This post is a reminder to all that the club’s Virtual Christmas and Holiday Get-Together on ZOOM is set for this afternoon, beginning at 1:00PM! We hope you can join us for an afternoon of Holiday cheer!

The details you’ll need to join our ZOOM-chat are here, below; just click and follow the prompts. Have ready your favourite Christmas cookies and a cup of hot chocolate, or glass of mulled wine, and join the conversation! See you soon!

JOIN THIS AFTERNOON’S CHRISTMAS/HOLIDAY VIDEO-CHAT ON ZOOM!

To take part in this afternoon’s Virtual Christmas and Holiday Get-Together, join our ZOOM video-chat, which will run throughout the next few hours. Simply click here and follow the prompts: This Afternoon’s MonSFFA Meeting on ZOOM

If you’re not fully equipped to ZOOM, you can also take part by phone (voice only); in the Montreal area, the toll-free number to call is: 1-438-809-7799. From out of town? No problem; find your ZOOM call-in number here: Call-In Numbers

Also, have this information on hand as you may be asked to enter it:

Meeting ID: 833 6769 4213
Passcode: 420560

This message is for our out-of-town members and friends, especially, and for those who missed the recent 2024 Christmas and Holiday Dinner Party downtown! MonSFFA is pleased to invite folk to a Virtual Christmas and Holiday Get-Together on ZOOM tomorrow, Saturday, December 14, from 1:00PM to 4:00PM!

Visit www.MonSFFA.ca tomorrow morning at 11:30AM for the necessary ZOOM details. At 1:00PM, get yourself a plate of Christmas cookies and a cup of hot chocolate, or a glass of mulled wine, and join us virtually for an afternoon of Holiday cheer! Drop in for just 20 minutes, or for a couple hours, and wish your fellow MonSFFen the very best of the season!

We’ll see you online tomorrow afternoon at 1:00PM!

In particular for our out-of-town members and friends, and those who missed the recent 2024 Christmas and Holiday Dinner Party downtown, the club is pleased to invite folk to a Virtual Christmas and Holiday Get-Together on ZOOM this Saturday, December 14 from 1:00PM to 4:00PM!

Visit www.MonSFFA.ca Saturday morning for the necessary ZOOM details, then get yourself a plate of Christmas cookies and a cup of hot chocolate, or a glass of mulled wine, and join us virtually for an afternoon of Holiday cheer! Drop in for just 20 minutes, or for a couple hours, and wish your fellow MonSFFen the very best of the season as we look forward to 2025!

This event will close out 2024 for the club; we’ll be back in January of 2025 to begin another year of sci-fi fun!

So, we’ll see you online this Saturday afternoon, December 14, at 1:00PM.

CHRISTMAS/HOLIDAY DINNER PARTY!

We are pleased to invite all MonSFFen, their families, and friends of the club to our 2024 Christmas and Holiday Dinner Party this evening!

This year, the club celebrates Christmas, and the festive season broadly, this evening, Saturday, December 7, beginning at 6:30PM! We’ll be gathering for dinner and drinks at the familiar Nouvel Hotel, our regular meeting locale, which includes the Novella Restaurant. Situated in the building’s south tower, or condo tower, the Novella is easy to find. Simply walk down the glass corridor, as if to a regular MonSFFA meeting, but turn right instead of left at the elevators; the restaurant is right there.

And, as is our tradition, we’ll be holding our fund-raising Christmas-gift raffle!

So join us for an evening of dining and merriment as we celebrate the season! We hope to see all of you this evening at MonSFFA’s Christmas and Holiday Dinner Party!

CHRISTMAS/HOLIDAY DINNER PARTY!

We are pleased to invite all MonSFFen, their families, and friends of the club to our 2024 Christmas and Holiday Dinner Party!

This year, the club will celebrate Christmas, and the festive season broadly, tomorrow evening, on Saturday, December 7, at 6:30PM! In keeping with our tradition, we’ll be gathering at a downtown restaurant/bar for dinner and drinks, and hold our traditional fund-raising Christmas-gift raffle.

