• JoeBloh (unregistered)

    The Sun-Thurs, Mon-Fri thing isn't all that odd...the times don't overlap.

    Clearly the ramp is open Peak hour most days (6AM-9AM) and (3PM-8PM), and all day Saturday.... More confusing is the fact that there is an overnight period specified in the Sun-Thurs....This presumably means the 6AM is always a day later (so the disruption includes Friday mornings, but nor Friday nights).

    Oh, and One Hundred and Frits...

  • (cs)

    I didn't realise that there were projectors that lacked the ability to switch between front-floor, front-ceiling, rear-floor, and rear-ceiling projection (the latter which is used for my home theater system).

  • Spingo (unregistered)

    I'll put my hand up along with the rest of us people down-under and take semi-responsibility for the laser-pointer thingy. A couple of years back, there was a frightful hoo-ha made when a number of people alledgedly (and amazingly) managed to point laser lights into the cockpits of jumbo-jets while flying at one-gazillion yoctometers, thereby endangering the lives of all those on board, assuming that the said stray laser beam blinded the pilot.

    So in a knee jerk reaction, it's become illegal for us to own laser pointers with a power level greater than 1 milli-watt unless you have a "prohibited weapons permit" (I kid you not - see http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/about_us/structure/corporate_services/firearms/laser_pointers).

    I believe that the general sale of such "laser pointers" has also been banned, but the general sale of "laser operated pet toys" has not. Hence why this kind of packaging exists.

  • Adam (unregistered) in reply to WhiskeyJack
    WhiskeyJack:
    Adam:
    The projector is easy to explain. A lot of projectors can only project horizontally or upwards, so if this one is on a shelf or ledge high up you have a choice of turning the projector itself upside down, or pointing it downward and getting a distorted image that requires keystone correction.

    Except, as already mentioned, the projector itself will have a menu setting to flip or invert the image as required.

    I didn't even realize they made boxes that flip VGA signals. Other than fun prank potential, I see no real purpose for such a box.

    Flipping or inverting the image will do nothing to correct the angle at which its thrown. As I said most projectors will project horizontally or upwards, they cant project down. So if its on a high shelf it either needs to be physically upside down or pointed at a steep downwards angle causing distortion.

    That said they could flip the image with either a built in inverter or the external one and then they wouldn't need to flip the laptop.

  • (cs) in reply to meh
    meh:
    I was a bit baffled by the projector (other than: haha someone did a funny) until I read the comments and people seemed to get part way there in an explanation. Possibly... projector overheats, someone decideds to turn it upside down for better airfow out the bottom vents, and uses the upside-down gizmo... then gets a newer laptop with decent graphics drivers that allow you to flip the image anyway, so they unplug the new redundant gizmo, keeping it there cos it improves the airflow, or cos they're lazy. Not very amusing, but there ya go.
    For anyone out there buying a projector. Please, please, don't support crappy engineering. When you buy one, plug it in, set things up so that the projector and the PC won't sleep, and have the combo run continuously for 24h *at least*, in what would be considered "normal" environment for your use of it. If it overheats, promptly return it to the store. Speak with your wallet.

    OTOH, if you have an overheating projector, toss it to the nearest trash bin or recycle it. It's junk. There's no reason for a properly designed projector not to withstand 24/7 operation until the lamp expires. This is of course in dust-free atmosphere so that the air vent's wont clog -- in normal use, you'll have to clean something there every once in a while.

  • (cs) in reply to justsomedude
    justsomedude:
    meh:
    As to the 'laser toy,' that frankly worries me. Good way to blind someone or otherwise stuff their eyesight IMHO, regardless of how 'low-powered' it is. OTOH … a good game to play late at night is to shine one of those on to a) the pavement ('sidewalk' for you Colonials) about three feet in front of a drunk, or b) the back of someone's coat, if their friends are walking a few paces back. Then switch it off if the 'victim' tries to investigate it. Hilarity typically ensues. ;)
    I studied laser physics, spent a good number of years working an an atomic physics research lab, and in my nightlife I designed and publicly operated laser display systems with all the appropriate approvals/variances from the CDRH.

    The reason there are fewer controls/restrictions on visible spectrum lasers with sub-5mW power output is because in healthy persons the blink reflex is sufficently fast to protect your eye long before damage occurs.

    As technology is improved dramatically over the last decade and > 5mW handheld devices are becoming more common and easy to obtain (but are not leagal to operate in public without a CDRH variance), things have gotten a bit more dangerous and you can't assume every Joe schmoe with a pointer has a safe one.

