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Posts Made By: Andrew Riehl

March 27, 2003 11:34 PM Forum: Off Topic Discussions

What happened to them all?

Posted By Andrew Riehl
I was just wondering, where oh where have all those american 'human shields' that went to Iraq gone? It couldn't possibly be that they found out the truth, felt stupid/naive and came home, could it?

March 30, 2003 08:06 PM Forum: Off Topic Discussions

Special Bennefit Concert!!!

Posted By Andrew Riehl
See, I knew there was a connection...

April 1, 2003 12:07 AM Forum: Astro-Physics

130 f/8 ED doublet...

Posted By Andrew Riehl
I'm trying to find some info on these scopes. I know they were a fairly limited run, and not much about them is out there. Namely looking for performance reviews I.E. in focus color correction, field flatness, overall opinions, etc. Thanks.

April 9, 2003 03:03 AM Forum: Off Topic Discussions

Muslim 'civil war'?

Posted By Andrew Riehl
Admittedly I've been mostly away from the forums lately (been making some major astro equipment changes and needed to concentrate on that) and this may have been brought up before...
What will be the state of the Muslim world in the middle east before too long? Very high up and respected cleriks have been issuing contradicting fatwahs (rulings). Some have issued religious rulings to not oppose the Coalition at all, while some other Cleriks have been issuing rulings to make muslims sacrifice their lives in an attempt to kill us.
On another note, all those extremist muslim organizations that were said by many to hate Saddam Hussein (he would never give them WMD or fund them; the mutual disdain was so great) are in Iraq blowing themselves up trying to fight us. What gives? I thought they all didn't get along at all...Personally, I'm glad to see it. I hope all those suicide bombing terror cells send as many bombers as they can into Iraq. I'd rather they kill themselves trying to scratch the paint on an Abrams tank than on a city bus in downtown NYC.

April 10, 2003 01:57 AM Forum: Off Topic Discussions

Re: The cost has been high, but I hope worth it

Posted By Andrew Riehl
I'm reminded by something I heard the other week...It was regarding the human shields who left Iraq after they found out the truth re: saddam. One of the fellows was discussing one of the things that made him change his mind.
He was riding in a taxi (one of the few times he never had a 'minder' with him). The cab driver spoke english and asked him how much Saddam had paid him to come there. The shield said 'nothing, I'm here to protect you' (or something along those lines). The cab driver said 'the Iraqui people want this war. yes, some of us will die, but it will be worth it to be rid of Saddam.' (not exact quotes; can't remember the source, but the concepts and context are correct). Not too long after this the human shield came home.

April 16, 2003 04:34 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Moonshot...

Posted By Andrew Riehl
Tak fs-78 @ f/8 w/ SBIG st-2000xm/cfw-8. Single 0.01 second exposure through IDAS and h-alpha filter. I've got about 40 to go through; I just picked out one to do a quicky process job on for giggles...

April 17, 2003 02:44 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Moonshot finalized...

Posted By Andrew Riehl
I combined about 10-15 of my full moon shots to boost the s/n ratio to really allow me to push the sharpening (I know I went too far, but I personally like the appearance of the entire moon in this extremely high contrast look better). Makes my other one look kind of soft...

April 20, 2003 02:30 PM Forum: Wildlife Photography

b-rate sci-fi movie actor?

Posted By Andrew Riehl
Think I saw this guy in a movie once...

April 24, 2003 03:48 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Crude 'first light' image...

Posted By Andrew Riehl
Well I went out tonight for a wee bit, despite the horrible conditions (wind/seeing, etc.) to see if I could get my new mount guiding correctly (had some very stupid software settings the other time i had it out; somehow I was using a 10 MILLIsecond maximum move--basically not guiding at all. still don't know how I pulled that off). Anyway, there's lots of things wrong; focus a wee bit soft, camera not exactly square to the focuser (I'm waiting on an extension tube to get here by the end of the week; right now I can't fully insert the camera into the focuser due to backfocus issues), polar alignment pretty poor (some rotation evident; I figured why bother doing a good drift considering the other factors), 15mph wind, etc., etc. No flats either (really could have used them too) Anyway, here's the image...I've sold my 11" sct and replaced it with an Astro-Physics Star 130ED (doublet) f/8 refractor on a g-11. ST-2000 binned 2x2; expsoures 4x10 minutes through IDAS LPS filter in bad light pollution (scope is not in my observatory yet). Like I said, just solely for testing autoguiding, not for 'show' smile. Gonna have a lot of fun with this scope I think...

April 25, 2003 12:33 AM Forum: Off Topic Discussions

Best Metal detecting night yet...

Posted By Andrew Riehl
I went to my favorite soccer fields tonight--I had about a 20 minute window between the kids leaving and darkness. Now that they are playing again, I can see where most of the spectators usually sit (and lose stuff). In that 20 minutes, I covered about a 10 foot by 100 foot rectangle and pulled up a 1964 penny, a 1961 penny, a '70 nickel, a '92 nickel, a '78 dime, and an '02 indiana quarter that was probably lost this last weekend (didn't even make it to the dirt yet) for a grand total of 47 c. in 20 minutes...I've had more finds before, but not in this short a time. Grand total in coins I've found in the few times I've been out: $2.75--I'll have my AP paid off in no time! smile

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