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Golden
News
Volume
15, Number 16 - Monday 15 October 2001
The Royal
Visit:
 Well it was certainly a record turnout at last week's meeting, as
we easily filled five tables, and I presume this was largely due to the
official visit to KGM of the District 3450
Royal Family (pictured left).
Our main guest of honour was our old mate DG Johnson Chu from RC Peninsula, who was accompanied by the always charming DG Elect Gloria Chan from RC Queensway and our sweet, almost pregnant again (but having lots of fun practicing), AG Amy Ho from RC Admiralty. For those of you who aren't aware, Amy has a special affinity for KGM because her first child was conceived on the occasion of KGM's annual ball last year, following excessive consumption of oysters and champagne. Rumour has it that the conception took place between the dessert and the petit fours, however we are willing to give Amy the benefit of the doubt and accept that she and her hubby behaved themselves until they arrived home that evening! Anyway, back to the meeting, District Secretary for Area 7, PP Stanley Mok from RC Hong Kong Sunrise was also present for a short time but, sadly, he had to leave early because he was double-parked. DG Johnson gave us the usual DG "I Have A Dream" speech, when he reminded us "Mankind Is Our Business", Rotary International President Rick King's annual theme for this year. DG Johnson also had the honour of presenting "Paul Harris Fellow" recognition to KGM Charter Member Alex "Kato" Lau, who finally completed his marathon 15 year term as a "Sustaining Member" of the Rotary Foundation. Our fearless leader President Ebe Tung "Chee Wow" did a splendid job of hosting our VIP's, including handling the usual "Wassup?" questions at the "pre-meeting" meeting. She later supplemented her District grilling during the regular meeting by narrating an excellent Club Assembly "Powerpoint" presentation, lovingly created by Club Secretary Clarissa "Ring My" Bellstedt. However the highlight of the
meeting, at least for your "non-award-winning" Web Monster, was
the fact that three (3) of our visiting Rotarians, who hailed from
Australia, Germany & Slovakia, openly declared they decided to attend our meeting solely because they had
so much fun reading the KGM web site. Oh well, at least
some people appreciate our poor Web Monster.
Meanwhile, from the back of the house, Attendance Director Neerja "Da Numbers"
Sujanani reports that our YTD attendance is currently hovering at a
respectable 71%, but she is
still not a happy camper because her target
for this year is 75%. So, come on folks, let's give the
poor old girl a break, and let's all do some make-ups,
OK?
This Week's Meeting:
This week's guest is Ms. Pauline Taylor who will be speaking to us on the SPCA Hearing Dog Project. Milestones:
There are no KGM members celebrating birthdays this week, which is good news really, because we need to save as many candles as possible for PP Louis "Trailwalker" Thomas's next birthday. Don't worry about increased global warming though - the Fire Services Department are standing by. Member
Updates:
1) Former KGM member Stacey "Zorba" Pallaras who currently resides in Perth, Western Australia (closes at 4 p.m. daily), advises that her new email address is pallaras@myaccess.com.au. 2) KGM Current Membership Trivia: By ethnicity we have 22 Indians (39%), 19 Chinese (34%) and 15 "NINCs" (27%). By gender we have 41 males (73%) and 15 females (27%). By species we have 50 from Earth, 2 from Mars and 4 from an entirely different solar system. Unfortunately I cannot reveal the names of the aliens as they may shoot me with their lasers. Fellowship News:  The Oktoberfest Fellowship
will be held on Saturday 27 October 2001 at the Marco Polo
Hong Kong Hotel (not at the Holiday Inn Golden Mile, as in previous
years). The cost is only $300 per head, and this includes two pints of
beer served in a souvenir beer stein, a main course, dessert and lots of
schnapps. Prost!As usual, KGM members are expected to shamelessly drink copious amounts of beer, eat enormous sausages and do the chicken dance while wearing lederhosen and silly hats. In other words, you get to act as though you are at a KGM Board meeting! Members interested in attending should contact Herr Biermeister David "Oom Pa Pa" Harilela (pictured left), on telephone 9168 8333 or, better still, send him an email which will be efficiently handled by his Secretary "Amazing Grace", who is more organised and far better looking. She also has nicer legs. District 3450 News: 1) The District Governor's Monthly Newsletter for
September 2001 is now available
for download in PDF format from
the District web site. Note that since the file is almost 2 megabytes in
size, it may take a while to download unless you have access to a
broadband service.
2) The District 10 Pin Bowling Tournament
will be held at the Mei Foo Sun Chuen Fun Bowl on Sunday 28 October 2001. Any KGM members
interested in participating in this event should contact PP Bryan Van Dale on telephone 9481
5586 or by email.
3) 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.
