© Meredith Wilse / Kentucky New EraA painter works on a mural to commemorate Hopkinsville, Ky., as "Eclipseville."
It looks like an ordinary Nebraska cornfield, but Louis Dorland sees something more: an ideal place to observe the Great American Eclipse.
The horizon extends for miles to the west and the east, with few obstructions to mar the view. It's just a two-hour drive from his home in the Omaha suburbs, but because it's deep in the country, he figures the area won't be packed with skywatchers on the big day.
Dorland spent an entire day scouting locations in search of a quiet spot to spend about 2 1/2 unforgettable minutes, when day will eerily give way to night. The tricky part was making sure the guy who owned the cornfield wouldn't mind Dorland's setting up his binoculars and picnic blanket on the side of his property.
With some trepidation, the retired IT worker hopped out of his minivan and approached the farmer steering a green tractor near the side of the road.
"I was worried he might not be pleasant about it, but he was absolutely fine," said Dorland, who expressed his thanks by offering the farmer several pairs of paper eclipse glasses to share with his family.
Comment: The ISIS mentality can be found in any culture. Sometimes it's just further beneath the surface. A relatively small percentage of every population are more animal than they are human: sadists, psychopaths. And they just happen to be the ones who radicalize political activist movements, left and right.