"Nasty" blue laser at school...

AlexGT

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\"Nasty\" blue laser at school...

Why are people so dumb to think a colored led is a laser? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif, The same that are always asking if that red, blue, green or whatever color led of the day may be, will harm their eyes?

I was leaving my kids at school the other day and there was a lady(Teacher) talking with the principal about the "really bad" kid that brought a "nasty blue laser" to school.

Blue laser?...this might be interesting, I tought, Looking at the weapon of terror, it turned out to be a piece of a write in the dark pen with a very dim blue led. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif

I waited a bit after leaving the kids to say hi to the principal and tell about the blue led she had confiscated.

Led? It's a laser! she said, we talked several minutes about the difference of leds and lasers, and being a flashaholic the end point was me getting a real red laser out and a red led and shinning them at a wall. After the demo it was pretty clear to her about the difference, and the "poor bad kid" with the nasty blue laser didn't get suspended over it.

Maybe it was my good action for the day.

AlexGT
 

FlashlightOCD

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Re: \"Nasty\" blue laser at school...

This is what we get for entrusting the future of our country [and our children] to one of the worst paid professions in the country. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif

At least the principal was reasonable.

Note: I am not attacking teachers in general, mostly they have to be very dedicated to what they are doing for so little pay. I just wish we paid them a bit more considering that they really control our future.
 

wwglen

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Re: \"Nasty\" blue laser at school...

EVERYBODY wants the BEST PAID and HIGHEST QUALIFIED teachers. Small class size, a wide selection of skill building courses for the students.

That is until the local and state governments say "Fine... Just let me raise you property/sales tax by 10-20% to pay for it."

That will put an end to most of the education reforms that will REALLY make a difference and we are left with a series of shell games.

wwglen
 

Solstice

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Re: \"Nasty\" blue laser at school...

Alex- good thing you didn't get suspended instead for bringing a "nasty red laser" to school /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crackup.gif.
 

AlexGT

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Re: \"Nasty\" blue laser at school...

I think I'm a little old to get suspended or have no recess, /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crackup.gif

AlexGT
 

PhotonWrangler

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Re: \"Nasty\" blue laser at school...

Good for you, Alex. You saved that kid and his parents from some undeserved humiliation. I hope the teacher and/or principal APOLOGIZED to that poor child for getting so hysterical over nothing. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif
 

BB

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Re: \"Nasty\" blue laser at school...

Back around 1985, I was going through regulatory headaches with UL, CE, and stuff over LED's and Lasers...

They were trying to make me label LED indicator equipped computers as Lasers... They were getting all upset about LED Lasers and LEDs were probably the same thing and they both had to be regulated to protect everyone's eyes.

Also, ran into problems with new products and European and the use of RED LEDs... Basically, RED means stop or some life-threatening situation--Yea, on a crane or a metal punch. Not the idiot lights on a voice mail system.

Glad you were able to educate somebody and save a person from some pretty bad (and wrongly applied) consequences.

-Bill
 

James S

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Re: \"Nasty\" blue laser at school...

Alex, fantastic!

I'm all grown up with my own kids going to school now, and of all the authority figures I've butted heads with over the years, school administration and teachers were the worst.
 

AlexGT

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Re: \"Nasty\" blue laser at school...

"Teachers are the worst".... Not really!, you just need to know how to get to them, I usually bring 2-3 dozen donuts the first day of school, since I know most of them did not eat breakfast because they were trying to finish the last details before class starts, they love them.

Another thing a good teacher friend told me is to donate some office supplies like hanging folders, transparency paper(Teachers love the overhead) or an electric pencil sharpener, doesn't have to be new and don't cost much but they will be very grateful the whole year towards you and be much easier to deal with in case my kids get in trouble.

At school almost all teachers know me because of the occasional donuts.

AlexGT
 

KevinL

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Re: \"Nasty\" blue laser at school...

Thank you for helping 'educate' those in the business! At least there are a couple of people out there now who are not so susceptible to the "laser hysteria". (I don't hang out in the laser forum but I wouldn't like to see unnecessary panic over what is considered a safe device such as a LED).

After all, anybody who sits in front of a computer is sitting with a whole bunch of LEDs. Used to be orange and red, now available in a whole spectrum of colors. There are three LEDs on most keyboards.. just look /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

The_LED_Museum

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Re: \"Nasty\" blue laser at school...

[ QUOTE ]
KevinL said:
...There are three LEDs on most keyboards.. just look /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]
There are at least nine LEDs on my keyboard, and another in the monitor - both of which I have in close proximity. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
O, and there are two Luxeon desk lamps here - also in close proximity. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I could probably get away with smuggling my blue laser module into a school, as it hardly ever works. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif
 

vcal

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Re: \"Nasty\" blue laser at school...

Craig;
Weren't those genuine blue lasers several hundred dollars in cost?
 

PhotonWrangler

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Re: \"Nasty\" blue laser at school...

[/ QUOTE ]
There are at least nine LEDs on my keyboard, and another in the monitor - both of which I have in close proximity. [/QUOTE]

Hmm, lemme see... (click) OHMIGOD I shot my eye out with the capslock key!!!
:p
 

The_LED_Museum

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Re: \"Nasty\" blue laser at school...

vcal said:
Craig;
Weren't those genuine blue lasers several hundred dollars in cost?
$960.00 to be exact - too bad the PWPOSMF hardly ever works properly. :( :shakehead: :toliet: :mad: :toliet: :shakehead: :(
 

BobVA

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Re: "Nasty" blue laser at school...

Don't get me started on the "laser" in the optical out (TOSLINK) port of CD/MD/DVD players....

Good work Alex !

Crimeny.


Cheers,
Bob
 

PhotonWrangler

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Re: "Nasty" blue laser at school...

Some of the TOSLINK spigots I've seen lately use lasers (the older ones appeared to be LEDs). They look like 650-670nm to my semi-calibrated eye. I wonder if they're VCSELS.
 

That_Guy

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Re: "Nasty" blue laser at school...

This irks me as well. One of my pet hates is people calling optical mice "laser mice". People going around calling optical mice "laser mice" is one thing, but what really annoyed me was when my little sister told me that her IT teacher had told her class in "parts of the computer" that optical mice work by shining a laser. I guess it doesn't really matter in this case, but it bugs me when a teacher, someone who people trust to be right, goes saying things that are wrong. No wonder people think that anything red is a laser. A high intensity red led != laser.

/end rant
 

Lunal_Tic

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Re: "Nasty" blue laser at school...

Doesn't Logitec actually make a "laser mouse"? Scarily enough I've also seen flashlights like SL Scorpion referred to as "laser light".

-LT
 

That_Guy

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Re: "Nasty" blue laser at school...

Yes they do but it uses an infrared laser so it doesn't count. :p Since it's invisible people probably call it a "magic mouse" or something because lasers can only be red. :rolleyes:
 
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