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Posts Made By: Greg Shaffer

April 9, 2010 04:09 PM Forum: Eyepieces

Leitz EP

Posted By Greg Shaffer

I knew they made some supposedly FINE zoom EP's......Did not know they also offered EP's like this one. Is that a realistic asking price or is this guy living on a different planet? smile

http://www.astromart.com/classifieds/details.asp?classified_id=678188

While I love a great EP.....if the best gets into that ballpark I now know one thing for certain....I will never own the best, maybe 2nd best sad

April 30, 2010 10:20 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

SBIG STV

Posted By Greg Shaffer

Someone just paid a buy it now price of $1400.00 for a STV via the auction section.....Its been quite a while since I have seen one go for over $1000.00....mostly $700 to $900.

I dont see it.....I have one and gave half that for it. While I REALLY like it I cant see paying $1400 for something that repair parts are no longer available for. The guy that was auctioning it must be doing something right smile

June 24, 2010 01:29 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Re: Custom metal fabricator recommendation needed

Posted By Greg Shaffer

You should give Joe Nastasi at Parallax Instruments a shout.....


September 17, 2010 01:58 AM Forum: Politics

We cant cut spending?

Posted By Greg Shaffer

Was listening to one of the popular windbags on the radio yesterday while traveling and he stated one of the animal activist groups applied for a grant for 5 million dollars to install tunnels under the roads someplace and recived 3.3 million $$ to install tunnels under the roads so that turtles could cross the road without getting squashed....

I have a number of concerns with this....

1. How much of this money will be spent on signs to direct the turtles to the tunnels?

2. How much of this money will be spent teaching these turtles to read those signs?

3. Will they also put up signs in "ebonics" for the communicationally challenged turtles?

4. How many "positions" will be created to inspect and clear debris from the turtle tunnels to keep the turtle traffic flowing?

5. Will there be a red light system in place so that we dont get a turtle jam in the middle of the tunnel when two turtles are crossing at once from opposite directions or will these be 2 or 4 way tunnels?

6. Do turtles have a reverse?

7. Gawd I need a life

One has to wonder when you hear "we cant cut spending not when we have so many neccesary projects like this".

January 12, 2011 08:03 PM Forum: No Holds Barred

Thoughts and changes 2010 brought us

Posted By Greg Shaffer

2010 - It was a tough year, but I made it!!!

The economy is so bad that I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.

I ordered a burger at McDonald's, and the kid behind the counter asked,
"Can you afford fries with that?"

CEO's are now playing miniature golf.

If the bank returns your cheque marked "Insufficient Funds," you have to
call them and ask if they mean you or them.

Hot Wheels and Matchbox stocks are trading higher than GM.

McDonald's is selling the 1/4 'ouncer'.

A truckload of Americans was caught sneaking into Mexico.

Dick Cheney took his stockbroker hunting.

Motel Six won't leave the light on anymore.

The Mafia is laying off judges.

BP Oil laid off 25 Congressmen.

Congress says they are looking into the Bernard Madoff scandal.
Oh Great!! The guy who made $50 Billion disappear is being
investigated by the people who made $1.5 Trillion disappear!


January 12, 2011 08:31 PM Forum: Telescope Making

8" f/15 under construction.....

Posted By Greg Shaffer

Been gathering up the parts for sometime now and have everything on hand now except for 9" tube itself.

Been thinking on the best way to construct the baffle system and it hit me like a ton of bricks yesterday.....

Use carbon graphite arrow shafts cut to the proper lengths to space out the baffles properly, can cut them to lenght, glue in the inserts, drill holes in the baffels and simply insert them sandwiched between the shafts, three shafts per section, ending up with an all in one assembly that I have just slide into the tube and anchor at each end of the assembly.....super lightweight, strong and already black.....


Based on my calculations I will end up with 5 baffels.....using thin aluminum sheet for the baffels themselves.....I dont see any reason it wouldnt work and work well.....any thoughts?

Thanks
Greg

January 29, 2011 06:36 PM Forum: No Holds Barred

A break in the arguement - test drive

Posted By Greg Shaffer

I stopped by the Chevrolet Dealership yesterday, for a look at the new Silverado 1500 pickup.
Just for fun, I took it out for a test drive. I wanted to sense that new "feel" before they become extinct...

The salesman (wearing an Obama "change" lapel pin) sat in the passenger seat describing
the truck and all its "wonderful" options. The seats were of particular interest. He explained
that the seats directed warm air to your butt in the winter and directed cool air to your butt in the summer heat. Feeling like messing with him, I mentioned that this must be a
Republican truck.

Looking a bit angry, he asked why I thought it was a Republican truck. I explained that if it
were a Democrat truck, the seats would blow smoke up your ass year-round.

I had to walk back to the dealership. Damn guy had no sense of humor smile

February 4, 2011 06:12 PM Forum: No Holds Barred

Maybe this one wont become a political debate :)

Posted By Greg Shaffer

WOMEN'S ASS SIZE STUDY: There is a new study about women and how they feel about their asses, the results were pretty interesting: 30% of women think their ass is too fat. 10% of women think their ass is too skinny. The remaining 60% say they don't care, they love him, he's a good man and that they wouldn't trade him for the world.

Show this one to your wife and earn some brownie points lol

February 6, 2011 10:30 PM Forum: No Holds Barred

If the truth hurts dont look at this!

Posted By Greg Shaffer

The most Politically Correct outhouse ever on the PLANET


February 14, 2011 02:20 PM Forum: No Holds Barred

Why carrying a gun is a civilized act

Posted By Greg Shaffer

Every now and then I run across what I would describe as profound logic, the letter below in my opinion fits the phrase "profound logic" to a T

"The Gun Is Civilization"


By Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret)


Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception; Reason or force, that's it.

In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.

When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force.

The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gang banger, and a single guy on equal footing with a carload of drunken guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.

There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad force equations. These are the people who think that we'd be more civilized if all guns were removed from society, because a firearm makes it easier for a [armed] mugger to do his job. That, of course, is only true if the mugger's potential victims are mostly disarmed either by choice or by legislative fiat--it has no validity when most of a mugger's potential marks are armed.

People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that's the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.

Then there's the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser.

People, who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don't constitute lethal force, watch too much TV, where actors take beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier works solely in favor of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level.

The gun is the only weapon that's as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weight lifter. It simply wouldn't work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn't both lethal and easily employable.

When I carry a gun, I don't do so because I am looking for a fight, but because I'm looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced only persuaded. I don't carry it because I'm afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn't limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the equation... and that's why carrying a gun is a civilized act.

By Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret)