Note to McCain: Overhead projector is not a planetarium projector - Boing Boing: "My friends, during last night's presidential debate, McCain took That One to task for approving funding for an 'overhead projector.' Howard Covitz, who used to work at Chicago's Adler Planetarium, prepared this helpful graphic for McCain to show the difference between an overhead projector and a planetarium projector."
4 comments:
actually, a planetarium projector is usually a high powered dlp projector with a custom fisheye lens, and what is called a projector in the picture is really called a Star Ball. Both are made by the same company and cost about the same. The real difference is the lens, software, and "shows" needed for a digital planetarium.
actually, no, not a star ball, these are quite old and really quite expensive. There are smaller versions that might be what you're thinking of. This is not that.
You're right. I forgot that they made these. They where like the high end star ball still needing two ends for the two half's of the celestial sphere, but basically projected the stars rather than just sending it through small holes. I obviously don't know much about them, but I'm pretty sure you still needed all the other projectors like the artificial horizon, the moon, and constellation outlines, etc; and was still a straight motor driven contraption.
McCain's statement was indeed misleading but it's still not the proper function of the federal government to be funding local planetariums. Nowhere in Article II is the Congress given that mandate. Therefore such things are properly the function of state and local governments, per Amendment X.
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