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Threshold current. Lifetime sees mainly temperature dependent so a reduced power presumably increases lifetime https://www.newport.com/medias/sys_master/images/images/hbc/h43/8797050241054/AN33-Estimating-Laser-Diode-Lifetimes-and-Activation-Energy.pdf

Gaza is under a multidecade land, air, and sea blockade. Not conducive to beautiful resorts or letting oil companies or other developers in. Gaza airport was demolished by Israel. Border restrictions mean very limited access to Palestinians main urban center, East Jerusalem, or its agricultural resources in West Bank (what's left of them). This is not really "newfound freedom." All this in spite of the terms of the Oslo Accord being that Israel must treat Palestine as one political entity. On what planet would such gross violations of international law result in a prosperous economy for a small enclave effectively torn away from its other pieces and primary urban center of banking, education, foreign consulates and other services? Even if Gaza were run by people better than the Hamas cretins, they would have no shot at the rosy alternate universe you paint.

Are we still talking about Gaza ? Because that is not how some of us see the situation. In 2005 Israel pulled out their occupying forces from Gaza, and pretty well left them on their own as a separate state. They did control border crossings into Israel, as any sovereign state does, to prevent armaments/suicide bombs from crossing. They also controlled sea access for the same security reasons, and their 'control' might be a little more strict because of past occurrences, but I also have to present a passport when entering the US ( did not need one 25 years ago ), and the Coast Guard controls sea access to the US mainland. The border between Gaza and the Sinai is controlled by Egypt, and I expect it is rather porous, and the entry point for those thousands of rockets Hamas fires at Israel. Yet even though the Egypt/Gaza border is also fenced, and 'controlled', no one, not even the UN, accuses Egypt of being an apartheid state, like they do Israel ( maybe if Israel starts letting arms/bombs through, the UN will stop calling them an apartheid state also ). But lets return to 2005. What did Gaza do with their newfound freedom ( except, of course, restrictions on importing arms, and exporting terror into Israel ) ? Did the build resorts along their beautiful beaches, to bring in foreign ( maybe even Israeli ) currency ? Did they drill for gas, within their limits of the South-East Mediterranean, an area rich in natural gas ( just ask the Israelis ) ? No to all the above. They allowed Hamas (who are controlled/supported by the Iranians ) to take over and pursue their strategy of 'revenge at any cost', which culminated on the Oct.7 intrusion into Israel by an effectively foreign state ( an act of war; just ask the Ukrainians ), the subsequent massacre of 1400 people, and the kidnapping of hundreds more. So, YES, they did have options other than 'the longshots'. Options which could have resulted in better lives for the Palestinians. Yet instead of holding them responsible for their choices and actions, the world ( other than the US ) is telling Israel they should accept a ceasefire ( wasn't there one in 2005 ? And who broke it on Oct. 7 ? ). That Israel should respond proportionally ( that isn't deterrence ). That Israel's response is criminal ( making no mention of the criminality of the incident that prompted the response ). That Israel is responsible for the bad choices Gaza made/makes/will continue to make. Manwhile Hamas and the iranians are laughing and saying "No matter what atrocities we perpetrate on Israeli civilians, the world continues to blame then. All is good; we can really step up the brutality of our next attack."

I still can't get over the fact that Congress basically took military aid money away from Ukraine and directed at the IDF instead. Could someone explain to me how it somehow isn't simple political pettiness driving such a move? As in how it's practical. IDF needs that aid more than Ukraine? Ukraine doing better on the battlefield than IDF? The approaching winter is more urgent for IDF than Ukraine??

The above ^^^ does not look right to me. Do I understand correctly that "the combination" refers to the "[some expression]"?

This is my opinion only and it may be misguided in part but... The Palestinians feel oppressed by the Israelis. They seem to have two options wrt to Israel; accept the limits placed on them by Israel or lash out. They cannot take land by force, limit the movement of Israelis, cut off food or water for the Israelis, control communications or trade of the Israelis, etc. About all they can do is lash out periodically then take the beating that follows. By comparison the Israelis are the more powerful of the two groups and as such have more options. All of the things the Palestinians cannot do, the Israelis can, and much more. The Palestinians basically have one thing they can offer; a cessation of hostilities. The Israelis can offer the same, as well as freedom of movement, land, trade, money, political support, and all the other things a successful nation has at their disposal. The natural tendency of many third party observers is to expect that the party in power, who has more options, to work toward resolution. And thus that is why we put the onus on Israel to do more than the Palestinians; because the Israelis CAN do more. Both sides need to concede to some extent if they want peace, but the Israelis have more and thus are going to have to give up more than the Palestinians if they want that to happen. Israel is suffering less than the Palestinians and thus can live with the status quo more easily.

In this horrible situation, where nuance matters a lot, We keep aligning with extremes, helpful it is not. We agree Hamas is evil, different from Palestine, And Israeli response asymmetric, at least adjacent to a crime. We can pick at nits and exaggerate where we each disagree, Or we can advocate for the end of killing, and for humans to all be free. Limericks are much easier to write than stopping endless war, I’m in town all week folks, when you’re ready for some more. The Final Crusade: Starring Sylvester Stallone and Dolf Lundgren, coming soon to theaters near you

In my experience yes. I’ve used commercially-available systems that lasted around 1.5 years or so; generally the failure was degradation of the anti-reflection coating, and the laser wouldn’t stay at the desired frequency, but they would still lase. If it’s a homemade system, it’s critical that the electronics prevent the laser from seeing voltage spikes. Those will destroy a laser diode.

You seem to have forgotten to include an image, but often a spammer scammer creates an account, blasts users with scores of PMs without ever even posting, then gets banned or vanished (either by the software or mid team) before you see it. However, those red notification bubbles often have latency in updating / clearing and displays inaccurate counts

John is quite correct to highlight threshold current (not maximum current) as the important parameter. +1 Threshold current is the minimum current at which lazing starts. Threshold current increases with increasing temperature. Laser diode characteristics are normally given at a case temperature of 25oC. Increasing temperature creates heat which increases case temperature so ther possibility of thermal runaway or at least degrading should be considered. Considering where you live and your requirements this could be more difficult as running the laser current too low on cold nights will increase the risk of laser dropout. Since absolute temperature is an absolute maximum you need to run the device between a current suitably above threshold for your minimum temperature but as far below you maximum current as you can, consistent with the requirement that the top level will be determined by your maximum ambient + 5oC (and you live in a hot area). Without further details of your requirement, but guessing from your other thread that you want the laser to sweep to and fro for a year I really can't be more specific on diodes. But I would like to note that lasers are inherenttly dangerous things so you need to consider safety in the illuminated area. Also note that laser diodes require a current controlled drive, not a voltage drive.

And which party is able to present themselves as viable alternative if they are not supported or otherwise seen to be able to talk to Israel as equals? What should they do in response of getting displaced by Israeli settlers, for example? Yet Netanyahu was not the only one responsible for propping up Hamas. Some excerpt from the opinion series linked above that focus on potential solutions and way forward, rather than playing the blame game. Peter Beinart Ehud Olmert: Limor Yehuda, Omar Dajani, John McGarry:

Israel's MO is to constantly play the victim to justify its asymmetric ability to apply aggression. Interesting to see Biden losing his grip on the situation and inability to rein in Netanyahu and his coalition attack dogs. Netanyahu/Ben-Givr will stop when the situation suits them strategically.