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Golden
News
Volume
15, Number 08 - Monday 20 August 2001
Postcard from
Germany:
 Achtung! Die Phantom ist in Deutschland.
Schnell junge Mädchen, durchlauf und fell!Yes folks, The Phantom is currently in Germany and I am suffering from a severe case of jetlag (which makes me feel something like the image at left), so don't expect too much from me in this issue of the Golden News. Last week PP Louis "Trailwalker" Thomas, gave us
an entertaining summary of his first 50 years in Hong Kong while
Elissa "Peanuts" Cohen served
as acting Sergeant-At-Arms, due to the continued absence of Susie "Madam Lash" Misini.
On the attendance front, Neerja "Roll Call" Sujanani advised that our average attendance has crept up a few notches to 79%, which is still within acceptable limits. By the way, judging by the numerous
favourable comments I received after I included an image of the Swedish
Shooting Team in issue 1504, many KGM members are obviously keen to learn
more about the recreational shooting sports in Sweden. If you are one of
those members, click on this
link to see how the team members relax during and
after a major competition.
This Week's Meeting:
Dr Jerry K. S. Liu will be speaking to us on "Dental Implant - Human's Third Dentition". Ouch! Sounds painful. Milestones:
1. Birthday greetings for Monday 20 August (today) to KGM member John "Wildman" Li, who shares his birthday with rocker Robert Plant, former lead singer of Led Zeppelin and boxing promoter Don King. Trivia: Don King's unusual "bouffant" hairstyle was apparently caused by him taking "Rogaine" and "Viagra" at the same time. 2. Congratulations to PDG Dipo Sani and his charming wife Renu on the recent engagement of their only son Sudesh to Amishi Thakker. Member Updates:
Farewell to Rtn. Amy Shum who tendered her resignation from KGM due to increasing business and business-travel pressure. We wish Amy the very best for the future and hope that she will return to KGM when he situation is less hectic. Fellowship News -
Last Call:
Our funky Fellowship Director David "Party Dude" Harilela reminds members of the next KGM fellowship called "Old Is Gold Night" (??) to be held on Saturday 25 August 2001 (this week!), at Jimmy's Kitchen, Tsimshatsui. More details are available on the KGM web site and in the email David has sent to members. Please contact David directly by email or by telephone to 9168 8333 to confirm your attendance and/or if you require more information. Semi-Annual
Dues - Revised Shame List:
Well folks, contrary to what was reported in last week's bulletin, I can sheepishly confirm that Rtn. Alex Lau and Rtn. Lal Daryanani have paid their semi-annual dues, however nobody bothered to inform your overworked and underpaid Treasurer. Nonetheless I extend my apologies to both members. On the other hand, since there have been no screams of "Not Guilty" from the following members: Chris Carroll, Balu Chainrai, Per Larsen, Norman Liu, Susie Misini, Hans Peter, Jagdish Pursram, Nasreen Ting, Notan Tolani & Silva Yeung. -:we must presume that they
remain guilty as charged. The penalty?? To be advised.
District 3450 News: 1) A District Rotary
Foundation Seminar will be held from 9:00 a.m. to
3:00 p.m. Saturday 8 September
2001 at the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine Jockey Club
Building, 99 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Aberdeen, Hong Kong. The
registration fee is HK$320 per person, which includes lunch. The keynote
speaker will be Regional Rotary Foundation
Coordinator PDG Jackson Hsieh from
Taiwan. The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International does tremendous work around the world and additional information about the various programs they undertake can be obtained at their web pages. 2) A District Vocational Service Seminar will be held during the regular club meeting of RC Peninsula from 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Tuesday 30 October 2001 at the Hong Kong Hotel, Tsimshatsui. There is no charge for the seminar; attendees only need to pay for their lunch. More information can be obtained from KGM Vocational Service Director PP Louis Thomas, who will undoubtedly be seeking KGM members to accompany him. Rotary International News:
A) Did you know that RI President Rick King's theme for the current Rotary year, "Mankind Is Our Business", comes from the Charles Dickens' classic "A Christmas Carol"? Visit the KGM web site for an interesting synopsis. B) August is designated "Membership & Extension month"
by Rotary International, so now would be a good time for KGM to induct a
member or two. Click here for more information. You can
expect to hear more about this from KGM
Membership Director Diana "The Red Baron"
Chou.
