Wednesday, February 3

VOL 27 no. 31

2 February 2010
This Day Tonight
·      President Rod advises that members wishing to donate to the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund can do so by direct contribution to the District Treasurer Kerry Woodman at PO Box 768 Belmont 3216, or obtain District bank details on kerryw@davidsons.com.au  
·      Geoff Brentnall’s International night was a great success. 57 attendees included Roumanians, Turks, Scots, Irish,  New Zealanders, French, Japanese, & Czechoslovakians. The French couple are in Australia with their three children for a year on ‘home exchange’, and Tsukasa Oda is an exchange student from Miura, Kanagawa, Japan. {she spoke kindly of Mt. Fuji and Uluru, but not of vegemite!
·      The hosts for our Greek banquet were from Zimbabwe. We were served dips, Spanokoppitta, capsicum, saganaki, lima beans & bred, followed by chicken souvlaki, and lemon lamb with potadose, and finally, sweets, with coffee. Very nearly, a gastronomic orgy.
·      The Portarlington triathlon, with which we have a contractual obligation, is due to be held over the weekend of  13/14 February. Full details will be published next Tuesday, but if you are available, please contact Dick Clay.
·      President  Rod warmly congratulated Bob Smith for his Australia Day Award.

Market Roster for Sunday, 7th February
OC Philip J Edwards, Brigadier [ret’d]   2IC  Mick Cummins
Car counters  0830-1100 John Fox  1100-1300 Vic Harnath
Donations bin & traffic  0830-1100  Heather Wallace, Geoffrey Cummins.
Car Parking  0730  Colin Brown  0830-1030  John Wynn, Bill Steains, John Paton. 
                                                       1000-finish  Bruce Gilbert, Noel Emselle, Peter Cullen.
Site preparation  Bill Walton, Geoffrey Cummins      Signs & equipment  Dick Clay, Rod Birrell
Market raffles 0830-1030  Alison George, Rod Greer. 0930-1130  Judy Greer, Coral Barker
           1030-1230  Ingrid Cummins, Alex Magee
Cars raffle   Geoff Ford, Gerry Spencer, Charles Dawborn
Publicity   Richard Grimmett, Charles Dawborn.

Notice for the meeting at the Ocean Grove Hotel, Tuesday 9th February, 6.00 for 6.30
Speaker  Felicity Dales    Subject   From Canberra to Melbourne over the Alps on a bike.
Chairman  John Fox            Assistant Cashier & Thanker  Colin Brown
Greeter & Assistant Sergeant    Rod Birrell           Anniversaries         15th  Wal & Val Kelly

Car Raffle Sales Duties – the final roster for 2009/10
Sun 7th Feb – Our market    Charles Dawborn, Gerry Spencer & Wal Kelly
Sun 7th Feb  - Apco Barwon Heads   Bill Walton, Geoff Ford and John Fox if needed, to finish.

A very original birth control strategy
A six-year-old boy told his father he wanted to marry the little girl across the street. The father, being modern and well schooled in handling children, hid his smile behind his hand. “That’s a serious step,” he said. “Have you thought it out completely?”.
“Yes,” his young son answered. “We can spend one week in my room and the next in hers… It’s right across the street, so I can run home if I get scared in the dark.”.  “How about transportation?” the father asked.
“I have my wagon and we both have tricycles”, the little boy answered. The boy had an answer for every question the father raised.
Finally, in exasperation, his dad asked, “ What about babies? When you’re married, you’re liable to have babies, you know.”
“ We’ve thought about that too,” the little boy replied. “We’re not going to have babies. Every time she lays an egg, I’m going to step on it”                                    My proof-reader’s sister submitted that.

The District Conference, 12th ,13th, 14th March – Deakin Waterfront Campus
Full details and on-line registration are available at www.rotary9780.org, and those members not having internet access, can obtain hard copy details from Secy. Vic.  If you seek dinner organized by John Calnin on Friday evening at 6.00 PM [Sailors Rest Restaurant], prior to the Conference start, contact John. A room at the Sheraton has been booked from 2.00 pm on Saturday for our members to meet and change for dinner.

The conference commences at 7.00 PM on Friday, 12th March, but there will also be a special TAC Road Safety Grant Forum at the new TAC office in Brougham St., commencing at 3.00 and followed by afternoon tea. Christine Nixon is expected to be the key-note speaker after the opening of the conference on Friday evening, with supper and fellowship following at 9.30.
The conference resumes at 9.00 on Saturday morning, and speakers will include Peter Brown, Executive Director Save The Children Fund; Tom Henderson, Founder & CEO, ShelterBox; John McGrath AM, Deputy Chairman of Beyond Blue; Professor David de Kretser AC, The Governor of Victoria; and Bruce Allen, Polio Plus. There will also be a presentation from the Brazilian GSE team, and the evening’s highlight will be the ‘Rotary Rocks Dinner’ in the Community Bank Marquee at 7.30.

The conference resumes on Sunday morning and will conclude at 1.00 with a boxed lunch.
The costs are, per person, All conference sessions including Saturday Dinner & Entertainment.    $185
                                         All conference sessions excluding Saturday Dinner & Entertainment.    $140 Friday only    $40           All Saturday sessions including Dinner & Entertainment                         $160 Saturday Dinner and Entertainment only      $60         Sunday sessions, including lunch                $35

Notice for the meeting at the Ocean Grove Hotel, 16th February, 6.00 for 6.30
Speaker   Paul Van Someren    Subject  Disabled Surfers Association    Chairman   Noel Emselle
Assistant Cashier & Thanker    Peter Cullen   Greeter & Assistant Sergeant    Ingrid Cummins
Birthday     Jan Chandler

Around the Rotary world
On the seaside in Turkey:
Athough they live near a coastal city, more than 1500 Turkish 12 & 13 year olds viewed the sea for the first time when they participated in the Rotary club of Antalya-Olimpos’s Mediterranean Lighthouse project. Since 2003, The club has provided underprivileged children with access to daylong activities by the water, including comprehensive tours with port and marina personnel and lessons about sea pollution and safety. Rotarians and local Rotaractors supervise groups of 30-35 children in the twice-monthly tours.

If you do not object to telemarketing, please ignore this
Last Thursday’s ‘Age’ newspaper reported that millions of telephone numbers on the ‘Do Not Call Register’ will drop off the list this year, as the third anniversary of the lists establishment arrives.
More than a million people signed up on that list when it started in May, 2007, meaning that their three year listing will expire this year. They will be removed from the list unless they re-register.
We are indebted to PE Noel Emselle for reminding us about nuisance calls. To register or re-register, go to www.donotcall.gov.au.

Three fascinating, but otherwise quite useless pieces of information.
·      Some people are born without an appendix. That saves them the trouble of having it out later.
·      The brain cannot sense touch or pain, so brain surgery can be done while the patient is still awake! If a tumour is being removed, a surgeon may talk to the patient to check for alertness and that the operation is not damaging healthy parts of the brain.
·      You have water in your bones! Twenty percent of your skeleton is made up of water.

John Fox,   2055,   02/02/2010