Fight the Amoral Fight

LC - wow, that was quick! :) Thanks!
Someone at the event in Goleta showed up with a very long (like 6 feet) box with foil on one end - he was having some trouble aiming it properly and I didn't stick around to see the results. Um, if the projection screen is inside the box, how do you see it? Also, where do I find a six-foot long box? LOL
I made a pinhole thingy using a business card, a ballpoint pen, and a sheet of paper for the projection - not at all sharp but not bad. My other favorites from the club were the two projections using cameras and 'scopes onto screens - got the enlargement without having to squint through an eyepiece. Problem there was that the Earth kept turning!
I'd forgotten that KEYT news was there and they were talking to the guy who said (not on camera - I overheard him elsewhere) he used a filter meant for telescopes in his shoebox ... so I checked this morning and there is video of him and his box and a photo of it, too. It really gave a great view of the sun and folks were using cameras to zoom through that filter. I wonder if it is prohibitively expensive.
Alas, I did not make it into any video or photos ;)

Are you enjoying the books? I caved and read all three of the Hunger Games books a short while ago. It's hard to resist something that got so big and popular, lol
In fact, I have sitting next to me The Golden Compass, which I have resisted all these years ... I hope I like it.

calpoppy - I was thinking you'd be able to see that cloud - on satellite it was huge!

Yeah, the wind ... again. I mean, I know it's always windy in certain places but it seems like it has been excessive more often than usual. I was in Ventura late yesterday afternoon and wished I had my video camera. The wind was whipping like crazy - much worse than here in SP and really bad even for there - on video it would have looked like a tropical storm with the palm trees and such.
Well, I'm going to Ventura later today and don't know what the wind will be like but will take the camera, just in case, and might try for the beach as there is a coastal flood warning. It's cold there, though, so I might not, LOL

It's true, Ylee. When I talk or write too much and get worded out I turn to books for a refill. It does take me away from wu, among other things.

The Venus transit will last many hours - I don't have a link handy but maybe LowerCal has one in his blog - so you have no excuse not to see it ... excepting if you have no eye protection! Do not look at the sun X-(
Yesterday's apod was of another transit - Mercury!
Today's apod is a very cool eclipse pic.

I had fun in Ventura, thanks. Did not bother with the beach. Maybe today.

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Anyone with too much time on their hands and in need of a laugh might like to check out these reviews on Amazon. I feel better knowing that at least some humans will survive the alien attack.

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Don't feel I can concentrate on thoughtful comments so I'm just killing time ... waiting to be told when and where and how to do what next. Typical day "off" ;)

Ylee - aliens, elves, the voices in my head ... it's a never-ending cacophony of demands ;)

A welder's mask is fine if it is #14 and made of glass. Rule of thumb I just learned today - if you can see anything other that the sun through it, it is not safe to look at the sun. So, if you look through and see trees or anything, even dimly or in silhouette, it isn't the right thing to use.
Here's S&T's suggestions for viewing the sun.

gg - British humor is an acquired taste and I acquired it at an early age, lol

LC - I do need a new sofa ... but don't think I have time to choose, transport, and assemble a sofa and manufacture a pinhole projector thingy before the transit!
I did see Karen's cool photos, of course, and they do help.

Yeah, those filters are beyond my means for such a thing. I don't live in the big city like you do :) and don't have a local shop that will definitely have even those glasses. There's only one camera shop within 30 miles or so and they don't sell telescopes or anything like that.
I checked and it seems that neither of the astronomy clubs that I consider "local" are publicly meeting for the transit. I'll think of something ... or watch it online!
Oh! I was thinking of trying to use the Galileoscope to project an image. Gotta think on it - may be more trouble than it's worth and I don't want to damage it.

Saw the movie, Hunger Games, on Monday. It wasn't great but there is something about the story that keeps it interesting. I kept thinking "I should be bored by this ..." but felt the same way about the books - and kept reading, LOL

BC - you made it sound interesting, for sure, so I clicked. It definitely has my attention based on a quick scan and I will go back. Thanks!

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Weather has been too fine for words so I haven't bothered with any.

I am way behind in reading my wufriend's blogs even as a lurker :( Except LC's because, you know, space dragons!!!! LOL

Working on a June entry for tomorrow sometime ... we'll see if I can finish it up before the end of the First. Need words for the graphics, lol

Happy Friday :)