Intelligence Many stargazers I know harbor vague misgivings about their hobby.
Neighbors wander over to their telescopes and wonder of they can see into their windows.
Still, all of this is a little scary to a person who has no greater desire than to look at some enormously distant, fuzzy things out their in the inky depths of space. The issue becomes more troubling when one considers a December 11 report in the Chicago Tribune. Apparently, the boy took to school a plastic telescope school officials thought looked like a weapon. According to John Hoekstra, administrative assistant to the district's superintendent, the child had earned the telescope through volunteer work with his Cub Scout pack. For his foul deed, the suffering second grader received a ten-day suspension, later reduced to one day, as if that somehow lessens the shame and confusion of the child.