Don't Look Or You'll Go Blind

In case you didn't know (or maybe you didn't care) there was a total solar eclipse today.  The total eclipse could be seen along a path from Brazil to Mongolia, and a partial eclipse was visible in parts of Africa, Asia and Europe.  For those of us on this side of the pond, we were out of luck because we couldn't see anything.

Today's eclipse blocked out the sun in highly populated areas, including West Africa where governments scrambled to educate people about the total eclipse and the dangers of looking at it without proper eye protection.  Some countries declared it a national holiday and urged people to stay home and stay indoors.  In remote parts of the world where the eclipse could be seen, I'm sure there were a lot of freaked out people who didn't know what in the hell was going on.  On the moring new, they mentioned how riots and even wars have broken out because one side thought the other side was responsible for the darkness.  I can totally see this happening in a village where the natives thought their rival tribe caused the sun to go away.

There's some interesting superstitions about the eclipse.  Some say that food cooked before an eclipse should be thrown out because it was considered impure.  I say you should only throw the food out if the cook had looked at the eclipse without proper eye protection and might have had questionable vision while cooking the food.  So-called medical experts advised pregnant women not to go outside during an eclipse to avoide their baby beign born with a cleft lip.  I really don't think that a total eclipse would cause a little baby to have to undergo plastic surgery on a lip.  I really, really don't. 

Another superstition says that if you're holding a knife or an ax during an eclipse you'll cut yourself.  I can see this happening, too.  If someone is stupid enough to be holding a knife or an ax while they're looking at an eclipse and get blinded and cut theirself then they deserve what they get.  As for me, I'll continue to view the eclipses (or is it eclipsi?) with the corny but effective cardboard piece. I'm not taking any chances.