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Lunar Eclipse: An Email to a Daughter and Son-in-Law
- ulisesrmzroche 7y agoWhy y’all weirded out about a family email being public? Ever read history books?
- edflsafoiewq 7y agoThe availability of the private correspondences of famous persons has always weirded me out too.
- ulisesrmzroche 7y agoWhy? Just because?
- edflsafoiewq 7y agoIt seems voyeuristic I guess.
- ulisesrmzroche 7y agoCool. So what? What’s wrong with that?
- cjsawyer 7y agoI agree that the sentiment is really sweet but I don’t like the idea of this info being public.
- spraak 7y agoWhich information specifically? To my reading an average Facebook post is just as or more revealing of personal details.
- rhacker 7y agoI don't know where to start but ok.
- jonnydubowsky 7y agoA possible place to start: if your dad is still alive, give him a call. Ask him to read the letter before the call. Then ask him if there was ever an event or phenomena that he wishes he could have prepared you for, to give you the gift of enjoying the wonder of the world we live in. You'll probably be surprised and happy at his answer.
- starsrider 7y agoThis sounds like the end of an email forward from grandpa, not going to lie. I've been close enough to my dad that I read with enthusiasm as he wrote emails to his surgeons' professional group, and this is such a trite way to do things.
- jacobush 7y agoI don't understand this comment at all, genuinely. What is trite? And what is an and of an email forward? Will you stop forwarding emails from him? Don't get it. Maybe my reading comprehension dropped sharply recently.
- constmu 7y agoI don't understand that comment either. Perhaps that comment meant that its parent comment looks like the end of early 2000-era email forwards that would end with sentimental messages. But I don't know what is being referred to as trite.
- nerdponx 7y agoYou don't have to ask that exact interview question, but you'd be surprised at both the sentimental and historical value that recordings of small mindane things can have.
- ggm 7y agoI pre-checked a campsite I was visiting with my son using lat/long and heavens-above website, and there was a mag -4 satellite transit there. So.. at the right time I said "look up" THE WIZARDING IS STRONG WITH THIS ONE... But yea, doing this on a public list.. creepy.
- spraak 7y ago> But yea, doing this on a public list.. creepy. I guess I don't see how it's all that different from you sharing your story here.
- ggm 7y agoIdentity of the participants is not made. That listing was content more suited to a personal mail misdirected to a broadcast medium. You'd have to be a creep to go looking for the third party and it wasn't sent to the third parties wider circle. Any story which is about "I once did a with b" invites the "why are you telling us" response but I think specifically in this context, you're shitposting.
- danielparks 7y agoContext. It is normal to post an anecdote related to the link. It is weird to post a message like this to a public mailing list out of nowhere, i.e. without related context. (I have not actually checked if the message was out of the blue.)
- shmerl 7y agoHow is one more real than another? Shadow from the Moon falls on Earth - you get solar eclipse. Shadow from Earth falls on the Moon - you get lunar eclipse. It's all relative (consider for example observer on the Moon).
- lutorm 7y agoExactly. An observer in space can see a solar eclipse on the surface of the Earth just like we can see lunar eclipses. Like https://youtu.be/rwNc5aK3dBk https://youtu.be/rwNc5aK3dBk
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- nosianu 7y agoNo, not "exactly". You and OP completely ignore the point the author makes. In a lunar eclipse the moon actually really does get dark - no light falls on it any more. There is no point anywhere from which you will be able to see a moon that receives any light from the sun, because it doesn't. During a solar eclipse on the other hand there is no change whatsoever to the sun, it continues to shine just the same. Only those under the shadow of the moon see a change. Just to clarify, I'm merely relaying the point of the author. I have nothing to say about the use of language, he chose the words that he did and some may find them confusing and some may not. The way he expressed it is separate from the point made though, and OPs comment ignored that point.
- shmerl 7y agoThe point wasn't very relevant though, regardless of the confusing language of "real". Obviously eclipse is measured relative to the observer, so how is it relevant that "the sun continues to shine just the same"? It's not relevant to the concept of eclipse, and doesn't make it any less real.
