Re: TM & ATMJ #2

[Atmj1@aol.com]

Telescope Making Reprints - Revisited 2 (page 2 of 4)

A Story:

In December of 1939, a German surface raider, the pocket battleship Admiral
Graf Spee, was being chased by British cruisers Ajax, Exeter, and Achilles off
the coast of South America. All three vessels carried main armament much
smaller than the Graf Spee. Two of them had main batteries the same size as
the secondary battery on the Spee. With the ability to out range and out punch
the attackers, some believe that if Captain Langsdorf had concentrated his
firepower on one vessel at a time, he could have sent them all to the bottom.
However, legend (if not fact) says that Berlin ordered that this instrument of
German seapower work on all three cruisers at once. As a result of splitting
the effort, the Graf Spee was hemmed up in Montevideo Harbor, never to return
to sea again. Captain's Langsdorf ordered the vessel scuttled and he commited
suicide.

Since the creation of ATM Journal, I have watched the death of many good
publications: Deep Sky Journal, Southern Sky, Observatory Techniques, CCD
Astronomy, EARTH magazine, and the Starry Messenger just to name a few. So,
while I am not scared at this time, I am a realist and have no delusions of
grandeur that the Journal can't go the way of the world. However, with
Captain's President willing to support the cause (within reason), and with the
Journal not being our major source of income, about the only thing to hurt us
would be the continued splintering of our efforts!!

Folks, sometimes when I have been at Riverside, I have felt like a parasite -
I'm a "vendor." The folks at Stellafane have been very kind. Yet, even though
I have covered Stellafane each year since the very beginning of the Journal, I
can't promote the Journal there because…I'm a "vendor." 

Hear Ye, Hear Ye……People…. I'm NOT a vendor! Vendors make profit! When I get
to be a vendor, I will let you know! I'm bustin' my behind to support a cause
we all profess to believe in. Will Stellafane or Riverside reach the 3,000
readers with their coverage that ATM Journal will reach? If not, are we not
providing a service to those organizations? I know they have web sites.
However, let me explain by sharing a piece of a letter to the editor from
issue #12:

>>"SURPRISE: everyone in the world does not have a computer. 
SURPRISE AGAIN: everyone is not on line. 
SURPRISE AGAIN: everyone does not have e-mail. 
SURPRISE AGAIN: everyone does not have a fax machine.
REAL SURPRISE: Everyone cannot afford to travel to all of the events, and
conferences, and conventions."<<

ATMers, I feel that it is time for us to either be ready to support ATM
Journal all the way, or just let me know that you want the future to be a
bunch of fractured sites on the net -- sites that will come and go as people
of momentary good intent get side-tracked by other responsibilities, loves,
and events. If you recognize the importance of the Journal, you need to
support it and talk it up. If not, just tell me so that I can pack my tent and
head off into the sunset. However, before you decide that the Journal is not
needed by our ATM community, think about lying in bed to do some relaxing
technical reading with a 15-inch monitor on your chest.