Posts Made By: Jim Mahon

OK!

I'll be heading to the North Rim this time - though we'll miss those potlucks and our South Rim friends! Just picked up a better green laser from Anacortes, so I'll definitely be visible from across the canyon.

Can't wait!

Jim

p.s. - Thom, you going to edit that title line? Might confuse a few folks...

Sounds lovely, Kim! I just got back from a few days doing public astronomy at Death Valley with John Dobson and a few of the Sidewalk Astronomers. Mixed conditions, but even when the seeing wasn't first rate that winter sky was a treat to gaze at from such a dark site - even if we WERE looking through a whole lot of atmosphere (about 200 feet below sea level at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center!).

4565 is a personal favorite of mine - it must be a sight in that 40"!

Clear Skies!

Jim

David, I'm sure you'll be able to get something at the South Rim - Tusayan has lots of hotel rooms just a 5-10 minute drive south of the rim. North Rim is tougher on short notice due to fewer options. Hope to see you and your family (I'll be mostly up North, but passing through the South Monday evening). Clear Skies! Jim

Linton, it was great to see you there, and I'm right there with your eloquent words - afterglow, indeed! Jim **** p.s. - I wound up doing the slide show Friday night. I was a little nervous and choppy, but it turned out OK, I think...

I'd try to get out of work, but Diane is out of town that week and I'm Mr. Mom. Going to have to recycle to next year. Sorry, Linton - I'll definitely have it reserved in 08! Jim

INteresting! I wonder if they are actually going to attempt the 5 scope thing at the park or are working with Jane on the Kaibab Lodge thing or...?

I'd love it if they were running it at least a few days past the South Rim dates. I'm pretty sure I'll be looking for some observing after the 28th, and I'll likely be going in that direction!

Jim

Let's see - maybe because I can't buy a UK-spec 520D in the States?

And because a 5 series is a great car (except for the bloody i-Drive), but a totally different class of vehicle in a very different price class?

And maybe because I save about an hour a day driving in the carpool lane? (I didn't ask for it, probably temporary, but loving it while it lasts!)

Maybe because most hybrids do best in stop and go, urban driving - they can maximize electric motor use and get truly sick economy in that environment - and that happens to be the commuting profile I have to deal with.

Open road driving isn't a hybrid strength, though I drove California to Ohio last summer, cruising 80+ mph most of the way, and averaged a tad over 44 mpg, which made me perfectly happy. In any event, Toyota doesn't claim mpg in the 60s in highway driving, which the writers seemed to imply - seems to me the article writers liked the 520 and set it up in its best environment and the Prius' worst. OK, fair enough if you're shopping for an interstate/autobahn burner, but that's NOT the operating environment Toyota designed the Prius for and any intelligent car guy probably knows that already and doesn't need a slanted road test to tell him that. Put a higher-mass 520d into the optimum Prius driving cycle and the results will probably reverse themselves. Different design goals.

And because the Feds gave me a $3100.00 tax credit for purchasing a Prius in 2006?

And because diesel is running about 70 cents a gallon more than 87 octane gas where I live?

And while my family owns a diesel vehicle, a couple of straight gassers, and a Prius, they are different tools for different jobs. I'm a big fan of high technology diesels, and think that they are going to be a huge factor in providing economical, cool vehicles in the US in a few years, but there just aren't a lot of diesel choices right now, especially in California. I'd leap at a 3 series with that 2 liter oilburner if it survives the US emission mods with similar output and economy and the price of diesel comes back to Earth! Meanwhile, the above factors made a hybrid a good choice for me - everybody will have different tradeoffs, but for me, the Prius works. For you, maybe not.

Jim

Not news to you, Linton, but I'll be up there with the wife, daughter and a friend, and even the dog. North Rim, looking forward to seeing the fine folks from SAC again. Carla and Todd are coming mid-week, and some of the "kids" from Griffith may come pitch a tent in my site as well. Might go out to Kaibab Lodge if Steve needs me to, though unsure of which night. Can't wait to set up on the patio again, and see good astro-buddies. Maybe we'll even get ONE night of clouds instead of several this time around. One would be nice, because I'd love to toss back a few ales at the Roughrider Tavern again...

Jim