The great eclipse of 2017 was disappointing

As 1950s flame-thrower Peggy Lee used to belt out in her signature song, “Is that all there is?” That’s what I thought sitting along Washington Street during “Eclipse Day.”

Of course it didn’t help to suddenly discover that when it was time to go, my car battery had died, a perfect metaphor for a day that once had lots of electricity but it was slowly drained as the eclipse ran its course.

As I made the journey to Cheney from home in the Spokane Valley one could not help but notice an extraordinary number of jet contrails that crisscrossed the horizon to the west. Those were the only clouds in...