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

This year got off to a fantastic start with my 40th birthday, which I celebrated by organizing a 40x 25 meter butterfly relay with the youth swim team. Two years ago, I was recruited to the project of helping to build this ragtag collection of swimmers into a legitimate age group team. In 18 months' time, with a dynamic and talented coaching staff, we were beginning to gain some real traction with the team's progress. It was incredibly rewarding to see the kids energized by challenge, including this unique format of collaborating to complete 1000 meters of fly.

I worked all week to organize the details of the event, complete with hot cocoa for swimming outside in January! I made posters, silk-screened t-shirts, and butterfly shaped cookies as prizes.

That Friday, the sight of 34 kids swimming butterfly in a massive team effort was the best birthday gift I could imagine. They had a blast and I was peppered with questions after, "When can we do that again?!"

I was on cloud nine.



It was only two weeks later when everything came crashing down.

My employer had recently hired a new manager, one who was fixated on quick profit. He wanted his staff to share his vision and enthusiasm for extracting as much money as possible from the pockets of our affluent members. I had been honest with him about my discomfort with using aggressive sales pitches.


Posted by Kimberly 03/11/2020

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

Here are some impressions that have developed thus far... It's hard to know what applies to brazilians as a whole, to the region, or just to the people I've been with over the past 2 weeks, but for now, I'm gonna let my experience shape my impression of 'Brazilians' in general:

• Brazilians are a very welcoming people. They are hosting the world right now, and they seem to really enjoy it, and want visitors to enjoy brazil.
  
  
• They eat a lot of cheese. Cheese with every meal.
  
  
• Their meat is quite good but, man, do they like their meat salty! Saaalty!
  
  
• Light on veggies, other than onions.
  
  
• Fruits are good.
  
  
• Food is expensive. Dining out seems common (i.e. daily) and I can eat cheaper in Honolulu. How do they pay for living?
  
  
  ... continue reading
  
  Posted by Whitney 06/25/2014
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