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What It Looks Like When You Fry Your Eye In An Eclipse (npr.org)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: Doctors in New York say a woman in her 20s came in three days after looking at the Aug. 21 eclipse without protective glasses. She had peeked several times, for about six seconds, when the sun was only partially covered by the moon. Four hours later, she started experiencing blurred and distorted vision and saw a central black spot in her left eye. The doctors studied her eyes with several different imaging technologies, described in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology, and were able to observe the damage at the cellular level.

"We were very surprised at how precisely concordant the imaged damage was with the crescent shape of the eclipse itself," noted Dr. Avnish Deobhakta, an assistant professor of ophthalmology at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine, in an email to NPR. He says this was the most severely injured patient they saw after the eclipse. All in all, 22 people came to their urgent care clinic with concerns about possible eclipse-related damage, and most of them complained of blurred vision. Of those, only three showed some degree of abnormality in the retina. Two of them had only mild changes, however, and their symptoms have gone away. The young woman described in this case report, at last check, still has not recovered normal vision.
For your viewing pleasure, The Verge has embedded several images of the woman's retinas in their report.

135 comments

  1. "I know what I'm doing!" by rmdingler · · Score: 1

    Trust the folks who attempt to give you sage advice with no advantage to them. Ever have the misfortune of looking too long at a the arc of a welder's flash?

    The funny thing is, funny strange not funny ha-ha, that it takes several hours to really pay dividends.

    Yes indeed, battery acid and prayers to a God you didn't believe in this morning, either.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

    1. Re: "I know what I'm doing!" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      When I was learning welding the instructor constantly repeated the warnings. We discussed safety at the start of the day and multiple times throughout the lessons.

      Then one day, we had a new member, we had no safety instruction. I thought it was a little off and privately asked if he was going to go over the safety list.

      He said, "Nah, new guy there thinks I don't know he is banging my wife."

      Well it didn't take very long before he crushed the guys head in a vice. He was a big dude and with all of that rage we couldn't stop him. I just thought we were going to blind him and casually handed him regular sun glasses.

    2. Re:"I know what I'm doing!" by Tablizer · · Score: 2

      If people believe climate scientists are full of it, then they'll likely also question astronomer warnings, and do it.

    3. Re:"I know what I'm doing!" by rmdingler · · Score: 1

      Perhaps it's true we can't learn some things from the experiences of others.

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    4. Re:"I know what I'm doing!" by FudRucker · · Score: 2

      i worked in the oil field for a few years and yeah, you dont even have to look at the arc of a welder's work, it just has to be exposed to your eye from a few yards away and you dont notice it until after you went to bed that night, you wake up in the middle of the night feeling like your eyes have had sand rubbed in them

      --
      Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
    5. Re: "I know what I'm doing!" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That escalated quickly...

    6. Re:"I know what I'm doing!" by Tablizer · · Score: 2

      "I didn'th do it, Thee-En-En puthed the pole into my moufth, belieth me! Thotally thake newth!"

    7. Re:"I know what I'm doing!" by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      This. A million times this.

      "I won't let some egghead tell me what to do".

      And then come whining for science to repair your stupidity. No. Fuck it. You get told time and time again to not do something, you still do it, live with it. Or die from it. Either is fine with me. Please get out of the gene pool.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    8. Re:"I know what I'm doing!" by RightwingNutjob · · Score: 0, Troll

      Then maybe, just maybe, all the global warming nutters, socialists, gun grabbers, new age tree huggers, and most of everyone past the first few letters of LGBTQ?%# are doing society an enormous disservice by continually and obnoxiously screaming about how Science Is On Their Side. I can't count how many times some leftie has told me "the science backs me up on this" and whenever I bothered to look into said "science" it was, at best, an opinion poll and abuse of statistics, but usually just a bunch of drivel in a vanity journal.

      The "Stanford Study Predicts No More Cars In Ten Years" sort of thing goes very high on that list. People used to claim God was on their side when they put their hands in your pockets. Now they claim Science is on their side. Fewer people believe in God than they used to after society at large got wise to those sorts of shenanigans. The atheists are happy, the self-described Skeptics and "Brights" are thrilled. But the hucksters (some of the aforementioned Skeptics included) have moved on to science as the new God, but there ain't no free lunch. Just like overreaching by religious hucksters backfired in that fewer people believe in God, or in absolute morality as derived from god, just like overreaching socialists gave Britain Brexit, is it any wonder more people are skeptical about capital-S Science?

    9. Re:"I know what I'm doing!" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Luthers!

    10. Re:"I know what I'm doing!" by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      Luthers!

      Actually, I'm Prethbyterian.

    11. Re:"I know what I'm doing!" by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      That'th nothing. I'm an Athropothophical Ethoterithitht.

    12. Re: "I know what I'm doing!" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Politics is the new religion.

      It's a big social event for the retarded. I suspect I'm using that term correctly because the at rest IQ rating is fairly low these days.

    13. Re:"I know what I'm doing!" by Tablizer · · Score: 0

      whenever I bothered to look into said "science" it was, at best, an opinion poll and abuse of statistics, but usually just a bunch of drivel in a vanity journal.

