Age

Switch said:

What are you talking about? I thought you spent over 100 on a bluray :

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Not yet... I'm still trying to get money together for it, after said time I'll be broke again. ;D

21

pwnstar said:

[quote author=Switch link=1210994383/36#42 date=1211469784]It's like being in highschool and haven't lost your virginity yet ;D

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LOL =P
then it looks like I'm the only one in my high school who has "lost his virginity"[/quote]

You mean that built a laser? :-/ I was comparing being an active member here and knowing a lot about lasers but haven't built one with being in highschool and haven't lost your virginity.But I guess I should've said college. :

im 16, 17 in august.
my first green was when i was 15 (i think) and it was a 50mW NewWish DX 50mW WHICH SUCKED, but it was fun while it lasted. of corse i had some cheap red lasers before that.
now im just waiting till my 150mW focusable green comes in the mail ;D

Switch said:

It's like being in highschool and haven't lost your virginity yet ;D

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I'm in high school, and yeah, don't worry I've got that base covered. =D (serious)

I'm 25 in about a month... I remember when I got my first laser back in middle school (~1996) and the 5mw 650nm pointer was $70

15 turnin 16 in september

Turned 16 April

didn't know I had a passion for lasers till 3 months ago

28

I've got you ALL beat even KEENOM, I'm sad to say. I'm a young 53 going on 25 phoenix77

Gee, I guess I got into lasers really late in life, so to speak - I was 27 when I developed a fascination for coherent light.

But, see, when I was in grade school no one knew what a laser pointer WAS! In fact, when I was in elementary school the most sophisticated piece of technological equipment in the school office was an IBM Selectric typewriter! Gee - how many of the teens here have ever SEEN a typewriter? Let's put it this way - I'm old enough to have see the original Star Wars movie in the theater (my mother took me). I had no way of knowing that some 30 years later I'd have my own personal version of the closest thing to a light saber.

Look under POLLS -- this has been asked at least twice.
Your data is already available.

Mike

Schrecken_Licht said:

Gee, I guess I got into lasers really late in life, so to speak - I was 27 when I developed a fascination for coherent light.

But, see, when I was in grade school no one knew what a laser pointer WAS!  In fact, when I was in elementary school the most sophisticated piece of technological equipment in the school office was an IBM Selectric typewriter!  Gee - how many of the teens here have ever SEEN a typewriter?  Let's put it this way - I'm old enough to have see the original Star Wars movie in the theater (my mother took me).  I had no way of knowing that some 30 years later I'd have my own personal version of the closest thing to a light saber.

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Oooh lightsaber.. someone should work on building somethin like that.

65 [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

Recently turned 40. Sure sounds old, but inside I feel as always. Young at heart is what matters.

Apparently one of the first words out of my mouth as a babe was 'light.. see light'. Always been fascinated with anything that glows, so here I am.

We're currently living through a laser renaissance, enabled by the mighty diode laser. Prior to about the mid 90's lasers were large and expensive beasts. The first laser craze occurred in the 1960's, when they hit public awareness.

I got my first laser in the late 80's. I was probably around 20 at the time. Then you really had to be a true geek to know anything about lasers. I ordered a used HeNe laser. I remember being intimidated by the large potted high voltage power supply, and intrigued by the HeNe tube. I had to wire in a mains plug to the power supply to get the thing working. LOL, I remember I was afraid to plug it in at first (no on/off switch) - worried it might blow. But wow, it worked. I remember how exotic the coherent light appeared, it had an alien look to it. You just don't find light sources like lasers in nature. Really made an impression.

OK, so I'll share one of my delinquent laser stories. Was over at a friends house one evening in the spring. I'd brought the HeNe laser over to show off (this was in the late 80's). There was some student housing about 2-3 blocks away - 10 story building. It was late evening. My friend had an 8" SCT telescope. Looking through the eyepiece we located a window a few stories up. Three people were sitting on a sofa near the window. We could just see the backs of their heads, and the TV on the far wall they were watching. A guy sandwiched between two girls (lucky f*ck). We decided to have some fun. Got an extension cord for the laser and mounted in on a tripod. We projected the beam into the room, right above the TV they were watching. It had diverged to about the size of a basketball by the time it reached them. I was watching them through the telescope to see their reaction (they were too far away to tell 'naked' eye) while my friend passed his hand in front of the beam as few times to let them know we were f*cking with them. Both chicks heads snapped around immediately to look. They quickly got up and left the room. Heh, hope we didn't ruin his date. The guy didn't do anything for a bit. Then, without even looking back, he casually flipped us the bird. LOL.

These days, at least in the US, I'm afraid to even use my laser in public. Sigh. Things post 9-11 are no fun.

Of course I would never do something so stoopid now.

21. I'm kind of suprised by the big age barrier here, lots of young people to learn and elders to learn from I suppose.