Holy fuck, I had no idea IR imaging was that high res spatially and temporally. Awesome.That kind of equipment has been used in the military for a while. You see wartime footage like that from time to time. And then there as this from a while back (probably back in the 90s).
Tell you what, the first time this happens, you can call the 300 families and explain exactly why their families are dead.BE AFRAID!!! Anything that lets people do anything dangerous should be banned!!!!
valkyryn: And as others have pointed out, it's entirely possible that these incidents are in no small part accidental, e.g. astronomy clubs or just people goofing off, completely unaware that there's a plane over there.I have a very cheap, low-power red laser pointer, and aiming it steadily at objects even as much as 100 meters away, while holding it in the hand, takes a deliberate effort. At longer distances it becomes difficult or impossible. One may think one has a reasonably steady hand, but at a few hundred meters, even one's heartbeat will send the laser dot skittering wildly.
I have a very cheap, low-power red laser pointer, and aiming it steadily at objects even as much as 100 meters away, while holding it in the hand, takes a deliberate effort.They probably just flash it at the plane
You are missing the obvious: Helicopters are useful for getting from point A to point B, emergency help, daring getaways etc. Shining a laser pointer into the sky is vastly less useful.People are talking about making it illegal to sell laser pointers to minors or as "toys". I don't think we should just make everything illegal because it can potentially be used in an inappropriate way.
I think there's a distinct difference between laser pointers as an entire category, and high-power lasers. It's been made clear above just how dangerous Class 4 lasers are, and in particular I'd like to highlight this particular element of stupidity: Double-ended 'Sith' 2x1W laser. Because 1 1W laser wasn't enough, they had to present two of them. In a manner that encourages people to wave them around like lightsabers.Well, so what? Just because something is stupid doesn't mean it should be illegal. It isn't like there are actually a huge number of people being injured by these things. The world doesn't need to be made perfectly safe against hypothetical dangers just because you think the people who want to buy them seem 'immature'.
Vibrissae: "After all, we already have speed limits."Speak for yourself.
Funny how some people who love to gripe about all the useless crap and mindless entertainment we consume and how it makes all Americans so morally irredeemable they deserve to be sold out by their political and economic leaders, and yet, suggest that jabbing people in the eyes with laser pointers isn't a god-given right, and suddenly we're all for letting the free markets run their course and the crowd-wisdom of deregulation.What the hell does that even mean? First of all I see a lot of complaining about people being sold out by their political and economic leaders, rather then the other way around, and secondly I don't even understand what the second point has to do with the first.
I have a bunch of cheap lasers used for teh kittys. Of the five that I can find, every one of them have a warning about using them on your eyeballs. Of course, that warning is in rather small print...People need to learn the difference between high and low power lasers. The kind of laser you use to play with a cat isn't even going to be noticeable to an airplane.
Obviously, the sheeple need bigger print.
Wicked Lasers strikes back with the new Sith Series handheld laser by incorporating two dual blades of scintillating energy into the world's first double handed laser. Delivering twice the power, the world's most powerful handheld laser now shoots backwards too. This is truly the most dangerous and awesome laser we've ever created.Yeah, I'm not really down with their safety/education program when they sell a product like that. Sure, it's better than the no safety and education offered by buying one from an unknown foreign supplier off of dealextreme, but a quick YouTube search shows a lot of people being really stupid with lasers in that power range - and from that exact store. At 1 watt at full power that laser should emphatically not be handheld and portable. That's something that needs to be bolted to a bench with an appropriate beam stop and safety protocols.
Speaking of dangerous, do people ever use these little laser pointers in a guerrilla warfare context? "Here, you guys all point your laser pointers at the helicopter while I circle around with the RPG"Those Sea Shepard guys were using them against whaling boats. Seems like it would paint a huge target on yourself if you used it against a US helicopter in Iraq.
« Older A recipe for no-apple apple pie, with notes on the... | Brad Pitt Stars as Brad Pitt i... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Bookhouse at 10:48 AM on September 29, 2011 [10 favorites]