      I'm not a climate expert by any stretch, but I have spent a good amount of time looking at creationist claims against evolution, and found all kinds of logical fallacies, cherry-picking, word-play, and other mental misdeeds by creationists.

      The same people often deny climate change. Sorry, righties lost cred with me. Marketing is your thing, not logic. You are good at short catchy-sounding slogans and memes, but they don't add up when dissected.

    14. Re:"I know what I'm doing!" by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      That much spitting is a health hazard, ya know

    15. Re: "I know what I'm doing!" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So your instructor went to prison for murder?

      No bitch is worth that and there are plenty of other bitches out there.

    16. Re:"I know what I'm doing!" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I remember doing that. I was renting an apartment that faced another set of apartments with a cast iron outdoor staircase. I'm sitting at my computer desk in the corner of the room. All of a sudden there's a strange brilliant flickering light filling my room. I look out my window to see what was going on and it's a welder working on the staircase.

    17. Re:"I know what I'm doing!" by Wootery · · Score: 1

      ...what?

    18. Re:"I know what I'm doing!" by tehcyder · · Score: 0, Troll

      "I won't let some egghead tell me what to do".

      This results in Brexit and Trump.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    19. Re:"I know what I'm doing!" by bev_tech_rob · · Score: 1

      Trust the folks who attempt to give you sage advice with no advantage to them. Ever have the misfortune of looking too long at a the arc of a welder's flash?

      The funny thing is, funny strange not funny ha-ha, that it takes several hours to really pay dividends.

      Yes indeed, battery acid and prayers to a God you didn't believe in this morning, either.

      To quote Forrest Gump, "Stupid is as stupid does".

      --
      You're messin' with my Zen Thing, man.....
    20. Re:"I know what I'm doing!" by Agripa · · Score: 1

      i worked in the oil field for a few years and yeah, you dont even have to look at the arc of a welder's work, it just has to be exposed to your eye from a few yards away and you dont notice it until after you went to bed that night, you wake up in the middle of the night feeling like your eyes have had sand rubbed in them

      That is a different problem. Traveling across a landscape covered in snow or spending all day outdoors without shielding your eyes can cause the same thing. Extended exposure to UV can sunburn the sclera (outside part of the eye) yielding the sandpaper feeling.

    21. Re: "I know what I'm doing!" by cthulhu11 · · Score: 1

      Not if the new guy was black.

    22. Re:"I know what I'm doing!" by sysrammer · · Score: 1

      Interesting. Just curious, is there a safe distance away from the arc so a sidelong glance does not cause an issue?

      --
      His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
  2. Ghoulish by Zaelath · · Score: 0

    There's no general news value in this, scientific possibly, but this is not news and that 'reporter' from the Verge has probably done stupid things for a lot longer than 6 seconds in her time.

    1. Re:Ghoulish by rtb61 · · Score: 3, Informative

      There is geek/nerd psychological interest in this. Take it from the viewpoint of under standers looking at the world of believers, the look before you leap crowd vs the hesitate and lose. That itself is an interesting study in social genetics, how a society produces both, to solve social problems ie a problem presents itself and there is a believe structure to solve that 'style' of problem, the believers jump in without hesitation and try their luck with their belief, succeed and quick solution, fail and well, they are dead and the under standers who seek to understand the problem and understand the range of solutions to the range of problems within that style of problem, then work out a solution. That catch for under standers, they could perish, whilst they are attempt to properly understand and solve the problem, that could have been solved believers using a belief that happened to work.

      From an under standers point of view, believers look really immature, those kids who you could never tell to not run with scissors as adults still running with scissors, well, at least until the trip and stab themselves once and how now created a belief on why it is bad to run with scissors. Those individuals will never look at the sun again without protective eye wear.

      Social genetics at work, we evolve as a species and as a society not upon an individual basis. It's like saying psychopaths are really competitive but too many and they collapse the entire society and everyone dies out, including the psychopaths genes. The story is not news, it is an interesting idea to explore and understand. The empty main stream media news style is for believers, people who can and will believe anything, independent news and more importantly news analysis is for under standers because we need to understand how those morons work, else we are the ones those dumb fuckers burn at the stake or cut off our heads based upon idiotic beliefs, as in the past, so watch out for the future (how many of you want the apostate arseholes of the house of Saud ruling over you, would you be able to resist calling them a pack of egoistic shit heads and demand they be thrown out of power and punished for their crimes).

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    2. Re:Ghoulish by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      under standers

      You mean voyeurs?

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    3. Re:Ghoulish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Consider the analogies. I would bet that, for a few hours after looking at the eclipse, this person was probably laughing at the people who warn against stuff like that: "hah, so-called experts said not to, but I did, and look at me - I'm fine!" right until her sight started to go bad. Compare that with repeat drunk drivers: "hah, don't listen to the so-called experts, I've been driving drunk for years, never had an accident!" Or the anti-vacc crowd. Or the climate-change deniers.

