Sea Shepherd Attacks Japanese Whalers With Lasers

Tags: Japan, Sea Shepherd, whaling

• Teadrinker
  1:49 pm on December 29th, 2009 1

  I guess someone is profiting from whaling.

• 7Ø7
  6:08 pm on December 29th, 2009 2

  Reminds of Earthrace.

  Nvm, it is Earthrace.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthrace http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ady_Gil

• Leon LaPorte
  6:18 pm on December 29th, 2009 3

  I don't have a lot of sympathy for the whalers however this seems like they are pushing it too far and could cause bodily harm (eye damage in this case) to a Japanese crewman. This is the definition of terrorism if not outright piracy (boarding vessels on the high seas, uninvited).

  I would think we are getting to the point were the Japanese could legally defend themselves. I don't see why they don't just have a small SDF frigate or some such vessel accompany them to handle this crap. Blow them farktards out of the water. TORA! TORA! TORA!

• Lemmy
  6:22 pm on December 29th, 2009 4

  Wow, I have seen this before. If the Sea Shepard would have hit the warp-drive induction core of the Japanese ship, a tear in the fabric of sub-space would have created unimaginable consequences.

  Then again, maybe the guy with the laser had been in the Army and was simply giving a power point presentation.

  GI, its funny that you use the term "Attack". Using that logic gives the cop in DC full justification for shooting the people who threw snowballs at him and his Hummer. Then again, it would have been unbiased to title the article:

  "Activist Shine Green Laser Light at Whalers"

• Leon LaPorte
  7:01 pm on December 29th, 2009 5

  I think "attacked" is a very appropriate description.

  v. at·tacked, at·tack·ing, at·tacks

  v.tr.

  1. To set upon with violent force.

  2. To begin to affect harmfully: a disease that attacks the central nervous system.

  You can be arrested for attacking someone with a laser.

  This excerpt is from 2005!:

  Even brief exposure to commercially available green laser pointers can damage the human eye, warn the authors of a new study.

  The study, published in the May issue of the journal Archives of Ophthalmology, found that exposures of just 60 seconds to commercially available Class 3A green laser pointers can cause visible harm to the eye's retina.

  The Mayo Clinic study was conducted by pointing a green laser pointer directly at the retina of a patient's eye. The eye was already scheduled for removal due to a malignancy.

  The green laser caused damage to the pigment layer of the patient's retina, researchers report, but it didn't cause a measurable decrease to the eye's vision. However, longer exposures to green laser pointers could cause vision damage, warned researcher and ophthalmologist Dr. Dennis Robertson in a prepared statement.

  for the rest: http://news.healingwell.com/index.php?p=news1&amp…

• matt
  10:29 pm on December 29th, 2009 6

  Holy whale snot, Batman, they stole our boat!

• GI Korea
  11:51 pm on December 29th, 2009 7

  Lemmy when people attack airplanes with laser pointers they get sent to jail:
  http://www.laserpointersafety.com/news/files/60f6…

  In Italy a guy was fined $22,000 for shining a laser pointer at someones eyes:
  http://www.laserpointersafety.com/news/files/af03…

  Why should Sea Shepherd be given a pass?

• guitard
  1:46 am on December 30th, 2009 8

  There's always two sides to every story – and the truth usually lies somewhere in between.

  A big part of the Sea Shepherds' strategy is spinning the media to try and shape public opinion. The Japanese whalers have taken a page from the Sea Shepherds' book and have learned to fight fire with fire – and they also have become experts at spinning the media.

  I am highly skeptical about any report coming from either camp.

• earth first
  4:03 am on December 30th, 2009 9

  Ok for the intellectuals, you would have to be very stupid to stare at a laser beam for 60 seconds. "Oh My God!!! I do not know how to close my eyes or turn away.

  Maybe next I will stare at the sun through a pair of binoculars because I am really dense."

  Even if they could hold the laser beam steady for that length of time in those very rough sea with 2m swells and the other person on the maru 2 could jump about as to keep lined up with the laser beam and resist blinking for 60 seconds. Like as if that is going to happen, ever?

  I believe the unit is called an opto-disruptor a military grade device which causes a enemy combatant to be temperately dazed. A bit like driving at night approaching someone with high beam on their car. There is little difference between opto-disruptor and late at night getting flashed by the high beam from a car's head lights. All those people in jail for forgetting to dip the high beam. Yet there is more chance of someone having fatal crash and killing a whole family, father, mother, children.

  Be honest is there anyone here who forgot to dip their car's high beams while approaching on coming traffic? Confess your sins now, do you think you should go to jail? You should hand yourself into the police now.

  So let not the tail wag the dog, if we are serious about protecting peoples vision and preventing temporary blindness. lets start a campaign and get the real danger sorted first and save potential thousands of lives on the roads. Think of the millions of people driving cars late at night on country roads all around the world, somewhere, someone did not dip their lights and caused a fatal crash.

