April 2025 Business Meeting Summary
by Andy Thompson, MSDC Secretary
Dan Teich, MSDC’s President, welcomed everyone for coming to this evening’s meeting, especially first-time attender Ted from the Philly area. For their past service to the club, Dan also thanked a large flock of the club’s former presidents who were attending. The first item of business was the approval of the March Business Minutes as published in the April Mineral Minutes newsletter. No concerns were raised for discussion so he called for and received a motion and second to approve without amendments. Members unanimously approved the minutes.
Report from Officers
Vice President for Programs, Kenny Reynolds noted that Dr. Scott Braley, a resident of New Mexico, will be the speaker for our program on May 7. His topic is the minerals of New Mexico.
Treasurer John Weidner was asked if there had been any change in the club’s financial position since his March report: “No” he responded.
Secretary Andy Thompson reminded everyone of the upcoming Eastern Federation Wild Acres session in Little Switzerland, NC, May 12 through 18, with wonderful speakers each evening, many workshops, all meals provided and very inexpensive. For more information go to https://efmls.org/wildacres/. “It is a wonderful experience.”
Editor Ken Rock showed everyone MSDC’s new business card which contains three QR codes for links to the club’s website, YouTube channel, and membership form. Ken has 500 cards and said he would be happy to meet with anyone willing to help with their distribution. Dan thanked Ken for designing and printing the cards and for his editing the club’s “awesome” newsletter.
Dan invited questions from other board members or club members. With none voiced, he noted that our club continues to be in a holding pattern with regard to finding a temporary place for our monthly meetings. He expressed hope that we will find a place to meet in person and to have a social gathering in the near future.
Geology In the News
Although the April newsletter is replete with interesting links for current news reports on geological topics, Dan asked if anyone had an additional report they wanted to share. Laura Dwyer noted she was in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) for the recent unveiling of the excellent new display named “The Winston Fancy Color Diamond Collection.” There are two articles about this amazing new display elsewhere in this newsletter.
That led to others chiming in with their experiences with the display which is located in the same gallery as the Hope Diamond. Laura shared her fun new parlor game of shining her new UV flashlight on the jewelry of visiting house guests, especially on any diamonds and other gemstones to see if beautiful fluorescent colors appear. She did not mention if she had an opportunity to test her UV flashlight on any footwear that her guests might be wearing.
Dave Hennessey recommended lighting up rubies which often fluoresce a brilliant red color. Discussion ensued about the wonderful display of the semicircle of colored diamonds in the new Winston display.
Andrea shared her first time experience seeing the really cool NMNH display of the Bennu asteroid specimen and model of the spacecraft which made a brief “touch-and-go” landing on Bennu and was able to capture 122 grams of material (about the size of a baseball) from this asteroid.
John Sanborn gave a plug for the April 28 meeting of the Micromineralogists of the National Capital Area. For more information about the group and its future programs see their website.
Beth Heesacker, a self-admitted volcano watcher, gave an update on the very recent Iceland earthquakes, 2,000 per day, oddly, with very little evidence of any volcanic activity.
With no further “Geology in the News” discussion raised by club members, Dan called for an received a motion and second to close the business meeting. He then turned the mic over to Kenny Reynolds to introduce the evening’s presenter, Dr. Leigh Broadhurst.