C) The RI Annual Convention will be held in Barcelona, Spain from 23 to 26 June 2002, and you can register on-line here. Acometidas! Web Side Story:
Interested in finding out the dates of KGM Board meetings this year? Want to see the attendance record of individual Directors? Visit the KGM web site and click on Board Meetings at the top. When the page opens you will also find a hyperlink to Board Minutes, which is restricted to "Member's Only", so you will need your user name and password for access. Dear Geek: Dear Geek, Sometimes when I answer my
cellular telephone at home, I experience extremely
painful heat in my ear. Will one of those little stick-on
anti-radiation devices help? Yours, Billy-Bob Bouchet.
Dear Billy-Bob, No, I
don't think so. However I suspect you may avoid the problem if
you put your steam iron down before answering your telephone.
Cunning
Linguist:
Did you know that the word "Blighty", often used to refer to Britain, comes from the Hindi word "bilayati", meaning foreign? The origins of the word can be traced to the time of British India. Sir Henry Yule and Arthur C. Burnell explained in their Anglo-Indian dictionary, Hobson-Jobson, published in 1886, that the word was used in the names of several exotic foreign things, especially those that the British had brought into the country. Examples include the tomato ("bilayati baingan") and soda-water ("bilayati pani"), or foreign water. Blighty was the inevitable British soldier's corruption of "bilayati". However it only came into common use
as a term for Britain at the beginning of the First World War in France,
about 1915. It turns up in popular songs "There's a ship that's bound for Blighty"
and "Take me back to dear old
Blighty". The word also appears in Wilfred Owen's
poems, and other places.
True Crime: On 21 June 2001, a Police
officer stopped Mrs.
Phantom as she was crossing Des Voeux Road, Central
because she "failed to comply with the
indication given by a red signal illuminated by steady
light" (i.e. jaywalking).
Despite her appeal for leniency after explaining that red, amber & green traffic signals (if they are working), in her native Philippines are essentially "permanent Xmas decorations", the Police officer was adamant. A crime had been committed and he was duty bound to take action. The Police officer took ten (10) minutes to record her HKID number, name and address. On 13 July 2001, Mrs. Phantom received a "Summons to Defendant" to appear at Western Magistrate's Court on 10 August 2001 to answer the charges and "to be further dealt with according to law". However the summons offered her an option to "plead guilty by mail". After much deep (and sometimes painful) consideration, she decided that, as the wife of a Rotarian, she was obliged to confess and enter a plea of "guilty". On 14 August 2001, Mrs. Phantom received a notice from the Court to advise that her guilty plea had been accepted and she was ordered to pay a fine of HK$50. No, this is not a typing error. The fine was HK$50. That's f-i-f-t-y dollars. A Police officer's time. Mrs. Phantom's time. The Clerk of the Court's time. A Summons. A guilty plea. The Magistrate's time. The Clerk of the Court's time again. A fine. A cheque. A whole bunch of stamps. Two months. For HK$50. Mrs. Phantom is seriously thinking about sending a cheque where the words and figures don't match, just to see what happens. Ha! (Rtns. June Liau & Kumar Ramanathan, please stand by. This could get ugly!) Golden Smile:
When a taxi passenger tapped the driver on the shoulder to ask a question, the driver screamed, lost control of the car, nearly hit a bus, mounted the pavement and stopped just inches from a shop window. Everything was quiet
for a moment, then the driver said: "Sorry about that but you scared
the living daylights out of me!"
The passenger said, "I
didn't realize you were such a sensitive driver. How long have you been
driving a taxi?"
The driver replied,
"Today is my first day. I've been driving a hearse for the last 25
years."
Quotable Quotes:
"Women need a reason to have sex. Men just need a
place." Billy Crystal
The Phantom |
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