Total solar eclipse, a view from Montréal

                                                    Photo via Time Out Montreal 

Next week, on August 12^th, we will be witnessing a total solar eclipse. It will be visible in Greenland, Iceland, northern Spain, and small parts of Portugal and Russia. 

 

Here in Canada, we had ‘our own’ solar eclipse that took place on April 8, 2024. For that occasion, many public events were organized. Jeremy Hansen, Canadian Space Agency astronaut and Artemis II mission specialist, was present in Niagara Falls (both on the Ontario and New York sides) from April 6 to 8, 2024 and Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques was present at Parc Jean-Drapeau here in Montréal. What a truly historic event it was.   

According to https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/canada/montreal?iso=20240408 “The total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, in Montréal lasted for   2 hours and 22 minutes, with the period of complete darkness (totality) lasting 1 minute and 28 seconds at its peak. Eclipse Timeline began at 2:14 pm its maximum totality: 3:27 PM and it ended: 4:36 pm”

Radio- Canada gave us a link to 1932 Total eclipse Montreal archives https://www.facebook.com/ArchivesMontreal/posts/pfbid0mPtwaaKwJgsDspYgMdNjgn7CSXPrdNbyVHL1UFK4crECPNkZX85mScuY9iFMpEqUl

Members of Montreal Facebook group “Montreal Then and Now” took so many beautiful solar eclipse photos. If you have a chance, refer to that group (year 2024, April 8). Cover photo above was taken by Time Out Montreal.

What was special about this total eclipse is that a few days prior to it, on April 4^th, Montréal received a massive spring snow storm that left around 25 cm of snow. Fortunately, on April 8^th we had 20°C, snow melted, and it was a beautiful  sunny day.  

For the eclipse, originally, I planned to go to McGill, visit the Trottier Space observatory, and then watch the eclipse with the crowd on the main campus. As a good sociologist, I wanted to observe how do we as a crowd behave before, during, and after the eclipse.  Unfortunately, my potential study was impossible as some work kept me that day and I had to stay home.

What was left for me was to sit on my balcony, projected with a ‘panorama view’ of the main street in front of me, and to wait patiently for the sun to be eclipsed. I managed to wave to my neighbors. They were already a few hours early on their balconies with their solar glasses and a music on.   

But what a view, and what a feeling it was once the total eclipse arrived!  Sun was covered in its totality. It was dark. It was, surreal. A real night, during the day. I started filming as I wanted a “souvenir” for myself to keep as a memory. I moved my phone around, but not in the direction of our eclipsed sun, and while filming I realized that a city bus was dragged by another camion that was helping him move. What a scene it was: A solar eclipse above us and a bus slowly moving in this total darkness waiting for the light to come back so it can advance. A rare event in even rarer time.  

Three videos I managed to film, from my archives:

Video 1, during solar eclipse:   

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5nnWcdc7nro

Video 2, during solar eclipse with our city bus   

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yySGKqP3a-E

and Video 3, after solar eclipse

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/c0IBs06k-dU

 

I am eagerly looking forward to August 12^th total solar eclipse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                             

Richard Feynman

 photo via Pinterest 

C Wright Mills

 

My 2026 FIFA World Cup favorite match

 

                        My 2026 FIFA World Cup favorite match

My favorite if not, my all-time favorite match was match between England and Mexico that took place on July 5^th. Mexico’s high temperatures and humidity were not doing a great service to England. To add to all of that was the time difference between Europe and Mexico as English fans had to get up at 1am to watch the game. But what a match it was! It was a great English awakening. England played a most beautiful football I have ever seen, from them. Their dedication, energy, survival, and struggle made it into a great heroic event. It felt like watching the finals of this World Cup. As one of the anchors said, “this match made each English player few years ‘older’”. If England ever needed a reminder how great they can play, this match should be in football history books as an inspiration. 

(anchor reference FIFA World Cup England vs Mexico on TSN, cover photo via Pinterest) 

FIFA World Cup 2026, a reflection

                                             

                                FIFA World Cup 2026, a reflection

 

Every four years before the start of the FIFA World Cup I usually arrive with a bunch of questions:  Who is qualified? Is Italy playing? Will Shakira be performing this year, too?  How and in what format will national anthems be performed? How will teams adapt to each other? What colors are their jerseys? Who are team managers and now more exiting, who are the referees? And finally, will Cup Fever, a football show from Australia, be broadcasted here in Canada on YouTube?

 

For the purposes of my work, I studied this World Cup sociologically. Many sociological elements were present: Durkheim’s collective effervescence, Blumer’s symbolic interactionism and Weber’s vocation to name a few.  This year, however, I started with a self-reflecting   question: “Since when did I develop an interest in the FIFA World Cup and football in general?” A significant question having in mind that I never attended a football game in my entire life.  

 

My interest in football or soccer, whatever suits you, dates from a very early age. In my elementary school days back in New Belgrade, I had a crush on my school friend Dušan. For me, Dušan was the coolest guy on earth. Super bright, always full of energy and among many things that made him special is that Dušan played football. To get a bit closer to him, I managed during our class brakes, usually at noon, to talk with my other friend, Vladimir, with whom I shared my school table, we used to sit two per table. Vladimir introduced me to the world of FIFA World Cup, teams, players and thought me a bit about each country’s style and techniques. I learned that Italy, Spain, France, and most of the Latin America countries have somehow similar style of playing, that Hungary used to have a very impressive football team, that you can expect Germans to score a goal in few millimeters of seconds before the end of the match and that English are playing long balls stretching from one goalkeeper to the other. Coming months or so Vladimir prepared me well. I became somehow an ‘expert’ and managed during brakes to sneak in the same group with my crush Dušan. We talked about football players and we even exchanged football stickers. Moreover, I became a fan of Red Star Belgrade and every four years I cheered for Yugoslavia during FIFA World Cup.   

This 2026 World Cup was a powerful reminder of great memories and a beautiful game that brought us together through dedication, vocation and incredible energy of belonging. This inexplicable energy brough us together, with long distance cheering through different time zones and continents at the same time.

I will forever be grateful to my friend Vladimir and my dear Dušan for introducing me into football. As for my friend Dušan, he is not with us anymore as well as our beautiful country that we cheered for. Dušan died on a high school excursion, as he was going from one balcony to another. These World Cup matches reminded me of those four years of our elementary school, of my friend’s energy, brightens, commitment, vocation and his love for football. In those four years our families became closer. When I told them I had a crush on Dušan, they asked ‘why Dušan?”, my answer was “because he always comes to our classroom through the window”.

Dušan really did enter my life through that school window. May this FIFA World Cup reflection be dedicated to my dear Dušan and may this memory of him in these uncertain and unimaginable times be a guiding light. May that window be forever open.  

 (Cover photo via Pinterest) 

In honor of today's Artemis signing 🌝🚀

                                     

"Welcome to the Artemis Accords, Serbia!

Serbia has joined 68 other nations by signing the Artemis Accords, and in doing so, has committed to the safe and peaceful exploration of space "

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1335883798718985&set=a.158678573106186

FIFA WorldCup 2026 Canada

We should never forget that we were competing with giants and that it is a first time that we came on the world stage this far. Bravo and congratulations to our coach. He did a great job and I think that for his work he deserves an honorary Canadian citizenship.
(Cover photo via Pinterest)

https://x.com/CANMNT_Official/status/2073498047217037759?fbclid=IwY2xjawTUtAdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeFJzqqcSOMQOHcXBRK_PiHvD6w4HKSCgLtk9fqsAMwdcnWQRGyjz4cfsR2Fo_aem_tSraX-YJgjEWnlNX9YvVDw