Posts Made By: Mark Costello III

Maurice Clark said:

Hi All,

I see that Perry has finally realised he was not getting anywhere and pulled out of the race, backing Gingrich, calling him a "conservative visionary". 8O

Wonder if this will make any difference in South Carolina this weekend.

Cheers,

Maurice

http://www.wfmz.com/news/news-election/Polls-SC-primary-tightens-hours-before-debate/-/132568/8347924/-/ly7611/-/index.html

Perry's endorsement could make this one real tight....

Edit:

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2012/election_2012_presidential_election/south_carolina/election_2012_south_carolina_republican_primary

My glasses fogged when I saw this.... 8O

I'll be keeping my eye on this thread. I'd like to know about your M7's shakedown and in particular how well it tracks at high power (200X on up to as high as you go). Also, it'd be interesting in seeing how it handles two different loads like your NA140 and the heavier C11. Ever since I've gotten back into amateur astronomy eight years ago, I've been using manual German equatorial mounts (GEMs). They've served me well and in particular the CG4 Omni that I have now gives my ES AR127 a nice ride. But one of these days, I'd like to get a Cassegrain type telescope to complement it and it'd be nice to have both on the same mount, something I could do only with an Alt-az mount like yours. A nice refractor on one side and a nice Cassegrain on the other, that's a dreamboat setup for me....

I decided a while back not to vote for Mr. Gingrich in our NC primary. It's all about who he is and what that implies concerning what he says versus what he might do. Gingrich's record on his adulteries and his dealings in the house indicates that there may be differences between what he says now about what he might do as president and what he might actually do as president. Too bad, because a lot of what he says resonates with me, his statements on immigration on the whole appear to be quite reasonable. The guy is very smart and evidently a fast thinker. But I can't get past his character record. Also, if he's the nominee, my guess is that the President's campaign would have a field day talking about who best represents family values. So I'll pull the level for Mr. Santorum if he's still around by May 8. If not, as likely, I'll go with Mr. Romney....

Cheers,

Thanks very much. The photo is thought provoking....

Not disagreeing with your and most everyone else's assessments of the President's proposed solution, but there is a problem to be addressed.

http://graphs.posterous.com/cost-of-a-college-education-over-time

1) What is causing the problem?
2) What can be done to eliminate the causes?

As a father of two college age children (girls - now in community college), I'm interested....

Interesting Survey.

1. Have you ever worked on a factory floor?
Yes, one summer at a Coca Cola bottling plant.

2. Have you ever held a job that caused a part of your body to hurt at the end of the day?
Yes indeed, on some construction jobs I had during the summers away from college.

3. Have you seen last year's mega-hit movie, "Transformers: Dark of the Moon"?
No. I saw the first one and that was enough for me.

4. Can you name this NASCAR champion?
Nope, I'm clueless.

5. In the past five years, have you been fishing or hunting?
No. I've never hunted and haven't fished in over 15 years.

6. Do you have a close friend who is an evangelical Christian?
Yes, many of my friends are Evangelicals.

7. During the past year, have you stocked your own fridge with domestic mass-market beer?
No, I don't drink.

8. Do you now have a close friend with whom you have strong and wide-ranging political disagreement?
No. I used to have one a long time ago in college. A few years ago, an engineer I used to work with and liked a lot was on the opposite side of me in politics (much more liberal than I). Last time I looked, he had turned into a sort of Tea Party guy. He died last September....

9. Have you eaten at an Applebee's, TGI Friday's, or Outback Steakhouse in the past year?
Yup. We just celebrated the 21st birthday of one of my girls at Applebees yesterday.

10. Have you or your spouse ever bought a pickup truck?
Nope, I just don't have a use for one.

11. Have you ever attended a Kiwanis or Rotary Club meeting, or a gathering at a union local?
I used to be a Jaycee so I answered yes. My dad was a Rotarian and once took me to one of the meetings when I was a young boy.

12. Have you ever participated in a parade that did not involve global warming, gay rights, or a war protest?
Yes, in high school days.

13. Since leaving school, have you worn a uniform as part of your job?
No. I'm not counting anti-contamination suits I've worn a couple of times when I've gone into the reactor buildings at one of our nuclear stations.

14. Have you ever ridden on a Greyhound or Trailways bus?
Yes'ndeed. When I was in college at RPI I used to ride Greyhound all the time between Albany NY and Jacksonville FL for holidays and summer break.

15. Did you ever watch an "Oprah" show all the way through?
I've never made that attempt, it would have been the death of me.

16. Did you or your spouse ever serve in the armed forces?
No. My Dad, and quite a few of my cousins and one nephew were in the armed forces, mostly the Navy.

17. Did you grow up in a family in which the chief breadwinner was not in a managerial position or high-prestige occupation (defined as dentist, physician, architect, attorney, engineer, scientist, or college professor)?
No. My dad owned and managed a small company selling tile, terrazzo, marble, etc. and services of setting them. It was a small company and my Dad really did not earn that much but we had a decent standard of living (thanks, Dad!).

18. Have you ever lived for at least a year as an adult in an American neighborhood in which the majority of your nearest 50 neighbors probably did not have college degrees?
I've lived in many lower priced apartment complexes so I answered yes.

19. Have you ever had a close friend who could seldom get better than Cs in high school even if he or she tried hard?
Yes, in grade and high school.

20. During the last month, have you voluntarily hung out with people who were smoking cigarettes?
Yes, one of the engineers I really liked at Catawba Nuclear Station was a smoker. It was kind of weird seeing him and other guys hanging out in these smoking zones like truants. Unfortunately, my friend had a heart attack in 1995 and died at his desk.


That gives me a 10 but the answer came back betwwen 9 and 12. 8O :S

Well, it's looking that there's a bit of a chance that I might get to vote for Mr. Santorum after all on May 8. But if not, then Mitt's fine with me....

Sorry, I'm not going there. It's one thing to rail against this or that policy of President Obama, it's quite another to wish he was never born. IMHO the President is a decent man, anad a good husband and family man. This brings up the idea that there's more mileage in limiting the criticism of this President to his policies.

At least we hopefully can find this to like about Mr. Obama....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSgtXggeUKA

Best Regards,

We have believers of "post natal abortions" in America.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Singer

Hi Inge. There are very few deep sky objects that show their colors in my 5" achromat refractor. Last year I observed the Eskimo nebula for the first time and it showed up as a nice pale cobalt blue object. M31 appears as a greenish yellow oval. Other than that, as best as I recall, most deep space objects appear with pale smoky gray or green hues in my 5" refractor.

Aperture will help by collecting enough light to the point that you can see the colors in the object. From my experience, I'll list M42 as an example. In my 5" refractor and a 4" refractor, it appears as a grayish T-Bone (or clamshell on really good nights with prolonged observations) with just a bit of mossy green in the fantail area around the Trapezium. Many years ago, I observed it with an 8" dob and recall seeing a lot more green with the Trapezium area showing up quite bright (whiter).

Since I choose to work with a smaller scope (I'm a refracto-fanatic), I just acknowledge this limitation of a 5" objective and try to get the shapes and filamentation in objects especially like nebulosities and galaxies.

Best Regards,