For anyone starting out in astronomy, a refractor is by far the best to get, 60mm minimum. You can get a good 80mm for as little as $200 to $300. The problem is once you get serious into it, you have to start buying eye pieces which cost $100 to $200 a piece. The only thing I dont like about current refractors is that they are short tubes which have a very fast focal length and therefore not quite as good as the normal long tube refractors, but they are still capable of getting good images. The Telescope Paul has is a schmidt-cassigrain which is what most of the major telescopes are, like hubble or keck. A shmidt cassiegrain has a series of relective mirrors and corrective lenses that correct problems in a normal newtonion reflector which only has one mirror and no corrective lenses. Although a newtonion is still very useful for deepspace objects. There is also a newtonion refered to as a dobsonion which is basically a huge newtonion on a cheapo tube and mounting, a cheap way to get alot of power for some inconvenience of use. If you have one of these high prices telescopes like a shmidt cassigrain, you really need an electronic drive to maintain centered on the object while the earth rotates for long exposer photos. Its really good to join a local astronomy club and check out other peoples telescopes before you start investing alot on your own.

Its really a shame that that game is done with arcade physics because the graphics and terrain mapping is some of the best Ive ever seen in a flight sim. Infact there is such a disregard for time/space relationships I would say its more cinematic than arcadeish, which for me is so bothersome as to make the game unplayable. If they could ever modify that game to have normal flight physics, maybe with a patch or something, I think that game could catch on big with the flight sim community.

That was funny. THIS is hysterical 😀

http://komotv.com/qt/bouncing_bear.mpg

No this is hysterical: http://www.dumpalink.com/media/1111404160
(download the Cillit Bang remix, and then crank up your speakers)

If the F-14 redesigned as a fixed wing FBW fighter, it would be superior to the F-15 as a fighter. Because the F-14 is a swing wing, a frame was built internally in the mid part of the fuselage to distribute the forces that are isolated into the wing hinges into a broader area. By making it a fixed wing those forces would be naturally distributed into the airframe itself, and the removal of that frame would make a much better thrust to weight ratio. Being a swing wing, the F-14 doesnt suffer from tail surface drag that is required to create large downforce at high speed like other fixed wing fighters because the swing wings move the center of lift, so FBW would be nessecary to preserve that aspect in a fixed wing version of the F-14. Its also inaccurate to say that the F-14 has a lower wing loading than the F-15 since the fuselage has large lifting area. The LERX and even the wing root chine also provide alot of surface area.

African countries, check again who has bought the SU-25 and where they have used. Check where and how US used their A-10s. Jet Trainers better than Su-39/A-10 at CAS? LOL, name me one twin seat jet trainer that has more armour, hardpoints, range, payload, weapons options and etc than Su-39/A-10.

Once again you just keep making all these comments, back them up.

I never said that trainers are better in the CAS role than the Su39, infact niether of these jets are really what Id class as CAS in the sense of striking a battlefield well defended with AA. You would need fast jets for those kind of strikes. Jets like the Su-39 and even jet trainers are optimal for pin point striking in medium threat areas, the kind of targeting that fast jets cant do, but well above what attack helicoptors can do. Which is why the Su-25 was so usefull in Afghanistan. The US made use of the A-10 for bombing and strafing armored/mechanized columns in Iraq, and I garantee they would have got torn apart if the Iraqis had proper AA defence.

The reason the AMX is better is because it has better range and can defend itself if intercepted. Its cheaper to operate than the Su-39, the unit cost doesnt mean much in the long run.

Oh it already has you Americano! 😡 😡 actually that’s a good thing 😀

Hambuger- Lets get this point clarified as it seems your presence on this forum is for the sole purpose of mixing fantasy with reality. Most every country in the world other than USA, Western Europe and Japan is going through a process of industrialization, moderization, democratization, etc. Obviously these countrys are all looking to the USA Western Europe and Japan as sources in which to find what they need to carry all these things out. For some reason people in the US seem to take this evolution as “they want to be like us” as though american culture is some kind of “perfect” society. Americans dont understand its the simpleness and openess of american society that draws peoples attention. The result is comical in that americans who lack the suffistication of cultures like France sort of float around in this dream of McElitism. Atleast its funny with you because you are purposely coming off funny. Its not funny when guy from Alabama comes down here to Mexico and starts acting like they own this place.
As for me being American, yes I grew up in the US. But my connections to the US now are nothing more than a hinderance and a nuisance which I will be very glad to shake off.