(Belated) World Cup Contest

This was supposed to go up earlier, but it turns out that thinking you selected “Scheduled” in the MT back end is not, in fact, enough to schedule the post to appear. So this is showing up after games have already begun, but nothing of consequence has happened yet, so it’s no biggie. Anyway, the… Continue reading (Belated) World Cup Contest

Laser Smackdown: Final Days of Voting for the Most Amazing Laser Application

We’re just over 600 votes in the Laser Smackdown poll in honor of the 50th anniversary of the laser, as of early Friday morning. I notice that it has moved off the front page of the blog, though, so here’s another signal-boosting repost, just so we have as many votes as possible, to establish maximum… Continue reading Laser Smackdown: Final Days of Voting for the Most Amazing Laser Application

Amazing Laser Application 1: Light Show!

What’s the application? The use of lasers to provide an entertaining light show for humans, dogs, or cats. What problem(s) is it the solution to? 1) “How will I entertain my dog or cat?” 2) “How can we distract people from the fact that Roger Daltrey has no voice left?”

Laser Smackdown: The Finalists

A couple of weeks ago, I announced a contest to determine the Most Amazing Laser Application. After a follow-up post listing the likely candidates, we have a final list of candidate applications, an even dozen of them (after consolidating some related topics): Cat toy/ dog toy/ laser light show Laser cooling/ BEC Laser ranging/position measurement… Continue reading Laser Smackdown: The Finalists

Laser Smackdown: Amazing Laser Applications

Last week, I asked for nominations of the most amazing laser application, with the idea being that I will collect a list, write up the top vote-getters in a series of blog posts, and then we will have a vote to determine what is THE coolest laser application of ALL TIME! At least, you know,… Continue reading Laser Smackdown: Amazing Laser Applications