Idiots with 200mW laser

I saw this on TV a while ago and have been meaning to find a video of this to put up here.

On one of NZ's top morning current affairs show, there gadget person brings the budgetgadgets 200mW laser. They play with it like it's a toy, no goggles. The worst was "It's only dangerous at focal point, unfocused it's safe) :tsk: He said that after the female host rightfully complained about having it pointed near her.

Very bad. Skip to 3:43 as that's when they start messing around

YouTube - Breakfast: Fun With Laser Gadgets

Another incorrect thing the gadgets guy said, was such a laser would be used by construction workers to point thing out.

Anyone else found the little mention of safety bad.

Its a bit of a half truth there - if you do focus it to a pinprick a few inches in front of the laser, the beam will be pretty large a meter away. It would have been far more dangerious to the other presenter if it were focussed to inifinity - at which point it would still pop the balloon, but not burn the newspaper.

But if you have no understanding of the dangers at all, you wouldn't be likely to make that obervation, and run into serious trouble treating it as a toy.

Good point. But still no matter how it's focused it's still really dangerous to treat it like that

When the balloon went pop i got so excited!

Another idiot with a 200mW laser. This time it's worse

YouTube - CD-ROM laser

He burned the newspaper 2cm away from a glass table :wtf:
Wickedlaser´s Spyder II in the background :wtf:

The girl has some nice balloons herself

Hehe whats funny is the host guy has had to resign for making racist but funny comments.

I had a party some weeks ago, and one person (I can't call him an idiot, then he drove himself to death, the day after) :cryyy:

But he took my green laser and shined into my nightbours, so they came and complainded. So next party I will hide my lasers!