| vinnie |
| (Latinist) |
| 04/03/08 03:27 AM |
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Re: Funny Public Outreach Questions
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Quote:
This may be slightly off topic but still funny. I shop at Sam's Club and Wal-Mart on a regular basis and they frequently have telescopes for sale. Often they are Reflectors and they ALWAYS set the display up with the OTA backwards in the mount and the eyepiece end pointing to the floor! I have spoken to them many times about it but I am sure they think I am crazy. Sometimes I re-assemble the display myself but the next time I am there it has been changed back to their concept of how it should be!
Yeah George, been there done that (apologies, this is a little off topic, but not a great deal)
I was in a major city last year and there was a 114mm Newt in pride of place in the centre of a Camera Store. Complete with finder on back to front, open end down, focuser pointing to the floor and mirror cell pointing up at the ceiling. Well I couldn't help myself, and started turning the bugger around when the salesman came up and told me that this was the latest thing in Astronomy, the "back to front telescope". He truly believed that you looked in through the open end, and somehow saw something other than a carnival mirror view of your own face. So I commented on how sloppy the EQ mount was, and he got a bit stroppy and said that it was OK to start, but too many people had come in and fooled around trying to turn it the wrong way round, and so had worn it out.
Vin