Bob D Posted February 3, 2005 Report Share Posted February 3, 2005 Well, I'll be dipped...First a personal note from Mr. Scott welcoming me back, and now this. I'm touched, guys. The Big Island was wonderful, as usual. Been there before, going back to 1979 where I worked on the first generation adaptive optics project for the MMT (multi mirror telescope) up at the observatories on the top of Mauna Kea. (And Kitt Peak Ariz.) Because of this, and a connection at the U.of H. in Hilo, my wife and I got a tour one Saturday from a visiting (Cal Tech) grad student of the Keck II installation(s), the U of H infrared scope, the new Subaru scope, and some other stuff. Spent the entire afternoon and evening up there at 14,000 ft. Gets a bit chilly up there, regardless of the latitude...One word, (that I rarely use)...Awesome. Even without a lens, just turn your head and look up from 14,000 feet at night from one of the clearest spots on Earth. Your jaw will drop. Heard a funny story down at the visitors center at 10,000 ft. Some people got out of their van (at night) looked up, paused then complained that they had come all this way and it was cloudy. The rep. there said "Uh....that's the Milky Way you're looking at right now...So many stars clumped together in on big wash, that they jumped to an erroneous conclusion. Must be from the city..LOL Also spent some time in the jungle and some black sand beaches. One bit of advise when you go to the Big Island, or Kauai...Rent the 4wd Jeep Wrangler. That little sucker will get you places (in 4L sometimes, LOL) that no one else can get to. Well worth it. Just roll the canvas top back, and leave it down. Great way to tan while you're exploring. Tip: if it starts to rain, just keep the speed over 30mph. You'll stay nice and dry. Not that the islands rain will hurt anything anyway...LOL Like I said, went to Kauai for the second half of the adventure. There's a second time I'll use awesome in one day...Doesn't happen often. Took a ride around the island one morning in a Hughes 500 helicopter. That's the one that looks like a little dragonfly. Too cool. Since the pilot/owner/operator is a former 1st/9th Air Cav pilot, with three tours in Viet Nam behind, him we had no problem with him at the stick after we had the doors removed from that little hot rod. Pilot on the left, wife center and me riding shot (mini?) gun, LOL, on the starboard door. Nothing between me and the ground 500- 4000ft below but two inches and a five point harness. LOTS of good video of the Wiamea canyon (awesome) the Napali coast (awesome) the mountains and then Hanalei Bay (Bali Hai), (awesome, awesome). What's that, six times now? LOL. One more tip. I read that going to Kauai, and not taking a helicopter tour is the equivalent of going to the Sistine Chapel and forgetting to look up...That is one of the best analogies I have ever come across. Weelllll....I'm sorry, is this off topic? Shoot, you asked (didn't you?) LOL C'mon Scotty bail me out here. Ok, on topic. I saw my fist '05 STS up in Princeville, Kauai. Actually, there are more late model Cadillacs on Kauai that most of the other islands. Something to do with the local demographics. I think there might be a few $ on the north side of that island. A few new C-6 Corvettes too....Hmmm...I like it there...Time for a lotto ticket '93 STS.. opened, dropped, wide...fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adallak Posted February 3, 2005 Report Share Posted February 3, 2005 Bob D, Looks like you had really good time. "Uh....that's the Milky Way you're looking at right now...So many stars clumped together in on big wash, that they jumped to an erroneous conclusion. Must be from the city..LOL"Uh....that's the Milky Way you're looking at right now...So many stars clumped together in on big wash, that they jumped to an erroneous conclusion. Must be from the city..LOL I grew up in a big city and saw the Milky Way for the first time when I was six-year-old boy while at a mountain resort. Everybody was watching an open air movie "A Man and a Woman" but I did not care much neither of Anouk Aimee nor Jean-Loise Trintignant at the time. I was absolutely amazed by the big sky which seemed to be so close to me that summer night.... Well, it was possibly one of the strongest impressions from my childhood. BTW, experimental modeling of a high intensity laser beam propagating through the atmosphere in the presence of a wind across the trace was my diploma project in 1980. Later I worked on a non-linear adaptive system. The concept of adaptive optics is beautiful isn't it? The saddest thing in life is wasted talent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuickLeSabre1960 Posted February 3, 2005 Report Share Posted February 3, 2005 did you go to maui while you were there? If so did you do the one lane road up past the cliffs? We went a few years ago and were wanting to go back a right when we got back sounds like you had an awesome time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted February 3, 2005 Report Share Posted February 3, 2005 bob, that vacation sounds incredible. I sat here and could actually feel you hanging out of the helicoper from your description. The thought ran through my head, that if in the same position, I would have been