    Especially if you buy something like this: http://www.wickedlasers.com/300mW_500mW-47-1.htmlI can't wait till some wackos will start offering "natural" hand-guided retinal photocoagulation. Maybe I better shut up lest they get the idea? So everyne: ssssh.
  • (cs) in reply to Adam
    Adam:
    Flipping or inverting the image will do nothing to correct the angle at which its thrown. As I said most projectors will project horizontally or upwards, they cant project down. So if its on a high shelf it either needs to be physically upside down or pointed at a steep downwards angle causing distortion.
    And that's TRWTF IMHO :) Some lazy bastard couldn't get to code one more variant of keystone? WTF?
  • Patrick (unregistered) in reply to tare
    tare:
    Patrick:
    I heard the box go "kthp-sssssh" when I opened it.
    A rimshot?

    That's how you know you bought from the wrong vendor.

    Hey, it's better than hearing a bobcat...

  • (cs) in reply to Spingo
    Spingo:
    I'll put my hand up along with the rest of us people down-under and take semi-responsibility for the laser-pointer thingy. A couple of years back, there was a frightful hoo-ha made when a number of people alledgedly (and amazingly) managed to point laser lights into the cockpits of jumbo-jets while flying at one-gazillion yoctometers, thereby endangering the lives of all those on board, assuming that the said stray laser beam blinded the pilot.

    So in a knee jerk reaction, it's become illegal for us to own laser pointers with a power level greater than 1 milli-watt unless you have a "prohibited weapons permit" (I kid you not - see http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/about_us/structure/corporate_services/firearms/laser_pointers).

    I believe that the general sale of such "laser pointers" has also been banned, but the general sale of "laser operated pet toys" has not. Hence why this kind of packaging exists.

    We had a similar thing happen in NJ a few years back. Although the authorities had a different kind of knee-jerk reaction. They sentenced the guy to something like 20 years for violating the patriot act.

  • Lego (unregistered) in reply to aristos_achaion
    aristos_achaion:
    Anonagain:
    Anon at 09:40 is right: the patent specifically applies to laser-chase and cats. So, don't use cats on your packaging.

    But only if the cat moves at a speed between five and twenty-five feet per second. So maybe you could use a fat cat on the packaging.

    25 Ft/s ??!? Are you tossing your cat of the roof of a building or out of a moving vehicle?

  • (cs) in reply to CPFC
    CPFC:
    "Needless to say, I don't agree to the license agreements terms," writes Thomas Alexander Dark, "I'm not sure what's the bigger WTF, that you have to agree with an agreement you can't see or that this CD came with my Legal Studies textbook."

    Or that it's called "Access and Justice" when access is what's causing the problem...

    Access (and VB) is teh sukc!

  • iToad (unregistered) in reply to Abdiel
    Abdiel:
    [image]

    FTFY.

    This photo gave me a bad case of vertigo. I just puked all over my keyboard.

  • PITA (unregistered) in reply to iToad
    iToad:
    Abdiel:
    [image]

    FTFY.

    This photo gave me a bad case of vertigo. I just puked all over my keyboard.

    No picture of the puke?

  • minime (unregistered) in reply to PITA
    PITA:
    iToad:
    Abdiel:
    [image]

    FTFY.

    This photo gave me a bad case of vertigo. I just puked all over my keyboard.

    No picture of the puke?
    It probably wasn't on a wooden table. Or on the irish girl.

  • Kelly (unregistered)

    How about the fact that the dates overlap...

    Sunday - thursday & Monday - Friday?

  • anonymous (unregistered) in reply to Lego
    Spingo:
    a number of people alledgedly (and amazingly) managed to point laser lights into the cockpits of jumbo-jets while flying at one-gazillion yoctometers
    The beam from a typical laser pointer is highly collimated, but not perfectly so. It does spread out gradually, and the beam size at a few thousand feet will be large enough that it's not impossible to hit an airplane's cockpit at that range. The fraction of the beam that actually reaches the pilot's eyes is much too small to do any physical harm; the real danger is the distracting glare on the cockpit glass when it's fully in the path of a ten-foot-wide beam of laser light.
    Lego:
    aristos_achaion:
    But only if the cat moves at a speed between five and twenty-five feet per second. So maybe you could use a fat cat on the packaging.
    25 Ft/s ??!? Are you tossing your cat of the roof of a building or out of a moving vehicle?
    A cat that could only reach 25 ft/s would be either fat or lame; the average healthy domesticated housecat tops out around 43 ft/s.

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