Salzburg, 1999.

It was a cloudy day, but we all were hopeful. 20 minutes before eclipse a benign wind gently push the clouds toward a less crowded area.

The Moon slowly begins to dent the Sun. Then shadows become funny, you see thousand of little shiny reapers cast from a tree, where the light finds its way between the leafs. Ducks by the Salzach' shores find cover for the approaching "night".

After some eternal minutes, the Moon covers almost entirely the Sun disc (something hardwired very deeply in you hopes that at least a fraction of the Sun could remain visible. That's fear of the dark. That's fear of the death.)

Gone. Amazingly and dreadfully gone. (forever?). You can hear people "Aaah..." distantly.

I wonder how much bright are total eclipses. They are not even vaguely similar to nights. Maybe a total eclipse resembles a dawn, but without a fading pattern from an horizon to the other. It's almost grey everywhere.

Wind blows in your face, you take a screen (glass and carbon black, radiographic film, ecc...) and start to see wonders. Is your only chance to see the Sun' Corona, don't waste it.

Finally you realize how short is an eclipse. In the best case, in the best point, in the best conditions, rarely is longer than 3 minutes. Then comes back the Sun, and you understand why Egyptians had three deity for the sun, and why light = good = hope.

God, I hate people applauding after a landing. I can't remember if people applauded with the sun coming back in line of sight, but in this case I am in denial.

Then ducks wake up again, and a new wave of little shadowy reapers greets you.
The Total Eclipse won't be easy to forget.

That's no moon. It's a Untitled 1.

@joshuaz: my father told me about a boy with four kidneys sharing with me the same hospital room (I was 4 back then, after an emergency surgery to save my right kidney).

This is the 2nd case I hear about in 37 yrs (spent with both kidneys, thanks), but I am no nephrologist nor urologist whatsoever.

Besides, this boy was in a very healty condition, so having 4 kidneys may be a real improving mutation.

Congratulations, Cory.
Poesy already showed her mutant powers: she rearranged your molecules transforming you into a different allotropic form: her dad.

Although as an Italian I am used to be ashamed of government, sometime I am ashamed of government as an EU citizen too.

I hope you all will act now and sign the Open Letter, as I have just done.

@DMITRI: if you click on "Sign the Open Letter" link, you will find the page to sign. Only first name, last name and email are required. Yet I have to admit that "Join the Campaign today" on top of every page is a little misleading.

I am Italian (civis romanus sum), and I have to disagree with both EIO and S*.
We pay the government to write drafts, so if the law is obscure is their fault, not mine for not having understood the semplification (btw, I like it as simple as it is, no registration at all).

In a country where you can be arrested if you refuse to show your ID (art. 651 of the Penal Code) to a public officer (policemen, but also teachers, physicians, etc...) every law sufficiently obscure should not be dismissed as a semplification, but is to be clearly perceived as an attack toward freedom of speech.