As Le Nouvel Hotel, our regular meeting locale, includes a restaurant, and everyone is already familiar with the hotel’s address, we thought we’d give said restaurant a try! Situated in the building’s south tower, or condo tower, the Novella Restaurant is easy to find. Simply walk down the glass corridor, as if to a regular MonSFFA meeting, but turn right instead of left at the elevators; the Novella is right there.

Do join us for an evening of dining and merriment as we celebrate the season! We hope to see all of you tomorrow evening at the Christmas/Holiday Dinner Party!

CHRISTMAS/HOLIDAY DINNER PARTY!

We are pleased to invite all MonSFFen, their families, and friends of the club to our 2024 Christmas and Holiday Dinner Party!

This year, the club will celebrate Christmas, and the festive season broadly, on Saturday evening, December 7, at 6:30PM. In keeping with our tradition, we will gather at a downtown restaurant/bar for dinner and drinks, and hold our traditional fund-raising Christmas-gift raffle.

As Le Nouvel Hotel includes a restaurant, and everyone is already familiar with the hotel’s address, we thought we’d give said restaurant a try! Situated in the building’s south tower, or condo tower, the Novella Restaurant is easy to find. Simply walk down the glass corridor, as if to a regular MonSFFA meeting, but turn right instead of left at the elevators; the Novella is right there.

Do join us for an evening of dining and merriment as we celebrate the season! We hope to see all of you at the Christmas/Holiday Dinner Party this Saturday!

Space Weather News for Nov. 27, 2024
https://spaceweather.com
https://www.spaceweatheralerts.com

BLACK AURORAS OVER ALASKA? Todd Salat is a veteran photographer of auroras in Alaska. For years he has chased the lights and seen most of what Mother Nature has to offer. But even he was puzzled on Nov. 22nd when these strangely-shaped auroras appeared overhead:

“I saw these bizarre auroras drift over southcentral Alaska around 4 am last Friday morning,” says Salat. “It came up from the northwest and I was like, whoa! It looked like the letter E to me.”

Salat may have witnessed an episode of ‘black auroras.’ They are dark rings or black blobs that sometimes appear in an otherwise ordinary expanse of auroral light. For example, look at Figure 1 in this research paper on the topic. Some researchers call them “anti-auroras.” The black auroras in Salat’s photo are circled here.

Ordinary auroras are caused by electrons raining down from space. Black auroras are the opposite. Instead of electrons raining down, electrons are propelled upwards back into space. Europe’s fleet of Cluster spacecraft flew over a black aurora on Jan. 14, 2001, and saw the process in action:

Sensors onboard the spacecraft detected strong positive electric fields in the black aurora zone. These fields reversed the normal downward rain of aurora-causing electrons.

The study of black auroras is still in its infancy, and forecasters cannot yet predict when or where they might appear. Aurora watchers, the next time a geomagnetic storm erupts, be alert for black.

5) THANK YOU

We thank club members Brian Knapp, Joe Aspler, Cathy Palmer-Lister, and Keith Braithwaite for their contributions to this afternoon’s programming, and tip our hat, as well, to all of our contributing participants, and everyone who helped to plan and run this meeting. Finally, of course, we thank all of you who joined us here in person, and on ZOOM; don’t forget to comment on today’s get-together (www.MonSFFA.ca).

6) NEXT MONTH’S EVENT: CHRISTMAS/HOLIDAY DINNER PARTY!

We are pleased to invite all MonSFFen, their families, and friends of the club to our 2024 Christmas and Holiday Dinner Party!

This year, the club will celebrate Christmas, and the festive season broadly, on Saturday evening, December 7, at 6:30PM. In keeping with our tradition, we will gather at a downtown restaurant/bar for dinner and drinks, and hold our traditional fund-raising Christmas-gift raffle.