- benj111 7y agoOn one level you can tell this guy is intelligent, his love of the subject material draws you in. But then his statements about lunar v solar eclipses, I just disagree with completely. It's good sometimes to be reminded that differences of opinion aren't always down to stupidity.
- morekozhambu 7y agoயொவ் யார் வெனா யார வெனுமுன்னா stupid சொல்லலாம். அப்படி சொன்னா அது உண்மை ஆகாது. Most often difference of opinion arises due to understanding or rather misunderstanding. And misunderstanding arises due to the language or linguistic barrier. It takes intelligence to see through the language barrier and to understand someone. Just disagreeing and calling someone stupid shows one's own intellectual deficiency.
- thanks1banks2 7y agoவிடு விடு பங்கு. இவுங்களலாம் திருத்த முடியாது.
- yellowflash 7y agoTrue, it's just he loosened the notion of real and virtual to an extent that's unfamiliar to people. Anyway nice profile name. :D
- Jedd 7y ago> But then his statements about lunar v solar eclipses, I just disagree with completely. In what way, and why?
- DoreenMichele 7y agoIn case this doesn't quite click for people, this is about tomorrow's lunar eclipse. Fun factoids: Eclipses typically occur in pairs, one solar and one lunar. They occur two weeks apart. (Sometimes there is a third one.) Eclipses occur every six months, but most are partial. Total eclipses are much less common. Photos taken during a total solar eclipse proved Einstein's Theory of Relativity and helped make him famous overnight.
- s_gourichon 7y agoMake him famous overnight... eclipse... haha, good one. Oh, sorry. ;-)
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- bnegreve 7y ago> Solar Eclipses are Virtual. They really do not exist. [..] Lunar Eclipses are real. They are actually happening of an event on the moon. During a lunar eclipse, the earth projects its shadow on the moon. During a Solar Eclipse, the moon projects its shadow on the earth. Only the shadow is smaller. I'm not sure what makes lunar eclipses more real.
- kgwgk 7y agoI think he means lunar eclipses do actually happen in the Moon (the Moon stops reflecting light) while solar eclipses happen only in Earth and not in the Sun (the Sun keeps emitting light as usual). What we call lunar eclipses are what the inhabitants of the Moon would call solar eclipses and what we call solar eclipse they would call Earth eclipses, if they used similar terminology.
- svat 7y agoThis has been discussed in another thread, but to repeat myself in different words: - During a solar eclipse, something appears to change with the sun, but appearances are deceptive: all that a so-called "solar" eclipse means is that the observer happens to be in a small region a few miles across on earth; one can easily drive to a different place and see that the sun is unaffected and continues to shine as usual. Despite the name, a solar eclipse is really an event about a small patch of earth. - During a lunar eclipse, something appears to change with the moon, and this is right! The moon really does fall under shadow, something that's true wherever the observer may be. A lunar eclipse really corresponds to something happening on the moon. Of course if you define away the difference by saying that eclipses are only about a specific observer at a specific point on earth, there is no difference, but that's not the point being made.
- lisper 7y agoThere really is a difference, but the words "real" and "virtual" are not the correct characterization of that difference. Solar eclipses are every bit as real as lunar ones. "Global" and "local" are more appropriate adjectives to describe the difference.
- gfaure 7y agoIs "mt" as an abbreviation for minute, or "sc" for second common in India? First time I've seen this.
- plibither8 7y agoNo. Like everywhere else, minute is abbreviated to 'min' second to 'sec'.
- Whatitat90 7y agoHaving to log in to Google just to read a message on a mailing list always creeps me out. Every time I see it it looks like a phishing attempt :-/
- chirau 7y agoIt is
- jankotek 7y agoCould you explain? Google groups do not require login, just opened in private window.
- Whatitat90 7y agoIf you've already signed to Google but your session is stale it automatically redirects to login screen. In private window it just works but still I consider the design of checking login on a page that doesn't require it quite bad.
- iamnotacrook 7y agoI'm really surprised Google Groups hasn't been killed or given a major makeover. It's just awful.
