April 2024 Eclipse

My Kobo Bookstore

I know that, by this point, the eclipse is already old news, but when my grandmother and I tried to find a pair of eclipse glasses, they were already sold out. Yes, this is America, if someone can make money off of something, they probably will. Anyway, enough griping about my country; I can bitch to someone about it in-person if you really want me to. What I want to tell you about today is alternative ways of watching solar phenomena (eclipses and the like), and the answer is something that not everyone will know what I'm talking about. Kiddies, ask your parents about this and try to simulate the absolute amazement we felt when we didn't have the power of a mainframe computer in our pockets or clipped onto our belts. Yes, I'm talking about the Good Ol' Floppy Disk. Two of them, to be exact. Anyway, an easy way of staring directly at the sun for extended periods (or watching an eclipse) and looking only somewhat like an idiot, as the absolutely shameless author here writes, is to get two floppy disks, orient them in the same direction, and hold them at arm's length. Because of the image, you'll want to close one eye so you don't see a double image from looking at it cross-eyed, not to mention that, especially if you're using a 3½-inch set, it'll keep you from going blind in the eye that's not protected by the disk's magnetic tape or the shadow from its plastic casing. The image will be very red-shifted, which is to be expected, but you will be able to see solar phenomena. While any size floppy will work, I would recommend going with the 5¼-inch or 8-inch ones as they have more surface area, which equates to a larger viewing area and a larger shadow for your eye that isn't in line with the material. Ideally, you'd want to use a non-working or blank floppy, but that isn't always an option. My reason being for this, though, is that the magnetic material, when used as a medium for digital data storage, is quite fragile. If your disk is simply non-functional with no way of recovering the data from it (or if you've already recovered the data from a failing/failed disk), another solution would be to use a pair of cheap eyeglass frames and make the lenses from the magnetic material. Again, my above precautions still stand: only look at the sun through the material. I find that making cardboard frames (or simply cutting the cellophane from cardboard 3D glasses) and making the lenses from a double layer of the magnetic material is the best route. Secure the material to the frames with hot glue or super glue. For best results, sandwich the frames where there is one layer of magnetic disk on the inside and one layer on the outside of the frames, that should make the process less tedious. While one layer of material would work, two would be optimal, but going over three layers of material would be pointless unless you were planning on leaving the planet or watching such phenomena from a snow-covered tundra. In that case, I'd recommend buying a welding mask or a set of welding goggles. Anyway, while this isn't a professional solution, it is a solution, nonetheless, though I don't condone the destruction of working floppy disks or sending them to the dump. So long for now!