As Le Nouvel Hotel includes a restaurant, and everyone is already familiar with the hotel’s address, we thought we’d give said restaurant a try! Situated in the building’s south tower, or condo tower, the Novella Restaurant is easy to find. Simply walk down the glass corridor, as if to a regular MonSFFA meeting, but turn right instead of left at the elevators; the Novella is right there.

Join us for an evening of dining and merriment as we celebrate the season!

7) SIGN-OFF

Thanks for taking part, today, and indeed, this year! Remember, the enthusiastic involvement of its members is what makes MonSFFA a whole lot of sci-fi fun, and keeps the club a going concern! We hope to see everyone at the Christmas/Holiday Dinner Party next month, and again in 2025!

1) INTRODUCTION

Welcome to MonSFFA’s November 2024 meeting! This will be our last regular club meeting of the year. In early December, we’ll be hosting our traditional Christmas/Holiday Dinner Party—we return to a downtown restaurant this year! The dinner will wrap up our activities for 2024!

Today’s proceedings will be getting underway shortly. We are meeting live and in person at our meeting room in Le Nouvel Hotel, downtown! For those joining us online, today, see the instructions, below (at the end of this post), to join in and participate on ZOOM.

Our programming agenda begins at 1:00PM; the meeting will conclude at 5:00PM. This opening post has gone up 30 minutes before the meeting’s start time to allow folk to gather online at their leisure.

A closing post will go up at 5:00PM to officially thank today’s presenters/discussion moderators, and to publish the date of the next MonSFFA event, our Christmas and Holiday Dinner Party.

2) MEETING THEME FOR NOVEMBER

We’ll be tapping the membership for suggestions and ideas as to next year’s meeting programming. So, members are encouraged to come to the meeting with a few ideas as to SF&F topics they’d like us to explore in 2025! Your input is welcome and valued!

3) THIS AFTERNOON’S AGENDA

Today’s programming agenda is as follows:

1:00PM – Report on the Return of the Super Sci-Fi Book Sale

Our treasurer will present a report on the return of the club’s Super Sci-Fi Book Sale, held last month. A major fund-raiser for the club, this annual event was put on hiatus during the pandemic years and finally resumed after a five-year absence.

1:30PM – Get a Wonderful Life: Christmas and the Festive Season in SF&F

We look at some of the many genre stories, in print and on screen, that prominently feature Christmas and the Holidays!

2:30PM – Ho, Ho, Huh?!—Game

A quick game focused on the Festive Season!

3:00PM – Break

Raffle, announcements, brief discussion of club business.

3:15PM – Meeting Programming for 2025

We brainstorm ideas for next year’s meeting programming! Your suggestions as to topics for our discussions, presentations, and workshops are most welcome! Let us know what you’d like to see at a MonSFFA meeting in 2025!

4:45PM – Wrap-Up, Clean-Up!

We close another year of MonSFFA meetings while looking forward to our Christmas celebrations in December, and then, the New Year!

Please Note: While we strive to keep on schedule, we do, sometimes, fall behind a little, or find ourselves having to reshuffle the order of items on the agenda for one reason or another, or reschedule planned presentations/discussions. Therefore, please understand that all programming is subject to change!

4) JOIN THIS AFTERNOON’S VIDEO-CHAT ON ZOOM!

To take part in this afternoon’s meeting online, join our ZOOM video-chat, which will run throughout the next few hours. Simply click here and follow the prompts: This Afternoon’s MonSFFA Meeting on ZOOM

If you’re not fully equipped to ZOOM, you can also take part by phone (voice only); in the Montreal area, the toll-free number to call is: 1-438-809-7799. From out of town? No problem; find your ZOOM call-in number here: Call-In Numbers

Also, have this information on hand as you may be asked to enter it:

Meeting ID: 862 0441 7457
Passcode: 232651

The sci-fi fun begins at 1:00PM! Thanks for joining us today, and enjoy the meeting!