Trevor
0
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2009
- Messages
- 4,386
- Points
- 113
...because of someone else. Even if you consider someone to be laser-safety-conscious; if they are not a laserist, they just don't know.
When I went home for Thanksgiving this year, it was the first time my Optotronics 150+ mW pen came home. My dad saw it, and was really impressed with it. Whoever you are, seeing one of these lightsticks at night is really cool.
Of our family, I'm fittingly the most laser-conscious, with my father coming in next. He volunteers for a service that broadcasts newspaper and books over radio for the print-handicapped; he often works with people who have heavily impaired or no eyesight. Everyone else in my family is irrelevant; I learned fairly quickly not to let them touch my lasers. :tsk:
I believe it was snowing outside, and I had been messing with my laser on our front porch. When I went back inside, he asked to see it. Given how conscious he is about eye-safety, and that I had briefed him about being very careful what sort of surface he shines it at, I let him. He messed about with it on the carpet for a few seconds, then proceeds to shine it at a pane of glass in a nearby door. Inches from my right eye, a visible green laser beam passes by my face.
I flipped out. That could have ended in disaster, and impaired vision in one of my eyes. I now have much stricter policies on the conditions in which someone else can even see one of my lasers, and much stricter policies on who gets to touch or use them. Simply is not worth the risk.
I think it boils down to what a laser is - it's a beam of light. Everyone can respect a handgun or a knife, everyone knows what they're used for and what they can do. But very few people have ever seen enough photons in one place to cause damage; therefore, the vast majority of people just do not respect lasers like we do.
I believe we can all take a lesson from Aretha...
Hope someone benefits from my experience.
-Trevor
When I went home for Thanksgiving this year, it was the first time my Optotronics 150+ mW pen came home. My dad saw it, and was really impressed with it. Whoever you are, seeing one of these lightsticks at night is really cool.
Of our family, I'm fittingly the most laser-conscious, with my father coming in next. He volunteers for a service that broadcasts newspaper and books over radio for the print-handicapped; he often works with people who have heavily impaired or no eyesight. Everyone else in my family is irrelevant; I learned fairly quickly not to let them touch my lasers. :tsk:
I believe it was snowing outside, and I had been messing with my laser on our front porch. When I went back inside, he asked to see it. Given how conscious he is about eye-safety, and that I had briefed him about being very careful what sort of surface he shines it at, I let him. He messed about with it on the carpet for a few seconds, then proceeds to shine it at a pane of glass in a nearby door. Inches from my right eye, a visible green laser beam passes by my face.
I flipped out. That could have ended in disaster, and impaired vision in one of my eyes. I now have much stricter policies on the conditions in which someone else can even see one of my lasers, and much stricter policies on who gets to touch or use them. Simply is not worth the risk.
I think it boils down to what a laser is - it's a beam of light. Everyone can respect a handgun or a knife, everyone knows what they're used for and what they can do. But very few people have ever seen enough photons in one place to cause damage; therefore, the vast majority of people just do not respect lasers like we do.
I believe we can all take a lesson from Aretha...
Hope someone benefits from my experience.
-Trevor
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