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Warning about Green Laser Pointers

The NIST has just released a report and warning about a serious safety issue with some green laser pointers.

Late last year, the research team purchased three low-cost green laser pointers advertised to have a power output of 10 milliwatts (mW). Measurements showed that one unit emitted dim green light but delivered infrared levels of nearly 20 mW, powerful enough to cause retinal damage to an individual before he or she is aware of the invisible light.

NIST’s researchers have devised a simple test that you can do yourself to make sure your green laser pointer is safe (see the full report).

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Favorite Photos 18

Thirty six years ago this month, as a teenager visiting Disney World for the first time, I shot this photo of a monorail going through the Contemporary Resort. I used an early 20th century Kodak bellows camera that I had bought at a church bazaar and restored myself. Borrowing my father’s 1950’s light meter I set the aperture to get the highest shutter speed possible. Then I panned, with out the aid of a tripod, to follow the monorail putting most of the motion blur on the lamps in the foreground (at least that’s how I remember it). This was also my first color photography, normally I only shot monochrome and developed the images myself. For this special family trip my Dad had bought a roll of 120 size color film for me and then paid for the processing.

Monorail going through the Contemporary Resort

Monorail going through the Contemporary Resort photo details on its album page.

See more Disney World on the Disney World pages of my photo albums.

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Update of the Old YouTube Full Screen Post

Back nearly two years ago I put up a post about how to work around the YouTube full screen view terminating at the end of each video in a playlist. That post has remained very popular but currently is largely irrelevant.

That post was inspired by my laziness, I got sick of having to click the full screen icon after each ten minute segment of the chopped up documentaries I was watching. I kludged together a way to get what I wanted by creating a local html file and watching from there.

Reviewing the current YouTube site I found good news and bad news. First the good news, the html kludge is no longer needed. While I can’t get a playlist to run from a channel page, I could hand craft a URL to run it from YouTube where it will stay in full screen mode as the videos change.

grid_iconHere’s how I did it, first you get the ID for the playlist. Click the grid view icon in the upper right then click the playlist you want to watch. This will give you the playlist URL like this: http://www.youtube.com/user/paulhutch00#grid/user/3533EAF39D4A0E3B.

Copy the playlist ID from the end of the URL to use in a hand crafted URL of this format: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX&playnext=1. By replacing the XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX in the URL template with the playlist ID you copied you get a URL that will let you play the whole playlist without dropping out of full screen mode.

fs_buttonFor the example I’m using, the resulting URL is: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=3533EAF39D4A0E3B&playnext=1. If you click that link then, click the full screen button in the lower right of the video window, the play list will play full screen and continue in full screen as the videos advance through the playlist. This solves the problem for me, I’m happy to no longer need a kludge html file to make this work.

If you are an ambitious channel creator you can make this easier on your visitors by embedding this hand-made URL in a placeholder video’s description. For an example see the JamesBurkeWeb’s YouTube Channel, great job!

Now the bad news, first the HD modes will not stay set while watching a playlist. When the next video plays it falls back to standard definition. The other bad news for users is that some copyright holders block the embedding of their videos. From what I could figure out, when video embedding is blocked you cannot make a playlist with the video. I believe this is why the Derren Brown playlist I had on my channel stopped working. I can’t blame YouTube for this, if a copyright holder wants it this way YouTube has to oblige them, it’s the law.

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Happy World Metrology Day

WMD_2010_smallToday is the 4th annual World Metrology Day sponsored by the Bureau international des poids et mesures (BIPM, International Bureau of Weights and Measures) and Organisation Internationale de Métrologie Légale (OIML, International Organization of Legal Metrology).

From the press release:

As the world strives to move on from its recent financial problems, and as Governments work to regenerate economies, we shall find that science and technology are the engines of economic growth and prosperity. These, in turn, rely on being able to measure correctly and to refer measurements to the same international reference standards. A world without accurate measurement is a world where science, technology, trade and society can’t communicate and where error and uncertainty would reign supreme.

For an excellent introduction to the subject read, Metrology – In Short by the European Association of National Metrology Institutes (EURAMET).

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The Most Important Documentary of 2010

Last night Frontline aired what I feel may go down as the most important documentary of 2010, The Vaccine War. An extremely well made documentary that is as unbiased and factual as possible, this is what I expect and nearly always get from Frontline. On the rare occasion I’ve seen where Frontline messes up, they quickly and thoroughly correct the mistake.

I feel this documentary is important not because it will likely end the problem of the anti-vaccine movement, although I really hope it will. It is important because if we keep heading down this road eventually the avoidance of vaccinations will cause unnecessary illness, pain and death. It may be twenty or more years from now but if it happens we’ll have this documentary to review and see who caused the problem. Then we can rightly blame the irresponsible parties (I’m looking at you, McCarthy, Handley, Fisher, Kennedy and the other out front denialists).

Check your local listing for re-broadcast times, watch the documentary online at PBS.org.

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Phoebes are back!

Two years ago a pair of Eastern Phoebes (Sayornis phoebe) successfully raised two broods on my porch. Three juveniles from the first brood fledged in May (only two show in the picture), and four fledged in July.

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Last year momma Phoebe started re-building the nest but then just stopped and I never saw more than one Phoebe around the yard again that summer. I suspect one of the pair died and the other bird didn’t find a new mate in time for breeding. (Note: I only know it was momma building because all the references I found state that only momma builds the nest)

This month a Phoebe tried to get the nest going again, she made a huge mess along the whole porch trying to get mud to stick for a stable base. The ledge the nest clings to and the fledglings are sitting on in the photos above, is just shy of two inches deep so it isn’t easy to get the nest started. The moss and pine needles would stick to the mud at first but then fall off as she tried to enlarge it.

With the big mess she was making I decided I needed to either block her from the whole length of the porch or give her a helping hand. I decided to help her out by adding a 1x1x6 inch wood block enlarging the ledge. The block was added on the 19th and two days later she had her nest finished and ready to go. Oh and the porch is staying clean now, any mess should be confined to the far end away from the stairs and door.

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I kept trying to see if she had laid eggs by using a mirror attached to a pole, but every time I went to look she was in the nest. Not wanting to disturb her I didn’t scare her away but I kept checking on her a few times every day.

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Finally today on my way back inside from a trip to the store momma was not on the nest. Although I didn’t see her, I bet she was taking a break from incubation to catch some yummy flying bugs. Quickly grabbing my mirror to check, I found she’s laid 5 eggs! Looks like I’m in for a fun spring and summer watching these great little birds raise a couple families.

General information on the Eastern Phoebe

Interesting journal articles I found at The Searchable Ornithological Research Archive

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World Metrology Day Coming in May

May 20th is the 4th annual World Metrology Day sponsored by the Bureau international des poids et mesures (BIPM)(International Bureau of Weights and Measures) and the Organisation Internationale de Métrologie Légale (OIML)(International Organization of Legal Metrology).

Metrology is the science of measurement so it’s used everywhere, from cutting edge laboratories to most everyone’s home. I’d be hard pressed to think of any scientific endeavor that didn’t involve metrology at some level. From a simple scale (ruler) to measure the length of a leaf by a botanist to the atomic clocks that make astronomical observations so precise, metrology is everywhere.

On a personal level, metrology is my favorite branch of science I’m a metrology geek. I love to create new measuring instruments and techniques and of course just simply measure. I’m in awe of the cutting edge research done by fine organizations around the world such as the NIST in the USA.