Posts Made By: George Blahun

Dave Snope said:



The first issue of Captain America came out on December 20, 1940. It shows Cap slugging Adolph Hitler in the mouth.

Good stuff, but note the date. America wouldn’t enter World War II for about another year. At the time, many Americans wanted to stay out of another European war. And here was an American superhero punching the leader of a sovereign nation in the kisser. Subsequent issues kept pitting Captain America against Hitler and his goons.

The angriest reaction came from the German-American Bund, Hitler’s stooges in the U.S. They harassed Jack Kirby and Joe Simon, the creators of Captain America, with hate mail and telephoned death threats.

“The theme was ‘death to the Jews,’� Simon wrote in his memoir. “At first we were inclined to laugh off their threats, but then, people in the office reported seeing menacing-looking groups of strange men in front of the building on 42nd Street, and some of the employees were fearful of leaving the office for lunch.�

Simon called the cops, and as soon as the police showed up, the phone rang. Mayor Fiorello La Guardia wanted to speak to the creators of Captain America. Simon got on the line. “You boys over there are doing a good job,� the voice squeaked. “The city of New York will see that no harm will come to you.’�

That is how it’s supposed to work in a democracy.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/395049/no-superheroes-interview-cave-jonah-goldberg

Dave, this is one instance where you and I are in complete agreement.

George

Rod Kaufman said:

http://money.cnn.com/2014/12/23/news/economy/us-gdp-economy-5-percent-growth/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
Other than Republican led Texas teetering on recession and Kansas going bankrupt, the rest of the country is doing quite well...

It's certainly good news, Rod. I just wonder how the right will try to spin this into a doom and gloom forecast. It's also a great time to buy astronomical gear directly from Japan. The Dollar vs Yen is the best it's been in many years 120.72 JPY per USD as of this morning.

George

Jeremiah:
Some of the brightest are not necessarily the best optically, but the Edmund RKE EPs are bright, easily obtained and inexpensive.. Most of the Japanese orthoscopic EPs with 4 or 5 elements are fairly bright. Although they are only available used, the Pentax XO series is excellent in every category except FOV and eye relief. The Brandons are pretty good with excellent contrast. Having said all this the best EPs I have are the 10 element Nikon HW 12.5mm. With modern glasses and coatings it's not simply the number of elements.

George

James, I have a G11 and I'm pretty sure the mounting is similar. There are a couple of bolts you can loosen and tighten enabling you to move the worm assembly closer to the teeth. They need to be in contact but not too tight. I think the manuals are available at the Losmandy site. Make sure the worm is greased adequately as well.

George

Not to split hairs, Dave, but your statement about most American's disapproval is not true. The latest Gallup result is 49% approve 47% disapprove. BTW, GW Bush was at 36% at this point in his presidency. Clinton was at 68% and Reagan 48%. Not that it matters, of course.

George

Dave and Dale:
You are correct that the electric car shifts the production to other fuels, with coal being the primary source. However, those production sources vary greatly by state and the efficiencies and production costs of those other fuels vary widely. The big selling point for electric vehicles is the mpg equivalency. For instance the Tesla Model S has an mpge of 89. My 2007 Prius, while a hybrid and not a true electric, gets 53 in the summer and 48 in the winter. There is currently no true zero emission vehicle, but moving away from the insanely inefficient gas powered cars is a better use of resources. Even diesel cars are better alternatives to gas vehicles. If power densities for batteries continues at it's current rate, 500 mile ranges for electric vehicles will be the norm in 5 years. There's no performance degredation either, just do a You Tube search for "Tesla Insane" and see what a 2.9 second 0 to 60 looks like. No one I know is worshipping at any "energy alter", some of us are just looking for a more efficient use of the resources we have.

George

Very Nice, Charles. We had some melting today here in SE, CT, but a bit more of "something" expected tonight. I have a cement pier in the back yard, but haven't risked bringing any equipment out on the ice in many weeks. You're a brave guy taking all that nice equipment out in this frigid mess.

George

Candidly, I haven't noticed any long term downward trend, but I really haven't looked at all categories and numbers. I do see ads waxing and waning in different categories. Sometimes, for instance, there are only 1 or 2 items in Binoviewers, other times there are 8 or 10. I'll have to keep a closer watch though.

Rod Kaufman said:

Well, keep looking!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-shostak/super-civilizations_b_7153304.html?utm_hp_ref=science

I agree, Rod. It's like trying to find a virus with a 5X magnifying glass.

George

Charles:
Good luck, it looks like you have a great start. However, with your Foucault apparatus already built you ,may be tempted to keep looking at it. The adage, "grind more, measure less" is a good approach. Personally I use a once tester up until figuring starts. 100 or 150 lip is pretty good and they are relatively easy to find. If you haven't read David Harbor"s Understanding Foucault available from Amazon, you should grab a copy.

George