Posts Made By: James Brown

Lee:

The Democrats can take the oval office simply by:

1. Running any Democratic Governor.

2. Running anyone other than Kerry or maybe Hillary. Gore could win. Edwards could win (puke). Obama could win big. A stray dog with a note in his mouth saying "elect me" could win[COLOR="Red"]*[/COLOR]. The Rs have squandered the high ground on each of your 5 points. Except for numbers 4 and 5 which really aren't points at all. Those two are more like cartoons.

3. To win by a Reagan-esque landslide the Ds could run any candidate who can at least make a plausible claim to being a moderate. (Think Bill Clinton with less libido)

Jim

p.s. How can you type something as internally contradictory as the following with a straight face? :S

"Unite all working Americans by defocussing on race and focusing on the fact that the business community is trying to replace all working Americans with illegal Mexican labor on the low end, skilled Indian H1B labor on the high end, and cheap far eastern labor for manufactured goods"

(Especially amusing when read with Nos. 4 and 5.)

[COLOR="Red"]*[/COLOR] p.p.s Thank you to Rick Mac, Paul K, Rick Margolies or whomever coined that wonderful phrase 2.5 years ago!

Lee Spain said:

February is black history month.
May is Asian Pacific American month.
September is Hispanic American Heritage month.

In the interest of inclusion, I think we need to point out that some people seem to be excluded from having a month. If we're gonna celebrate diversity, should all peoples be provided a month.

Quit your whining Lee. You and Tom have a month. It's May. I'll make a note to send you guys a card.

http://www.aoa.gov/press/oam/oam.asp

Take care, Jim

Lee Spain said:

February is black history month.
May is Asian Pacific American month.
September is Hispanic American Heritage month.

In the interest of inclusion, I think we need to point out that some people seem to be excluded from having a month. If we're gonna celebrate diversity, should all peoples be provided a month.

Actually, it looks like anyone who asks can get a month...

http://www.polishamericancenter.org/heritmo.htm

http://italian.about.com/library/blniahmspecial.htm

http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/departments/oipd/diversity/arabamatvs.html

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/04/20060421-3.html

http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/006328.html

And so on...

Gotta love the melting pot.

Jim (German, Irish, English, Alsatian mutt boy....)

Tony Aguire said:

I am sorry, but having seen some of the posts regarding California's attempt to limit pollution and greenhouse gasses, I have to ask. Has any one watched An Inconvenient Truth (Al Gore's movie)? If so, did the movie have an impact on how you interpreted the effects of greenhouse gasses, and global warming? Or are we all a bunch of skeptics

Hi Tony:

I have not been watching the California thread closely, but now that you bring Al Gore into the mix, I can't resist getting involved.
The California initiative requires electricity to be purchased from "clean" sources i.e. natural gas fired plants. The proponents of this bill seem to be confusing ancillary pollutants (e.g. SO[SIZE="Small"]2[/SIZE]) with greenhouse gases. Technology exists and is largely implemented to deal with ancillary pollutants like sulfur dioxide. Greenhouse gases are another matter.

I believe that natural gas combustion releases about 2/3 to 3/4 as much CO[SIZE="Small"]2[/SIZE] into the atmosphere as coal (per unit of energy produced), so with respect to the very real problem of global warming, I see the California initiative as just more political garbage. It is a band-aid feel-good measure designed to trick the gullible citizens of California into thinking that they are "doing something" about global warming and to feed certain (not all) Californian's insatiable apatite for "moral superiority" over us other Westerners. So it goes.

If the California legislature wanted to enact meaningful change they would require energy to be purchased from non-combustion sources. (Nuclear, Wind, Hydro, Solar) No CO[SIZE="Small"]2[/SIZE] would be emitted. Meaningful change would have occurred. Unfortunately California's energy needs would not be met, blackouts would occur and politicians would lose their jobs.

Gore missed a huge chance to do good when he refused to advocate nuclear energy as an alternative to fossil fuel. But Gore is nothing more than a career politician exploiting an issue. We should expect that he would pass up an opportunity to advocate for meaningful change in order to pander to his base. We were not disappointed.

Jim

p.s. California has two older nuclear power plants in operation. State law prohibits the construction of new nuclear facilities. Maybe the legislature should take the next step? No, that would upset the base....

Bill Madewell said:

Hey guys, this past week was space week at a local Elementary School. I had close too 400 kids, split into two groups. The first group was K thru 2nd grade and the other group was 3rd to 5th grade. Myself and a friend had too do two 30 minute talks.
The K thru 2nd talk was a crash and burn, and the 3rd thru 5th was much better performance.
I would rather be shot out of my 16 inch Meade Dob cannon, than go threw that again.
Does anybody have a way or information on how too do talks on these young people, for future reference. Are there books or websites or kind way too put me out of my misery ???
I like outreach with scouts or older groups and smaller groups.
The last point was that , we tried not too, but it seemed like we were talking over the heads of the teacher. 8O 8O 8O
That was very scary......

