Golden News
Volume 14 Number 46                            30th May 2001

The Weekly Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Kowloon Golden Mile
www.rckgm.org

The Ball

For those of you that went to the BALL OF THE YEAR  - on behalf of the fund-raisers this year - a hearty thanks for your participation and generosity.
 
For Rotarian David, the Ball Committee Chairman and his tireless team, Ho Door Chair for a TOP evening of FUN and ENTERTAINMENT. My table had a ball and every one I spoke to told me that it was a raver!! Rotarianne Therese tells me that I had a good time!
 
Thanks especially to all those who probably worked more during the evening than have a good time themselves so that everyone else would enjoy the evening more.
 
The Band was great ... and the Singer.
 
I didn't know we had so much talent in the Club!!!
 
Some of the fancy dresses were out of this world - WOW!!
 
Thanks Grand Hyatt for having us and for telling the angry resident to use ear plugs and that you would continue to hold the Rotarians' Ball until the bitter end.
 
To the Rotarians of KGM who didn't make it.
YOU...... MISSED........ A......... FANTASTIC EVENING 
                                         DON'T MISS THE NEXT IF YOU CAN HELP IT!!!
 

 
 
Meeting On 23rd May 2001
 
Diary Dates 
 
Today!! - 30th May - Ms Paula De Lisle - Chairwoman, American Chamber of Commerce. This lady, is the first lady president of the American Chamber of
Commerce in Hong Kong. Please come along and bring your friends - her speech promises to be most interesting. Yours in Rotary, Elissa, Programme Director
 
Week-end 8/9th June - Last Current Board Meeting & Fellowship 
 
*******************
It is my pleasure to invite all members and their partners to our annual
Nincs Fellowship
Date: 16 June 2001 (I know Pavarotti is singing that night we might not sing
but some of us have weight problem as well)
Time: 07:00 PM
Venue: The Terrace at the Kowloon Club, 15th Floor East Wing, New World
Center Office Building, 24 Salisbury Road, TST
We will have a barbecue buffet style. After all I think the barbecue was non
Indian and non Chinese invention. In Germany we
were putting big pieces of meat on the fire at a time when we were still
living in trees. We will have a selection of salads and vegetables for the
vegetarians as well.
So please let me know very soon (schnell, schnell) if and with how many
persons you will attend. (We Haf Ways...)
My new e-mail is hepphk@aol.com
 
***********
July 6th - District Installation Banquet 
 

 
Our Speaker Mr Klaus Heyman, Chairman of HNH Int. Ltd.
 
Mr Heyman's whose company is the mother company of NAXOS, MARCO POLO, and BOSE, (All, I think, world famous labels for classical, and or music in general)  spoke to us  on the changing business model in the industry, his views and forecast for it's future development. 
 
Klaus, whose brainchild NAXOS is, holds a strong conviction in what he calls the "Naxos" Principle, which is the provision of a wide range of good music, well played and professionally recorded and available at a relatively modest price to music lovers all over the world. 
Naxos, apparently, is the largest classical music label in the world with a 60% share of the market, achieved by a price level of some one third of other labels. The lower price then, achieves the share, but is necessary to achieve the high sales figure which naturally fits the Naxos principle mentioned above.
 
Now then; why isn't this same principle applied by some of the world's most famous software houses to make their products more easily available to all computer buffs, especially the not so well off. Wouldn't this combat much of the pirating that goes on?
 
A record by the famous violinist Takako Nizshizaki (hope that's right!!), named "Butterfly Lover", which sold 3 Million copies and hundreds of Chinese Classical music all under the Naxos banner, will be well known to music lovers in Hong Kong. 
 
As Mr Klaus Heyman very rarely speaks publicly we were indeed most fortunate and honoured that he came to our meeting to share with us his insights into the music industry.

Since I was unable to be at the meeting, Rtn Vincent very kindly helped me out with the above information; however all of the above-mentioned labels have web-pages. I visited www.naxos.com - was very impressed and recommend that music lovers do the same as well as visiting www.marcopolo.com and www.bose.com !
  

 

Words from Director - Vocational Service Neerja (Repeat)

 
Dear fellow Rotarians,

For those of you who HAVEN'T YET submitted your vocational spots, Please RUSH them to me at

neerjasujanani@economist.com

Thank you all
Cheers!
Neerja
 

From Our Own Club Internet Communications Officer
 
Dear KGM Members,

As your CICO (Club Internet Communications Officer !!), and Web Monster, it is my duty to remind you to please observe accepted Email Etiquette when replying to emails regarding KGM business. Unless it is *absolutely essential* for your reply to be copied to ALL recipients of the original email message, please reply to incoming emails only by clicking on the "Reply To Sender" button, NOT the "Reply To All" button. For example, if the Fellowship Director sends an email message to all members concerning a forthcoming event, and you merely want to request an extra serving of mashed potato with your fish, there really is no need to tell the whole club !!

If you do, then everybody will want extra mashed potato, and we just can't afford it, OK ? :-)

Regards,
              PP Vince Pinto
                                    CICO & Web Monster

 
This Weeks Humorous Look At Ourselves - Cows and  Politics!
   
   
    FEUDALISM
You have two cows. Your lord takes some of the milk
   
    FASCISM
You have two cows. The government takes both, hires you to
    take care of them, and sells you the milk
    
    COMMUNISM
 You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the
    government takes all the milk
    
    DICTATORSHIP
 You have two cows. The government takes both and shoots  you
    
    
    
    MILITARISM
You have two cows. The government takes both and drafts you
    
    
    SINGAPOREAN DEMOCRACY
You have two cows. The government fines you for
    keeping two unlicensed farm animals in an apartment    
    
    AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
The government promises to give you two cows if  you vote for it. After the election, the president is impeached for speculating in cow futures. The press dubs the affair "Cowgate".  The cow sues you for breach of contract
    
    
    BRITISH DEMOCRACY
You have two cows. You feed them sheep's brains and
    they go mad. The government doesn't do anything
    
    
    EUROPEAN DEMOCRACY
You have two cows. At first the government regulates
what you can feed them and when you can milk them. Then it pays you not to milk them. After that it takes both, shoots one, milks the other and pours the milk down the drain. Then it requires you to fill out forms accounting for the missing cows.
   
    CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull
    
    HONG KONG CAPITALISM
You have two cows. You sell three of them to your publicly-listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax deduction for keeping five cows. The milk rights of six cows are transferred
via a Panamanian intermediary to a Cayman Islands company secretly owned by the majority shareholder, who sells the right to all seven cows' milk back to the listed company. The annual report says that the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more. Meanwhile, you kill the two cows because of bad feng shui
    
       
    TOTALITARIANISM
You have two cows. The government takes them and denies they ever existed. Milk is banned
    
    
    
    INTERNETISM
You have no cows ... but you claim that you will grow to a herd in two years.  Based on this unsubstantiated hope someone buys your ten cows to breed.  Unfortunately, you hadn't worked out that these cows don't produce any milk but luckily everybody has also piled into the same cow market ... so you'll be able to cash-in your share options  before anyone notices the lack of milk prospects
    
    COUNTERCULTURE
Wow, dude, there's like...these two cows, man! You have got to have some of this milk!
   
   
    SURREALISM
You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take
    harmonica lessons


URCHIN