When if at all?

[rumples riot]

I can't believe the people from South Australia.

I think there are at least 6 people from SA on this forum and still no astro night. Not from want of Trying. Asimov is exempt as he does live over there. Peter and I get together frequently chew the fat and sometimes do some astronomy. However surely we could all get together for some astronomy and a giggle. Everytime I try it just never happens. I really think that this is very poor form. The East coast of Australia seems to have its act together, yet we have nothing.

Anyone like to comment on this?

Slice?
Jonathan?
Asi?
Jackenau?
Anyone?
:sad:

[iceman]

The vic guys are just as bad, Paul.. apart from Geoff and Dave47Tuc who get together regularly :)

[Striker]

Thats easy Paul...Move to Brisbane...

If you want we can have one every month.

Even if it's raining there will probably be a few members at Ron's(Astroron) place tomorrow night just to catch up and like you said have a laugh....there is always a lot of laughs around when I am there...funny that

Most of the time there laughing at me not with me...hahahaha

[asimov]

Yes mate. I would dearly love to catch up with.....well ANY other fellow astronomer would be nice!? The distance won't stop me, but the money..or the lack of it does at this stage. (not to mention being on call for a permanent residency visa which is nearly over) You guys in Adelaide have it made in this area...it would'nt take much effort at all to get together once every now & then.

Perhaps I will drive the 650 klicks to get to Adelaide one day soon just to show if you really want to do something it can be done. (no offence anyone)

I actually have a similar problem over here to a point. The only other serious astronomer over here (16" meade SCT & several others in a nice observatory) To put it bluntly, he does not want to have anything much to do with me because we have different religious beliefs!! (I have no beliefs) I find that quite 'insulting' for want of a better term. But he can plod along & observe all by himself if that's what he wants to do, that's fine by me.

[davidpretorius]

and little island nation south east of you!!!.

us launceston nuts are having breakfast on sunday morning, all welcome.

[fringe_dweller]

what about ASSA? they have heaps of well attended nights all the time :) its not like it is all south aussies?

[davidpretorius]

hey yeh, those northerners always hate us southerners!

i am coming to the march camp and also a trip over to see u2 at the end of march!!!!

i think dave 47fluff has invited us all back to his mornington house for a bikkie!

[davidpretorius]

maybe he meant central north southern australians!

[davidpretorius]

relux mux,

as gary beal and the nz boys try and speak the queens english!

or he could have meant left of centre right up down crop cultivating hippies.

i am sure both paul and mike were generalising a tad, without thinking of the consequences.

My little area ie launceston has a great little group of guys, but i am sure that i could say that tassie as a whole is not co-ordinated?

Pidgeon holing, always fraught with danger.

go get em ken, but please keep smiling!

[davidpretorius]

being a proverbial fence sitter, paul is right for his neck of the woods and no doubt mike has go the impression from vic guys i assume that they have had trouble getting things together for certain areas (maybe south east melb or the city guys i dunno, i'm not there)

Both are wrong to generalise as "SA" or "VIC" guys as that then gets your goat up as you and dave 47 fluff are great organisers of top camps and get togethers that i have and will always want to be part of!

Like i said said generalising or pidgeon holing is very dangerous.

I can't in a million years see Mike honestly thinking snake valley was crap or that march will be crap or unorganized or that the little sub community that of guys across the states that interact thru pm's or emails or phone calls don't exist.

I believe, nothing to worry about. I feel for paul's in the beating of his head against the wall in frustration when he puts effort in and nothing comes out of it. Nobody my friend can level the finger at you personally and pretend that the snake valley camp was a failure. That your enthusiasm was contagious, of course it was!

Have faith in that what you are doing is above knockers scrutiny! Who cares if people think you can't or don't contribute, the guys that know and appreciate what you do and did are the ones that matter. Mike was not having a dig at you in my opinion, and if he was (very very very very unlikely), again who cares!

Here endeth lesson 654:133 'Book of dobs"

Now can you do me a favour and measure how big you fan is ie if i had to cut a hole and put your fan in, what radius or diameter would i have to cut???

