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Douglas Rollain

Lion Nebula SH2-132 - RC71

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Posts Made By: Garrick Taylor

February 10, 2005 01:24 AM Forum: After Dark

good cloud cover images

Posted By Garrick Taylor
Something about the topic "good cloud cover images" seems wrong,much like "military intelligence" or "fair taxes" grin

Garrick

February 20, 2005 04:45 AM Forum: Telescope Making

Equatorial Cradle

Posted By Garrick Taylor
When are you going to start taking orders?

February 22, 2005 03:07 AM Forum: Politics

And here is the real insider trading!

Posted By Garrick Taylor
The Republicans and Democrats in power are all largely crooks who busy themselves scratching each other's backs at our expense.

We will never really make a dent in this until the public at large wakes up and puts somebody interested in SHRINKING the government into power. I don't see that happening for another 50 years or so when we are paying 90% taxes and can only speak against the high tax rate in one free speech zone in Alaska.

March 4, 2005 02:18 AM Forum: Beginning Astronomy?

Buy Time

Posted By Garrick Taylor
What do you want to use it for?

Planets, galaxies, nebulas, star clusters? Depending on what you expect to use it for, you might want to buy different scopes.

Offhand, I would recommend a 6-8" Dobsonian telescope. That would be something which would give good views at a low price and that is simple to use.

I am sure other more experienced people will have different opinions.

March 10, 2005 03:34 AM Forum: Politics

Endless amounts of energy

Posted By Garrick Taylor
We should also be exploring more effecient solar power and harnessing the near endless power of the tides.

Just think, if you hooked up a power genereation device that worked off the motion of the waves you would have an unlimited power source.

March 15, 2005 02:57 AM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

Conditions to a Beginner

Posted By Garrick Taylor
Just take a shotgun to those pesky streetlights! 8O

Just kidding, of course. You will definately have better luck somewhere a little darker. You might try looking for a place with less light pollution here: http://cleardarksky.com/lp/SanFranCAlp.html

White is the worst, followed by red, orange, yellow, green, blue, gray, and then black.

If you have a car, you could get to some dark sites not too far away. You might even see some improvement by going somewhere away from the lights, say a park (the zoo, the Presidio, etc.)

Finally, contact your local astronomy club and find out where the good places are locally. The sidewalk astronomers in SF are holding a clinic on how to use your telescope this weekend:

http://sfsidewalkastronomers.org/newsarticles/clinicmar

April 6, 2005 02:12 AM Forum: Beginning Astronomy?

Collimation and optical maintenance

Posted By Garrick Taylor
I collimate my Orion 10" dob every time I observe. The first time I used the laser collimator I got off track and it took 10 minutes. It now takes me about less than a minute to do. I sometimes re-check it after I have been observing for an hour and re-tweak it if needed.

It really is very easy to do so don't let it worry you at all.

April 16, 2005 01:11 AM Forum: Beginning Astronomy?

thoughts on the Meade ETX70AT

Posted By Garrick Taylor
Here is a link to what I would consider a sweet deal on a good starter scope -- an 8" dob. It doesn't have goto or point to but with a star map it isn't hard to find stuff anyway.

http://www.astromart.com/classifieds/details.asp?classified_id=345327

May 6, 2005 05:32 AM Forum: A Day in the Life of the Administrator

is the rating system realistic?

Posted By Garrick Taylor
I find reading the descriptions on the ratings to be more informative than the numbers. If the person has ratings that say they are great, ship fast, and the equipment was just as described then I feel more comfortable.

I also look at the rated to reating received ratio as others mentioned for the same reason. I am leery of folks who receive far more ratings than they give back.

Just my 2 cents.

May 23, 2005 05:26 AM Forum: Politics

Interesting bumper sticker today

Posted By Garrick Taylor
I believe there was a guy a few years back who came up with a "modest proposal" to fix problems like this one. Maybe we could use an old idea.......

Of course, while some politicians claim Bush is out to put your Grandmother into poverty, they are not coming up with any solutions themselves. One politician recently got in hot water when he came forward with the other alternative -- higher taxes and an increase in the retirement age.

The SS and Medicare benefits will have to be changed somehow, we can't afford to keep going on with the current program ad infinitum.

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