  Possible? Absolutely.

  Car manufactures could fit a device to the car which would detect the on coming car head lights and automatically dip the high beams in case of driver failure. Remember it is my idea, I thought of it first, get your own idea.

  Would you feel better if the sea shepherd were to get LRAD's (sound cannons) like the whalers use instead of lasers? Don't you use an LRAD, that is our weapon

  Seriously there are worst things in the world. All the children without legs because of landmines. Children in China working in sweatshops making toys for McDonald happy meals. Women and children being abducted and set into the sex slave industry.

  Make a difference, get a real issue. Push for electric and high mileage cars. Reduce your "Carbon Footprint" and become Vegetarian. Get educated instead of opinionated. Be proactive instead of reactive. Find out and inquire about life, the earth and how to be responsible for your actions and the impact you have on this earth, life and the people around you. I have walked this for planet for 50 years, I wish you had the knowledge and insights I have and know the things I know. What a different world we could live in.

• Leon LaPorte
  8:02 am on December 30th, 2009 10

  You didn't change or deny the fact that the whalers were attacked.

• earth first
  3:33 pm on December 30th, 2009 11

  Hey get the big picture here. Have you ever attacked anyone verbally or spoken poorly about someone? You see Attack is Attack no matter how you deliver it. Have you ever attacked a family member verbally or called names to a brother or sister or your mum because you did not get your way or got upset with them?

  How did that make them feel, hurt?

  What is the difference? Have you ever shone a torch light in someones eyes for the fun of it (even as a child). When I got beat at school by bullies, the big kids did it for fun, I was not laughing, I saw it as an attack.

  So if you had ever done something for a kick or fun, to get a laugh at someone at their expense, then that also could also be constituted as a attack by the other person.

  Whether you use a laser beam or just being plain nasty to someone, then "WE" are all guilty at some point of our lives and having attacked people.

  So what is the difference between say you and the Sea Shepherd. The difference is you will justify your actions, go into denial and not be responsible for your behaviour.

  Do not worry about the Sea Shepherd. Think of all the people you offended and attacked over years, what are you going to do about it now I have enlighten you?

  Go now and sort it out with that friend or loved one you offended with your harsh words. You will be glad you did.

  There is so much you need to learn Leon. Did you know that there that one in two people get cancer? One in three are carrying more weight which leads to heart disease and diabetes and other health problems. The number of people who get asthma and life threatening reactions to simple foods like peanuts.

  What do you think your risk factors are?

  I am 50, but look 30. Young women chat me up because I look so young, I date 21 year old girls because I can get away with it. They can not tell my age.

  I am super fit, but hardly do any exercise,

  my skin is near perfect and hardly a wrinkle. I am slim, my hair is amazing, even women are envious.

  I have no known illnesses or diseases unlike other family members, so this amazing health is not genetic. No high blood pressure or cholesterol. Absolutely perfect health.

  You really need to know this, I am Vegetarian.

  Eating whales full of mercury and PCB's will not lead to this unbelievable health and vitality I posses. Seriously how bazaar it is to put toxins in your mouth and then go crying to the doctor for a cure.

  Eating whale, tradition or otherwise, will not be of benefit to the Japanese people. Checkout Minamata Disease.

  If you are really serious and want to know more, then you are welcome to chat and get some insights. Consider going Vegetarian for many reasons, ask me about it. I have been Vegetarian for thirty years.

  I watch family and friends get sick and even die unnecessary. They think I am just plain lucky, no I make an informed choice of what I eat. I have even been "attacked" by people because I am Vegetarian.

  Start making powerful choices Leon. It is your health, your life.

• Leon LaPorte
  4:38 pm on December 30th, 2009 12

  First off, If I call you a libtard, egotistical, self centered 50 year old douche bag – it is certainly an attack. However, it will not rob you of your sight. Not the slightest chance. It will not physically harm your well honed vegan body. Get it? Do you get it yet? We are talking about aiming dangerous devices at other HUMAN BEINGS here. Not a f@rking torch (flashlight) a LASER. Idiot!

  Since I've lived in Asia so long, I rarely eat what one would call your average American diet from day to day. That said, I know one thing for certain. We all die. You will die without enjoying a good steak.

  So after the whale are "saved" (or die off) what will be the next cause celebre? Cause I know it won't end there. Save the bovine? Those noble majestic creatures. So docile… They can distinguish yellow from orange! They're like people! Soylent Green is people!

  Get over your self.

  /Personally, I suspect whale burgers are likely quite delicious.

• earth first
  5:43 pm on December 30th, 2009 13

  Oh gosh Leon, So you did aim a flash light at someones eyes. Do not feel bad, I have done it also when I was young. Clam down and think it through.

  The laser in question will not destroy the sight of the Whalers. Seriously if it was going to hurt anyone the Sea Shepherd people would not use it.

