I’ve been writing about my trip to rural America to see the eclipse. We did see it, by driving at the last minute to a town on the edge of totality, and barely avoiding clouds. (As you can see, the rightmost picture is almost totally obscured by clouds.)
I’ve been to other eclipses, most recently the annular eclipse on October 14, 2023, and the fun of it for me is to see it with a crowd. With that in mind, my wife and I booked four days at the Texas Eclipse festival. It was basically a rave, which we booked in near-total ignorance of what that meant. It turns out that some promoters took over a 1,300 acre ranch near Burnet, Texas and converted it to a festival grounds. That conversion involved bulldozing out a number of roads, RV pads, tent sites and parking areas. They sold almost every ticket, and crowd estimates were around 35,000.
Because it was windy, and because most of the site had been scraped out of the red dirt of the countryside, there was a lot of dust. The festival grounds were huge, so most of us had a pretty long walk from our campsite to the main festival area — from our campsite, two round trips plus some walking around at the site was recorded by our smart watches 10 miles of walking each. As far as I’m concerned, the weather from Friday through Sunday was pretty good, daytime highs in the 70’s and low 80’s, and overnight lows in the mid 50’s to low 60’s. The shows were really well done and near-constant. I am not a fan of techno/EDM, but there were some presentations from space scientists as well as a couple of bands that were more like jam bands.
Even though I thought that the promoters did about as well as they could have given the circumstances, there was a huge amount of complaining on social media. These complaints took two forms. First, for festival goers, there was a bunch of bitching about getting into the venue, the parking process, and the lack of some amenities. Our experience was that the first day of parking was a disorganized mess, and it took about 3 hours from the gate until we were in our campsite, but after we were settled we found that the portable toilets were cleaned out more-or-less regularly, and that the promised clean water was provided in a number of stations in the campgrounds and in the festival grounds. Some people also complained that their favorite artist didn’t perform, but there were something like 500 acts booked, and the entertainment was constant. The second form of complaints came from area residents, who didn’t like the idea of 35,000 people descending on their rural county. Some of the complaints were pretty nasty, calling the ravers “human garbage” and so forth.
On the day of the eclipse, thunderstorm warnings caused the promoters to cancel the rest of the festival and encourage everyone to get out. I didn’t have to be told twice: within a half hour of getting the notice, we were on a Texas road heading for the edge of totality, where the weather looked the best. There were no traffic jams, and we found a place to watch with a few other people in a commercial parking lot in Brady. People were upset about the cancellation, but I think the promoters did the right thing, and they’re promising some kind of refund. They’ve also pointed out that there were tornado watches and lightning strikes on the festival grounds on Tuesday, which was the planned day for everyone to vacate the festival grounds.
So, if you’ve read this far, I do have a point to make: the “human garbage” comments by people claiming to be residents of the area were, to me, all too predictable. There’s just so little tolerance of difference by a lot of these rural folks who are living on a diet of right-wing media. My experience of this festival was that the people there were some of the kindest, friendliest and peaceful folks I’ve ever met. Yeah, they smoke pot and take shrooms, and there were a lot of weird costumes (and thong bikinis and pasties worn by the women), but this was mostly just dress up for adults. I didn’t see a single fight or even a cross word exchanged, and all of the ravers (as distinct from the accidental spectators like me) seemed to really love the music.
In short, I disliked the music and liked the people. It’s something I’d never do again, but it was an experience worth having. But I came to this experience without feeling the need to judge or belittle the young people who clearly put a lot of time and effort to get here, and then to dress up. When your worldview requires you to cast out anyone who looks or acts different, any experience like this is just an excuse to hate “the other”. And that’s both boring and sad.
Hey Lurkers!
Baud
Outrage addiction is the new opiod addiction.
ETA: I might try to go to Spain for the 2026 eclipse.
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: I’m sure there are places in Mallorca where pants are optional.
A Ghost to Most
“My way or the highway” are what the cultists do. It taught me to love road trips.
raven
They handed out special “Masters Eclipse Glasses” at Augusta! They are fetching ridiculous prices on eBay.
satby
@Baud: I want to go too, to northern Spain, and about a month early.
