This is such a crock!
It doesn't look like a ring of fire. It looks like something to bright too look at.
I don't know about this specific annular eclipse but my guess is that most would go unnoticed were it not for modern predictions. Yes, the light from the sun is diminished, but the human eye adjusts just like when clouds cover the sun. People just don't go around checking out the sun from time to time.
ML/NJ
You obviously have NOT witnessed a solar eclipse.
When it suddenly gets twilight dark in the middle of the day without a cloud in the sky people damn sure do look up.
It doesn’t appear as if you’ve experienced totality. If you’ve seen a total eclipse, and I mean in the path of totality, 95% doesn’t do it, then you know it’s absolutely astonishing. It does look like a ring of fire around black. During the few minutes of total eclipse, it’s perfectly safe to look at with the naked eye. It goes dark enough that the stars come out, it’s darker than a moonlit night. I drove up to the Smokies this past August to see it and I’m glad I did. Now I know why people chase them all over the world, it’s like being on another planet for those few minutes.