      For some people the only way to learn is to experience negative consequences. That's fine if the consequences only affect you (don't look at the eclipse without glasses), not so dandy when others suffer as a result (don't drunk drive, vaccinate your kids, support action to curb co2 emmissions).

    4. Re:Ghoulish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd say there's value in cautionary tales. Then again, if every relevant organization on the planet says 'Don't do Stupid Thing X or Bad Thing Y will happen' and you're the sort to do Stupid Thing X anyway, news about Bad Thing Y probably isn't going to dissuade you anyway.

    5. Re:Ghoulish by lordlod · · Score: 5, Funny

      A simple story that I think is an easier to understand explanation of the variety in risk tolerance.

      I was fortunate enough to spend some time in Antarctica. Part of this time was minding a fuel hose about 10cm high, and I observed several groups of penguins negotiate the hose.

      A pack of twenty would waddle along and hit the obstacle of the hose. They walk up and down along it a bit to see if they can get around.

      Then two penguins jump the hose and walk on.

      The rest of the pack, observing that those two are ok quickly jump over and continue on their way.

      Except for three, who hesitate for some reason. They walk up and down again, they get increasingly agitated as the pack gets further away. Two eventually jump over. The last is running up and down the line, freaking out at being left behind and eventually trips and falls over the hose. Picks itself up and sprints after the pack.

      Penguins display the same basic behaviour when confronted with any obstacle, like a group of people playing tourist or jumping into leopard seal infested water.

      I never saw one stupid enough to stare into the sun though.

    6. Re:Ghoulish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Russian icebreaker ship crews have a story about the time they had to use explosives to clear a path through the ice. They drilled into the ice and planted explosives. Then they attached red detonation cord to those explosives and then retreated to a safe distance. Meanwhile a group of penguins curious about these new objects started exploring around them. Suddenly, there's a whoosh of ice and water as the explosives go off. Seconds later there are penguins flying hundreds of feet in every direction followed by plopping sounds as they fall back into the water.

  3. What a dummy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But I'm sorry the lady ruined her vision.

  4. Tough Luck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I got a couple quick glances at the eclipse, but thankfully my optometrist reported back that my retinas were completely fine. Earlier he had to treat a couple that got high and decided to watch the eclipse without protection and now they're blind.

    1. Re:Tough Luck by SumDog · · Score: 0

      I call bullshit. There is no way you could stare at the sun and go blind. First, the pain would be immense. You'd have to be high on tons of morphine.

      Second, you can't go blind. If you started at an eclipse, you'd burn a pinprick hole and get a permanent black spot in your rods and cones. It's a very focused beam (really what happened to this girl if you look at the photographs).

    2. Re: Tough Luck by hecksagon · · Score: 1

      The back of the eye has no pain receptors.

    3. Re:Tough Luck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're an idiot.

      The eclipse eliminates the intensity of visible light that makes it hurt to look at the sun, so the pain isn't there. It doesn't eliminate the damaging UV rays that burn into your retinas.

      Staring long enough can absolutely make someone blind.

    4. Re: Tough Luck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then how come it hurts to look at the sun? The pain receptors on nerves may not be there but the brain interprets the intense change in light as pain. And it causes pain in nearby nerves that DO exist.

      Its nearly impossible to go blind from looking at the sun, unless someone tapes your eyes open and leaves you outside for the whole day.

      Read about Isaac Newton's experiments - he did go color-blind in one eye eventually losing sight when experimenting by looking at the sun but eventually....he recovered.

    5. Re:Tough Luck by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      Interesting. I'm not dumb enough to try looking at the sun without eclipse glasses, but I assumed it would hurt.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  5. Don't be a retard. Don't look directly at the sun by SensitiveMale · · Score: 1

    Why do people do this?

  6. Re:Don't be a retard. Don't look directly at the s by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

    Why do people do this?

    If you put a button on the wall, most people will ignore it.

    If you then put up a big sign that says "Don't push this button" it will be pushed much more often,

  7. Oh well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    DIY LASIK fail.

  8. Must be rare by Kohath · · Score: 1

    If it took this long to find a case of this and write a story about it.

    1. Re:Must be rare by Idarubicin · · Score: 1

      If it took this long to find a case of this and write a story about it.

      Two things:

      Hopefully it is rare, because hopefully most people followed instructions and stayed safe. And some of those who didn't probably managed to be lucky near-misses. (Ahem, Mr. President.)

      It actually wasn't very long at all for a scientific article to come out. Publication of peer-reviewed journal articles has a much more measured pace. Consider--the eclipse was on 21 August, and the paper briefly discusses the results of a six-week follow-up visit. (That would be around 2 October.) The paper was accepted for publication on 18 October, a couple of weeks later. That's a fairly brisk turnaround for manuscript submission, peer review, final revisions, and editorial acceptance. The next few weeks get eaten up by layout and proofreading, which brings us to the final version of the paper going live this week.

      --
      ~Idarubicin
  9. Trump by Corporate+Gadfly · · Score: 2

    Trump looking at the eclipse with no protection on his eyes.
    http://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam...

