On one hand, this is exciting news for amateurs in the western U.S. On the other hand, and looking at it objectively, it's a commercial endeavor. The decades-old ATM part of me rebells, as well as the strictly human part of me that recognizes a commercial, profit-oriented endeavor when I see it. But tech advancement is advancement, no matter if someone is makng money off of it or not. I suspect that one's personal outlook on such gatherings is motivated by one's political/ecconomic leanings- and circumstance. I don't give a rat's donkey. My soul is secure. Yours...hell, I don't care. I just dont' care where you are or what advantages you had in growing-up. Ok, I'm going to wax here. Either delete the post or don't, but I'm actually not going to read ANY replies. I don't care about rebuttals. It's probably too bad that in my mind, at least, making a profit off of a labor of love by others is somewhat tinged. For now, I'm blaming the Catholic church and my upbringing for my leanings on the commercialism of amateur astronomy. Many amateurs over the decades have just tossed their ideas to the masses without any thought of profit or gain of any kind. Those are my true heros and the real reason this hobby has advanced. The profitteers are WAY down the list as far as purity of motive. Anyone with a righteous soul would have to agree. Oh boy, here come the flames. LOL, I just dont care and wont read your post. I'm sure you don't care either, as long as you get if off your chest and SOMEBODY reads it. It won't be me. No time or interest. I did a non-profiteering thing with my "Weightless" mount, when it was published in S&T. I could have patented it, but didn't. Admittedly, it didn't catch-on widely with the astromiical community, at least as far as press or Web-postings, but time will tell. I'f I'm a financial idiot, then I'm an idiot. I'd rather people gain from my design, than profit from it personally. Even the late Bill Kelley considered it a paradigm shift with regard to Dobsonian kinematics. So much for that, but thanks Bill, anyway. Dozens of amateurs from all over the world have emailed me with thanks, and pics of their own rendition of the mount. That's good enough for me. Did I let a business opportunity slide? Probably. But I can still sleep at night. I'm torn. I realize that in order to grow the hobby (and I'm not entirely sure that that, in itself, is a good thing), commercial offerings are probably a neccessity. But I also know that enjoyment of the hobby is completely independant of growth in terms of numbers, as well as commercial opportunities. How I wish that I could question Russell W. Porter right now. What would the originator of our hobby say? Not sure if I'll go to this event. Time will tell. But thanks for posting, Jay. Those with money and spare time will no doubt attend. On Fri, Jul 13, 2012 at 12:57 PM, Jay Eads <jayleads@gmail.com> wrote:
There is NEAF back east and now the same group is bringing ASAE to Tucson on November 10th and 11th. This link to CloudyNights provides information
http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/5288999/pag...