Paging Larry Niven...

Via Geekpress, a report of a real-life droud.

(As the technovelgy entry on "droud" notes, this is not actually the application Niven envisioned.)

The Telescope - Part One

As I've mentioned (briefly), I'm building a travel Dobsonian telescope around a mirror that I made with my Granddad back in 1982. Here's what I looked like back then. (I'm the one on the left ;-)

We're in the process of polishing the mirror with rouge (as evidenced by the red-stained pitch lap).

Here's the resulting fine piece of optics, some 25 years in the future:

I'll be posting some more pics in the coming months, as I complete meaningful parts of the construction of the mounting.