Comments on: The Mysterious Blue-Lit Building http://muddledramblings.com/bars-of-the-world-tour/the-mysterious-blue-lit-building/ A blog about a geek trying to make a living as a writer Sat, 11 Feb 2012 20:37:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Carol Annehttp://muddledramblings.com/bars-of-the-world-tour/the-mysterious-blue-lit-building/comment-page-1/#comment-94 Carol Anne Thu, 09 Apr 2009 08:10:39 +0000 http://muddledramblings.com/?p=4510#comment-94 Here in the U.S., the presence of UV lamps such as you describe is frequently associated with marijuana-growing operations. Law enforcement agencies have begun using equipment that detects the operation of such lamps, even in hidden locations such as basements, especially in Colorado and Arizona.This has led to controversy, as UV lamps are definitely NOT illegal, but law enforcement agencies will use the presence of such lamps as evidence of illegal activities to try to get a search warrant.Some civil libertarians have taken to putting UV lamps in their homes even though they are not doing anything illegal, as a form of protest. The idea is that if law enforcement people keep "raiding" homes that turn out not to have anything illegal going on, maybe the world will see that search warrants based on the presence of UV lamps constitute an unconstitutional invasion of privacy.I have no idea whether there's a similar controversy going on in the Czech Republic, so I don't know whether the UV lamps across the road from you might be involved in a similar protest.The other possibility I can think of is that the lamps are being used to disinfect the spaces that they illuminate, but I don't know why such disinfection might be needed. Here in the U.S., the presence of UV lamps such as you describe is frequently associated with marijuana-growing operations. Law enforcement agencies have begun using equipment that detects the operation of such lamps, even in hidden locations such as basements, especially in Colorado and Arizona.

This has led to controversy, as UV lamps are definitely NOT illegal, but law enforcement agencies will use the presence of such lamps as evidence of illegal activities to try to get a search warrant.

Some civil libertarians have taken to putting UV lamps in their homes even though they are not doing anything illegal, as a form of protest. The idea is that if law enforcement people keep “raiding” homes that turn out not to have anything illegal going on, maybe the world will see that search warrants based on the presence of UV lamps constitute an unconstitutional invasion of privacy.

I have no idea whether there’s a similar controversy going on in the Czech Republic, so I don’t know whether the UV lamps across the road from you might be involved in a similar protest.

The other possibility I can think of is that the lamps are being used to disinfect the spaces that they illuminate, but I don’t know why such disinfection might be needed.

]]> By: Jerryhttp://muddledramblings.com/bars-of-the-world-tour/the-mysterious-blue-lit-building/comment-page-1/#comment-92 Jerry Thu, 09 Apr 2009 07:36:08 +0000 http://muddledramblings.com/?p=4510#comment-92 A science lesson for the kids!I debated the use of "UV Tubes" as the description of the lights; most people would call them "blue fluorescent lights" or something like that, but that would be incorrect, since there is no fluorescent material in these lights. Flourescent lights have a coating that converts the ultraviolet light the tubes produce into visible light. The conversion process is called fluorescence. A science lesson for the kids!

I debated the use of “UV Tubes” as the description of the lights; most people would call them “blue fluorescent lights” or something like that, but that would be incorrect, since there is no fluorescent material in these lights. Flourescent lights have a coating that converts the ultraviolet light the tubes produce into visible light. The conversion process is called fluorescence.

]]>