Edit: may see if O Felix Culpa and Elizabelle might be up for it too.
satby
It is too bad that the local folks couldn’t just enjoy the spectacle for a few days, inconvenient as it might have been. God forbid they have fun (a sentiment many of them take literally).
frosty
The local reaction reminds me of what my kayaking SIL and BIL called themselves and their friends: “Boater scum”. The best whitewater in the east is rural.
Elizabelle
@satby: already on the calendar. We are going to have much company.
ETA: Eclipse Camino!!
frosty
@Baud: Looking at Spain too. Malaga and other places in Southern Spain have been on our bucket list. Time to start planning something!
trollhattan
How to go to Burning Man without going to Burning Man.
Sounds like an adventure worth having; plus, eclipse! Good for you.
Kay
IMO and in my experience the intolerance has gotten worse the last ten years or so. They’re always so, so angry. We have a new music pavilion in the public park across from my house. A local foundation funded it – outdoors, nice. The bookings for the summer season have become incredibly controversial because the only music far Right wingers in town will allow is Christian or oldies. No one young is going to go to these events, which I have to believe is their goal.
Citizen Alan
@Kay: Politics among white rural voters in the South and Midwest is driven by people who have never experienced true joy in their lives and who instinctively hate anyone who so much as seeks out such an emotion let alone displays it openly.
Lapassionara
@Baud: We just returned from Spain where we saw the Alhambra in Granada and the Great Mosque/Cathedral at Cordoba. Both were amazingly beautiful. Highly recommend, if you have not yet seen them.
Queen of Lurkers
@Baud: There is another one on August 2, 2027 visible in southern Spain as well as several places in north Africa and the Arabian peninsula.
https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/2027-august-2
Baud
@Kay:
@Citizen Alan:
Someone should create a map of rural towns and areas that have warm, welcoming, non-resentful people, so urban libs can reward them with their tourist dollars.
JoyceH
People are so demanding these days. A while ago, I saw a documentary about Woodstock – and you know everyone who was there raved about how awesome it was. And it was a disorganized mess, populated by a huge crowd determined to have a good time. They had to change venue almost at the last moment, they got three times more attendees than expected. The FOOD ran out! They ran pickup trucks through the little towns in the neighborhood with the message, “The kids up at the festival are running out of food – have anything you can spare?” And people DID donate food, and you ate what was available. It rained, making the site a lake of mud, and people went mud sliding. The medical tents were overwhelmed, and the military choppered in Army doctors! Man, wouldn’t that be a great meet-cute romance? Army Doctor At Woodstock.
Kay
@Citizen Alan:
The foundation who backed it literally said it was for young people! At least maybe children’s music so maybe young people could go with their little kids? Nope. It’s exclusively for the far Right wing over-50 set. They’re now impossible to live in community with. They demand, demand, demand and it’s never enough.
The Thin Black Duke
@Citizen Alan: If these hateful assclowns read the Bible as much as they claim to, they would come across the passage which says,”envy is the sin of jealousy over the blessings and achievements of others.” But they use the Bible as a doorstop to keep new ideas from entering their empty skulls anyway.
Old Dan and Little Ann
You could not pay me enough to go to a rural rave in Texas. I am going to trash or begrudge anyone who does, though.
JoyceH
@Kay: I live in a small town in a rural area, and looking around, I don’t see ANYTHING for the kids to do, or any place to hang out. Who do teens DO around here? I grew up in a similar area, probably even more isolated from major population centers, and there were all these weekend performances by local garage bands who were sure they would be the Next Big Thing. Do kids create their own bands anymore?
Baud
@JoyceH:
Sadly apt question.
Citizen Alan
@JoyceH:
Dream of leaving before they turn into their parents and grandparents.
NetheadJay
Great title. I take it you’re a Warren Zevon fan?
And good post too. Used to hang out in raver-adjacent circles back in the 90s and some years forward. Mostly good peeps and not a lot of trouble. Not surprised about locals either. I come from a small town, not quite rural but I didn’t have to go far to find the real ugly attitudes. Don’t visit much these days.
