This is about a festive event accessory for lots of happy people with good cheer all around and in my opinion, a public safety hazard.
We were at a gala party one day where there were several hundred people. There were all kinds of food, there was music and there was this rotating orb in the center of the room which emitted decorative beams of light in constantly changing directions (Figure 1).
Figure 1 Party light at several different moments that emitted beams in several different directions.
Those beams of light were generated by moving lasers. They produced tightly confined light in whatever direction they were being aimed, just like the laser pointers you’ve undoubtedly seen being used in lecture settings.
I was not at ease with that (Figure 2).
Figure 2 A google search of the potential dangers of a laser pointer.
I kept wondering if when the decorative light beams would shine directly into someone’s eye, would that someone be in danger of visual injury? Might the same question be raised with respect to laser-based price checking kiosks in the stores (Macy’s or King Kullen for example) or for cashiers at their price scanning check out stations?
Everyone at the party went home happy.
John Dunn is an electronics consultant, and a graduate of The Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn (BSEE) and of New York University (MSEE).
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