    --
    Corporate Gadfly
    Jonathan Archer: the most beaten up Enterprise captain in Star Trek history
    1. Re:Trump by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      If ever there were a need for a large bird with diarrhea...

    2. Re:Trump by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Funny

      Trump looking at the eclipse with no protection on his eyes.

      The one that really gave me a laugh was the one where he's looking at the eclipse and pointing to it, in case any of the White House staff forgot that the sun is in the sky and doesn't shine out of his ass.

      https://timedotcom.files.wordp...

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    3. Re:Trump by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Whew, I was afraid for a moment a thread that has nothing to do with Trump would suffer no mention of him.

      God bless you, sir.

    4. Re:Trump by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Now post the one where he's using tinted glasses

    5. Re:Trump by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      One must never miss an opportunity to point out Evil.

      A wise man once said "All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

      Unfortunately, these days, in America, I see an awfull lot of good men doing an awfull lot of nothing.

    6. Re:Trump by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      One must never miss an opportunity to point out Evil

      That particular incident was not evil, but rather pure unadulterated stupidity.

    7. Re:Trump by SumDog · · Score: 1

      For like 2 seconds.

      Yea I think the guy is an idiot too, but don't stup to mentioning every little thing like this. I'm sure you can find plenty of examples where Obama did the same.

    8. Re: Trump by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

      See my sig for the modern version of that quote, at least as applied to politics.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    9. Re:Trump by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For like 2 seconds.

      His entire attention span. Even his defense secretary says he has the mind of a kindergartener.

      Yea I think the guy is an idiot too, but don't stup to mentioning every little thing like this. I'm sure you can find plenty of examples where Obama did the same.

      Show us pictures of Obama looking at a solar eclipse with no eye protection and pointing at it.

    10. Re:Trump by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Which can be fully as dangerous.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  10. Irony Award is also in the mail by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    "Dammit, I can't read my Darwin Award!"

  11. What does this have to do with bitcoin? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bitcoin. Bitcoin! BITCOIN!

    1. Re:What does this have to do with bitcoin? by Mr0bvious · · Score: 2

      The energy required to damage this retina would have been enough to generate 0.0000001 BTC

      Fixed.

      --
      Never happened. True story.
    2. Re: What does this have to do with bitcoin? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It has *everything* to do with Bitcoin for all of us who are experiencing the butthurt of not getting some coinage then selling that shit today.

      Basically we've all been blinded by the eclipse of bullshit orbiting around the almighty Bitcoin. When we blink we see a halo of wallet addresses we wish were ours.

  12. Re:Don't be a retard. Don't look directly at the s by Tablizer · · Score: 0

    If you then put up a big sign that says "Don't push this button" it will be pushed much more often

    That's a little disconcerting.

  13. Denial by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sixty seconds is probably more accurate.

  14. Happened to me by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

    I burned my retina right in the center of both eyes. I have to look out of the corners of my eyes to see anything.

    1. Re:Happened to me by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      So it's like a pervasive SEP field covering the whole universe?

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
  15. TFA said she looked at 70% coverage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I got nervous as hell when I accidentally looked at the "diamond ring", and I quickly turned away as if it was full sunlight. I knew it was no more dangerous than glancing at the sun under normal conditions, less so actually, but it's been drummed into our heads not to look at anything other than totality. In fact, the drumming is so loud I've heard some poor people were convinced they couldn't even look at totality. That's a shame; but it's better to have a few of those than more of these.

  16. Re:Don't be a retard. Don't look directly at the s by MrKaos · · Score: 1, Troll
    Doctors in New York say a woman in her 20s came in three days after looking at the Aug. 21 eclipse without protective glasses. She had peeked several times, for about six seconds, when the sun was only partially covered by the moon.

    Why do people do this?

    Because women like that generally say Don't tell me what to do. I think they think it's something to do with the patriarchy.

    --
    My ism, it's full of beliefs.
  17. Six seconds. Or maybe longer. by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Worth pointing out:

    "She had peeked several times, for about six seconds, when the sun was only partially covered by the moon."

    Uh, note that's what she said she did. We don't actually know how long she looked at the sun; she almost certainly underplayed how stupid she was when she talked to the doctor, since people usually do.

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
    1. Re:Six seconds. Or maybe longer. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, I'm pretty sure I saw more than 6 seconds without proper glasses. When I was a little kid, my mother told me not to stare into the sun. So once when I was six, I did. I used to stare into the sun a lot.

    2. Re:Six seconds. Or maybe longer. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The human eye is pretty good at defocusing a bit and using saccades to prevent damage from the sun when there is a lot of light. The problem is it is kind of like the autobalancing on a camera: it works with kind of an average value over some area of vision. So if there is a large source of brightness, that is fine, but if there is a small pinpoint of brightness, not so much. There is easily an order of magnitude difference in power density between a properly focused image on the retina and one that is a bit out of focus.

      This applies to laser safety too: if the laser has short pulses that are faster than the eye's defenses can move the eye, it is more likely to do damage. If the wavelength is out of the range that triggers the eye's defenses, it is more dangerous. If the wavelength is far enough from visible that the eye no longer focuses it well, it is safer.

