The Electronic Edition
David Henninger, Editor
Robin R. Brunner, Publisher
NON - MEETING
The Non-Meeting will be Saturday, March 23rd at the "Family Center" of the Washington Park North Cemetery. This is the building to the right just inside the gate. Enter the door marked "Cemetery Office". Open around 6:00 PM and we have the place till about 11:00. At least one telescope will be brought to this meeting if the weather is clear (Dave & Robin's 3" reflector) but comet may not be visible until towards dawn. [ed. note. If you don't know what comet he's talking about, read the next article.] Feel free to bring snack items you may want. Some will be provided. (That's the Vice-President's job isn't it?) You will be getting a hard copy of this quickie Circular in the mail with a map to the Non-Meeting. We e-mailed it anyway to be sure that as many people as possible received it in time. Some of you will have received the map as a file. Since certain internet gateways will not allow files to pass (Gross discrimination if you ask me.) you may have to wait for your map in the mail. Please help each other out.COMET HYAKUTAKE UPDATE
By all indications Comet Hyakutake (1996 B2) continues its impressive apparition. Observers report the comet has reached magnitude 6.0, even though it's still at the orbit of Mars. Comet Hyakutake comes 5 million km closer to Earth each day, and on the night of March 25th it will race by us just 15 million km away. Richard Didick in Massachusetts reports that the comet has a moderately condensed coma roughly 20 arcminutes across. Other observers have seen a tail of up to 2 degrees long. S&T columnist John Bortle says the coma has a striking parabolic shape. He feels the comet is guaranteed to reach zero magnitude (total) when it goes past Earth in a few weeks, and a thin, low-contrast tail 30 dg or 40 dg long is not farfetched. Brian Marsden of the IAU's Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams suggests that at this rate the comet will be the intrinsically brightest comet to pass so close to the Earth in more than four centuries. Moreover, says Marsden, orbital calculations indicate that the comet is not "new" and probably came this way before some 10,000 to 20,000 years ago. As such it has demonstrated a certain degree of "staying power" that fortifies predictions for a tremendous showing. This is an predawn object for early risers. Moonlight will suppress the coma this week, but finding the comet through even modest binoculars should not be a problem. Here are positions for 0 hours Universal Time: R.A. (2000) Dec. ================ March 3 14h 52m -22.2 dg 5 14 53 -21.5 7 14 54 -20.7Ex-Presidential Ponderings & Con Chair Commentary
by Andy Andrews It seems a little weird to be the ex-president of the C of J (again) and a Con-Chair (again). Of course since I'm a little on the weird side, I imagine that averages out to some acceptable level of normalcy. However I'd like to take this opportunity to propose an idea on spending some money (Bob winced - I could feel it, and he hasn't even read this yet. Talk about temporal paradoxes!), and also let you know about something that I'm doing as far as InConJunction XVIII goes. As far as spending the $ goes, I'd like to discuss naming a galaxy, or a star after either the Circle of Janus or InConJunction. Several years ago they came out with this thing around Valentine's Day where you could pay $25 and they would name a star after your Valentine. This year they came out with pay $50 and they'd name a galaxy after anyone you wanted. (I figure we'd want one that could be seen by something smaller than the Hubble telescope.) Be kind of interesting to have a star party at some non- meeting meeting and spend it gazing at "our" star or galaxy, wouldn't it? Now I don't have the specifics on hand on who to contact anymore, but I'll be there's somebody on the net who could aim us in the right direction. What do you think? On the convention issue, if you'll click into our web page/site (whatever the right word is) [http://www.inconjunction.org] and head for InConJunction XVIII, you'll notice that I've got a little interest poll going. Since I don't have anybody Author or Artist GOH wise that I've just got to invite, I thought I'd open the topic up for suggestions. Someone has already whispered "Tara Harper" in my ear as someone she would like to see. I'm quite fond of Christopher Stasheff myself, but he has passed on appearing in the past. Who would you be interested in seeing? Who would you and your friends be interested in seeing? E-mail me at my own address (andya@indy.net) or at the Club's address(webmaster@inconjunction.org), with ideas.The Fishers Five Workshop
by Linda Dunn The Fishers Five Workshop (of which I am a member) is planning to host a writer's workshop featuring Kris Rusch (editor of Fantasy and Science Fiction) and Dean Wesley Smith (her husband and editor of Pulphouse). Both editors have published numerous short stories and novels. The workshop they run has been successful in several other parts of the country and has been termed, "The Kris and Dean Show". They do this, upon request, as a "public service" and the only compensation they receive are their expenses paid. This is still in the preliminary stages. A date and time, price of participation, and location have not yet been established. Would the CoJ be interested in participating in this as a partial sponsor? Are any members interested in participating in this workshop with the understanding that the price will be reasonable but not free? Cost will probably be determined by the formula: Expected expenses divided by number of anticipated participants. I'll bring this up as an item for discussion at the next meeting.
