Continued from previous message.

    Also celebrating Einstein is Cornelia Street Cafe'. It's 
art/science series has skits on the chap, I don't know just what the 
performance is, but for $10 for a Greenwich Village show, you'll be 
well taken care of. 
    Allies in Space, a coalition of several astronomy and space 
centers, sponsors a special presentation by Dr Neil Tyson on April 
2nd. He speaks on 'America's future in space' at the American Museum 
of naural History. NYSkies is one of the cosponsors, of course, in its 
mission to encourage and promote astronomy (which includes space). So, 
check the April 2nd item, come on down, hear a great lecture, meet 
with fellow NYSkiers and other astronomers. 
    The Northeast Astronomy Forum, on 16 and 17 April, is the biggest 
gathering of dealers and vendors for home astronomy. You see, inspect, 
even try all the gadgets you see in advertising pictures! Yes, NYSkies 
has a booth; be sure to stop by for a visit. 
    Earth Day, 22 and 23 April, this year is in Vanderbilt Av, next to 
Grand Central Terminal. The fair runs on Friday and Saturday, not 
Saturday and Sunday like in prior years. The fair brings together a 
diverse coalition of eco/enviro, nature, and civic groups working to 
make New York a better capital of our home planet. Come on over, rain 
or shine, to the NYSkies booth. 

Sky News 
 ------
    Be sure to advance, nove ahead or forward, your clocks on Sunday, 
April 3rd, for Daylight Savings Time! It's easiest to do this on 
Saturday the 2nd when you go to bedt. That way your clocks will show 
the correst time when you wake up on Sunday. Be specially careful 
about this if you're fixing to go to events on Saturday and Sunday! 
    Saturn is still the object of wonder, now joined in the later 
evening by Jupiter. Jupiter is near Spica, so the old saw is now 'Arc 
to Arcturus and jump to Jupiter'. Mercury put on a good show during 
his eastern elongation on a steep ecliptic. NYSkiers found him in deep 
twilight with little trouble except for high skyline. 
    We had several good flyovers of the International Space Station in 
evening hours. On the clear occasions, the spacecraft glided over the 
skyscrapers, as NYSkers pointed it out to cityfolk. 
    We're all pumped up for gamma Virginis! This binary rounds 
periastron in May 2005. For over a year now the two stars were too 
close for most small scopes to resolve; the star was a single dot. At 
periastron they stand but 1/4 arcsecond apart! It'll be a yearish 
before they recede far enough for small instruments to reveal. gamma 
Virginis is one of the few instances in home astronomy where we can 
actually see real spatial motion of stars. 

City news 
 -------
    The National Football League in  March awarded New York the 2010 
Super Bowl the first time ever the megagame was played here. The game 
is contingent on the new sports arena planned for the Hudson yards 
site, a project under serious contention. This stadium will also be 
the central arena for the 2012 Olympics. 
    On March 16th the entire Manhattan reach of the IRT Lexington Av 
line shut down due to repeated power cuts. Water and salt (from snow 
melt) seeped into 33rd St station thru an access hole to short out 
power and signal cables. This hole was cut in 1993 during a rehan 
project and apparently was improperly patched closed. 
    In normal operation, this line moves about 1-1/2 million riders on 
a weekdoay. It is by far the busiest single transit line in the world. 
    Commerce Bank on April 1st ends indidelity fees for its 
customers and also starts REIMBURSING FOR FEES CHARGED TO THEM BY 
FOREIGN BANKS! The scheme in the City is that a fee is charged by BOTH 
your and the foreign bank when you use a foreign ATM. Commmerce is in 
effect making all ATM transaction FREE for its customers, regardless 
of which ATM they use. 
    This new program may seems sillly because each charge is a dollar 
or so per transaction. It adds up. In 2004 Commerce customers paid to 
foreign banks about $40 miilion in such fees. Check with your local 
COmmerce Bank office. 
    Every year there is some silliness about the St Patrick's Day 
parade, the oldest parade in the City. This year, it's the 
firefighters's turn. In the past, firefighters in the parade wore a 
knit green beret. Higher ups decreed that only regulation uniforms may 
be worn, without the beret. 
    After the usual fire-spitting, some 1,200 firefighters boycotted 
the arade! They massed up on the stoop of the Metropolitan Museum in 
civvies -- AND THE BERETS!! The command was that thay can not MARCH 
eith the berets; it said nothing about being spectators with them. 
    As part of the Olympic bid, the City issued 'Olympics' subway 
maps. These are the 2005 update of the 2004 map with the future 
Olympic sites plotted on it. Some of the places are not built yet, 
like the Hudson Yards stadium and the Atlantic Yards arena. By late 
March, these maps were running out. You could be too late. 
    As an index of the improvement of the City as a wildligfe 
habitat, the New York Aquarium on March 18th put out a report on 
harbor seals. In 2004 the seals, migrating here from Canada and 
Quebec, set up new nests in Staten Island waters and on Hudson River 
side of Manhattan in the 50s. An estimated 500 to 800 seals now 
inhabit City waters, from Mt St Vincent to Far Rockaway, from City Is 

 Continued in next message.

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