wondering who inspected the five point harness and seat bolts, It must have been incredible, did you take that video digital? I would love to see your favorite clip while you are hanging out of the helicopter! Could you see 360 degrees at 14,000 feet? I would love to see a photo of that. I can only imagine that what you saw was the ultimate planetarium. It does not sound like the public is permitted there (especially creatures like me). Are there similar locations that are open to the public that allow a 360 degree unobstructed panorama? I love that thought. I used to go to Phoenix a lot in the 80's on business, i have been there about 35 times. At 5 PM every night I would run up Squaw Peak (well my version of running, there were women on that mountain that blew by me like an XLR-V in a WOT, monsterous thighs ), and sit there as the sun went down, oh my God, that is the most breathtaking scene I have ever experienced. (omitting the smog) I am going to do a search to see if you ever said awesome in relation to opened, dropped, wide and fast! You realize you just raised the bar on what you consider awesome, it looks like you will have to pilot Space Ship Two to top this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted February 3, 2005 Report Share Posted February 3, 2005 I was watching TV this morning and they showed the active the Kilauea volcano, pretty amazing...have you seen that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jock82 Posted February 4, 2005 Report Share Posted February 4, 2005 I love that 1960 LeSabre, we had a 1960 Invicta 4 door flattop, my dad bought it new in Dec. of 1959, he traded in in 1964 for a Wildcat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger Posted February 4, 2005 Report Share Posted February 4, 2005 Pilot on the left, wife center and me riding shot (mini?) gun, LOL, on the starboard door. Nothing between me and the ground 500- 4000ft below but two inches and a five point harness. Did that many times, WITHOUT the harness. Actually used to sit on the floor with one foot on the skid. The only thing keeping me in was my *smurf* sucking the floor plate. God, I must have been nuts. Those sight seeing trips were called air assaults. They were exhilerating if not (dare I say) awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuickLeSabre1960 Posted February 4, 2005 Report Share Posted February 4, 2005 I love that 1960 LeSabre, we had a 1960 Invicta 4 door flattop, my dad bought it new in Dec. of 1959, he traded in in 1964 for a Wildcat Yeah, I love it. I've had it for a year this month. You gotta love the 1 speed dynaflow I've got the 364 nailhead in mine ( invicta had the 401) but I want to put in a 425 nailhead eventually. The wildcat's could be some fast cars especially with the dual quad 425s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob D Posted February 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2005 bob, that vacation sounds incredible. I sat here and could actually feel you hanging out of the helicoper from your description. The thought ran through my head, that if in the same position, I would have been wondering who inspected the five point harness and seat bolts, It must have been incredible, did you take that video digital? I would love to see your favorite clip while you are hanging out of the helicopter! Could you see 360 degrees at 14,000 feet? I would love to see a photo of that. I can only imagine that what you saw was the ultimate planetarium. It does not sound like the public is permitted there (especially creatures like me). Are there similar locations that are open to the public that allow a 360 degree unobstructed panorama? I love that thought. I used to go to Phoenix a lot in the 80's on business, i have been there about 35 times. At 5 PM every night I would run up Squaw Peak (well my version of running, there were women on that mountain that blew by me like an XLR-V in a WOT, monsterous thighs ), and sit there as the sun went down, oh my God, that is the most breathtaking scene I have ever experienced. (omitting the smog) I am going to do a search to see if you ever said awesome in relation to opened, dropped, wide and fast! You realize you just raised the bar on what you consider awesome, it looks like you will have to pilot Space Ship Two to top this! Indeed Mr. Scott, a voyage to remember. Yes, I have digital film and many (>350) stills I took while with the landing party...I haven't even loaded them into my computer yet!! O do have some great film shooting our approach to the Napali coast (where they filmed Jurassic Park). The pilot does a nice dive and turn, I rotate the camera, and point it straight down.. You can see my foot, the skid, and then shear cliffs. Nothing else like it in the world. Another cool shot is us coming into a LZ right in the middle of the rain forest at the base of a stunning waterfall. This outfit (InterIsland Helicopters) is the only one on the island (Kauai) cleared to do this. Our pilot put that little rig right down in a tiny clearing surrounded by huge trees. The point was to land, take a break, have lunch, swim in a beautiful pool under the falls and then blow out of there. It was so far out, it was just us. No roads, no nothin! Also got some great film of warming up the engine, getting