Friday, January 16, 2015

CBS Will Air Stamp Collecting Segment

Exciting news – for the first time in its 36-year history, CBS Sunday Morning will air a segment on stamp collecting!  The show is scheduled to run on Sunday, January 18th, at 9 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.  As a collector, you may want to watch.
 
Correspondent Rita Braver interviewed several leading members of our hobby, including Ken Martin of the APS, organizers of World Stamp Show-NY 2016, Bill Gross and outgoing Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe.  In addition to visiting the National Postal Museum’s William H. Gross Gallery, Braver and her film crew also attended a Collector’s Club Youth Stamp Club meeting.  According to reports, vintage background footage showing stamps will be part of the segment, too.
 
It will be fun to see collecting in the news.  Plus I feel a personal connection to the story.  As you recall, Mystic owned the 1¢ Z Grill and traded it with Bill Gross for the Jenny Invert Plate Number Block.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Governor Snyder signs Senate Bill 493. now PA 556

With just one day left, Governor Snyder signed Senate Bill 493, 
essentially a Michigan PRB-1

The announcement is here:

http://www.michigan.gov/snyder/0,4668,7-277-57577_57657-345450--,00.html

Scroll down a ways to see SB 493

Note, PA 556 has not been loaded up to the state website yet:

A HUGE thank you to all who wrote and emailed their support.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

PRB-1 Last Minute Call to Action

Senate Bill 0493 was presented to Governor Snyder at 10:08 AM on January
2, 2015. He has until 10:08 AM on January 16 to sign it in order for it
to become law.

As of this writing (8:00 PM) on January 12, 2015 our bill (along with
many others) has not been signed by the Governor. We are down to the
final days and we need your help.

This call to action is for those Michigan amateurs and other interested
parties that HAVE NOT yet contacted the Governor’s via email or the
Governor’s website to make that contact. If you have already
expressed your opinion by web site and telephone, thank you. You have
done your job.

Duplicate requests by the same medium do not help our cause. Each of us
can use each method once.

If you have called on the telephone, but not sent a request via the
website, by all means use the website medium and vice-versa. Be sure
that you have made contact by both mediums.

Michigan family members and friends of voting age, ham or non-ham can
participate.

Our message is simple: “I respectfully encourage Governor Snyder to
sign Senate Bill 493.” There is no need to add anything to the
message as additional information gets in the way of what we want to
get across at this point.

This message needs to be sent via email at:

https://somgovweb.state.mi.us/GovRelations/ShareOpinion.aspx 

This web site will take you a form to be filled out. Easy to do and
painless. No need to compose your comments. For the bill category, use
"Other/Unknown" and simply insert the provided verbiage.

By telephone at 517-335-7858, simply tell the person answering the
phone (or leave a message if calling after hours) “this is (your
name) and I am a resident of (your city, town, village, or township)
and I respectfully encourage Governor Snyder to sign Senate Bill
0493.” 

After contacting the Governor's Office, please send a note to
wa8qje@arrl.net and wb8r@arrl.org advising us that you made contact
with them. 

We are very hopeful that this will accomplish our goal and get our bill
signed into law.  

Thank you for your assistance and I look forward to giving you good
news in the coming days.

73,

Larry, WB8R

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ARRL Michigan Section
Section Manager: Larry Camp, WB8R
wb8r@arrl.org
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Michigan: Contact Governor Snyder Now and Urge Him to Sign SB 789 into Law

It is imperative that you contact Governor Rick Snyder (R) today and urge him to sign Senate Bill 789 into law. Anti-gun organizations are attempting to use their money and influence to force Governor Snyder to veto this important pro-gun legislation.  It is important that you contact Governor Snyder and respectfully urge him to stand up for your Second Amendment rights and sign SB 789 before Friday, January 16th.

Senate Bill 789, which passed the legislature by significant margins, seeks to create a more efficient and uniform concealed pistol licensing process for all Michiganders. The NRA, along with other pro-Second Amendment organizations and numerous law-enforcement officials, support the signing of SB 789.

Last year, SB 789 proceeded through the legislative process without serious opposition. The bill was posted for public consumption. Hearings were held to allow for public testimony. Stakeholder concerns were voiced and their opinions were addressed. Now, only after the bill has passed the legislature and is sitting on the Governor’s desk, groups that were given nearly a year to publicly voice their concerns are attacking this legislation based on misinformation about its content.

Over the past two weeks, numerous media outlets and anti-gun organizations have attacked SB 789 based on a false assertion that the bill requires concealed pistol licenses to be issued to persons subject to personal protection orders for domestic violence or stalking. This statement and belief, whether genuine or manufactured, grossly misrepresents the contents of the bill and current Michigan law regarding personal protection orders. Simply put, if an individual is a domestic-abuser and has been charged or convicted as such, or a judge has made a determination that the individual should not be allowed to purchase or possess a firearm, that person will be prohibited from receiving a concealed pistol license under SB 789. No exceptions.

Furthermore, these anti-gun organizations are purposely omitting the fact that SB 789 was written to provide enhanced protections for victims of domestic violence. Under the proposed law, an individual who petitions the court system for a personal protection order automatically qualifies for a temporary, emergency concealed pistol license. The NRA advocated for this provision and supports it based on the belief that victims of these heinous acts should be able to avail themselves of all legally available methods to ensure their personal safety and the safety of threatened family members. 

We hope that you will join the NRA in supporting SB 789. Please contact Governor Snyder and respectfully urge him to sign SB 789 into law. Let him know that the opinions of out-of-state, anti-gun elitists are not welcome, nor are they appreciated in Michigan.

Governor Rick Snyder
517-373-3400
Email

My Stamp Collecting Blog

Counter Added January 1, 2011

free counters

HOW TO READ PROPAGATION NUMBERS

The A index [ LOW is GOOD ]

  • 1 to 6 is BEST
  • 7 to 9 is OK
  • 11 or more is BAD

Represents the overall geomagnetic condition of the ionosphere ("Ap" if averaged from the Kp-Index) (an average of the eight 3-hour K-Indices) ('A' referring to amplitude) over a given 24 hour period, ranging (linearly) typically from 1-100 but theoretically up to 400.

A lower A-Index generally suggests better propagation on the 10, 12, 15, 17, & 20 Meter Bands; a low & steady Ap-Index generally suggest good propagation on the 30, 40, 60, 80, & 160 Meter Bands.

SFI index [ HIGH is GOOD ]

  • 70 NOT GOOD
  • 80 GOOD
  • 90 BETTER
  • 100+ BEST

The measure of total radio emissions from the sun at 10.7cm (2800 MHz), on a scale of 60 (no sunspots) to 300, generally corresponding to the sunspot level, but being too low in energy to cause ionization, not related to the ionization level of the Ionosphere.

Higher Solar Flux generally suggests better propagation on the 10, 12, 15, 17, & 20 Meter Bands; Solar Flux rarely affects the 30, 40, 60, 80, & 160 Meter Bands.

K index [ LOW is GOOD ]

  • 0 or 1 is BEST
  • 2 is OK
  • 3 or more is BAD
  • 5 is VERY VERY BAD

The overall geomagnetic condition of the ionosphere ("Kp" if averaged over the planet) over the past 3 hours, measured by 13 magnetometers between 46 & 63 degrees of latitude, and ranging quasi-logarithmically from 0-9. Designed to detect solar particle radiation by its magnetic effect. A higher K-index generally means worse HF conditions.

A lower K-Index generally suggests better propagation on the 10, 12, 15, 17, & 20 Meter Bands; a low & steady Kp-Index generally suggest good propagation on the 30, 40, 60, 80, & 160 Meter Bands.

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