Some financial reading.....

I have been reading a few books recently about Investing -- specifically investing in Index Funds. The first book was "Common Sense in Investing" by John C. Bogle, the legendary founder of Vanguard funds. In that book Bogle tries to explain why investing in Index funds (such as the total market fund or S&P 500 Index fund) is the only way to get a consistent return on investments. Interestingly Warren Buffet, also seems to have similar views which he outlined with his example of the Gotrocks family. Vanguard has a number of funds that fall into this category such as VTI (Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF) and BND (Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF). I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has been investing for a few years and has earned not so good returns.

Just finished reading another book --- "All about Index funds" by Richard Ferri. Although this book deals with the same topic, it attempts to explain the concept of Index funds, various types of Index funds, etc. It also deals with various methods of Indexing and the big players in this arena.

Currently I have three more books on Finance, one on Forex trading which I am reading right now. I also hope to read another book that I have borrowed dealing with Asset Allocation. I have been dealing with stocks and bonds for quite some time but Forex for me is a completely new topic.

However, the book that I just borrowed and the one that seems most interesting is "Green with Envy". It essentially deals with the 'Keeping up with the Joneses' mentality i.e. looking at your neighbors and comparing your standard of living with them. Unfortunately, many of us too often fall for this mentality and in trying to keep with our neighbors, end up spending a lot more on things that do not contribute to our long term benefit. I will post a review of this book once I am done reading.

More Telescope making stuff.

Forgot to post last time that my plans also call for a 4-5" Newtonian scope with a focal ratio of f/4 to f/5. This could be scope that I could carry wherever I go.

Again, all these are just plans at the moment and I hope to put them into action someday. I am really looking forward to the Foucalt testing workshop which is being hosted nest week by our local astronomy club.

My telescope making progress

I am in the process of making a Rich Field Telescope (RFT) for the last 1.5 years. The mirror is almost ready (I would say 99% ready). Specs for the scope are 6" mirror diameter and planned focal ratio was 5. The actual focal length turned out to be 30.5" making the focal ratio 5.08 which is very close to what I had originally planned.

I did the rough and fine grinding and then came the part of making the pitch lap. That is a very messy and smelly process. Basically, I had to bring the pitch (in common language asphalt which is used to make the roads) to a boil and then poured it onto the tool used to grind the mirror. Finally, using Cerium Oxide (CeO) as the powder to polish, I did the polishing for approx. 10+ hours. Lastly was the figuring part. I think I have completed the figuring however, I need to test the mirror more. Our local astronomy club is hosting a ATM meet on 22nd Sept on Foucault testing. I hope to test and then subsequently complete the mirror.

I also have a partially completed 4" f/13 refractor. The achromatic lens is a Vixen sourced lens and the other parts are made from PVC pipes and other stuff from the local home depot store. I have dismantled the scope and hope to purchase a proper lens cell to complete the scope. With the superb lens that this is, I need to do some justice to it by having good components for the scope.

Also, one person from the local astronomy club recently donated a large collection of ATM supplies to the club which the club is selling at a discounted price. I have ordered a 12" diameter 2.5" thick Pyrex blank using which I intend to make a f/5 or f/6 Dobsonian. My current 6" scope would serve as a test for this 12" scope.

Finally, my long term plans also call for something around 10" f/8 or so scope which I intend to mount permanantly. I could scrap this plan if my refractor turns out to be a good scope in which case I would mount that. Currently scouting for a place to do the same.

First blog

This is my first posting on a blog. I hope to start posting more often.....

It is about 12:35am Central time on a Saturday night and I am sitting in front of this computer trying to post something sensible.