...
Was that necessary?
I mean, it's looking as though this stuff is the very latest in the wuwu salons of Out There. Could be too many are getting sick of all the confusion and going back to Square One... or too many are bored and want to branch out... or they're trying to screw with all the UFO freaks... or the vegan diet leads naturally to this end... or the creationists finally got with the program... or... or it's true....
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4:30am
There's enough clearing out that I can see the eclipse if I lean over my kitchen sink, turn my head sideways and look up over the neighbors' damn paranoid back yard light. I can see it at my desk, too, and it doesn't look the same. The one RT's feeding from the NASA stream, has the last sliver right at the top of the moon, and out my window it's on the right side... also a bit behind toward totality than NASA's stream.
I think I get the lag part, but the angle? That's weird.
I'd get myself up and go out in it to enjoy this, but it's been raining and the moon's going to be behind the clouds again any minute... so... so, I'll make do with the window and the backyard light and the monitor here.
...
Fifteen minutes later, noting that the clouds were receding back toward the ocean a little more, I caved and put my pants and sweaters and uggs on to go out and get a proper look. The angle is definitely different, but there's no lag. You just can see more moon in meatspace than on the stream, making it look like it's not as close to totality from the window. But the angle thing is still weird. And it's fucking COLD out there!
And don't believe the damn weather service. It's waaaay colder'n 45ยบ out there. Totally screwy info coming in over the system of pipes today/night. I'd need about four more layers and some gloves to stay out in it till it sinks into the clouds... so I'll make do with the window and the frickin light and the monitor and intermittent short forays out into the icy air.
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5:00am
On the NASA stream, the brightness is at the top left of the moon. In meatspace it's at the top right. No shit.
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5:30am
I'm not kidding. The eclipse didn't go total. I don't know what NASA's streaming, but it's not what's happening out there. The meatspace moon here, started going dark from lower left to upper right, then was all covered except for a teensy zit of brightness at the very top, slightly to the right. Then, no shit, the brightness started growing back down from the top! It's now nearly halfway back to full, with the bottom of it dark. The bottom started the darkening and it turned around and went the opposite way! Darkening up toward the top and then undarkening down toward the bottom... like a long, slow, upside down blinking eye.
I'm not kidding.
I'm not high, or drunk, or delusional.
If the sun comes up in the West today, do not be surprised.
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5:40am
Screen shot of NASA stream... but what's out there floating in meatspace at this exact moment is a full moon that's bright at the top half and dim on the bottom half... almost level split... and this waning of the eclipse is going much faster than the waxing did, but don't let that bother you....
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6:00am
Wisps of cloud are now passing in front of a completely full moon. No eclipse left. But the moon is sinking and the clouds are rising and the sky is starting to lighten for dawn.
Should I go back out there and try to verify that the sky isn't lightening from the ocean? Maybe I should get back in bed and forget about this... and the jackasses suddenly popping up in the pastures to convince the impressionable masses that none of this is real... just act like all my parts are where they always are and this eclipse was just a test.
always and any time....
