[Sort of OT] Laser Beam To Discourage Thieves

[James Sentman]

On Jan 19, 2006, at 1:22 PM, heather james wrote:

> Here's the site I was referring to ...  http://www.wickedlasers.com/
> While they are technically legal in the US, some of them do have eye
> warnings ...
> http://www.wickedlasers.com/products.php?content=advanced
>  those are in 55 to 75 mw range ...
>

I know of these guys. They have a rather checkered reputation in  
other places I frequent. While technically legal, the higher powered  
lasers they sell to people without a license to use them or whatever,  
I'm a little hazy on the details, are often seized by customs coming  
into America and you'll never see your laser nor get your money back.  
And it's a considerable chunk of change.

If I were any of you I would not risk the not inconsiderable amount  
of money on a laser that chances are you'll never see, and if you do  
it may not have the output that is advertised nor last more than a  
few battery changes. (at least these are issues with these things  
that i've read about elsewhere) I have no first hand experience with  
them, just enough reading that I wont be spending my money there.

-James

>    -= )-( =-
>
> On 1/19/06, James Sentman <james at sentman.com> wrote:
>>
>> On Jan 19, 2006, at 12:13 PM, heather james wrote:
>>
>>> Look out for that. If its the site I'm thinking of, they had high
>>> power green lasers that were
>>> 3 to  7 times the power of the regular laser pointer "toys" ... and
>>> warned that they had the potential of eye damage.
>>> Can't you just see some ambulance chaser coming after you because
>>> their client suffered eye damage by staring at your building  
>>> alarm for
>>> too long ...
>>>
>>>     -=)-(eather=-
>>>
>>
>>
>> A real 5mw or so (perfectly legal if you dont point it at an
>> airplane) can actually be seen as a beam in the dark. They are used
>> as pointers to stars by astronomers. Ones that actually output that
>> much power though are still very expensive though.
>>
>> They dont make the air fluoresce or anything like that, but your eye
>> is so much more sensitive to that color than the red we're used to
>> that it takes much less scattering to make it visible to you. It's
>> not like in a room filled with fog, but you can definitely see it
>> with dark adjusted eyes.
>>
>> If you leave the porch light on though it will be too bright in the
>> yard to actually see the beam. Plus it's illegal to shine laser
>> pointers at police or cars (in many places) and probably lots of
>> other restrictions on their use. especially their public exibition
>> which is what your random scanner might count as. The laws about
>> laser shows are pretty intense, you have to have physical lock outs
>> on your beam scanners to keep them from hitting the crowd or going up
>> into the air above a certain power. And all sorts of things.
>>
>> Probably OK to do it for fun though :)
>>   James
>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 1/19/06, Rob Lewis <rob at whidbey.com> wrote:
>>>> I saw an ad for a green laser pointer that claimed you could see  
>>>> the
>>>> beam in the air (IIRC, they were talking about the night sky, not a
>>>> lit-up room).
>>>>
>>>> I'm highly dubious, but maybe the right wavelength can excite air
>>>> molecules to re-emit or scatter visible light? Any physicists out
>>>> there?
>>>>
>>>> On Jan 19, 2006, at 8:38 AM, Chester Lapeza wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I found this link:
>>>>> http://www.epanorama.net/documents/lights/lasercontrol.html
>>>>>
>>>>> But really, with a randomly moving laser beam, as cool as it
>>>>> sounds, unless you're going to be flooding the room with mist or
>>>>> smoke (something for the laser to light up and be seen), all  
>>>>> you're
>>>>> going to get is a red (or green!) dot moving along a wall or the
>>>>> floor. ...or if you get it moving fast enough, a line or squiggly
>>>>> smear, making your own laser show... then all you need is some
>>>>> stoners and some Lynyrd Skynyrd!
>>>>>
>>>>> "Freebird!"
>>>>>
>>>>> Love the idea, tho!
>>>>>
>>>>> Chester
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Friday, January 20, 2006, at 01:42AM, Joe Sonne <joe at sonne.ca>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Although there will be wireless sensors all over the place in
>>>>>> the new
>>>>>> front office of a building that we are setting up I thought that
>>>>>> something like a randomly moving laser beam would be a good  
>>>>>> visual
>>>>>> discourager for would be thieves. Can anyone point me in the
>>>>>> direction of something that would do the trick? This can be
>>>>>> along the
>>>>>> lines of the 'Beware of Dog' sign when you don't really have a  
>>>>>> dog.
>>>>>> Just something to make amateur thieves think twice before  
>>>>>> breaking
>>>>>> in.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>>             -= )-(eather =-
>>>        =------------------------------=
>>>         thewebgal at gmail.com
>>>
>>>  Heather's Photo Blog: http://www.thewebgal.com/blog/
>>>  The Triumph Project:  http://www.hjames.net/my-bike.html
>>>> ==========================================<
>>
>>
>
>
> --
>
>             -= )-(eather =-
>        =------------------------------=
>         thewebgal at gmail.com
>
>  Heather's Photo Blog: http://www.thewebgal.com/blog/
>  The Triumph Project:  http://www.hjames.net/my-bike.html
>> ==========================================<