02-28-2019, 03:51 PM
Cheers and my apology Glinda, I understand now what you meant. Tho I have enjoyed some of bh's insights, I was avoiding comment on his startling racism above. Few here are familiar with the decades of contentious mismanagement of the summit by UH, but many are comfortable spewing hatred and ignorance about those who ARE familiar with the multiple agreements UH has brokered with the community and then reneged on. The "new comprehensive management plan" is an end run around the original mauna kea management plan agreement, which UH breached, and the resultant "comprehensive management plan" which UH has breached and does not want to abide. The community has heard it all before. UH didn't just build out to the limit of telescopes they agreed to, the later telescopes are arrays, so although Keck almost is almost always doing 2 simultaneous observations with 2 telescopes, it counts as one array. And I have only seen SMA operate as an array (it's an interferometer), but every document I can find says SMA has 8 telescopes. UH counts one.
TMT is to be the largest optical telescope in the world. The building is larger than the Houston Astrodome. It's the most massively inappropriate construction you could propose in the conservation district. Mauna Kea was rejected as the site for TMT 15 years ago, it was planned for atacama which is still the backup plan and the most likely site. But the late senator Inouye, pro tempore of the senate and #1 for pork projects, heard that a billion dollar construction project had rejected Hawaii and promised management he could ram the project through despite any opposition, environmental concerns, and prior bad faith agreements. Business as usual.
I observed all the planning to placate and ignore any resistance to the new plans (outreach, propaganda, greenwashing). It's sadly funny to see the fruit of of this deception proferred by useful idiots, even here in this thread.
And while grafty politicians love bloaty go nowhere construction projects, the sad reality is there is little commitment to fund the subsequent operation of science projects. Science budgets are trimmed every year by every world goverment paying (reluctantly) for telescope operations. My telescope forced employees (up all night) to buy their own coffee so as not to be accused of squandering the ever shinking operating budget on non-essential expenses. TMT has made the situation worse for all telescopes, since they now all have to contract security.
Anyway that's enough for now. Sorry I jumped your snot Glinda, that one missed. I will strive to be more thoughtful.
Aloha
TMT is to be the largest optical telescope in the world. The building is larger than the Houston Astrodome. It's the most massively inappropriate construction you could propose in the conservation district. Mauna Kea was rejected as the site for TMT 15 years ago, it was planned for atacama which is still the backup plan and the most likely site. But the late senator Inouye, pro tempore of the senate and #1 for pork projects, heard that a billion dollar construction project had rejected Hawaii and promised management he could ram the project through despite any opposition, environmental concerns, and prior bad faith agreements. Business as usual.
I observed all the planning to placate and ignore any resistance to the new plans (outreach, propaganda, greenwashing). It's sadly funny to see the fruit of of this deception proferred by useful idiots, even here in this thread.
And while grafty politicians love bloaty go nowhere construction projects, the sad reality is there is little commitment to fund the subsequent operation of science projects. Science budgets are trimmed every year by every world goverment paying (reluctantly) for telescope operations. My telescope forced employees (up all night) to buy their own coffee so as not to be accused of squandering the ever shinking operating budget on non-essential expenses. TMT has made the situation worse for all telescopes, since they now all have to contract security.
Anyway that's enough for now. Sorry I jumped your snot Glinda, that one missed. I will strive to be more thoughtful.
Aloha