Gretchen
@Citizen Alan: and then the old folks are mad because the kids all left for the coasts and never call or visit. I’ve noticed that conservatives not only want to do things their way, they want to force everyone else to do it their way too. Someone else’s blue hair isn’t hurting them, but it makes them mad anyway. So the blue-haired kid moves to NY where nobody cares.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Come to Western Mass.
Sister Golden Bear
Funny how rural asshats always insist that city folks welcome them and be understanding of their… ahem, beliefs and behaviors—and outright endorse said beliefs and behaviors—but are never willing to extend the same courtesies towards city folks (or any of those people). Tis a mystery.
FastEdD
My crazy friend in Olmito Texas said it was crappy weather on Monday for him.
He used to sing “I can’t wait til tomorrow cuz I get better looking each day.”
Literally true because he was accidentally shot in the face with a shotgun.
His face healed up every day.
He went on to start his own public park and his wife had triplets. He’s doin’ alright!
Gvg
@Baud: I didn’t have much entertainment as a child but did fine. Books and freinds and playing in the back yard, using my imagination. I made a lot of things. Artwork and just stuff. Bicycles. Watched TV and there is more of that now. I know kids like parks but honestly if it’s safe, and most places are just having free time and a little space is ok.
George
@Baud:The path of totality in Spain in 2026 should cover a considerable segment of the Camino de Santiago. Now THAT would be spiritual.
FastEdD
I’m a musician so I tolerate almost any type of music. Most techno sounds to me like a washing machine with an unbalanced load. Ka thump ka thump. But each to his or her own I guess.
Gretchen
@Kay: that’s so sad. There’s been some good music written in recent years, and they’re missing out wanting to hear the same old Beatles over and over. Even in my urban suburb, there’s more anger. They now go to city council meetings to yell, when they used to be sleepy little affairs about potholes that nobody noticed. There’s a huge controversy about pickleball courts, never mind the idea of affordable housing so the teachers and cops can afford to live nearby.
Jackie
OT, but speaking of rural… Kristi Noem is banned from most of S Dakota. 😂
edited to correct Dakota to South
Sure Lurkalot
I have a friend who lives in Burnet. We talked a few weeks before the eclipse. She said the whole town was gearing up with all sorts of printed paraphernalia, event planning and lodging deals. She was definitely jazzed about it but I should ask her how it turned out for her IRL.
It wasn’t just me but she changed from being a rarely voting R (from a family of Rs going back forever) to a reliable Dem. Then she converted her mama. Poor dears live in a veritable tsunami of crazies.
Butch
Just please keep in mind when you’re criticizing rural folks that we’re not all like that. Some are, but not all.
WaterGirl
@Kay: Ugh. Literally keeping the town from having nice things.
DCrefugee
I made it from FL to Houlton, ME, and back for last week’s eclipse. The whole town, right on the Canadian border, embraced the event with shuttle buses, food trucks, commemorative posters and much, much more. All that, plus the totality, was an experience I’ll never forget.
Maine is not Texas…
JoyceH
@Gretchen:
Are there new genres of music now? I keep hearing this stuff in commercials and I don’t think commercials invent new music genres so I wonder if they’re making them in a new genre that’s out there. It’s spoken but not quite rap, sounds kind of like rap-cheer squad fusion. The prime example is the Instacart commercials – “I’m at the nail salon; I’m at the grocery store. I’m at the combination nail salon and grocery store.”
John Revolta
the people there were some of the kindest, friendliest and peaceful folks I’ve ever met. Yeah, they smoke pot and take shrooms,
I see no contradiction here
Bill Arnold
@The Thin Black Duke:
Unfettered minds are the Devil’s workshop.
Michael Bersin
After watching the 2017 eclipse at a state recreation area 20 miles from our house we decided we had to plan on doing the same in 2024.
This time we ended up in Russellville, Arkansas at a garden/nursery on the west side of town (away from the “events”, including the mass wedding). We arrived from Branson, Missouri at 7:00 a.m. and started setting up our cameras. We had good weather.
