1. Shades
If you are planning to stare at the sun on Aug. 21, don’t wait until the last minute to get proper eye protection. We visited about 10 stores in and around Everett Mall last week and scored at only one.
Toys R Us had solar eclipse sunglasses for $2.49 and solar eclipse binoculars for $7.99. Wal-Mart was out of the glasses the day we went.
More at www.toysrus.com.
2. T-shirts
Need a shirt to go with those solar shades?
Amazon has plenty of choices with sayings and cosmic images.
Examples: “Please wait … the sun is restarting.” “I blacked out.” “You will find me in the path of totality.”
A Stars Wars twist: “Come to the Dark Side on Aug. 21.”
Another shirt has Big Foot pointing to the eclipse. He’s wearing the proper sunglasses, of course.
3. Maps and apps
Get your phone apped-up for the big day.
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics has released a smartphone app, Eclipse 2017 for iOS and Android. You know that’s got to be good. Ditto for GLOBE Observer by NASA (iOS and Android).
Solar Eclipse Timer (iOS and Android) has a talking commentary, timed to the local eclipse event, so users can be “talked” through the eclipse. Eclipse Megamovie Mobile (Android) allows people to take pictures of the eclipse and relay the images to a team at University of California at Berkeley, to help astronomers compile photos of the Great American Eclipse while it’s in progress.
Need a map? Metsker Maps at Alderwood Mall has a big map showing the eclipse.
More at www.metskers.com.
— Andrea Brown, The Herald
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