Honestly, I don’t get it. I saw the total eclipse in '17 and I’ve seen a couple of partial eclipses and they weren’t particularly exciting. I live about 10 min outside of the total eclipse path and I’m not even sure I’m going to walk outside for it. What am I missing? Why are people spending thousands of dollars to see it?

Reeds would be good for something like this, you can usually find dried bamboo pretty cheap at craft stores or in the garden section in spring.

Leaded paint has been used for at least a couple thousand years. Even if it doesn’t have lead wood has to be sealed against moisture so any old furniture will have something on it and probably not more food safe options like a vegetable based oil or beeswax because those wear off more quickly and have to be reapplied fairly regularly. I would expect a form of lacquer before the mid 1900s and poly after that.

I commented that I wanted to move Discovery out of main cannon a few days ago. It was controversial but the comment is still there and it has positive karma.