    3. Re:Six seconds. Or maybe longer. by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Does it matter? She was told not to do it. She was informed what will happen when she does it. She decided she knows better than those that actually learn a thing about the whole matter.

      She made her decision.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    4. Re:Six seconds. Or maybe longer. by RightwingNutjob · · Score: 5, Informative

      Save your flat-Earth conspiracy for another site, comrade. Everyone knows the world ended on December 21, 2012. The flat Earth we think we see if just a hologram to cover up the fact that the real flat Earth was destroyed by a stampede of cosmic elephants incited by one of them turtles a couple dozen levels down.

    5. Re: Six seconds. Or maybe longer. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah but she said peeked 6 seconds multiple times.

      What kinda idiot plays peekaboo with the sun?

    6. Re:Six seconds. Or maybe longer. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, I'm pretty sure I saw more than 6 seconds without proper glasses. When I was a little kid, my mother told me not to stare into the sun.

      Not during an eclipse though. The part of the eclipse just before totality is the most dangerous part, your pupils will open right up due to the lower light levels.

    7. Re:Six seconds. Or maybe longer. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is bollocks. If the amount of light entering your eye is enough to damage it, you will experience immediate pain and close your eye. The woman is OBVIOUSLY lying, and how typical of Climatedot- sorry - 'Slashdot' - to blindly repeat the claims of an idiot without thinking about the validity of them.

    8. Re:Six seconds. Or maybe longer. by Godwin+O'Hitler · · Score: 1

      When I was I guess about 13, there was a partial solar eclipse. One of my classmates pointed it out to us. I'm not sure how long we gazed at it but it was minutes rather than seconds. It didn't seem to noticeably harm anyone. Maybe it's a question of age.

      --
      No, your children are not the special ones. Nor are your pets.
    9. Re:Six seconds. Or maybe longer. by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      Everyone knows the world ended on December 21, 2012. The flat Earth we think we see if just a hologram to cover up

      Reminds me of all the hacks done around this place to cover up stupid mistakes. I imagine Dilbertian principles exist in the paranormal realm also.

    10. Re:Six seconds. Or maybe longer. by sysrammer · · Score: 1

      Not during an eclipse though. The part of the eclipse just before totality is the most dangerous part, your pupils will open right up due to the lower light levels.

      QFT here. One thing I noticed is all the news sites were saying "don't do it". Well, to many humans, that's like putting up a "Don't press me" button. Somebody with simian curiosity is going to do it.

      It may have been helpful (for a few at least), if besides the appropriate warnings, to have included explanation of just why it is bad; f'rinstance, as you stated, why it is worse during an eclipse.

      --
      His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
    11. Re:Six seconds. Or maybe longer. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey look, Ivan learned a new word.

  18. Re:Don't be a retard. Don't look directly at the s by Kjella · · Score: 1

    Don't be a retard. Don't look directly at the sun. Why do people do this?

    Because more than 22/8.5 million (population of New York) are retards. Consider this, to be a Mensa member you must have a top 2% IQ. If you took all the Mensa members and took the top 2%, you'd have something like the best of the best (0.04%). If you took the top 2% of those again, you'd have freaking super-geniuses (0,0008%). In New York you'd have ~68 of them. Those equally far on the other end of the scale stare into the sun.

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  19. The Science of Magnifying Glass by n329619 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Perhaps she and those who did it should have tried to experiment with a magnifying glass before any attempt to stare at the sun. You might have tried this before when you were little.

    If the magnifying glass started showing smoke on whatever it is focused in 6 seconds, staring at the sun at the time for the same duration could surely do the same to the eye.

    1. Re:The Science of Magnifying Glass by cyn1c77 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Perhaps she and those who did it should have tried to experiment with a magnifying glass before any attempt to stare at the sun. You might have tried this before when you were little.

      If the magnifying glass started showing smoke on whatever it is focused in 6 seconds, staring at the sun at the time for the same duration could surely do the same to the eye.

      What?!?!

      You're saying that a 100-mm-diameter high-magnification lens has the same light gathering power as a 2-mm-diameter pupil?

      Is this a new form of science?

    2. Re:The Science of Magnifying Glass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, if you focus light through a 2mm diameter pupil onto a water-cooled surface, that will certainly have the same effect as when you use a big lens to incinerate something dry. I get what you're trying to say, but don't say it like that.

    3. Re:The Science of Magnifying Glass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I live in Houston, TX; close to the equator for a major US city. There's a reason you don't water plants and grass on high noon in the summertime on a clear day. After the water droplets evaporate, wherever they were, brown spots form. They're liquid magnifying glasses!!!!

    4. Re:The Science of Magnifying Glass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I live in Houston, TX; close to the equator for a major US city. There's a reason you don't water plants and grass on high noon in the summertime on a clear day. After the water droplets evaporate, wherever they were, brown spots form. They're liquid magnifying glasses!!!!

      This has been disproved many times. And I live in Austin, where we aren't covered in cloud and haze most of the day like Houston.

