Reviewing the Seestar S50 Smart Telescope

When I purchased the Seestar S50 last March 2024, I had high hopes, and initially, the telescope met or exceeded these expectations. As a nature photographer, I enjoy photographing new things. However, astrophotography always proved difficult. I was seeking something I could remove from the box and, after some initial setup, immediately target the desired object—whether that object was within or without our solar system.  At first, the telescope worked as described. I could set it up, which includes calibration of the compass, adjusting the level, and syncing to iPhone, and then instruct it to Go to the Moon. It went off with some pretty satisfying results. Even without photo stacking, the quality was a notch or two above acceptable, but not high resolution.  

Then, the updates began. As soon as Seestar began sending updates, the problems started.  The first issue became an inability to go to the moon.  The telescope would go to within .01% of the location and stop.  If one gave up and canceled the mode and tried manually navigating to the moon, it would appear much like the sun without the appropriate filtering.  I tried reporting the issue, and Seestar support was quite awful, acting as if this was an entirely new issue for them.  Of course, I knew from my Facebook Seestar groups that this was a known bug resulting from a bad update.  Seastar demanded screenshots, reported tax liabilities, personal secrets, etc.; you get the idea. They were not the picture of cooperation and helpfulness they liked portraying themselves as.

So, to add insult to injury for purchasers of this $500 bunch of optics and chips, Seestar decides to send additional updates before fixing this problem.  While this update includes “cute” starfield effects, sadly nothing remotely helpful to address the prior issue.  Meanwhile, I learned a workaround in one of the FB groups by which you can go to a deep space item first and then successfully go to the moon. I have no idea why this usually works, but it does.  Still, instead of having the equivalent of a new car with all the bells and whistles, it’s feeling more and more like a Vega.

The next issue developed with yet another update. I didn’t even recognize it until others mentioned it; I assumed it was the cold. The telescope’s visual output goes dark after about half an hour of viewing. Again, this may be a temporary issue addressed with a future update or a convoluted workaround. Still, as of right now, it seems yet another user stumbling block to enjoying the purchased product.

It's an interesting (modern) problem in that today's unit is not the same machine it was described as when purchased; it has been fundamentally altered by incompetent user updates—error built upon error, rushed to production. On a side note, ZWO, a Chinese company, manufactures this telescope. If you’re anything like me, you’re trying to avoid buying goods from China and instead opt for US or European options.

So, what do Seestar S-50 owners do with a telescope that seems incompetently supported? One thing is for sure: I would steer clear of any other products from this company, particularly until they demonstrate competence in updating all their product lines.

Update: One lesson I recently learned about this telescope was the importance of shutting down and completely recalibrating after each move from one part of the property to the next--even on the same night.  Doing this last time seemed to improve performance quite a bit.

Saint Faustina and a New Catholic

I've been participating in a Sunday morning class/discussion group on Saint Faustina, which raises some interesting points. (First, you can learn more about this video series from the Augustine Institute here.) We came into the Catholic Church from the Protestant tradition, and I don’t accept "new" things easily. However, one of the reasons we ultimately joined the Catholic Church was the ministry of John Paul the Great. In short, when I understood that this man supported this message and, in fact, made it his life’s mission no less, it seemed apparent that there must be great truth in what Saint Faustina brought to the Church.

 

I have always been interested in eternal time, and a tiny facet of our Sunday discussion hit upon this concept. I tried to go back to the video we viewed to watch the section of interest again, but this is something my parish purchased. I then thought, well, I will view a video of the August 17, 2002, dedication of the Divine Mercy Shrine in Krakow-Langiewniki, Poland, but that was easier said than done. Several sites had John Paul the Great’s Homily, but no one had the event video. After an hour of searching online, I changed my search terms to Polish via an online translator. This brought me to the link below; I only found one.

