Shoot The Moon !!!

Didn't someone try this already, on a larger scale, and it didn't work?

magmabeam said:

my laser is too powerful to shoot at the moon, as it might blow it up (it's 500 petawatts)

sorry

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Must be a krypton.

I think some guys tried something similar to this before. IIRC it didn't go well.:thinking:

ShortyInCanada said:

"There is a member map... works much better than looking around for laser beams, and you'd need one heck of a vantage point"

But that member's map is full of errors. RHD is still showing up in the north.
Besides, it would still be neat to have lots of members all doing something the same at the same time.
Using the members map shows that some areas will have a higher density than others and some members just might be able to post something like, "Hey, I saw a beam from just north of me.Was that you xxxx?"
It could be harmless fun.

And like I said, if it gets a few news stories going it might go viral. One news station picking up that another reported the very same thing on the same night and then the resulting hype that could build up on just what it was and WHY it happened...I could spend hours with a stupid grin on my face knowing the answer and hearing all the stupid speculations and conjecture. The stuff of "conspiracy theories" in the making.
C,mon. Where's your sense of adventure ?
All it takes is a couple of minutes outside with your personal choice of laser from your collection.
Just remember to factor in the time difference. (Or go out every hour for 4 hours to shine into the sky if you want. Might make the neighbors think twice about you in confusion.)

I will write it down on my calender and make sure to pop outside for 5 minutes if enough interest is indicated here.

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Basically Qumefox answered what I was thinking... lasers+media = BAD.

Also usually the lasers we play around with are not that noticeable unless you're pretty close to them.

midias said:

Must be a krypton.

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:crackup:

xoul said:

I think some guys tried something similar to this before. IIRC it didn't go well.:thinking:

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Actually it went well IIRC... Alderan was blown up

Just piss poor design not cover up your exhaust ports when you're out and about blowing $hit up:shhh:

InfinitusEquitas said:

Actually it went well IIRC... Alderan was blown up

Just piss poor design not cover up your exhaust ports when you're out and about blowing $hit up:shhh:

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The more appropriate bureaucratic solution would have been to make shooting womprats from speeders illegal. Then Luke wouldn't have had the previous practice shooting at targets that size. :shhh:

You will know my dot on the moon cuz it will be the 589nm one :crackup:

qumefox said:

The more appropriate bureaucratic solution would have been to make shooting womprats from speeders illegal. Then Luke wouldn't have had the previous practice shooting at targets that size. :shhh:

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:crackup:

Precisely the kind of imperial thinking that stifles galactic progress lol!

I think our government is taking exactly that approach with the current sopa act.

Never mind that the industry pushing it, is the same exact industry that's tried to outlaw just about every single piece of recording, reproduction, and display equipment ever made.

They also fail to realize that even if most people are forced with the option of paying for most of the 'crap' they put out, or doing without it.. will do without it. Even if they did manage to get a stranglehold on peoples freedoms, their revenues would remain static, if they didn't end up even dropping due to people boycotting them.

That is true.

The largest consumers of pirated media, generally tend to be the ones who also consume the most media in general.

If I'm no longer able to download a movie months after it's been in theaters, I'll do something else instead.

On the other hand if I could get the same movie file for say $5 after watching a 3 minute preview... and I could keep it, and watch it anytime, anywhere I wanted... I wouldn't particularly mind spending the money.

Unfortunately DRM, and restrictions such as "must be watched within 24 hours" etc... keep me from spending that $5.

What's funny is a couple years back I got one of those "Cease and Desist" DCMA notices for downloading a game.

The kicker is I already bought the same game months prior and just needed the files because my dvd drive crapped out on me.

Hell I haven't been to the movies in close to a year. I pretty much just download any movies I think might be worth watching. I don't really feel to bad when it comes to downloading movies considering how ridiculous theater prices are these days. Plus If I download a movie (illegally) and I actually like it I almost always buy it on DVD.

sopark4000 said:

Hell I haven't been to the movies in close to a year. I pretty much just download any movies I think might be worth watching. I don't really feel to bad when it comes to downloading movies considering how ridiculous theater prices are these days. Plus If I download a movie (illegally) and I actually like it I almost always buy it on DVD.

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Oh, believe me, I don't feel guilty for a second over downloading a movie.

The actors get paid plenty, as does the rest of the production staff.

The industry is just ridiculously greedy imo.

