Back to the point... Ben, do you know if this thing can fuse nylon? I hate swapping the point on my soldering iron for the hot knife, and a match leaves a ragged fuse on webbing. If this would zip though nylon and poly web, and paracord, it would be on my "someday" list.

Also, any idea how big the point is at, say, a half mile? Might make an interesting illuminator. I know that when the Marines when into Somalia the second time, to get the UN out, they had something like this but bigger and maybe not as powerful, as a long range illuminator.

It should have the ability to fuse nylon, though you'd have to experiment with fuse rate and such. The color spectrum for most nylon is right for it to be susceptible, given how fast it chows a hole in electrical tape.

The collimation is fairly tight I am told, you might get a foot or two spread at half a mile, maybe less. My buddy is experimenting with different lensing settings attached to his to diverge the beam, with some pretty good results. I think he gets an 8' spot at 400 yards that is intensely bright using his current lensing configuration. He also says he can see some nodal patterning once in a while. I have to admit, it is pretty wild to watch him move the spot down the road towards a building. The spot doesn't lose much intensity as it moves away. Cohesive light is a darned cool thing.

Just a reminder, judges and attorneys do not hand out verdicts in most civil and criminal cases. It's 12 of "your" peers.

Critical thinking and moral responsibility are hopefully instilled by the parents, not necessarily the local school district.

...end of political rant....

I've had a laser pointed at me while driving some time ago. As a retired infantryman, I was very upset by this incident. I realised at the time that it was probably a kid having fun in the back seat, but it could have been an aiming devise mounted on a weapon and now this !!!

I reacted by slamming on the brakes and taking evasive action, next time I might slam on the gas and take pre-emptive action ... These "toys" make me very upset :-(

( It was night time, didn't get a license plate number)

By the way, lasers produce "coherent" , not cohesive, light.

"There is nothing so frightening as ignorance in action."

It's largely a pointless debate. You'll have those who believe you can reverse time and regulate away something that already exists (I had that reaction to the laser initially, but I know better)

You have the other camp that thinks nothing should be regulated, taxed, licensed or otherwise freedom limited. Never the twain shall meet. But the former camp will never be successful and the latter camp will always have social issues. So you end up with the pseudo compromise we make with most issues like this. You get the illusion of safety while limiting freedoms for some.

But all you really need to do to see that the latter group is likely the more correct solution is to go to any country that doesn't allow "citizens" to own guns. The law-abiding citizens are outflanked and outgunned by every 2-bit criminal with $500 to spend on a smuggled in gun. Take away private ownership of guns and crime escalates exponentially. Give them back and you get a few troubled kids who likely have had a bad upbringing cause all sorts of grief to a lot of people with their uncle's gun.

So, it all comes back to personaly responsibility, a code of ethics and accountability. You can only teach it at home... schools may help, but it's not really it's place to instill those values in YOUR kids.
It won't ever stop. Enough removal of freedom and unjust taxation and you get revolt. Just ask George Washington and crew.

Oh, and your comment about regulating gas pumping is timely... just the other day a lady lit up a cigarette while pumping gas right next to my brother. Normally a calm individual he totally went off on her and she said "It's my life, and I can smoke where I want." SSDD I guess. Sadly these people don't eliminate themselves from the gene pool fast enough. But we already live in a fearful semi-police state. Welcome to the U.S.ofA., now with Freedom Lite! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

If you shine a laser through a bottle of Jack Daniel, does it become incoherent light?

Well, with thing, it might become a "poof-flames!" kind of light if you do that.

Hey, please, don't insult cats !!! <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

You will note that I said "but better".