Glad to see so many people signing up early! This is going to be the best SELEM ever!
As for the flame-pot, I think it would be best if we did not try to fire that thing. For one, it would not be covered by the venue's insurance policy, so any mishap would be our responsibility. (And that could get very costly.) More importantly though, I think it might send the wrong message to the locals who might witness it and report it as "a bunch of guys playing with fire in a field". That puts us in the unenviable position of trying to justify a fire-cannon at a laser meet...
So as cool as it might be to have a flame-geyser at SELEM, I think it would be a bad idea. Besides, it's not as if we don't have lots of other things already competing for our limited time, right?
Adam
Well put. I 100% agree.
Are there the LSO classes/test options at this meeting or is it just at other ones?
suppose you're thinkin' about a plate o' shrimp. Suddenly someone'll say, like, plate, or shrimp, or plate o' shrimp out of the blue, no explanation. No point in lookin' for one, either. It's all part of a cosmic unconciousness.
With the exception of last year, for several years preceding it, Adam was able to get Greg Makhov to come and teach the ILDA LSO class on the Monday following SELEM in the conference room of the Holiday Inn. Provided his schedule allows it and there are enough people that sign up to take it, I suspect it could happen again. I believe there needed to be at least 6 in order for it to happen. It's an absolutely worthwhile thing to do. The class starts about 8 or 8:30 in the morning and with the exam, you're looking at being there until about 6 pm provided you want to wait to get the results.
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If it's something that gets arranged, we've also been fortunate in the past where there has be a reduced price if you sign up early and, there has also been a discount off the course if you join ILDA. It's not inexpensive and, it's not easy but, SELEM has also produced the largest number of people successfully taking the course and passing the exam since it's inception so, I think if we have enough interest, ILDA/Greg would be willing to help make it happen.
PM Sent...
Well I might wait a bit and see if there is some interest, I'd love to come if I can take a class, so here is hoping! Do you have any recommendations for study topics/math involved? I have read many books on lasers (i.e. Slinely's "Safety with Lasers" one of the most fascinating academic research books I've read) and taken a few optical physics courses so I can't imagine it being too much harder then any of that
One of the interesting things about the exam is that it is open book, open notes, open internet. You may use whatever you have at your disposal to try an answer the question. The two keys are that you have the ability to search for the information you need and that you know how to take a multiple choice test with tricky questions and tricky answers - some of which may be very similar but one nuance makes one more correct than the other.
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Two helpful skills are remembering how to do high school level algebra and being able to perform calculations on a scientific calculator. Although there is not an enormous amount of math on the exam, with what there is.... you need to complete the problem to see which of the answers is actually correct. Another thing that is helpful is learning the anatomy of the eye and which wavelengths adversely affect which parts.
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While much of what is tested is covered during the class, not everything necessarily is, hence the reason for needing to have the skills to find an answer. I did not pass the first time around, missing the cutoff by one question but the biggest reason I think was not having any idea of what to expect going into it. I was a little under two years into lasers and while I had some exposure to the topic, I really wasn't that "up" on the math part nor did I know how to use a scientific calculator for the couple questions that required it. I didn't realize that the biggest nugget of wisdom what how to look for the answers. The second time around, a year later at the next SELEM (I took the course again), I knew what to expect and basically aced it. I think the first time pass rate is about 70 percent.
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As others have already mentioned, the LSO class has traditionally been offered on Monday the day after SELEM. We did this for 4 years straight, starting in 2011. However, last year we did not have enough people interested in the class to make it happen.
So far this year you are the second person who has asked about attending an LSO course the day after SELEM. If we can do this, it would be held on Monday, August 15th. I will check with Greg Makhov at LSDI to see if he is available to teach that day. Assuming he is, then yeah - we will need a total of 6 people to sign up and pay in advance to make the class happen.
That being said, I can't recommend this class highly enough! It is a *great* way to learn more about laser safety. In my opinion, anyone who does commercial shows should take the class, but even if you are just experimenting in your own basement, you will still get a lot out of the class. Greg is a very good teacher with decades of experience in laser safety. Many of the examples you will work through during the class are based on actual installs that Greg has worked on over the years.
Adam