Poll of the Day > hilarious that they have to warn people not to look at the sun

(+) Yeah! (+)

let em burn
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"common sense" is a lower barometer than we realize
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Seems like not many saw that "The Simpsons" episode where Marge tried it.

shoutout to the news for telling me to not stare directly into the sun
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MSM lies, Trump is gonna stare at the sun directly, he's no one's fool.

My mother decided to warn me and I replied to her with "no shit".

She seemed offended. Clearly she doesn't understand that EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT THIS GODDAMN THING.

Also my eyes have been dilated in the sun before. It's not fun.
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To be fair, the whole issue with the eclipse is that the normal squint+look away reflex we have to protect us isn't there, so people might feel it's not bright enough to be damaging. When it doesn't hurt to look at it, the general sentiment is going to be that it isn't dangerous, so people need an explicit reminder of the danger.

The idea that an eclipse is evil or an ill omen was probably started when people were going blind looking at it in ancient civilizations.
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Firewood18 posted...

The idea that an eclipse is evil or an ill omen was probably started when people wear going blind looking at it in ancient civilizations.

Probably more ""HOLY **** THE SUN'S GONE WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE," but I can't imagine that helped.

The biggest issue is for those who are actually in the path of totality. The sun's atmosphere (which is still visible) is still very bright. But since you would presumably be focusing in on the center of it all, your natural reflex to stop-looking-at-a-bright-thing is "tricked" by the darkness at the center of your vision and throughout much of the sky outside of that circle.

There is likely less danger to people who are outside the area of total eclipse since those people either really ARE stupid enough to look at even a partial sun/think sunglasses are enough for that, or they will simply notice on a basic biological level that it is still damn bright and uncomfortable to look at even if its only 1/4 of the sun they usually see.
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I imagine Helly must have thought it was hilarious trying to encourage people to blind themselves.
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Sephiroth C Ryu posted...

The biggest issue is for those who are actually in the path of totality. The sun's atmosphere (which is still visible) is still very bright. But since you would presumably be focusing in on the center of it all, your natural reflex to stop-looking-at-a-bright-thing is "tricked" by the darkness at the center of your vision and throughout much of the sky outside of that circle.

I mean, the eclipse is over now but this is fake news. You can absolutely look at a total eclipse unfiltered.

https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/safety
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Ah well. I suspect there is still actually some risk anyway. As the eclipse moves from totality to that "diamond ring" appearance and starts to brighten back up, I could see it being possible to damage your eyes if you were just watching it the entire time and your biological reflex didn't react in time due to the relatively slow change in brightness.

If you were in a place with full totality, it probably is safe to look at briefly.
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I was in the path of totality ( a few miles from the exact center ) in Southern Illinois. Didn't have my eye on the sun for the full two minutes, but had a few extended glances, ten to twenty seconds. It was indescribable.
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SmokeMassTree posted...

I saw a comment on facebook that amounted to "It's okay, his world view is narrow enough to act as a pinhole projector." I chuckled.
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I wonder how many people injured/blinded themselves by looking at the sun the other day during the eclipse.
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adjl posted...

SmokeMassTree posted...

I saw a comment on facebook that amounted to "It's okay, his world view is narrow enough to act as a pinhole projector." I chuckled.

Lmao
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DAE TRUMP lS LE RACIST???? XD
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How else would anyone ever know not to do it?
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We need James Cameron to raise the bar!
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