Subject: UV, lexan and eyballs

From: [email-masked] (Steve Collins)
Date: 8 May 1995 22:52:41 GMT

I noticed an opto-oddity the other day and this seems an appropriate
forum to ask for an explaination.

I was at a party where a fluorescent "black light" was used to
illumate one corner of the room. I noticed that whenever the light from
this tube came over the top of my (polycarbonate?) glasses, I had the odd
sensation that the light had suddenly become much brighter. Looking directy
at the bulb, with and without glasses, my overt perception of the color and
"brightness" of the bulb did not seem to change very much, but clearly
something was causing
visual response of some kind. I quickly guessed that my plastic lenses
(or perhaps a coating) were filtering out UV. I managed to convince myself
this was true by fooling around with a (fluorescing) white t-shirt. Here's
my real
question. Is there some part of your visual system hooked to your iris and
"your perception of glare" that doesn't excite your cones and rods and
make the source "look bright" in the conventional way?  Does this system
image? with some resolution?  Could it be used by sinister corporate
forces to paint subliminal messages on billboards? 

Just wondering...

					Steve Collins