# The news media are going to ruin the eclipse for millions of people **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 26, 2017, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-media-are-going-to-ruin-the-eclipse-for-millions-of-people/792171 "2017-07-26T15:53:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-media-are-going-to-ruin-the-eclipse-for-millions-of-people/792171/21 "2017-07-27T01:40:30Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > meh > > The same site says The same “site”? Are you being purposely disingenuous? That text is found nowhere on the _page_ I read and linked to. Maybe you read Vox “cover to cover”, but I doubt that is common. ---
**Author:** ![BobBitchin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@BobBitchin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobBitchin)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-media-are-going-to-ruin-the-eclipse-for-millions-of-people/792171/22 "2017-07-27T01:54:08Z")
> [@Claude\_Remains](#): > > It’s times like these that make me really miss Bill Hicks. Seconded,😃 As for the drivers license comments… I have for years advocated for the return of the NON-syncromesh manual transmission for ALL vehicles. If you don’t care enough to learn to drive it, you won’t be able to move it at all. I think this will do away with all these… “What’s to know? Like you just put it in gear and drive”:smack: ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-media-are-going-to-ruin-the-eclipse-for-millions-of-people/792171/23 "2017-07-27T01:56:45Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Absolutely not. You’ll turn into a wolf and start chasing cars, peeing on hydrants, etc. I do that anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-media-are-going-to-ruin-the-eclipse-for-millions-of-people/792171/24 "2017-07-27T01:58:59Z")
Hey, could be worse. I understand that the Secret Service is trying to figure out how to adequately dumb down a “don’t get too close to it” warning. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-media-are-going-to-ruin-the-eclipse-for-millions-of-people/792171/25 "2017-07-27T02:28:22Z")
LOL…I will laugh my ass off if that orange dumbass is blind on Aug. 22. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-media-are-going-to-ruin-the-eclipse-for-millions-of-people/792171/26 "2017-07-27T02:37:06Z")
My daughters’ school just informed us that they’re going to delay releasing the kids that day for safety reasons - to avoid kids and parents having to be on the road during the eclipse. For the life of me I can’t figure out what they’re afraid of. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-media-are-going-to-ruin-the-eclipse-for-millions-of-people/792171/27 "2017-07-27T02:38:04Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > The same “site”? Are you being purposely disingenuous? That text is found nowhere on the _page_ I read and linked to. Maybe you read Vox “cover to cover”, but I doubt that is common. Fine. How about the fact that it made the words “special viewing glasses” a link which takes them to the NASA site which says exactly when you can take the glasses off? They’re just giving minimal data that’s good for the vast majority of the time, with a link if you want to know more. Seems fine to me. ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-media-are-going-to-ruin-the-eclipse-for-millions-of-people/792171/28 "2017-07-27T03:07:06Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > They have to dumb it down like that. Give too many details or facts, and the average idiot won’t understand it. Then they’ll sue YOU because THEY were too stupid to live. Maybe they should keep it a secret, then. “We didn’t know, nor could we have known, the mysterious movements of the Celestial orbs.” ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-media-are-going-to-ruin-the-eclipse-for-millions-of-people/792171/29 "2017-07-27T03:08:55Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > My daughters’ school just informed us that they’re going to delay releasing the kids that day for safety reasons - to avoid kids and parents having to be on the road during the eclipse. For the life of me I can’t figure out what they’re afraid of. “Gun Shaped Cloud Appears Over School, All Students Suspended For 5 Days” Details at 11. Stay Tuned! ---
**Author:** ![Claude\_Remains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Claude\_Remains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claude_Remains)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-media-are-going-to-ruin-the-eclipse-for-millions-of-people/792171/30 "2017-07-27T03:15:19Z")
I wonder how many will be watching it on their smartphone with dollar store sunglasses on. ---
**Author:** ![Yask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Yask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yask)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-media-are-going-to-ruin-the-eclipse-for-millions-of-people/792171/31 "2017-07-27T03:35:55Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I was on the island of Guadeloupe in 1998, and all the kids were warned to stay indoors with blinds and curtains drawn, _for the entire day._ Some time back in the 50s I’d just moved to a new town. Huge solar event was coming up, and being an astronomy junkey I never stopped talking it up and planning for it. couldn’t wait. It was going to be the best year of my childhood. The day finally came, but some bullies (most to the class, really) locked me in a closet and forgot about me — until it was over. I was so bitter, but eventually go over it by getting a really cool tattoo that seems to move when you look at it closely. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-media-are-going-to-ruin-the-eclipse-for-millions-of-people/792171/32 "2017-07-27T03:46:58Z")
> [@Yask](#): > > Some time back in the 50s I’d just moved to a new town. Huge solar event was coming up, and being an astronomy junkey I never stopped talking it up and planning for it. couldn’t wait. It was going to be the best year of my childhood. > > The day finally came, but some bullies (most to the class, really) locked me in a closet and forgot about me — until it was over. > > I was so bitter, but eventually go over it by getting a really cool tattoo that seems to move when you look at it closely. You didn’t tell this to [Ray Bradbury](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Summer_in_a_Day), did you? ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-media-are-going-to-ruin-the-eclipse-for-millions-of-people/792171/33 "2017-07-27T04:01:32Z")