I am thinking of a more powerful fan and yours sounds and other 12" ones sound pretty powerful

thanks

[asimov]

Hmmm...I go out to get some coffee for 10 mins & come back to this!

While I was out I picked up another electric typewriter free with a stepper motor in it!

[asimov]

Oh! & 'the southern stars' by Patrick Moore! (got some yummy star charts in it) for 20 cents!

[davidpretorius]

woo hoo, another one!!!

[asimov]

Yeah lol! apart from being addicted to this forum/telescopes/coffee/being a smart alec/taking BOB N' B1 pic I'm also addicted to bringing useless pieces of junk home & stripping them to get the motor & not using it for anything until 20 yers time! :nerd:

I also scored 2 water pistols so me & the missus can play commando's in the backyard in summer!!! :)

[ballaratdragons]

Davo, by the way: the fan is a 12v computer fan housed in a 80mm x 80mm housing. :)

[davidpretorius]

I shall unsubscribe from this thread graciously with my attempt to play the calming influence, the bloke who try and "sees both sides of the argument" in tatters.

now to go and supercharge my fan: ultimate taget-----> asimovs asbestos "heat retarding" mirrors!

[davidpretorius]

apart from this one, sorry last one for this thread.....wet tshirt comp?????

[slice of heaven]

:scared3:...is it clear

[asimov]

Yup! posing next to my telescope of course! Pics in due course!!:lol:

[Striker]

Wow....this thread has blown out....poor Paul wont have anyone replying regarding the topic.

Come on guys it's friday.

[ballaratdragons]

I've had my whinge. Deleting previous posts out of manners for visitors and members.

[rumples riot]

What happened here?

I got a migrane went and laid down for a while and then I look through this thread and it seems there was some complaints about my request. Why have they been deleted? If someone has trouble with what I have said please PM me.

I am frustrated that is true. I see other ice in spacers getting together but was saying that there never seems to be anything organised here for SA people. I have tried to organise stuff several times myself, however I never see anyone else doing this. I don't mind doing the organising, but would like some of us to get together. I did want a response, but not like this.

[rumples riot]

Kearn,

I know that the ASSA has well attended nights but I don't know them from here. It would be nice for ice in space members getting together. After all we talk to each other. Never know we might all get along nicely.

Aside from that I have been to several ASSA meetings down at westminster school and stockport. I am not a member now because I did not like the "oh you have got a Meade, we have celestrons" attitude. On both occassions I felt like I had some disease. All I wanted to do is discuss issues of collimation with a fellow SCT owner. They said well my scope does not require collimation, never had to do it. It did show it too. The arrogance was enough to turn me off the society, so I lapsed my membership. That's why I would like to start and have tried to do start our own little group. Maybe one day it could have its own well attended meetings.

[ballaratdragons]

Paul,

sorry to confuse you. It's my fault. Something was said that I wasn't 100% happy with. Not you though.It wasn't against you either. I defended you in one of my whinging satements. It was just something I disagreed with and said so in too many words but the public & members don't need to hear my ramblings so I deleted them.
Sorry mate.

[Exfso]

WTF is going on here, this is like reading a book with a couple of chapters missing. SNAFU

:scared:

[ballaratdragons]

I'm just trying to confuse everyone :)

Sounds like it worked.

[Starkler]

Ken, I beleive Mikes off the cuff remark was related to the fact that some of the NSW and QLD crowd have regular new moon meet ups on a casual basis and us Vics dont.

I dont beleive his comment was in any way a criticism of your great effort in organising the snake valley camp, or a personal criticism of anyone in particular.

I would like to see regular meet ups, and Dave47tuc was going to scout out a suitable site convenient for those in Melbournes east/southeast. Until a suitable conveniently accessable site is found, we wont have anything like the frequency of meetups that the northerners do.

Another factor at play is the weather. Northerners have many more cloudness nights whilst in Melbourne, nights around new moon are rare when you can confidently say there wont be any clouds spoiling a nights viewing.
One has to be pretty confident before packing the car and bothering to go for a long drive.

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks Geoff, but I never said Mike wasn't happy about the Snake Valley camp or anyone in particular.

I too would love to have more socialising, viewing etc with Victorians. Our little group out here is starting to come together too.

