Dammitall

I'm curious about how the sun damages eyesight...

Can you harm your eyes by looking at the sun's reflection in a window?

How long would you need to be looking directly at the sun to cause irreparable damage?

Sometimes I'll be sleeping in a car while facing the sun and will feel pain in my eyes when hit full on by the sunlight, even though my eyes are closed. Does that pain mean the exposure has cause damage, despite my eyes being closed?

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If one million people replaced a two mile car trip once a week with a bike ride, carbon dioxide emissions would be reduced by 50,000 tons per year. If one out of ten car commuters switched to a bike, carbon dioxide emissions would be reduced by 25.4 million tons per year. [2milechallenge.com]

Baraka_Guru

Start here: Sun, Observation and eye damage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I found this interesting from that:
I think what you're talking about, though, can lead to cataracts over the long-term. It's best to protect your eyes from extremities. The article says intense sun viewing can cause sunburn-like lesions in 100 seconds.

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

biznatch

Also, in these times where there's a lot of snow, I would say it's best to have a pair of sunglasses handy, since all of that snow throws the light back at you.

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Nimetic

Sunlight through a magnifying glass can kill an ant or burn paper. Try it. Maybe without the ant.

Similarly... the lens of your eye focusses light on the retina, particularly the fovea (I think).

Don't look at the sun.

Plan9

You should wear your sunglasses when you sleep in the car, silly. Don't you have those awesome photochromatics?

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Whatever you can carry.

"You should not drink... and bake."

Push-Pull

Hell with the binoculars, don't look at the sun for any length of time period. As someone who suffered from "welder's burn", I can tell you, it ain't worth it.

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"No laws, no matter how rigidly enforced, can protect a person from their own stupidity." -Me-

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DAMMIT! -Jack Bauer-

inBOIL

Also, UV light can cause long-term damage to your eyes the same way it does to your skin. The effects are cumulative and don't require you to look at the sun; light reflected off snow, buildings, etc. still contains UV.

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And you believe Bush and the liberals and divorced parents and gays and blacks and the Christian right and fossil fuels and Xbox are all to blame, meanwhile you yourselves create an ad where your kid hits you in the head with a baseball and you don't understand the message that the problem is you.

Seaver

I think the only solution is to get some Blue-Blockers. They're hot!

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Baraka_Guru

I just got new glasses with Transitions lenses. They rock. It's my first time using them.

My problem is that I always wear my glasses, and so I seldom ever use sunglasses. I do wear a wide-brim hat in the summer, which blocks a majority of UV rays from your eyes. But now with the Transitions, I have protection year round, even in the winter. I highly recommend them.

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Dammitall

Thanks, all... I have no intentions with messing around with the sun and its rays. I do have a good pair of sunglasses that I paid enough for to warrant being extremely careful to not break/lose them. My vision's bad enough that I don't want to risk hurting it even more.

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If one million people replaced a two mile car trip once a week with a bike ride, carbon dioxide emissions would be reduced by 50,000 tons per year. If one out of ten car commuters switched to a bike, carbon dioxide emissions would be reduced by 25.4 million tons per year. [2milechallenge.com]