 

After all of this drumroll, I am not sure my humble observation is worth sharing. So, the video from the Augustine Institute that I mentioned in the first paragraph explained that the dedication itself fulfilled the prophecies of Saint Faustina. This raises an interesting question. Assuming that the prophecies were indeed fulfilled, were they fulfilled to a degree through John Paul the Great’s own knowledge and readings of the saint’s predictions before that day or by something more external? In other words, was this a self-fulfilling prophecy? (Another similar example of this is found in the Third Secret, which concerns killing or grave injury to a pope.  Were the prayers of the faithful for John Paul the Great following the assassination attempt enough to alter one unfixed possible outcome of the world's timeline?)

 

But then I considered a difference between fulfilled prophecy between Judeo-Christian and, say, those revealed by Greek tragedies. Take Sophocles’ Oedipus, for instance; while the man at the center of the Oracle of Delphi indeed did those terrible things, his involvement in his own demise was shut off from him; he was not a party to the knowledge. (Of course, that's the point with Oedipus, but you find a similar sort of non-voluntary cooperation in the tragedies.) On the other hand, consider passages such as the one below.

 

10  Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. * 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says: ‘You shall indeed hear but never understand, and you shall indeed see but never perceive. 15 For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are heavy of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn for me to heal them.’ 16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17  Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

 

PRESS, IGNATIUS. Ignatius Bible: Revised Standard Version - Burgundy - Second Catholic Edition (p. 2434). Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition.

 

There is an interesting sense in which a person (such as John Paul the Great) is invited to participate in God’s plan of free will. In contrast, Greek literature may betray a different, more predestined sense. Of course, looking beyond the tragedy genre, we see examples in Greek literature where the protagonists use the information from the oracle for their own advantage, such as when Odysseus visits Teiresias. I don’t believe this sort of cooperation lessens the significance of an associated prophecy being fulfilled. In fact, I think the voluntary cooperation may even further solidify it.*

The video also touches on coincidences, saying there is no such thing in God's plan. While this may be a slight overstatement, it's largely accurate. It also holds true for the author. Nothing more quickly sends a work of fiction to the trash than the author relying on haphazard coincidences to move the plot forward. Of course, this only makes sense since God is the Author with a capital A. This introduction to Saint Faustina, however, does have a way to infuse one's imagination with the mysteries that constantly surround us.

 

Other interesting dimensions of the dedication, such as the eternal time dimension, make nice content for another post. Still, due to the associated links, these few paragraphs have already taken most of the evening.

 

Related Links

The Dedication Service

The Poland Trip (including homily)

John Paul the Great's Page on Vatican Site

Saint Faustina / Mary Faustina Kowalska

Saint Faustina Resources on Catholic Answers

Saint Faustina Diary (Amazon)

*Having begun writing on this topic, the complexity is potentially more significant than I realized. Possibly not the best observation for a blog post.

A Legacy of the Arts (Colliers)

 

John Collier's The Annunciation

I invite you to drop by and visit the new Legacy of the arts page created and dedicated to three generations of my wife's family (and my wife): Carroll Collier, John Carroll Collier & Mildred Collier, and Kimberly Erickson.  

A Legacy of the Arts

New Online Photo Gallery / Studio

 

It's been a long time coming, but I have finally put together an online place for people to browse or purchase my nature photos.  The original idea was as an aid for the homesick Pacific Northwesterner, but anyone can benefit from a nice framed photograph on the wall.

If there's a particular photo (not appearing) that you might be interested in, feel free to reach out.  

I hope to see you around!  

Pacific Northwest Photography by Karl Erickson

Reflections on Nearly Thirty Years with Kaiser Permanente

 

This isn't going to be a particulaly long post, but it occurred to me that this might be helpful to other members out there. First of all, I have got to say I am very thankful to have had health insurance always available for our family. Even when traveling out of state or country, we knew we always had options for care and treatment. Secondly, with the exception of a single orthopedic treatment issue involving my hands (concerning prior orthopedic physician and not current), health care for the last few years has been pretty good. That said, here is a sampling of the Kaiser issues we have dealt with over the years.

