Posts Made By: Rex Cox

bob Stenstrom said:

Three months ago I shipped an etx125 to Bulgaria. Never arrived at the buyers location. After several off shore failures I decided never again. Today it came back, package worst for wear. Istill hold on to "never again"

Glad you got it back Bob. I hope the scope was in better shape than the packaging. Things like that are why so many of us don't want to ship over seas. It's one thing if your business is shipping goods, but when you're just a regular guy trying to unload an unused piece of gear or something....nah.

Richard, you have to look at this from our point of view. Most of us who sell gear are looking to make a simple and quick unload--the closer to home, the better. It's much easier to iron out any issues that might arise. If a buyer in Britain or Canada has issues with an item, like feeling it isn't what he wants and wants to ship it back, then you have to go though that hassle. Second, if I have a bicycle or household item to get rid of, I can usually get rid of it at a garage sale or via an ad in the local paper or Craigslist--no muss, no fuss. But you can't do that with good astronomy gear. So, our next best alternative is Astromart. But we're still trying to keep things simple and hassle free as we can, so we opt to ship domestically. Many of us just don't have much experience shipping overseas, and many of us who have done it have found it to be enough of a hassle not to want to do it again. And I'm sure fraud is as alive and well in Canada and Britain as it is anywhere else in the world.

That said, I MIGHT be willing to enter another overseas/cross boarder transaction IF I felt good about the likelyhood that I wouldn't be dealing with a buyer who isn't going to balk for all the wrong reasons, IF I felt that the item was going to arrive in one piece, IF I felt sure that I was going to actually recieve what I paid for, or a lot of other reasons. I will say that a foreign buyer or seller who has a really good transaction history on A-mart would make me feel much more comfortable.

I'm not in the international shipping business, and I don't want to be. But, I could be accomodating for the right transaction. Never say never.

There are folks here who sell a LOT of gear. They might be more game for it. But for a lot of those of us who don't sell often, closer to home just works better.

Lee, I enlarged this picture, and it say's 'Oldsmobile' across the grill. Don't know what model it is though. A little before my time.

Wow Floyd! I think you're on your way to becoming one of the greats!

Rod Kaufman said:

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/17/new-fighter-jet-to-bolster-russian-air-force/
Kind of looks like an F15.
I wonder how well it works...

I notice that the exhaust nozzles aren't shielded. Probably has a big IR signature.

John Love said:

T minus 37 days and counting.

I hope this weather pattern breaks before Okie-Tex because it is making for lots of clouds in the Kenton area. The locals have been talking about how dry is which is not a bad thing...astronomically speaking. So far 2011 has been a frustrating year with clouds and 100°+ days.

John
CCD-Freak

I can't wait. I sent in my registration a few weeks ago. As for the weather, I was there for three nights back in early June to do some spring observing, and we were clouded out all three nights. I sure don't want to see a repeat this fall! Looking forward to seeing you there John.

Great photo Steve! Really nice!

Seems like just about every observing session I go out on, I see at least one satellite or piece of junk fly through the field of view while at the eyepiece.

My buddies and I used to build models all the time when we were kids. At one time, I had over 40 of them hanging from my bedroom ceiling. One of them was a huge Monogram B-52. One night, about 3:00am, I was sound asleep, when something landed on top of me with a crash. I thought the boogey man had me for sure. The B-52 had fallen from the ceiling on top of me. From then on, I was much more careful about how and where I hung my models.

We also used to build ship models. Eventually, they were launched into my kid sister's wading pool where they met their fates at the hand of BB guns and Blackcat firecrackers.

Great photo of Saturn, but I don't know why it was on yahoo news. It's 2 or 3 years old at least!