I Totally Effin Missed The Eclipse
I've been thinking about the eclipse for about a week now. I can't believe I forgot about it!
Yeah, I know. Here in Indiana, it would have been only a partial eclipse, so not really all that spectacular. But still.
I really like to watch astronomical events. Eclipses are a little scary for me, though. Not scary--like, superstitious scary. But scary because you always hear "Don't look directly at an eclipse." Or they always tell you to use some sort of weird contraption to view it. Something with a tiny pinhole and aluminum foil and a long box...
That can't be real, right? Does that make sense to look through a 3 foot long box with a little pinhole? It just seems to be some kind of prank. "Haha! Look at Patwoman with her crazy 3 foot box! I was totally making that crap up. Did you believe me or something?"
I knew someone who looked at the eclipse with sunglasses on. It was back in high school and it was right at lunchtime. We had to walk from the high school building to the jr. high school building (because that's where the cafeteria was) and teachers were very sternly cautioning us to not look up at the eclipse, or we would burn out our retinas.
I didn't have any science classes that semester, so I didn't build one of those crazy pinhole boxes. Instead, I walked from the back of one building to the back of the other, pretending to look for something in my purse so no one would suspect I was afraid of burning out my retinas. (I don't know. I was a teenager. Apparently I thought it wasn't cool to be afraid of being blinded.)
On the way, I passed some kid who was looking up at the eclipse. He was wearing sunglasses. He wasn't writhing in pain, screaming "Ah! My retinas! My retinas are burning!" either. But, I didn't take the chance.
Later, I mentioned this to my mom and asked if that kid wouldn't have felt it if his retinas did actually burn. This is the really scary part--Mom said not necessarily. Apparently, there aren't very many pain receptors in that part of your head, so you could really damage your eyes badly and not feel it.
I wonder if now--30 years later--if that kid suffered lasting damage from that?
Yeah, I know. Here in Indiana, it would have been only a partial eclipse, so not really all that spectacular. But still.I really like to watch astronomical events. Eclipses are a little scary for me, though. Not scary--like, superstitious scary. But scary because you always hear "Don't look directly at an eclipse." Or they always tell you to use some sort of weird contraption to view it. Something with a tiny pinhole and aluminum foil and a long box...
That can't be real, right? Does that make sense to look through a 3 foot long box with a little pinhole? It just seems to be some kind of prank. "Haha! Look at Patwoman with her crazy 3 foot box! I was totally making that crap up. Did you believe me or something?"
I knew someone who looked at the eclipse with sunglasses on. It was back in high school and it was right at lunchtime. We had to walk from the high school building to the jr. high school building (because that's where the cafeteria was) and teachers were very sternly cautioning us to not look up at the eclipse, or we would burn out our retinas.
I didn't have any science classes that semester, so I didn't build one of those crazy pinhole boxes. Instead, I walked from the back of one building to the back of the other, pretending to look for something in my purse so no one would suspect I was afraid of burning out my retinas. (I don't know. I was a teenager. Apparently I thought it wasn't cool to be afraid of being blinded.)
On the way, I passed some kid who was looking up at the eclipse. He was wearing sunglasses. He wasn't writhing in pain, screaming "Ah! My retinas! My retinas are burning!" either. But, I didn't take the chance.Later, I mentioned this to my mom and asked if that kid wouldn't have felt it if his retinas did actually burn. This is the really scary part--Mom said not necessarily. Apparently, there aren't very many pain receptors in that part of your head, so you could really damage your eyes badly and not feel it.
I wonder if now--30 years later--if that kid suffered lasting damage from that?
posted by Patwoman | 6:00 PM
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