Cut me a break, fellas. I came up with a knee-jerk reaction of an idea that would never work, and owned up to it. Again I apologize if any feelings were hurt, as I don't want to wear out my welcome in this discussion forum.

I guess in my cowering defense, I could say that as an occasional air traveller I was alarmed to read of that quote from the Asiana pilot suggesting that a laser may have contributed to the crash. I'm a white-knuckle passenger in bad weather flights as it is, without this one more worry to ponder on final approaches in clear weather.

 

Oh your post was not sarcastic? I thought I was reading pure sarcasm and nobody else got it. Perhaps I am the one who needs sarcasm identification training... So who would like to teach this workshop? I'll be sitting in the front row.

 

Though I now realize that my idea of legislatively curtailing the proliferation of hand-held laser torches powerful enough to pose a threat to airliners was a half-baked and naive non-solution that would never have worked in practical terms, I did not intend to be sarcastic when I initially suggested such a ban, Stantor, nor did I read any sarcasm in the reply from W. Bahn, which pointed out the technical obstacles that would prevent any jurisdiction from being able to ban or regulate civilian possession of hand-held lasers.

 

"There ought to be a law against" ... pick whatever topic you want, guns, texting while driving, laser pointers, et al.

There are plenty of laws against those things. Texting while driving is inattentive driving, yet people won't believe it because the law was written before cell phones and texting. What is the amount of time from green light to road rage when the person in front of you has that all important text to generate?

 

That is so true, Joe. It is one thing for rules and regulations to exist in the books, and entirely another consideration as to whether those laws can be enforced without eroding the liberties of a free democratic society.

 

"There ought to be a law against" ... pick whatever topic you want, guns, texting while driving, laser pointers, et al.

There are plenty of laws against those things. Texting while driving is inattentive driving, yet people won't believe it because the law was written before cell phones and texting. What is the amount of time from green light to road rage when the person in front of you has that all important text to generate?

Okay, you opened this can, so I'm gonna rant. Last week, I was driving in the fast lane on a four lane divided highway with my CC set at 65, the posted limit. A car comes up behind me, and I pull over into the right lane, and he goes by. As he goes by, I see his passenger with his phone out, thumbing away. I glance over at the driver and he has his phone in his right hand doing the thumb dance.

He gets by me, pulls over into the right lane and begins weaving slightly back and forth, not a lot, but enough for me to know that he's distracted. We go along for about five miles and I start gaining on him (my CC is still set right where is was.) In another mile, I pull back into the left lane and go by. He's still thumbing away; need less to say, I was annoyed.

Texting is a plague; I think it's more addictive than booze or drugs.

Whew! I feel better now.

 

Just a note for those who have not experienced a laser in the eyes.
I was cleaning shelves in a laser repair shop (5mw) and accidentally stood up into a scanning beam with my eyes open.
Red Black
Stayed black for almost a minute.

Good reason to wear colored goggles while doing ANYTHING in a laser shop!

 

In retrospect my suggestion that hand-held lasers be outlawed was borne out of a sense of panic over the thought that a laser may have been invloved in causing this crash, and that copycat incidents might be averted if the gear needed was put out of general reach.

I render my apologies for any offense that may have been taken at my poorly thought out idea, which I can now see, from WBahn's observations, would have been unworkable anyway.

It's good that you could step back reassess a rash position. If only elected officials were capable of the same level of rational thought.

 

I will be organizing a sarcasm workshop soon. Topics covered will be conveying and interpreting/recognizing sarcasm in written text. Some of you are encouraged to attend, some are encouraged to instruct.

You gonna attend as a student?

 

I render my apologies for any offense that may have been taken at my poorly thought out idea, which I can now see ... would have been unworkable anyway.

Personally, I see no reason for apologies. The government already tells you who you can love and what substance you can put in your own body. Taking away your laser pointer is severely small potatoes in comparison.

 

They can have my laser pointer, when they pry it from my cold, dead, hand.

I thought the quote was; "You can take my laser pointer, but you'll have to take all the photons first!"

 

What the government needs to do is go buy up all the photons, that way people can't misuse a laser pointer even if they've already got one.

 

The latest news about the San Francisco air crash includes an account of the Asiana pilot reporting his being temporarily blinded by a "bright light", as he guided the ill-fated Boeing 777 on short finals over the San Francisco Bay into KSFO runway 28L.

It would be interesting to see if the flight deck voice recorder substantiates his claims. Even if it does, it would still represent poor cockpit resource management. The pilot should be able to have a heart attack on short final and the crew still get the plane on the ground safely.

This is probably old news to most, but I don't get much TV or radio so I just heard it this morning. Apparently the cockpit voice tapes do not support his claim and he made absolutely no mention of it at the time. Seems like something that would have been among the first things out of the guy's mouth. Also, none of the other flight deck crew made any mention of anything that hinted at the pilot being suddenly incapacitated. It needs to be checked out, but it looks (to me) like he is just makiing up a story to shift the focus away from him.

 

What the government needs to do is go buy up all the photons, that way people can't misuse a laser pointer even if they've already got one.

Naw, Henry Waxman, D CA, when he was Chairman of one of the committee's wanted to place a 1000% tax on bullets. Imagine what the tax on photons would total.