The folks running the nursery were “Arkansas nice”. Gracious and helpful people who were happy to host about 25 vehicles on their five acres. All of the locals and out-of-towners were happy to be there, friendly, and curious about our set-up (three photographers with cameras with 400, 500, 840, 1600 mm lenses). In the lulls between shots during the partial eclipse phase we’d show them our captured images and explain the lenses and filters. My cameras were tethered to a laptop.
In the lead up to the eclipse people visited and lounged around in the shade. Our hosts grilled hot dogs and burgers.
The only downside was the traffic jam on I-40 West. And, at that, it added to the adventure.
Sure Lurkalot
@Kay:
As well as to blame the 3 lefties in town for the kids leaving or turning to fentanyl.
Martin
I sometimes wonder how much of the Texas ‘urban elite’ criticism that is directed at California is really people upset at Austin and Dallas.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I just saw a screen cap of Fox’s show “The Five.” The chyron read, “Libraries turning into drug-infested sex dens.” The person posting it commented: “Mrs. X told me a library card was my ticket to adventure. I think she undersold it.” These people are lunatics.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Agree the right-wing intolerance is worse now. It sucks. Gotta admit I’m less willing to put up with wingnut babbling too, but it’s in reaction to their declining tolerance levels. I was “live and let live,” probably to a fault, until relatively recently.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Public libraries = pubic libraries
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Baud: I guess kids have somewhere to go after all.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Tiktok has made you sassy.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Baud: It kind of has!
SpaceUnit
Since everyone is discussing festivals, bands, music, and eclipses it seems like a good thread to drop this – from a music festival in Mexico a week before the eclipse. Warning, do not look directly at the band:
Automatic Sun
Ohio Mom
@Old Dan and Little Ann: Yeah, my goal for the eclipse was to be with my two guys and only my two guys. I didn’t want someone else’s soundtrack in my ears.
We found a little country cemetery that had one other person in it, and one look at us and he drove to the other side of the graveyard. A man after my own heart!
Usually I like crowds, it’s the New Yorker in me. I like a busy street full of activity. But not for my once in a lifetime total eclipse.
My thought about friendly rural people: I saw an article someone on the internet recently that listed a bunch of “the most friendly places in America,” and I snorted and thought, “Maybe not if you aren’t a middle class straight white person.” Which I’m sure described the author.
kalakal
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
As a librarian I have 3 instant responses
Dorothy A. Winsor
@kalakal: My local library seems to be out of the loop too.
NetheadJay
@SpaceUnit: Oh hey, another The Warning fan. Glad to be in good company.
wjca
It’s easiest to fantasize about libraries if you always carefully avoid places where knowledge is available. No inconvenient reality to get in the way.
My local library is just the kind of “clean and neat” venue the RWNJs claim they favor for children.
SpaceUnit
@NetheadJay:
Yeah, I just love those girls. Can’t wait to hear the new album.
S Cerevisiae
Booked an RV rental in Austin last year because Texas had the best odds (around 40%) of April 8 clear skies along the path of totality. Parked it at a relatives place west of there and decided to stay put and have faith because going either direction would not have really changed the odds. Fortunately we made the right call and got a break in the clouds for nearly 3 minutes of totality. The big red flare was easily visible naked eye and through the spotting scope I could see the loop of fire on the edge of the black disc of the moon.
trollhattan
@Sure Lurkalot: “A Dakota.”
artem1s
@satby:
I was somewhat concerned about the traffic in Cleveland so I spent the day biking to where I wanted to be. My only goal was a clear view without someone yakking at me on a loud speaker or having to sit under a f#cking news helicopter all day. I have no problem with those who wanted a big party – I just am tired of the constant need to monetize every last little thing. And the cameras and TV crews that are ever present whenever there are $$$$$$ involved. It was awesome to have a spectacular event you didn’t need a ticket for and that couldn’t be roped off or interrupted by talking head commentators and/or TV time outs.
I had friends who couldn’t understand why I didn’t try to make big bucks renting out my empty apartment for the weekend. I honestly never thought about it. There was no way I was going to end up babysitting a bunch of strangers and out-of-towners that day. Most of the city businesses turned it into a holiday. I feel bad for those who couldn’t really enjoy it because CAPITALISM!