  20. Re:Don't be a retard. Don't look directly at the s by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sir Isaac Newton stared into the sun a lot.

  21. Re:Don't be a retard. Don't look directly at the s by sysrammer · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sir Isaac Newton stared into the sun a lot.

    Yeah, and now he's dead!

    --
    His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
  22. Re:Don't be a retard. Don't look directly at the s by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thank GOD he invented calculus BEFORE he died!

  23. What Payne Said She Did . . . by Kunedog · · Score: 4, Insightful
    . . . according to CNN, anyway:
    http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/07/...

    Watching the celestial event outside her boyfriend's workplace, she noticed the changes around her, as it looked like dusk during the day. Payne looked up at the sun with her naked eye for a few seconds, but it was too bright.

    She approached a woman nearby and asked whether she could borrow her glasses. The woman did not appear interested in viewing the eclipse and said she was "blind as a bat anyway." She told Payne she had borrowed them from a friend and agreed to let Payne use them.

    Payne put on the glasses and looked up at the partial eclipse for 15 to 20 seconds. She didn't know what eclipse glasses were supposed to look like, but she remembered that the sun seemed particularly bright -- like looking at it with sunglasses on.

    "But it didn't bother me, because I thought it would be a great experience to catch a solar eclipse the proper way," Payne told CNN.

    She removed the glasses, returned them to the woman and left.

    Six hours later, Payne noticed a weird dark spot in the center of her vision. She told her friends and family, but they told her to wait a day. After all, everyone had been outside looking up at the sun, and it was normal to feel "weird."

    The next day, Payne lost vision in the center of her left eye.

    So "a few seconds" is six, according to TFS. The borrowed glasses story sounds exactly like something someone would make up to shift blame from themselves, but we'll never know for sure. Besides, she admits she only sought glasses after staring at the sun bare-eyed proved "too bright."

    So far, it's a nightmare, and sometimes it makes me very sad when I close my eyes and see it," Payne said. "It's embarrassing. People will assume I was just one of those people who stared blankly at the sun or didn't check the person with the glasses.

    She is literally "one of those people," as she stared at the sun. She then borrowed glasses she couldn't verify as safe. I don't know what it means to "check the person with the glasses" but the fact that they were already blind might have been a red flag.

    1. Re:What Payne Said She Did . . . by sysrammer · · Score: 1

      "but the fact that they were already blind might have been a red flag."
      Ha! that's worth an insightful mod right there.

      --
      His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
  24. Re:Watch an eclipse or two by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can you get a gyroscope to show rotation of the Earth?

    Yes, easily. Even the name comes from that use: gyro = rotation, scope=see. You just need a crappy but heavy (1+ kg) education grade one, a protractor, and 5-15 minutes depending on how big of a gyroscope you found.

  25. Re:Watch an eclipse or two by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can you post a link to one for sale?

    The gyroscope was named be Leon Foucault, who claimed he saw it move. Unfortunately, it seems to be an experiment of dubious reproducibility. So the name may be a misnomer.

  26. Re:Watch an eclipse or two by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "You just need a crappy but heavy (1+ kg) education grade one"

    My high school had one that was probably several pounds in weight and looked decades old, but designed to run on air power. A hose provided air to the stand, and there was a hollow ball and socket like joint that could pivot while carrying air to the heavy disc and keep it spinning. Once that thing got going, it was hard to tilt or mess up from shaking, and over the course of a class you could easily see it had moved.

    I don't know what is a bigger shame, that people would argue about such a basic, testable thing, or that their schools were too poor to have shown them such a simple, clear demonstration

  27. Re:Don't be a retard. Don't look directly at the s by iggymanz · · Score: 1

    no, he did an interesting experiment on himself in his 20s and suffered temporary damage, mild solar scotoma

  28. Re:Watch an eclipse or two by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    In that case I'm confident you'll be able to explain why certain stars are only visible from Australia and others from Europe. Or why a plane flight from Paris to New York takes about 8 hours Johannesburg to Perth takes only 9 hours when it should take at the very least twice or thrice as long on a flat earth.

    So far nobody answered either question, so I'm really curious to hear the explanation.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  29. Re:Watch an eclipse or two by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well, I am very eager to see one, and then I'm very eager to turn it upside, and/or power it in reverse, and make sure it still rotates the right way, and that it isn't just badly constructed.

    The only shame is that nobody is talking about this, if it can be done so simply.

    captcha: inquirer

  30. I had a signature long time ago that stated... by Kekke · · Score: 1

    Do NOT look at the laser with the remaining good eye !!!

    ---
    Absolut Darwin Awards stuff this one

    1. Re:I had a signature long time ago that stated... by Woodmeister · · Score: 1

      And it was this signature I immediately thought of when I read the headline! Good times, good times...

      --

      Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati
      -Possum Lodge Motto
  31. For those who didn't RTF JAMA A by Solandri · · Score: 4, Informative

    The NPR article is incorrect. She only looked at the sun without glasses for a few seconds. She found that uncomfortable. A woman nearby had eclipse viewing glasses but wasn't viewing the eclipse because she said she was blind as a bat anyway. So she asked to borrow the glasses.

