I don't generally reply to ACs, but a 7.8 share (about 22 million viewers) for the Master's on Sunday isn't bad at all (even though it was one of the lowest Master's Sundays in recent years) and the lower number this year was probably due to both Woods and Mickelson not being present (casual viewers are drawn to names that they recognize and "last day, back nine dramas").

I am not trying to be rude, but what is your point? Augusta is a private club. There are lots of private clubs in this country, not just golf. Lots of places you and I will never see the inside of or even know about. Yes, Pebble is expensive, but there are affordable to play courses near Pebble. There are hundreds of inexpensive to play courses across the country. It's like cars; you drive what you can afford. Like it or not, this a capitalistic country, and money pretty much always wins. I don't get why people are bitching about this kind of thing; in America, it's all about accumulating wealth, and there is (and always has been) a class system in America (we just liked to pretend there wasn't until 2008), and money is one of the big stratifiers (the folks that were living way too large for their incomes, pretending to have more money than they did in 2008 learned that in a very hard way; folks that lived conservatively and invested took a hit, but never got upside down and ended up making out pretty well when the market rebounded). With money, you can afford better food, homes, cars, education, medical care, etc. Social stratification naturally follows (I can't think of a single capitalistic/quasi-capitalistic country that this hasn't happened in, but I am writing this pretty much "off the cuff"). I m not attacking or defending capitalism, I am just acknowledging it's the game we play here in the US, and if you don't know the rules, you can't play the game well. Either acknowledge the rules and learn to use them, fight to change them, or be exploited by them; we're all in this overloaded boat together. Just my opinion.

Unfortunately, it ends this season after only 6 eps. Fortunately, that means I'll be able to see the whole last season on Netflix or Amazon a lot sooner.

1. You have every right to disagree with me.
2. I was addressing the OP statements about people not lacking a "moral compass" and "I agree that the person dug themselves a bigger hole, but when jobs are not available what is a person left with as choices?"
3. IMHO, we citizens have a responsibility to our fellow citizens to be the best humans we can be, to do our best every day to be better people. I am not successful at it every day, but I try. Very few people start out being criminals (sociopaths, perhaps?); it's usually a long line of bad decisions that gets one there. All I'm saying is pretty much everyone has a lot of choices before they end up having to "commit a crime out of desperation". This is just my opinion and personal experience; perhaps yours has been different.

Please excuse me, but I call bullshit, AC. This certainly is a "Moral Compass" issue. You find out what city you can get day-labor in, and you go there (there are probably even day labor jobs in the city you live in, you just might feel "too good" to work shitty jobs, or not willing to get up at 5:00 AM every day, or stay sober every day, etc.); Greyhound, Megabus, rideshare, hitch, sell your mobile phone, whatever it takes, find a shelter or couch surf, show up every morning at the day labor office at 6:00 am, sober, work the full day no matter how shitty the job is (and I know from personal experience that they can be really shitty at times), be there every fucking morning before they open, and you will become known as someone who wants to work, shows up and does the job, and you will work every day. Eventually, you will make more money, and if you are absolutely reliable, you will get contracted into a full-time position, and if you impress that employer, you will go from contract to regular employee. Then work your way up from there, even if it's just unloading trailers on a warehouse floor, or working as a janitor; you have a job and a place to start from. It's worked for a lot of people that wanted out of a bad situation. Just my own opinion/experience.

I no longer expect outrage, as that seems to be beyond our capacity anymore, but it feels like we treat this kind of news as if it's just trivial bullshit. Has it come to that? Doesn't anyone call their representatives, no matter how deaf they might be? Anyone write letters to their local newspaper about this kind of erosion of personal liberties? Anyone trying to get someone to listen and pay attention, or are we all just willing to head blindly to the kill-floor, tweeting and texting the latest lolcat?

It seems to me that we are giving our lives away for nothing.

Modded Redundant? Do you really think most people (even on Slash) have any idea that you can filter light pollution when viewing? Hmmm. I think I need to move to your neighborhood. Even the well-educated folks I know mostly think I'm looking in the wrong end of my Newt. I guess I gotta get smarter friends.

"I've recently become fascinated by Sextants, Astrolabes, Nocturnes and other similar instruments; Astrolabes in particular. I'd like to find, or make one."

The book "Latitude Hooks and Azimuth Rings: How to Build and Use 18 Traditional Navigational Tools" has some very interesting plans for inexpensive antique navigation instruments - really cheap to build and don't require a whole lot of building skills. The Astrolabe in there is pretty good, and they all are pretty accurate. It's on Amazon for less than $20; check out the "Look Inside" feature for all the instruments and required tools. I've used it often over the years; it still holds up, in my opinion.

I use Stellarium on a laptop and I wasn't aware of a charge for a mobile version. I believe that there are free mobile versions of Stellarium; check SourceForge. I use "Mobile Observatory" on my Nexus 7 at the 'scope; it was worth the $6 to me, but I still use Stellarium when planning my night's viewing.

The "Husky" joke was good; I have over a 100 trees on the property and no interest in really cutting them down, but it does get frustrating at times on really good viewing nights; I have a small sky window to the south and one to the east so I have to tie my observations to the seasons. The street lights, though...

Please mod funny.

@NixieBunny - You truly have a career to envy!

Stellarium works well in live mode and it's open-source; give it a try. I do all my observation planning with it. I find I have a bunch of tools as each one has strengths and weaknesses. We are fortunate to have so many digital tools at our disposal these days; a paper sky wheel 50 years ago worked, but you needed a couple of reference books on hand when observing; now it's all on the tablet in night mode. And GOTO mounts?!? We truly live in the future. Now, if I only could cut down a few trees and a lamp post or two...

In my opinion, you are not being harsh, you are being realistic. I was raised in that environment and I got out. People bitch about the "1%" and yet they choose to wallow in ignorance rather than do what is necessary to compete. The AC thinks we live in one society; nice illusion, but that has not been my experience. The reality is, ignorant people are easier to control, and they like their shiny things (smart phones, big televisions, etc.) and they have to rely on smart folks to provide their shinies. Basically, they enslave themselves by choosing ignorance over education and feel quite self-righteous about it. It's their choice; I chose differently.

Thank you; you saved me a lot of typing and hopefully, educated some folks and maybe even encouraged some to do a little research. In my opinion, if more people understood how wealth was generated and taxed in this country, we would have a much higher standard of living all around. Compound interest is a pretty amazing thing and so is the market; as little as $25 a week into investments to start out with when beginning a career can get you on the path to retirement in your 40's if that is what you want - even for the "common man", and even if your employer doesn't contribute. Again, just my opinion and personal observation. Sadly, most folks get it figured out too late (like 5 years before they want to retire, then realize it's not gonna happen).

Anyway, end of that rant.

Nah, you knew it, you just didn't remember it.

Ah, for want of mod points... thanks for the chuckle, a very funny comment. I think you've pretty accurately portrayed the entitlement attitude of the glass folks.