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I imagine whether it is bad news depends upon who buys it.
In recent years it had become a pale shadow of its former self.
Theres at least one USB relay on Amazon that can be run via a simple serial port command (but which plugs into USB). If not done in Python its only a few lines in VB6 to create an executable that opened or closed the relay. It even has a small LED on it so you can see the relay status.
I must admit I too was tempted until I saw it was in York. Its just too far away for me. About 5hrs continuous traffic-jam-free driving or 4.5hrs on the train. Could stay for the weeknd but have other commitments.
Britain is big and, in the past, meetings have too often been in the south, so I am certainly not complaining.
Looking forward to enjoying the videos from a comfy chair.
Is that real football or the other sort?
Perhaps play it safe and measure in perch, rods and chains*?
* For those unfamiliar with the joys of the archaic Imperial units. A chain is the same length as a cricket pitch 🙂
Isnt his raising an objection at this late stage a conflict of interest?
Also,someone not far from here and had a Meade LX200 in his observatory – which was in a conservation area. He appears to have got round it by making the observatory walls out of stone and flint (local materials) and making the roof dark.
What were the grounds for rejection? Was it because the building is listed, because its in a conservation area or something more mundane like being over 2.4m high and near a boundary?
You got more than me!
Yeah, the coding is fun. More fiddly, than difficult. I wrote some in VB6 a few years ago – that used Source Extractor output, but it could just as easily have used Pisa or Daophot instead. I imagine many would use Python instead of VB6 these days. 🙂
The problem is it went from owners who wanted to make a living to owners who wanted to be rich with the minimum possible effort.
You see it in business a lot. Buy something good, reduce standards, cut costs and milk that asset!
In Salisbury it was hopeful when I went to bed, but at 02:50 and 04:15 it was thick cloud…. The sort of cloud that says, there may be a moon in there somewhere but you’ve no idea where.
Ho hum. Perhaps I should have moved east when I retired.
The magazine changed after it was taken over. It went from being focused on the real enthusiasts with good (substantial) equipment review, observing accounts from experienced observers and cutting edge stuff, to a slim shadow of its former self and devoid of interest to all but beginners.
It still has some good writers, but a lot of the content is fairly lightweight.
Shame.
Yep. Its no big deal. We disagree. It happens.
But, should I respect that saying from Feynman more because he was an authority on quantum electrodynamics?
Ho hum. Back to the gardening.
I think that, if you look back at my posting, you will find that I don’t say that it is the worst. If Owen wants to defend that position, thats entirely up to him.
If asked an opinion, I would say it is much the same as all the others, only with a more UK slant in equipment choices. But thats hardly pouring praise on it! Some discussions will be sound and informed, some average, others will be hijacked by fools.
The net gave us access to more knowledge and with that came a greatly increased supply of gibberish. I think you will find that what I said can be summed up as “The advice may only be worth what you paid for it”.
I wish good luck to those of you who do help add quality to the fora and admire your tenacity, but find that what I have to do already fills my waking hours.
Also, I don’t think its sniping to point out that a source of information may be significantly suspect.
I don’t know about Owen, but I certainly find you have to take whats there with a large pinch of salt.
I just looked at a discussion in the deep sky section about whether M31 was a naked eye object and another in the imaging section on what affordable CCD camera to buy. Didnt exactly inspire confidence.
Looking more generally, there were postings from participants that were at best naive/lazy (even some with 20,000 posts), others who slavishly followed someones opinions because they had taken some nice pics and a few were clearly just plain biased in favour of stuff they had owned. I have no doubt it also has a percentage of observers who manage to “see” rather more than their instrument actually delivered and enjoy the immediacy of the applause available.
Personally, I couldnt say its worse than CloudyNights or any other fora but, while appreciating a proportion of participants will undoubtedly know their stuff, theres very much a need to be able to filter out the noise – and that can be difficult while you are yourself inexperienced.
