It _has_ to be secure.

If you're one of the ones they want to?

Hitting a baseball-sized clump of matter in interstellar space at 200,000 km/hour could take the fun out of space travel.

You teach a little geometry, you teach a little set theory, and it's so abstract it has nothing to do with the real world and that's the way they like it. Informal logic is like biology. It needs specimens to dissect and the moment a teacher discusses a "self-sealer" like astrology or seances or asks students to discuss when a fetus is a "person", there will be people with pitchforks outside the superintendent's office.

Seriously. This is America. How are you going to allow students to think about the real world?

It always seemed we could at least sandbox Skype as a limited unique user, but 4.3 requires Pulse and pulse is increasingly the de facto sound system over alsa. Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't pulse running at the user level only allow ONE user and system-wide utilization is vehemently discouraged by the developers for SECURITY reasons? If so, it seems like Microsoft and the NSA have worked out a way to p0wn any linux box where a person has installed a working 4.3 Skype.

I guess you could still use it for chat as a unique user.

Binoculars are the recommendation in The Backyard Astronomer. But, then, they don't particularly recommend buying a child a telescope either.

Personally, I went with a used 4.5" Orion Dob as the first instrument and I think it was a good choice. Now I have larger instruments _and_ binoculars. Yes, a small Dob isn't great for groups because you have to keep adjusting it. But, like people say, polar aligning an EQ is something to be explained too and you're still going to be moving it regularly manually. Doesn't sound like you are budgeting for a motor mount. I can just see binoculars being an interesting challenge as you try to get _each_ kid to find stuff. "No, look at where my finger is pointing. That one! Are you seeing it, the one I'm pointing at?" And, sure, I can see stuff like Jupiter's Galilean moons, the Orion nebula, a lot of moon detail, etc. with the 10x70s but anybody who tells you it's more fun to recline in a lounge chair, hold your breath and maintain your arms as rigid as possible so things don't move _too_ much should probably have his disdain for small Dobs taken with a grain of salt.

But I absolutely, totally LOVE depth of field. Screw the art school graduates. I bought a large screen digital tv for the illusion of a window upon the world.

I would like to think -- I sincerely HOPE -- that artificially inducing audience "focus" by depth of field will be as quaint as silent movie captions in 50 years.
 

This is one of the more compelling arguments for national standards where local administration would have the excuse that they were "forced" to follow imposed guidelines. Otherwise, every nutter in the community will rally to tar and feather the administration.

Everybody I hang with in Minnesota loves Klobuchar. She has that nerd girl with glasses look and does photo ops out bicycling with the family. Probably eats granola. Always AWOL on any serious issue where anybody might have a different view so she'd have to defend herself on a reelection, she's always present for the photo op when she brings some tax money back for a women's shelter or something. In other words, the definitional example of a pork barrel populist. My point being that people in Minnesota who consider themselves Democrats and "progressive" seem happy with her _image_, so don't expect any blow back on this _issue_. And it highlights the embarrassing point that Democrats aren't much deeper than FOX Republicans.

Why not? Obama is the appropriate Nobel Peace Prize winner to bestow it for maximum satire.

It all comes down to pig ignorance. When they call Obama a "commie socialist fascist" they are just spouting words as meaningless grunts of disapproval like a dog barking. Considering his friendliness to capitalism with efforts like the TPP, Obama really should be a "commie socialist fascist capitalist" and then he can embrace EVERY major political/economic system. Really, how do you become a commie fascist when they are virtually diametrically opposed systems? Which is to say, what about these protestors wanting a more equitable society makes them "just like Hitler" (fascist)? Nonsense mutterings of a (rich) barbarian who hasn't a clue about history or cultural wisdom, but you can get away with that level of moronic discourse in American society.

There's the building with the permanent mount refractor. I think it's about 8". There's the building with the 16" reflectors with permanent mounts, computer control and refractor with astrocam riding one of them, there's the little hydrogen sun filter scope and the 24" dob. And the classroom building/clubhouse. That's just the facilities at the _main_ site. Not their biggest dob, not the biggest refractor. Hell, people with enough interest should MOVE here.

That was my thought. He couldn't have just beaten the guy up?

It's fun and games to paint these people as anarchists but Assange worked with major world papers about what should and shouldn't have been released. Was or wasn't this the case with the Manning files? Although I do believe after his partner was detained Glenn Greenwald has suggested he might become less selective on what gets released.

In these things, protesting just means waiting a while. Buy a used copy.