some fun goss hehe) The eclipse looked so very cool from everyone's pictures and I'm definitely very envious since we had nothing happen in our sky that day.
We got about 95% here. Kind of cool seeing the moon eat slices out of the sun, but it didn't get all that dark. My eclipse glasses have instructions printed on them that claim they shouldn't be used after their expiration date (2027), but I don't know if that's true or just CYA hype to avoid potential future lawsuits. The next "big one" isn't due for another 20 years, and I'll be pushing 90 by then, so I guess I'd better put labels on the glasses to keep the great grandkids from hurting themselves. 😎
Oh v cool that you got to see so much of the eclipse! Nothing happened where I live, and I'm definitely taking a page out of my friend's book (he travelled to Mexico to see the eclipse in its totality (pun intended)) and try to maybe to go for the 2026 one in Greenland!
Also, so absurd! Why would they expire, I wonder what specific thing in them somehow turns functionally useless after 5 years? Hmm.
Not sure what's supposed to expire on them, but I assumed the lenses - my more practical hubby called bs on that claim, so I tracked down a place where I could turn them in to be redistributed for free to people around the world - https://my.astronomerswithoutborders.org/blogs/andrew-fazekas1/2024/03/27/astronomers-without-borders-collecting-and-recycli
Might agree with your husband there, feels like a way for companies to convince people to buy more. But! I love the idea of giving someone else a chance to view the next eclipse with those glasses, v cool.
It's a lot better than squirreling them away in the attic! 🐿
I watched from our deck with my 87 year old father-in-law. We saw a YouTube video of a football stadium full of people watching the total eclipse in Indiana and it looked crazy - they were yelling and cheering so much that we had to turn the sound off so my fil's Yorkie would stop barking! I guess it's better than shooting flaming arrows at the sun until it reignites (something that I read that ancient American tribes did back in the day). Hopefully they had people on hand to stomp out errant arrows so the forest didn't get ignited as well! I was happy to see the partial in the peace and quiet of my own backyard. 🌞
I think if we didn't know what was happening (or even that it was gonna happen) the sun going dark randomly when it wasn't supposed to and getting eaten by another entity (that already controls the tides), we'd also wanna shoot something into space wondering if it was an alien invasion, a collapse of our planet, etc. I think it's lovely that the eclipse brought people together, even if it was for a brief moment of time, because it showed us all we're still enthralled by such marvelous phenomena!
LOVE the herstorical info context here. Reclaiming gossip is also an excellent way to honour our foremothers 😍
and I LOVE the word "herstorical" so much! I loved it when SIX (the musical) subverted expectations when they used 'history' for HIS-tory and this is very much a similar level of awesome.
Thanks so much for reading and comments, Kaye! :D
Have you listened to Normal Gossip? Aside from the absolutely mundane and hilarious gossip stories they tell, Kelsey (the host) also asks people what gossip means to them, and I've gotten so many interesting perspectives from others that way on how they use gossip as a tool for equity, a way to support women, and a way to stay safe.
I have not!! I am immediately adding it to my list of podcasts to listen to. Most people recommend some truly insightful but ultimately it-could-be-a-blog-post podcast and I think a a gossipy podcast might be the way I get into podcasts, finally (my attention wanders easily when there aren't words in front of me lol).
Thanks so much for reading, Cassie! <3 :D
Gossip is good. If it weren't for gossip I would know nothing about the modern world. 😉
Hehehe, thanks for reading, Jeannine! :D