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M20 Trifid Nebula in LRGBHa

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Posts Made By: jess tauber

August 8, 2006 09:36 PM Forum: Telescope Making

question about coatings

Posted By jess tauber
How thick does an optical coating need to be to affect the refractive index of all the light passing through it? Can it be merely molecular thickness, or does it need more to get all of it?

Jess Tauber

August 10, 2006 04:54 AM Forum: Religion

Parking it South

Posted By jess tauber
I just finished a few moments ago watching the South Park episode 'The Passion of the Jew'- a sendup of Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ. By the end I was having a merry time (to put it mildly). Ironically, I was working on the Yahgan translation of Acts of the Apostles during the show. Life's full of surprises...

Jess Tauber

August 10, 2006 08:06 PM Forum: Telescope Making

Piezoelectric films

Posted By jess tauber
See ScienceDaily http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/08/060809082621.htm

Any way of using such things here on earth? How about on the inside of a balloon scope? Add in a neural network analog, and allow it to be self active/adaptive? More pie in the sky?

Jess Tauber

August 11, 2006 07:02 AM Forum: Politics

Israeli forces invade Lieberman

Posted By jess tauber
Yeah, I'm bored. Gimme the old Soviet Union back. I miss the good ol' days.....

Jess Tauber

August 26, 2006 03:42 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Tripod dolly

Posted By jess tauber
I just bought an old Quick-Set tripod dolly for my heavier setups, but there is a problem.

The hub is open on the bottom, allowing the three arms to fold for compactness. The trouble is that there is no locking mechanism to prevent this from happening when rolling the tripod sideways, nor is there any way of easily locking the legs at any particular angle- I can already see in my mind's eye OTA's coming crashing down.

I've though perhaps of punching a hole in the dolly hub center to attach a heavy weight to keep it unfolded, or maybe through the hub and arms sideways for insertion of heavy pins to lock the arms in place. The first option means more to lug around, the second means fumbling in the dark to insert the pins.

Anybody have better solutions (other than purchasing a different type of unit)? Thanks.

Jess Tauber

September 1, 2006 01:55 AM Forum: Off Topic Discussions

Mammoth Wind Farm?

Posted By jess tauber
Just caught this headline over at Yahoo News: 'Mammoth $200M wind farm proposed in Iowa'

I know that herbivores produce prodigious volumes of methane, which could be used for generating electricity, but REALLY!

Jess Tauber

September 3, 2006 01:23 AM Forum: Telescope Making

Long focus mirrors?

Posted By jess tauber
I might be interested in making a very long focus mirror (maybe f/20 or more), for either a folded or Cass/Newt (or even Gregorian) type system. Does anyone have any experience with these? Can the optics remain spherical in the Cass/Greg systems? Also how do you test such mirrors- will classical tests work at high focal ratios?

Thanks.
Jess Tauber

September 10, 2006 09:03 AM Forum: Politics

Attack of 'The Show'?

Posted By jess tauber
Don't forget to watch 'The Path to Brainwashing You into Blaming Bill and Monica for 9/11' on ABC tonight and tomorrow night, assuming it isn't yanked first. All based on 'facts' of course- you know, cooked up by the same crew who gave us the 'facts' about WMD's and such. I'm surprised they aren't going to try to make Monica out to be an Al Qaeda operative (she sorta DOES have that sinister 'First I'm gonna blow your mind and then your Twin Towers' look about her, don't she though?).

It never occurred to me that the rightist camp would SERIOUSLY try to bamboozle potential voters into blaming Clinton for this too. Guess I was wrong. You thought Disney was cute and cuddly, eh? Must be punishment for demoting Pluto.

Well, if it does air, it will be interesting to follow polls over the next few weeks to see if the Acquisitives (not the true Conservatives) are right about the gullibility of the drooling tube-bound masses.

Jess Tauber

September 13, 2006 09:36 AM Forum: Off Topic Discussions

Re: The War On What??

Posted By jess tauber
Sounds like we're ready for a war on 'error'....(and a segue to the Politics forum???). Or is it an accident that the smarter our leaders, the less enthusiastically we jump into conflict, or talk down to our citizenry?

Jess Tauber

September 13, 2006 09:01 PM Forum: Religion

Pope rejects hatred in God's name

Posted By jess tauber
From BBC News page: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5338498.stm

Nice to know even the papacy has evolved, though it is a bit troubling that the current holder of the office (though he didn't perhaps turn out to be the Dark Lord of the Sith) thinks we rely on science too much. Hmmmmmm- isn't the current US President of a similar opinion?

I guess that during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, when heretics were being burned in their hundreds of thousands, the 'stakes' were a little higher, as it were. Instead of a couple of crazed suicide bombers here and there, Islam was poised to invade and crush Christendom.

I wonder what the world would have been like had this actually happened. No Holocaust. No genocidal colonization of the Americas, Australasia, etc. No Communism. No William Shatner.

Heck, astronomy is VERY popular among the Muslim masses, I hear. Even 'Jihad' as its done now might have never happened.

Sure its a little hard on the knees. Sufi or not Sufi, that is the question.

Oh, well, George only has a couple of dozen months to start the Crusade against that Sonny Bono lookalike in Teheran. He is the deciderer.

I know you are but what am I?

JseT sbaure


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