Sorry, but you are flat-out wrong. I do a lot of public outreach in astronomy, and I can tell you with confidence that a dob is the best first-telescope for a beginner. I teach folks how to make sure the finder is aligned (I prefer a Telrad), how to do a quick check on collimation of the optics, and show them how to use the bright stars of the constellations as guide-posts to interesting objects. I try to get them started with planets and the moon. A dob is perfect because you can have it set up in a minute and there's no complexity or precision required. The XT6 is a perfect first scope. My first one was an 8" and I used it for several years until I bumped up to a 13.1" dob, which I still use. An EQ mount will do nothing but frustrate a beginner. Trust me. I work regularly with newcomers to the hobby who bought one and are ready to sell it and walk away from the hobby.

Bah! I run a freaking HP ML360 with dual redundant power supplies connected to redundant UPS's running Sophos Home UTM! IT slurrrrrrrps electrons like a fratboy guzzles hop-based alcohol. Ooooohhhhh yeaaaahhhhh! My protection is extensive and expensive.

My comment was not for Bite the Pillow. I can no longer see the comment that I was replying to.

Don't be an idiot. Your logic is flawed. It essentially goes: "...Science is unsure or has no definite answer, therefore, God." that's the 'god of the gaps' argument. YOU show ME your proof. Until then, your superstition has about as much evidence going for it as there is evidence for unicorns and leprechauns. The evidence for evolution is manifest and unassailable at this point. Origins will take some time, but work in the lab has given some promising beginnings on that question. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M...

Update: both "-g" and "-G" on the Ubuntu systems result in "System Infected". On Centos, "-g" results in "System Infected", and "-G" results in "System Clean".

Same thing with a new Centos VM. I'll have to do some more reading as this is not clear to me.

I run a Ubuntu server as a file/media/web server at home. I ran #ssh -G 2>&1 | grep -e illegal -e unknown > /dev/null && echo “System clean” || echo “System infected” and got a "System Infected" message. As a control before I blew away that install and started from scratch, I installed Ubuntu in a VM from the disk I used on my primary server and ran all the updates. I get "System Infected" on the VM. What's going on here? False positive??

Dammit! If I had mod points I'd mod you up. I'm in the IT VAR biz, and I've seen the quality slowly degrade over time. The margins are tight in the hardware business, and there's no incentive for the manufacturers to dial it up. You have to go with niche players if you want hardware with the quality that meets your standards. Gaming portables are intersting, as a re mobile workstations, but $$, weight, and battery life are the trade-offs.

Yup. Been there and done that. My Lenovo T510 with bumped up HD and 8Gb RAM is now a Hackintosh running Mavericks just sweet and fine, and it is my primary lappy. The ability to survive spills is its key selling point (I'm a klutz with 2 cats and 2 dogs). It was previously running Mint. A couple of spare 2.5" drives will shortly be configured for Mint again and Windows 8.1 for software testing.

Well said Dave. I'm also shocked that no one has replied with an obligatory "Surprised with off-topic garbage replies...you must be new here." ;-) Kudos to you, Paul, and Nathan. This will provide many, many, teaching moments and hopefully inspiration for other kids with an interest in science generally and science specifically.

99.8% right: the big team consists of Dave Lane and his supportive wife, both very wonderful people, btw. Trivia: Dave is also past President of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.

Bah! Rushing through things. My AC post was the one where I declined to give them access to my contacts list and they disregarded my selection and spammed everyone whom I ever corresponded with.

I posted the above comment. Thought I was logged in :-/

Wishing for mod points. +1. I can count almost a half-dozen PC issues I troubleshooted (troubleshot?) over the years that were because of a flaky PSU. I only use top-end PSU's nowadays: PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750 Mark 1 on the media server (recycled from my old game rig), Cooler Master 1200W Silent Pro Gold (powering dual overclocked EVGA GTX 680's, 2 SSD's, 4x 7500 RPM HD's, Intel i5 2500k overclocked 45%, occasional hot-swap drives) on my current rig. More unnecessary crap to be installed shortly...(and I got the PSU on sale for $170 Canadian)