C of J - Minutes (short form)
March - 1996
1. Meeting called to order:
7:29 PM. 32 adults, 3 kids. All officers.
2. President's opening remarks
Went straight to reading of minutes.
3. Introduction of Guests & visitors
Judd Horning-- friend of the McGillems, used to be a member; Max
Martin of Franklin-- friend of Chris Canary, Susan Rati, the
Cowpers, etc.; Charlene Ingram-- friend of Chris Canary.
4. Call for Old Business
- Minutes of last meeting. Read and approved.
- Treasurer's report. We're still solvent.
- Committee Reports (new meeting location, etc.)
Mortuary-- need a deposit which will not be cashed unless we
trash the place. Washington Park West on 56th & Kessler. Lots
of jokes. 6:00 to 10:00 on the 4th Saturday of March. We would
have to get out of our contract w/ Children's Museum which is for
2 years, but we'll consider that if we like the place.
Web Page-- Mike Cowper was going to talk to a friend who is a fan
about helping with the page, as she is a Web Page designer, but
hasn't gotten an answer yet. Chuck Stewart mentioned some
problems with the Web Page, which will be looked into.
5. Call for New Business
- Convention Reports (InCon, Starbase)
InCon '96: Everything is on track. Gotten some different
responses from First Fandom-- deceased, bedridden, needs a ride
from California-- about 60 respondants so far that are coming.
InCon '97: Nothing new. Wants to talk to people about committee
positions before InCon '96.
InCon '98: No author or artist yet, still thinking. Open to
suggestions. See him during chaos.
- Other
Chapter's Bookstore will send someone to any meeting and bring
all new releases in a given category, can bring to sell or not as
you desire. Neat to do quarterly, perhaps.
Challenger Learning Center in Brownsburg-- Cheryl Miller went on
tour. It's like a real space center that the kids each have a
project that helps them to learn some about a subject. Really
neat. Will do for adults $500 for 15 to 32 people. If could get
group together, could be a fun thing to do.
Randy Porter: Possibility that we can broadcast InCon '97 live on
the InterNet? Video would be choppy, audio, with new compression
technologies, could be pretty good. Mike Cowper: Could do Art
Show this year.
6. Announcements from members
Deb Hunt found Don Dailey listed in Who's Who in America.
Randy Porter review of the Factoid books-- Big Book of... Freaks,
Death, Conspiracies, etc. Kinda neat. Several books and
magazines reviews found at Borders at Keystone.
Mike S-- Broken Arrow is excellent action film as long as you
don't think about it. Rumble in the Bronx, another good action
film, low on plot, but doesn't ask as much as Broken Arrow--
Jackie Chan does all his own stunts with stunt outtakes in the
end credits are hilarious. Cybersurfer with X-Files cover story,
neat.
Muppet Treasure Island-- good, but not up to par with the others.
Tim Curry was good.
Jeff Thompson-- has another CD ROM place wanting to put his
screen saver for Windows, Cyberworms, on CD. Has found that
Cyberworms is trademarked by a genetic engineering company.
7. Announcement of Further Activities
- After-meeting gathering
- Next month's meeting will be at the Children's Museum.
Concommittee before. Doors open @ 6 p.m. Business starts @ 7:30
p.m.
- "Unofficial" meeting will be on Saturday, March 23 @ Flanner
& Buchanan Mortuary Family Support Center - Washington Park
North. Time = 6- 10 p.m.
8. Final call for Announcements
9. President's Closing remarks
10. Adjournment/Chaos 8:06 PM