Cranbrook Meeting, October 6

Jon Blum introduces his own talk tomorrow:

The October 2008 Cranbrook WAS meeting will be held on Monday, October 6, at 7:30 PM at the Cranbrook Institute of Science auditorium. The main speaker will be Jon Blum and the title of his presentation will be Astronomy Gadgets.

Jon loves gadgets of all sorts, and never saw an astronomy gadget that he didn't need. In this talk, you will find out why you can no longer live without blinky lights, metric Allen wrenches, several types of binocular mounts, a hair dryer, seven simultaneous dew heaters, a RACI finderscope, bright yellow eyepiece caps, 2 inches of pipe foam insulation, a Hummer, and a dozen other essentials. A handout paper will be provided, listing where to buy each gadget discussed, from Scopestuff to Home Depot.

Jon has been interested in astronomy since childhood and still has his first cardboard telescope. But he didn't have time for a real telescope and all of these gadgets until he retired at the end of 2001. He has lived his whole life in the Detroit area, attended college and medical school at Wayne State University, and spent his career as a dermatologist in his own office in Farmington Hills. In addition to astronomy, his other hobbies are grandchildren, digital photography, and creating web pages. He also writes about Maui, where he and his wife Rosie live under clear skies during the winter. His past talks to our club have included how he shopped for and selected his current telescope, astronomy in Scandinavia, Astronomers Inn B&B in Arizona, and astronomy on Maui. Future talks he is planning include why he belongs to six astronomy clubs, and another talk about more astronomy gadgets that could not fit into this year's talk.

Jon has a website about Maui, including many photos, at www.mauihawaii.org. His astronomy photos (trips, not astrophotos) are at www.jonrosie.com/astronomy. He learned about astronomy from the many helpful members of the Warren Astronomical Society and other clubs, and would be glad to answer any questions about his astronomy gadgets, or about Maui, at any club meeting or by email. Catch him on the WarrenAstro Yahoo! group.