[vsnet-alert 10796] Re: re iya 2009

[Tonny Vanmunster]

If ever an IT company succeeds in developing a spam-filter capable of
filtering out all Greaves emails, it will become 'rich' within a few weeks.

Best regards,
Tonny Vanmunster, a CV-adict

CBA Belgium Observatory
http://www.cbabelgium.com 
 
PERANSO : The Light Curve and Period Analysis Software
http://www.peranso.com

 

-----Original Message-----
From: vsnet-alert-bounces at ooruri.kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp
[mailto:vsnet-alert-bounces at ooruri.kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp] On Behalf Of
bydra at Safe-mail.net
Sent: Friday, December 05, 2008 3:23 PM
To: vsnet-alert at ooruri.kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Subject: [vsnet-alert 10795] re iya 2009

John Greaves somewhat needlessly snided :-

"International Year AgainstCVs"

Well, really, people can observe and look at and study whatever they want,
and hopefully get some enjoyment out of it all.  Let no person ever belittle
the fun aspect of observing of any form or direction.  If folk observe stuff
because they enjoy that observing, so be it.  Whether it not be CVs or it be
CVs.

Heck, the last thing I submitted for publication was confirmation of a CRTS
CV candidate.  The data was there, so I did it.  Instead of just deleting it
I wrote a note.

It's the bias that only CVs can provide science, especially that it's the
only science outlet for amateurs, that sets me off.

A lot of goodly and useful observing work was done on CVs, by both visual
amateurs and CCD amateurs and professionals, late Nineties to early
Noughties.  Brought the whole thing from the obscure to the photometrically
thoroughly defined, and some astrophysics tied down tight along the way.  In
fact it's been so successful there's almost a case of instead of publishing
a whole separate paper on every individual CV's superhump measures, people
ought to collect 'em up and just publish a table/list, like with eclipsing
binary minima or RR Lyr maxima.  It's no big thing anymore.

But the religious zealot aspect of the CV community is somewhat distressing.
Every blip's a candidate CV, all CCDs must be turned upon it, every outburst
must have it's superhumps measured no matter what for the greater good of
science, every noisy piece of asas3 data might be a CV outburst and who
cares if it's a fifty percent or more false alarm rate thus observer time
wasted.  It is detrimental in the long run to the scientific progression of
the amateur astronomy community which has stagnated into this rut.  Well, as
long as they're happy, I suppose.  But they do tend to make noises and ask
questions about how they can do more effective and useful science, so I
dunno, that suggets they might not all be all that happy.

There's a plethora of variables out there, and amateurs nowadays have the
observing skills and the outlets to drum up their own science (and some do
do this, using online survey data, and fewer still their own data) and find
their own way, and the net connections and computers to help themselves
analyse their own work, and even a publication venue or two of utility and
merit.

But everything's a CV, and 'ods Trousers, the world will end unless we
measure it's superhumps.  Let's fill them electron wells with stuff on the
already sorted.

Poor Comrade Citizen Scientist.

Cheers

John

John Greaves