I was wondering the same thing! The one day of sunshine. > [@Common\_Tater](#): > > “Gun Shaped Cloud Appears Over School, All Students Suspended For 5 Days” > Details at 11. Stay Tuned! LOL! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-media-are-going-to-ruin-the-eclipse-for-millions-of-people/792171/34 "2017-07-27T05:53:47Z")
The only time I remember looking at a solar eclipse was when I was a kid. [1981](https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/1981-february-4). My older sister advised us on how best to view it safely, which was in our case to layer two photo slides together and look at it through them. It was not quite polaroid protection, but that made them dark enough to be safe and still clear enough to see the eclipse. As you can see [from the image](https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/map/1981-february-4), the best point to see it was just off the southern tip of New Zealand, and I lived about 100 miles north, so it wasn’t quite as perfect but it was close. ---
**Author:** ![Section\_Maker\_Jupe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/section_maker_jupe/32/1424_2.png) [@Section\_Maker\_Jupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Section_Maker_Jupe)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-media-are-going-to-ruin-the-eclipse-for-millions-of-people/792171/35 "2017-07-27T05:55:17Z")
Coolest thing for me anyways, once I realized why everything outside looked so funny… is to look at all the plant leaf caused “pinhole camera” effects…EVERYWHERE you look where shadows are thrown…zillions of little suns with bites out of them…just crazy.:eek:🆒 kinda makes me wonder if full sized suns are cast on walls without an eclipse? ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-media-are-going-to-ruin-the-eclipse-for-millions-of-people/792171/36 "2017-07-27T07:26:36Z")
Good question! ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-media-are-going-to-ruin-the-eclipse-for-millions-of-people/792171/37 "2017-07-27T11:58:51Z")
> [@Section\_Maker\_Jupe](#): > > Coolest thing for me anyways, once I realized why everything outside looked so funny… is to look at all the plant leaf caused “pinhole camera” effects…EVERYWHERE you look where shadows are thrown…zillions of little suns with bites out of them…just crazy.:eek:🆒 > > kinda makes me wonder if full sized suns are cast on walls without an eclipse? I noticed the same thing during the eclipse I talked about earlier – jillions of dancing crescents dancing on the ground where the sun filtered through the trees. And yeah, the same round spots without an eclipse are (more or less) images of the sun, but that’s seen every day and thus unremarkable. > [@SlackerInc](#): > > Or they could pile interested students into buses and drive an hour south. I talked about this to the guy organizing the activities, and his response was “98% is close enough for me”, as though there is only a slight quantitative difference and not a fundamental qualitative one. Idiot. Truly. The difference between a 99% eclipse and a total eclipse is as great as the difference between no eclipse and a 99%er. Please tell me this organizer was in a humanities department and not one of the STEM ones or (og forbid) the _astronomy_ department. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-media-are-going-to-ruin-the-eclipse-for-millions-of-people/792171/38 "2017-07-27T17:34:22Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Truly. The difference between a 99% eclipse and a total eclipse is as great as the difference between no eclipse and a 99%er. Please tell me this organizer was in a humanities department and not one of the STEM ones or (og forbid) the _astronomy_ department. I think he is CS. But–news flash–just this morning I saw on social media that the university VP dept. has announced vans will be available to go to the edge of totality and professors asked to excuse students who want to see it. No mention of the in-town activities, but I wonder if indeed someone from the astronomy department was lobbying behind the scenes. I have access to a big and highly visible outdoor chalkboard, and am planning a kind of PSA to encourage people to make that one hour trip into the band of totality. Any suggestions for a shortish and memorable URL that makes the case for not missing out, and explains when eye protection is not needed? ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2017, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-media-are-going-to-ruin-the-eclipse-for-millions-of-people/792171/39 "2017-07-28T12:41:31Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > They’re just giving minimal data that’s good for the vast majority of the time, with a link if you want to know more. Seems fine to me. For those of us who are willing to leave our basement, it’s not “good enough”, it’s wildly wrong. It’s the difference between eating food covered in plastic wrap vs food that’s not. The exciting part of the eclipse is seeing the corona. If you wear “special viewing glasses” you can’t see the corona. PS–I recommend that you slither out of your basement and try to see it, if it’s passing by your area. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2017, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-media-are-going-to-ruin-the-eclipse-for-millions-of-people/792171/40 "2017-07-28T17:13:03Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > For those of us who are willing to leave our basement, it’s not “good enough”, it’s wildly wrong. It’s the difference between eating food covered in plastic wrap vs food that’s not. The exciting part of the eclipse is seeing the corona. If you wear “special viewing glasses” you can’t see the corona. > > PS–I recommend that you slither out of your basement and try to see it, if it’s passing by your area. Fenris, huh. Aren’t you the one that tried to eat the sun last time? 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-media-are-going-to-ruin-the-eclipse-for-millions-of-people/792171.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-media-are-going-to-ruin-the-eclipse-for-millions-of-people/792171.md?page=3)