Data mining using the recently published 1500 square degree near infrared proper motion catalogue from the UKIDSS Large Area Survey has yielded 1220 common proper motion binary star systems of which 1129 appear to be new discoveries. Each component of a common proper-motion pair can be considered to be at the same distance from the observer, of the same age and subject to the same degree of reddening. These pairs are an interesting area for both amateur and professional astronomers to research because they do not fall into either of the extensively studied groups of orbiting binary stars or...

I have been a stamp collector for over 40 years, a postal historian and a philatelist for about 15 of those years and a specialist collector of revenue stamps and documents for the last 5 years. I've been a member of some the most friendly and well-run groups you could ever imagine - the State Revenue Society and the American Philatelic Society are both examples of best practice - and I even flirted briefly with philatelic exhibiting. Despite having served such a lengthy apprenticeship I still don't have an answer to a really basic question: "Why are postage stamps catalogued, collected and...

This series of books - appearing under the umbrella heading of "Social History Today" - is intended to reflect my three main research interests: 1) The commerce, industry and transport of South Wales. 2) The social history of death and disaster. 3) The social history of "Collector-Classifiers." INDEX OF SOCIAL HISTORY TODAY - VOLUME 1, NUMBER 1 A MAN DECAPITATED ON THE TAFF VALE RAILWAY IN 1900 THE TAFF VALE RAILWAY STRIKE OF 1900 A FATAL FIGHT AT MERTHYR RAILWAY STATION IN 1901 A FATAL COLLISON ON THE SOUTH WALES MINERAL RAILWAY THE USE OF BRAKE VANS ON THE TAFF VALE RAILWAY A BOILER...

Some well-known and high profile groups such as the Astronomical League have created observing programs specifically intended to encourage amateur astronomers to observe asterisms and some amateur astronomers have invested large amounts of energy and enthusiasm in looking for asterisms to add to the ever-growing catalogue of these objects. It is disappointing that some researchers have perhaps taken themselves and their desire to find new objects rather too seriously. Amateur astronomy is supposed to be fun and those people seeking to impose a rigid framework on what constitutes an asterism...