The Great Solar Eclipse of 2017 crossed the continent, from Oregon to South Carolina, and gave millions of people the chance to witness one of the most awe-inspiring events in the natural world.

But you had to be within the "path of totality", a narrow band across the earth's surface several thousand miles long but only about 70 miles wide. Outside that band you would only see a partial eclipse, not a total eclipse.

And there is no such thing as a "partial total eclipse", despite the impression blogs and the news media might give. I honestly think that's why so many people misunderstand the utter beauty of the spectacle; they may have seen a partial eclipse in the past that was total somewhere else, and even though they weren't in the path the news kept gushing about it being a total eclipse, so they assume they must have seen a total eclipse and just didn't find it all that impressive.


Posted by Dan 08/29/2017, revised 09/06/2017

Kim won a raffle in February for entry into her first half-ironman in Rockford IL on Sunday. The original weather predictions were in the 90's and humid, not great conditions for a 5-6 hour endurance test. But they ended up with storms instead of heat.

I guess there were about 500 participants...with everyone starting the swim at the same time. There were only guys around her during the swim and she's decided guys are messy swimmers. She got elbowed in the face by someone.

She was in first place starting the bike split, ahead of the woman Pro in the race! During part of the 56 mile bike ride she felt like she was in a hurricane as the storm front came through. Then she was out in the wide open with nobody around when she started seeing lightning. She said it made her ride faster to try to finish the last 6 miles!

She finished 5th overall among the women, which should mean $200 in prize money. Might almost cover her expenses (hotel/travel), but she may "break" even by the fact that when she got home she broke her blender, dropping it when she was trying to make a smoothie (lack of coordination after the exertion).

Posted by Lucy 06/10/2008

It was immediately apparent that the $25 30 day visa in Indonesia was not long enough so we made an executive decision to stay for 31 days for a mere $20 extra. While in Sumatra we took a night boat to the remote Mentawai Islands south of Padang. There we stayed with a local Mentawai family and enjoyed jungle trekking and experienced traditional Mentawai medicine man rituals. It became apparent why all the medicine men are all so thin and wiry; the rituals go through the night and involve singing, chanting and dancing until you collapse from exhaustion. Then you repeat.

Mentawai medicine man dancing away evil spirits

Posted by nik 02/06/2009, revised 02/24/2009

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, Nik and Whit were in Indonesia (oh yeah, if youse guys didn't know, we've been in Australia for 6 weeks). During this time in Indonesia, they met up with old friends Coleman and Mark, the first familiar faces they'd seen in months. With the world as their oyster, they decided to fly to the island of Flores, where they hoped to do some good diving.

Some of the Indonesian islands, as seen from above on the flight to Flores

In the coastal town of Labuan Bajo, the four began their search for the right dive shop. After some shopping around, they found their man, and easy-going local named Condo (Indonesianally pronounced "Chondo"). With the simple exchange of $50, Condo gave them what would be one of the most amazing, memorable days of their trip.

Posted by Whitney 02/24/2009, revised 02/24/2009