  If you are so concern for the well being of the Whalers, they are their own worse enemy!!! Ship fires, multiple deaths and injuries. Like they kill their own people dude. When the Sea Shepherd start killing as many workers on the whaling ships as the Japanese have killed. I am going to switch sides and start eating whale burgers and denounce the SSCS.

  Death to whalers caused by the Japanese =3

  Death to whalers caused by SSCS = 0

  serious injuries to whalers by Japan =3

  any injury caused by SSCS = 0

  Ship fires caused by Japan = 1

  ship fires caused by SSCS = 0

  Japanese are the dangerous ones, It is so rude to kill a Japanese, how do they get away with it?

  The laser in question is a mil-spec weapon just like the mil-spec weapon LRAD's and flash grenades the Japanese use. The laser is designed to temporary daze the sight of the enemy combatant. Just like the Japanese LRAD's are used to disorientate the sea shepherd personal.

  Why are you so angry?

  They are not attacking you.

  Hey I am "a libtard, egotistical, self centered 50 year old douche bag". But I got to tell you. When you get young hotties chasing you it is way cool. You got to give it a go.

  I want to to consider being vego so you can share in the action man. Would you not wanted young girls after you and have the strength and vitality to keep them happy.

  Come on, I do not give a damn about cows man. It all about the girls, stop resisting your basic instinct. You know you want it.

  I will give you a list of healthy advice that works.

  "Personally, I suspect whale burgers are likely quite delicious" Do not go there Dude, stay away from the poison. Whale meat may be yummy, but it contains Mercury. Mercury bad. Eat Mercury do not get the girls you get it. The Romans put lead in the wine to make it taste yummy and sweet. Bad move. Lead equals dead. Get it.

  Dead equals no girls. You do not want to die a virgin.

• earth first
  6:03 pm on December 30th, 2009 14

  One more thing I grew up on a farm. Ate fresh meat every day.

  Hated it, Most of all I hate steak. At the age of 8 I begged my mum to allow me to become a Vegetarian. Like this was way back in the 1970's in a rural community. So counter culture at so young in community that was the opposite to everything I stood for.

  Now that is making powerful choices.

  Can you claim the same?

  At the age of 5 I worked out the alcohol was no good.

  At 7 tobacco was bad. At 8 vego was the go. Gambling and drugs were out. By the time I hit 10 I had more insights than most adults.

  At 22 discovered longevity. I offer you something and you just get very rude. You have a lot to learn Leon.

• Leon LaPorte
  6:16 pm on December 30th, 2009 15

  You, kind sir, are a sage. Where have you been all my life? All this advice that would have helped me improve my lot in life rather than being the 40 year old, obese, rotten toothed, cancer ridden, virginal lout I am today.

  F@CK!

  At the age of 5 you worked out alcohol was no good? May I subscribe to your newsletter?

• earth first
  7:28 pm on December 30th, 2009 16

  Well from your last reply I can understand your loneliness, there has been a few but rare times that I have been without women. It sucks man. I feel compassion for you. If there is something I can do for you. You just say what it is and I see if can give the appropriate advice.

  I am not against the Japanese. I am sure most of them are very nice people. We have our fair share of fools here in Australia, as every country has.

  Now Leon are you eating right. Big Question. Many Answers. What herbs do you take? What minerals do you supplement with. Be interested to know. I maybe a complete jerk in your eyes at this point in time. You got to loosen up a bit man. Why so serious?

  Even if I did have a news letter, you are being such a grumpy person, you would not derive any benefits from it anyway.

  Here is a tip, I had a bad tooth, I went to the dentist. That one is free.

  However if you do get cancer, first thing, do not get Chemo-therapy. Now I am serious here. There are better, safer and non toxic ways to deal with it. Best advice do not get cancer in the first place. That is why I am asking what are you taking. If not, why not? Your health, your life. You can be smug all you like about me. You know what? I treat my body the appropriate minerals and nutrient that prevent cancer. If you are not doing the same then who is the smart one hmmmm.

  You can get as mad as you like, I am senior to you and you should respect your elders. Take their advice because they generally know more and have more life skills. Besides I am walking the talk and can back up my claims.

  Question for you. How come you are not horrified or offended the Japanese have kill so many of their own Whalers, yet SSCS shines a laser beam and you go ballistic and get really mad? So it is OK for Japanese to kill Japanese?

• earth first
  7:39 pm on December 30th, 2009 17

  PS: got to get going. News Eve and all that. Got a woman lined up for tonight. Have fun man, catch you around.

• Leon LaPorte
  7:53 pm on December 30th, 2009 18

  You seem to have completely missed my point. I do not care if the whalers are Japanese, Canadian, Martian or even Aussie.

