23rd March 2010
This Day Tonight
• We had several important guests tonight including Martin’s brother from Holland and visiting Rotarians Graham and Adrian from RC Geelong East, our guest speakers.
• A feature of tonight’s program was the induction of our newest member, John Flett, accompanied by his wife Jan. They have five adult children and John is a teacher at the Gordon Institute of TAFE. John will join the Community Service Committee.
• Secy. Vic. reported having received a letter from Club Grove acknowledging our interest in the venue for our Tuesday meetings, which may eventuate before December. Those of us who reside within 10 kms. of the club, must become members before partaking of Club Grove hospitality.
• DG elect Jessie Harman has alerted us to the availability of Government Grants for training & development.
• Wal Kelly, deputising for Bill Walton, gained sufficient volunteers for the working bee no.2 at the Surfside School ‘Chookhouse’ project next Friday. The building will cope with chooks of all sizes.
• Probus beat Rotary at golf last week!! It was probably just sheer weight of numbers as there are 12,700 Probarians at 152 Probus Clubs in our Rotary district. President Rod met quite a few of them during his marathon Probus club visits. If he visited one of those clubs each week, it would take almost three years.
• 14 volunteer hands shot up tonight in support of manning the gates at the Ocean Grove Park on Saturday 10th April from 12.30 pm for the performance by ‘The Rusties’. I hope I got the name right!
And the meek shall inherit the earth – if that’s all right with the rest of you
Tonight’s guest speakers – Graham & Adrian from East Geelong. The multi-district Shine On Awards
Created in Brisbane in 1993, and now an important vocational Service project of five southern Rotary Districts, these awards recognise the outstanding service to the community of persons with disabilities.
Through corporate funding since 1999, the Rotary Southern Districts Committee has administered the Awards in Victoria, with recognition of two separate age groups, [Youth 15 to 20yo], and Adults, with common selection criteria.
Geelong district Rotarians will have the opportunity to become involved with this excellent Rotary program, when the annual May Awards ceremony will be held in Geelong
Weather patterns
We seem to be in a period of uncertain weather. 65 mms of rain fell in our region, 6th to 8th March, There are cyclones at sea to the East of Queensland, immense rains in the north and west of NSW, but continuing drought further south.
People who say they can feel the weather in their bones may be telling the truth. Even so, what their bones tell them is not the future state of the weather, but present conditions., [which may indicate the future pattern]. Why the ability exists is not known. But some people, for instance, find they get headaches when the air is damp or charged with static electricity, as it often is ahead of a thunderstorm. Others find that an aching bone or a corn twinges more when the barometer falls abruptly; and falling air pressure usually indicates approaching bad weather. From the Readers Digest Book of Facts.
I printed the above when I recalled that my Jan gets aching knees when there is a threat of rain, so I did some research, to discover that her knees are as good as a barometer.
Technology to blow your mind
I asked my son David what his family was up to, and was told that our grandson Julian was playing a war game with 7 friends on the internet, but none of the other 15y.o. boys were actually with Julian. I didn’t immediately react for a few days, but curiosity got the better of me, so I phoned for further details.
It seems they were all in possession of ‘PlayStation 3’, all mates from the same school - St Leonards of East Brighton, and they all owned a video game titled ‘Call of Duty; Modern Warfare 2’, released last November.
David tells me that 4.7 million copies of that ‘game’ were sold in the first 24 hours of release, grossing $US 310M, making it the most successful entertainment launch in history – beating any movie!. It reached $US550M in 5 days, and topped $US1Bn. by mid-January.
Those 8 boys could talk to each other, using headsets, but they could just as easily be scattered throughout the world. When zooming in to a close-up of a colleague, the name of that boy appears above the image of the soldier, with the same realism of image as applies to a well made quality film. Being able to choose their own weapons, they can kill the enemy [and each other], but, fortunately, that’s not fair dinkum. By switching on his ‘Play Station’, Julian can instantly see who is playing ‘Call of Duty’, anywhere in the world, and ask to join in!!
Ed. Comment: I used to play Pontoon.
I wouldn’t be paranoid if people wouldn’t pick on me
Three fascinating, but otherwise quite useless pieces of information.
• Peanut oil can be used to make paint, varnish, polish, insecticides, soap and explosives.
• Milk for US Pres.Taft and family was provided by a cow that grazed freely on the White House lawn.
• It takes 40 minutes to hard-boil an ostrich egg.
Hypochondria is the one disease I haven’t got
Notice for the meeting at the Ocean Grove Hotel, 30th March, 6.00 for 6.30.
Subject Mental Health Speaker Naomi Adams & Ailsa Stevenson Chairman Ingrid Cummins
Asistant Cashier & Thanker Phil Edwards Greeter & Assistant Sergeant Hans Franken
Birthdays & Anniversaries 1st April Val Kelly 2nd April Geoffrey & Ingrid Cummins.
It is now beyond any doubt that cigarettes are the biggest cause of statistics.
The three G’s [Gary Golding’s Games]
If you haven’t entered the footy tipping comp., do it before Thursday evening, because that is the start of the season. www.footytips.com.au. Phone Gary on 5256 1453 if you have any difficulties. It may not be seen as an omen, but Collingwood beat Carlton by 14 points, 9.7 to 6.11 in the 1910 VFL grand final. It was the ‘pies’ third flag. The game was played on Saturday,1st October. There was the opening of a conference on cancer in Paris, on the same day.
Notice for the meeting at the Ocean Grove Hotel, Tuesday 6th April, 6.00 for 6.30
Subject Rotary Leadership Program. Speakers Heather Wallace & Warren Norton
Chairman Margaret Campbell Assistant Cashier & Thanker Judy Greer
Greeter & Assistant Sergeant Alex Magee Birthdays & Anniversaries 8th Martin Geerings
9th John Calnin, Vic Harnath 10th Peter & Jo Hawthorne 11th Pam Turnbull
John Fox, 2120, 23/03/2010
