Posts Made By: James Brown

Today is Abraham Lincoln, and Charles Darwin's 200th birthday. What a remarkable coincidence that two great and influential minds were born on the same day.

Jim

Hi all:

Here is the recent beautiful Moon and Venus conjunction from my home. Taken with a Canon 300D camera and Tamron zoom lens.

Jim

Why would anyone read this forum if they don't enjoy it? Why would anyone admit publicly that they read a forum they don't enjoy? Seems odd when you could be doing something else that you enjoy more.

I enjoy this forum a lot. I like the various personalities. I like watching the interplay between extreme viewpoints, centrist viewpoints and the occasional whack-job. I learn things here. I used to like participating in a vigorous on-line fight, but I don't do that so much anymore. Sometimes on Fridays.

My actual political view point has been changed on certain important issues by thoughtful posts here.

I even have come to think of many participants as "friends." I miss them when they leave the forum. Odd isn't it?

I would suggest that if one considers the Astromart politics forum unenjoyable or a waste of time, they use the "hide forum" button. It is pretty easy to do.

Jim

This fellow (gal?) was waiting on the deck when we came home. He was very patient. Unfortunately, I had to photograph him through a window that (ahem...) I could stand to clean. Does anyone know off-hand what species this is?

Jim

Shocking to me at least. Scott Rasmussen polled 1000 US adults with the following question earlier this week:


[COLOR="Blue"]Which is a better system - capitalism or socialism?[/COLOR]


The following results might surprise some:


[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="Small"]"Only 53% of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism. 20% disagree and say socialism is better. Twenty-seven percent (27%) are not sure which is better.

Adults under 30 are essentially evenly divided: 37% prefer capitalism, 33% socialism, and 30% are undecided. Thirty-somethings are a bit more supportive of the free-enterprise approach with 49% for capitalism and 26% for socialism.

Adults over 40 strongly favor capitalism, and just 13% of those older Americans believe socialism is better.

Investors by a 5-to-1 margin choose capitalism. As for those who do not invest, 40% say capitalism is better while 25% prefer socialism.

There is a partisan gap as well. Republicans - by an 11-to-1 margin - favor capitalism. Democrats are much more closely divided: Just 39% say capitalism is better while 30% prefer socialism."[/SIZE][/COLOR]


At this point in the article I'm about ready to give up all hope. There is one mitigating factor though:


[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="Small"]"It is interesting to compare the new results to an earlier survey in which 70% of Americans prefer a free-market economy. The fact that a “free-market economy” attracts substantially more support than “capitalism” may suggest some skepticism about whether capitalism in the United States today relies on free markets."[/SIZE][/COLOR]


That's one possibility I guess. I seriously doubt however that many respondents favored socialism or “I don’t know” simply because capitalism in the US is more complex than simple free markets. On the contrary, although I am comforted that most folks are free market types, for some reason they don't like the label "capitalism." My hope is that this is just a reflection of the press and administration’s demonization of business and management. Know what I mean patrick? Maybe the kids and Democrats who claim to favor socialism are really just saying that they support the false choice between "social justice" and "big business." If "capitalists" are only fat-cats with cigars and pin-striped suits it's tough to love them isn't it? Maybe the lessons learned last century about the reality of socialism is presently lost on the intentionally ignorant or easily influenced.

Well, in any case, whether some folks truly prefer socialism or whether these words no longer have their accepted meanings, the net result is not a pretty picture.


Jim

Source:

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/just_53_say_capitalism_better_than_socialism

Some of you with long memories might remember how Clinton sold pardons at the end of his second term. I feel that he disgraced the office of president, the USA and people like me who voted for him when he did this. Having sex with an extremely subordinate near-minor and lying about it proved Clinton had no personal morals whatsoever. The sale of pardons proved that he was also a political hack with no respect for the integrity of his office. This bummed me out quite a bit since I thought that his performance in office was generally pretty good.

