Life — May 3, 1928 — page 26: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Jke ECLIPSE With Apologies to LOVER'S WEEKLY Editorial Ectipse rovers! This is your mag- azine. It was founded in response to your demand, and has been con jucted in your interests. Many letters that come to the office of the Ecuipse Lover’s Werekty assure us that you can’t get along without this magazine. By the same token, we can’t get along without you. To get down to brass tacks: the Ectuiese Lover’s WEEKLY can’t continue without your co-operation. We need more from you than just the dollars you pay for your subscriptions. We want contributions. The fact that you read this little paper proves that you have an enthusiasm for eclipses. Why not share that enthusi- asm with other eclipse lovers? Why not write out your experiences in famous eclipses, or your views on eclipsing in general, and send them in to us? We're particularly anxious to hear from readers in Peru, Brazil and Central Africa who witnessed the big 6.9 second eclipse of 1919. The Ectipse Lover’s Weexcy is always glad to consider short sketches, satires or love stories with a strong eclipse in- terest. Get out the old pen, eclipse lovers, and go to it! Eclipse Watching in Many Lands No. 22. Baluchistan By K. L. J. Degripat Wuen tHe Eclipse Watching series began I had no idea it would prove so popular as it has and when the Editor of the Ecuipse Lover’s Weekty invited me to tell about conditions in my own country and the work being done here I was naturally very happy. In Baluchistan we have an excellent observatory of which I am the head. It was built in 1878 by funds supplied by the Cecil Rhodes Astronomical Research Commission in compliance with the terms of the Empire builder's will that ob- servatories be given to all countries for the purpose of seeing what eclipses and other Feavenly phenomena were all about. As our family was one of the leading families in Baluchistan — the money was turned over to us with little or no instructions as the Commission wanted to get its work done quickly. So my father, having no idea what to do with the money, gave it to me and I | (Look at the eclipse! Here’s Fun! One of our readers, John Peter Toohey, 1202 Elm Avenue, Corner of Elm, Venida, Calif., sends in a suggestion for a game, and we are glad to pass it on to eclipse lovers. “It is such a long time between eclipses,” writes Mr. Toohey, “that we fans don't always know what to do with our evenings.” He goes on to explain that, to play this game, you need only a standard kerosene lamp with a round globe, and a disk of black cardboard about eight inches in di- ameter. One of the group of players is chosen to be “It,” and he then holds the disk before the globe (see illus.) in varying positions, each of which represents the de- free of totality achieved by some famous eclipse. The other players are asked, in each case, to guess what eclipse is represented. Any number of people can participate in this fascinating game, and attractive favors may be devised for the winners and, of course, amusing “forfeits” for the losers. had a fine observatory built. Unfor- tunately, all the telescopes I ordered got broken on their way to our mountainous country and we have had to do the best we could without them, Thus an article on watching eclipses in Baluchistan is bound to be a bit limited. However, it is fun to watch them here just as it is fun to watch them elsewhere, oh, my fellow eclipse watchers. When there is an eclipse everybody runs out of their houses yelling: “Ip neb! Ip neb!” Look at the eclipse!) When the display is over everybody goes to the head priest—I am he—cry- ing: “Hoos tas? Hoos tas?” (“What was it? What was it?”) I then tell them and they go home very excited. Tt was no easy work getting them used to such occurrences, however. Baluchis- tan is a country of many superstitions and when the observatory was first built the rer classes all thought it was a yivnth, a kind of service station, and in- sisted that it be turned upside down. This was immediately done and the floor removed, thereby giving us a much better view of the heavens. Now we have placed seats in the dome and people come and sit there in the evenings. The best eclipse I ever saw was the one in 1924, though I think my favorite was the one in 1902 which was so dark we didn’t know what to think. : In the Mailbag Dear Eprtor: Thank goodness I have discovered at last a real, live wide-awake magazine for eclipse lovers. I have watched eclipses ever since I was a shaver (I began with an old straight-blade in 1897) and always wondered why no one ever thought to publish a journal for people of similar tastes. I like the general a ticles very much and am especially fond of the “Fun Spots” and “Eclipse Lovers’ Calendar” depts. I plan to sce the par- tial scheduled for Northern Sweden and Norway in 1942 as that will be the year of my golden wedding. Please keep up the good work. Hurrah. —J. K. Powte. Newsy Bits From All Parts of Eclipse World Francis N. Barret, popular eclipse faa of Multiple, Iowa, was the recipient of a magnificent Bloch-Zoos 22’ recording repeating telescope at a surprise party given him last weck by local eclipsers. The telescope was cleverly hidden in 50 feet of sewer pipe and smuggled into his residence by “‘workmen"” who asked Mr. Barrel for permission to leave the “pipe” there overnight. When the covering was removed at the party Mr. Barrel confessed he had been taken in completely. Prof. Jacques de Vrissac is planning the addition of a new eye-piece to the smaller telescope at the Observatoire des Alpes-Maritimes this summer. — Many who attended the last _ International Eclipse Observers’ Association convention will recall his campaign to land the nest meeting for his home town, Marsilles, with the slogan, “We Is All A-Gwine to Marseilles Fer De Next Annual Jamboree of The International Eclipse Observers’ Association and Allied Societies, May 12-14, Inclusive, 1928.” Dr. Fwi Pen Yio, the Burmese eclipse expert, is planning a fishing wip ia Burma during vacation ume this summer. comicbooks.com