There's a "Once in a Lifetime" solar eclipse coming on Aug. 21. It will cross the country from Northwest to Southeast, and promises to be spectacular.

BUT!! Enquiring minds what to know, besides the darkening of the earth, what are the effects of such a complete eclipse? Will it change weather? Will we survive?

It indeed does affect weather in its path. Temperatures will drop anywhere from 5 to 15 degrees. And there's something called an "eclipse wind," which while far from ferocious, is still noticeable. We can understand why primitive man was terrified by eclipses.

And for newer players, a 2♣ opener can be just as terrifying. What should we do? Where can we hide?

When Pard opens 2♣, he's making the strongest possible opening bid! With very few exceptions, the question isn't "Are we going to game?" but rather "Are we going to slam?"

There are a number of treatments for responding to 2♣, but we are going to keep it simple: in order to bid anything OTHER than 2♦ (waiting), we must have 8-plus points (slam-going) AND a solid-gold suit of our own. A solid gold suit is defined as a rock of a 5-carder with three honors... many insist on the Ace being one of the honors.

So let's see if we can take the fear out of responding to this grandest of opening bids.

(BTW, Friday we'll work on opener's rebids.)