Thanks a Billion,
Bill

I did a little bit of kindergarten science "parent-helping" when my kids were younger. You possibly crashed and burned because the format was a "talk" Next time, try one of these things;

Read an age group appropriate science or space themed story. It helps if you have a manageable sized group (10 kids or less) and a story with big pictures that you can read upside down so the kids see the pictures. I'm my experience, they love this. They will ask questions that challenge you too... "Why doesn't Earth have rings like Saturn?"

Better yet, with young kids, do a space-themed craft. Maybe split them up into groups to paint Styrofoam balls like the planets, then have them arrange them in a model solar system. Have them put the Sun and Earth 4 feet apart and ask where they think Pluto should go. When they hear that Pluto would be 100 yards away across the parking lot they will have learned something most adults never knew.

I bet if you were talking over the heads of the teachers, you aimed your talk way too high. A better target for really young kids is to pique interest with a fun craft and then the 3 or 4 future astronomers can later flesh out the details in high school and college.

The young ones can really be fun, so I would say, "try again" as soon as possible.

Jim

Rod Kaufman said:

Well, it's finally happened. I'm waiting with my family in our favorite restaurant for a Sunday morning breakfast. I just happened to be reading "The Bush Hater's Handbook" by Jack Huberman when the regular Sunday morning church going crowd shuffles in for breakfast.
The restaurant offers complimentary coffee and cake while you're waiting for your table so I belly up to the bar and chow down on some freebies while I open and read my book. Before I know it, a woman is telling her husband, "He's A Terrorist!" A second grossly obese woman takes one look at my book and literally runs out of the restaurant! I kid you not! She must of set some kind of world class speed record!
The manager gives me a dirty look and seats us in the back, the far back.
Ah yes, the joys of living in Bushland, also known as jerk-water USA...

Hi Rod:

You live in Castaic, California right? Los Angeles County according to Wiki. I don't doubt that there are red neighborhoods in Los Angeles County, but there can't be many given the overall vote from that area. Don't the Republicans live in Orange County? From your post, I had guessed that you lived up north in the timber region of the State.

Your whole post has kind of an exaggerated semi-fabricated ring to it. Why would you care what a woman privately says to her husband? Why are you so disdainful of those with weight problems? If the restaurant was full as you describe, wouldn't the manager seat you at the first available table... undercutting your "seats us in the back, far back" discrimination claim?

I have a tough time picturing you as the victim. I have a really tough time picturing a community in Los Angeles County as Bushland, Jerk Water USA. I have never been to Castaic, so I could be wrong. Maybe California is a weirdly confrontational as you make it out to be....

Jim

tom rafter said:

I was wondering if anyone has used either the TEC or Takahashi turrets with a NP101 or 127?
Were any additional accessories required?
Comments appreciated.

Hi Tom:

I have TEC turret and I used to own a Genesis sdf. I did not own them together though. No accessories (other than 5 favorite eyepieces) are necessary to use the TEC turret. The TEC turret has a 2" nose and about the same optical path length as a 2" diagonal, so it should work beautifully in an NP scope. You simply clamp it in, just like a diagonal.

It is a solidly built item, so it and 5 eyepieces will add some weight to your set up. I load mine with parfocal eyepieces and love it.

Jim

Darrell Hensley said:

Hello all, I was wondering if it was possible to use a Christmas tree light as a star for a star test or does it actually need to be very,very, bright? I've never tried it before but I think if it was bright enough it would work. Don't laugh as I'm still trying to learn a little bit here. Sincerely, Darrell

Hi Darrell:

The problem with a Christmas tree light alone is that it is too big. It would have to be very very far away to be seen as a point source for your star test.

A Christmas tree light behind a very precise and tiny pin-hole might work. Check out this and similar threads:

http://www.astromart.com/forums/viewpost.asp?forum_post_id=218922&poll_id=&news_id=&page=2

Good luck, Jim

Daniel Janosick said:

Can anyone help me understand the difference between an oil spaced triplet and an air spaced triplet? Also what is the benefit and downside of each in cooling time, maintenance, etc...
danny

Hi Daniel:

This is one of those topics that has been covered a few times in the past. I encourage you to use the search function to read the old threads, paying particular attention to the posts by experts like Roland Christen and Roger Ceragioli. My understanding is that a well executed refractor lens of either type will be an outstanding instrument. An oil spaced lens might have a bit less scatter and a very slightly higher transmission, due to fewer air to glass interfaces. An air spaced lens might have equivalent transmission given the efficiency of modern coatings. An oil spaced lens might cool down a bit quicker, depending on the size of the air gaps. An air spaced lens will potentially give the designer more degrees of freedom to cancel secondary aberrations. Both should be maintenance free for life.

Roland Christen (who has made superb lenses of each type) recently posted on the TEC Yahoo forum that the cost and skill involved in making a good lens of either type is equivalent.

Jim

Stephen Collett said:

I just started this to get something new at the top so as not to have to wade through five screens of wandering "comparison" thread. Moderator?

What is your question Stephen? Astromart moderators do not have the ability to re-order threads, or keep sticky threads at the top. What do you want the moderator to do here?

Jim