Eclipsed eclipse
God got last laugh to NY’s event buildup
The Buffalo News shot a video of the total solar eclipse from the Observation Tower in Niagara Falls, N.Y. This is the first image in that video.
A solar eclipse is a big event. It happens once in a generation. It’s bigger when there is a total eclipse and clear skies to see everything.
Witnessing an eclipse is a bit of history. Gather the wife and kids or hang out with your friends, get the glasses, and wait for the moment. Throw an eclipse party too–subs or pizza and wings, and add the cookies colored like the sun or moon.
Meteorologists say the vast majority of eclipses occur over the oceans, encompassing parts of the 360 million square miles of salt water. Or perhaps eclipses occur over the vast open space like the Sahara Desert.
However, the buildup for this one in New York State has been like no other.
Chautauqua County in Western New York is where I grew up and where I now live. It has rolling hills, farming communities, the Grand Canyon of the east–Letchworth State Park, the beautiful Finger Lakes in Central New York, two Great Lakes–Erie and Ontario, and the natural wonder Niagara Falls. Anyone who has never been to Niagara Falls needs to make it a priority.
Officials in Albany planned for this moment for visitors–in 2022, 18 months ago. That’s not satire. New York’s brass planned for mass visitors when they were dealing with covid. They had an “eclipse czar.” That’s not satire. WaPo’s Joanna Slate wrote:
One state official likened it to preparing for a cross between a blizzard and a very big party. Another described it as ‘a thousand Woodstocks,’ the iconic 1969 hippie festival multiplied many times over. The event could inject more than $100 million into New York’s economy, according to preliminary state estimates.
First, it was word that schools planned the day off, extending their Spring Breaks over Easter because kids don’t already have enough days off from school. For all of the states that are done by Memorial Day or early June, you are deprived. New York students start school right after Labor Day in September. Wth the mid-winter break these kids have, they get out in late June. That means New York students now get Juneteenth off. The last thing these kids need is another day off school. Yet, NYS schools added the Lunar New Year to the school calendar.
The situation got so bad in New York State that officials in this one-party navy blue state called for businesses to close. That’s not satire, but it triggers covid PTSD.
If I owned a business, I would write the following to NYS Gov. Kathy Hochul and the State Assembly and Senate leadership:
Y’all were quick to lockdown the state and add every conceivable restriction on the ability to live and do business in New York State during 2020 and beyond for the covid pandemic. I almost lost my business because of you and your predecessor Andrew Cuomo. New York State has the worst business climate by every measure, and now y’all are recommending I not profit off of the planned 1 million visitors to the state for the eclipse.
Go pound salt! I won’t do it now or listen to any other idiotic edict y’all dream up for our once great Empire State!
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz in the Buffalo area gave his full-court press for closing businesses many times, diligently complying with Team Hochul.
As NYS leaders conducted all of this advance planning for a short event, they didn’t account for God having a sense of humor. The Rochester area had rain for the eclipse. Other areas in the path of totality either had high clouds or clouds that prevented an opportunity to see the total solar eclipse. Yes, there were many who indeed witnessed the total eclipse.
When the eclipse weather forecast emerged with cloudy skies for the day of the eclipse, and traffic wasn’t an issue demanding his attention, guess where Poloncarz went to witness the eclipse: Ashtabula, Ohio. He had the audacity to brag about it on social media. That is not satire.
Meanwhile, department stores displayed eclipse merch and grocery stores had their eclipse party items.
I am happy that families and friends were able to see this generational celestial event in all its glory. Psalm 19:1 states: “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.”
People who were working, however, did not have the luxury of picking up and going where there were perfect skies.
Hochul released a press release Friday bragging about what happened between April 6 and 9. Niagara Falls State Park near the Horseshoe Falls of Niagara Falls had 45,000 visitors. Strangely, Hochul doesn’t account for lost income of businesses that closed April 8. That seems pretty important if one is counting dollars and cents, as she’s responsible for business closures.
Here’s guessing lost income from business closures will outweigh anything visitors generated, as NYS navy blue political leaders look silly.
This is the best eclipse photo I was able to shoot with my phone camera in Jamestown, N.Y.
I had a window of time at my work to watch the eclipse. I saw its early stages and it was interesting. Psalm 104:19 states: “He made the moon for the seasons; The sun knows the place of its setting.”
However, we had a thick bank of clouds that were just behind the sun peaking through clouds in Jamestown, N.Y. And as God’s sense of humor prevailed, we did not see the total solar eclipse at 3:18 p.m.
We did experience the neat afternoon darkness. The eclipse of the sun drove temperatures cooler and gave folks brief mid-afternoon darkness. That happening, combined with the bank of clouds we already had that blocked the view of the eclipse, made it darker than it should have been under clear skies. It got as dark as we see in late fall in the late afternoon after sunset.
One eclipse will be bigger than the NYS buildup.
The Bible mentions an eclipse in Revelation 6:12. Note the details: “I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood;”
That one will change the world.
That’s not satire.