Now You See It, Now You Don't

We've gotten very good at metrological and astrological predictions.

Weather predictions are highly accurate these days. They weren't always that way when we were watching Uncle Weatherby and Carol Reed telling us to "have a happy" on local TV channels.

Weather is so big now there is a cable channel dedicated to bringing us the weather 24/7. It's a brave new world.

Radar, Doppler Radar, computer models all aid the weather  people in telling us what we can expect today, and probably in the next 5 days. Storm brewing off the coast? Will it hit us or not? Stay tuned.

We're way past the weather surprise that hit Galveston, Texas in 1900 when an unpredicted hurricane came ashore and killed 8,000 people. That doesn't happen today.

Weather is sexy these days. It's got its own wording. Temperature is shortened to "temps." Rain, a.k.a. precipitation, is shortened to "precip" measured in tenths of an inch! TV weather personalities create ratings. AccuWeather Alerts galore.

My wife will find a way to time her viewing that catches all three network weather reports after 6 o'clock. Our kitchen TV can look like TV sets in P.C. Richard's. almost simultaneously showing her the weather. She's a master at what Lee, Jeff and Nick have to say, all before dinner.

The latest, and most long lasting celestial prediction of course has been that of the total solar eclipse that swept across North America yesterday, April 8.

The photo at the top shows what a total eclipse of the sun looks like. There were areas of the country that did see something that resembled that photo. Not so in the New York Metropolitan area. It was predicted that we'd get a 90% totality. False advertising. I've seen a darker sky with thunderstorms rolling in. Yesterday looked like the glow from a 40 watt lightbulb. For us, it was the failure of the Comet Kahoutek in 1973 to be seen. That resembled the letdown of another New York Jets season.

Never mind. TV news was not to be outdone. They sent their top personalities to parts of the country that were in line to see a real total eclipse. Throngs of people who might otherwise be in school or work were looking up through their special glasses. New York upstate schools were closed.

I didn't bother to get special glasses, and I didn't even go outdoors. Decades ago as a kid I remember taking a piece of window glass and getting it sooty from candle smoke and trying to see a total eclipse from the backyard in Flushing, NY. Or maybe it was a partial eclipse. I don't remember.

I read in yesterday's NYT that back then ophthalmologists said looking through smoked glass was not good.  Yeah, now you tell me. I suffered no ill effect from my viewing because there was nothing to see. It must have been cloudy, because I was certainly not impressed.

In 2017 I was at Saratoga racetrack when an afternoon solar eclipse was going to go through the area. They extended the interval between races when the eclipse was due to come through. They weren't sure how the horses would react. It was hardly spectacular.

The morning news show Good Day New York seconded the opinion that the eclipse here was a bust. Their poll said that 4 out of 5 people said the eclipse hardly lived up to the hype. There is nothing that cannot be overhyped. Think of how well the Mets were predicted to be last year with Justin Verlander and Jacob deGrom as starting pitchers. Yeah, how did that work out? 

Knowing when an eclipse will come is very helpful, especially if you've been transported back in time like the character Hank Morgan (The Boss)  in Mark Twain's tale of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

I'm certainly not surprised that no one remembers this tale.  It was made into 1931 and 1949 movies starring the likes of Will Rogers and Bing Crosby. Hank's memory of an upcoming eclipse in 528 A.D. saved him from being cremated alive at the stake. He out-Merlined Merlin. Thus, it is always good to know what the future holds. You never know how it might save your life.

What to do with those now pretty much worthless glasses? Throw them away like what you did with those 2024 New Year's Eve glasses? You can donate them through Astronomers without Borders. Most people got them for free at libraries or Moynihan Station, but surely there were those who paid for them. It seems there is nothing that can't be reused. And maybe tax deductible.

With all the news about the heavens and Space X rockets there was a news story a few days ago that President Biden wants NASA to devote resources to determine what time it is on the moon. It is not clear why. Also not clear is who is going to change the moon's clock when we go back and forth with Daylight and Standard time. Hmmm. 

And what was the weather prediction for today in the Metropolitan area? Sunny, mild, 60° Spot on.

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