"I think one thing people need to understand is planets don't twinkle"

Steve Havas

Mar 30, 2003

(Brent) I call the March Board meeting to order...
(Brent) Item 1 minutes of the last meeting.....comments or questions?
(Gerard) no comments
(Stan) none here
(Steve) nope
(Mary) I read the minutes, they look fine.
(Brent) OK... Item 2 Booklet Report and Funds.... Everyone read Marys report?
(Mary) To review to date: I have mailed 548 booklets, 288 left, 57 videos and 8 CD's. $349.84 on hand for postage and supplies.
(Roger) I have no remaining funds for printing, etc. on hand.
(Brent) No problem Roger.... funds can be sent when needed.... :)
(Mary) opps, looked at my notes, 228 booklets left. sorry
(Stan) Any rush on booklets lately?
(Roger) That's been the case.
(Mary) NONE. A few every couple weeks.
(Mary) Nancy was on the Lou Gentile show, so should get some more orders soon.
(Stan) I guess that will depend on the visibility of the planet
(Gerard) well Stan it seems that there are several reports now of people who saw it
(Gerard) There is a mention of it on the sightings team page
(Stan) I haven't personally seen it myself with 12 x 50 binoculars. I'm being patient
(Steve) I'm still waiting for some clear skies to take a look
(Brent) Seems we've about covered it.....
(Roger) Mary, you are only available for shipping for another month or so, right?
(Mary) Right.
(Mary) End of April.
(Roger) That's what I thought. If we receive a deluge of orders that exceeds Mary's stock, we might need to distribute directly from here in ... rather that add the additional delay of shipping to Mary first.
(Mary) I assumed I would send all booklets and monies back to Nancy at that time.
(Brent) Good point Roger... You would be willing to ship from Kansas then?
(Roger) I would be willing.
(Brent) Mary - yes, or before hand we could arrange to have it shipped directly to Roger, if all agree.
(Roger) Mary could ship her left overs to me at the end of April.
(Mary) What ever works.
(Mary) Nancy directs the requests to me from her headquarters.
(Mary) They could be re directed to you instantly.
(Roger) Of course
(Mary) It only takes a couple days to get to you so the delay would be minimal.
(Brent) Well, depending on the timing of the next board meeting, we could either discuss then, or set up transfer before hand.
(Mary) Assuming the P.O. is still working.
(Mary) Lets place this discussion on next months agenda and get some input from Nancy.
(Brent) Good idea Mary - we'll put it on the next agenda, and discuss with Nancy ahead of time.
(Brent) Any other thoughts or comments?
(Roger) none here
(Stan) none
(Gerard) none
(Mary) none
(Brent) OK, moving on to Item 3 Hawaii server report. Has everyone read my report?
(Gerard) yes
(Steve) yes
(Roger) yep
(Stan) yes, the installation sounded fun
(Mary) no, couldn't find the agenda.
(Brent) Busy with our move this weekend into the new house, and I should be able to set up the server within a week - week and a half.
(Brent) Mary - I'll email you a copy now......
(Mary) ok
(Mary) go ahead with the discussion
(Brent) OK....just sent it to you Mary.
(Mary) got it, just let me print it to read.
(Brent) OK
(Gerard) brent: on cable ?
(Brent) Yes, will hook up to cable modem, then work with Jurian so he can access and configure it for our needs.
(Mary) Looks good, Do you need to be reimbersed for any costs?,
(Brent) No...I'm donateing the time and money for the server expenses.
(Mary) OK. Thanks
(Brent) There may be a cost for a server card so that Jurian can access it directly, instead of useing another computer for interface.
(Brent) it took us about 4 hours last Sunday to do the software. (more)
(Brent) Some of that was my fault....I burned the cd's wrong, and had to reburn them. Fortunately, I still had the download on my friends computer, so saved the download time.
(Brent) Seems like the Wisco server is dead according to Jurian. We'll be making do with the mirror sites, and the Hawaii server when it comes up.
(Brent) Questions or comments?
(Mary) None, good report.
(Steve) no
(Stan) no
(Gerard) no
(Roger) none
(Brent) Ok, thanks....shall we move on to Item 4 Ongoing Projects? First - Acerage Project
(Brent) Hello?
(Roger) Well, not much to report.
(Stan) Have planted a fair amount of peas and fava beans along with a little bit of cabbage. I know Roger wants to get some potatos in the ground
(Roger) Removal of the old weed fabric was done (yesterday) and the ground needs to be stirred up again.
(Stan) Still want to plant some leeks carrots and beets
(Brent) Roger - by "stirred up", you mean tilling?
(Roger) Potatoes are here and ready (5 varieties mixed of early and mid- to late season)
(Roger) Yes Brent, need to re-aeriate the soil to counter the winter settling.
(Stan) Roger we need to coordinate where you want them
(Brent) I see, good.
(Roger) Stay online a bit after the meeting and we can discuss...
(Roger) I have plans for about four different tomatoes in (hopefully) large numbers.
(Stan) ok
(Roger) Will probably try a few beans again and hope for the best.
(Brent) Hope you get some rain at the site....
(Roger) I don't think corn would survive, but if things work out afterwards, then we might be able to get a short season variety up and matured before it gets cold again.
(Stan) we need it badly brent
(Roger) It's coming...
(Brent) Yes indeed.....
(Roger) That's about all (bigger report than I thought it would be).
(Brent) And a nice one it was! Thank you both for a good report!
(Brent) Shall we move on to the next section, Short Wave Report?
(Gerard) yes ok
(Brent) Mary, do you need Shirley's report?
(Mary) Sorry, Yes but go on with the discussion!
(Brent) Mary - it's on it's way..... :)
(Brent) Shirley - comments on my report?
(Mary) got it! printing.
(Roger) none here
(Roger) (not my fortie)
(Roger) opps, fortie = forte
(Mary) Looks good Shirley. Any increased usage due to the war?
(Brent) :)
(Mary) usage=more chatting
(Brent) Shirley: not that I have noticed....but the propogation has been terrible the last few days.
(Mary) Just wait till the satellites go off line! Then you will be busy!! No more questions or comments.
(Brent) OK, thank you Shirley.... Seed Team Project... .comments?
(Roger) Hasn't been any activity since last year.
(Brent) What about packet distribution?
(Brent) Seed Packets? Or has that been completed?
(Roger) I will be going through the inventory shortly to determine the older seed varieties for immediate distribution. My concern is that things like onions have a very short shelf-life and the seed may not germinate.
(Brent) Good thinking.....holding off as long as possable before shipping those.....
(Roger) As far as I know, Nancy still has a few packets left. She forwarded me her list back in January and there have been no updates.
(Brent) So, we are probably getting to the end of the packet distribution it seems.
(Roger) We just aren't seeing any new requests. At this point, any new requests will be the panicky types like we saw back in 1999. I hesitate to distribute to these folks as they will likely wind up miss-using the seed do to lack of knowledge and/or preparation.
(Brent) Yes I agree. Too much work has gone into the seed preperation for it to be wasted on folks who will miss use them.
(Brent) Thank you for that report Roger, very good...
(Roger) welcome
(Brent) I forgot to add to the "ongoing projects" list a brief report from Steve - Rogue Planet Team Sightings....Steve?
(Steve) It looks like there have now been several reports of people being able to see an object at the PX coordinates including one by Nancy.
(Steve) I have a 10x25 binoculars and am familiar with how the starfield looks from my area so will take a look at the first opportunity.
(Stan) I think one thing people need to understand is planets don't twinkle like stars. Many pople may be mistaking stars for the planet

