Starve.Org White Noise Usenet Archive: "Re: What do YOU call the # sign?"

Frank McCoy <mccoyf@millcomm.com> writes:

> In alt.folklore.computers kkt <kkt@zipcon.net> wrote:
>
> >Frank McCoy <mccoyf@millcomm.com> writes:
> >
> >> In alt.folklore.computers Larry Elmore <ljelmore@verizon.spammenot.net>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >> >Frank McCoy wrote:
> >> >> But *we* get to actually see with our own naked eyes that our galaxy
> >> >> isn't the only one in the universe, while still getting a fair view of
> >> >> the "Milky Way".
> >> >>
> >> >> BTW: On a trip out to Oregon, on the way back over some mountains, I got
> >> >> out of the car in the middle of the night and *finally*, for the very
> >> >> first time, actually *saw* the Milky Way. Amazing.
> >> >
> >> >That wouldn't have happened to be on I-5 going east towards Grants Pass
> >> >last month when traffic was jammed up for 4.5 hrs when a truck slid 35
> >> >tons of sheet glass across the south-bound lanes? That was where my
> >> >wife first saw the Milky Way, which she never expected to be able to see
> >> >(she's visually handicapped). That was the day after we got stuck in
> >> >Portland for an hour for a milk truck that overturned on an overpass. 3
> >> >days after that, we were stuck for 1.5 hrs from a multi-motorcycle
> >> >pile-up in the rain. I thought Dallas traffic was bad, but Oregon was
> >> >ridiculous.
> >>
> >> Nope. This was about a hundred or so miles South of Grants Pass; coming
> >> up over the Coast Range from the Redwood Highway. About 7000+ feet up.
> >> We were a bit behind schedule for getting back home on time; so we ran
> >> late over the mountains instead of stopping early for the night. I
> >> looked up, saw how incredibly CLEAR it was, and had everybody get out of
> >> the car for a good look. The wife was rather, "So what?" The kid
> >> looked ... and then got back in the car. I tried to memorize what it
> >> looked like. You need dark-adapted vision to get the full effect; and
> >> (to the others' disgust) I waited and watched for close to ten minutes
> >> with the car lights off. I was partly dark-adapted from night-driving.
> >
> >It needs to be clear and dark... no artificial lights in line-of-sight
> >and no bright artificial lights within a couple of miles. And you do
> >need to in the dark long enough to be fully dark-adapted. It's been
> >too long since I was out.
> >
> >The Coast Range passes are around 3000-4000 feet. Even Donner Pass
> >over the Sierra is only 7000. Were you on route 299, the road from
> >Arcata to Redding?
> >
> Finally got around to checking the Atlas. (Sorry about that.)
> Yes, it does seem to be 299; probably in the Shasta/Trinity National
> Forest area. Not only high up; but *far* from nearby cities, and with
> mountains in-between. Simply *amazing* view there. Being a National
> Forest, you're not only far from cities, there ain't many people around
> with those &5$8#! idiotic, stupid, unnecessary, and completely useless
> (for stopping burglaries out in the country) "Security Lights". ;-{
>
> Actually, what those lights do is make it easy to see if anybody is home
> (are there any cars parked) and easy to find a good spot to break in;
> while providing nice deep shadows to hide in at the same time.
>
> They make the owners *feel good* though.

This thread reminds me to tell the amateur astronomers about the
observatory on the University of Washington campus. This is probably
the worst place for an observatory in the world: Sea level. 300
cloudy days a year. Visibility severely limited by sycamore trees,
which were planted as a memorial to WW I dead and therefore can't be
removed.

-- Patrick