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Post by mrgare5050 on Jan 28, 2023 5:34:54 GMT -7
Well I got my answer at last, it seems my inspiration has left Home Planetariums and gone in a predictable direction, more parody-ish writing along the lines of the AI characters. Not so say I won't pursue other writings/books etc on Home Planetariums, but after 1000 days its time for me to grow in another direction, or sink into dotage, it looks about the same from here lol. The last little ebook actually was the most fun too, so that doesn't hurt and seems like a good omen.
So I'll be doing full time AI lighthearted stuff, but that will include flashbacks to earilier episodes in the original podcast too. Yall can come along if you want to, but if you don't i totally understand. My family knows I'm weird and sortof pats me on the head lol.
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Post by Ron Walker on Jan 28, 2023 13:44:05 GMT -7
Sad to see you go, you were one of the firsts.
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Post by mrgare5050 on Jan 30, 2023 17:12:41 GMT -7
Sad to see you go, you were one of the firsts.
I think one of the biggest things I found in my prime podcast mission though was that I WASNT, Linda Jacobson dug up 10 new names from the 50's that nobody had heard of, Scott here had more. The situation with early home planetariums seems to have not been their rarity, but their isolation over time and space. They didn't know about each other. I may have run the first collective so to speak in HPA, but that was still half full of professionals, it wasn't really until OC in the aughts that the largest number of home people were grouped together, but they were mostly current - these historical ones were buried deep. I think our claim to fame if anything is that we are the LAST of the Mohicans, the niche is shrinking and shrinking. We are the last home planetarians. And soon we too will be in the history books, well you and I will be lol.
I accomplished my mission with HPA, then with OC, then with the Podcast. I'm still doing a little podcasting in another love, comedy and parody, with an ebook or two to follow (perhaps as soon as tomorrow). I'm still doing my OWN thing, Im just not podcasting about it anymore. In fact, I've made several breakthroughs with miniature stuff i'm thinking are going to give me some VERY interesting new pictures, I've just been resting the facebook boards, they will be back probably.
so the only thing thats going is my niche related podcasting. im burnt out in trying to GROW. and SELL. and TEACH. and PRESENT. and WRITE related stuff. The niche is going down the tubes. We are the last I think!
but we can still do our own things. you know lol
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Post by Ron Walker on Jan 31, 2023 11:00:37 GMT -7
The only reason I started this board, and OC before it, was to try and have a clearing house in one location for all things home planetarium. When the original OC ended perhaps it was an indication that the glory days were over. Some of the more prolific contributors had already moved off to their own Facebook pages. Others had finished their projects and dropped away. The entire industry had gone digital and how many home planetarians could afford an array of five video projectors and the computers and programs to run them. There was no optical-mechanical beast in the center of the room to lust over any longer. Hand building fell out of favor as a plethora of small home planetarium projectors became available. Just the shear number of projectors available on the web tells us the the interest is there but the stagnation of membership here tells me the interest in actually building has declined.
Membership here has remained at 24 for some time. Most of those have not returned since they first joined. Again just the faithful few keep me from giving up. It is hard to spend half a day going over all of the different pages and not spending that time in more meaningful pursuits. After all, as you hinted at, how much time do we really have left.
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Post by scotttucker on Jan 31, 2023 13:04:33 GMT -7
This forum has been and still is an enormously valuable resource and record. It is also so important to know there are people out there with the same obsession. Perhaps the fact that they are few and far between makes it more special.
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Post by Ron Walker on Jan 31, 2023 18:24:54 GMT -7
Ahhhhh...if only there were ten more like you.
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Post by scotttucker on Apr 30, 2023 11:57:37 GMT -7
Sir Gare - thank you for the shout out on the podcast! Very kind and it was a really nice surprise. And more importantly congratulations on your approaching podcast anniversary. Over the last three years the podcast has become an established part of the soundscape of my life. I remember being so excited about it when it first came out and was expecting perhaps 6 episodes or so (seems to be the length of a typical series on the BBC now). I was amazed at the stuff you found to talk about and so pleased that it continued. I stand by every word of that letter I wrote to the Guardian back in the early days (sadly they never replied).
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Post by mrgare5050 on Apr 30, 2023 12:27:58 GMT -7
thank you sir! you and ron though were my witnesses, it wouldnt have lasted without you two.
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Post by Ron Walker on May 1, 2023 9:42:30 GMT -7
I, too, must add my thanks for the shout out. Perhaps some of the 50K listeners will visit here.
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Post by mrgare5050 on May 2, 2023 2:18:22 GMT -7
RW said; I, too, must add my thanks for the shout out. Perhaps some of the 50K listeners will visit here.
54.4K to be exact lol. But you know, that to me is the lesson of the low place in the stone wall and my 'visitor' the other day. like the Romans learned, you build your own roads, but eventually the world comes in on the very roads you built! is it better to go on expanding, or like my most favorite song, Trip the Light, at this point i need to be content 'with a world kept small'
Ms jacobson only gave me vague newspaper clippings for those other early home planetarium people, and I seem to have lost them already. There werent pictures though. But you know, you and i go back to Chicago. But I had one even earlier place, St louis, and to find out that this Bedell guy was at the very place my grandfather worked around the time I was born, that was an astounding coincidence I thought. That takes it back still further to the original brothers who came over from Europe. Maybe thats where my own interests really originated. who knows.
So today is may 2nd, and coincidently my son's partner got her phd yesterday so wherever they are headed, they are going together on their own crazy highway.
in the words of Pink Floyd, i thought i'd something more to say lol. its getting hard to remember anything!
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Post by Ron Walker on May 2, 2023 9:46:15 GMT -7
It gets worse.
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Post by mrgare5050 on May 2, 2023 11:20:39 GMT -7
It gets worse. as Luke once screamed
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO well, ok then. I'll have lunch while i remember where the kitchen is lol
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Post by Ron Walker on May 3, 2023 11:50:10 GMT -7
Is the podcast gone or are they just hiding it?
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Post by mrgare5050 on May 3, 2023 12:32:25 GMT -7
Is the podcast gone or are they just hiding it?
Its deleted along with a bunch of other software packages I had lying around!
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Post by Ron Walker on May 4, 2023 10:25:57 GMT -7
Sad. I guess I'll stop looking. Tell us all if/when you start again.
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