  Not the issue at hand. I am more inclined to be anti-eco-loon, with their convoluted and twisted agendas (which almost always leads to the true green, you know, the filthy lucre *wink*).

  I am most certainly not cranky. You're missing it again. Sit back, take a deep breath, and read all my posts out loud while maintaining you tongue planted firmly in cheek. (or at least a sh!t eating grin) Mayhap you need to try some minerals to raise you awareness rating a bit.

  …and I do respect my elders (assuming they are worthy of respect). I have quite a few gentlemen of your advanced age, and older, whom I oversee for a living.

  As far as the impurity of my bodily fluids, I'll keep that information to myself. Suffice to say, I reckon I generate some expensive urine.*

  *http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2009/sep/10/optimum-vitamin-dose-supplements

• Leon LaPorte
  7:56 pm on December 30th, 2009 19

  You have a good one as well. I'll be with my (younger*) wife visiting friends and making my way to my tavern to hold court – meaning to officiate on the evenings debauchery.

  Happy New Year to everyone, even you Tom!

  *yep, me too.

• Lemmy
  3:35 am on December 31st, 2009 20

  Don't be a opossum!

  I have to admit that after reading some of the post that I started looking around for information on damage caused by lasers. Leon's reference to a medical report found that exposure to a class 3a laser for 60 seconds damaged the pigment of the eye. Now to accurately report what was found: from a distance of 150mm a laser was pointed directly into the iris of the patient's eye for 60 seconds. If anyone can shine a laser into someone's iris from a distance of about 100 meters for 60 seconds please let me know, I want to meet them as that would be a feat of epic proportions.

  But to be fair, I know there are lasers out there that can cause temporary blindness. The police have those. There are also commercially produced lasers in the 1000mw range and those can light cigars. Sure I got it, and the laser in the video is nothing like those lasers.

  As far as saying the idiots "attacked" the other idiots, let me put something into context. The Japanese ATTACKED Pearl Harbor, the terrorist ATTACKED the USA on 9/11, the Germans launched a blitzkrieg ATTACK on the Polish. I just don't see how you can say someone attacked another with what amounts to a high-tech flash light. Here is another one: Residents ATTACKED an off-duty D.C. detective with snowballs who prepared to defend himself with his service weapon. The lieutenant ATTACKED the power point presentation with the laser pointer.

  In all of the articles I read about the lasers and aircraft including statutes, I never found the term ATTACK used. Sure the laser pointers can cause temp blindness and pilots need to see gauges and instruments. Pretty easy to understand. For the "pilot" of a whaling ship which tops out at 17mph, is dealing with essentially one dimension and let go of the controls for days and weeks at a time without causing any damage is different than a passenger jet with 500 people on board traveling within 40 mph of stall speed and with no altitude to recover from a stall. I may be wrong.

  The point I'm intending to convey is that laser pointers, in general, are not as dangerous as people think. If you think a laser pointer is dangerous, try this: close your left eye and stare at the sun with your right eye for 30 seconds then close your right eye and stare at a laser pointer for 30 seconds with your left eye. Let me know which you think is worse.

  Another point to make is this: If you're afraid of a laser pointer and you see one, why don't you look away/close your eye or shield your eyes (much like you do when you see a welder's arc). You would need to be classified an idiot to wait for the beam of the laser to shine into your eyes. (Maybe you're intrigued by the colorful beam – remember that is what kills many opossum and deer.)

• Lemmy
  3:44 am on December 31st, 2009 21

  I may have things confused

  Is it:

  Whalers were attacked

  or

  Whales were attacked

• Lemmy
  3:48 am on December 31st, 2009 22

  I'm sure what the idiots were doing comes right out of an old Godzilla movie.

  Here is this futuristic/queer looking craft using a laser beam against scumbag, low-class, Japanese fishermen.

  When the idiots resort to actual guns return to posting, until then this is not news, its just one person's skewed perspective up against others.

• Leon LaPorte
  9:08 am on December 31st, 2009 23

  Read the entire article. It is well documented and sourced. I've seen many a posts about no one has been hurt and no one could be hurt etc. Many nations do not want their flags associated with these terrorists. Even Greenpeace wants no part of these shenanigans. It's only a matter of time before they maim or injure themselves or others. These people are dangerous and deserve a special reservation to GITMO.

• Leon LaPorte
  9:08 am on December 31st, 2009 24

  Duh, the article in question: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Shepherd_Conserv…

• Lemmy
  9:38 am on December 31st, 2009 25

  Leon, I've not sailed with the Sea Shepard and I do not know any of the crew of any of the boats or their administrative personnel. I don't care about any of them. If they all die tonight, I could not care any less about them, their families nor their friends. I feel the same about the Japanese whalers. I just don't care about any of them. If you have family, friends or personal knowledge about Japanese whaling then you obviously care. If the Japanese feel the situation is too dangerous, then they should stop hunting and return to Japan. If they feel they have the situation under control then they can continue to hunt whales as they are. Either way, I just plain don't care. When you try to convince me the Sea Sheppards are doing an injustice I can only laugh. After all they have passion, funding, and a sense of belonging. They have die-hard supporters no matter what actions they take. They don't just post to some website, they actually put their lives on the line, thousands and I mean thousands of miles isolated from medical facilities. If you want to complain about them you have every right to do so, but I could not care any less about you or anyone's plight in denouncing the Sea Shepard's actions.

• Teadrinker
  11:53 am on December 31st, 2009 26

  The offense is punishable by up to 100 000$ in fines and 5 years in jail in Canada.

• Teadrinker
  12:17 pm on December 31st, 2009 27

  "Ok for the intellectuals, you would have to be very stupid to stare at a laser beam for 60 seconds. “Oh My God!!! I do not know how to close my eyes or turn away."

  Since you're being silly…Your argument reminds me of a scene from the Simpsons, you know, the one where Bart starts swinging his arms and tells Lisa its her fault if she gets hit because she didn't get out of the way?

  I know a thing or two about lasers. The green laser they were flashing is what's called a dazzler. It's nothing like putting a flashlight in someone's eyes.

  http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/03/dont-lase…

• Lemmy
  12:51 pm on December 31st, 2009 28

  Next headline:

  "Sea Shepard slices Japanese whaling fleet in two using advance laser"

  or

  "Sea Shepard enters agreement to provide THAAD for United States using advanced laser"

  or

  "Sea Shepard teaches Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory a thing or two with alien laser"

  Maybe if the Japs deploy laser beams too, we could have the worlds very first documented laser battle. Where does it end.

  40,000 die each year in vehicle crashes in the US alone and we are talking about how deadly a laser pointer is? More 7 year olds are killed each year playing baseball than die from laser pointers. Each year more people lose their sight from jabbing a pencil into their eye than all the laser injuries combined. Not one passenger jet has ever been brought down by a laser pointer, but muslims brought 4 down in one day killing 3,000.

• Hamilton
  1:22 pm on December 31st, 2009 29

  All unrelated and off topic. I've been lased and it wasn't good. Very painful, and there may be no long term damage, however it is difficult to measure effects on two of the human body's most sensitive organs.

  ===

  The Sea shephard people are tools and conducted a criminal assault as others have clearly supported. I don't support whalers but I don't support violence against them.

• Leon LaPorte
  2:56 pm on December 31st, 2009 30

  "After all they have passion, funding, and a sense of belonging. They have die-hard supporters no matter what actions they take."

  You know who else had those same attributes?

  /Thread godwined in 17

• Lemmy
  7:41 pm on December 31st, 2009 31

  "You know who else had those same attributes?"

  Yes, the founding fathers of the United States.

  You were probably implying the Nazis though who also had the same attributes.

  The Chinese also

  And the US in the indian wars

  Khmer Rouge too, I know

  etc, etc, etc,

• Lemmy
  7:53 pm on December 31st, 2009 32

  Hamilton, didn't you read the medical report posted by Leon, (in some magical mysterious way that post is gone).

  If laser pointers are so dangerous, why are they sold. There doesn't seem any logical reason to have one other than to point the beam at something.

  I stand by the fact that the SS crew did not harm the Japs. This is a fact and it is undisputed.

• Leon LaPorte
  8:00 pm on December 31st, 2009 33

  Hmm it is gone. We'll I didn't do a lot of leg work on that one. Likely I could have found a better report.

  Anyhoo, it's about the intent here. I don't really care about either side of this issue much either. It is only a matter oif time til someone gets hurt or killed.

  What I care about is people like this pushing their agendas. Because everyone wants to be green and hop on the bandwagon while only superficially understanding what they are really supporting.

• earth first
  2:03 am on January 1st, 2010 34

  Leon your back at it again

  When out with Grace new years eve. Spend the day with Shelly, she even bough lunch and tea tonight and got invited to a movie.

  Tomorrow off to see Bo.

  Dude you are missing out "younger wife", hey I have "younger women". Seriously I date up to two to three girls at a time.

  While back introduced two girls I was dating to each other. They decided to share house with each other. I would be asked "who do you want sleep with tonight". Point being, become vegetarian man and get some action.

  Yes the Sea Shepherd attacked the whalers. Feel better now? So now you have the acknowledgment you crave for, lets get you a girlfriend for both you and your "younger wife" to have fun with.

  When you are ready I will let you know how to go about it. First step is to become vegetarian.

  Chic's really dig that.

• earth first
  6:33 pm on January 3rd, 2010 35

  Quoting Teadrinker.

  "I know a thing or two about lasers. The green laser they were flashing is what’s called a dazzler. It’s nothing like putting a flashlight in someone’s eyes."

  unQuote.

  Have you ever worked with lasers Teadrinker? How extensive is your knowledge? Well guess what? I actually have as an Senior Scientific Instrument Maker in engineering and industrial companies designing, building and proto-typing products, not only that worked with Xeon arc lamps, CO2 lasers, Arc welders, plasma cutters, TIG and MIG. Designed and build energy measuring instruments to measure UV radiation and solar and energy radiation measuring devices. Also worked with wavelengths, interference filters as well as bandpass and absorption filters.

  So bring it on teadrinker. Open your mouth and place your foot in it.

  Just because you may be able to google something and quote it is not the same as in-depth knowledge, training and skill learnt on the job for over a 30 years working life in the industry.

  You have no concept of energy, wave lengths, energy density, energy absorption, emissivity, radiation, effect of, or the transformation of energy or heat, light guides, interference filters, focal lenght, culminators, ray tracers etc. You are full of BS.

  A quick flash of a few Milli-Seconds from a green dazzler from 100m is not the same or has the same energy as from a powerful touch close up a 300mm.

  As a joke my boss flashed a 300 watt Xeon arc lamp which went through a culminating lens, through a liquid light guide out through a focusing lens. By this stage it was around 3 watts of white light with no UV or IR radiation. If you left the unit on accidentally, the light would set things on fire. Even a customer's tie went up in flames once. At 3 watts of white light and at 2 meters away I saw spots, I told the boss off for his silliness and we laughed.

  Guess what? The effect was only temporary and vision returned to normal very quickly, absolutely no damage was done.

  Yes a strong torch up close does have the same effect, because it is about energy density, distance and spectral frequencies over time.

  You are not scientist and you have not even a small insight into the world of energy physics.

  Another thing, a flash from an arc weld is more dangerous, I should be blind by now according to your logic the number of flashes I have got from an arc welder up close.

  You get the full spectrum from IR to UV-C. Plus it is putting out 3,000 watts and ozone and metal vapors.

  I think you need to apologize teadrinker.

• earth first
  7:10 pm on January 3rd, 2010 36

  That is because Japan spends millions off yen every year Lobbying Countries and buy whaling votes because they are an economic bully. Japan threaten countries with trade sanctions so small countries get fearful and do what they are told. This even includes pulling the flag on the SEA SHEPHERD.

  They tried to bully America once and got two ATOMIC BOMB delivered free to their country. So they do not bully America anymore. So anyone who has a small GDP are fair game to being bough or bullied by Japan.

  They tried to bully Holland to get them to pull the flag on the Sea Shepherd. The Dutch told Japan to go jump into the lake.

• earth first
  7:33 pm on January 3rd, 2010 37

  So is sun stroke, I know because I live in Australia and the sun is fierce here and got a touch of it once, felt very sick as the pain was very intense. Guess what I wear eye protection and a hat now. More chances of getting sun stroke than getting dazzled by Opto-disruptor. Sun Stroke more painful and can last a day or two.

  No Japanese whalers got raced to sick bay and laid in agony for two days because they got flashed by the Sea Shepherd. They just got to whinge to the world about and try and gain sympathy.

  Hey Hamilton try getting a decent case of sun stroke and tell me which is worse. A flash in the eye with a laser or being in bed for two day with a blinding headache in a dark room because seeing light just about makes you scream.

  Let ban the sun. Japan "land of the rising sun" ban them too.

• earth first
  8:04 pm on January 3rd, 2010 38

  How about all the "filthy lucre" or Japanese Tax payers Yen the Japanese government spend propping up an industry that is losing huge amounts of money, an industry that is not wanted, that is an embarrassment, jobs for a select few, rife with embezzlement, that is headed up by the Japanese mafia, cost a fortune in buying vote for whaling right at the IWC, cost the life of many Japanese whalers, an industry that is closed to public scrutiny, where whistle blowers are locked away and have their civil right removed and are hounded by the secret service.

  And you go on about a group of volunteers and an organization that got a 4 star rating as a charity that open to scrutiny with clear cut agendas. People give to them because they stop poachers. Poachers hate SSCS for it because SSCS remove Poachers illegal profits and are put out of business.

  Leon where would you donate your money. Someone who is stopping poaching on the Galapagos Islands and protecting the marine life or give it to the Japanese Mafia?

• earth first
  8:11 pm on January 3rd, 2010 39

  Japan spends more money trying to convince the world to allow it to do whaling than the sea shepherd spends trying to stop them.

  Do you think that the is money well spent by the Japanese government. For a fraction of the amount of money spent, the whalers could be retrained for other forms of suitable employment and saving the country a fortune.

• Khaki Mukiwa
  9:57 pm on January 3rd, 2010 40

  Smelly hairy hippy non-douching chicks dig vegetarian hippy douchebag guys.

  Yeah, baby! Gimme some of that nasty stinky zitty azz.

  Have at it, poof.

