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Golden News
Volume 17, Number 24 - Monday 8 December
2003
The official bulletin of the Rotary
Club of Kowloon Golden Mile is published
most Mondays and is distributed to all club members, District officials and other "friends of KGM". Winner "Best English Language Bulletin" in District 3450, 2001/2002 This Week's Meeting:
Our guest speaker this week is Ms. Claire Hollingworth who will be interviewed by Mr. Ted Thomas about her book "Captain If Captured", described as "a remarkable woman’s lifetime odyssey as a world-beating war correspondent". Clare Hollingworth (who recently celebrated her 92nd birthday!), has thrived as a witness at the sharp end of history. Her career as a war correspondent took off when she scooped the news of the outbreak of the Second World War from Poland's border with Germany - conflict and intrigue have never been far distant since. Brave reporting from strife-torn Algeria in the 1960s confirmed her status in the first rank of war correspondents. She also covered troubles in Aden, Burma, Borneo and Ceylon, two wars between India and Pakistan, two Arab-Israeli wars (she was a guest in Jerusalem’s King David Hotel when it was blown up), the Vietnam War (when she parachuted out of American war planes), to the bloody birth of Bangladesh. There was China and Mao Zedong
as the Cultural Revolution unfolded, which is reflected in her recent
books and writings. She went on to record China’s opening to the world and
an Asia in transition in the closing decades of the century. She has met
and measured a rich cast of movers and shakers of the 20th century during
an extraordinary life and career. Many are in the pages of “Captain if
Captured”, such as British intelligence heavyweight Kim Philby, whom she
exposed for the Soviet agent he was.
Clare Hollingworth has made
Hong Kong her base since the early 1980's, providing commentaries and
analyses for various leading publications. She has also been a lecturer at
the University of Hong Kong and a researcher at the Centre of Asian
Studies. "Captain If Captured", her story,
runs from her early years as a child of pampered English countryside
society, when she witnessed German bombers over her home town of Leicester
as a small girl in WWI, through the dramatic decades of the mid-20th
century, to Asia rising to the new millennium.
++++++
From Under The
Kitchen Sink: Our spy in the Holiday Inn
kitchen, Vincent "The Galloping Gourmet"
Lam, informs us that this week's fare is Chinese food
(which in China is just called "food"). The menu includes:
Vegetarian Hot & Sour
soup
Steamed Fillet of Garoupa with sliced
ginger, spring onions & soya sauce
Braised Black Mushrooms with bamboo
piths
Sautéed Prawns in green pepper & black
bean sauce
"Lo Hon" classic Chinese vegetarian
dish
Fried Noodles with seasonal vegetables
& black pepper sauce
Deep fried Sesame Seed Balls
Sago Cream.
Hmmmmm. Yummy!
Member News:
We extend a hearty welcome to Ted Durham, General Manager of the Holiday Inn Golden Mile, who was inducted as an Active Member of KGM under the classification "Hotel - Management", on Wednesday 3 December. His contact details are: Tel: ...... 2315 1261 Fax:...... 2311 2844
Email:... gm@goldenmile.com If you've not already done so, please introduce
yourself to Ted and make him feel welcome.
++++++ We'd also like to mention that we were delighted
to have Rtn. Hiroshi Kohno,
Program Director of the RC Fukushima
West, Japan present at our meeting last
week.
++++++
Our spy in the Lion City informs us that our old mate Susie "Madam Lash" Misini completed the 42km Singapore Marathon last Saturday 7 December, an event where she nominated KGM as being the beneficiary of any funds she raised. In fact, we note that KGM members alone have pledged over $12,000 in recognition of Susie's efforts. Although we've not head from Susie directly, rumour has it that she sustained some serious bruising under her chin during the race, and the bruising has been diagnosed by doctors as "dollypartonitis". Sounds awful, but we'll try to keep you abreast of her condition. Milestones: Birthday greetings to: (There are no KGM members celebrating a birthday this week, but PP Louis "Trailwalker" Thomas is really old). Induction anniversary greetings to the following KGM
members:
Congratulations to Ted "Bull" Durham on his first 7 days (Hey,
leave me alone, OK? I've gotta put something here!). Annual KGM Fund-Raising Walkathon:
Our old mate and KGM President-Elect Silva "Dollar" Yeung, reminds us that this year's Annual KGM Fund-Raising Walkathon will be held on Sunday 14 December, and the starting point is Pier 4, Yung Shue Wan on Lamma Island. Experienced walkers will depart at 9:30
a.m., while "Family Walkers"
will depart at 11:00 a.m. In both cases, the walk
will end approximately 90 minutes later at Sok Kwu Wan, where a
sumptuous seafood lunch will be provided FOC for all walkers at the Rainbow Seafood
Restaurant.
If you've never been on the Walkathon before, this map will show you the route (click on "show red walking path"). The map can be enlarged by further clicking the "+" button, and your keyboard "arrow" keys can move the map in four directions. Pretty cool, huh? Members who don't want to
walk, but who'd still like to join the fellowship lunch, should get
themselves to the restaurant not later than 12:30 p.m., otherwise PE Silva
will eat all the food. The lazy sods who aren't
walking only need to pay the incredibly low price of $150 per head, which
includes all food, drinks and a chance to experience PE Silva's smelly
feet and ingrown toenails.
You can download a copy of the sponsorship form from the KGM website. For more information, or to confirm your attendance at the Walkathon and/or the fellowship lunch, send an email to the Walkathon Organisers as soon as possible. Fellowship News - Last
Call:
Our old mate and KGM Fellowship Director PP "Butch" Cassidy Lam reminds us that from 7:00 p.m. on Friday 12 December, the charming & beautiful Avisha Harilela and her hubbie er, um, ah, oh yeah David, will once again graciously open their fabulous home to the great unwashed masses of KGM for a fellowship dinner tentatively entitled "A Short Time In Kowloon Tong", whatever that means. Members interested in attending this event should contact PP Cassidy on telephone 9031
2882.