Old Dan and Little Ann
I’m in the burbs and my neighborhood had a little block party. It was sunny 2 days before the eclipse and 1 day after. During the party it was so cloudy the neighbors couldn’t even tell which part of of the sky to even find the sun.
Origuy
I was outside of Indianapolis at my sister’s house. She and BIL have a house in a new development, so no large trees. Their back yard opens to a big open area, so several of the neighbors and their kids were out. It was very clear so we got a good view. The development is very diverse and has a lot of people from India; she said that there were a lot of parties during Diwali. Their old neighborhood, only a few miles away, wasn’t nearly as diverse.
frosty
@Baud: This is a great idea! Sort of like the African-American Green Book travel guide*. We just had a nice dinner out in Hudson, Ohio. Looked like a nice town, big old houses, a non-empty downtown shopping area. Our server was friendly- she preferred gin over vodka, too!
*Isabel Wickerson: The Warmth of Other Suns.
brantl
@Baud: Non-cogito, ergo dumb.
Mike S. (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)
I was at my Sister’s house in the N. Dallas suburbs. The clouds retreated about an hour and a half before to totality and only started to come back in a scattered way about 4 minutes after our 4 minutes of gorgeous totality! MAny schools in the area had cancelled classes for the day, but the local school had classes, but they had all the kids out to see the eclipse and we could hear the kids’ loud cheering from a quarter mile away, as we sat in the front yard.
I’ve heard from friends who travelled from here (SE PA) and saw the eclipse well including going to: Austin TX, North of Dayton OH, Erie PA, and Rochester NY. I haven’t talked to our friends who went to the Adirondaks to stay with their daughter yet.
Sandia Blanca
We drove west from Austin to a place on Lake LBJ about 20 miles south of Burnet. The weather was apparently a bit clearer than in Austin, and we enjoyed great views of the totality. The locals told us about the festival, but they weren’t unhappy that it was taking place.
marcopolo
There is a reason why Fox (and MAGA conservatives in general) attack libraries. They are an integral piece of our democratic fabric. Warehouses of knowledge where folks can go to learn about stuff (stuff that maybe their neighbors or parents don’t want them learning about)–for free! Our local libraries also provide computers and internet access and teach people how to use them. They are a safe place for the unhoused at any time but especially during inclement weather. They are places that celebrate diversity and learning about all kinds of different people. They have a robust calendar of events and activities for folks of all ages. They are just an incredible public resource and did I mention they are free! It’s also been amazing to me to see how rock solid courageous librarians in general have been in standing up for democratic ideals in the face of a lot of organized hostility. Anyway, I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir here but keep all of that in mind when you see right wing folks attacking them. There’s a method to that and it’s totally organized.
As for the eclipse, drove across the river to IL early Mon morning. Hooked up with a dozen friends, some of whom were making a weekend vacay out of the event, at a local camp (there were maybe 150 folks all told there but it was not crowded at all). The weather was great, the eclipse was great, all of us had fun, we probably should have waited another hour or two to drive home.
Miss Bianca
@SpaceUnit: The Warning? Have you seen the video of them doing Back in Black when they were all of like 12 years old? Their guitars are bigger than they are!
SpaceUnit
@Miss Bianca:
Yep, it’s awesome! I’ve been following the girls since 2015, and it’s been such a fun journey. I’m just over the moon for their success.
Here’s another one from that era:
The Warning at The House of Blues
frosty
@Kay: We have a kiosk like that in the rec field in front of my house in this 65%R borough. No Christian bands. No …. oldies bands. Oops.
Can’t these guys learn some music that was played after the early 70s???
schrodingers_cat
@kalakal: Your art is gorgeous. What is your medium?
$8 blue check mistermix
@NetheadJay: Yes, I’m a Zevon fan.
@Butch: I have a lot of relatives who live in red states and are not at all haters, either. It’s just that the last few years have given the haters license to hate, and they do so loudly.
frosty
@Ohio Mom: Our first eclipse, we were in a Tennessee State Park and went to the open area with lots of telescopes and photographers and a kiosk giving us a countdown to put the glasses back on. A hundred people cheered and clapped when the sun went dark.
This time we were in Findley SP in Ohio and decided to stay in the open spot near our campsite with 20 or so other people, two of whom had good Celestron telescopes. Just as good. I liked the community cheering and I also liked not being around so many people.
frosty
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Drug-infested sex dens? Damn! How did I miss this????? Did the librarians look at skinny little me and say “Nah.”
Raven
Uncle Vern is about to leave.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
I used to be able to joke with them. They would say some caricature of a liberal and I would retort with whatever horrible thing their politicians had done, but it wasn’t mean-spirited. That really changed with Trump – there’s a group of liberals who always say “they were always this bad” and the policy was, but there was never that feeling of a threat – like they’re fucking furious and could go off anytime. Now it’s just tense. I feel my face settle into bitch face when listening to them – tight, no smile, no reaction. I just no longer want to hear the endless griping and vitriol.
I worry a little about how media has been portraying Trump as a done deal. They believe this. I think Biden is going to win and a LOT of wingnuts who listened to mainstream media the last 6 months are going to truly believe it was stolen.
Brachiator
Did anybody talk to the rural folk beforehand? It sounds like a kind of ad hoc quickie setup by eclipse chasers primarily focused on their own interests. The rural folk complained, but it doesn’t sound like they shot at anybody or chased anybody away.
I guess I am a crank these days. I can see how the regulars just wanted peace and quiet. And I can see that the festival people were nice and looking for a good time. On another level, both the festival people and the regulars were all just another bunch of assholes wanting what they wanted and expecting other people to put up with them.
Baud
@Kay:
You were supposed to respect Trump and be cowed. They resent that you weren’t.
Kay
My 3 1/2 year old grandaughter was playing “restaurant” with me today, on Facetime. The entry hall in her apartment is the restaurant and she’s the proprieter. But the restaurant only has the food she likes. So if you ask for something other than hotdogs or ice cream or strawberries she is “out” of it. She folds her arms when she tells you “no” – regretful but firm – looks you straight in the eye. My son called foul “you’re making up the whole thing! Why can’t you just make up what we want?” Arguing with his 3 year old. He has a LONG road ahead.
Baud
@Kay:
She doesn’t do Danish food?
billcinsd
Jam bands are no better than techno/EDM
Subsole
@Martin: Most of it, believe it or not, is directed at folks who moved here from California.
The folks I know in Austin feel like the folks from Cali rolled in, bought up everything, squeezed out all the local character, jacked up prices, and essentially gentrified the only places that are really bearable for Liberals in Texas. And made them substantially less Liberal in the process.
And those are Liberals. They feel mild annoyance, perhaps. Not outright disgust. The cons? They just don’t like y’all. They think you try too hard.
Also, and I don’t know why, but most of the Calis I’ve met have been…um…not the most Liberal or open-minded of people. Don’t know if that’s them just trying to fit in with who they think we are, or why they left Cali to start with, or what.
I have lived rural in TX. I currently live urban in TX. The folks y’all are talking about hate us for entirely different reasons than they hate you.
Subsole
@Baud:
Text or illustrated?
This is important.
Jackie
@Kay: No joke! A 3 yr old is just dress rehearsal for when she’s 13!
Subsole
@Mike S. (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!):
Had an amazing view in DFW. Clouds parted just in time.
SpaceUnit
@billcinsd:
I have nothing against Pearl Jam, but this makes me laugh out loud:
What Pearl Jam sounds like to people who don’t like Pearl Jam
kalakal
@schrodingers_cat:
Thank you.
