ATM - Re:Re: ATMJ help

[Richard Schwartz <richas@idt.net>]

I am going to offer the [predictable] comment on the reports of the
demise of amateur telescope making.   Those of you who know me need read
no further.

>Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1998 00:37:37 -0800
>From: Anthony Stillman <atmer@flash.net>
>Subject: Re: ATMJ help

>Randall Wheeler's S&T article...telescope making is dying off.

<snip for the sake of bandwidth>

>... S&T's view, thouogh sad, is quite understandable.

Anthony

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End of atm-digest V1 #1427
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Yes,  their attitude is understandable, when you consider their source
of operating income!  Obviously, the guys who take out four page ads do
not want amateur telescope making to flourish!

It is obvious to me, but I cannot prove it, that there is a vast
conspiracy to stifle all telescope makers, similar to the government's
early efforts to contain the "secret" of nuclear weapons.  Of course, we
now know that there is no nuclear "secret", and that anybody with a
reasonable understanding of physics can, with sufficient resources,
fabricate a nuclear weapon.   Likewise, we mere amateurs can produce
telescopes that rival the best that are made by third-world oppressed
labor in places like Tijuana, Mexico.  THAT is the secret the big boyz
are trying to contain!  Further, we do more with a lot less resources...
because, unlike them, we care.

[now you know why you only needed to read the first two lines and note
the originator of this posting.  None of the opinions expressed herein
are my own.]

. . . Richard