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No. 612: Total Eclipse of the Get Off My Lawn!

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Total Eclipse of the Get Off My Lawn!

First | Previous | 2017-08-02 | Next | Latest

Permanent URL: https://mezzacotta.net/dinosaur/?comic=612

Strip by: David Morgan-Mar, Andrew Coker

T-Rex: Apparently there's a solar eclipse soon.
T-Rex: In my town!
T-Rex: All these tourists are coming and will overrun the place. Why can't they hold this eclipse somewhere else?
Utahraptor: Uh, T-Rex...
Utahraptor: Are you being an Eclipse NIMBY?
T-Rex: Can't people just, like, view it from the Moon or something?

The author writes:

By "soon" I mean 22 July, 2028. The path of totality of this eclipse entirely covers the city of Sydney, where I live, and the centre of the path is within walking distance of my home*. Pretty convenient.

Better yet, it's on a Saturday, so I won't even need to take a day off work.

I do, however, expect that there will be more tourists in Sydney on that day than there have ever been in all of history up to that date. I have a spare room you can sleep in for just $50,000.**

* Okay, not a short walk, but it's definitely a distance that I have walked. In fact, the centre of the path of totality goes right across the main campus of The University of Sydney (where I studied). Not only that, but it almost exactly bisects the Great Hall and Main Quadrangle of the university, as seen on the map below (from NASA). If that doesn't have occult significance, I don't know what does.

NASA eclipse map

** Per person. Bring your own pyjamas and toothpaste. Breakfast not included, but I can give you a bowl of cereal for $200. Offer expires at end of 2020. (I expect I could probably get more than that closer to the date...)