We have 194 signers! Welcome new Escapaders!
I spent the day yesterday moving about Buffalo with the self-styled “Eclipse Evangelist” Rik Yeams. Rik is the most enthusiastic eclipse enthusiast I have ever met! He is also an Eclipse Escapader. We traveled about in an EclipseMobile, a Dodge Challenger with a diamond-ring, Baily—beaded total solar eclipse image on the hood, and a picture of what our sky will look like at 3:20 PM on April 8, 2024 on the trunk. Did you know that two to three planets will be visible at mid-day during totality? He has the whole totality picture painted on his trunk. Rik even plans on having an “eclipse roof” installed in the EclipseMobile, a top that is nearly opaque but is translucent in the same way that eclipse protective eyewear is. The eclipse roof will make it possible to view an eclipse from inside the car without protective eyewear.
Rik travels around to cities whose sky will be graced by a total solar eclipse and shares creative promotional material and protective eyewear. He even has songs and poetry to share. Here’s my personal favorite, which is actually about the annular eclipse on October 14th, and what the moon might have to say about it;
Partial Eclipse
(sung to the tune of “Stop Children, What’s That Sound” by Buffalo Springfield)
It’s not the best time of year/Would prefer that the sun ain’t so near./They say that it won’t disappear;/“Won’t be a total eclipse!” is all that I hear.
So stop, frettin, wait, you’ll see,/The ring of fire, circlin me.
There’s just one moon for the earth./We need each other, for what it’s worth. /Yeah without me, the tides would be less,/And the earth’s tilt would be a total mess!
It’s time to stop, think how great to see,/The wonders of the moonlight me.
So, when my new moon arrives,/You’ll have to protect your eyes./And enjoy that annular show,/The sun, you and me, all in a row!
You need to stop, and look at me,/Don’t worry ‘bout about totality.
All eclipses are worthwhile,/Each one with its unique style./So catch this annular scene/The next time that it’s …October 14!
You never, stop, hey, what’s that sight?/Turnin daylight into night!
Stop, hey, look at me,/Although it’s not totality.
Stop, sayin, I’m too small, coverin up that crazy ball
You know I stop, hey, what’s that sight?/Turnin daylight into night?
Turnin daylight into night!
Rik was in town yesterday, and he and I visited with the chief scientist at the Buffalo Science Museum, an administrator at Buffalo State near the Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium, and the Williamsville Space Lab Planetarium director, Escapader Mark Percy. Rik showed us the EclipseMobile and his veritable plethora of eclipse-related promotion material and “umbramemorbilia.” His enthusiasm is infectious, and he accurately refers to himself as the “Pied Piper of Pizza, Peace, and Penumbras.” Two major suggestions he has for Buffalo is that organizations could paint the eclipse center-line in possible places (the center-line of the eclipse goes RIGHT through Buffalo.) Rik also recommends our community bury a time capsule to be opened at the next solar eclipse, either the partial in 2079 or the total in 2144.
You have heard it said, “Don’t be a Dick.” But DO be a RIK! Share with your friends, family, and local influencers that a partial eclipse is coming on October 14 and a total eclipse is coming on April 8, 2024! At present, we have 194 signers. If we can get to 200, I will share the idea of the endeavor, once again, with the 22 community leaders previously contacted. So, be a local eclipse evangelist, or, as Rik would say, an "eclipsenaut." Let people know, ask people to sign this petition, and let’s find a way to make Erie County hospitable to our eclipse-interested tourists, and Buffalo welcoming to umbraphiles!