[Striker]

Paul....my offer to come to Brisbane still stands...and yes you can bring Peter along...just pack up those piers and bring em up...careful with the Tak.

[Dave47tuc]

Paul, its never easy to try to get people togeather for observing. Trust me I'm and old hand at it. Keep trying and sooner or later your observing nights may come togeather. ;)

As for the quote above I'm still looking but I have been so busy with kids etc.
I will get there soon I hope. :)

Ken I'm sure Mike's comment was not at you at all. Your Star camp was super. So good we are on top of it again in March. :)

[ballaratdragons]

Yes, as I already said to Geoff, I know he wasn't saying anything against the camp or me.

[Dave47tuc]

Yes sorry I saw that. You posted that as i was writing mine :)

[rumples riot]

I think I will change the title, say something like "Friday is a bad day to organise a star party".

So any you SA chaps want to chime in and see if we can get something happening in the near future or early in the new year???

Paul

[Jonathan]

Yes, I'm guilty of that for sure :ashamed:.

I would like to meet up with the IIS'ers in SA one day, but at the moment I can't even find the time to setup in my own backyard reguarly. Maybe in the new year I can organise myself a bit better.

I was going to try and get to one of the ASSA nights at Westminster, but it sounds like you guys wouldn't be there anyway.

[Exfso]

Jonathan, I will be at the next one mate. Look for the grey haired old fat fart.
If I remember I will even wear my ID..

Cheers

[jackenau]

Paul

I can understand your frustration at the lack of response from SA people in not attending star parties - viewing nights etc.

I am probably the worst offender and have only been to one viewing session at Stockport, purely on impulse and because it was a list minute thing where I did not have any Grandkids to look after.

I do regularly read all the postings on this forum as most contributions are relevant and allow one to progress to a certain degree in this hobby-passion.

I unfortunately have A job that takes up 55 plus hours per week monday -friday, am on call after hours and on weekends, and have also been placed in a caretaker role of another department until they find someone to fill the position (now nine months).

On top of this we have several grandchildren, who because their parents mainly have jobs that entail them working weekends means that someone has to baby sit the kids at night, so that they can start at 6am without leaving the kids home (aged now 5-11) to look after themselves. Hence for one reason or another my wife and myself are the only solution. (Oh and my wife is a nurse who also works weekends and NIGHTS, which means I have the kids).

Also on top of this until about 6 weeks ago I had a Grandmother who I regularly used to visit on weekends (every weekend both days), because nobody else would take the time out of their valuable schedule. She passed away six weeks ago, which now gives me a few more hours in a weekend to myself.

I have had Astroman who lives within a stones from me around here once for a viewing session which was great.

My main problem is due to the amount of hours worked. The early starts, the work commitments, the grandkid commitments, until recently the great grandmother commitment I have not had the time. At the end of the day all I want to do is sit down and relax.

Now don't get me wrong, I am just stating facts, as I am sure many others out there would I would dearly love to spend some time with you guys, and do some viewing. I just place family and work above my pleasures which has inhibited my being able to attend.

I have also donated monetary to this forum as I believe it has significantly helped many people develop their skills and stay inerested in Astronomy.

It is not that I am not interested. It is just that I have not had the time.

An excuse maybe, moreso justification.

Ken M

[rumples riot]

Ken M, that is more than enough for any one life. I understand and hold no grudge. You have to take care of your family foremost. A good priority and one that is much greater than this hobby. Thanks for the explaination but totally not necessary. If we ever get around to doing a night I will make sure you have at least 6 weeks notice so that you might be able to join us.

Thankyou.

Paul

[jackenau]

Paul

I am only stating facts as I am sure many others would equally be able to do in not attending star parties.

Same as I would dearly love to purchase your scope, only the funds do not allow.

Fact is I would most enjoy attending viewing sessions, but don't want to commit because of the unknown.

Your contributions to the forum have always been looked forward to by myself and I am sure I could learn a lot from attending a viewing night.

Don't give up on us!

