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by lomnakkus 3250 days ago
I may just be a bit thick, but what's the significance of Aug 21 in this? (In plain terms, if you can.)

Just for context: I have actually observed a total Solar eclipse, and while it was pretty significant and "awesome" in confirming my (philosophical term:) belief in Science[1], it -- in no way -- implied much else.

[1] It was predicted at least 2 years in advance... which is astounding given the speed at which the earth is hurtling around its orbit, etc. I don't think they even needed much more than Newton's laws for that prediction.
2 comments
mkstowegnv 3250 days ago
Sorry I do not really understand your question. I hope I made it clear that I do not attach any supernatural significance to the fact that the Aug 21 eclipse includes "dark" history in its path. By chance it includes historical sites that most people have heard of, and it is a shame that we couldn't drum up some luminaries to talk about them and emphasize the common themes - humans are at their worst engaging in horrors that you hate to think about - when: bigotry is widely accepted, when there is assymetry of power between groups, when ruthlessness in the pursuit of profit and power is not condemned and when the actions remain out of sight and there is no investigative journalism to reveal them. If we are of good conscience and do not want to repeat our past then we must constantly be on guard against those factors.
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lomnakkus 3250 days ago
Oh, OK, I apologize. I think it might just have been the phrasing of your original comment that confused me. I definitely think it's a good idea to drum up a bit of interest in history, historical sites, etc. I will say, however, that the look of the webpage you pointed to did induce a little bit of a "cranky" vibe just because of the look, big fonts, etc. If you control it, you might want to tone it down it a down, or if you don't... just avoid linking to it. What you just posted is much more interesting and informative than that page.
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my_first_acct 3250 days ago
Actually, it was predicted a lot further in advance than that. The Canon der Finsternisse [1] published in 1887 shows the predicted track of the upcoming 2017 eclipse [2]. I think I read once that the author, Theodor Ritter von Oppolzer, only calculated the start, middle, and end points of each eclipse, which is why the track in [2] is a bit off.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_of_Eclipses

[2] http://eclipse-maps.com/Eclipse-Maps/History/History_files/C...

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