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Re: (meteorobs) Astronomy vs. TV
NTZT04A@prodigy.com ( THOMAS T WOJACK) writes:
>It is very easy to watch TV. I watch about 4-6 hours per week
>watching TV; meanwhile, I spend perhaps 15-20 hours on the computer
>per week. When I watch TV, which 95% of it is _Star Trek:_, it is
>very easy for it to deepen my interest in astronomy. When I use the
>computer _I_do_something_useful_. When you watch TV, most of the
>time you are just wasting time. I would gladly trade the TV for the
>comuputer. Someone a few years ago made the comment, "Would you
>rather watch TV or never never watch TV again and receive 1 million
>dollars?" Obviously the second choice is best. I think it might
>take 1 million dollars to get him interested in astronomy again. In
>July, my church went camping in southern New Jersey. I believe there
>was only 11 human entities there, and the LM was perhaps +6.5(at home
>my is usually +4.5). At least. I could only identify 1
>constellation, Scorpius. But it was really the stars, it was the
>Milky Way! I was speechless. I actually risked my life to watch the
>stars that night, as I had to sit in the middle of a dirt road.
>After a half an hour and 2 meteors, I had to go back to bed. I was
>falling asleep, and if I did, I would die unless the sun rose. My
>friend didn't come because he claimed he didn't like camping. Which
>was a lie. He lies so easily and so often, I was recently forced to
>coin a nickname for him: Mr. Garak. The day I met him, he started
>speaking lies. He claimed to have been from another planet, and the
>entities he was living with had advanced technology that allowed you
>to begin your life all over if desired. He claimed this was his
>second life. It was an obvious lie. First, he claimed that he was
>born in Delaware and has resided nowhere else. Second, he says that
>there will never be anymore planets discovered, ever(1990). His lies
>are worthless. He lies about the stupidest things.
>
>On the wednesday after MPF laded, I asked him, "Have you seen(TV!)
>the Pathinder yet?"
>"What?"
>"It's all over the television and the papers!"
>He gives me a look that he has given me so many times when I tell him
>about astronomy:Astronomy and space is for the insane.
>
>Someone else comes over and says,"I have to tell you, those are great
>pictures coming from Mars!"
>"Oh yes!", I respond.
>My friend says nothing. I start beating him up, verbally. I ask him
>how he cannot hear about the greatest space adventure sine perhaps
>Apollo. He then says, "Oh, I heard about it." I wish I knew whether
>that answer was the truth or not. During the 1995 Perseids, I asked
>him if he saw it: "Did you see the meteor shower?"
>"Did they use soap?"
>Mr. Sarcastic. I try to tell him that astronomy is for
>entertainment. He thinks it for the insane. I will try to make a
>final, elaborate, and desperate attempt.
>
>Jonathan
>
Hey Jon,
I know what you could do to get him interested in astronomy again.
First you are going to have to drag him to the next camping trip. If you
have a telescope bring it, and you are going to need a tape player, sky
atlas's, etc.
The second thing you should do is get some space music or something
relaxing to put him in the mood for space exploring, but nothing loud
like rock n' roll or rap, what you can do is tape all of the Star Trek
themes like Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space 9 or
Star Trek: Voyager and keep taping them until both sides of the cassette
are full.
Next, when both of you are out there listening to the space music start
to show him stuff like the Pleiades, Horsehead Nebula, Crab Nebula,
Saturn, Jupiter and stuff like that and once he gets that little tingling
feeling you get when you first see these wonders, he'll come back. But
you can't force him to like it once your there, if he was meant to like
astronomy then he'll come back to it by himself.
Clear skies,
Conrad W. Humphrey (Amateur Astronomer)
Donwon1@juno.com
40deg 43' 45" N 73deg 59' 43" W
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