Ken M

[fringe_dweller]

hehe, well you would get along ok now since your latest aquisition mate ;) you've joined the other team!
I knew you knew that Paul - but I was thinking the other states might think it was like that 'all over' here

[RAJAH235]

Well, I don't know which was worse, going thru a severe electrical storm or coming back O/L & reading this.
WOW! y'all. What caused all that? Paul asked a simple question & this was the result? I feel >>>:ashamed: & :confused: at some of the responses.......
Like slice, I felt like taking cover as well. The electrical storm has gone now, so hopefully, clear, calm weather will take over for a while.
Maybe try to organise one in the New Year, Paul?
I wish you all the best with it. Pity we have chosen such a weather/distance etc etc dependant hobby, eh?
Regards to all. :D L.

[rochler]

Paul. If you want to organise a night in the new year I'm sure I can make it. I'm local here in Adelaide.

Interested in your ASSA experience by the way. I was going to go along to their Dec. meeting next Wed. - since they meet at the Uni. where I work & I wanted to see what the group is like. Are they really Celestron snobs etc? They would probably laugh at my cheap Newt then. And I don't even have a big Nagler or a degree in Astrophysics either haha...

[slice of heaven]

:scared3: ... ok

I'm much the same as KenM , homelife doesn't allow me the luxury of freedom of movement. If I'm not taking care of the homefront I'm squeezing in what work I can. I'd be a last moment "I'm coming/not coming" as I don't like to commit to what I can't fulfill. I know I could learn a lot more from a viewing session with you guys. It'd be great to get the S. Ozzies together for a session, looking at the members map we are still only a minority of this site, but we're building. At least your trying Paul :thumbsup: the summer holidays are my best bet to attend a meet, just have to wait and see for me.

[fringe_dweller]

no i am sure Paul just means the SCT owners - and lets face it they are a 'strange mob' :P :rofl: ....joking ... only joking gentlemen :D

[rumples riot]

Yeah Kearn is right, only really got that from the SCT Owners. And yes Kearn we SCT owners are a strange mob. Gun tottin' mobsters. Sorry just listening to " O Yeah by End of Fashion on my ipod, while writing this.

Rochler I might just keep you to that. Cool, this is what I wanted. For us SA guys and gals to get some talk happening. Then maybe fix a date over the summer break.

I know there are a few more of us so lets hear from everyone.

[iceman]

Ken,

I'm sorry that you interpreted my light-hearted, off the cuff post in that way. I can't possibly see how you would take it personally, or be an attack on victorians, but I guess sometimes it's hard to express your true intentions in writing, on an internet forum.

From the responses of everyone else, I feel that you're reading something into it that isn't and wasn't there as noone else took offence to it.

I apologise if my comment causes you any grief, it certainly was not my intention.

As Geoff said, I was merely talking about the new moon gatherings that the QLD, NSW and TAS folk have as often as possible. I know the VIC guys had one once which at the time, sounded like a great success. I was simply prodding, asking why they haven't organised more of them. It had absolutely nothing to do with Snake Valley (as you know) or the upcoming March meet.

I hope you've calmed down and can see that my comment was in no way a sneaky attack on anyone.

[Exfso]

Rochler, I will be at the ASSA meeting on Wednesday, They have a beginners class starts at 7pm. I attend these. Look for a grey haired old fart with glasses. Probably describes a fair proportion of attendees. :astron:

[Stu]

I think I agree with Geoff about Vic. If you don't count ASV which has the lastest membership in in Australia the rest of us in Victoria don't do much on a monthly basis. I know that Merlin66 is a member of ASV and has invited me to there deep sky nights, but they are a bit far away from where I am.

Also MPAS are not going through the best patch but once the Brairs is finished it should be quite big again, especially with the NAAAC meeting for whatever it is coming up in Easter.

But to be honest I am quite happy because if I was out every week my wife would be worried.

Keep at it rumples. You are here-by pronouced the leader of the SA IIS Monthly Astronomy Relaxation Society or "M.A.R.S."
Don't forget the beer.

[ballaratdragons]

My temper! :D

[janoskiss]

Ken, I'm sorry you deleted what you deleted because now the responders look like total looneys; not making any sense --- in the context of prior posts.

[ballaratdragons]

Hehe! They don't need me for that LOL!

[janoskiss]

I see... :rofl: