# Why do eclipses excite / agitate Dopers? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 23, 2017, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-eclipses-excite-agitate-dopers/794437 "2017-08-23T07:17:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-eclipses-excite-agitate-dopers/794437/1 "2017-08-23T07:17:53Z")
By my count there are 68 threads on the page [not counting the stickies at the top]. Of them 14 mentioned eclipses, so nearly 20%. Normally I’d think if there were 2-3 World War II questions on the page, someone was getting a bit over-excited, but 14!! I guess the pertinent questions about why eclipses excite us so much have already been asked in the existing threads, but are there other events [human / natural / other-worldly] that have inspired a large number of related simultaneous discussions on the Straight Dope? Probably a question for the old Timers. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-eclipses-excite-agitate-dopers/794437/2 "2017-08-23T08:43:12Z")
Reported for forum change. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-eclipses-excite-agitate-dopers/794437/3 "2017-08-23T09:50:45Z")
The eclipse happened in America - the board membership is primarily American - there’s also a general board-wide interest in the sciences, and on top of that, eclipses are exciting, potentially once-in-a-lifetime events that people get agitated about in the real world - I reckon that’s probably enough to have caused the effect you observed. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-eclipses-excite-agitate-dopers/794437/4 "2017-08-23T10:30:11Z")
Dopers are very easily excitable, specially for anything related to bright lights. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-eclipses-excite-agitate-dopers/794437/5 "2017-08-23T10:59:25Z")
**Moderator Action** > [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > Reported for forum change. Yep, I don’t think you’re going to get a factual cite for this one. Probably best to treat this as an informal poll. Moving thread from GQ to IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-eclipses-excite-agitate-dopers/794437/6 "2017-08-23T11:07:50Z")
> [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser](#): > > Dopers are very easily excitable, specially for anything related to bright lights. Ooh, shiny! ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-eclipses-excite-agitate-dopers/794437/7 "2017-08-23T11:22:26Z")
Because its one of the few events lately we can’t blame on Trump? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-eclipses-excite-agitate-dopers/794437/8 "2017-08-23T11:38:21Z")
Actually, with all the cuts in funding to science, I’m impressed we got a heads up on the eclipse instead of it being a big surprise. (Sorry, **kopek** ) ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-eclipses-excite-agitate-dopers/794437/9 "2017-08-23T13:16:25Z")
I heard on the news that the eclipse was blamed for an accident involving an Atlantic Salmon growing up on the west coast breaking loose from its mooring and releasing Atlantic Salmon into the Pacific with who knows what result. Had he blamed the new moon high tides it might have made sense, but that happens every month. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-eclipses-excite-agitate-dopers/794437/10 "2017-08-23T13:37:51Z")
Science! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-eclipses-excite-agitate-dopers/794437/11 "2017-08-23T14:03:20Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > Because its one of the few events lately we can’t blame on Trump? 😉 Don’t give him ideas; next we know he’ll probably tweet that it was his idea. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-eclipses-excite-agitate-dopers/794437/12 "2017-08-23T14:35:04Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Science! (Bitches). ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-eclipses-excite-agitate-dopers/794437/13 "2017-08-23T14:48:11Z")
Most Dopers are excited about science, nature, etc. At the same time, many Dopers are contrarians who don’t respond well to media hype. So our minds blow up when there is a huge media hype _about_ a cool natural phenomenon. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-eclipses-excite-agitate-dopers/794437/14 "2017-08-23T15:44:33Z")
Don’t get too full our yourselves here. The chatter on this MB is about the same as you see in the local paper. Americans were all atwitter about this phenomenon. The main difference I noticed was the few here who had to poo-hoo the whole thing because… rebel!! ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-eclipses-excite-agitate-dopers/794437/15 "2017-08-23T16:24:53Z")
Is the purpose of the thread to think of other such phenomena on the board? If so, every time we have a national election we go a little batshit. Trump, natch, has broken our collective mind. GoT used to inspire multiple threads every week, but I think now that we’re past the books that has ceased. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-eclipses-excite-agitate-dopers/794437/16 "2017-08-23T16:36:05Z")
I have now seen four total solar eclipses, plus the Transit of Venus. Each event is just as exciting as the first. I’ll be just as excited about the next eclipse, which I’ll be able to see by stepping through our front door and looking up. And it’s nice to be reassured by a phenomenon that’s accurately predicted by science. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-eclipses-excite-agitate-dopers/794437/17 "2017-08-23T17:13:13Z")
[Here’s a graph from xkcd to explain the excitement.](https://xkcd.com/1880/) ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-eclipses-excite-agitate-dopers/794437/18 "2017-08-23T19:52:50Z")
Dragon eat Sun. Must perform sacrifice. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-eclipses-excite-agitate-dopers/794437/19 "2017-08-23T23:00:28Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#): > > I guess the pertinent questions about why eclipses excite us so much have already been asked in the existing threads, but are there other events [human / natural / other-worldly] that have inspired a large number of related simultaneous discussions on the Straight Dope? Probably a question for the old Timers. The topics on the SDMB ride the wave of the news headlines. The bigger the headline, the more the associated SDMB response. Things such as the 9/11 attacks and space shuttle disasters get a lot of concurrent discussion. We also get more if the subject is broad. When threads can be started in GQ, MPSIMS, Great Debates, and the BBQ on a single subject, you get a perfect storm that lends itself to a large percentage of threads on that subject. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-eclipses-excite-agitate-dopers/794437/20 "2017-08-24T00:39:04Z")
I didn’t give two shits about it. It was only a partial here, and I’ve seen partials. Did notice that the clouds blocking the view got a little darker for a couple minutes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-eclipses-excite-agitate-dopers/794437.md?page=2)