Golden News
Volume 14 - Number 6 -  August 7th 2000
The weekly newsletter of the Rotary Club of Kowloon Golden Mile, Hong Kong
Web site: www.rckgm.org
AUGUST    IS    MEMBERSHIP    &    EXTENTION    MONTH
 
See What You Missed!
 
Actually, I missed. Grovel. I forgot to tell you that last month was “Literacy month”. I did however quite accidentally, attempt to get all of you into a literary state of mind by posing, for your general education, a few word and sentence teasers. I leave the fact that only Herr Hans and Frau Carola responded to your further literary contemplation.
 
 
This Month’s Rotary Theme
 
Whilst extension might more properly be the concern of our lofty, dynamic Board of Directors there would be no objection to some gentle rattling of the cage should we have the urge.
On the other hand, membership should be  constantly at the back of our minds. We meet people all the time and the longer as Rotarians the easier it will be for us to spot those who would enjoy what we do and contribute as members. That’s where this years theme comes into play. If we meet such people, create awareness in them as to what we do, hopefully they will act themselves to find out more. Harry Sim, Hong Kong Director of a well know international electronic firm, was on the plane to Peking last month for his sins sitting next to me and surrounded by a large fairly effulgent group of PP’s and District officers. “What’s with this lot?”, he asked and you can guess the rest of the story. Harry has visited KGM a few times. He’s a busy traveller and we look forward to seeing him again soon. Q.E.D.
 
 
Last Week's Meeting
 
After the fellowship and appetiser, President Cassidy opened the meeting at 1.23 p.m. with introductions and salutations with particular warmth for IPP Ram who having spent a few weeks in a rest home to recover from his year as President was now ready to face another year of heavy IPP responsibility.
Rtn Carola with the banner of Sergeant, more becoming in fact than that of the helmet of a  Panzer Commandant, had ways to make us contribute:
    (eye’n) early leavers (June, we missed you and those who went to the other meeting next door),
    (dry) those who had not realised that 1st August was the Swiss National day,
    (fear) Miranda had been photographed in the company of petty bourgeois capitalists at some function, while
    (phumph) everyone apparently hadn’t noted that the District’s calendar omitted Monday 1st August, explaining why no one heard the honk of the Alpine Horn.

P(h)E Ebe introduced visiting Rotarians Balu, of Kowloon and M.S. Kalra of Kowloon North and 4 Interactors, who later advised us of their coming fund-raising bazaar and games event this week end and sold us tickets for rides. Marian Liu HK & Los Angeles and Caren Chan HK, both members of the Victoria Toastmasters Club, were guests of Rotarians.

Guest Speaker,  Mr Alan Abrahams, of Amnesty International Hong Kong Section, who had spoken to us a year ago, was happy to be back and took us through the purpose of the organisation and its history which spanned 35 years and was based on the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights with its head office in London. Its original focus was on the abolition of the death penalty although in some ways regretfully, other important issues competed for the body’s attention as years went by. Happily, since the hand-over the Hong Kong Section, now the one such body permitted to work in China.
Interestingly Hong Kong membership was originally between five and six hundred and mostly Chinese concerned with hand-over issues, whereas nowadays the membership was about a third of that figure with Chinese membership at about 18%. Mr Abrahams pointed out that AI sections were not permitted by the charter to concern themselves with issues of the host country, which could explain the decline in membership noted before.
It came up during questions that the organisation known as Human Rights Monitor was not related and was able to concern itself with home country issues. The talk concluded with a polite reference to the bodies dependence on financial support from the humans in the world whose rights it steadfastly stood for. I guess that’s you and me.  There followed a lively session of questions, and a warm thank-you from Rtn Danielle.
 
Take Care - Experiment With Photograph Taking Place - Our Speaker 2 Weeks Ago On Hair - Courtesy John Li
 
Mr. Cassius Rolfe-Johnson
 
Diary Notes
 
Friday 18th August - District Happy Hour from 7 to 9 p.m. on August 18th at the Kowloon Club.
 
Thursday 24th August – Official visit to RCKGM's mum, Rotary Club of Kowloon – 12.30 Peninsular Hotel – Nathan Room
 
Sunday 27th August – A short hike on Lamma and/or seafood in So Ku Wan – details to be circulated later.
 
Friday 15th September – We’ve been invited to dine at home with Rtn David Harilela – details later.
 
