Posts Made By: John Meiners

It is great to have this little forum to Vent our Frustrations to whomever indulges in reading this stuff, thanks Herb! Now for my catharsis; The simple challenge of relaxing and watching the Tube/Plasma screen, or whatever you can afford these days, is getting more difficult. PBS is still a hold out to the Carnivorous Marketing bottom feeders who move their products between shows. "Selective Viewing" is a Must for me, and certainly my little one Henry, by the way will reach the ripe old are of 4 in April. The Mute Button has been my Salvation when force to watch something on one of the Network channels. There is to me a virtual assault on my senses as they insult my limited intelligence with the loud screaming "cartoon Voices" Good example is some of the current Ford Commercials, with the Fast, Loud talking announcer, using a phoney Deep Bass voice bellowing out Big Truck Power! Now compared to a Lexas ad you can see who they are targeting. During periods when children are watching cartoons, the ads for toys & sugar cereals, Are really driven home with a Loud, Fast delivery, and they will fire 4 of these obnoxious ads in a row! So Now I watch Charlie Rose on PBS, his calm demeanor is infomative as well as relaxing. Jerry Springer will get his Just rewards someday!! Talk about someone who exploits people exploiting themselves! all for the almighty $$. My Sister in law who is a 1st. Grade teacher watches him religiously. While at my brother's house the other night she had the Springer Show on as I walked in, Two 300 lb. women were fighting over a man who was on his hands & knees with a dog collar & leash fastened to his neck that one of the Gals was holding! The audience was going nuts! chanting & waving their fists.. (STOP THE INSANITY !)... JM

Man's quest for flight & exploration of "what's out there"
started at Kitty Hawk 03'. Sixty six years later Tranquility had its first visitors. Why now in 03'. thirty four years since that landing, are we still struggling in and out of low Earth orbit?
NASA does not have the luxury of the deep pockets the Apollo program had benifit of. Carte Blanche was exploited;
"By any means we must beat the Russians to the Moon."
By all rights the United States should have a Lunar Base growing and Astronomical facilities should dot the Back side of the Moon. Water should be scavened, Labs where all the scientific experiments could be conducted should be already in full production.
The Public's lack of interest has been a result of Mundane
PR. There has to be a "Carrot" out front, like the "next step Mars" The interest is fueled by Man's curiosity of exploration of what is out there.. I wanted to see a Manned landing on Mars during my lifetime..
Our Agenda it seems, is with self destruction & war. I have mentioned in a previous thread that two billion dollars for a B-2 Bomber is Beyond comprehension;
$2,000,000,000 that is two thousand Million dollars for a plane that drops (SMART ?) Bombs. Big Govenment Contracts!
I believe the Shuttle Missions in & out of low Earth orbit are very Risky, as all Space exploration is, it is a Hostile Environ. But The initial Launches that must escape Earths Atmos. is the most Life Threatening. And as we have learn from this weeks Tragedy returning through Earth's Atmos. can be just as Risky. My Prayers go out to all the Crew and their Love ones. Not to intimate that this or any of the other Missions were Folly, I just wanted to state that Politics Has it's foot on the Brakes. Priority now it seems, will be Defense of our Homeland ? Your thoughts & ideas will be of interest.. Peace. JM

Could someone give me a web. address for fly-over times?
Many thanks... John M

Pretty excited about this Refractor from the first reports I have read on the Mart.. 5 1/2 " of star/plantetary gobbling glass.. less $$ than the TV 127.. any thoughts? JM

Just heard that N K states they now have a Missile that can reach the West Coast of North America. Great I live on the North Coast of OR. And I thought I was relatively safe
up here in the Woods! JM

Has Anyone had the chance to view through "both" the dedicated 40mm. SolarMax Scope, and also through the 40mm.
SolarMax system outfitted on a 70mm. TV Pronto ? Was wondering if there is
any appreciatable quality inhancement with either set-up?
thank you, John Meiners

*Something to ponder (momentarily)
"The greatest trick the devil ever produced, was to convince
the world he doesn't exist."

Was going to get the 102, now I find out there is a 127 on the Horizon, "But Wait" as they say on television; rumors of a 6" in the works! a 152. Put me down. JM

Rented "Sum of all fears" the other night, wanted to see the plausibility of the scenario raised in the script. As technology perpetuates itself steadily, I look down the road apiece and see the eventuality of such a circumstance taking place somewhere in the not too distant future, on our shores..
For those who have not seen the movie or are familiar with the plot, Terrorist find an un-exploded Nuke/warhead
(One of ours, no less) in some Middle East Desert, they re-fashion it into a time-delay type device. It arrives in the United States via a container aboard a ship, and eventually is placed in a downtown major Metropolis. The theme here, as to my thoughts, were like with the 9/11 Sky-jackers, having no Multi-billion B-2 , B-1, or B-52 Bombers at their disposal. the Terrorist used our own readily available ones found at your local near-by International Airport, a fully fueled Boeing 757 & 767. So the hypothesis of a underling group evening the playing field against a Super Power Nation like the United States was workable..
So if a situation similar to this Hollywood Fiction was to manifest itself "within" our borders & "within" our large cities, All the 2 Billion $ B-2's and Mega Carriers, we spend so much on would be useless..
Here is how it might be played out: The Terrorist place several ( 2 or 3 ) Nuclear devices in un-disclosed locations, lets say, Manhattan, LA, & Chicago . They contact a news agency, proclaim they have a series of Bombs that will detonate at designated times; The first one set for 12:00pm EST. NY time, which would mean 9:00am PST. on the West Coast in LA. The US Government is given a deadline in which to comply with demands, ie, release all Prisoners currently held in Guantanamo Bay.. 2nd. removal of all troops in the Arab Nations, 3rd. maybe $$ .. so a litany of demands to be met by a predetermined time.
As we all know we do not give in to these kind if idle threats, so in all likelyhood the 1st device would be detonated on schedule, this is where the ubiquitous term, "Mass Destruction" would be applied. Countless lives would be lost, along with property, roads, etc. So now the question posed; the next device scheduled, should it be allowed to detonate?? & the 3rd.??
So the Saying "The Enemy of my Enemy, is my friend" comes to mind, we need to make as many frinds in the World Community as we can. This doesn't mean by giving them 24 billion US Dollars, like in Turkey's case they want for us to use their fields for launch sites.. It is to help feed the hungry, clothe the Naked children in nations that don't own $130.00 Nike shoes.
Many people say the reason the World Trade Center was attacked, was because of Jealously, our Nation was too rich? What are your thoughts of a Motive to commit such a heinous act? John M

Glad Tele Vue doesn't sell products like I saw at a friends the other day. I don't want to compare Apples to Oranges, but I was looking at a friends little Meade Refractor the other day, a 60mm. 289m. mounted on what appeared to be a Ger. Type EQ tripod. I couldn't believe my eyes. The scope was so so, never really viewed through it, but I did try to put the mount through a few paces.. the flimsy black painted tripod was wobbly, the slow motion cables had so much slop in them it was a joke.. the setting circles spun when I touched them. Has anyone had the opportunity to see one of these set-ups? Shame on Meade for selling this to anyone. JM