Re: Orion XT8 Intelliscope

On Sat, 30 Dec 2006 09:52:01 -0600, "Larry G."
<larryg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

These gadgets may have made the hobby more accessible to more
people, but they provide little incentive (reward) for them
to stay and master even basic skills.

Do you spend your spare time hitting yourself on the head with a hammer
so that you can enjoy the "reward" of the feeling when you stop? You
have to understand that for many people, there is no value in the hunt;
the reward is the object itself. You also have your own ideas of what
"basic skills" are. Knowing the sky and finding objects are not basic
skills; they are specialized skills that only some people are interested
in. Are you less a fisherman if you don't tie your own flies?


If the path in (-to the hobby) is short, then so is the path out.

Easy come, easy go.

And that's bad? Come on, it's a hobby, not a punishment. Modern tools
make it more accessible to everyone; more people give it a try, and not
all stick around. That's healthy! You remind me of the people who still
think you should have to learn Morse Code to get a radio license. You
want to enforce a kind of hobby protectionism by artificially creating a
steep learning curve.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com
.