Posts Made By: Ronald Durall

Say what you want about how the election went but I'm just happy that Teresa Heinz Kerry isn't going to be our First Lady.

A few years ago I purchased a pair of Canon 15X50 "All Weather" Image Stabilized Binoculars. I thought they would be great for birding and some astronomy. Until recently I had enjoyed great service but a couple of weekends ago I had a bunch of friends come to our property for a camp out over Memorial day and we got caught in a rain storm.

I ended up with some water in the "All Weather" binoculars and sent them back for repair. I got a notice from them saying that the repair cost would be $1568.48. Man do I feel taken advantage of and will no longer being doing business with Canon in any shape of form. They obliviously do not value their customers or stand behind their products. Anyone else had this problem?

I just purchased a Nexstar 11 last week. This weekend at a local North Texas star party I was very pleased with it's performance. The only problem was I accidently turned off the tracking while setting up for a public viewing due to a lack of experiance. Once the lines of viewer thinned I had time to play with it and quickly figured out what I had done. For the rest of the evening it was accurate on gotos and the views were great. Set up is easy once the ota and fork are out of the factory box. You will want a JMI case if you plan to move travel with the scope. Lifting the assembly out of the factory box can be hard on your back but with the JMI case it's easy to get yourself in a proper lifting position. It's much quicker then setting up an EQ mount.

I purchased mine at handsonoptics.com

Although I did purchase my first telescope (Tak. FS-78) from that "other" auction site. I purchased it from a guy close enough to drive to pick it up in person and hand over the money after I was able to inspect it. I wouldn't even think of sending money for a high ticket item like they scopes they are offering. Seems like almost all of the high end models are scams there. My last scope (NS11) was purchased from a regular advertising dealer here in the USA and I even picked it up because I didn't trust shipping it with UPS.

My GPS 11 always seems to link within 2 minutes. The first 20 degrees of the western horizon shouldn't make a difference. Just what did the hand controller say? Did you have the clutches locked down? If they are not locked down the scope will just keep attempting to slew and not complete alignment.

I see a fellow Okie is now going through the same thing I did a couple of years ago. It's a pain when the "government" changes the address that you've been used to for many years. Until ours changed I never realized how many places need a change of address sent to. I kind of miss the old RR1 type address but the new 911 address does make it easier to find houses in the country.

That is interesting that it was found by one of our Astromart people. Got to love that 3" Tak.

"We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandated of the United Nations and is building weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them."
- Sen. Carl Levin (D, MI), Sept. 19, 2002

"We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country."
- Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002

"Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power."
- Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002

"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction."
- Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002

"The last UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in October of 1998. We are confident that Saddam Hussein retains some stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and that he has since embarked on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Intelligence reports indicate that he is seeking nuclear weapons..."
- Sen. Robert Byrd (D, WV), Oct. 3, 2002

"I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force-- if necessary-- to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security."
- Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002

It's accurate Bill. It's from the New Testament NIV. As for "infant baptism,purgatory, images in the church, changes to the 10 commandments, celibacy of priests, veneration of saints, prayers to Mary, etc." That is Catholic doctrine and not generally practiced by Protestants. As for the belief in hell, in Luke 16, Jesus Christ gives a frightening picture of hell:
22 . . . the rich man also died, and was buried;
23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.