Posts Made By: Maurice Clark

Hi all,

Just saw this survey result on the BBC news website.

Ireland is the best place to live in the world, according to a "quality of life" assessment by Economist magazine.

Somehow I don't thi9nk they took observing into account!! From what I hear, the weather is nearly as bad as the NW USA has been latey! :C

Interesting though. Australia was the only non-european country in the top 10. (6) The USA was 13th.

Researchers took into account not just income, but other factors considered important to people's satisfaction and well-being.

They included health, freedom, unemployment, family life, climate, political stability and security, gender equality and family and community life.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4020523.stm

Hi all,

Not quite sure where to put this one! It really makes me wonder about some people and their thinking! 8O :S

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4019295.stm

A half-eaten slice of elderly cheese on toast purportedly showing the image of the Virgin Mary has attracted 100,000 hits on the [THAT] website.

Diana Duyser, 52, of Hollywood, Florida, set a starting price of $3,000

$3000 for a 10-year old slice of cheese on taost! 8O 8O

Someone has more money than I do.....

Maurice

....... walks of shaking head.........

Hi all,

I am thinking about getting a CCD camera with small pixels to use with my 5" f/5 refractor, since my ST9 gives me about 7 arcsec/pixel!! I have been considering the 2000XM but have heard some stories that it has a microlens layer that can cause imaging artifacts when used with short focus refractors. Has anyone used one of these with a short focus refractor? Does anyone know if there are imaging artifacts and how bad these are?

Thanks,

Maurice

Hi all,

I see on the BBC news that yet more troops are being sent to Iraq, bringing the total number to over 150,000. More than were there when Bush made his famous (?) "major combat operations are over" speech, or that were used in the invasion of the country.

It seems to me that the USA is only now starting to fight the real war. Why else would more troops be needed than when "major combat operations" were being undertaken? The current level of fighting is a real worry, especially with elections planned for next month.

Regards,

Maurice

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4060545.stm

Hi all.

OK!!! Sorry about the headline and for posting this on this forum. I just could not resist it!!

If you have ever wondered what an aussie summer can be like, here are some pictures of bushfires that came very close to the Parkes radio telescope (AKA "The Dish"). It had better luck than Stromolo did last year. Feel sorry for the cockies just starting to harvest their crops though. That is a lot of money to go up in smoke!

The "joys" of 40C+ weather!

Cheers,

Maurice

http://www.parkes.atnf.csiro.au/people/jsarkiss/bush_fires/

Yikes to the prices! I have been using one of their 5" f/5 air-spaced lenses since 1971. It has been a great scope over the years, despite a fair amount of chromatic aberation. (visible on mag 1 or brighter)

These days I use it mainly for film photography. 3 degree field with 35mm! Below is a photo showing then and now! Best $150 I ever spent!

Cheers,

Maurice

Dear Ray,

Thank you for your recent letter with your very interesting questions. However I do not understand why you are having any problems with any of these.

If you had really been listening to what I had been saying, you would have realised that my comments about same-sex marriages, you would have known that my comments were based on passages such as Rom 1:27. End of debate.

All of the other questions you raised, dealing with various passages from Leviticus, if you really knew what the Bible teaches, you would know that all of these laws belonged to the moasic ceremonial laws of the Israelites. It is clearly taught in the New Testament, that the Israelite ceremonial lwas were down away with at the death of Jesus, and are therefore not binding on Christians.

From your letter, it is very clear that you are in desprate need of re-education on religous matters. Therefore you can expect a knock of your door at any time as a large group of heavily armed men in dark glasses and suits come to take you away to a re-education camp run by the religous right for the express reason of converting irreligous sceptics such as yourself, into perfect republican robots to further the holy cause.

GWB

Hi all,

Heard this on the way to work this morning, and then read it on the BBC website. Looks like Bumsfeld got more than he expected.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4079201.stm

I especially like this wonderful piece of advice in answer to a question:

"Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to uparmour our vehicles?" Army Spc Thomas Wilson asked.

"You go to war with the army you have," Mr Rumsfeld replied

Real helpful!!!!

Cheers,

Maurice

Hi all,

This one I almost cannot believe. The lawyer defending one of those charged over Abu Ghraib claims that what happened was nothing more than "cheerleaders at US sports events, who form pyramids "all over America"."

Hr also claims that what was done was "a tether is a "valid tool", and denied that the photos depicted real abuse."

Is this guy for real... or is he just trying to BS everybody to get his client off??

Story here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4155375.stm

Back to trying to photograph Machholz through the fog!

Maurice

Hi all,

Back again!!

Just came back from nearly 2 weeks in Florida observing at the UF Gainesville observatory. Dark skies.... warm weather.... bright comet..... 30" scope to play with.... Zodiac light easy to the zenith.... Milky Way bright even in Monoceros......... Only two annoying things about the trip. By around mid-night a very think fog would form. (not that that stopped me. I still took a number of photographs throuth the fog!!!! 8O ) The other problem was that I had to leave and come back to work in Maryland!!! > Cold weather.... cloudy skies.... light pollution.... air pollution.... traffic..... students...... AAARRRRRGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

While I was down there I picked up a new toy. An 18" dob with Galaxy mirror. I did not have a lot of time to play with it while I was in Florida. The mirrors would fog over very quickly, such was the humidity. (**note to self:- Next time out shopping with the boss, remind her how much she needs a portable hair dryer!!!) However the views I did have were excellent. It looks like a top-notch scope.

In the image below, the dome on the left of the 18" houses an 18" RC, automated with ST-8E CCD. In the background is the 30" dome. I used both of these scopes primarily for asteroid photometry. To the right of the 18", is my 5" f/5 Jagers refractor with 3" guidescope and ST-4 autoguider on a GM8, which I used for photography. I also had a 135mm Olympus on this system. You can see why I hated to have to come back to work!!

Cheers,

Maurice