Zixar

hmmmmmm, indeed... ;)--> The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."

Yep. I haven't had a good night to take the scope out, though. I'll take some pics when I get the chance. The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."

Just look in your WindowsSystem32 folder and delete the file WindowsSystem32msblast.exe. If it won't let you delete it, open your task manager and kill the msblast.exe process, then delete the file. No big deal. The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."

P-Mosh: Oh, the Mac isn't that bad. Depends on what you want to use it for. Apple's Final Cut Pro is a kick-*** video editor that isn't available on the PC. I use WinXP, both Pro and Home versions, and Win98SE on my old laptop. No problems. The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."

Oh, I don't know if I'd tar Driving Miss Daisy with the epithet "chick flick". I thought it was a good all-around movie. The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."

I don't know, George...if it had been anyone but Nicholson, I would tend to agree with you, but he gives a very subtle, nuanced performance here. I think the Academy was right in giving him the nod here. The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."

Yep, when I saw it, I said "Is this a comedy or a documentary?" :D--> It's a great flick! The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."

I was really disappointed when I saw Casablanca. I don't know if it's because I'd seen all the good parts in film retrospectives or what, but I feel it's tremendously overhyped. On the other hand, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw "From Here To Eternity" recently. I was expecting a total snore-fest, but it was a great story. More classics for the ages: "Chinatown" -- The surprisingly-down ending paved the way for later movies like Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. "Forbidden Planet" -- The forerunner of Star Trek, and the first modern big-budget sci-fi flick. The SFX were state-of-the-art for 1956, including Disney-animated visuals and the first synthesizer soundtrack. "The Sting" -- Redford and Newman's best team-up. "Blazing Saddles" -- Mel Brooks' best. "Stagecoach" -- The model for so many later movies. "The Thing" 1959 *and* 1982 -- John Carpenter's version is one of the only remakes that stands on its own as a companion piece to the original, instead of a fast-buck ripoff or self-indulgent "reimagining." Honorable Mention: "Bull Durham" -- Any movie that neither Kevin Costner, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, nor Robert Wuhl could kill deserves some props. ;)--> The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."

I was wondering that, too. Paw? The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."

ovr50: If the strings are tough on your fingers, the action on the mando may be a bit too high. You can have a guitar shop adjust it, or try the Thomastik flatwound light strings. Easier to fret, and since they're flat wound instead of roundwound, the windings don't bite into your fingers. Elderly Music sells them online. You use middle or heavy strings to get a louder sound. I'd stick with lights or middles with the inexpensive mandos. Too much tension can crack any stringed instrument. Re: Red River Valley, that's the cool part about the two instruments. First position on the violin equates to frets 2, 4, and 5 on the mandolin. :)--> The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..." [This message was edited by Zixar on January 07, 2004 at 8:27.]

Not to worry. In Matrix Revolutions the most powerful character will set the world a-right again. Tron! "Hail program!" :D--> The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."

Raf: Gladiator? Really? Over Titanic?? The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."

Which should be: Donde' esta el ban~o? Dos cervezas, por favor, and Darme un beso. The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."

ovr50: Try Jay Buckey's Virtual Band stuff for mandolin. His website also has a ton of free tabs with both violin notation and mando tab on the same page. http://www.jaybuckey.com/FREE_Tablature.htm Be sure to check out the Mandolin Cafe, too. It's a great source of mando info. Do yourself a favor and buy a set of Thomastik-Infeld flatwound mando strings, too. They're expensive ($22 or so a set) but they're nigh-indestructible. I use the Lights, but they make Mittel (mid) and Stark (hvy) too. Welcome to the 8-stringed world! :D--> The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."

Geez, I wish more cities would install full-cutoff light fixtures. That light belongs on the ground, not wasted up in the sky. It's a wonder that any kids today know what stars look like... The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."

