> The theory is that you can't stand to look at the full sun long enough to damage your eyes. However, with part of the disc blocked by the moon, you can continue to look and the part that is still visible will burn your eyes. That's what they tell us.

I had always heard it was something like since there was less light overall, your pupils would be more dilated thus letting the light from the disc (which is just as intense as always) do more damage. I have no idea how true that is.

> But I must repeat my question: How many people do you know who have been blinded by a solar eclipse?
>
> It's kind of like that tetnus shot. If you don't have one you could get tetnus. But how many people do you know who have had tetnus. People aren't exactly dropping like flies in a tetnus epidemic. I'm 66, and I have never known of anyone who had tetnus. It doesn't scare me. But just to be safe, I don't look directly at a solar eclipse.
> Howard

Of course, maybe the reason that nobody gets blinded by solar eclipses is because everyone tells you not to look at them. The reason nobody gets tetanus could be because of the shot. I'm not saying that either is or would be a common problem, but I don't think I have evidence either way. I've never known anyone who got the bubonic plague, though I certainly believe it exists (I think the last outbreak was in Arizona in the fifties, but again I have nothing to back that up other than my memory). Same goes for polio, smallpox and any other number of things that are very dangerous yet uncommon.

Stephen