Posts Made By: Joe Lentz

Very amusing Brien... This is the kind of nonsequitur scripture quoting I was referring to earlier. If you put that psalm into some kind of coherent context, your post might have at least the chance of being meaningful to someone other than yourself. Dialogue man, dialogue!!!

True, math is a pretty universal language, at least until it gets into the realm of the theoretical, then it's subjective too eh? Some theories are more persistant than others though...

Best of luck to you Brien. Thanks for your sincerity and patience. I don't know what this life is all about; I just do the best I can to make sense of it all... and try to be as decent a person as I can under the circumstances. Maybe some day I'll have a better idea of whats going on. Take care...

With all due respect Tim, you really ought to open your eyes a little wider. Are so steeped in your own subjective "belief system" you don't realize the bible represents only one POV, and that many who have studied it have rejected it's teachings because it doesn't provide well enough for the qualites you profess to hold so dear. When it comes to love, appreciation, compassion, and honesty I would rather not be limited by that particular set of teachings. Does the bible contain useful information? Of course. Should it be considered a complete guide to man and the universe? Hardly...

OK, I was just checking. I don't manage my time well enough to keep up with this forum. In fact I sometimes suspect that time may function differently for me than it does for other people. Could be I accidently crossed through a temporal rift a few years back, and I'm still trying to get reoriented. Thats as good an excuse as any I guess...

Sorry to hear about it Paul. Take care...

John, I recall that when this topic was discussed awhile back, a couple of the christian contributors were suggesting that even those people who were initially denied salvation (through no fault of their own) would be given another opportunity somehow in the final "reckoning" via some special clause, loophole or whatever. I wasn't entirely clear on how it worked, but I know the matter was addressed. Anyway, good luck finding a satisfactory answer to the dilemma...

I concur with Ed's remarks on this tripod. I use mine for 11x70 and 20x80 binoculars, and also with an 80mm f/5 shortube. It's a pretty stable setup overall, particularly for the money.

Jorge, very sorry to hear about your negative experience. Although I am a relatively recent arrival here, it is easy to see that Astromart is a wonderful resource, and the people running it are great... as are most of the people who contribute to and benefit from it.

It seems that there are, however, always a small percentage of individuals within any large endeavor who don't appreciate the necessity of maintaining the high moral conduct that it's success hinges on. I think the User Ratings are helpful to some degree in identifying that sort of person who none of us would knowingly care to deal with. For my own part, on larger $$$ items, I prefer to step up the amount of communication via e-mail and telephone contact prior to beginning an actual transaction, in an effort to get some more knowledge of who I am dealing with.

In a different, and less overtly irresponsible vein, I've noticed that there are people using Astromart very heavily (among the Top Astromart Users) who benefit from it without feeling the need to give anything back to it in the form of becoming Astromart supporters. I don't really understand that mindset...

In a situation where the honor system is the main glue that allows everything to work smoothly, how is the whole protected from a tiny rather "sociopathic" fringe element? I wish I knew... Maybe someone else can shed some light on this. In the meantime, I will of course continue to enjoy being an active part of this wonderful thing called Astromart. I'll also take what steps I can to be sure I am dealing with solid folks, and I'll hope I don't run into someone like you did Jorge.

Too bad there aren't more like Senator Byrd. He is one of a vanishing breed. The Senate and the House could both use an infusion of conscience, and a good deal less blind obedience to towing the party line. Should it be so idealistic to expect our elected leaders to exhibit personal backbone and integrity? Seems like that ought to be the rule rather than the exception...