• Declined emergency care or triage due to one Kaiser facility's closure.  Family member removed from second facility by ambulance.
• Severe hand/arm infection misdiagnosed by doctor almost leading to serious complications due to length of time infection had been going (and the introduction of predinisone).
• Misdiagnosis and incorrect treatment for repeated sinus infections.  Evidence of doctor not thoroughly reviewing treatment challenges in past episodes.  I finally discovered the underlying cause.
• Complaint filed due to rude behavior and profanity by doctor during routine visit.
• Orthopedic issue with hands incorrectly characterized with no assistance offered to point of locking fingers.  Changed doctors, and the issue is gone.

There is a reason that HMO treatment is sometimes referred to as assembly-line medicine.  The patient is often pigeonholed into the wrong category due to first impressions that are hard to break.  What I have learned over the years is that one really has to be responsible for ensuring the quality of care is correct.  Often it seems the nurse practitioners are the ones who have provided me some of the most thorough care over the years.  One of these also remarked that it's the patient who often knows the best when a particular treatment is not working or even what may be worth trying.

Bottom line, you have to be your own advocate with Kaiser--just like any other HMO.  That may likely mean fighting for the care you deserve at times and not accepting what you're told.  It doesn't necessarily mean changing HMOs, as I believe you'e likely to encounter these issues in most of these systems.

On the plus side for Kaiser, I will say we had the best pediatrician one could ever have.  He even went to bat with us regarding a particular issue with one of the kid's schools.  He was awesome.

Facebook's Incompetence Followed by my Ambivalence

 

I have always known that God has a sense of humor.  After all, why else would an English major and all-around arts guy become a Tax Auditor (for the second time)?  Life is a mystery.  The other one I have been pondering over the last few years is when I was going to throw in the towel on Facebook.  From articles such as "Facing the Truth About Facebook" to "Is Technology Making Us Rude" and "The Connection Illusion," I have been lamenting what social media has done both to our minds (deep thought lost) and our culture (neighbors forgotten in favor of "connections").  I have repeatedly asked myself when I was going to pull the plug.  Well, that answer may have just been made for me.

A few days ago, I decided to spend just a few dollars on Facebook to promote my new photography portfolio.  Strangely, Facebook sent me a warning about one of my related posts possibly containing copyrighted images.  Well, duh, they are copyrighted, and I hold the copyrights.  Early the following morning (I think on a Saturday), I received another message.  It looked similar to the first, and it said I needed to click through the message to confirm some things about my promoted post.  Of course, that's when all the trouble started.  Being barely awake, I clicked.  Here's how I have been describing it online the past few days.

When someone announces they’re being banned from Facebook, it’s hardly front-page news.  Yawn….  I’ve decided that it might be a good idea to share my particular (brief) situation, however, mainly because I’ve noticed that precisely the same thing seems to be happening to many other users.  (See Reddit in particular.)

I fell for a phishing scam a couple mornings ago.  Fortunately, the scammer’s technology didn’t work quite right, and I asked my son for help.  My son (just graduated with a BA in Mechanical Engineering) immediately realized it was a scam.  I tried changing the passwords at once, and it seemed that things were going to be okay.  A short time later, however, I received a message that identity verification was going to be required.  I decided to hit FB's link upon returning from a planned hike on the Oregon Coast.  On the drive back, however, I was notified from a FB friend that the account had been completely removed; I was banned.

The message I received the following day shed further light on it.  FB apparently linked my account with the scammer’s Instagram—the person who briefly hijacked my Facebook. So, not only am I dealing with changing my debit card and bank passwords (checking account was breached from FB via saved debit card info), changing cell phone number, reorganizing how I use e-mail with my bills, but I’m also attempting to un-ban myself from FB.  Rather…I am deciding if I want to remain with Facebook by choice; I am presently feeling a tad ambivalent about it.  I have even written articles in the past about leaving Facebook, but being sloppily linked with a crook by some algorithm is not my idea of an ideal departure from social media—particularly if I decide to run for state office again.  If I leave, I would prefer to leave on my own terms; thank you very much.

