Board Meeting Log, 11 August, 2002.

(Brent) OK, looks like Stan got back OK....So I call the meeting to order.
(stan) Sorry about that
(Brent) Item 1 Ratification of the minutes. Because the link seems to be faulty to the minutes, do I have a motion to ratify them at the next meeting?
(Brent) No problem stan
(Mary) I move we ratify the minutes at the next meeting.
(Jan) I second
(Brent) IF there is no objection, the motion will carry without vote, and we will ratify both sets of minutes next meeting.
(Brent) Item 2 Welcome new Board Members, Steve Havas and Sean White!
(SteveH) :-)
(Jan) Welcome Steve. I understand Sean is on holiday?
(Gerard) He is on a 2 week vaction from his job.. and he uses the Internet from there
(Jan) Well, he'll be around next time then.
(Brent) No discussion needed for the ongoing elections, as they were terminated after the agenda was posted.
(Gerard) He mentioned that he won't be able to attend to the boardmeetings
(Brent) Why Gerard?
(Jan) Internet only at his woek
(Brent) Oh...no internet access at home?
(Jan) Gerard, was that due to Internet only at his work and at office hours only?
(Gerard) Yes, i think so
(Brent) Well, he can review the logs and minutes, and still host the Sun Setver for the Inc. If he has any reports or comments, he can email prior to the meeting.
(Brent) As the Board can email him with questions or comments....
(Gerard) Right. I am sure about that
(Brent) OK, Item 3....Booklet Discussion
(Mary) We have mailed 364 booklet and 5 more will go out on Monday. The new books are fine.
(Mary) Sent out 2 movies. Orders seem to be slow with the new $5 charge.
(Mary) New postage costs increased the postage +10 cents. Overseas costs have stayed the same. since they are mailed 1st class.
(Mary) I have 40 books on hand so don't anticipate another order from kikos until later this year.
(Mary) end of report. questions?
(Brent) Great news.....glad to hear that the new booklets have no problems!
(Mary) FYI I now have to fill out an customs report on each booklet mailed outside the U.S.
(Mary) New federal rules.
(Jan) Mary, have you checked the videos yourself? Last time at Nancy, I got a copy of the PAL vide, and it turned out to be of the same quality as the Internet vide clip, not VCR quality. Is the US version the same?
(Mary) Yes, the quality leaves much to be desired.
(SteveH) Why is the quality so poor?
(Jan) Too bad - do you think it is of any value to send it out with the booklets as it is?
(Jan) Steve, it seems the streaming Internet vesrion that Geson made was just copied directly to a video, that there never was any high-resolution version available
(Brent) I would think that even with poor quality, it's at least SOMETHING to view, and beneficial.
(Jan) PS. Sorry about my typos -I'm using my laptop with a more condensed keyboard
(SteveH) But you can't really read any of the text etc
(Jan) Steve, that's right (and very disappointing, I think)
(SteveH) I think I would be upset if I spent $5 on that and saw that the quality was so poor
(Brent) I should ask Nancy about the quality; mabe there is a better version out there. We could then discuss at the next meeting.
(SteveH) but I haven't seen the whole thing so can't really comment too much
(Mary) Sorry, my husband picked up the phone and forgot I was online.
(Jan) Brent, if both the US & European versions are the same, I don't think she has any better version. I could try to contact Geson, who made it, and ask him whether he ever made a high resolution version.
(SteveH) Jan, I just bought a desktop PC, up from my previous laptop so now have more typos from using larger keyboard hehe
(Jan) Anyhow, would we want to make a new set of videos if we got a better version?
(Mary) Jan, we have NO requests. Only one in 6 months.
(Jan) Steve :-)
(SteveH) So there's no problem then lol
(Mary) I see no reason not to send one to each member and let each of you decide.
(Jan) My thinking is we just drop the videos. We may however host the video clip in its current resolution on the web server, as it is in an acceptable quality for that. Large though, if I remember right approx. 20MB
(Brent) Jan: just out of curiosity, why don't you ask Geson. Mabe he has higher quality prints? Probably not, but worth asking about.
(Brent) Shirley: don't bother sending one to me.....:-)
(Mary) ha ha shirley. You can listen, it has lots of sound.
(Jan) I'll try to contact Geson. Last e-mail address I have is ) a year old, so I don't know if it's still valid. Will report back.
