My feeling is that people like Bratislav help keep the rest of us somewhat focused on reality. He's seems to of been where a lot of us may never reach, and we should respect that.
A case in point: I'm in the process of parabolizing my perforated 8" primary.( I'm sure Bratislav knows what this means.) 2 months ago I was hot to trot on a 8" SCT. I recieved much support from various list members, as well as some straight from the hip comments by Bratislav on why I might consider NOT making a SCT. It took a few weeks of research for me to start to agree with him, but, since I am parabolizing, obviously I not making a SCT or at least not one with a shperical primary, but have decided to work with a classical cass design, get more expierence trying for 1/10 wave, producing a round convex secondary, and producing a OTA that has tolerences equal to the quality of the optics I'm trying to produce. If I can do that succesfully, then I feel I MIGHT be ready for using that 11" Bk-7 window I have stored away for a 10" SCT. If it wasn't for my great desire to make things harder than necessary, my resources would be used to make a LARGER long focus Newt., which would be easier to build, and for my needs more than perfect in terms of optical quality, as Bratislav pointed out.
Now that I've gotten that off my chest, back to the knife edge.
Later...........
Bill Marriott Forest Knolls, Ca. USA btk@ix.netcom.com