Staring at the Sun, Despite Mom's Advice - New York Times

You’re never ever supposed to look directly at the sun (even during an eclipse) because it can damage your retinas. But during a solar eclipse, there are special disposable glasses that can be used to look at the sun safely. And now, someone’s come up with a contraption called the Solarscope that can be used at home to look at the sun during eclipses. But this is something that seems destined to gather dust. There are usually only two eclipses a year, and they are often only visible from specific parts of the globe. So you probably won’t get much use out of a Solarscope.