Ridiculous Library of Congress Subject Headings: Week of October 29, 2007

I can't get over the fact that laser guns in movies and television shows consistently emit red pulses. What is it about the color red that makes it such a dangerous or threatening color? Is it because red is the same hue as blood? Perhaps it's because the first constructed laser was a ruby laser. In 1960, T.H. Maiman developed a pulsed laser with a flash tube that surrounded a ruby rod, a mineral that absorbs green and blue light (producing a pink or red color). This type of laser was used to determine the exact distance from the Earth to the Moon in an Apollo mission (with an accuracy of about 15 cm). Of course, lasers still haven't replaced bullets, but they have an interesting fictional history.

Besides "Laser weapons," here are some other weird LC subjects:

• Breastfeeding - Cote Divoire - Economic Aspects
• Infant salvation
• False alarms - United States - Prevention
• Utility rooms - Japan
• Lunchbox cookery - Safety measures
• Verbal self-defense
• Milking machines
• Compulsive hair pulling