Lunar Eclipse tonight

Dark Side of the MoonTonight we’re supposed to be able to see a total lunar eclipse. It should start at 9pm and reach totality and 10pm.

Do you care?

26 thoughts on “Lunar Eclipse tonight”

  1. Folks in Atlanta should see the start about 7pm, midpont about 10 pm, and ending about 1 am. NASA has a webpage for eclipses if someone else cares.

  2. I am not sure what an eclipse does, Will the moon be visible or will it look different? Maybe I should look at NASA’s website. Brent hates NASA.

  3. I’ve met a lot of people that claim to “hate” NASA, but can’t really fathom why. When I ask, I usually get some screed about “wasting” money.

    The skies were relatively clear in DC, so I was able to see (or not see?) the eclipse. I’ll admit, it was kind of cool. Not seeing a comet cool, but it was still interesting.

  4. I almost forgot about it last night, but remembered at 11pm and saw the waning part of it. Does an eclipse wax and wane? I don’t know. Leslie is in Philly at the moment, and we had a Somewhere Out There moment looking at the eclipse together on the phone…

    Brent hates NASA with a passion. I don’t believe him though. I remember that he decided to follow BJ to the Johnson Space Center instead going with me to the Dr. Pepper Museum on a college road trip.

  5. I am left scratching my head when I attempt to list the things NASA has brought to our lives. I am all for going to space, but why does our government have to head that up? Wouldn’t it be better to let private enterprise have a go at it? All this money being spent to go back to the moon, or go to mars. Who gives a shit about that?

    And I realise that we have some nifty household items these days, thanks to the space program. But it’s always stuff that we created here, so we could use it on a rocket or on the shuttle. It’s not like space was intrical in the invention of it.

    This really gets my goat. I think NASA was a great way to get things started. Now it needs to bow out. I went to Johnson Space Center, because I like space better than Dr. Pepper.

  6. Velcro
    Tang
    Freeze-dried food
    Kidney dialysis machines
    CAT scans
    all sorts of insulation products
    all sorts of metal foils

    if we didn’t need to use it on a rocket, then who knows, maybe we don’t develop it…

    do you feel the same way about the National Institute of Health? What about the National Endowment for the Arts?

  7. If you have to include Tang to support your point, I have already won.

    We seem to come up with all sort of other crap without NASA’s help. And I presume this happens without having to build a spaceship that works like 60% of the time. If they were a business, they would have gone bust years ago. Which is not an excuse for why it needs to be publicly run.

    I am all for the government giving funding to certain endeavors, I just don’t see why they have to run an actual program. We know the government can’t run big programs for shit (see: USPS, Medicare, Social Security, etc). It’s not the government’s fault. There is just so much red tape. But if we all know and accept that things run this way, why do we continue to have a NASA?

    I have no opinion about the National Institute of Health, but I would hope they are heavy into human taxidermy and/or keeping lots of organs in glass jars.

    I think it’s a little dumb to fund the arts, but I am not really squared away on that topic either. I like art. But I usually think artists are annoying. I also think there is a ton of crap hanging on walls in museums. I am more than willing to admit that it may not be crap to other people, but I think that’s the tricky thing about giving money for art. Someone has to decide if it’s worth it. And those people are probably ingrained in the community. Which means it may be personal and a little incestuous.

  8. I just looked up NASA’s budget on Wikipedia and saw this: “For comparison, NASA’s FY 2008 budget of $17.3 billion represents about 0.6% of the $2.9 trillion United States federal budget. The Iraq War costs $474 billion approximately.”

    That comparison is a little unfair, as the Iraq war is obviously spread over several years (and is technically off-budget). However, over the entire history of NASA, the total budget expenditures are less than that $474 billion amount. Besides, NASA’s simply a front for developing bigger and better long-range missiles (or space weapons–I can’t wait for the space weapons).

  9. First off, i was under the impression we would not use facts or figures on this site.

    Secondly, I’m not for that war in Iraq either.

    Thirdly, I can’t wait for the space missles.

  10. That’s why I went to Wikipedie . . . because they’re not accurate anyway.

    I agree, space missiles are worth whatever we spend on NASA.

    I disagree that USPS, Medicare, & SS are good examples of poorly run government programs. Each seem a lot better than their private sector alternatives (UPS/FedEx, HMOs, pension plans).

  11. Facts are never welcome on elbuzzard.com.

    The USPS is not a government agency per se. It’s like Amtrak, it’s a government sanctioned monopoly.

