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FrozenGate by Avery

whats the fuss about IR?

Romenadan - the point you are missing - I think the ONLY thing you are missing from your summary is hte nature of coherent light, vs non-coherent light. Since a laser is concentrated, coherent light - even diffuse specular reflections can be permanently blinding. I think you covered most of everything else in your post - great research, and life experience by the way
:-) BUT...Laser light is coherent - so it is going to be more powerfule, concentrating intense amounts of energy on a tiny spot even from a tiny reflection - comparing hte sources of IR as you did - a capfire and a laser is apples and oranges I am afraid.

IR is not hte super-mean-mega-destroyer of eyesight taht some folks think it is, though - even WITH the fact that it is coherent light - and coming out in a tight wavelength (regardless of divergence) unless you take a direct hit, you are GENERALLY safe. I personally prefer to err on the side of caution - I only have my four eyes - and two of them already dont work too damned well ! The next laser that will for certain get shined into my eyes will be a YAG - under doctor's supervision for FICKING my eyes, not fubarring them ! LOL

The MAIN point is common sense reigns supreme. If you look at something sparkly, ASSUME it will do damage to your eyes, and take proper precautions - those little white canes, and cute doggies are in short supply....so are the voice guided typing systems, and PC interfaces that plug into your head behind your ear so you can "SEE" the image direct in your brain...not to mention how expensive those dogs are ;-)
 





Ah, thats true, I forgot about the whole coherent issue.

I agree, it's definitely better to err on the side of caution, it was just that people tend to make IR out to be a point blank DeathStar being shot into your skull.
 





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