Down the years young people (and old for that matter) always manage to ignore warnings and advice from professionals and do feats of staggering stupidity. Perhaps it’s good for natural selection, clearing the gene pool and survival of the fittest?!
This recent craze of eating laundry detergent pods is one example and up there with the most moronic thing you could do, but humankind has always had its members that seem hell-bent on being included in the Darwin awards. Or an honourable mention at least!
Lou Tomososki was just a teenager back in the 1960’s when he did something that would forever change his life. His school science teacher told the class about an impending solar eclipse and warned the students that it was extremely dangerous to look directly at the sun during the phenomenon. But this didn’t deter Lou, who freely admits to doing the most stupid thing in his life – and takes the time to warn others about the dangers in this video below.
Although this particular event was only a partial eclipse and he only looked for 20 seconds, it still managed to rob Lou of his sight in one eye. When he visited an optometrist, before Lou had managed to say what he was guilty of, the doc got the prognosis spot on, knowing exactly what had happened without having to be told. “Laser eye surgery for too long and in the wrong place.” Lou must have felt pretty foolish back then – and probably still does now.
While some people use a card viewer when experiencing a solar eclipse, others rely on special eclipse viewing glasses – but experts still advise against trusting their ability to filter the dangerous UV rays. Staring at the sun for even a few seconds can cause lasting damage, so it’s a big risk to look directly at our nearest star even with eye protection.
As Lou rightly advises in his video, don’t look at the sun at all, but look towards the horizon and experience the feeling of the world going dark around you. Young children are especially at risk from looking into that giant ball of fire in the sky. The 71-year-old from Oregon clearly regrets his decision all those years ago – and he wants to make sure you don’t make the same mistake next time this stunning scientific phenomenon happens over our planet. You have been warned! And stop eating tide pods too!