  12. I disagree, Kent. The USPS is an independent entity of the U.S. Government that is controlled by presidential appointees. Amtrak is a corporation in which most of the stock is owned by the federal government, the remainder are owned by private railroad companies.

    Also, one can sometimes see a lunar eclipse from the observation car on an Amtrak train.

  13. Art makes the world bearable. On an individual level, it allows people to get out the crap that manifests inside of them, i.e. angry art. Universally, it unifies people in a way words cannot, like music. You like music, don’t you Brent. Art and music are very similar. But you know all this already.
    I don’t agree with the space program either but I do like Oprah very much.

  14. I’m all for art and music and dancing and gaity.

    I’m just sure I need the government to pay people to produce it.

    Part of being an artist is being a hustler, or having good hustler friends who will hustle on your behalf. Pete Rose is a great artist.

  15. What are you talking about? Are referring to being a ‘successful’ artist? In my line of work I have meet artists who happen to be hustlers and artists who are the farthest thing from hustlers, all so-called successful. From my experience, being paid lots of money to endlessly repeat the same trick-pony that art dealers and interior decorators have deemed ‘art’ is not success. I’m not sure about Pete Rose, but I rather be a Daniel Johnston than a Damien Hirst. Amen.

  17. Much like facts, references to folks like Daniel Johnston and Damien Hirst are unwelcome on elbuzzard.com.

    Also, I submit that Daniel Johnston is a one-trick pony. A very very creepy one-trick pony who is insane. Don’t get me wrong, his trick is great, but there’s only one trick. It’s just not a very successful. I like his songs. But they are all the same. Like Little Richard’s songs (right, Koster?).

    I don’t know who Damien Hirst is other than that he’s the guy who glued the Saworski crystals to a skull. I think I’d rather be him. Not that I like his stuff, it’s just that Daniel Johnston terrifies me.

  19. After further reading on wikipedia, I have determined that Hirst makes shitty art.

    I’d still rather be him than Daniel Johnston though. Terror.

  20. When I was a kid, Portland, OR mandated that 1% of all municipal funds went to art. I think Seattle and many other cities did/do something similar. Most of these funds pay for crappy murals, but for PDX, it gave the city a funky vibe and allowed it to be known for something other than all those strip clubs.

    Also, Portland’s pro-art/artists funding led to one of my all-time favorite photos, then-Mayor Bud Clark flashing a statue: http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/pd–10036661/Expose_Yourself_to_Art.htm

    Whoop! Whoop!

  22. We have that as a postcard at the card store I work at. It’s big with the people who enjoy our wide selection of penis cards.

    Amber, all I’m saying is that in Brent’s perfect little world the people who got paid to make art would be the people who would die if they were not paid to make art.

    Daniel Johnston is artsy. But he is also mentally ill. I’m not sure he’s a good example. I’m not sure what to make of him. He came to Omaha recently, and I didn’t go, because I’m not sure what to make of him. The music is marginal, but the story is awesome.

    I always thought Isaac Brock would be a serial killer if her weren’t playing music. He would bite off heads.

  23. Here is the point, my friend. This is about real vs. sellout. So what Damien Hirst makes millions of dollars calling science projects you did in jr high art and has lunch with Bono and who cares Daniel Johnston is ‘alittle’ off and almost killed himself and his dad by running their plane into the ground. Daniel Johnston wrote a song about Mountain Dew = real. Damien Hirst stuck stupid ‘crystals’ on a dumb skull = sell-out. Isaac Hayes does rock the mic.

  24. i get involved in a lot of these “real vs sellout” arguments with dave because of his opinions of my taste. it’s a silly argument. judge things on their merits, not it’s popularity.

    the diamond skull is kind of cool. isn’t it a comment on the art world? doesn’t it say that art is whatever you call it, it doesn’t even matter what it is? sure, duchamp already did this (and with more taste), but doesn’t the skull do the same? i like that statement.

    how is that any less real than writing a song about mountain dew. sure, that’s funny, but it doesn’t say anything other than “i like mountain dew.” i sing songs around the house all the time. usually they are about what i’m cooking for dinner, or how i need to clean the bathroom. good to know i’m a real artist, and not some sellout.

  25. Can you come to my house and cook and clean the bathroom????? Anytime is fine………
    I will let you sing your heart out.

  26. Damian Hurst is a grade a pillock. Shoving a cigarette down the end of your todger in public is the act of an idiot, not of an artist.

    Still, he’s not as bad as Tracey Emin, who really is the epitome of a talentless one-trick shock pony.

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