Posts Made By: Maurice Clark

Uh Oh, quick everyone, start behaving.... Dad's back!!!! :-)

Maurice

Also on SA, remember where the Ugandian dictator/butcher Idi Amin found refuge when he fled Uganda? First in Lybia and then for the past 10 years or so in Saudi Arabia!

Maurice

I remember years back when dobsonians were just being interduced, I build a 16". (sonotube not truss! At least at first!!! :-))

On one observing night clouds came over near midnight so we all decided to pack up. 4 People helped me with my heavyweight. One other guy had a 6" f/5 dob that I had built for him. He put the tube under one arm and the mount onder the other, and cheerfully said "See you later guys!", and happily walked off. That set back large dobs for years in Western Australia!! Is was not long after that, I changed the 16" to a truss-tube design.

Cheers,

Maurice

More honourable mentions!

A thief burst into a Florida bank one day wearing a ski mask and carrying a gun. Aiming his gun at the guard, the thief yelled, "FREEZE, MOTHER-STICKERS, THIS IS A ****-UP!" For a moment, everyone was silent.Then the snickers started. The security guard completely lost it and doubled over laughing. It probably saved his life, because he'd been about to draw his gun. He couldn't have drawn and fired before the thief got him. The thief ran away and is still at large. In memory of the event, the banker later put a plaque on the wall engraved with the words, "Freeze, mother-stickers, this is a ****-up!"

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Seems an Arkansas guy wanted some beer pretty badly. He decided that he'd just throw a cinderblock through a liquor store window, grab some booze, and run. So he lifted the cinderblock and heaved it over his head at the window. The cinderblock bounced back and hit the would be thief on the head, knocking him unconscious. The liquor store window was made of Plexiglas. The whole event was caught on videotape.

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As a female shopper exited a New York convenience store, a man grabbed her purse and ran. The clerk called 911 immediately, and the woman was able to give them a detailed description of the snatcher. Within minutes, the police apprehended the snatcher. They put him in the car and drove back to the store. The thief was then taken out of the car and told to stand there for a positive ID. To which he replied,

"Yes, officer, that's her. That's the lady I stole the purse from."

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The Ann Arbor News crime column reported that a man walked into a Burger King in Ypsilanti, Michigan, at 5 a.m., flashed a gun, and demanded cash. The clerk turned him down because he said he couldn't open the cash register without a food order. When theman ordered onion rings, the clerk said they weren't available for breakfast. The man, frustrated, walked away.

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A 5-STAR STUPIDITY AWARD WINNER! When a man attempted to siphon gasoline from a motor home parked on a Seattle street, he got much more than he bargained for. Police arrived at the scene to find a very sick man curled up next to a motor home near spilled sewage. A police spokesman said that the man admitted to trying to steal gasoline and plugged his siphon hose into the motor home's sewage tank by mistake.

The owner of the vehicle declined to press charges, saying that it was the best laugh he'd ever had.

Ah well Herb.... look at it this way. When you are finally finished trying to run an astronomy retail store, you will be fully qualified for your next profession as a cat herder! :-)

Maurice

Hi Robert,

Nowhere does the Bible say that the UNIVERSE is 6000 years old. That concept comes from not considering all of what the Bible says about the creation. Several other passages (eg Job) discussing the creation mention beings watching the creation. This clearly implies the existance of the universe prior to the creation of the Earth. Also if you read carefully the creation events of the 4th day, you will see that the comment about the creation of the stars is in brackets. It is not saying that God created the stars on the 4th day, only pointing out that the stars were created by God, without any comment as to when. The writer mentions it here as he is discussing the creation of the Sun and Moon.

There has been much discussion about the creation of the Sun and Moon on the 4th day. Some commentators believe that this was the actual day that they were created, while others feel that this was the day they became visible. Personally I am not too sure about this. It is a difficult verse. However, a careful reading of the creation account, particularly verse 2, would indicate that the Earth existed at the start of the creation week, but in a desolate, barren state, covered by water.

On your point about how long were the days, your contention that the "days" could have been of any length, this is not in harmony with sound Biblical excegesis. The Hebrew word for "day", "yom", is used with a definite number in each of the verses in Genesis. Elsewhere throughout the Bible, wherever yom is used with a difinite number, (over 1000) it always means a litteral 24-hour day. No-where does it mean aeon. Therefore it is clear that the days of Genesis were litteral 24-hour days.

One final point. In your comment about the basic elements for the ancient world is incorrect. The 4 basic elements were air, earth, water, and fire.

Regards,

Maurice

Very well done Johannes. Now try for the Mars Global Surveyor!

Maurice

Hi Chris,

I have had a Jagers 5" f/5 refractor since 1971 and it is a great scope for wide-field views. With a 32mm erfle or similar there is plenty of dark sky around the Pleiades. That being said, my main use for it these days is photography. Having owned 16" and 10" scopes, I found that there was not much that the 5" would do better than those scopes. It was limited to the largest open clusters or scanning the Milky Way.

Another option is a 6" f/5 newtonian. I had one for several years on a dobsonian mount and it was great for quick, wide-field views. It was also cheaper than a refractor.

Good luck.

Maurice

The jack-booted thugs who treated my wife so disgracefully recently at LAX to be hung upside down from the control tower by barbed wire tied to their privates for a week, during which they are forced to listen to the entire collection of SH's speeches (I figure they already know Hitler's) and then at the end of the week, I have the exquisite pleasure of cutting the wire!

Maurice

Motor-driven 22" binoculars!!!!

I am not jealous. I am not jealous. I am not jealous.....
If I say this enough will I not be!!???

Maurice