    She then viewed the sun for 15-20 seconds through those glasses, which they suspect is when the damage occurred. The glasses were probably fakes which didn't block all the rays of the sun. So this isn't a story about an idiot staring at the sun without glasses and destroying her vision as the NPR article implies. It's a story about some evil person destroying someone else's vision for life just so they could make a quick buck.

    (Though I suppose it's possible she really is an idiot and made the whole thing up to hide her embarrassment.)

    1. Re:For those who didn't RTF JAMA A by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      First it does not say the other person had eclipse glasses, it said the the person had dark glasses. And the sun was still bright when using them!

      She is the one who took the stupid risks.

      When I went to see the same eclipse I knew there were fake glasses on the market. so I did a simple test of the glasses before looking at the sun.

    2. Re:For those who didn't RTF JAMA A by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My Eyes! The goggles do nothing!

      captcha: cliche

    3. Re:For those who didn't RTF JAMA A by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Does the eclipse magnify or something? 6 seconds is extremely short. Even 30 seconds is somewhat short. You would think if staring at the sun for such a short time caused such significant damage it would be a far more common and widely known problem.

    4. Re:For those who didn't RTF JAMA A by swillden · · Score: 1

      Does the eclipse magnify or something? 6 seconds is extremely short. Even 30 seconds is somewhat short. You would think if staring at the sun for such a short time caused such significant damage it would be a far more common and widely known problem.

      It does cause significant damage and it is a widely-known problem. But the sun puts out enough light that we reflexively close our eyes or look away. During an eclipse, the total volume of light is greatly reduced, which defeats much of our automatic self-defense. However, the sliver of sun that remains has the same intensity as the whole thing, meaning it does the same damage as staring at the whole sun, just in a smaller region.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
  32. Re:Don't be a retard. Don't look directly at the s by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Amazing. Simply amazing that you dullards will bring up the President no matter what the topic is.

  33. Re:Don't be a retard. Don't look directly at the s by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If one tries to defy all the rules of society (i.e. rules set by "Patriarchy", those Feminist types said) and common sense, sooner or later they will become subjects to laws of physics and realities of social life.

  34. Re:Watch an eclipse or two by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nope, not concerned. I'm focused on only two main questions: Does the Earth move, and is it a sphere. Many things suggest the answer could be no to both.

  35. she deserved it by schematix · · Score: 1

    Even with the glasses, the amount of light that came in from around the frame of the glasses was painful. I had to wrap my hands around the glasses to even be able to look up. I couldn't imagine looking at the sun for even a millisecond. This girl was obviously on something besides just stupidity. Seeing totality for more than 2 minutes was one of the neatest sensory experiences in my life. Looking forward to the next one in a few years.

    --
    Scott
    1. Re:she deserved it by kenai_alpenglow · · Score: 1

      I used some not-good-enough welding glass. I knew it wasn't dark enough so only did it for a quick glance--it was still painful enough not to want to stare at it. Much easier on the eyes to look at the shadows on the ground. And more impressive--didn't expect crescent shadows.

    2. Re:she deserved it by sysrammer · · Score: 1

      I like to look at the shadows of the eclipse shining through the leaves of a tree. Depending on the tree, you'll get dozens of little crescent shadows on the ground. Safer, and prettier.

      --
      His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
  36. I know exactly what it looks like... by argStyopa · · Score: 1

    ...it looks like you're an idiot.

    --
    -Styopa
  37. Re:Don't be a retard. Don't look directly at the s by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And the dog door.

  38. Re:Don't be a retard. Don't look directly at the s by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That might have been amazing back in, say, the early 90s, when getting online generally required above-average intelligence.

    These days every idiot with a phone can get on.

    And they do. They all do.

  39. Re:Watch an eclipse or two by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    That's amazing. You're sincere. You aren't tolling.

    The power of the human mind to reject objectivity and only see the world in ways that reinforce their existing world-views is astounding.

    You aren't just stupid, you are uncompromisingly stupid. And your stupidity is making you a danger to others.

  40. Re:Watch an eclipse or two by dgatwood · · Score: 1

    The Earth is definitely not a sphere. It is, however, a spheroid. As for whether the Earth moves, it depends on your frame of reference. :-D

    --

    Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

  41. April 8, 2024 by cstacy · · Score: 1
    WARNING: Do Not Look At Eclipse With Remaining Eye

    Think of it as evolution in action...

  42. Re:Don't be a retard. Don't look directly at the s by MrKaos · · Score: 1

    I wonder if I'd be troll for saying:

    Because men like that say I know what I'm doing. They think they know everything.

    This is not about men and women, it's about the self entitled brat that my wife would call a stupid bitch because even when she was told not to look into the sun, she did. Doesn't mean all women, doesn't mean there isn't a male version. Interesting how some people project their insecurities into what they read and try to find a reason to be offended by the simplest explanation about what happened.

