[lilikoi]

Thank you EdenBuch for the great info and Skywatcher recc! We are not there yet, but what would you recc as a next step telescope after that initial entry phase?

I don’t have a telescope recc, but here’s some other info that might help you decide. We borrowed a telescope to start – an Astroscan reflecting telescope – which means that, 1) it’s easier to find what you’re looking for in the night sky (compared with a refracting telescope), and 2) the image is upside down….but, no worries because it doesn’t matter unless you aim it at something here on Earth! It has 2 lenses plus an extension which adds 10x to either of those lenses. Easy set up/take down and it has the solar viewer (you <u style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>don’t look through the lens) but you can project an image of the sun – good for sunspots. The pros were it was easy to setup and sturdy for even small children. The cons were it was kind of difficult to find what we were looking for (partly because we didn’t know where to look and light pollution in our area); and even though it was pretty portable it was still bulky and we had to set it up on a table to use comfortably.

Does your area have a local observatory or backyard astronomy groups that you can check out before deciding? Precovid we went to a couple and the awesome thing is that they have amazing gear setups and the astronomers will find objects in the nightsky for you to peek at so the frustration levels are low when you’re a newbie and the views are amazing because of the gear they use.

When we returned the borrowed telescope, we decided to go with something that would do double duty (bird/animal watching and astronomy) and be portable. We went with binoculars that work well in low light situations with the thought that we would buy a true telescope if kids showed lots of interest (so far that’s a no, so I’m glad we went this route). The pros are the kids like being able to hold it themselves and scan the night sky easily; it’s portable and lightweight so we can bring it with us if traveling; and it is versatile. The cons are it was $$$; it’s not a true telescope with those amazingly close views or nifty features like assistance with finding objects that we got to experience from those group observations. If you want to go the double duty route, check out Leica 8×42 Noctivid, Leica Ultravid 8×32, and Nikon Monarch 8×42. This was based on research I did a year ago – these binoculars are good in low light situations, allow you broad enough view to find something easily, and also the ability to see images without much shake while hand holding. Good luck! And happy night sky viewing to you and your family!

[lilikoi]

My knee jerk reaction to a mini robot in my body was fear. This is so cool that they can make robots this tiny, but my mind first went to what if the robot did not leave and what if more than drug delivery was done? I read the linked article and then thought of some of the medical advancements that must have felt scary at first – pacemakers, remote controlled surgery, insertion of scopes – maybe this too will feel normal someday. But I think the upside would need to be huge before I accepted it in myself. As in, “No pacemaker = death. No mini robot delivering or doing something in my brain = death.” ????

[lilikoi]

Adding to this because I decided to DYOR (after looking up what the heck that meant, lol). If this is all strange to you but you want to learn more, here are some interesting things to google besides terms in the other posts on this discussion: fiat money, Bretton Woods system, and Satoshi Nakamoto.

[lilikoi]

Full disclosure I don’t understand cryptocurrency. We regret not listening to friends who recommended mining it or investing early on just because of how much it’s skyrocketed, but at the same time it’s hard to invest in or legitimize something you don’t understand and wouldn’t know how to use. I still don’t get the inherent value behind it – like is it backed by something else that has value? Someone tried explaining it to me and what I could understand (and someone please correct my understanding if it’s wrong) is that computers create the cryptocurrency, and as more cryptocurrency is created it takes a longer time or more powerful computers to make more cryptocurrency, the cryptocurrency is stored on your device or on somebody else’s servers (which are very heavily guarded), or you can own pieces of it (I imagine like owning pieces of stocks in a market index maybe?). But I don’t understand who ultimately controls cryptocurrency and gets to say what it takes to make more cryptocurrency. Whoever that is seems to have a lot of power over its value and what comes to mind is a Casino that gets to control the algorithms on gambling payouts. The people who store the cryptocurrency also seem to have a lot of power over its value – they seem like banks but are they regulated and insured like banks? And if it takes powerful computers to create more cryptocurrency does that mean that those who can create those more powerful computers will increase their wealth unfairly – that almost feels like counterfeiting money. So much uncertainty. And I can’t help but think of the past when wondering about the long term future of cryptocurrency. What’s happening right now reminds me of exhibits we saw at the Chicago Fed’s Money Museum. In the early days, states, banks, stores, and even wartime currency was created. Regulation evolved over time as financial crises occurred, counterfeiting was rampant, and there was lots of instability. It seems like there eventually has to be a regulatory body over cryptocurrency to ensure stability. And if it’s not a country, then would countries or their citizens band together to regulate and stabilize cryptocurrency? Who would oversee these banded together countries/citizens?

[lilikoi]

I’m not sure if the ability to dissolve decreases my fear factor. It would almost be more reassuring to have visual confirmation that it’s outside of the body as part of the physician’s post-op check (even though I imagine the tech is so small it wouldn’t be visible to the naked eye and I wonder if the exit route might be more dangerous than just letting it dissolve within). Makes me wonder about all the foreign material that becomes a part of our body – plastic or tiny metal specs that we might breathe in, ingest, or get embedded inside of us somehow. Do they eventually make their way out like shrapnel or splinter pieces that get pushed out over time? If something dissolves does that become part of our body or does it get filtered and cleaned out from our body somehow?