• Lemmy
  10:07 pm on January 3rd, 2010 41

  I was attacked by the wind once. Had to stand under a CH-47 all day at Air Assault School in the 80's. Boy, I felt it the next day, just like getting a sun burn. Lets ban the wind in addition to the sun.

  I was also attacked by the rain, had a 25 mile roadmarch in the rain back in Sep of 85. Came down with pneumonia that damn near killed me. Lets ban the rain.

  Though not me personally, I know of people who have been attacked by nice weather, for some reason they get sick and have to stay home from work. Lets ban nice weather.

  Yet others are attacked by cold weather and hot weather too, neet to ban them.

  I couldn't care any less if they killed every Jap whaler with a laser pointer and sank their ships with photon torpedos.

• earth first
  1:45 am on January 4th, 2010 42

  Vego the go man. You seem to set your sights too low. Well if that is the quality of women you go out with then, what can I say. Someone has to do it. As for me, no I have gone out with some really classy girls. You and Leon just do not get it do you?

  I detect a hint of jealousy. If you can not get a decent girl then why should a really good looking, really intelligent, super healthy, fit, looks 20 years younger, vego get any chicks? Oh by the way, I am also a top guitarist and music teacher as well, I get babes eating out of my hand.

  Khaki sounds like that greened eyed monster of yours is eating you up with envy.

  Not too late for you to change your ways. Getting mean and saying nasty things about me is not going to make you any better looking and have women being attracted to you.

  Simple become responsible for your actions, respect life and stop eating whales, no matter how yummy they are because they contain high levels of mercury. Mercury will make you sick.

  Are you Asians simple in the head. "Like do not eat that because it has mercury in it". Asians respond; "like do not tell us what to eat, we will eat mercury just to sick it to you".

  Go ahead poison yourself, more chicks left for me.

• Lemmy
  2:03 am on January 4th, 2010 43

  I have also been attacked by a Korean man who orally and anally flatuated while enclosed in an elevator with me.

• Lemmy
  2:15 am on January 4th, 2010 44

  If laser pointers are outlawed, only outlaws will have laser pointers!

  I will surrender my laser pointer when they pry it from my cold dead hand!

  "….I've got a laser pointer and a four wheel drive, country boy can survive, country boy can survive….."

  If someone approached you on the street, brandished a laser pointer and demanded all of your money, what would you do?

• earth first
  3:15 am on January 4th, 2010 45

  lets do some maths lets say a Japanese whaler got flashed in the eye, how much energy would be dissipated on the retina in heat as joules being watts per second.

  From the video it appears the laser is being waved about wildly. Say the arc is about 15 degrees swing back and forth with a cycle 2 hertz. So that it would be four strokes, back, forth, back, forth in one second. At a distance of 100m away the beam would move distance of 25m every stroke, 4 stokes a second equals speed of the beam traveling at 100m per second. The light able to enter the eye in energy is related to power as watts per second.

  The pupil is say about 3mm. 3mm divided by the total length of travel of 100m per second gives you the time in Milliseconds.

  Time is 0.3 milliseconds. If the laser was one watt, then power is watts per second.

  So 0.0003 seconds multiplied by 1 watt equals total of 0.3 milliwatts per second.

  Now the class 3A LASER (1 to 5 milliwatts) that was held 150mm from a patients eyes for sixty seconds.

  Say the laser was 1 milliwatt for sixty seconds. Power is 60 milliwatts per second.

  "Oh my God" that is 200 times more energy and it only caused very slight damage to the guys eye. Shame Leon must have pulled the reference as I would love to quote it verbatim. Point being even if the Sea Shepherd was using a laser which was 1 watt, which I very much doubt because of the duty of care they have. It would only deliver 1/200th the amount of energy (as heat to the eyes retina) to the laser reference that Leon previously quoted and even then at 200 times more energy, Leon's laser did very little damage to a patients eye that was due for surgical removal.

  I love maths.

  foot note: Wikipedia;

  The dazzler is a non-lethal weapon intended to cause temporary blindness or disorientation. Weapons designed to cause permanent blindness are banned by the 1995 United Nations Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons. Dazzlers are not intended to cause permanent blindness and therefore fall outside this protocol.

  Power of the Dazzle quoted by manufacturer is 500 milliwatts so you can halve the energy calculations i.e. 0.15 milliwatts per second.

  Your brain gets more heat from your mobile phone as RF energy than an eye's retina from a flash from a dazzler.

• earth first
  3:17 am on January 4th, 2010 46

  hey Lemmy I would close my eyes and hope he would go away :

• Apple Pie
  7:25 am on January 4th, 2010 47

  Terrorist will begin bringing down aircraft using laser pointers. They will be in ground based bunkered facilities and will be able to bring down every single aircraft. My God, Homeland Security, TSA, the FBI, CIA and every government in the world is completely wrong! Instead of looking for terrorist on the planes, they should be looking for terrorist on the ground wielding laser pointers.

