Is Amateur Astronomy an Elitist Hobby?

(Rod Mollise) wrote in message ...

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Doog:

You've been watchin' too much cable TV...get out there and do some observin'!
:-)

Peace,
Rod Mollise

No got cable, or satellite deesh. I had a fifty-foot high antenna,
but since it got struck by lightning I've relied on rabbit ears. On a
good day I get "local" CBS and NBC stations clearly, one PBS station,
and a "snowy" ABC station. Maybe if I had cable my mind would be more
focused and wouldn't take long walks without my permission.

On Sat, 26 Jul 2003 21:44:05 -0400, Fred Garvin
wrote:

This happens to me during thunderstorm season mainly so it's not really
THAT often. Spring though summer. More like maybe 4-5 times all year. If I
had a UPS...

The last time I had a power outage was when my crazy neighbor tried a
little amateur tree trimming and dropped a tree limb onto his electric
service. This blew the transformer that serviced our group of houses.
The only bright spot was that he didn't fry himself. I didn't ask him
what his next electric bill was like: XXX kilowatt-hours at 5 cents
each plus one transformer at 5 thousand each.

Jim Cate wrote in message
...

- No? Spider Man and computer games and the net are more exiting than
looking at galaxies 50 million light years away? Perhaps someone can
explain that to me.

I wouldn't worry about it. Regardless of the reason for the lack
of interest, there will always be a small but significant group of
people in every generation to keep the flame of exploration alive.

"Chris L Peterson" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:55:42 GMT, John Steinberg
wrote:

What kind of uptime and stability would impress, Chris?

Etok's uptime is impressive, although I doubt that many people are in a
position
to keep a machine running for that long to test the stability! He's
pushing the
MTBF for disks, fans, and other things that can't or shouldn't be
hot-swapped.

How right you are. As a matter of fact, my linux box's hda is making a bit
of an occasional "screeeeeee" noise. But it's been doing that for a year or
more, and only occasionally. I figure when it dies, I'll upgrade to a
newer, cheaper, smaller and quieter pc, and use Redhat 9 (or 10 if it lasts
that long).
I'm not trying to brag about the uptime.. mostly I forget the machine is
there (downstairs in an unused room). We use it for a mail server, web
server (lightly, lightly), etc, etc, etc. I was lucky enough to land a
static IP some years ago when dsl first hit the market.
It enabled my wife and I to abandon her monthly ISP account, so it's paid
for itself many times over by now.
Once in awhile, I hit it with a little "Dust Off" to blow out the dust
bunnies. This is not intended as a product endorsement. :-)
I have a cheap ups that I bought second hand. So far, the outages haven't
lasted longer than the battery.
Mainly, the advantage to linux for me is the licensing thing. A bargain at
twice the price.
Cheers,
Etok



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"William Hamblen" wrote in message
arthlink.net...
In article , Axel wrote:
... I
usually leave the engine on when I'm pumping gas ...

It might be a good idea to shut off the engine while fueling to
avoid setting your car on fire. It's the law in most places, anyway.
Modern gasoline engines can survive the brief on - off period at the
gas station pretty well. The oil doesn't completely drain away that fast.

I saw a fellow pull into full service in a Lincoln Navigator. He kept the
engine running until the attendant said, "Better shut 'er off, sir. You're
gaining on me."

Etok



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