> -----Original Message----- > From: Ed Wilts [mailto:ewilts at ewilts.org] > Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2006 2:28 PM > > Personally, if a rocket lands in my living room or dining > room, I don't > much care. That should read "won't much care": you'd be squished by a Shuttle or an Atlas rocket, etc. > On the other hand, if you miss by that much doing laser > surgery, it's a wee bit of a problem (ok, if you miss by *that* much, > you're ok since you'll only laser your toes off and miss the patient > completely). Laser tools don't work that way. The "cutting" part is like using a magnifying glass to burn a leaf. Just a little bit away from the burning area, it's diffuse and no harm at all unless it's a type of laser whose brightness alone may cause eye damage. If it was like a "light saber", surgery and stuff would be impossible - except for basic amputations. Many laser types are not dangerous at all in any beam configuration. Others can burn a bad guy's incoming missile out of the sky before a Patriot anti-missile missile could be launched. Oh.. most of these are pretty complex and need Linux real-time stuff to make them do their things... so this is kinda on topic :-) Chuck