  OH MY GOD! THE TERRORIST HAVE ALREADY USED THEM ON THE MOON, YESTERDAY IT WAS COMPLETLY ROUND, NOT IT HAS A BIG CHUNK TAKEN OUT OF IT! OH MY GOD, WE'RE DOOMED!!!!! ALL OF THIS BECAUSE THE SEA SHEPARD ATTACKED JAPANESE FISHERMEN.

• ChickenHead
  12:25 pm on January 4th, 2010 48

  Time to put this laser nonsense to rest.

  (Part I… due to spam filter)

  I have laser pointers from 5mw to ~500mw in IR,red,green and blue. I also have 4 ~200mw nightclub lasers in red, green (and yellow) with scanners. I have a low-power HeNe and a CO2 at a finger-cutting-off THIRTY watts. I also have a pulsed Nd:YAG laser with optics that has enough energy density at its focal point to make a loud pop and a bright flash of white light in the middle of the air… a great party trick.

  I have built a UV nitrogen laser from scrap aluminum and hand tools, built a computer controlled laser engraver for acrylic with a high-power fiber-optic communications IR diode, made high-power red laser pointers out of broken DVD burners and used laser interferometry (<.39mw) to precisely measure the distance between my cornea and retina and map my retinal curvature profile.

  I know something about lasers.

  For a large variety of reasons (beam divergence, exposure time, daytime pupil size, etc) shining a laser pointer at another person is irritating but certainly not an "attack"… any more than a 2nd grader telling another student, "I'm gonna kill you, man" is a "terrorist threat".

• ChickenHead
  12:26 pm on January 4th, 2010 49

  Time to put this laser nonsense to rest.

  (Part I… due to spam filter)

  I have laser pointers from 5mw to ~500mw in IR,red,green and blue. I also have 4 ~200mw nightclub lasers in red, green (and yellow) with scanners. I have a low-power HeNe and a CO2 at a finger-cutting-off THIRTY watts. I also have a pulsed Nd:YAG laser with optics that has enough energy density at its focal point to make a loud pop and a bright flash of white light in the middle of the air… a great party trick.

  I have built a UV nitrogen laser from scrap aluminum and hand tools, built a computer controlled laser engraver for acrylic with a high-power fiber-optic communications IR diode, made high-power red laser pointers out of broken DVD burners and used laser interferometry (<.39mw) to precisely measure the distance between my cornea and retina and map my retinal curvature profile.

  I know something about lasers.

• ChickenHead
  12:26 pm on January 4th, 2010 50

  Part II

  For a large variety of reasons (beam divergence, exposure time, daytime pupil size, etc) shining a laser pointer at another person is irritating but certainly not an "attack"… any more than a 2nd grader telling another student, "I'm gonna kill you, man" is a "terrorist threat".

  Continued misinformation on the dangers of lasers pointers perpetuates the exact same results as the hype over (nonexistent) "plastic guns", "Teflon-coated cop-killer bullets" and _________ (insert media/congressional hyperventilated meme here).

  It is also a bright star in the Constellation of Ignorance which appears when government and technology meet…

  …and contributes to such legislative wonders as grandma standing in a long line to become a government-funded smut star in a full-body scanner to keep her from possessing fingernail clippers or 4 ounces of toothpaste…

  …yet a Nigerian on the watch list with no passport and no luggage who bought his one-way ticket with cash and whose father warned us was a terrorist can bring a bomb on a plane.

  I beg you all not to perpetuate the ignorance and stupidity.

• Jon
  8:30 pm on January 5th, 2010 51

  I am sorry, do you not realize that these species have just as much right to to be free and live like we do? we are at a point where we no longer even need to eat meat if we decided not to, just to many people want a cheap way out.

  Killing is wrong, but if it's the only way to stop the murder of another species so be it, The sea Shepard's aren't even killing unlike there unruly counterparts. They are doing everything they can to stop them peacefully but look where it gets them, thrown in jail in a foreign country without civil rights.

  I say fuck the greedy japanese wailers and if they won't stop we must adept and bring the fight to them where it hurts, Their Lives.

• Nadss
  2:35 am on July 17th, 2010 52

  Im sorry but the sea sheperds do not hav a laser its jus a light annd its not even harmful and if you still think they meant harm then why isnt the laser affecting them thelasers pointed towards them at one point and they didnt get hurt and it not even a laser

• Nadss
  2:38 am on July 17th, 2010 53

  And ppl dont u see whales are magnificent creatures??Why kill for money when the whales are the tresure to look at

• Leon LaPorte
  10:13 am on July 17th, 2010 54

  #53 People don't you see cows are magnificent creatures? Why kill for money when the cows are the treasure to look at. Such majestic creatures and have 4 stomachs, no less.

 

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