My Dog Is Awesome

OK, so this won’t be original any more than the umpteenth “LOL Cat” video, but it has to be written to show my love for this little dog.Chip hoping for a treat

Two years ago Chip the Miniature Schnauzer became part of our pack. Here are a few things I absolutely love about this remarkable dog, in no particular order. These behaviors are part of his nature; we have not taught him any of this.

  1. Chip can sit directly in front of people food and not even try to eat it. I’m talking chicken, cheese, and tortilla chips — he may look at us, look at the food, look at us, to say “Wouldn’t you like to share?” but he does not sneak a bite, even if we walk away.
  2. If you pretend to throw a toy for him, he runs to the spot where it normally lands and bounces like a cartoon character while looking for it.
  3. When we humans come home, Chip gives a greeting growl, grabs a squeaky toy, and races around the house squeaking it for joy.
  4. He loves meeting other dogs with an open heart and a tail spinning like a propeller.
  5. If a human offers a tasty treat like cheese, Chip gingerly takes it without accidentally biting or slobbering on the hand that feeds him.
  6. Chipster is allowed to sit beside us on the couch, but he waits to be invited and curls up on his towel. Well, sometimes he does inch closer to the people and off the towel but only for good reason like the need to have his head or tummy rubbed.

Chip spent his first three years of life in a dreadful puppy mill before it was turned in to the authorities, the dogs seized, and this boy sent to the Miniature Schnauzer Rescue of North Texas. They cured him of a severe case of heartworms plus other parasites and injuries. Now Chip is strong and healthy, runs and walks with his humans, even 3 mile walks, which keeps him in fine form at 15½ pounds. If you have room in your home and time to devote to a fabulous family member, consider adopting a Mini Schnauzer from MSRNT. They’re great!

Chip after grooming 7-7-2010

Star Party fail (and prevention)

One of the members of TAS brought the following to the attention of the online forum members and I thought it was worth sharing for both a laugh and to point out things that do help to make a successful star party.

On the NASA web site they’ve got a full planning checklist for a star party aimed as planning an event around the passing overhead of the ISS. I’ve copied it after the jump just in case NASA decides to change the original page.

Continue reading Star Party fail (and prevention)

Media conglomerates, you want my money?

Go buy a clue.

If you’d stop gouging your customers, shafting your customers and suing your customers I’d buy more of your product and you probably wouldn’t be laying people and/or closing your doors.

Price your product for mass-market sales, make it dirt-simple to get hold of and get rid of the DRM.

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Astro morning in the park

I took my scope out to a nearby park early this morning to find out if the overall visibility, what astronomers call “seeing” was better if I wasn’t surrounded by houses and concrete.

It was. Much better.

I frequently put the scope in the driveway because that’s the darkest spot near the house. I’ll have to do a test in the middle of the backyard to make sure it’s not just the nearby concrete causes me problems. It was a bit windy so I wasn’t able to get any good shots of M42, the Great Nebula in Orion, like I hoped but the views were great and there was no shimmering caused by heat waves wafting across the image. I was even able to get good views of various craters on the Moon at 250x. Unfortunately no good pictures because of the light loss at that magnification and the wind which kept wigglying the scope.

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Eventually the Sun started to come up and since there weren’t any sunspots visible I packed up and headed home.

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Here you can see the Moon, Venus (the spot midway down, try the larger image) and my scope with the Sun coming up in the East.


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