[So why does Nancy say her planet winks at her?]
(Brent) Good point Stan...
(Steve) yes, planets appear more "solid"
(Steve) I don't have any immediate plans to take more images as people seem to be having sightins but may take some more in the next couple of weeks or so.
(Gerard) for what i read yesterday during the zetatalk session is what people will see is the complex.
(Stan) Any ideas on when it will appear as bright as mars in the night sky. Will it?
(Steve) Yes, they should see the whole thing. I think the field of view from the CCD images is now becoming too small to see the whole complex.
(Steve) As Nancy said we should see a progressional increase in size over the coming weeks but I'm not sure of the timeline for when it would become very bright
(Brent) As bright as Mars won't happen till a few weeks before the shift?
(Steve) Also, the date for visibility is just starting now, well, between now and April 11 or so as the poleshift date could be no later than June 1
(Steve) So everyone look when you get a chance!
(Steve) questions?
(Stan) I have been looking nightly
(Gerard) i will
(Gerard) Steve: no questions
(Steve) and you have not seen anything yet stan?
(Stan) nothing but stars
(Steve) what area of stars are you looking at?
(Brent) We've had quite a bit of rain lately, but when it clears up, I will be keeping an eye out!
(Gerard) stan: this page might help http://members.shaw.ca/makeugohmm/where_to_look.htm
(Stan) I printed out the location from zetatalk. I forget the star names Tauri something??
(Brent) Steve - it is between Orion & Taurus, yes?
(Steve) from the location on this map? http://membres.lycos.fr/dcorb/N/path/ZTpath0407-T.gif
(Stan) Yes steve I think so. I also saw a great site from ZetaAstro
(Steve) you're lucky to have clear skies, send some my way!
(Stan) Send some rain my way
(Steve) I don't think it is something that is easy to see right now but hopefully it will become more obvious soon
(Brent) Well, lets all keep an eye out in the next few weeks...
(Steve) I have no additional comments
(Roger) Sorry, I jammed up.
(Brent) Thanks for the report Steve.....
(Gerard) Yes thanks
(Brent) No problem Roger.....I think we are about to wrap it up anyway.
(Roger) Steve, can you repost that second link?
(Brent) if there are no further comments, I will Adjourn the meeting.
(Steve) http://membres.lycos.fr/dcorb/N/path/ZTpath0407-T.gif
(Steve) that one?
(Roger) Thanks!
(Mary) Thanks all. Next month should be interesting!!!
(Steve) very!
(Roger) Oh, that one is not as nice as the first one.
(Mary) Brent, thanks for all the help see ya'll next time.
(Brent) Meeting adjourned....thanks everyone! Good Meeting!

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