KGM members interested in attending this seminar should contact KGM Vocational Service Director PP Louis "Trailwalker" Thomas (who needs KGM members to accompany him and buy him beer). Call PP Louis on telephone 9171 3769 or send him an email. District 3450
Swimming Gala results:
It was remiss of me not to
report, in an earlier edition of Golden News, the results of the last
District 3450 Swimming Gala, held on 23 September 2001 at Ma On Shan.
Nonetheless, the contingent from KGM did very well by not drowning and
winning the following awards:
1) IPP Cassidy "Garoupa" Lam won the
Gold Medal
in the Past
President's race;
2) Norman "Bates" Liu won the Gold Medal in the "Most Grotesque Swimming Trunks" competition; 3) Jenny Liu (wife of Norman) won 1 Gold, 2 Silver and 3 Bronze medals in various races; 4) Alex Lau won the Gold Medal in the "Most Fluff in a Belly Button" competition. Well done, guys. Your fellow KGM members are proud of you! Rotary International News: A) October is designated "Vocational Service month" by
Rotary International. For more information about Vocational Service, visit
the RI web
site.
B) The 2001 Rotary Institute for RI
Zone 4 will be held from 19-21 October
2001 at the Shangri-La Hotel,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. For more information about this
event, visit their web site.
C) An RI Presidential PolioPlus Summit will be held from 22-24 February 2002 in Mumbai, India. D) An RI Presidential Conference will be held from 22-24 March 2002 in Taipei, Taiwan. E) The RI Annual Convention will be held in Barcelona, Spain from 23 to 26 June 2002, and you can register on-line here. For more information about the convention, visit their web site. No bull! Web Side Story: Did you know you can send
photos taken at Fellowship Events on the KGM web site as
Electronic Postcards?
Naah, I didn't think so.
Anyway, go to the KGM web site and click on "Photo Gallery" at the top, then click on the "Picturetrail" hyperlink (poor sods who get lost in their own bathrooms can simply click here). When the page opens, select a photo album then click on a "thumbnail" image in the left-hand frame. When the image opens up to full size, click on "Digital Card" above the image and follow the instructions. Pretty cool stuff, huh? Now, instead of forwarding hoax
virus warnings to your family and friends, you can annoy them with
endless photos of yourself in compromising situations.
Dear Geek:
Dear Geek, Following the recent attack on the World Trade Centre Towers in New York, I received an eerie email message saying that 16th century French physician and astrologer Nostradamus predicted the event when he wrote the words: "In
the City of God there will be a great thunder.
Two brothers torn apart by Chaos. While the fortress endures, the great leader will succumb. The third big war will begin when the big city is burning." Isn't this scary ? Yours Gary Gullible. Dear Gary, No
it's not scary - it's just another internet hoax. Nostradamus did not
write the above prose.
For more information about this and the numerous other hoaxes circulating the internet since 11 September, visit the Urban Legends website. Yours, The Geek. Who Am I? What is the more common name of prominent religious figure
Karol
Wojtyla?
The answer appears at the bottom of this issue. Cunning
Linguist:
Have you ever wondered about the origins of the abbreviation "OK"? The earliest recorded use of the abbreviation has been
traced to the Boston Morning Post of 23 March 1839. It seems it was
one example of many misspelled initialisms and it supposedly stood for
"Oll Korrect", meaning "all
correct".
What ensured that this one example survived out of many in a hugely popular but passing craze was that it was picked up by the Democrats in New York. They created a body called the Democratic OK Club to support their candidate, Martin Van Buren, who was standing for re-election in the 1840 presidential election against William Henry Harrison. "OK" here actually stood for "Old Kinderhook", Van Buren's nickname, taken from Kinderhook, his birthplace near Albany in New York State. The abbreviation became widely used during the campaign and survived despite Van Buren losing the election. There was also some reference in newspapers at about this time to the
bad spelling of Andrew Jackson, which had been an issue during the
presidential campaign of 1828; he was said to have written "ole korrek" on
documents, a grievous calumny that became one of the standard explanations
for the source of the abbreviation.
Golden Smile: (Contributed by Vice-President Patricia "Hello Possums" Blair) Latest news reports advise that a cell of 4 terrorists has been
operating in Merseyside, Liverpool. Police advised earlier today that
3 of the 4 have been detained.
The Merseyside Regional Police Commissioner stated that terrorists Bin Sleepin', Bin Drinkin' and Bin Fightin' have been arrested on immigration issues. The Police advise further that they have been unable to find
anyone in the area fitting the description of the fourth cell
member, Bin Workin'.
Police are confident, however, that anyone who looks like Workin' will be very easy to spot in the community. Quotable Quotes: "I believe that sex between two
people is a beautiful thing. Between five, it's fantastic."
-- Woody Allen -- The Phantom |
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"Who am I?" answer: Pope John Paul II |
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