Publisher's notebook
Going for the gusto
On Aug. 21, the great American eclipse will descend upon the United States. This will be the first total eclipse to cast its shadow from coast to coast for the first time since 1918. It is probably the biggest astronomical event of the decade, if you are into that sort of thing.
My philosophy of life has always been that you only live one time so why not live life to the fullest? I know that everyone is not a sci-fi buff like me but this is gonna be pretty cool. My daughter and her whole family of 10 are even heading to a campground in Kentucky for a better view (that’s right, eight kids — speaking of going for the gusto).
In northeastern Ohio, the eclipse is scheduled to start at 1:06 p.m., peak at 2:30 p.m. and end at 3:51 p.m. Staring at the sun is bad for your eyes, and since you are reading this your eyes are especially important to me. I need your eyes good for reading The Post so I can afford to keep going for the gusto myself!
In order to view the moon’s encroachment of the sun, ideally you’ll need to pick up a pair of solar filter sunglasses, which block more than 99.99 percent of sunlight, as well as ultraviolet and infrared radiation. From what I am told, these glasses will make the sun appear as a light orange or white disc in the sky. You may want to check out a list that NASA’s list of manufacturers who make safe and reliable glasses for viewing the Sun before you buy. If you want to watch but need to do it on the cheap, be careful, it really can damage your eyes. During the actual eclipse I think you are safe but not for very long.
Our weekly online poll this week asks do you plan to watch the “Great American Eclipse” Aug. 21? Potential answers are “Yes! Time to buy my eclipse glasses.” Or “No. It’s not very exciting to me.” You can’t pick the third one, “I don’t know anything about it” after reading my column now can you? So which one are you?
My wife and I will be watching the eclipse for sure. We often miss the lunar eclipses because us old people generally can’t stay up that late ... my fellow seniors out there know what I am talking about. But this solar one is mid-afternoon so even we should be good to go.
Actually, we aren’t waiting for Aug. 21 for our gusto. I wrote a few weeks back about the fun we have been having in my other life as a horse breeder. Our horse Fear The Dragon won a big race in Ontario. Since then our lucky year has continued as our boy next went on to win a big race at Pocono Downs. Fear The Dragon is still ranked as the No. 1 harness racing horse in North America.
Two weeks ago we had another huge day. Our “Dragon” was breathing fire again. He won a big race called The Adios at the Meadows racetrack near Pittsburgh. It meant a lot to us because we got engaged there at The Adios race 41 years ago, in 1976. The same announcer, native Ohioan Roger Huston, was still there to call the races. So it was indeed a very special day for us.
As this week’s Post hits the street, we are gonna try to keep it going. Saturday night (Aug. 12) Sabrina and I will be at Northfield Park watching Dragon put the winning streak on the line racing in our local track’s biggest race, the Carl Milstein Memorial.
I got hooked on harness racing by going to Northfield Park as a kid with my dad, who enjoyed betting on the horses on his one day off each week. As soon as I was old enough to drive a car, I spent many evenings there with my teenage girlfriends, as I demanded to have about all of my dates there. One of them persevered longer than the rest, and she turned out to be my wife. I know how to pick a winner.
So this one chance to win the big one at our hometown track is a very big deal for us. If you hear a lot of shouting don’t worry, it will just be Sabrina and I going for the gusto again. If we win, there may be an unexpected lunar eclipse as we jump over the moon.
My philosophy of life has always been that you only live one time so why not live life to the fullest? I know that everyone is not a sci-fi buff like me but this is gonna be pretty cool. My daughter and her whole family of 10 are even heading to a campground in Kentucky for a better view (that’s right, eight kids — speaking of going for the gusto).
In northeastern Ohio, the eclipse is scheduled to start at 1:06 p.m., peak at 2:30 p.m. and end at 3:51 p.m. Staring at the sun is bad for your eyes, and since you are reading this your eyes are especially important to me. I need your eyes good for reading The Post so I can afford to keep going for the gusto myself!
In order to view the moon’s encroachment of the sun, ideally you’ll need to pick up a pair of solar filter sunglasses, which block more than 99.99 percent of sunlight, as well as ultraviolet and infrared radiation. From what I am told, these glasses will make the sun appear as a light orange or white disc in the sky. You may want to check out a list that NASA’s list of manufacturers who make safe and reliable glasses for viewing the Sun before you buy. If you want to watch but need to do it on the cheap, be careful, it really can damage your eyes. During the actual eclipse I think you are safe but not for very long.
Our weekly online poll this week asks do you plan to watch the “Great American Eclipse” Aug. 21? Potential answers are “Yes! Time to buy my eclipse glasses.” Or “No. It’s not very exciting to me.” You can’t pick the third one, “I don’t know anything about it” after reading my column now can you? So which one are you?
My wife and I will be watching the eclipse for sure. We often miss the lunar eclipses because us old people generally can’t stay up that late ... my fellow seniors out there know what I am talking about. But this solar one is mid-afternoon so even we should be good to go.
Actually, we aren’t waiting for Aug. 21 for our gusto. I wrote a few weeks back about the fun we have been having in my other life as a horse breeder. Our horse Fear The Dragon won a big race in Ontario. Since then our lucky year has continued as our boy next went on to win a big race at Pocono Downs. Fear The Dragon is still ranked as the No. 1 harness racing horse in North America.
Two weeks ago we had another huge day. Our “Dragon” was breathing fire again. He won a big race called The Adios at the Meadows racetrack near Pittsburgh. It meant a lot to us because we got engaged there at The Adios race 41 years ago, in 1976. The same announcer, native Ohioan Roger Huston, was still there to call the races. So it was indeed a very special day for us.
As this week’s Post hits the street, we are gonna try to keep it going. Saturday night (Aug. 12) Sabrina and I will be at Northfield Park watching Dragon put the winning streak on the line racing in our local track’s biggest race, the Carl Milstein Memorial.
I got hooked on harness racing by going to Northfield Park as a kid with my dad, who enjoyed betting on the horses on his one day off each week. As soon as I was old enough to drive a car, I spent many evenings there with my teenage girlfriends, as I demanded to have about all of my dates there. One of them persevered longer than the rest, and she turned out to be my wife. I know how to pick a winner.
So this one chance to win the big one at our hometown track is a very big deal for us. If you hear a lot of shouting don’t worry, it will just be Sabrina and I going for the gusto again. If we win, there may be an unexpected lunar eclipse as we jump over the moon.