Wednesday 27th September – An evening instead of a lunch meeting, Club Assembly and DG’s visit
 
30th September – Octoberfeste Holiday In Kowloon Golden Mile
 
 
Speaker for Next Meeting
 
9th August - Dr. Ching Chi Kong – Ulcers, Prevention and Cure.
 
 
This Week's Birthday Celebrants
 
Carola Masuch - 12th August – Shares the day with Pete Sampras, who has many happy returns to spare and lots of love.

Mukesh Dayaram - 14th August – same as David Crosby, Folksy kinda singer, solid as ro/ as a Rock.
 
 
This Weeks Vocational Spot
                            By David Harilela

I'm the eldest son of the eldest Harilela brother, Mr. George N. Harilela, and was the first in my family to go to University or even finish high school.  I'm a graduate from the University of Southern California with a B.Sc in Business Administration.  I've always wanted to succeed  making money on my own so I  was independent from 17 when I started  by singing for fun  & funds and earned thousands to supplement my HK$25/month allowance from my parents.  I enjoyed some minor fame as a pop star & once had a 500 all-girl fan club.  I've been lucky enough to be part of one of the best Rock bands in Hongkong in 1969,   I've also been a model and have sung and performed  on TV's & concerts many times.

My experiences are varied and consist of having been a waiter, a hotel reservations clerk, a cashier & a receptionist.  I started my business career by carving up a huge niche for my family's trading business in S. America in 1974  when I first travelled there for 40 days with only 3 suitcases for company and visited 12 countries.  I was lucky as  I spoke not  a word of  Spanish.

I chose to turn down joining the hotel division of our family business & when my family wanted to close their trading division in 1984 after incurring millions in losses.  I offered to buy it  from them for US$2 million even though I had not a dime in my pocket & even though I could have started my own for nothing.  It took me 2 years to pay that off & I've taken trading business to a fine science by adding licensing extravaganzas such as becoming the first HK company to pioneer Sports Licensing with the  World Cup USA '94 & Steffi Graf Apparel thereafter.

I'm now involved in creating a brand, Bonehead to hopefully rival and/or replace the ageing stalwarts Disney & Barbie.  I also invest personally in properties & securities internationally & consult for several public  companies on licensed products.

My desire now is to give back to society what we all owe to society - not only money but love, a helping hand & soul.  I will always remain a "rocker" in heart and am never too old at 51 to rock & roll.  Last but not least I love being part of all of you &  my Wednesdays in Hongkong are always blocked irrespective of buyer & friend or family.
 

Words From The Phantom
 
KGM Web Site
 
Not only does our world-famous, award-winning and environmentally-friendly KGM web site offer visitors a "Welcome Message" and a choice of jazzy background tunes, it now also offers audio clips of our five (5) primary club officers, our Sergeant-At-Arms and our Club Advisor. Just click on the "audio" hyperlinks next to their names under the "Who's Who" section.

There is also an audio clip of our beloved Fellowship Director under "What's On". I hope you enjoy them all :-)
 
But there's still more ! Continuing on with your Webmaster's sudden cigarette & caffeine induced urge to add audio to the KGM web site, there is also a selection of comments made by past visitors to our club under the "Invitation" section.
 
Contest: The first person to email the Webmaster, correctly identifying all eight (8) of the "visitor's voices", will be treated to a free lunch at KGM, including unlimited drinks. Answers (and the winner's name, if any), will be provided in next week's bulletin.
 
Finally, under the "Humour" section, the hilarious "Who's On First" routine originally performed by the renown comedy team of Abbott & Costello has been added. OK, this has nothing to do with Rotary, but it is undoubtedly one of the funniest (but cleanest) skits your Webmaster has ever heard. You will, however, need a basic understanding of baseball to enjoy it !
 
 
From The Phantom’s Altar Ego, ie “Bean Counter” aka Treasurer
 
OK folks, no more "Mr. Nice Guy".
 
Fifteen (15) members have yet to pay their Semi-Annual Dues for the period July-December 2000. The deadline was 31 July 2000, and I am NOT amused.
 
You know who you are. I know who you are. I know where you live. I am bigger than you. I just ran out of Prozac. I am grumpy AND I have a shotgun. This is not a good thing. You have been warned. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
 
Grumpy want money. NOW ! Send your cheque payable to Rotary Club of Kowloon Golden Mile to P.O. Box 98129, Tsimshatsui.
 
 
We Miss You!!

