Kingdom Keys Bookmarking Blog

Pointing a laser beam at night at the cockpit window of an aircraft about to land is not a prank - it is an act of terror.

What about the laser beam at your checkout register?

Have you noticed that they no longer point towards the ceiling hitting everything in view but are now aimed at the tummy of the operator - hopefully where there are no eyes (except the eye of a child). That would be a big concern for those new self-serve checkouts where little girl wants to do just like mum... and get her eyes zapped in the process. All that because the supermarket chains want to replace labour with machines...

If you open up a CD player or look at the DVD drive of your PC you will see a prominent yellow sticker warning you of a beam of light lurking inside if the power is on and the cover off.

Laser beams are neither good nor evil - it's what you do with them that makes them so. Lasers are a wonderful tool in the hand of a surgeon because of its pinpoint accuracy. Even now they claim they can correct short-sightedness (the flip side is those people will have to wear glasses in their old age like the rest of us...).

Since the movie Star Wars people have been dreaming of duelling it out with rays of light. The Federal police is concerned about the importation of powerful hand-held laser guns from China. They are now prohibited goods. Even laser pointers once the touch of class from a presenter at a conference are now shunned upon.

People who work in fiberoptics have been reminded of the danger of glancing at the end of a cable where no apparent light is shining. If it uses an infrared spectrum (like the remote control of many appliances) you can't see it but it can burn the back of your retina very quickly because it is a focused beam.

And you though being high-tech was hip! A technician working on a fiberoptic cable in a van, in a manhole or on top of a pole has to follow some strict safety procedures just to make it for the next day. The tiny chards of glass which are left over when a cable is cut and trimmed can cause internal bleeding or even death if dropped into your lunchbox.

So in short if you come across a laser appliance which is defective - throw it out and buy another one. You have no business trying to fix something which is a disposable commodity.

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