Seeing how today there was (and possibly still going on at the time of writing) a solar eclipse in the United States of America, I thought I'd share some history as to how I experience it in my country, Romania.
It was the last solar eclipse of the last millenium, it occured on August 11th, 1999. I was just a wee little boy back then, so as awesome as I find a solar eclipse to be now, you can imagine my excitement was much higher when I was just 9 years old. Back then, my country was still in quite a large turmoil after overthrowing communism just ten years earlier, so niche items were very scarce, including viewing glasses for such a momentous occasion. But that didn't stop me! So that morning, me and my that got to work on burning some glass in order to darken it. We were very careful in order not to break it. So when the time came, we raised that glass, and a glass of beer as well to celebrate. I know some might think I was too young, but don't worry, it was just half a pint or so, I didn't get drunk :)
The event was very appreciated in my country at the time, so much so, that in order to celebrate this, our government even minted some special edition money. Here is a picture with a note worth 2000 lei, now it would be replaced with 0.2RON and is worth about 5$ cents, probably a bit less at the time.
Our country was one of the first country to issue plastic money in order to combat fraud and lower the costs of printing and rate of degradation, this way new money was printed less often. This particular note featured a map of the country with the trajectory where the eclipse was best visible marked on it. And here is a coin worth 500 lei at the time, or 0.05 RON or about 1$ cent.
The money you see featured here was only printed for about a year, making it a cool item for collectors. Unfortunately, I think I lost mine a few years ago, but still remember the even fondly, especially since the next total eclipse visible from my country is only due in 2081, by which time I'll most likely be dead, unless bionics become so mainstream or something.
What about you? Did you ever see an eclips? Or the one that took place today? If so what do you think? Do you find it as cool as I do? Share your thoughts and feedback below, it is greatly appreciated!
Thank you for reading, and keep on steemin'!
(clicking on any image will take you to its source)
I remember that eclipse as well, and i was even smaller than you:p i had like 7 years or something like that:p
Hehe, is was, most likely, a once in a lifetime event ;)
hehe, now that is a bit of history and nostalgia :) Cool post mate!
PS. damn I need to reach the age of 95y in other to catch the next one xD
I'd only have to be 82. But I dunno, I'm not that health conscious to expect that. But who knows, I can dream :)
And I loved the special edition money they made, even if they were basically worthless :p
Man I seriously LOVE this post!!!!!! (Space + Currencies: two of my favorite things) :D
Haha, glad you enjoyed it. And who doesn't like currencies? We are dealing in crypto here after all :p
But space, man, as much as I like money, space is just something else for me :)
I feel the exact same way! We should go to space - later, when it'll be easier haha ;)
Well, SpaceX has made it easier. Still way too expensive for me, but I do hope to one day at least peak my head out of the Earth's atmosphere :)
That's the spirit! Aaaaand.....Challenge Accepted! It's gonna be...Legen - wait for it - dary !!! :D
Well, damn sure it will if I manage it. If there's one place I wanna visit more than any other place on Earth, it's space, and there's like 13 billion lightyears width of it... so there's gotta be a way right? :p
I specifically want to go to Mars so they'd better make a way soon :P
Thanks for sharing your experience, @sebi99p. Sounds like you had the entrepreneurial spirit even at a young age!
I happened to record the eclipse today, but without a filter. Took a few snapshots and video with commentary showing the sky getting darker and the diamond burst at the end of totality.
In retrospect, I really should have bought both a lens filter and some solar glasses as you mentioned. They were selling for around $2USD here.
Thanks for sharing.
No problem, my friend! They weren't as cheap when I saw the eclipse, but they weren't too expensive either, but were kinda hard to come by.
In any case, witnessing this event is cool in itself, and while a filter would've been nice, you still got to see it, and that's what counts :)
As I said in my post, I burned some glass, but that is dangerous as it cand explode quite easily, but we romanians don't really care for too strict regulations :p So I burned it for a few seconds to darken an area, then took a break to let it cool off, and I repeated till the whole shard was pitch black. It's probably not as good as some prefessional glasses, but hey, it got the job done :) And I loved it.
Glad you enjoyed the post!
That's a great perspective: Being grateful for the experience in spite of the conditions. I guess that is what makes most things worth doing; experience. I bet the work you put into those glasses was worth it in the end. You also got a good story out of it.
Yeah, it was really fun. And yeah, I find the story cool :P I just had to see it so I had to do something
I will be posting with photos later today.. we had a great experience solar eclipse today. My first total solar eclispe. So fun!
Oooo, nice! Can't wait to see them! Glad you enjoyed it, but I hope you had proper protection :)
upvoted @jero1
I remember the coins back then in 1999 and I even think I still have one in my old coins collection. I also remember having some glasses from paper to be able to see the eclipse. Nice post !
Thanks. When I tried to buy some of those paper glasses, they were out of stock nearby.
And I lost the coins I had. I had a 2000rol note a few years back, must've forgot in some old jeans that I threw away or something :(
But alas, I won't forget the experience, and that's what counts :)