This morning on NBC's today show, they had some live coverage and showed some TV shots from China. They were also talking with a gentleman from the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

He commented that the media, when talking about a solar eclipse, almost always says "a rare solar eclipse" (link to a CNN.com article with the headline "Total eclipse provides rare delight"). He pointed out that solar eclipses are actually less rare than the summer Olympics; the former happens somewhere on the planet about every two and a half years, the latter somewhere on the planet every four years. Yet, you never hear the media describe the "rare summer Olympics".

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009

Well, the regular British media haven't touched the subject at all!
Not a Dickie-Bird*!

They'll probably wake up tomorrow. Riding on overseas media coat-tails. Again.

* Pardon me, this is a slanted reference to an esteemed, charismatic, now retired, terrific umpire in English cricket. One of the greats!
His 'mistakes' were rare indeed.

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clear skies

If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. CARL SAGAN

Some photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/test003...7606553254914/

My eclipse trip (2008 August 1, local time, UTC+08:00):

August 1 10:30 – Depart from Beijing office

10:33 – Get money at an ATM in the Qinghuayuan Branch of China Merchants Bank

10:45 – Enter Subway Line 13 Wudaokou station at Entry/Exit A, paid CNY¥2.00 (US$ 0.29) using Beijing Municipal Administration and Communications Card (security check point 1)

10:51:47 – Subway Line 13 Train leaves at Wudaokou station

11:37:43 – Subway Line 13 Train arrives at Dongzhimen station

11:44 – Transfer Subway Airport Line at Dongzhimen station. (security check point 2), paid CNY¥25.00 using Beijing Municipal Administration and Communications Card

11:59:36 – Airport Line Train leaves at Dongzhimen station

12:30:20 – Airport Line Train arrives at Terminal 2 station in Beijing Captial International Airport

12:33 – Security check point 3 to enter the airport

12:35 – The subway station is located at B2, go upstairs to F1

12:39 – Print online paid air ticket at an automatic terminal in Area G

12:45 – Airport security check at gate number 3

13:03 – Board an airbus A320 airliner at gate 35

13:19 – The airliner leaves the boarding gate, 11 minutes early

13:31:20 – Take off at runway 36L

14:59:10 – Land at runway 23, Xi'an Xianyang International Airport

15:05 – Unboard 15 minutes early

15:14 – Paid ¥27.00 for airport bus line 2

15:17–16:07 – Take airport bus line 2 to Xi'an Railway Station

16:16 – Buy train ticket at ticketing window number 6: Train No. K622, Xi'an to Huashan, leaves Xi'an at 16:30, "new-type aircon hard-seat fast-speed" class, ¥16.00 (discount) for the 123 km rail distance trip

16:18–16:20 – Enter Xi'an Railway Station (security check point 5), go upstairs to waiting lounge 3

16:25 – Board the train at the north side of platform number 2

16:29:26 – The train K622 leaves Xi'an Railway Station

18:03:10 – The train K622 arrives Huashan (Mount Hua) Railway Station, stops at the northwest side of platform number 2

18:10 – Buy another train ticket (for the eclipse and then home): Train No. 1162, Huashan to Lingbao, leaves Huashan at 19:15, "hard-seat normal-fast" class, ¥7.00 for the 89-km-rail-distance trip, actually I was planning to "cheat" the trip after Lingbao. The terminal of the train is Jinan

18:12 – The back shell of my Nokia N95 was broken, went to a shop next to the ticket office, got some gummed tape

18:16 – Enter Huashan Railway Station (security check point 6)

until 19:11 – Watch the partial eclipse in the railway station, excellent weather

19:11–19:15 – Go to northwest side of platform number 2 and board the train there. I was in car number 18

19:16:58 – Train 1162 leaves Huashan Railway Station

19:19:16 – Totality begins

19:19:18 – The train driver drives the train behind hills

19:20:01 – Maximum eclipse

19:20:45 – Totality ends

19:22 – The trains leaves hills area

~20:30 – Train leaves Lingbao. My ticket just for the Huashan to Lingbao section. Lost seat, have to stand somewhere in the train

23:05:34 – Train 1162 arrives Luoyang station at the north side of platform 3. Can't stand anymore and no air-con in the train, decided to change to other trains. Ticket from Huashan to Luoyang costs ¥21, and I only paid the section from Huashan to Lingbao at ¥7, 2+ hours of standing saved me ¥14 (US$ 2.04), not worth, I suppose

23:06–23:14: Go to platform 4 via the under-track tunnel in the station

23:14 – Get on the next train numbered T42. This is an express train from Xi'an station to Beijing West station, stops in Luoyang.

23:15 – Talk to the train staff and get a upper berth "hard-sleeper" (second class sleeper) in car number 15, paid ¥190

23:20 – Go to car number 15 and was told that the bed was already sold to another passenger

23:33 – Talk to the train staff and change to another middle berth bed, paid ¥6 more

till the next morning – sleep in the train

August 2 06:25:13 – Train T42 arrives Beijing West Railway Station

06:46 – Buy a bottle of sugar-free Coke near Beijing West Railway Station at ¥5.00

07:01 –*Take bus line 72 (the line was opened just on August 1) to Beijing South Railway Station, paid ¥0.40 (discount) using Beijing Municipal Administration and Communications Card

07:44 – Arrived Beijing South Railway Station. The station was put into service just at yesterday noon for the Olympics, actually most part of the station is still under construction. Try to find an ATM, no luck. (security check point 7)

08:00 – Take bus line 652 to get out of the station, paid ¥0.40 (discount) using Beijing Municipal Administration and Communications Card

08:10 – Get off the bus at Muxiyuan Bridge stop, walk around and try to find an ATM, no luck

08:16–08:28 – Get a cab and tell the driver to go back to the railway station. Find an ATM on the way at 08:21

08:36 – Enter the station again. (security check point 8)

09:32 – Buy train ticket home at window 50 at F2 in Beijing South Railway Station: Train No. C2029, Beijing South to Tianjin, leaves Beijing South at 12:00, 350 km/h high-speed CRH3 (modified German ICE3) Electric Multiple Unit, first-class seat, ¥69.00 for 120-km-rail-distance trip

10:17 – Buy some drinks in Beijing South Railway Station, include milk tea (250 ml), orange juice (500 ml), and bottled water (600 ml), ¥13.00

11:45 – Go to platform number 22 and board the train

11:59:45 – Train C2029 leaves Beijing South Railway Station

12:29:15 – Train C2029 arrives Tianjin Railway Station at platform 17

13:14–13:33 – Have lunch in a restaurant near the Tianjin Railway Station

13:34–13:37 – Go back home by cab, ¥8.00

August 2 13:39 – At home in Tianjin

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http://www.yaohua2000.org/

Hello guys, great pictures of the eclipse! To those who wasn't able to watch the eclipse live, there's a replay of the entire event. Just go to http://www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse/2008/index.html. There's are replay of the program or the telescope view only. But I'd prefer the program.
http://www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse/2008/index.html

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What I find interesting, I blog it here...
www.extratopics.com

Spaceweather.com has a nice gallery of 2008 August 1 eclipse images.

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I have returned from a fantastic trip and spectacular celestial event. I've been waiting a long time to try again after being clouded out the first time.

I have posted a suite of photos of the eclipse:
http://www.launchphotography.com/Tot...ipse_2008.html

Enjoy! Can't wait, hopefully 2009 too.

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-Ben
My website

Very sweet!

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009

I can't wait until 2017 when I will have the means of traveling to see it.

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"To live is the rarest thing in the world, most people merely exist." - Oscar Wilde