Continued from previous message.

River. A superblock or treeline in the way will spoil the view. 
    Please be careful! The effect is best seen from the centerline of 
the street. that'sthe best place to end it all by car collision. 
Making things worse, you'll be distracted by the dazzling Sun in tour 
eyes. All in all, you have to keep alert and be extremely cognizant of 
cars zooming around you. 
    As May approaches, the fever is rising steeply for the Venus 
transit on June 8th. many NYSkies members are lining up trips to 
Europe or Asia to view the entire crossing. The rest will stay in the 
City and see the last stages as the Sun rises. I put in a reminder 
about the transit as the last item in the list above. 

New York
 ------
    The steam is starting to pump up for the national convention of 
the republican party this summer and there's excitement about finally 
getting dirt turned over for the Second Avenue subway by yearend. 
    One good feature of April was the sharp upturn in the City's 
economy. From a subdued pace earlier this year, there is definitely a 
liveliness in the overall activity. The FIRE industries are doing 
well, even turning in strong 1st quarter reports. Careers are opening 
up with hires on the rise. 
    It's true that classical manufacturing continues to decline; this 
is a global situation as the world needs fewer and fewer people to 
sustain factories. Much of the loss of factory jobs in the City is 
being soaked up by new opportunities in technical services, news 
media, and entertainments. The spinoff has been a more relaxed and 
joyful climate for home astronomy. 

Astropolitics
 -----------
    For the last several years Amateur Astronomers Association prided 
itself as king of the mountain for incompetent club management. Now it 
must share that honor. A cabal is taking over Rockland Astronomy Club 
o puff it up into an East Coast superclub. As one early step, noted in 
previous NYC Events, it changed the club's name  to Northeast 
Astronomical Society. 
    Or did it?
    The 'Rockland' sector of the club didn't go along. It still 
operates under the Rockland name and still run Northeast Astronomy 
Forum and Summer Star Party. The 'Northeast' faction insists it owns 
the club and promote the new name for all the Rockland activities. At 
NEAF, the club seems to be segregating into the two camps, with the 
Northeast gang going off into its own new club. 
    Stay tuned! 
    Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Amateur Astronomers Association is 
entering its election season. Six of the eight incumbents earned new 
seats on its Board of Directors, as announced on April 19th by the 
president's Nominating Committee. They are Susan Andreoli, Alice 
Barner, Elias Baltin, Lynn Darsh, Irving Robbins, and Frank Schmidt. 
The other two, Arline Caldwell and John Pazmino, step down when their 
terms run out on May 31st. One new Board seatholder was named, Rachel 
Connolly from the Rose Center for Earth and Space. 
    So far there are no known petitioners. If there end up being none, 
then there is no 'election'. The number of candidates and vacant seats 
balance and everyone gets installed at the annual meeting on May 19th. 
NYSkies congratulates all the new seatholders and wish them a 
successful term on the Board. 
    Also at the annual meeting is the election of club officers. The 
outgoing Board names them from among the seatholders of the new Board. 
In this instance, Ms Connolly can not vote for the officers, but could 
end up becoming one. 
    Who will be the new AAA president? Despite all the silly rumors 
about competing candidates for this position, there genuinely is only 
the one person on the radar, Michael O'Gara. NYSkies heard of no 
credible other person who even WANTS the office, let alone aspiring to 
it. So there is almost certain to be only one nomination for president 
and O'Gara will be it. 
    Is this a good thing? 
    Peculiarly, both O'Gara's followers and his chasers agree that 
only he should be the president. It seems that his supporters take him 
for a powerless petty pip who does whatever they egg him on to do. His 
opponents, on the other hand, take him for a powerless petty pip who 
does whatever they egg him on to do. Against such a united front, what 
hope can a contender have? 

NYSkies
 -----
    Astronomers are exploiting NYSkies as a quick, handy, friendly,
and potent source of astronomy news relating to the City. And there is
LOTS of astronomy stuff going on around New York! Since it revived on
28 September 2001 (it was interrupted by World Trade Center) NYSkies
became the definitive forum and public record for matters bearing on
home astronomy in and around New York.
    Granted, some of the banter relates particularly to the Amateur
Astronomers Association. It's the major astronomy union in town and
every home astronomer around here eventually runs up against it. It
pays to listen to those discussions (rants? blusters? tirades?), even
if you opt out of playing in them. At the least, you take into account

 Continued in next message.

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