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Posts Made By: Chuck Cunningham

April 7, 2011 05:01 PM Forum: Solar System Observing

Solar Projecting Viewer

Posted By Chuck Cunningham
I may be mistaken, but, back when I was about 11 years old, I seem to recall projecting the sun's image and observing sunspots with my toy reflector with the eyepiece removed. I think I tried it both ways. The focal length was very different of course, but I recall the images being pretty comparable. If this is true, then maybe you don't need to risk an eyepiece at all?

April 7, 2011 05:05 PM Forum: Refractors

Tough Decision - Keep FS128 or SV115-APO?

Posted By Chuck Cunningham
Truly, my heart bleeds for you.

April 7, 2011 05:08 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

M106 2nd attempt

Posted By Chuck Cunningham
I just do visual; no photography. I have always found M106 at a dark site to be one of those objects, that, the longer you look at it, the bigger it gets. I would think you could get lost in there processing an image!

April 11, 2011 10:12 AM Forum: Politics

Government Shutdown?

Posted By Chuck Cunningham
After watching the end-game play out this time, I pretty much came to the conclusion that both sides got together several weeks ago and scripted the whole thing. Both parties got the opportunity to appeal to the more extreme elements of their base without having to actually do anything they might be held responsible for later. I suspect there was really no danger that the government would have to shut down, and even the amount of the bogus budget cuts was agreed upon well in advance. It was all just theater.

May 5, 2011 11:53 AM Forum: Religion

New Moderation

Posted By Chuck Cunningham
How about bad-mouthing atheists and agnostics (or gnostics, for that matter)?

May 6, 2011 12:45 PM Forum: Religion

Does religion make people better?

Posted By Chuck Cunningham
Richard Dawkins, in his book "The God Delusion", makes a very good, reasoned case (not just a "knee-jerk reaction")that it does not.

May 18, 2011 03:50 PM Forum: Sports

Harmon Killebrew Dead at 74

Posted By Chuck Cunningham
When I was in about the 4th grade, I used to buy baseball cards (with bubble gum). Always hoped for something like a Mays or Mantle card. Was always bummed when I got cards for someone I never heard of that had nothing but zeroes for all the stats on the back -- like this guy Killebrew. I remember having 4 of them at one time. Threw them all away. 4 Harmon Killebrew rookie cards! Who knew?

June 6, 2011 09:55 AM Forum: Off Topic Discussions

Do Cell Phones Cause Cancer?

Posted By Chuck Cunningham
Dave Snope said:

Serious question. Is there a real threat, or is it more sensationalist junk science like silicone breast implants?

It is discouraging how cancer studies bounce back and forth in their conclusions. Too often you wind up not knowing what to believe. I imagine a lot of stuff can cause or contribute to cancer, but, personally, I think if there were a really strong causal link to such a common event, it would not be so debatable. The level we are at seems to be something like:

People use cell phones a lot.
A lot of people develop cancer.
QED?

The case for cell phones causing really bad driving is a lot stronger -- an it endangers someone other than the user.

June 13, 2011 01:16 PM Forum: Eyepieces

What's between 6 and 6.5?

Posted By Chuck Cunningham
I went with a 3-6mm zoom. I find that the quality of the seeing becomes so important at that kind of magnification that I like to be able to dial in what works best on the given night.

June 17, 2011 02:02 PM Forum: Religion

Religion in public schools....

Posted By Chuck Cunningham
Let me cite a revealing case. Somewhere about 30 years ago, the local law school where I lived decided to add some questions about ethics to its exams. They had never done that before, and the faculty wasn't sure how the questions should contribute to the exam results. They came up with 4 questions. Most of the faculty felt the questions were so obvious that any student who missed any of them should be failed. However, since this was the first time this had been tried, they decided to include them on the exam, but not count toward the final grade. That was maybe a good decision because, as it turned out, over 80% of the students got all 4 questions wrong! That does not exactly support the notion that people have a natural sense of ethics -- or maybe it's just people who want to become lawyers who don't.

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