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

Booksigning Party in Madison on Monday, April 4th! Co-authors Sally Edwards and Carl Foster will be at Berkeley Running Company to present their new book, "Be A Better Runner."
Posted by kim 03/28/2011

Thailand is generally considered to be a safe country for travellers to visit, but if you plan a trip to Thailand it would be wise to avoid the island of Ko Tao. You wont find this in your Lonely Planet but many tourists who venture to Ko Tao never return. The island, considered to be one of the best places in Asia to get scuba certified, is packed with over 40 dive companies and the instructors and divers that go with it. All on an island small enough to walk across in an hour. Nearly everyone on the island is here to dive, and to party, and everyone does alot of both. If you're not familiar with the dive community, they are the most laid back, fun people you'll ever meet. By diving or enrolling in a course you immediatley make friends and get plugged into the local scene. The problem? The island drags you in. Countless many people have the same story; 'Yeah, I came here for a week long vacation and never left..' Within 6 hours of arriving it was plain that our original 1 week target was totally unrealistic.

Posted by nik 09/21/2008

Alright, so time to get back into the blogging groove o' things, ey?... This is going to be a fairly disheveled mash of info and observations here - there's a lot to say, and no organized way to do so.

Well, the years have passed since my last round of international adventures, and now I'm out again, in a whole new part of the world - Latin America! It has been my destination for some time now, and I have finally managed to make it happen. I have found a beautiful opportunity in which I can combine travel with work experience. I am currently in Quito, Ecuador, assisting a Marine Ecology masters student with his field work (out on the coast).

So I will be spending one week of every month splashing around tide-pools and collecting data, and the other three weeks of the month will be spent in a nice suburb outside of Quito. I have yet to find out what the three weeks will be filled with, but right now it's looking like: some analysis/ processing of the field data, playing with the university women's soccer team (sports are not so much a women's thing here, I'll just say that), taking Spanish classes at the university (I have some learning to do!), and hopefully visiting nearby mountains, hiking around the highlands.

Posted by Whitney 01/13/2011, revised 01/14/2011