Hello Friend,

   One of the more interesting events to occur during the RASC Annual Conference held in Halifax,
NS this past weekend was the announcement by Terry Dickinson, editor of SkyNews of the sale
of the publication to the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. (RASC)

    The 20 year old publication,  well established in a very tough  marketplace, continues to flourish
and for a few reasons publisher Greg Keilty has decided now is the time to sell it.

  Executive director of the RASC, Randy Atwood made the joint announcement to members of
the RASC during this meeting.

    The acquisition of SkyNews is a business investment, according to Atwood.

It will run as a separate business entity.

    Personally, I believe the acquisition is a bold and positive mood on the RASC's part, and will
assist them in fulfilling their mandate of public education in science and astronomy and allow
them to reach even more people to grow the society's membership.

   In speaking with Terence Dickinson, he also feels it is time to hand over the reigns to somebody
else, and also feels the RASC was the right organization to sell the publication too.

   Dickinson and Keilty have done a wonderful job of  keeping SkyNews a quality product,
along with their crack team of editors, writers and other associates.

    I will look forward to seeing what the future brings.

Clear Skies,

Ray Khan

PS My buddy Ross Sinclair of Edmonton and I were on the prowl for the best fish and chips
     in Halifax the other night, and can you believe they ran out of them and closed down
     the kitchen. WTH? We were tempted to run down to the dock, with a pole and fish,
    just for the "halibut". The Guiness prevented that from happening.