Vocational Service News - Last Call: Our effervescent Vocational Service Director Vincent "Bone Bender" Lam has organised a Vocational Service visit to the Pathways Foundation at Room 502, Tung Ying Building, 100 Nathan Road, Tsimshatsui, Kowloon, from 11:00 am on Saturday 13 December. The Pathways Foundation is a registered non-profitable
charitable organization, and is the only NGO that addresses the widespread
educational, personal and societal issues arising from Specific Learning
Disabilities (SLD) and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorders (AD/HD)
in children, including problems of literacy, innumeracy, organizational
ability and social skills. Pathways runs After School Support Programs
(ASSP) to help children with Specific Learning Disabilities.
We're invited to watch how the actual classes (on that day, English ASSP and Math ASSP) are being conducted during our visit, which should last about 1 hour. Members interested in joining the visit should
contact Vincent on telephone 9045
6871.
Community Service News:
Our old mate and Community Service Director Miranda "King" Kong reports that the St. James' Settlement were absolutely delighted with our most recent contribution, namely 190 pieces of various electrical appliances, generously donated by our other old mate Balu "Kojak" Chainrai and his charming wife Anita. Once again, and on behalf of everyone at KGM, we thank
Balu and Anita for their continuing support of KGM activities.
District 3450 Events:
Rotary
International News:
Read the latest news about the Rotary Global
History Project.
In other news:
1. Read the December issue
of "The Rotarian" magazine online.
2. Learn about the various Rotary International Programs on the RI
website - details.
3. Read all about the ongoing plans for the
RI Centennial in 2005 -
details.
4. Visit the website of Rotary International President Jonathan Majiyagbe - details. 5. The 95th Rotary
International Convention will be held in Osaka from 23-26
May, 2004 - new
website.
Rotary Information: Definition of Rotary: How do you describe the organization called “Rotary”? There are so many characteristics of a Rotary club as well as the activities of a million Rotarians. There are the features of service, internationality, fellowship, classifications of each vocation, development of goodwill and world understanding, the emphasis of high ethical standards, concern for other people, and many more. In 1976, the Rotary International Board of
Directors was interested in creating a concise definition of the
fundamental aspects of Rotary. They turned to the three men who were then
serving on RI’s Public Relations Committee and requested that a
one-sentence definition of Rotary be prepared. After numerous drafts, the
committee presented this definition, which has been used ever since
in various Rotary publications:
“Rotary is an
organization of business and professional persons united worldwide who
provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all
vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the
world”.
Those 31 words are worth remembering when
someone asks, “What is a Rotary club?”.
Advice
from the Geek:
If you don't already have such a facility,
enquire about getting a "Webmail" service from your Internet Service
Provider.
The most well known providers of "Webmail"
are Yahoo! and Hotmail, but those are free, public services, which are
full of ads and other irritants. Moreover, you have no direct control
over user names - you have to take whatever lousy name you can get, such
as spanky12345@yahoo.com or
other ugly variants.
However many local ISPs such as Pacnet
Hosting (the nice people used by KGM) and Netvigator, also offer a
"Webmail" service which, if you also host your company domain with them,
gives you full control over email addresses.
For example, our Web Monster allocates
email addresses to KGM BOD members, such as president@rckgm.org,
which is used by KGM President Patricia "Iron
Lady" Blair to receive all email communications from
Rotary International & District 3450. She also has the option of
either having all such emails redirected to her business or personal email
addresses, or she can choose to leave them on the server for later
handling at her convenience (and she wisely opted for the second
choice).
All President Patricia needs to do is to
log onto the KGM "Webmail" server by using the webmail interface, just as she would
when using Yahoo!, but the interface is clean and uncluttered.
And, if you own your own company, fred@mycompany.com looks much better than fred@netvigator.com when dealing with clients and suppliers. However one of the best features is that you can block and delete potentially harmful email messages at the ISP's server instead of allowing them to be downloaded to your computer. The Geek never downloads email messages without
firstly logging on and checking what's waiting for him at the server. It's
also useful being able to check your messages online at an Internet cafe
when travelling in countries with slow (and expensive hotel) email
connection speeds.
Get "Webmail". You won't regret
it.
Who Am I?
What is the more common name of bulbous-nose actor from the 1920's William Claude Dukenfield? Clue: Hic! The answer appears at the bottom of this issue. Golden Smile: Two frail, tiny and elderly women were out driving in a large car - they could barely see over the dashboard. As they were cruising along, they came to an
intersection. The stoplight was red, but they just went on through. The
woman in the passenger seat thought to herself "I might be going crazy,
but I could have sworn we just went through a red light".
After a few more minutes, they came to another
intersection and the light was also red, and again, they drove right
through.
The woman in the passenger seat was almost sure that the light had been red, but was really concerned that she was losing it. She was getting nervous and decided to pay very close attention to the road and the next intersection. At the next intersection, sure enough, the light was
red and they drove on through. She turned to the other woman and
said, "Mildred, did you know that we just ran through three red lights in
a row? You could have killed us both!"
Mildred turned to her and said, "Oh, am I
driving?".
Quotable Quotes:
"The budget should be balanced. Public debt should be reduced. The arrogance of officialdom should be tempered, and assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed, lest Rome become bankrupt". Marcus Tullius Cicero (63 B.C.)
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| Who Am I answer: W.C. Fields. |
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