While Christmas lights are typically not lasers, there is one very important part of the Holiday season that’s absolutely dependent upon lasers, and that is…shopping! So here we are, fresh off a blog on LASIK technology and laser vision correction, and I thought – in addition to LASIK being a perfect Christmas gift for someone – that in the spirit of the Holiday season, we might delve deeper and range broader with the very thing that makes LASIK and millions of people be able to see so well with glasses or contacts – the laser.
If we’re looking at Christmas shopping and the application of laser technology, you are right on point if you are thinking, “Of course, a laser beam scans the bar codes for prices on the stuff we buy.” But I’m thinking of another shopping related laser that’s not so visible – even if you’ve had LASIK – and that is automatic doors, ho ho! Every time we stride towards those closed glass doors trusting they will open, we are really trusting that our bodies will block the laser beam transmitting from one side to the other in front of the door. Actually, a deer’s body works just as well, as shoppers witnessed on November 19th at a Kohl’s store in Coralville, Iowa! While they might have wished it were reindeer instead, three deer danced up close enough to a set of automatic doors, the doors opened, and the deer pranced inside! The store’s security camera caught it live.
But have you ever wondered about being locked inside a building in the event of an electrical power failure, because the automatic doors won’t open? Actually, it’s just the opposite. Ever wonder why those automatic doors have manual locks? That’s so they won’t open. In fact, they will open if the electricity stops flowing!