It’s all electronic. I use a graphics tablet and a mixture of drawing on that, photos, image editors & generators. I got into digital image editing & compositing partly through work and partly through doing a lot of photo restoration on old family photos. Someone showed me an AI app (stable diffusion I think) and I thought, ok this works, not ready for prime time, but it’s a brilliant fill and texture generator. I’ve always like drawing and have a good sense of perspective but I’m colour blind and have “off” colour vision so I found that very helpful. The end results are a mix of all the above
lowtechcyclist
@satby:
It’s like the lyrics from “Okie from Muskogee”:
I’m proud to be an Okie from Muskogee
A place where even squares can have a ball
Apparently they’re incapable of having fun if there are people different from them around. Hence:
WE don’t smoke marijuana in Muskogee
WE don’t take our trips on LSD
etc.
I’d kinda feel sorry for them, if the people they vote into office weren’t making other people’s lives difficult. Hell, maybe they should secede.
schrodingers_cat
@kalakal: Are you using a Wacom tablet or Ipad? What software do you use?
Martin
I think that’s referred to as ‘anti-drug PSA rap’.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
Never been to Spain.
Never been to Iceland, either, and the 2026 eclipse will be there too. Might see if my wife and I can do that.
Another Scott
@lowtechcyclist: Google tells me that Merle and Willie wrote that.
Hehehe.
Cheers,
Scott.
lowtechcyclist
@FastEdD:
Added a little something.
kalakal
@schrodingers_cat: The tablet is a Huion Kamvas. Software is Corel Painter, DxO Photolab, Luminar Neo, Affinity, and the AI generators are Dall-E3 on Bing and the Nightcafe app.
bookworm1398
A note on social media complaints- they don’t represent the silent majority. It’s the relatively few who are upset who always get prominence on social media.
On people moving from CA to TX, I can’t find the studies now but the majority move because they are more conservative. This has made CA more liberal over the last couple of decades and kept Texas conservative leaning. If only people born in TX had voted, Beto would have been Senator.
Subsole
@bookworm1398:
Very good points.
schrodingers_cat
@kalakal: Thanks! I have XP-pen and a Wacom Intuous. Haven’t used them much for art. Plus I just got an iPad Air.
Brachiator
@bookworm1398:
More complicated than this. People are being pushed out of California because the cost of living is too high and the job market is not as good for people who don’t have college degrees or training in more specialized high tech areas.
People who are liberal and move to Texas find areas of Austin and San Antonio much to their liking, if they can find jobs there.
And of course you have some companies relocating from California to Texas and pulling their employees along with them.
kalakal
@schrodingers_cat: The ipad air should do very nicely. Wacom are more or less the standard, the ones I’ve used worked very well. Another painting software I tried is Rebelle which seems good. Corel Painter is excellent but very pricey except every year Humble Bundle do a graphics sale where you can pick it up for along with a load of brush packs for $25, basically you get last years model which is fine by me. Affinity is an absolute steal as well as you get the photo, graphics/painting, and publishing apps for about $50 and Krita which is pretty capable and free. I think they’re all run on Apple stuff, I use a PC
Chris T.
What, nobody did any puzzles?
I like to cros-swords daily myself!
Kay
@Baud:
She likes Danish food. She’ll eat fish and brown bread happily. She is “a good eater” as we say, meaning not picky. But in her pretend restaurant they only have a very limited menu of fun carnival food+ strawberries :)
The Ikea in Denmark has a robot that dispenses ice cream cones. She’s completely fascinated with it – she may be mimicking that robot.
ljdramone
Our second eclipse. We were in Madras, Oregon in 2017 — drove overnight from Portland across the Cascades to Madras, paid $20 to park in a field next to the airport, and slept in the car. Took 2 1/2 hours to get there, and more than 8 hours to get back to Portland afterward. My wife started out grudgingly going along with the plan to humor me, but after seeing totality she was SOLD.
This time we booked a hotel room in Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio, right in the path. Lucked out on the weather, it rained Monday morning but most of the clouds moved east by early afternoon leaving just a high thin cirrus layer. I had a solar telescope set up and offered views of the partial phases to everyone walking by. Totality was frickin’ awesome, and we’ve already booked a tour to see the August 2026 eclipse in Spain.
Kayla Rudbek
@satby: Mr. Rudbek is looking at Spain as well, although we would probably be biking the Camino to Santiago de Compostella as part of that.
Kayla Rudbek
@Baud:
@George: and that would be an excellent bike trip…