Tried filing a BBB complaint yesterday, but I'm not holding my breath.  Been doing releases of a sort to a couple consumer protection related media outlets in case they might be interested.  Hoping for a call back perhaps from one particular nationally syndicated radio show.  I’ve also tried jumping through FB's little hoops (such as appeal@fb.com and abuse@fb.com), but there's not even a rudimentary acknowledgment of e-mails.  (As a guy who used to be a real hearings representative, it's a little amusing.) Today, I attempted to write Nicholas Clegg, but not sure any of the e-mail permutations were successful in reaching their desired target.  

Bottom line…this is less about me, and more about the fact that this seems to be an increasingly regular way that FB conducts itself.  No one should be guilty until proven innocent—even in the deceptively antiseptic blue and white halls of Meta.  

For a little insight into the location of these Nigerian scammers, here is their physical trail.  Apparently this kind of tracking is a bridge too far for Facebook's tech folks; it's bewildering.  I mean...what do they do?

A Review of Cabrini: The Very Good, the Really Good, & the Not so Good

Double-click for trailer.

In case you missed it, there's a new movie released this month.  It's worth your time. Cabrini tells the true story of Saint Frances Cabrini who worked tirelessly for those poor and forgotten souls the city had forgotten.  Cabrini, an immigrant from Italy, arrived in New York on March 3, 1889 along with six of her fellow nuns.  Their intent was to simply start an orphanage with the blessing of Pope Leo XIII, but she ended up accomplishing so much more--from orphanages to modern hospitals.

Some have argued that this movie is dark or that it glorifies feminism.  I can understand the dark critique, but its subject matter is one of the darkness of the inner city, of inhumanity to man.  I avoid movies that are dark in tone without a larger purpose, but movies that contain dark imagery to underscore hard-fought battles won or for other legitimate purposes can serve a positive purpose in bringing us knowledge and understanding of those who have done good (or ill) for others under extraordinarily difficult circumstances--such as Cabrini.  Yes, if it's a Batman movie where you can hardly make out the characters due to the scenes being continually so dark simply for a glorification of violence, count me out, but this is something quite different.

Sculpture by my father-in-law of Cabrini.

 Another criticism of the movie is that it promotes feminism.  I think this is patently untrue.  Catholic tradition--and Italian culture in particular-- are full of strong women of faith.  Just because women can't be priests, of course, doesn't mean that they can't have other powerful and meaningful roles within the Church and their families.  Catholic teaching, after all, does contain a certain woman we think pretty highly of: Mary.  Mary wasn't afraid of saying yes to God and risk stoning for being with child before her marriage to Joseph.  She and Joseph further risked life and limb in their travels to Egypt.  Even being present at the foot of the holy cross may have placed her at risk--in addition to the agony of anguish.  God often calls incredibly strong and brave women, and this doesn't mean that we are arguing for feminism in some way.

I'm not always a fan of Angel Studios, however.  It's true that I think that Director Alejandro Gomez Monteverde hit this one out of the park, but I do think Angel Studios could improve their practices in a few ways.  First, the previews before the movie are repeated pleadings for advanced ticket sales for their upcoming motion pictures.  The movies featured immediately convey everything that is wrong with Christian film: stereotyped characters, overly sentimental scenes, preachy and political undertones, over the top plots, etc.  By showing the trashy stuff before a long film like Cabrini (almost 2 and a half hours), it lowers audience expectations and disrespects the audience as well.  As it was, for instance, one of our party had to leave just before the ending out of concern for an old pet in her home; it was l-o-n-g.  Add to this, Angel Studios is selling all manner of knock-offs from the movie on their site.  From tacky jewelry to other assorted nicknacks; it's tacky.  I love this movie, but it's like the production company needs to grow up a bit and stop behaving like a spoiled brat.

Double-click to go to a Cabrini photo site,