THE SENIOR MEN'S CLUB OF NEW CANAAN
Minutes of the Regular Meeting of May 23, 2008
President Jack Messert opened the meeting with 107 members present, and membership of 476. .
Minister of Health Bob Moylan reported Bill Kapp back in the hospital, and Ed Deadrick, Jim Bridgeman, and Don Hersom at Waveny.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Vance Ward will have a new member orientation @ 8:30AM on 6/13. Memorial Day parade on Monday, 9:30AM.
ACTIVITIES: Bridge, racquetball as usual. Tennis starting up, $5 pp for tennis balls. Party scheduled for 9/9. Amateur Chefs meet on 6/19 and in July there will be a lobster bake. 4F's at 5/24 at Blackstone Grill. Sky Blazers @ Lapham on 6/23- back to Berlin.. Trail Blazers on 6/19 in NYC at Bryant Park led by Pete Stair. Golf on 5/28 at Whitney Farms, and 6/9 at Ridgefield.
COUTH: June 18, a Long Island Sound cruise boarding at 11:15, $75 pp. Must have 50 signups or it will be cancelled. The July event will be a tour of New Canaan historical spots.
HUMORIST Jim Schlumpf told of an older couple where the husband gave away his preference between his wife and season's tickets to his favorite team.
SPEAKER: Michael De Leonard, astronomer spoke to us about where the field of astronomy is today. The big question is, are the physical laws(i.e. gravity) the same for the universe as on the Earth? The possibility of space objects hitting us is always present. We were shown pictures of previous asteroid hits. When a supernova explodes, it throws out much material, some of it reaching us. We were shown the value of infrared photography as the different colors indicate amount of heat and age of stars. Much is still unknown such as "dark matter", which cannot be seen with any telescope. He reviewed the findings of the first unmanned unit to land on Mars and analyze the soil. It was proved that moisture and oxidation exist, or real "life". Research has enabled astronomers to tell where a meteorite comes from. A new telescope IRA will be taking the place of the Hubbell unit in several years. It will be utilizing infrared technology so that we will learn much that is new.
The long term objective of astronomy is to learn how much longer we have to live on the Earth and can we find a place to move our civilization.
Harry Hitch, Secretary