Comments on: When Sophomore Optics Goes Very Very Wrong

By: Sydney

Sydney — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:44:16 +0000

Aquarium salt is highly recommended for preventing diseases with goldfish. Plants and other decorations are up to each customer.

By: bigjohn756

bigjohn756 — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:26:24 +0000

I remember a Dick Tracy comic strip several decades ago where Chester Gould used a bottle of fluid on a window sill to start a fire. I thought that was pretty cool at the time.

By: Lab Lemming

Lab Lemming — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:30:29 +0000

I’m told the offending goldfish pleaded amnesia…

By: 20 May 2009 (am) « blueollie

20 May 2009 (am) « blueollie — Wed, 20 May 2009 11:35:54 +0000

[...] Here is a case where a water filled glass bowl started a fire! You can probably guess [...]

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 20 May 2009 03:31:58 +0000

My mom runs a hallmark store and had to recall these for the same reason. One man refused to return his because he thought it was cool that his snow man could turn into a death ray.

By: Kaleberg

Kaleberg — Wed, 20 May 2009 01:24:37 +0000

I recently bought one of those illuminated magnifying lenses on a stalk for doing close work. It came with a little flap to cover the magnifier when not in use. What an obvious safety feature.

By: Fly! Be Free! | Cosmic Variance | Discover Magazine

Fly! Be Free! | Cosmic Variance | Discover Magazine — Tue, 19 May 2009 18:57:49 +0000

[...] Blogs / Cosmic Variance « When Sophomore Optics Goes Very Very Wrong [...]

By: fommil

fommil — Tue, 19 May 2009 18:26:18 +0000

This happened in Edinburgh’s student town a few years ago as well.

By: Tod R. Lauer

Tod R. Lauer — Tue, 19 May 2009 17:21:12 +0000

And it’s worth remembering that astronomical optics can produce a burning image of the sun even when it’s way off axis. Instruments in space way been lost this way. It’s also why Hubble closes its aperture door during safing events – a strong suggestion from Jim Westphal, who once got a nasty burn on his arm from the rising sun bouncing off his infra-red survey telescope that was pointing at the zenith at the time…