- hanoz 7y agoIt doesn't seem quite right to pick apart a private family email from an obviously enthusiastic father, and I stand to be corrected as only a casual observer myself, but a lot of his message seems pretty misleading. Apart from the unobstructed view and the fun factor, I don't think being on a plane bestows any great advantage to the casual observer versus being on the ground. The last full lunar eclipse we had here I heard many people comment on how 3D - "marble like" - it looked, that's not something that's going to be any better from a plane, nor is it an effect which "pops" out at you, in my experience. Also, due to its atmosphere, the Earth's shadow is certainly not "sharply edged", far from it, and you won't be seeing its edge climbing mountains and valleys, nor be able to calibrate your watch to the second from the start of it. Again, being on a plane won't make any difference on this front. Ironically, for great views of sharp edged shadows its a partial moon you want to observe. Finally, if my use of https://staratlas.com/ https://staratlas.com/ is correct, I don't think the moon is going to be at a straight though the window level as it begins for them over Oman unfortunately, but rather at 45 degrees up, so some neck craning is going to be needed after all unfortunately.
- arkades 7y agoFrom a father they will be flying out to see. The eclipse being a two-fer.
- cgriswald 7y agoPeople regular fly in planes to chase the eclipse, extending totality for up to several minutes. That’s the advantage. There are also some downsides, too; particularly window size and placement on the aircraft restricting the view.
- dwaltrip 7y agoThat's for a solar eclipse. I don't think it applies to a lunar eclipse. Regardless, I'm sure the couple addressed in the letter will have a lovely time.
- Neil44 7y agoHe's creating excitement, giving the experience a sense of magic and being special for his children. If you believe something is special then it is.
- hluska 7y agoIn May, my three year old daughter and I flew out to Vancouver Island, Canada to spend a couple of weeks with my Dad. It was my daughter’s second time out to the island, though the first time was for my Grandma’s funeral when she was six months old. This email from a father to a child reminds me of the emails my Dad sent us in the lead up to our trip. I’ve never seen my Dad so excited for anything. The day of the flight, he was awake at 1am his local time to start watching the flight schedule and the weather. He wrote lots of reminders, to make sure that I packed Lauren’s identification, Pull Ups and wipes. And he wanted to make sure that Lauren had a window seat where she wouldn’t just stare out at a wing. No no no, his only granddaughter was going to have a view. (Strangely, the day of the flight was cloudy as hell until we got to the mountains, then we flew over the Rockies with barely a cloud in sight. It was as if Grandpa put in his order for weather that would give his granddaughter the best view imaginable). I was pretty scared in the lead up. I hate flying at the best of times and this was my first solo flight with a three year old. Shit, I’m hardly qualified to deal with Webpack when it has a tantrum. This is a bloody human life in a plane. The flight was amazing and reading my Dad’s dispatches every ten minutes added to our excitement. When we landed, my Dad and stepmother were visibly excited. My daughter ran to them and the three of them had a wonderful moment. My Dad’s emails were purely about his excitement. And this dad’s email makes him sound just as excited as my Dad was. I am only going to have one child and I pray that one day, I get to be that excited about my little girl hopping on a flight to visit me. If my excited message happens to go public and it contains some factual issues, I hope to hell that the people who read it recognize it for what it is...I’ll just be a really excited dad who is doing whatever I can to pass the time before I get to see someone I love more than life! :)
- 420codebro 7y agoYour dad sounds like a good lad.
- cheez 7y agoLove it.
- jmkd 7y agoWell, BA119 took off about an hour late which should give the passengers more time at greater altitude to see the red moon from this evening's partial eclipse. https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ba119#214ec914 https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ba119#214ec914 The discussions about the subjective nature of a solar eclipse vs the objective nature of a lunar eclipse are especially relevant if you find yourself in an aircraft travelling at 550mph, as no advantage will be given in terms of duration for this particular celestial event. Compare to solar eclipses where strategically flown aircraft can extend totality by some margin: https://www.space.com/42768-total-solar-eclipse-july-2019-airplane-flight-plan.html https://www.space.com/42768-total-solar-eclipse-july-2019-ai...