What are you currently reading?
- gregl
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Re: What are you currently reading?
Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West, written by Stephen Ambrose. This account of the expedition brings it to life in a way others have not. And it reminds us that the interior of the continent was not a vast wasteland, as some of us were taught in grammar school, but a lush territory that was populated and had plenty of game and resources for those who knew how to look for them.
Also by Stephen Ambrose, Nothing Like It In The World is a narrative history of building the transcontinental railroad that concentrates on the actual construction rather than the politics and upper-level personalities of some of the other histories of the project. It details how ten thousand men with shovels and picks put the line across the plains, through the desert and over the mountains in a way that would be unthinkable today. The idea was to build it quick and dirty, get it done, and then come back and fix any deficiencies later. A most worthwhile read.
- GCoyote
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Re: What are you currently reading?
Gary C
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(And a bunch of stuff I'm still trying to fix or find parts for.)
- bobharmony
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Re: What are you currently reading?
Bob
Software: BYE, APT, PHD2, DSS, PhotoShop CC 2020, StarTools, Cartes du Ciel, AstroTortilla
- John999R
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Sorry Greg I didn't respond back to you sooner. But I do agree regarding the 4-wheel version vs two-wheel. I got lucky on our trip, the only weather issue was when we took a wrong turn in the valley headed to our hotel in Beatty and got stuck out in the middle of pitch-black conditions and near-freezing temps. I came equipped with the proper cold-weather gear, but there was no place to turn off the desert road due to very soft and sloping away shoulders on the side of the road. The wind picked up and this went on for about an hour before I spotted a structure off to the right and we were very happy to have the opportunity to pull over and put on warmer clothes. In my case, I had heated gear and I swear you could ride in arctic conditions when so equipped. A smile returned to my face, but the idea of going out into the desert after dinner wasn't in the cards. According to my research, I would have had to ride out at least 20 miles to reach a sufficiently dark sky spot to image the night sky, the low temperatures canned that idea.gregl wrote: ↑Sat Sep 19, 2020 4:31 pm John:
Having been out in Death Valley many times both tent camping and with a truck camper, I'd advise taking a 4-wheel vehicle rather than a two-wheeled one. The wind can come up at any time and you really don't want to be outside during a dust or sand storm. The last time we were there Mesquite Springs campground got snowed in just after we left and we were stuck at Stovepipe Wells because the road out was snowed over. Strange to see CalTrans trucks in Death Valley outfitted with snow plow blades.
The above experience has me thinking of two ways to approach my next DV visit. Go by motorcycle again, which was awesome by the way, or leave it at home and take my truck and imaging gear. I've pretty much decided to go by motorcycle again with friends and for any dark sky imaging, there are more convenient opportunities for that in Northern California where I live.
A riding buddy of mine also loves going to DV, but he does it in style. He and his wife go in their motorhome and pull a trailer with two dual-sport motorcycles on board. He was the originator of now the largest Ducati motorcycle website probably in the world and currently manages it. Super nice guy and so is his wife and he has a background in professional photography. They set up I believe in Stovepipe Wells and then go exploring on their dual sport (street legal dirt bikes) far and wide to places in the valley not many people visit. As you know the weather can go south on you in a hurry, especially at higher elevations, and their group got caught in a high wind snowstorm at one such location. It is winter after all and as much as I looked at weather trends, you never really know what might happen once you get there, especially at higher elevations I suppose. Again, except for that one night, the weather for us couldn't have been better, but we all know it gets cold at night in the desert. What a place!
- jrkirkham
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Re: What are you currently reading?
Telescopes: 50mm refractor, ED80 triplet, 90mm makcass, 10" dob, 8"SCT, 11"SCT
Mounts: Celestron CGX, Orion Sirius + several camera tripods
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Binoculars: 10x50, 12x60, 15x70, 25-125x80
Observatory: SkyShed POD XL3 + 8x12 warm room
AL Projects Completed: Lunar #645, Outreach #0280, Universe Sampler #93-T, Binocular Messier #871, Messier #2521, Messier Honorary #2521, Constellation Hunter Northern Skies #112, Planetary Transit Venus #1, Galileo #26, Outreach Stellar 0280, Meteor Regular #157, Solar System Telescopic #209-I, Observer Award #1
AL Projects Currently in Process: Double Stars, Comet, Lunar Evolution
- pakarinen
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Re: What are you currently reading?