You might also remember the position of some of our resident Bush-haters; folks who incorrectly (IMO) view W as a man of pure evil intent with no scruples whatsoever. A few of these guys predicted that Bush would top even WJC, the undisputed all-time champion of the pardon game in his final few weeks of office. Here is a sample quote, there are others if you use the search function:

“…all Bush has to do is pardon them since the civil prosecutions have been taken off the table they will go scott free! The amount of pardons thrown out by this guy will be amazing! He will probably pardon everyone he has ever talked to.It will make the Clinton pardons that repugs have railed about for years seem amateur by comparison.”

I’ll be surprised if anyone can’t guess who wrote that!

http://www.astromart.com/forums/viewpost.asp?forum_post_id=606103&poll_id=&news_id=&page=

Anyway, I randomly though to myself this morning, “Hey, I never heard much about Bush pardoning anyone on the last day or so…”

Apparently Bush did not engage in wholesale pardoning or pardon selling.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/17595.html

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/19/ED4815D4SF.DTL

I’m not surprised. I'm also not surprised that this evidence of Bush's integrity did not get much play in the press. I suspect that this is not a "media bias" thing. I suppose it is more of a "good-news doesn't sell papers thing." In any case, I'm curious whether those like Patrick who hated Bush in office in a visceral way have softened their opinion of him as a person in view of the classy way he handled himself when he left office.

Jim

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Hi all:

I recently finished assembling a dedicated 80mm Ha refractor. I didn't exactly "make" my new solar rig in that I didn't grind the lens or cleave the mica... But I did assemble everything from a diverse collection of parts. The project took a lot of planning because I wanted to be able to view the whole solar disk at low power and also have enough aperture to zoom in on a solar feature when desired. Also, the focal plane has to be located in just the right spot with a rear mounted Ha filter to avoid using extension tubes before the telecentric lens assembly.

This project has been on and off the front burner for a couple of years. At least since the last Mercury transit which I observed with a PST. The parts list is as follows:

- Solar Spectrum 0.3A rear mounted Ha filter with 25mm clear aperture.

- Baader 90mm DERF. This is mounted in a cell I machined in my basement from a Stellarvue screw on objective cap. The DERF cell is the one part I actually made myself.

- Baader 4x telecentric lens.

- Stellarvue 90mm OD tube, dewshield, and rings. The tube was originally for a SV 80/9D. Vic Maris was kind enough to discuss this project with me over the phone and sell me the tube, dewshield, cap rings and various flanges without any optics. The 80/9D tube was slightly too long, but easily shortened. With this system, the actual focal plane is only about 3/4" behind the back of the focuser when it is fully racked in, so a Nighthawk or William Optics f6 tube would have been a few inches too short.

- William Optics 80mm f6.9 fluorite doublet. I've had this lens for quite a while. It was once sold as an upgrade for 80mm achros.

- Moonlite focuser. I am really tickled with this focuser. It is sturdy enough to support the whole telecentric, filter, bino assembly or a camera without any noticeable sag.

The focal length of the system with the 4x telecentric lens is such that a full solar disk image with prominences is about 20mm in diameter at the image plane. The entire solar image will thus fit through the filter and binoviewer for an unvignetted full disk view. The solar scope takes magnification very well. With binos, the view is simply amazing.

This first photo is the whole system at first light, a few weeks ago.

Jim

Hi all:

This is the first light image (8/22/09) using my new, home assembled, 80mm Ha system. The filter is a rear mounted Solar Spectrum Solar Observer with 3A bandpass and 25mm clear aperture. I have more details about the telescope and filter here:

http://www.astromart.com/forums/viewpost.asp?forum_post_id=675961&poll_id=&news_id=&page=

My new telescope is really nice for visual use too!

I processed this image by faithfully following the tips and techniques taught by Paul Hyndman. His web page is chock full of useful information. I am sure that I will improve a lot with practice, as we all wait for the sun to become more active. Still, I am very pleased with this first light result. It would have been terrible without Paul's "virtual" help. If you know Paul, thank him for me!

My camera is a FLI Microline 11002M. (It works at night too!) I was operating at -20C which is pretty good considering that the temperature was in the 80's F when I took this image. The disk was captured at .02 second exposure. The proms (such as they were) were captured at .18 second.

I hope you like these, Jim

A group of 5 good sized mule deer bucks has been hanging around the neighborhood, eating, sleeping and generally ignoring the ladies. I think that might change in a few weeks!

Jim