The concept arose when I was teaching some beginners about the early stages of grinding and what to look for when changing grit stages. I kept repeating "water is your friend" and spray their working surfaces every time they were too dry. The students caught on rather quickly and started reminding each other to keep surfaces wet.
I also spent a good deal of time teaching beginners how mistakes come from not being focused on what they are doing. In other words, I was teaching mindfulness.
So, the goal of "Buddha pushes glass" is to collect small sayings about atming and the equivalent of "dharma talks" on different aspects of telescope making. Each lesson should be small, stand alone, and easy to comprehend.
I'm planning on mining this mailing list for gems and the result will be freely distributable. I don't have much time for this (or any) atm project right now so it will be slow in coming. I will continue to accept and share any and all lessons people wish to give.
For example, one message gave me two gems:
In message <01HPM5NRR8J89S6DOA@wmich.edu>, HOFFMAN@wmich.edu writes:
>IMHO -- Not is cleanliness close to Godliness, it is the best route
>to a scratch-free optical surface. Also try elutriating (washing)
>your abrasives to get out any stray large particles.
>Hope you'll have better results next try.
>Richard Hoffman
which I translated into:
Not only is cleanliness close to enlightenment, it is the best route to a scratch-free optical surface.
Elutriating (washing) your abrasives gets out any stray large particles. In other words, don't bottom feed and you won't pick up any big rocks.
yes, they need some work but hopefully you get the idea. As usual, send all flames and comments to me. --- eric