"The Deep Sky", Harrington. One of the Sky and Tel's observer guides.
"The Third Reich at War", Evans, military history. A little deeper dive into WW2 history.
"The Collapsing Empire", Scalzi. Pulp sci-fi, but I do love Scalzi's books. Reminds me of the sci-fi I grew up reading. Hey, everybody needs some "garbage" reading, right?
Man... That's some icky-tasting stuff!
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- John999R
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Re: What are you currently reading?
- pakarinen
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Re: What are you currently reading?
Man... That's some icky-tasting stuff!
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- helicon
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Re: What are you currently reading?
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50
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- Star Dad
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Re: What are you currently reading?
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- notFritzArgelander
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Re: What are you currently reading?
It's a hoot and a half and the writing is a delight.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Murderbot_Diaries
I'm on my third of the series and enjoying the reads.
- pakarinen
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Re: What are you currently reading?
Man... That's some icky-tasting stuff!
=============================================================================
AT50, AT72EDII, ST80, ST102; Scopetech Zero, AZ-GTi, AZ Pronto; Innorel RT90C, Oberwerk 5000; Orion Giantview 15x70s, Vortex 8x42s, Navy surplus 7x50s, Nikon 10x50s
- Pikaia
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Re: What are you currently reading?
This has a tremendous but deserved rating of 4.67 on Goodreads. It is very long but enjoyable, with lots of anecdotes, and it has a lot of information about preparations for the invasion. It corrects a number of erroneous beliefs about D-day.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/415 ... 5KQ&rank=1
- Star Dad
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Re: What are you currently reading?
In case you are unfamiliar with this series the basic premise is that there is a set of stones arranged in a circle in Scotland through which time travel is allowed - supposedly about 300 years in the past (back and forth permitted). Claire Randall accidentally goes through the portal on one of the critical active days and falls in love with a Scotsman (Jamie Fraser) just before the battle of Culloden where Bonny Prince Charlie's last gasp attempt to overthrow the Scottish usurper (aka English monarchy) is doomed.
The stories are for the most part historically accurate. A really great read.
Orion 203mm/f4.9/1000mm, converted TASCO 114mm/f9/1000mm to steam punk, Meade 114mm/f9/1000, Coronado PST, Orion EQ-G, Ioptron Mini-Tower and iEQ30, Canon 70D, ASI120MM,ASI294MC, Ioptron SkyHunter
- DEnc
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Re: What are you currently reading?
He notes that our perception of smells is tied into their contexts: cilantro smells "soapy" because it shares some chemical volatiles with soap. If visual perception were like this, we might identify the color green as "grassy"! The book is filled with tables listing various substances together with their smells and the chemicals that are the basis of those smells. For cilantro, it's a mix of dodecnal, decanals, and decenals.
Pretty dry, but hey, it's a field guide....
- goldstar
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Re: What are you currently reading?
I refuse to order books on (their) line and show up to step inside their unmanned vestibule to collect books issued to me in a bag that may or may not have been stolen.
I am a firm believer in judging a book by its cover.....
Mount: AVX.
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- mikemarotta
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Re: What are you currently reading?
Michael E. Marotta
Astro-Tech 115 mm APO Refractor Explore Scientific 102 mm f/6.47 Refractor Explore Scientific 102 mm f/9.8 Refractor Bresser 8-inch Newtonian Reflector Plössls from 40 to 6 mm Nagler Series-1 7mm. nonMeade 14 mm. Mounts: Celestron AVX, Explore Twilight I Alt-Az, Explore EXOS German Equatorial
- GCoyote
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Gary C
Celestron Astro Master 130mm f5 Newtonian GEM
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(And a bunch of stuff I'm still trying to fix or find parts for.)
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Re: What are you currently reading?
Being an Introduction to the study of heiroglyphs
By Sir Alan Gardiner,
Published 1927
Dude is a pioneer in translating Egyptian heiroglyphs.
I’m on lesson # 4.
Dad Joke King (ask my kids); Cereal killer
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- pakarinen
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Re: What are you currently reading?
Man... That's some icky-tasting stuff!
=============================================================================
AT50, AT72EDII, ST80, ST102; Scopetech Zero, AZ-GTi, AZ Pronto; Innorel RT90C, Oberwerk 5000; Orion Giantview 15x70s, Vortex 8x42s, Navy surplus 7x50s, Nikon 10x50s
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