We have seabass.

In future news: Earth cut in half by powerful laser beam malfunction.

Just to beat him to it:

If anyone is just killing kittens on the internet (and who isn't really) Please vote for 161 Frambes for the overall award at www.osuoffcampus.com/lightupthenight and help a farker's house win a big screen TV! Thank you.

Hey buddy - It's SUNDAY NIGHT!

/He got the wrong day, OK?

the oob
HA
well done.

of course it would be somewhat hilarious if you got banned too.

:)

lol now I'll probably be banned for an off-topic post or some crap. So something on topic:

{[a laser hits Jasper in the eyes]
Jasper: Oh!...my cataracts are gone. I can see again! All the beauty of na --
[Another laser hits him in the eyes]
I'm blind. Oh well: easy come, easy go.}

You're supposed to be telling people to vote for vote for 43 W. 8th Avenue apt. B

I'd think it's be funny if a bird flew through that thing. It'd probably roast the bird. Dinner is served.

My firend is a laser technician with some incredibly powerful lasers. For years we have thought of beaming a message directly to the ISS as a joke (the trajectory is openly listed on NASA). Something like "Give peace a chance." This discussion was terminated after 9/11. We thought it would probably result in serious charges.

*disavows any knowledge of previous paragraph

Man, if I lived near there I would have a ball trying to put a paintball through the beam.

> "The laser system is equipped with radar that will shut down the system in the event that an object is about to enter the laser beam."


Prime FARKing opportunity! All we need is a catapult and David Blaine (since the opposite fizzled!)

No, wait, seriously... a bunch of FARKers with water balloon launchers could have a lot of fun with this....

"Laser goes on... laser goes off... laser goes on... laser goes off..."

/Homer

Keep your cats indoors.

the oob,

I voted for ya. Help a brother out, I say.

Stu_Padasso

Umm, thanks, but it's actually some guy who's been spamming that message to all the fark comments lately... I'm not trying to help him out or anything.

Hrrmm, should have put a different address :(

Are they going to put "CHA" on the moon?

JohnnyontheSpot, nah they're going to zap the guy trying to take a big bite out of the moon.

Are they going to put "CHA" on the moon?

Hey, my double post acts as a caption for that pic. How serendipidous.

OOB, I voted for ya, good luck. Sadly, i'm sure there are plenty of Farkers around there that will be calling Shinanigans if you win.

Kent, stop touching yourself.

dewars-rocks

Dammit don't vote! Agggh! It's not me, it's some jackass who's been spamming the forums, and I just posted to mock what he's doing.

the oob: you got my vote too. good luck.

lol...chalk me up as another voting boob :)

Are you people serious, or are you just saying you voted for me to piss me off?

sadly, i am serious. i'm that stupid. my bad.

i live in boulder though...so i blame the laser.

/no excuse for being a dimwit

Orbital Mind Control Lasers

Oob, stop touching yourself. And stop threadjacking. (redundant?)

I only did it a couple of times g0dzilla

(threadjacking or touching myself?)

^^^on topic^^^: she has laserbeam eyes

"The company has taken special precautions to protect aircraft and birds that might fly into the beam.

"Every precaution has been taken to ensure the safety of the environment in the surrounding area," according to a release issued by Ball. "The laser system is equipped with radar that will shut down the system in the event that an object is about to enter the laser beam.""

Anyone else having a tough time envisioning them shutting the whole thing down because a bird happens to fly past?

HexRei - Well, it says they took special precautions to protect aircraft and birds. I'm sure air traffic control was notified to protect planes. Just wondering what agency is responsible for re-routing bird flight patterns.

Oh come now....

Just cuz it's in the visible spectrum doesn't mean it'll hurt anyone... It's just a nice way to say hello.

http://mitpress2.mit.edu/e-journals/Leonardo/gallery/burningman/black.html

Scroll down to read more about "Ship to Ship" 2002.

A more detailed link...

http://www.quantalink.com/ShipToShip.htm

Lasers are tightly focused beams of light, which have all the photons precisely aligned to one another. So why is the laser in the pic widening as it travels? Real lasers don't do that, SFAIK.

A more detailed link...

http://www.quantalink.com/ShipToShip.htm

I really hate it how news reporters, in their attempt to explain advanced scientific concepts or developments, relate new technology to what we've seen in the movies, which are special effects completely fabricated by computers and digital artists.

It's not a Star Wars beam, mmkay? It's a meteorological device used for taking readings from the atmosphere. The Star Wars beams blew up planets. This laser will cause no damage to anything unless sensors fail and a bird flies into the path of the beam (and an albatross is a far cry from Alderaan).

I for one welcome our high powered laser shooting CALIPSO overlords.

I believe that in the photo the bean seems to be widening due to the scattering of the bean due to moisture in the air. Sure laser light is coherent but it can still be scattered to a certain degree I believe. Also as it passes through the atmosphere of the earth, which is curved remember it can act like a lens spreading the beam.
But then again I could be full of crap.

SouthernFriedYankee, mainly because that's a mockup, not an actual photo (I guess I'll see it tomorrow night). That said, lasers do diverge just very slowly. Wide beams diverge more slowly than tight usually.

Sadly, I really should know this. I'm currently at JILA which is probably one of the top 3 places in the world for lasers, but I'm a theoretical chemist...so not really my area.

Hmm... One group here created a very tightly focused EUV laser that if it's 1 cm on the earth, is only 30 m wide at the moon (if you shined it there). A regular laser will be 1 km wide.

Also, JILA built the reflector that is still used to measure the distance between the earth and moon. I suppose I should be able to ask someone about that.