Your skin's dry because you're not eating enough saturated fats. I prescribe three slices of bacon daily, with a Moon Pie chaser. And make sure you eat at least four cheeseburgers a week. For God's sake, stay away from SALAD. Killed more people than tobacco... The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."

I had liked the original comic book this movie was based on, but I didn't hold high hopes for the movie. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised at this one, too. I think it was Sean Connery's best action role since The Untouchables or Hunt For Red October. Definitely worth a matinee. The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."

READ THE BOOK FIRST...and you'll enjoy the movie a lot more. I can't believe they don't show the whole Seabiscuit/War Admiral race! The PBS special with the film of the actual race was more exciting than the version shown in the movie, oddly enough. It's still a good flick, though it dragged where it should have flown, and flew where it should have lingered. Again, read the book. You'll be glad you did. The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."

"I dunno, it's still not working for me. Can you put a little more angst into it, Mr. Shatner?" The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."

Did anyone else get this email? The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."

Okay, Bullinger says that Aquarius represents the Living Waters, and Mars has always been associated with wars, so you can draw from that what you will. Here's the little dance of 2 wks ago: The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."

SocketCreep: Yep, it makes all the difference when you'd rather observe an object than play chase. You can also go for a rich-field scope. Several manufacturers sell a good little scope called the ST-80. It's an 80mm f/5 short-tube refractor that trades magnification for a wider view. For most people, this is a great scope because the wider field makes it easier to find stuff, and most department store scopes are horribly over-magnified anyway. Lovely views of clusters, planets, nebulae, and the like. Very portable, too. Generally goes for about $199 or so. Orion Telescope & Binocular and Oceanside Photo & Telescope (www.optcorp.com) sell them. Some places are also selling the closed-out non-computerized version of Meade's excellent little ETX-90RA for as low as $169. It has the same optical assembly as the more famous ETX-90EC, a finely-crafted 90mm f/13.8 Maksutov-Cassegrain. It has three tabletop legs to use as an equatorial mount so you only have to track in one axis instead of two. Worth looking into... The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."

Thomas: The Moon is the only nighttime object that actually has any significant effect on life on Earth. (It causes almost all of the tidal motion because of its gravity.) I'm not all that up on Hebrew astrology, but it is "the lesser light...to rule the night". Mercury comes much closer to Regulus tonight than Jupiter does to the Moon. Since the Moon was new last night, it's only a few hours old and will set very quickly after the Sun. Jupiter is only within about 4 degrees of the Moon, but Mercury is less than a degree away from Regulus. Now, two weeks ago, Mars skimmed the top of the Moon and I managed to get some video of it with my camcorder. I'll clip a frame from the video and post it. Didn't have time to drag the scope out, but it's a neat sight, nonetheless. I'll see if I can't look this stuff up in Bullinger tonight...it'll be cloudy here. :(--> Clear skies to the rest of you, hopefully, Zix The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."

SocketCreep: In a really dark spot, Mars will almost be bright enough to cast shadows. ;)--> It's the brightest thing in the sky, and certainly the brightest in that area of the sky (Aquarius, part of the "wet region" of the sky with few bright stars and only one 1st magnitude star, Fomalhaut, below and to the left of Mars.) As for telescopes, if you have the standard 60mm department-store refractor, they have such a high f-ratio (typically f/11 or greater) that they show a very narrow patch of the sky. Finderscope alignment is critical with these scopes. The easiest way to align the finder is to slew the main scope around until you can see a distant landmark in the center of the field. Lock the axes, and adjust the finder until the crosshairs are dead center on as much of the landmark as you can determine. I've used the tops of telephone poles 200yds away, license plates of cars, the red lights on radio towers, etc. Make a note to check the alignment again before sundown--after moving a scope, the finder can get bumped out of line slightly which can ruin your whole night. The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."

Oh, another thing. See that picture of Saturn under my handle? That's about how big Mars will look through a telescope at medium magnification. Bigger, if you go higher. I'll try to snap some photos with my astrocam and post the best ones. The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."