Btw. she put many awesome photos of the observatory on her flickr stream: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sondy/
some are categorized in albums:
* Flying over Arecibo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sondy/sets/72157642216845184/
* Sunday Platform Tour: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sondy/sets/72157633399446014/
* Arecibo Observatory: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sondy/sets/72157631700960474/
* The Platform After Dark: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sondy/sets/72157631824663769/
* Sunset from the Lidar Lab: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sondy/sets/72157632834643572/
an old Sun Sparc workstation: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sondy/8111297074/in/set-721576... and https://www.flickr.com/photos/sondy/13952717471/in/set-72157...
3D: http://s15.postimg.org/5czp6yi6j/are_04.jpg
point cloud: http://s21.postimg.org/3nvdz80vb/are_03.jpg
3D: http://s15.postimg.org/4lk04gwwb/are_06.jpg
point cloud: http://s23.postimg.org/4mrgn0daz/are_05.jpg
3D top: http://s30.postimg.org/6jfoha3fl/are_08.jpg
3D side: http://s30.postimg.org/3n6fm81r5/are_10.jpg
(based on Flying over Arecibo photos, see above)
a close-up 3D model: http://s2.postimg.org/4rblqbnwp/are_12.jpg
related point cloud: http://s2.postimg.org/pqdgt84i1/are_11.jpg
..based on 500 public photos, taken between 2000-2014 by tourists - sadly that means the receiver moved around. So if you can capture hundreds of photos please go and upload the photos on flickr.com
Some scientists are unhappy. The complaints I have heard are that these less-centralized telescopes allowed small investigations to get off the ground, and the new ones are large consortia.
For more: http://news.sciencemag.org/2012/08/major-u.s.-telescopes-fac...
This seems so absurd. Why cant NSF facilities be insured?
Overall Paul Allen has contributed more than $30 million to the project.
He may not know yet that Arecibo Observatory needs help though :/Triva: he is also looking for a wife http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IM0SvIiMI4
There are 7 billion people on the planet. Isn't it time that the 1 billion of us who appear super rich to the other 6 billion, do little more?
Wouldn't it be great if there was a better way to contribute to "citizen science", for example?
Ultimately, as evidenced by history, most super-rich reach a stage of life where they realise the riches in themselves were just a way to keep score and large philanthropic contributions ensue.
It's a serious philosophical question; once [1] family financial security and [2]a high quality of life has been secured there is very little left to spend money on other than initiatives that benefit mankind or the natural world.
> once [1] family financial security and [2]a high quality of life has been secured
.. you stop focusing on accumulating more wealth - unless those aren't the real goals, and the driving force is something less wholesome. There are natural limits on the wealth a sane person can achieve, unless they inherit or get incredibly (un?)lucky, but numbers can keep rising long after they lost any connection to anything "real", and just like in gaming, people can get and stay stuck to that. And as long as they keep "winning", only the very best get a chance to pause and reflect.
(For me, this is the best reason to tax the rich - it's not about revenues per se, rather it is about avoiding extremely dense accumulations of political power.)