    --
    My ism, it's full of beliefs.
  43. Re:Watch an eclipse or two by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Not even willing to defend your position? Ok, checked off as troll, moving on to the next flat earther.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  44. Looking at Sun, not the eclipse, fried her eyes. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

    What fried her eyes was the looking at the Sun. Sun will fry your eyes faster if there is no eclipse.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  45. And people wonder by p51d007 · · Score: 1

    Why commercials have so many warning labels and disclaimers on them?

  46. If only by scradam · · Score: 0

    If only staring at the sun could fry the reproductive organs instead of the eyes.

  47. Re:Watch an eclipse or two by tsqr · · Score: 1

    Can you get a gyroscope to show rotation of the Earth?

    Yes, easily. Even the name comes from that use: gyro = rotation, scope=see. You just need a crappy but heavy (1+ kg) education grade one, a protractor, and 5-15 minutes depending on how big of a gyroscope you found.

    A flat-earther will just point out that a crappy but heavy gyroscope has enough mass unbalance to precess, irrespective of the earth's rotation.

    On the other hand, a high-precision navigation-grade gryo will quite easily measure earth rate. If the spin axis of the gyro is pointed toward the center of the earth, you will see 15.04 * cos(latitude) degrees/hour about the north/south level axis and 15.04 * sin(latitude) degrees/hour about the east/west axis.

  48. Re:Don't be a retard. Don't look directly at the s by iggymanz · · Score: 1

    Lieibniz also invented it, and his superior notation made it much more useful

  49. I stared, too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I stared at a total lunar eclipse. Damaged my lunatical nerve.

  50. mostly reversible by doctorvo · · Score: 1

    If you read the literature, most eye damage from viewing solar eclipses is temporary and heals within 6 months. There are cases reported of suspected permanent loss in acuity, but they are rare and it's unclear whether there can be attributed to the solar exposure alone:

    This is the largest nationwide study of the visual effects of a solar eclipse ever undertaken. There were no recorded cases of permanent visual loss, which corroborates the previous evidence that visual morbidity is likely to be temporary. It would appear probable that public health education was most effective in reducing visual morbidity and hence keeping the consequent burden on the NHS to a minimum.

    The upshot is: don't look at the sun directly and use protective eye wear when viewing solar eclipses, but also don't sensationalize the effects with terms like "frying your eyes" and don't panic.

  51. Re: Watch an eclipse or two by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Many navigation gyroscopes have a mechanism to reorient relative to gravity on slower, minute timescales to stop precession from building up during turns. The result is they don't maintain orientation relative to the stars, and instead maintain orientation relative to local gravity.

    A heavy, large gyroscope is simpler. If the droop rate varies with speed, it is a balance or friction problem. If you notice it keeps dropping at the same rate regardless of speed...

  52. Minutes [Re:Six seconds. Or maybe longer.] by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 1

    When I was I guess about 13, there was a partial solar eclipse. One of my classmates pointed it out to us. I'm not sure how long we gazed at it but it was minutes rather than seconds. It didn't seem to noticeably harm anyone. Maybe it's a question of age.

    If the sun were very low on the horizon, you might be ok. (You can look at the sunset, although you'll see afterimages). Otherwise, no, not minutes.

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
  53. Not Onion.com [Re:Trump] by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    When I first saw pics of him doing that, I checked to make sure I wasn't at onion.com. "That's too much of a Trump behavior stereotype to be real", I was thinking. The onion people were probably going, "Shit! reality scooped us again. Delete."

    1. Re:Not Onion.com [Re:Trump] by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      It's been far too long that I haven't been able to tell if a headline and picture are from the Onion or a real news source without explicitly looking at the source.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  54. Staring at Total Solar Eclipse ok by jelwell · · Score: 2

    I am happy to be corrected, but you CAN stare at the total solar eclipse without glasses and everything will be just fine. It's the partial eclipses that you can NOT stare at. When the moon is completely blocking the sun, take the glasses off, it's BEAUTIFUL. I get the chills just thinking about how amazing it was.

    To describe the beauty is hard, but it was like fractals dancing in the sky. It looked unworldly. One analogy I heard to describe the difference between 99% and 100% is: You bought tickets for the Super Bowl but you only made it 99% of the way there. You're sitting in the parking lot missing the entire show.

    Joseph Elwell.

  55. Re:Don't be a retard. Don't look directly at the s by Swave+An+deBwoner · · Score: 1
  56. Re:Don't be a retard. Don't look directly at the s by sysrammer · · Score: 1

    That's hilarious.

    --
    His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
  57. Re:Don't be a retard. Don't look directly at the s by sysrammer · · Score: 1

    Amazing. Simply amazing that you dullards will bring up the President no matter what the topic is.

    lol I know. They used to annoy me with all the oblama stuff, and now they annoy me will all the drumpf stuff.

    As the article implies, there are plenty of retards in the world. Add in the few RussTrolls(tm) that get a ruble for their efforts, and we have what we have.

    --
    His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
  58. some people just dont listen... even as an adult by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I bet when in a restaurant when the servers says be careful this is HOT she reaches right way and burns herself every time.