At last week's Board meeting a motion was proposed, seconded and unanimously adopted that a notice be inserted in this bulleting to let  Rtns June, Miranda, Agnes, Notan and Mukesh know how much we have missed seeing them over the past weeks and that we hope that we will be able to welcome them back soon
 
 
 
Quote of The Week
 
“No matter what business you're in, you can't run in place or someone will pass you by. It doesn't matter how many games you've won."    Jim Valvano
 
 
Jokes Of The Week
(not a real chain letter which would make The Phantom angry)
 
This chain letter was created to bring relief to tired and discouraged women,
but unlike most such letters this one costs nothing.
 
Just send a copy to five of your friends who are also tired and discontented.
 
Then bundle up your husband or boyfriend, send him to the woman whose name
appears at the top of the list, and add your name to the bottom of the list.
 
When your turn comes, you will receive 2,048 men. One of them is bound to be
better than the one you already have.  As I write this letter, a friend of
mine had already received 184 men, 4 of whom were worth keeping.
 
REMEMBER this chain brings luck.  One woman's husband moved out and the next
day she received a Bay Watch Hunk!
 
An unmarried Jewish lady living with her widowed mother was able to choose
between Silvester Stallion and  Chip Endale.
 
You can be lucky too, but do not break the chain!
One woman broke the chain, and got her husband back!
 
 
Encore

 This appeared in the current issue of Australian Aviation Magazine (June
 2000, but naturally Urchin could not resist the temptation of a few changes
 here and there for local colour
 
 RULES OF THE AIR
 
 1 Take offs are optional, landings mandatory.
 
 2 If you push the stick forward, the houses get bigger. If you pull it
 back, they get smaller, unless you do it too much; then they get bigger
 again.
 
 3 Flying isn't dangerous. Crashing is.
 
 4 It's always better to be down here wishing you were up there than up
 there wishing you were down here.
 
 7 The propeller is fan in front of the plane keep the pilot cool. When
 it stops, he will start sweating.
 
 8 When in doubt, hold on to your altitude. No one has ever collided with
 the sky.
 
 9 A good landing is one you can walk away from. A great one allows the
 plane to be used again.
 
 10 Learn from others mistakes. You won't live long enough to make them all
 yourself.
 
 11 You know you've landed belly up if it takes full power to taxi in.
 
 12 The probability of survival is inversely proportional to the angle
 of arrival. Large angle, small probability and vice versa.
 
 13 Never let an aircraft take you somewhere your brain didn't get to five
 minutes earlier.
 
 14 Stay out of clouds; reliable sources report that mountains have been
 known to hide out in them.
 
 15 Try to keep the number of your landings equal to your take offs.
 
 16 There are three simple rules for making a smooth landing.
 Unfortunately no one knows what they are.
 
 17 You start with a bag full of luck and an empty bag of experience.
 The trick is to fill the latter before you empty the former.
 
 18 Helicopters do not fly; they're just so ugly the earth repels them.
 
 19 If all you can see out of the window is ground going round and you can
 hear mayhem in the cargo hold, something is wrong.
 
 20 In the battle between aluminium objects going hundreds of miles per hour
 and the ground going zero miles per hour, the latter has yet to lose.
 
 21 Good judgement comes from experience. Unfortunately, the experience
 usually comes from bad judgement.
 
 22 It's sound to keep the pointy end going forward as much as possible.
 
 23 Keep looking around. There's always something you've missed.
 
 24 Gravity is not just a good idea. It's the law and not subject to repeal.
 
 25 The three most useless things to a pilot: the altitude above you, the
 runway behind you, and a tenth of a second ago..
 
 26 If this is your first time out east, on your manual for "Kai Tak" read
 "Chek Lap Kok", the co-ordinates are ..
 
 27 This is your Captain speaking. I would now like to speak to passengers
 clinging desperately to the right wing, "Thank you for flying with us and
 we look forward to seeing you again.
 
 
 
Teeny Teasers

A teaser –  Billy the bull has swallowed a an explosive device which is likely to go off any moment. Which word best describes the situation.... awful, dreadful, abominable, El Toro Poo Poo or shocking?
Sorry, another teaser, just can’t resist this one, what is it? – "Was it a bar or a bat I saw?"
Final one, at Han’s KGM Fellowship in the Dublin Jack, very early in the evening, there had been 15 handshakes, with every new arrival shaking hands with every person already there. At that point only singles had arrived. How many were there?
 
 
Graph Eaties End
 
Spotted recently on a wall in Lan Kwai Fong - "Love is a many gendered thing"
 
URCHIN