Posts Made By: Steven Lynn

I just saw this on Yahoo:

"A California lawmaker wants to make his state the first to ban incandescent as part of California's groundbreaking initiatives to reduce energy use and greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

"The "How Many Legislators Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb Act" would ban incandescent by 2012 in favor of energy-saving compact fluorescent."

There's more, of course.

It's the kind of legislative deal that used to be decided in smoke filled rooms, but they can't do that anymore either.
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Funny side story. One of my brothers in the 1970's worked for the Los Department of Water and Power. Built in 1965 The DWP headquarters was a palacial brightly lit-up building surrounded by fountains. It's indoor lights shined 24/7 through the glass exterior.

My brothers job was promoting energy conservation. (This was post 1973 oil embargo; conservation was the Big Thing). He was always having to explaining why the DWP headquarters building wasn't conserving energy. Well, it turns out that the building was engineered when electricity was cheaper. Not that they had to pay for it. Anyway, they couldn't just turn off the lights because the waste heat from the lighting was the heating system!

So, for many years, the headquarters building had the lights shining full blast. Built in 1965, it was mothballed around the early 1980's. It has recently been upgraded and retrofitted, so they can now turn the lights off.

For more fun, comparing that building with a new energy efficient skyscraper, see the following link, with some references to regulations that already limit incandescent bulbs in kitchens:

http://archrecord.construction.com/features/digital/archives/0612feature-1.asp

I need an odd dovetail for a Chinese EQ mid size mount. It's size is close enough that Vixen sized dovetails will work. The mount has a bolt head that sticks up into the place you put the dovetail. Most dovetails are solid bars or have some metal work that would hit that bolt head. What I need is one that is hollowed out on the underside, like the one pictured. Or something similiar.

Anyone know who may have something like that?
Thanks,
Steven

A neighbor cat. She loves to play-of-war with string.

My humble abode will be fumigated with Vikane. I'm guessing it is to meet the lenders' requirements regarding termites.

To heck with my lungs and beating heart: does this have any possible risk to eyepieces, objective lens, Newtonian mirrors, etc.? Anyone have any experience or knowledge?
Thanks,
Steven

We just had an earthquake. I'm in Highland Park, about 10 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. About a half hour ago things were shaking around here. It was the biggest in several years. No damage here, just nerves.

Hope everyone is okay.

Steven

I should know this, but for various reasons I have tilted toward Vixen products, but away from Meade. Not rational reasons. Some of you are old enough to remember before the 1980's that some families were "Ford" families, and some were "Chevy" families. Inter-marriage was unthinkable! It's like that. So I don't know much about the Meade mounts.

Anyway, can the Meade LX and other mounts fit on a Vixen hub? The green and black era Vixen, for the Super and Great Polaris family of mounts. The hub with the little tip sticking up?

Thanks,
Steven

I am a Blue Level dealer. I think this is the lowest level above a basic membership. I need to change my email address. So, I went to my "Account Settings." I just want to confirm that all I need to do is to change my email in Account Settings, and no other changes will occur in my status? I'm happy with the status I have. I used to be very active here, but not so much any more. Several years back I would have been answering this question.

Thanks, Steven Lynn

I have some Star Trek The New Generation set blueprints I want to list on the Classified. Real actual blueprints used in making the sets.
Would these be best listed in AstroNOT Classifieds, Antiques and Collectibles, or Astromart Classifieds, Antiques or Miscellaneous?
They are not astronomy gear per se, but close.
Thanks,
Steven

I have a TV-85 which I love. I've never seen or used a the Intes. But I can still give opinions and advice! A few comments: The TV excels at wide views (not only wide views!). Check the FOV on the Intes. I suspect at a higher f ratio it will have a narrower FOV. That's important to me. Is it important to you?

The TV comes with a 2" Everbright diagonal and clamshell mount, and a 20mm plossl eyepiece. The Intes unless 'packaged' by a seller doesn't. If you need to buy a diagonal or mounting items that will narrow the price difference between the two.

The TV will need a barlow or higher mag eyepieces to get you the same magnification as the Intes. The Intes should do higher magnification than the TV before petering out. Now, magnification is in my mind often given too much importance, because frequently the atmosphere limits usable magnification anyway. If you have an idea how the air is where you live you may figure out if you would get to use higher magnifications frequently or rarely.
Finally, if this is your first scope plan out ahead of time 3 levels of magnification, high, medium and low magnifications and get eyepieces and/or a barlow to meet those goals. Otherwise, you'll be like me with 10 eyepieces and still some 'gaps' in magnifaction 'zones!'*
Do you have a mount in mind?

Steven

*That problem arises when you have 4 telecopes of different types and f/ratios, and end up buying one eyepiece that's great on one telescope and almost irrelevant on the others...

Idea #1. slug mucous is protein; maybe enzymes, maybe acid. Worse, maybe chemicaly reactive. Probably a good idea to get it off sooner rather than later Idea #2 Acetone. NOT nail poish remover with perfumes and skin lotion, but chemical grade acetone from a pharmecy. Place on and remove with the following method: drap-but do not rub-an old cotton t-shirt to soak the acetone off. Idea #3. Do a search here on Astromart and other places for mirror cleaning. Company 7 has some ideas, for example. Idea #4. Wait for more responses than mine!