| Owner | Item |
Minutes
The meeting started at 7:15 pm.
The estate of Bill Hillman (an SAS member since 1950 who passed away last year) would
like to donate some equipment that he had. One item is a 24" mirror, originally from
an astronomy club in Wisconsin. It is a large, good quality mirror, however it has
been sitting unused for around 20 years.
There were also some small scopes, such as 60mm refractors, and a 8 inch Newtonian.
Also, there were some mirror blanks and reference flats, and an assortment of
eyepieces.
Bill's family has asked for a receipt. We will look up prices for comparable items
and come up with a reasonably accurate total for the donation.
On a separate note, Randy mentioned that the Webfoot Web mailing list has been
moved to a faster processing queue. Apparently, we had been accidentally placed on
a mass-mailing queue, which had very slow response times. On the new queue, postings
should go out to members in almost real time.
There will be a star party afterwards at Rattlesnake Lake. Moonrise is about midnight.
Also, on non-summer nights we can hold club star parties there, so long as we give the
parks department advance notice.
There are many benefits:
One problem is that the company is a recently-launched startup (less than a year
old). Although it looks like a promising business model, and the company founders
have a reputable history with other companies, that is substantial risk.
The other problem, of course, is the price. It is around $6 per member per year
(less than that for a brief introductory period). This is a great service, but
it would be expensive (~$1500 right now).
Ultimately, the decision was that it was too big to make any moves in this
direction without express approval of club members. Especially in the wake of
the decision to stop mailing the newsletter as a way to reduce costs. This
web service would just about replace that cost exactly. It's not clear that
it gives us (or members) enough of a benefit right now.
We will canvas opinions from club members before moving forward.
8:20 - Meeting Ends
Previous Minutes
Previous minutes not ready yet! Not yet approved.
Newsletter
Saurabh and Rose are editing the newsletter. How many to print? 50-60 per month for now.
Randy Johnson
Randy Johnson came by, he had a few items to discuss.
Trailsfest
It is Saturday July 10th starting at 8am, and lasting until the evening. Mike, Janice
and Steve will be there.
Banquet
As per last meeting: we do need a banquet chair. We are reserving the Rock Salt for this
year.
Club Website
Jim has been investigating a website that we might want to use for the club:
http://www.clubexpress.com. They take
care of most of the administrative work of running a club, and also provide an
online presence that is easy for us to maintain.