I was just about to buy a green laser pointer when the Salt Lake incident happened last fall. Recall that I was going to try and aim my red laser at Ann House's house and see if she could see it from across the valley...now I sure am glad that there was an obstruction in the path. I waited a bit to see what the fallout from the airport incident might be, and was about to order one again when this latest story broke. Now I'm not going to get one at all, maybe for years. I realized that I haven't needed one for decades and don't need one now- it's just a trendy gimmick. Want to show someone a particular object? Put a simple tube or gunsight-style finder on your telescope and let folks look through that. Armillery spheres work great for this also; I had one as a kid, and it, along with a set of star charts, performed flawlessly in teaching myself the constellations. Both methods have the added advantage of demonstrating diurnal motion and the effect of latitude on sky orientation and the visibility of the southern sky, as well as using the celestial coordinate system of right ascension and declination if the telescope has an equatorial mount. Folks who make the effort to learn the sky the old-fashioned way will probably be the ones who stick with it the longest and reap the greatest benefits. It's also more FUN and INTERESTING, not a chore at all. Those who want instant gratification won't recall anything as soon as you turn off the laser; you're wasting your time in most instances. I also think that most owners will forget about the laser once the novelty wears off. On another point, I think the big difference between a laser and a searchlight, where the effect can be the same in this instance, is that the laser is easily concealed. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! - Get yours free! http://my.yahoo.com