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almost allsky exposure.
    If you never rode the supersonic Concorde airliner, you can do so
now. It's open as a new exhibit at the Intrepid Museum on the Hudson
River. With the museum admission, you can walk thru the plane, on a
barge next to the very flattop. You 'ride' the plane as it bobs in the
water. You'll fantacize about being 20 kilometers up flying at Mach 2.
    National Space Society is storming Congress, altho 'Blitz' in
German really is 'flash' or 'lightning', on July 11-13 to support the
Moon, Mars, and Beyond proposal of US president Bush. From the base
motel in Arlington, conventioneers shoot across the Potomac on the
metro to buttonhole senators and represenatives.
    The Summer Star Party runs in central Massachusetts on July 9-18,
operated by Rockland Astronomy Club. The 'Northeast Astronomical
Society'  movement by now is dead.

Skywatching
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    Venus! Venus! Venus!
    The high injected into us by the transit of Venus on June 8th
hasn't worn off yet. So far, only isolated places in the NYSkies
territory reported loss of the event due to clouds. Even where clouds
or haze hid the sunrise, the Sun climbed into clear sky quickly enough
to give an hour or more of good viewing. NYSkies carried many reports
and my PazMiniBits has a table of reports from all over the world.
    Until the transit, June had pretty lousy skies. Hazy, cloudy,
soupy. June 8th happened to offer the best sky yet! Then, starting on
the night of June 19th, some clear nights flowed over the City.
    Alas, the planets are leaving us. Only JUpiter of the classical
fellows lingers with us in easy view. With binoculars and small scope
you can hunt up Uranus and Neptune. A larg scope will pick out Pluto.
    We're all watching gamma Virginis as it rapidly contracts into an
unresolved point in the smaller instruments. The two stars of this
binary are really spinning! Recall that there was only one previous
periastron ever observed, a few years after the orbit was sussed out;
that was in the 1830s. Just keep an eye on this star month by month.
    June closed with a weird tale presented by Dr Edward belbruno in
Princeton, New Jersey. He, on the 26th, decribed his career shifts
surrounding his novel low-evergy space flight trajectory theory. ANd
he related a holistic vision, the 'red rectabgle' in the lecture
title, while driving thru Wyoming. The apparition occurred, unknown to
Belbruno at the time, exactly when the Japanses Hiten probe arrvied at
the Moon after traversing a Belbruno path!

New York
 ------
    The overall economy continued its gentle rise. More of us are
happier, less stressed, and now have pocket change to throw around.
OK, I will not call these times 'booming' yet they are definitely
comfortable times.
    Many NYSkiers watched the Olympic torch parade thru the City. It
circulated thru all five boros over a 13-14 hour span, eith cheering
spectators all along its route. The crowds accumulated as the day
progressed, until at the last leg of the run they were as thick as for
a major parade. At the end of the run in Times Square, several hundred
thousnad viewers gave the torch a hearty send off to the next stop on
its world tour. It finally goes to Athens for the 2004 Olympics,
    Why such a mass outpouring for this year's Olympic torch? It's a
warmup for 2012. That's when -- let's work at it! -- the torch after
its world run lands in New York to open the games here!
    Last month I put in one historical subway excursion. Some readers
were incensed that 'cultural crap' infested an astronomy article. On
the whole, you actually were intrigued by the thought of riding a
subway car on which your parents met.
    I put in one more in July for a very special reason. This trip on
the 17th, with other dates noted there, immerses you in a truly freaky
bit of City  history.
    The coaches on this tour are WOOD vehicles working the Brooklyn
els at the turn of the 20th century. Their electrics are decayed, so
the cars are towed by other, newer, steel nostalgia coaches.
    So far, so good.
    For causes explained during the ride, wood coaches may not carry
riders while running in tunnel sections of the subway. On el parts,
yes, you can ride in them. The steel coaches, therefore, are also
shelters for the excursionists shooed out of the wood cars in the
underground legs of the tour! The riders are let back in the wood cars
when the train emerges onto el again! Crazy trip? Yes!!
    New York moved forward on a permanent memorial for colonial
Africans. Next to Federal Plaza and Foley Square is a plot once a
cemetery for Africans in the 18th century. In the 1980s, hundreds of
graves were uncovered while constructing a new federal office tower.
The land was left vacant with a simple billbaord and chainlink fence
as a temporary monument.
    It's time to build a proper permanent reminder of our African
legacy. The plans submitted may include parts of surrounding
structures, built in bygone eras when the importance of the burial
ground was underestimated. When complete, with reburial of remains
unearthed from the 1980s work, it will rank among the more influential
sites in the country for a once-marginal segment of population.
    Mayor Bloomberg in late May and into June agitated to curb excess

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