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Potential restrictions to Mauna Kea access
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07-16-2015, 06:15 PM
i don't know about comparing Okinawa to Hawaii's mix. maybe i missed something, but during a visit i didn't see anything remotely comparable to the active diversity here. anyway, i noticed Okinawa has their own rather nutty sovereignty activist fringe.
07-16-2015, 07:10 PM
HOTPE wrote, quite reasonably:
"If there was a business opportunity available where you could make $1 per second, don't you think there would be privately funded telescopes being built to rake in the profits?" On average, optical/IR telescopes observe about 10 hours per night annually on Mauna Kea. For the Kecks, one dollar per second equates to about $36,000 a night for each telescope, or about $70,000 total, per night. If you multiply that by roughly 300 (several nights can't be used due to engineering work), that's a little over $20 million a year for pure operational costs alone. Add in instrumentation and telescope development, you're now adding on about five to ten million bucks (a typical advanced near-infrared instrument generally costs about ten to fifteen million dollars to build, although it'sspread over a small number of years). So let's just say it's $25 million annually. That's about correct by the way. Can't help thinking that the "rent observatories charge" some continue to "report" ends up being so close to the actual operational costs that the conspiracy theory they are trying to construct is likely to get nowhere. As for the stuff Newgirl posted about Yale, no Yale did not pay $12 million for 15 nights on the Kecks. Even the article you quote doesn't say that. Yale became a scientific partner for the Kecks and contributed $12 million for roughly 150 nights over ten years. That's roughly a half a year of observing time. Oh look, half a year of Keck time costs roughly $12 million in operational and instrument costs. Just what you would expect. See above.
07-16-2015, 09:12 PM
Emergency rules are in effect, protesters are still by the VIS, only 4WD vehicles are allowed above the VIS but there's no one there to enforce that nor check people for the highly illegal and irresponsible behavior of taking a sleeping bag to the summit after 10pm.
What was the point of the emergency restrictions again? 
07-17-2015, 01:19 AM
At least they withdrew making blankets illegal on Mauna Kea. Many people consider their blankets to be sacred.
07-17-2015, 07:35 AM
quote: I should have been more clear. I'm aware of a large Okinawan population here, which is rare in places where large number of Asians tend to congregate. One of large diverse group that has settled here is what I meant to imply. 
07-17-2015, 05:09 PM
Things are really heating up-up there. What? It's snowing? Oh the Irony.
One Thing I can always be sure of is that things will never go as expected.
07-17-2015, 07:49 PM
Just saw a comment posted in response to the following article in the West Hawaii Today about the snow on Mauna Kea:
http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/news/loca...-blanketed "If the TMT goes up, I can be that this type of thing won't happen anymore. That monstrosity will block the trough's moving through the island as well as the winds. It will throw everything off." I fear for our future. 
07-18-2015, 05:48 AM
That monstrosity will block the trough's moving through the island as well as the winds.
TomK, The future could indeed appear bleak if this is the comment of an undereducated person, but have you considered that perhaps she is a highly skilled meteorologist from West Hawaii who has finally taken the time to weigh in on this issue? And not just any generic meteorologist, but a Psychic Meteorologist! who can predict weather patterns into the distant future, after the TMT is built. Even the Old Farmers Almanac only published their forecasts a year in advance, basing predictions on such sure fire methods as wooly bear caterpillar activity, and the thickness of fur on red foxes. But we have an island forecaster willing to go on record about troughs and winds well into the next decade, taking into account the monstrous bulge of the TMT sticking out the north flank of Mauna Kea. The TMT is far larger than a wooly bear or red fox, so should cast a greater impact on the weather, and it doesn't move (except dome) so reduces the butterfly effect* which further reduces the variables needed in any calculations. Assuming calculations are needed to determine future trough and wind patterns. I look forward to her new website "Shalee's Post-TMT Big Island Weather Predictions and Other Stuff," with search capabilities for when you have to plan an outing well beyond a Guy Hagi Extreme Weather First Forecast: August 14, 2025 Without TMT - Beach Day! August 14, 2025 With TMT - Drought, No beer on sale at KTA, chance of 4.2+ Earthquake * Chaos Theory - A butterfly flapping its wings in South America can affect the weather in Central Park.
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
07-18-2015, 05:54 AM
quote: It appears to me, humanity likes to take two steps forward then a step backwards. We are in a time of backwards movement as a species. Well that's what I tell myself every time i head to walmart and the post office and see people who can't even follow the direction of the arrows or the do not enter signs. My advise, just smile, nod and hope we make it through the next dark ages with much of the knowledge we have accumulated.
07-18-2015, 06:38 PM
Thanks, guys. HOTPE, you've outdone yourself, what an entertaining read, thank you! Mtviewdude, good advice, and don't think you're far off the mark.
Anyway, lots of stuff out there asking if the snow has been tested for chemicals that were sprayed from the sky. That's not part of my job, guv. |
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