I never bother buying a dvd, but on occasion I have downloaded a cam version, to watch 5-15 minutes. If I like it, I go to the theater, if not... I'll wait until it's out on bluray and dl the good version then... Or as happens most often, never do anything since the first 10-15 minute did not impress in the least.

Wonder what the reaction from the studios would be if people started demanding money back for shitty movies:shhh:

Edit: Better yet, next time you see a shitty movie not only demand a refund, but bring an invoice for two hours of your time

InfinitusEquitas said:

Or as happens most often, never do anything since the first 10-15 minute did not impress in the least.

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haha this is quite often how it ends up for me.
The thing about the invoice is funny, it reminds me of a story on CNN about a woman who sent her doctor an invoice for 2 hours of her time when the doc made her sit in the waiting room for 2 hours after her scheduled appointment time before seeing her. Surprisingly the doc paid.

But yea I like being able to download movies so I can see if it is even worth my time and money. Why in the hell would I want to pay nearly $40 (gotta pay for the girlfriend) and give 2 hours of my life to go see a movie just to find out that its absolute shit. There have been times where I downloaded a movie that ended up being terrible, then I thought about how if I had to sit in a theater for two hours watching it I would have scratched my eyes out with a syphilis contaminated needle.

Come on folks we have to do this. Too much bad news around to fill our heads, this would be fun!!! Who cares if it probably won't work.

They actually do have reflecting surfaces left on the moon that they have shot lasers at to precisely measure distance. Maybe we will hit one of them. What would be the combined power of all of us pointing at the moon at the same time?

I suggest using Green lasers since they will probably show up best reflecting off that kind of a surface.

Do we have a few people with fairly good telescopes who could watch the dark section of the moon at that time? Anyone have any contacts with the Hubble folks?

Remember Jan. 8th at 10pm eastern time.

Charge up your pointers boys !!!

burnman said:

Come on folks we have to do this. Too much bad news around to fill our heads, this would be fun!!! Who cares if it probably won't work.

They actually do have reflecting surfaces left on the moon that they have shot lasers at to precisely measure distance. Maybe we will hit one of them. What would be the combined power of all of us pointing at the moon at the same time?

I suggest using Green lasers since they will probably show up best reflecting off that kind of a surface.

Do we have a few people with fairly good telescopes who could watch the dark section of the moon at that time? Anyone have any contacts with the Hubble folks?

Remember Jan. 8th at 10pm eastern time.

Charge up your pointers boys !!!

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Can't be done unfortunately... not unless you've got one of these:

burnman said:

Anyone have any contacts with the Hubble folks?

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lol Hubble time is booked, I'm afraid.

While it is unfortunate that this won't really work as well as we would like it, it would be cool to have a LPF meet-up somewhere and we do this. That would be an epic pic with hundreds of lasers all focused on the moon.

That's what I was cheering for.
If we all go out at the same time and do this for 5 minutes, individullay it won't make a difference. It's only 5 minutes of your time that you spend with one of your lasers that you just might do anyways. All we are saying is to do it within a specified time frame and in a common direction.
If only 100 people do it it will still probably amount to nothing.
If 500 people do it then it might be noticed enough that someone somewhere says something about it.
If 1000 people do it then who knows what might be heard.

For those that are worried about publicity I say take the chance and then use any responses to bring awareness to the issues of "Safe laser operation".
Technically we are all performing an astronomy based pointing for which lasers are specifically and ideally designed and sold to do. If you are showing care to not shine at aircraft and have some knowledge about your laser and can communicate the respect for the device then you are actually doing the whole LPF community a favor !
So bring on the publicity. I'm not afraid of it. I will use it as a tool to inform the masses like it should be.
Make a million people ask what was going on so that we can educate them. Then there will be a million more people who can support us when we say "Be safe. Be smart. Always use appropriate eye protection and never point a laser at another living thing."

There will be no way of stopping idiots from doing stupid things. Idiots are ingenious.
Better to educate more of the non-idiots to help control the ones who choose to be idiots.

40 years ago driving drunk was something few knew about or talked about. Now just about everyone will tell you not to drive after you have been drinking. Casual aquaintances will offer to drive you home, strangers will call a cab, the government funds alternatives. All as a result of education and dissemination of facts/knowledge about the topic.
This could be one of the first steps to educating the masses about lasers. And it is being done in a POSITIVE and LEGAL way.
Just don't be doing anything stupid at the same time.

And get a picture of yourself to post here too.
:wave: