my story (how i got my darwin award)

Hello all. Gather around the campfire as i tell you about the time i earned my darwin award in optics.

It all started with my frist laser. This was a cheepo pen-laser, probobly from china. It couldn't have been more than 1 mw ( I know it wasn't, i read the saftey sticker, which I completely disreguarded). I thought this thing was the coolest fucking thing in the world. My cat shared my views on this laser. I shined it everwhere. The fridge, the floor, the sky. Yes, the sky. At an areoplane... of all the things that i could have tried, this was the First evidence of stupidity. Luckily, i wasn't hunted down and taken to the court of law. Probobly wouldn't either, The laserpointer couldn't bee seen at night from 50 feet away (even if traced). This laser was quickly broken, and forgotten. The next laser was a workhorse 5mw 'high quality' red laser ordered off amazon in 2007. This thing was epic compared to the other laser, You could see it a nice distance away (I wonder if the airplanes could see it..... :undecided. this laser captivated me, so much. Somuch, that I took it, pointed it at myself, and got a nice view down the barrel, and FLASH. I blinded myself for 30 seconds in my left eye. Second scariest moment of my life. even after that, i wasn't the brightest kid :gj:. A long while later, i got a letter from the eye doctor, notifying me of my checkup time. my dad drove me in to get checked up and I learn that i am developing cateracts at age twelve. Luckily it hasn't progressed far and is mild.
since then, i have always used precaution when operating lasers of any sort.
thanks for listening,
tuskiomi (village idiot)

I got blasted in the eye recently by a 1mW class II ornament thing (you better believe it!!) that my mum plugged in. Even THAT hurt and was like a very bright camera flash. Be safe from now on and you might get off easy!

no need to tell me twice. My first high power laser just got in before the port closed!

A Darwin award is for people that remove themselves from the gene pool, not people that injure themselves in general. :beer:

Cyparagon said:

A Darwin award is for people that remove themselves from the gene pool, not people that injure themselves in general. :beer:

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Trust me, this hunk of meat is not reproducing any time soon.

tuskiomi said:

Trust me, this hunk of meat is not reproducing any time soon.

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Don't be that hard on yourself (unless you're making humor on your own expense, which is always funny in real life but rarely translates well over internet). You apparently are very aware of the dangers of lasers and how to properly used them, and more importantly, are able to learn from your mistakes.

If more people were like you, we'd see far less bad laser related news.

Eudaimonium said:

Don't be that hard on yourself (unless you're making humor on your own expense, which is always funny in real life but rarely translates well over internet). You apparently are very aware of the dangers of lasers and how to properly used them, and more importantly, are able to learn from your mistakes.

If more people were like you, we'd see far less bad laser related news.

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well said Eud..

I wouldn't go too far either but hearing/reading your story made me cringe, I hope others reading the forum esp the new members take it as seriously as you , minus the part where they get blasted first.

Have you been to an eye doctor before this incident? Flashing a laser into your eye, probably didn't help things but, maybe you've had them all along.....

Congenital cataracts - Some people are born with cataracts or develop them during childhood. Such cataracts may be the result of the mother having contracted an infection during pregnancy.

These cataracts also may be due to certain conditions, such as myotonic dystrophy, galactosemia, Lowe's syndrome or rubella. Congenital cataracts don't always affect vision, but if they do they're usually removed soon after detection.

You're still a runner up for an Honorary Darwin Award, though.

I agree with sinner and Eudaimonium you should not be so hard on your self. To ERR is human, to forgive devine

It comes from "An Essay on Criticism" by Alexander Pope

Your human your are going to do dumb things in your life. If they were giving out honorary every one on this forum would get at least one! Me it be a few. One would be Death Sledding behind my buddies pick up back in high school. Old 57 chevy hood with a car set welded to the hood with some runners from a old kids sled. 60 miles a hour down a back road near town. Every one does it. But its the ones that learn from their mistakes and grow that show that your not a Darwin but a normal human!

tuskiomi said:

Trust me, this hunk of meat is not reproducing any time soon.

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Did you get a high dose of radiation on another part of your body? :crackup:

Zathras said:

Have you been to an eye doctor before this incident? Flashing a laser into your eye, probably didn't help things but, maybe you've had them all along.....

Congenital cataracts - Some people are born with cataracts or develop them during childhood. Such cataracts may be the result of the mother having contracted an infection during pregnancy.

These cataracts also may be due to certain conditions, such as myotonic dystrophy, galactosemia, Lowe's syndrome or rubella. Congenital cataracts don't always affect vision, but if they do they're usually removed soon after detection.

You're still a runner up for an Honorary Darwin Award, though.

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I agree with Zathras here, that type of laser should have only caused retina damage. An IR laser or DPSS laser that uses one can cause damage to the cornea.

Alan

Sad history! Thanks for sharing!

I got flashed several times by lasers, sometimes by some other person, sometimes by me.
The worst case that made me scared was when I accidentally shined my laser into a window, and the beam reflected back to my eye, was a chinese green pointer, enough to blind a person. For 15 seconds, my vision was black, but with the time it was normalizing and becomes normal.
The most recent was when I was playing with my 200mW red, my bed has a shelf with a semi reflective finishing where I put things, tonight I turned the laser on to catch my cellphone and the beam got reflected (a bit of it, because the surface was not perfect) and hit my eye, it got hurting the whole night, but lucky the other day was all normal again!

since then, i have always used precaution when operating lasers of any sort.

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This is the important thing, admit your error and learn from it, you have seen that many of us already suffered from a laser beam in our eyes, which is a common mistake and can happen to everyone!

Zathras said:

Have you been to an eye doctor before this incident? Flashing a laser into your eye, probably didn't help things but, maybe you've had them all along.....

Congenital cataracts - Some people are born with cataracts or develop them during childhood. Such cataracts may be the result of the mother having contracted an infection during pregnancy.

These cataracts also may be due to certain conditions, such as myotonic dystrophy, galactosemia, Lowe's syndrome or rubella. Congenital cataracts don't always affect vision, but if they do they're usually removed soon after detection.

You're still a runner up for an Honorary Darwin Award, though.

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Dunno. I have glasses, so yes, i've been to the doc before then. The cateracts condition isn't one i bothered to take too much in on. My next checkup should be in april. You can count on me delivering by then.

I had a stupid bastard shine a 1-5mW
pointer in my eye once when I was in
school. It doesn't hurt at all if it's
glancing from the side, but can do damage
just the same. Luckily it was at a
distance and low power. This was late 1995
or early 1996 when 5mW lasers were actually
5mW.

I'll be seeing the eye doctor Friday, so
we'll see how they look. There haven't
been any serious incidents, and hopefully
there won't.

just got my 1w blue beauty.
I'm using 3.00v lithium 1- use batteries and safety glasses.
so we are under 1.4v, and staying safe!