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Posts Made By: jess tauber

March 1, 2008 07:13 PM Forum: SCI-FI

The Moties

Posted By jess tauber
I just re-read The Mote in God's Eye after many years- have any of you read this? What did you think? For me the Moties were a little too familiar despite the authors' intent to make them as alien as possible. For instance they are mammals, despite being not quite vertebrates- the even feed their young with milk.

This sort of thing is very common in SF- using the most familiar types of life here on earth as models. Kinda lacking in imagination. Other than that glaring blunder I liked it.

Jess Tauber

March 3, 2008 04:02 PM Forum: Politics

Our apologies?

Posted By jess tauber
A couple of weeks after the formal apology by the Australian government to the Aborigines, the US Senate has snuck in its own apology to Native Americans.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/03/02/bolduan.native.apology.cnn

What I find interesting is that the Australian event was publicized widely in the media (including here), there has been nary a peep in our own press about the apology to our own native people. If it passes the House and Bush (the latter doubtful- all those possible pesky lawsuits...), maybe?

Jess Tauber

March 5, 2008 10:16 PM Forum: Religion

High....on a mountain

Posted By jess tauber
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080304/od_afp/israelreligionoffbeat

Gotta get me some of that Acacia bark.

Moses supposes his toeses are roses
But Moses supposes erroneously
Since Moses exposes his noses to doses
Theres no telling (or smelling) what wonders he'll see

(from the musical 'Singin' in Bahrain')

Jess Tauber


March 26, 2008 08:08 PM Forum: Telescope Making

binoscope FL- how long is too long?

Posted By jess tauber
When does the FL start interfering with alignment etc. in a binoscope to such an extent that one would have to keep fiddling with the tubes all the time? F8? F12? F16? Thanks.

Jess Tauber

April 2, 2008 10:27 PM Forum: Telescope Making

Cleaning optics in old binoviewer?

Posted By jess tauber
I just got an ancient sliding-adjust ipd microscope binoviewer that I'm adapting for astro use (shortening the ep holding barrels, for instance). The prisms and perhaps also the beam splitter are rather dirty, but they are otherwise all nicely collimated/aligned, and I don't want to mess this up, coatings, glues, etc. with cleaning efforts. I'll probably have to take off the sliding assembly to get at things- don't want to mess this up either.

Any advice as to method, materials, etc.? Thanks muchly in advance.

Jess Tauber

April 3, 2008 08:58 PM Forum: Binoviewers

I'll try here

Posted By jess tauber
Posted in the ATM forum first, no takers. I just got an ancient sliding IPD adjust microscope binoviewer that I'm converting for astro use. All the optics are aligned, but are dirty. How can I clean them without getting them out of alignment/collimation, damaging coatings (if there are any) etc.? Also there is a good deal of rust on the ep tubes- but will what usually cleans that damage the optics (vapors)?

Thanks,
Jess Tauber

April 29, 2008 02:18 AM Forum: Telescope Making

New lens measurement technology

Posted By jess tauber
Thought this might be of interest:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080416104314.htm

Jess Tauber

April 29, 2008 06:16 AM Forum: Telescope Making

Binocular FL?

Posted By jess tauber
A couple of days ago at 'that auction site' a pair of 10 inch aperture aerial lenses sold for more than $2600. Silly me, I thought I'd be able to snatch them up for less than $500.

Anyway, based on the description, these apparently were @F3, which would seem a bit short for a pair of giant giant binoculars (which was my grandiose plan...). Are there such? Or would they have required Barlows to make up the difference?

Jess Tauber

May 6, 2008 11:52 PM Forum: SCI-FI

Hottest SF characters/actors?

Posted By jess tauber
My vote: Morbius' daughter, Forbidden Planet. (never liked the mole, though, thought it might eventually become something like a 'Manster'...)

Jess Tauber

May 14, 2008 08:14 AM Forum: Religion

Now you can pray for ET

Posted By jess tauber
See http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/vatican_aliens

Does this mean that we'll have to make hosts using other enantiomers? Green wine? If this changes the atmosphere of discussion, will we have to mean that literally?

Too many questions...

Jess Tauber

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