Sidewalk Astronomers
ISAN and other news
Worldwide Activities -
Help us stay connected!

We are lucky to be involved in an activity that connects us to others around the world, but that also means that it is increasingly hard to keep up with all the events. Someone recently said "it's hard enough keeping up with what is happening locally, let alone globally."

 

If you've visited the www.sidewalkastronomers.us  website lately, you've noticed that I've taken the calendars down. I wasn't happy with the Google calendar that I was using and I am looking for a calendar or code to post a page where you can post your own activities. If anyone has an idea or can help with that, please contact me.

 

Share
Your Ideas IYA EVENTS
 

S

I am sure that many of you are involved in planning IYA activities for next year. We'd like to hear what all of you are organizing and what kind of activities you plan on holding. Also, if you have hand out materials that you'd like to share, we'd be happy to post them on the website so that others can copy or download them.

 

We've noticed that events vary in different geographic areas and some of the best events we've had here in the Los Angeles area were ones where we incorporated ideas from clubs around the world.

 
Address Form - ONLY if you don't have email. 

Name: ________________________

Street Address: ________________________

City: _________________________

State/Province: ________________________

Country: ________________________

Postal Code: ________________________

Phone number: ________________________

Club Affiliation: ________________________

Youth or Adult: ________________________

Amateur Telescope Maker?: ________________________

 
Mail to:
Sidewalk Astronomers
921 W. Olive Avenue
Burbank, California 91506
USA
 Dobson Collection 
Information on or copies of the following items needed:
magazine/newspaper articles or just send us the issue information
 
articles of John's  or copies of old
SA newsletters
 
photos, video, or audio of John's talks
 
Information on telescopes that John owned or made
 
Awards that he might have left behind because of the lack of room in his luggage.
Making Donations and other Misc. Information  
We've been asked about how to pay for buttons or make a donation without using PayPal on the website, just send an international money order to our Hollywood address.
Also for the student groups that couldn't afford to pay for each button and postage, we appreciate any donation you can make.
 
We have also had a lot of comments from China that the CafePress store link doesn't work, it must be something with China - it works when we try. Any ideas? 
 
Greetings!

When you joined the email list, you had a choice of signing up for ISAN or for General Sidewalk Information and those lists have been merged. The articles in the monthly newsletters will be about ISAN and also about issues and activities of the Sidewalk Astronomers. I hope all of you who signed up because of ISAN will choose to continue receiving these emails.

 

The response to ISAN this year has been great. We haven't promoted it with nearly as much effort as we did last year because that level of work was so difficult to maintain. Last year, we sent out over 2000 emails inviting clubs and individuals to join and this year, you guys have done it all. We simply sent the email to you on the list and you have forwarded the information and the result is that we have nearly the same amount of participation that we had last year.

 

There will be a results page on the website that will be available for you to post results. Please do not post until after you've been out on the 12th.  And we encourage everyone to post their results. We are still receiving emails from amateurs who took part last year that we were unaware of. We receive so many of these emails that our guess is that whatever we have posted, the actual participation is double.

 

We're looking forward to a great 2nd ISAN and thank all of you for making it a success.  

 
ISAN Buttons 
 

All the buttons requested have been mailed. If you ordered buttons and you live in Iran, Syria or other countries with "documents only" restrictions, your package was returned to us.  Many of the orders were emailed and many were orders placed through our website/pay pal account. If you live in one of these countries and ordered through pay pal, please let me know so that I can reverse the charges and refund your money.

 

We also received many late requests from China for buttons.  I have sent them, I just don't know if they will get there in time and we couldn't afford expedited shipping. If you don't receive your buttons, I suggest you copy the artwork from the website and print on large mailing labels. I did this last year to hand out stickers to the younger observers and they were very popular.

 

If you missed ordering buttons from either 1st or 2nd ISAN and want to have them as collectibles, they will be available on the website until we run out. At this time, we still have some left and can fill orders as long as they are for small quantities.

Address Verification

We have been sending out postcards/letters in the last couple of weeks to verify the addresses we have on file. If you haven't updated your profile, please follow the link at the bottom of this email and fill out the form with your mailing address and phone number.

 

We are sending out the ISAN booklet, but not until we have received an address verification. Postage for the booklet will cost about $3,000.00 so we can't afford to send to bad addresses.

 

PLEASE don't send me an email with your mailing address! This means that I have to manually update your profile and chances are you will get left out.

If you are receiving a print version of this email, please go on line and join the mailing list and complete the profile. We really want to phase out the printed newsletters, so if you don't have Internet and must get printed copies, please fill out and return the form to the left.
 

Dobson Collection

johnIn the last year, we've gotten inquiries about different items concerning telescopes that John has had over the years, newspaper or magazine articles about him, articles he's written, photos of him in certain places, etc. and it is extremely difficult to track down these items. John meets so many people in the course of a year that its hard for him to remember who someone is or where they live. We are trying to put together a "Dobson Collection" for possible display in observatories, museums, etc.

 

Please check the list to the left, if you own the item and don't want to send us the original, we understand and we aren't trying to take possession of anyone's property. In that case, please send us the information on the item so that we know what and where it is. If you send any photos, artwork, video, articles, etc., please be sure to include copyright/credit information.

 

We appreciate your assistance and hope to put together a great collection.  

 

johnAs many of you have probably heard, John Dobson had a small stroke a few weeks ago and as a result has some minor mobility problems . He is already improving and we expect a full recovery, although we have cancelled any upcoming speaking engagements. While he is recuperating, John will be staying at the Vedanta Society in Hollywood. John sends his thanks to all of you for the kind letters, cards, and emails he received and as always encourages you all to get out with a telescope!

 

At this time we are asking that you only send letters and cards. The phone isn't near John's room and it is somewhat inconvenient for him to be called to the phone repeatedly.  John's mailing address is:

 

John Dobson

1946 Vedanta Place

Hollywood, Ca. 90068

USA

 

 

Sincerely,
Donna Smith
Sidewalk Astronomers