(SteveH) Personally, I wouldn't mind to see the full version
(Brent) Shirley: I already have a copy.
(Brent) Mary: why don't you send out a copy to each of us.
(Mary) Will do.
(Brent) Thanks.
(SteveH) I'll take mine in DVD format ;)
(Jan) Steve, it is a real quality piece of work, so it's a shame the quality is so poor.
(Jan) Brent, I obviously already have one...
(Mary) I do have what look like a cd version.
(SteveH) I thought it looked excellent from the clip only poor resoluation
(Brent) Steve: LOL
(Mary) Let me just send them out to all that want one and we will discuss at a later date.
(SteveH) Mary, should I send you my mailing address?
(Brent) Yes Jan....Mary, I'll send you my snail mail....
(Mary) which one?
(Mary) I have most except maybe Stan, and Steves.
(Brent) Is it more expensive to send to ... ?
(Mary) NOPE.
(Brent) OK.....I'll send that one ;-)
(Mary) It will only cost $1.42 for U.S. and $4.+ for Europe.
(stan) I'll send my address
(Mary) I have Rogers so will send him one to. How about Sean?
(Gerard) and i will send mine
(stan) Actually just send one to Roger and I can watch his
(Gerard) i don't know the adress of Sean
(Mary) OK Stan. Gerard, just ask him if he wants one and send the request to me.
(Brent) Gerard: email him if he wants a copy. Or for that matter, Mary could....
(Brent) Nancy has an addendum to Item 3......
(Gerard) okay i will Brent
(Jan) brb
(Brent) OK, on with the addendium to this item.....
(Brent) Nancy wanted me to mention that the booklet has now been translated into Russian in PDF format for download. (more)
(Brent) Also, Kiko has requested that he be allowed to translate into Solvian, and have it printed, NO charge to the INc, so it could be distributed free of charge.
(Mary) WOW! that is awsome! Way to go Kiko!
(Jan) back
(Jan) Sounds great
(Brent) Also, ther is a new israeli translation ongoing....
(Gerard) This is for zetatalk, right?
(Brent) This is for the booklet and the Safelocations section of Zetatalk, which Nancy has given permission to reprint and translate.
(Gerard) okay
(Brent) Any more comments on item 3?
(SteveH) not me
(stan) none here
(Gerard) none here
(Brent) OK Item 4 Ongoing Projects. Roger & Stan's Acerage Report. Questions or comments.
(Jan) Concerning Mary's comment on the USD slowing down the demand, I think that's OK. Partly because the free booklet would drain our limited funds quickly, partly because USD 5 is a small amount so that any serious person would not stop at that change
(Jan) that should be USD 5 - no further comments
(stan) The drought continues. We are getting seed but not as much as we had oringinally thought. We have been watering but the heat is unrelenting.
(Brent) Is the Irrigation helping, Stan?
(stan) In the farm community around here even irrigated corn is suffering with small ear formation, the same has happened to us
(stan) Yes the water is helping, without it everything would be dead!....Its that bad
(stan) Hopefully we will get some cooler temps and get a good fall harvest
(stan) Any other questions?
(Brent) Yes, lets hope......welcome to pre PS growing conditions.
(stan) At this point I would welcome some post PS conditions!
(Brent) Next group...Short wave report.....Comments?
(Gerard) Not from me
(Jan) Only comment is that activity on my side is still very low; I'm busy with everything else
(Brent) Well, it is the summer vacation season,; hopefully things will pick up next month.
(Jan) I hope so on Helena's side. On my side, I will have to prioritize my scope over my ham activities. Still no antenna tower at my site either
(Brent) OK, next group....Sun Server in ... .Gerard, has there been any comment from Sean on this?
(Gerard) No comment from him about it.
(Gerard) I think we have to wait until his vacation is finished, and if he will be on IRC in this 2 weeks and i see him i will ask him
(Gerard) But i think in 2 weeks we will know more
(Brent) Yes, since he only has internet at work, we could ask him to type and send a report about the server for the next meeting.
(Gerard) That we could do
(Brent) OK no more agenda items....any more comments this meeting?
(Jan) Nothing from me
(Gerard) I have no comments
(Mary) none.
(SteveH) none
(stan) not here either
(Brent) Ok then the meeting is now adjourned