[Leica] $15,000 Ansel Adams repro

[pklein at 2alpha.net (Peter Klein)]

Q:  How is Ansel Adams like grilled cheese?:

A:
http://cgi.ebay.com/The-Virgin-Mary-appeared-in-my-Ansel-Adams-Picture_W0QQitemZ6197096044QQcategoryZ1447QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

My first reaction was, "very funny."  But. . .

. . .  a couple of weeks ago some folks from the local astronomical society 
set up a telescope in the park where we often walk.  For the first time in 
my life, I saw with my own eyes the four Galilean moons of Jupiter 
simultaneously, along with cloud bands on the big planet itself.

I went online and read the statement that Galileo had to sign in order to 
save himself from torture and possible burning at the stake.  He was given 
the lesser punishment of house arrest for the rest of his life.  It took 
the Church 400 years to apologize for the injustice.  As always happens 
when I think about that sorry incident, it made me very angry.

A day or two later, I heard on NPR a retrospective on the Scopes 
trial.  Some of the townspeople interviewed gave the impression that not 
much has changed since then.  As do a number of people in high places today.

Which brings me back to the grilled cheese sandwich and the $15,000 Ansel 
Adams repro, and why such things are possible.  Even today, four centuries 
after the great Italian scientist saw those little bright dots moving about 
Jupiter, and in the second decade of genome mapping.

Unfortunately, I was not equipped to photograph Jupiter and its moons with 
a Leica.

--Peter