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

Great weather, great venue, great race--what a way to finish the 2009 triathlon season! We're on Australia's Gold Coast to support Kim as she competed for Team USA in the 2009 ITU Triathlon World Championships.

Australia has been good -- the weather is sunny, 23 degrees (or 73 degrees for the folks back home), and just a light breeze. For the benefit of spectators, the course is entirely on city streets and parks (even the 40K bike leg) and folds back and forth several times past the spectator area.

Kim completed the Olympic distance course 40th overall against 635 women from 42 countries! She was USA's third overall finisher.

Of the 84 competitors in the Women's 25-29 Age Group, she finished 16th, and was number 1 for Team USA!




Posted by Dan 09/12/2009, revised 09/19/2009

Well we managed to extricate ourselves from Koh Tao last week. The trick is to do it fast and with no warning. We went down to check on tickets to Chiang Mai and found that it was either leave the next day or wait another week for availability, so we booked it and got the next boat off.

Goodells Rule!

Posted by nik 10/21/2008, revised 11/05/2008

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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