Posts Made By: mike welsh

Better to keep one's mouth shut and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.

Only issue i see is that if i were to been found to be in posession of a Kalashnikov "for security" after my own home was burglarised, i somehow don't believe i'd have gotten off with a fine, house arrest, and probation... i'd be in the hoosegow. :S

Money talks -and buys justice.

More to the point, what do you attribute the cause of the apparent recent rise in home invasions and burglary to be? The economy? Violent video games? Paris Hilton? Decline of Western Civilisation? Bush-hating lefties?

Home invasion is an artform in many communities. So now that some of the wealthier members of society are experiencing it it finally becomes news?

Is it merely a case of thugs "going where the money is?"

Caught it tonight from the sled hill above Reimer reservoir in Palatine, Il. 2352 UT with 7X50's. Youngest moon i've ever spotted. Was just able to pick it out of the muck. Maybe saw it naked eye a couple of minutes later, but barely if at all. Like a Cheshire grin...

LOL!

...And drop the ISS into the sea. :C

The whole purpose of the "International" Space Station seems to be to prop up the sagging self-esteem of the Russian space programme...i wouldn't be surprised if the State Dept. is leaning bigtime on NASA to keep the beast in orbit. How much dough are we going to continue to shovel into that money-pit?

NASA continues to officially stand by ISS to the detriment of much more valuable missions. WHY?

Hubble is actually DOING something useful, unlike its white-elephant counterpart.

(i've stayed out of this survey until i ponied up some support...)

Now that i have, i feel free to say that i've hoped that things would remain the same as they have been, but it looks like Herb is bleeding bucks on this venture, and really, for the service to the amateur community it provides, he ought not to be.

My only reservation is based on observation of human behaviour as seen in a club to which i belong... when it became apparent that membership dues needed to rise, the folks who seemed to cry the loudest about it were folks who wouldn't think twice about laying out hundreds for a new eyepiece, but wept over the $5 increase...

My point is that a subscription fee of some kind will drive out many folks... maybe that isn't neccesarily a bad thing, but it does make the buyer/seller pool shallower.

the cost of bandwidth for the forums alone must be staggering, and though i don't know the figures (which may be available on the site,) i'd not be surprised if they vastly outweigh the classifieds in cost.

The forums are fun, and for many, a vast source of good info about the hobby/avocation of astronomy.

The paid advertising of astronomy-related sponsors is essential.

And although i personally would greatly prefer that Astromart remain free to the majority of us (and i voted so, it's the Scotsman in me...) i understand that this is most likely not an option.

Perhaps i might suggest a Trading Times/Starry Messenger solution? A fee based on a percentage of a successful sale?

Just an additional 2 cents' worth. Thanks, Herb.

-mw.

$12/Year?! If that's all, i'm in.

Not quite as good as free, but heck, it'd be almost free!

Could you keep the price that low, even after the soreheads exit??

Well, this long-suffering Southside Cubs fan is going with the heart and not the head...

Sox in five.

Why?


Well, since it is Divinely Ordained that the Cubs shall always stink, and that their fans shall be taunted and shamed and roundly hooted at all possible occasions...

This being the case, the Divine slap will be a Sox victory, giving ultimate bragging rights to the Cub fans' arch-nemeses, the Sox fans. They'll run it in to us for the rest of Eternity... that's about how long it will take the sad-sack Cubs to ever get there...

No sour grapes here, just a recognition of reality.

Go Chicago!

Agreed. i have always considered this photo to be a kind of Pornography of Violence. Anyone who lived through that day and witnessed those events will always have those images etched in their mind. To this very day i cannot bear to look at any of them. This is one BIG reason i'm glad i don't watch TV; i don't need anyone or anything to help me recall that horror.