the rotor and revs up and then rotating out. Got the camera on the pilot, the gauges (my wife, of course) the surroundings and then a nice rapid liftoff right out of there. Too cool. Up on top of Mauna Kea you are, for all intents and purposes truly on top of the world. The 360 degree view you requested was as easy as turning around, and around. I filmed the sunset over the Big Island while my wife took stills. There's something about watching the sun go down far in the west over the ocean from 14,000 feet.... One real bonus after dark was seeing the Southern Cross from up there. Yep, look left and south and there is was, Alpha Centauri and all. It just so happened we were there at the correct time of year to be able to see it from that height at that latitude. The last time we saw it was at my wife's high school reunion in Brisbane Australia. That little piece of luck really knocked her socks off..She's very attached to the ol' Crux. BTW, anyone can go to the top of Mauna Kea, providing the road is open and you have 4wd. Just call the visitors center there for the latest update. It's a great place to drop in and get acclimated at 10,000 feet for a bit, before you go to 14,000. That is highly recommended. You can get real dizzy real quick up there if you rush. Some basic tours are available if you call ahead. If you ever make it to the Big Island, don't miss the ride out 'Saddle Road' to Mauna Kea. Unforgettable. '93 STS.. opened, dropped, wide...fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob D Posted February 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2005 did you go to maui while you were there? If so did you do the one lane road up past the cliffs? We went a few years ago and were wanting to go back a right when we got back sounds like you had an awesome time We were in Maui for a bit on our last trip there in '03. You bet we drove that back island ''one laner", Did it in a 2002 C-5 Corvette roadster no less..Drove it to Hanna and beyond. Up to the top of Haleakala too. Hey with a car like that, in a place like that you just need to drive, you know? '93 STS.. opened, dropped, wide...fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger Posted February 4, 2005 Report Share Posted February 4, 2005 Sounds like a great trip Bob. I have been to Hawaii many times but not in the last 25 yrs. I'm sure some of it has changed drastically and some things are the same. How long were you there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob D Posted February 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2005 Sounds like a great trip Bob. I have been to Hawaii many times but not in the last 25 yrs. I'm sure some of it has changed drastically and some things are the same. How long were you there? 19 days this time I remember being there before it was a state, and there was only a few hotels on Waiikiki. Funny thing back then...my wife and I were both there when we were kids, staying at the same place, The Kaiser Hawaiian Village,near Waiikiki. For all we know we were eyeballing each other... '93 STS.. opened, dropped, wide...fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob D Posted February 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2005 Bob D, Looks like you had really good time. "Uh....that's the Milky Way you're looking at right now...So many stars clumped together in on big wash, that they jumped to an erroneous conclusion. Must be from the city..LOL"Uh....that's the Milky Way you're looking at right now...So many stars clumped together in on big wash, that they jumped to an erroneous conclusion. Must be from the city..LOL I grew up in a big city and saw the Milky Way for the first time when I was six-year-old boy while at a mountain resort. Everybody was watching an open air movie "A Man and a Woman" but I did not care much neither of Anouk Aimee nor Jean-Loise Trintignant at the time. I was absolutely amazed by the big sky which seemed to be so close to me that summer night.... Well, it was possibly one of the strongest impressions from my childhood. BTW, experimental modeling of a high intensity laser beam propagating through the atmosphere in the presence of a wind across the trace was my diploma project in 1980. Later I worked on a non-linear adaptive system. The concept of adaptive optics is beautiful isn't it? Were you using a gas ion laser such as krypton, argon or Co2? In our case the 'mission' was two hold six 30inch mirrors in alignment with no greater deviation than one nanometer (1x10-9 meters..)This was accomplished using a argon ion laser at 514.5 Nm and a thermally tuned optical bandpass filter we designed called an 'etalon'. That device held the output wavelength to < 1Nm. Using hardware we designed for tracking and compensating, we could hold all six mirrors in focus, adapting for deviations in temp, pressure, vibration, gimbal error, etc, etc. No easy trick back in 1979 with computers being what they weren't.... Still much A/D conversion going on in those days... We thought our system was pretty 'trick'. The adaptive optics systems being used today are quantum leaps beyond what we had. '93 STS.. opened, dropped, wide...fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob D Posted February 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2005 >I am going to do a search to see if you ever said awesome in relation to opened, dropped, wide and fast! You realize you just raised the bar on what you consider awesome, it looks like you will have to pilot Space Ship Two to top this! < Knock yourself out Mr. Scott. I'll bet you a big lunch at a drive up window that you can go through my 500+ posts and not find it. For some reason it's a phrase I really respect, and use carefully. I'll be piloting something soon, you can count on that. '93 STS.. opened, dropped, wide...fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted February 4, 2005 Report Share Posted February 4, 2005 Bob D, Still much A/D conversion going on in those days... We thought our system was pretty 'trick'. The adaptive optics systems being used today are quantum leaps beyond what we had. A/D conversion, does that mean analog to digital? What would need to be converted from analog to digital temperature for instance? The type of work is amazing (deviations in temp, pressure, vibration, gimbal error, etc, etc) WOW! I have seen this on some scientific/discovery program and its amazing, aren't the mirrors cooled or maintained to a certain temp? Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob D Posted February 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2005 Pilot on the left, wife center and me riding shot (mini?) gun, LOL, on the starboard door. Nothing between me and the ground 500- 4000ft below but two inches and a five point harness. Did that many times, WITHOUT the harness. Actually used to sit on the floor with one foot on the skid. The only thing keeping me in was my *smurf* sucking the floor plate. God, I must have been nuts. Those sight seeing trips were called air assaults. They were exhilerating if not (dare I say) awesome. I have a few close friends (and a new one) that were in the 1st/9th (Headhunters) AirCavalry in Viet Nam. The stories are incredible, to say the least. '93 STS.. opened, dropped, wide...fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob D Posted February 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2005 I was watching TV this morning and they showed the active the Kilauea volcano, pretty amazing...have you seen that? Yea, we flew over it , and the Volcano National Park last time when we were there in '03. It was semi active then, and pretty amazing...(maybe awesome ) On today's news it's fired up and really dumping in the ocean again! Now that might be awesome.. I'll bet the helo flights were packed today. '93 STS.. opened, dropped, wide...fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuickLeSabre1960 Posted February 4, 2005 Report Share Posted February 4, 2005 I have a few close friends (and a new one) that were in the 1st/9th (Headhunters) AirCavalry in Viet Nam. The stories are incredible, to say the least. have they ever told you about doing a sledgehammer (atleast I think that's what they called it) We also went in 2003. we were in a lincoln town car. It was interesting to be on a road that your car is wider than with a rock wall on one side and a cliff on the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob D Posted February 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2005 [A/D conversion, does that mean analog to digital? What would need to be converted from analog to digital temperature for instance? The type of work is amazing (deviations in temp, pressure, vibration, gimbal error, etc, etc) WOW! I have seen this on some scientific/discovery program and its amazing, aren't the mirrors cooled or maintained to a certain temp? Mike Yep, Mike that's what it is. Back in '79 "computers were in their infancy and much of the control circuitry was analog, then converted to digital in what were the equivalent of 'microprocessors' then. Much bigger physically, more complicated, and a whole lot more to go wrong. (Less code, more gizmos). The temperature of the interior of the observatory is held to a very tight, cold tolerance all day with the doors closed. This is programmed to match the predicted outside temp at night. As the sun goes down, and twilight begins, the doors automatically open, slowly with temp compensation continually occurring to match the inside/outside until stabilization is reached, then held. The compensations in the adaptive optics control circuitry are for deviations in air temperature through the various layers of atmosphere and the resulting optical distortion. This is constantly changing, therefore so are the minute adjustments to the mirrors (along with many other variables kicking in..). If you work there, or just visit it's a real good idea to bring your woolies... Got to get my behind down the hill to the salt mines.. See ya. '93 STS.. opened, dropped, wide...fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted February 4, 2005 Report Share Posted February 4, 2005 Here is a coincidence, this was a news item today on Yahoo... HONOLULU (AP) - Astronomers using a giant telescope atop a Hawaii volcano have discovered a hot spot on Saturn, located at the tip of the planet's south pole. The infrared images captured by the Keck I telescope at the W.M. Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea on the Big Island suggest a warm polar vortex, the first to ever be discovered in the solar system. The team of scientists say the images are the sharpest thermal views of Saturn ever taken from the ground. Their work will be a published in Friday's editions of the journal Science. This warm polar cap is believed to contain the highest temperatures on Saturn. A ``polar vortex'' is a large-scale weather pattern likened to a jet stream on Earth that occurs in the upper atmosphere. On Earth, the Arctic Polar Vortex is typically located over eastern North America in Canada and plunges cold arctic air to the Northern Plains in the United States. Polar vortices are found on Earth, Jupiter, Mars and Venus, and are colder than their surroundings. But new images from the Keck Observatory show the first evidence of a polar vortex at much warmer temperatures. ``Saturn's is the first hot polar vortex that we've seen because it's been sitting in the sunlight for about 18 years,'' said Glenn S. Orton, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and lead author of findings. Saturn, which takes many earth years to orbit the sun, just had its summer solstice in 2002. ``If the increased southern temperatures are solely the result of seasonality, then the temperature should increase gradually with increasing latitude, but it doesn't,'' Orton said. ``We see that the temperature increases abruptly by several degrees near 70 degrees south and again at 87 degrees south. ``A really hot thing within a couple degrees of the pole is something I don't understand at all,'' he said. Scientists may learn more from the data coming from the infrared spectrometer on the Cassini spacecraft currently orbiting Saturn, information that is expected to complement the Keck discovery, Orton said. The infared instrument on Cassini will be able to look at the south pole region in detail for the first time between March and May of this year. The Compsite Infrared Spectrometer team, which includes Orton, will now spend more time examining the south pole because of the hot spot discovery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BodybyFisher Posted January 8, 2006 Report Share Posted January 8, 2006 BobD, I saw a special on the History Channel this morning on Keck and the two telescopes. Three miles up, I had not considered that when we discussed this in early 2005... How did the altitude affect you? Very cool place! Mike Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1 >> 1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/ Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob D Posted January 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2006 BobD, I saw a special on the History Channel this morning on Keck and the two telescopes. Three miles up, I had not considered that when we discussed this in early 2005... How did the altitude affect you? Very cool place! Mike Cool? It was frikin' freezing!! Ah memories, memories…You know, it was exactly one year ago RIGHT NOW!! that we were over there.. jeezzz.. Yep, we were on the Big Island Jan.2-11th, then over to Kauai from the 11th to the 21st. I think I mentioned somewhere in these posts that it’s a real good idea to stop at the visitors center at 10,000 ft, and hang out for an hour or so to get acclimated. There’s plenty to look at there, (they run a movie in a little theater about the history) so it’s a great place to kill some time. Then, put you jacket back on and drive (if you’ve got 4wd) up to the summit at 14,000 ft. Take it slow when you get out, you’d be surprised at how quickly the altitude can still get to you. Was that “Extreme Hawaii” on the History Channel, Mike? I just missed it, but I’ll keep a look out for it as I’m sure it’ll repeat. Thanks for the heads up! '93 STS.. opened, dropped, wide...fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BodybyFisher Posted January 8, 2006 Report Share Posted January 8, 2006 YES! They mentioned that at sea level they were laying on the beach and up there it was below 35 degree and freezing.. Oh yes, it was Extreme Hawaii, and it was on Discovery not History Channel. I immediately thought of you! According to the Discovery Channel it is only being broadcast today at 9:00 am, but you might want to check yourself, the popups on that site are relentless... http://dsc.discovery.com/ Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1 >> 1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/ Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob D Posted January 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2006 YES! They mentioned that at sea level they were laying on the beach and up there it was below 35 degree and freezing.. Oh yes, it was Extreme Hawaii, and it was on Discovery not History Channel. I immediately thought of you! According to the Discovery Channel it is only being broadcast today at 9:00 am, but you might want to check yourself, the popups on that site are relentless... http://dsc.discovery.com/ Well..Nice to be thought of! The Discovery Channel is in my 'favorites' too. I'm sure that episode of 'Extreme Hawaii' will come up again. I'll keep a lookout for it, and keep dreaming in the meantime.. Time to return soon! '93 STS.. opened, dropped, wide...fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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