Beautiful Universe giveaway contest!

[owenaprhys]

Please Pick me! Please Pick Me!

[aLUNZ]

</lurk>
"I wanna win the book!"
<lurk>

[iFire]

I would enjoy winning... haha

[Brad.C]

I saw the book at Barnes & Noble--its very nice.

Count me in!

[Helioprogenus]

It's hard keeping up with the site. You have to literally check in daily to not fall behind on some special things like this. Well, Hello all, and hope I get the book, but if I don't, whoever gets it, hope you appreciate the grandeur of the universe. If not, for any nihilists out there, I'll trade you the book for some fresh philosophy on life.

[truncheon]

Finally dragging me in from lurker land. I've read your book, I've read your blog, I've heard your interviews. I'll take that book off your hands, too!

[Prasanth]

I need the book too, dude,..

[grewwalk]

Well, this seems to have brought many back out from the woodwork (including me.) Good luck to you all (including me!)

[solice]

lucky number 189! I can't lose now

[Freyalyn]

And I'd like to win the book too, please....

[Dr Nigel]

Yes, please, BA.

[smzarba]

I would like for someone else to win this great.....oh, oops...Too late. I guess I WOULD love to have it!
Z

[selarion]

maybe you can sign your name on the cover before you mail it
thanks for offering this prize!

[Corina]

I am in South-Africa; may I win the book?

[Starhawk99]

Love to have this book, Thanks. Vance Booker

[cmb62]

Hi-

The book looks pretty cool. I want it!

Thanks.

[LyleDAL]

I love reading the blog. I'll love it even more if I win the book.

[rwedens]

Hello everyone, I just registered today and this is my first post. Now, BA, can I have the book??

[frenat]

I want the book.

[DoktorOfSpace]

Sign me up! I love astronomy books!

[PiperKev]

Ooooooh! Ooooooh! Pick me! Pick me!

[Dori]

Me! Me! ME!!! I LOVE astronomical photography!

[CafeenMan]

Give me the damn book!









Please?

[rweekley1]

Thanks for the chance for the book

[sirjonsnow]

I hope it's half as good as your book!

(pick me, pick me!)

[RichV]

I'll take it. Thanks.

[skyeman1]

Hey, Phil ---

I love books -- and I've loved Astronomy since age 4 when I asked my Dad in the middle of the day if he could point out the Moon. And he did! It was right up there! And I was intrigued that people could see the Moon in broad daylight if they only knew where to look (and if the phase was right, of course!). (We were in Arizona at the time -- very clear skies. Now we're in L.A.)

And I've done the same thing with my son: shown him how to find the Moon in the daytime sky. Sometimes it's a contest -- who can find it first. Sometimes he wins, even though *I* know the phase and where to look. Ah, nothing like young eyes! (He's 7.) Sometimes my wife wins!

But I'd really like the book to share with him. I've been a lecturer at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles since 1976, but upon the reopening, the Director hired ACTORS to "perform" the very glitzy, highly-scripted, video-animated 30 minute feature, where the video portion cost approximately $2000/second. No kidding.

8 of us lecturers are in stasis right now, waiting for a chance to talk to people about the skies again, since the current show does NOT give ANY current sky information -- the great new planetarium projector (about $7M) doesn't even show the current night sky during the show!

Just before the reopening, for 3 or so years during our renovation, we lecturers were lecturing in a mini-planetarium set up near the L.A. Zoo. We had small audiences (no more than about 20 people at a time, or the mini-dome got too hot), but using Starry Night projected on the dome, we whizzed around the Universe or just sat under the night sky, and we answered people's questions about the sky -- something that the current ACTORS can't do.

And people gained a connection to the sky.

My son was enthralled, and from about age 4, he was able to operate the computer and Starry Night AND run the iTunes for the music, just like dear old Dad (me!) had done in the show. He duplicated the same thing without the dome at home on our laptop and desktop computers.

But the last time I lectured was in early September. And he's used Starry Night only a couple of times since then. We've looked at a couple things through the telescope, we've seen the Moon in the daytime sky a few times, he's now recognizing Venus coming back into the night sky, and I'll show him Mercury before it disappears. We've seen MANY Iridium flares by running out into our alley at a moment's notice.

But I think that he's stopped dreaming about the sky (he's actually slipping into Math more than astronomy.) My hope is that a copy of that wonderful book can help him to dream again about things bigger than he is. He reads well, but I would guide him through it with the same sorts of yarns I used to spin in the planetarium. And hopefully, it will spark his interest again.

Last year at a talent show at school (not a contest, just a display of talent), he recited pi to 30 decimal places from memory.
(Pick the file you can best download at
http://members.dslextreme.com/users/scooperman/_images )
This year, he's going to show how to make magic squares.

But my hope is that NEXT year, we'll set up a telescope at his school, and HE will yak about what the audience can see in the sky. And maybe, Universe-willing, I'll be lecturing again under the big dome at Griffith Observatory.

He deserves the chance to dream again and see the sights that a telescope in Los Angeles can't show him.

So that's why I'd like the book -- mainly for him.

--- Steve >>>>

[NASA Fan]

I would like to win too. I only have two feet of astronomy/space related books, I need some more.

[vettemama65]

Sign me up! This is great!!

[brianok]

Include me in the contest