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Golden News
Volume 15, Number 19 - Monday 5 November 2001
The bulletin of the Rotary Club of Kowloon Golden Mile - published every Monday.
Postcard from Singapore:
This Week's Meeting:
This week's guest is Mr. Larry Cameron who will be speaking to us on "Outplacement".
Special Notice:
This Wednesday, 7 November 2001, our dear friends from the Rotary Club of Kowloon North will be holding a joint meeting with us at our regular weekly meeting. The delegation from RCKN will be headed by (former KGM member!) President Ramesh Chugani, and we expect other prominent Rotarians such as District Webmaster PP Bill Benter, regular KGM visitors Michael Harilela, M.S. Kalra and Frank Kleinteich (and possibly PDG Joseph Lee) to be in attendance.
Please make every effort to support your club by attending this important
meeting, as it would be rather embarrassing if there were more visiting Rotarians than KGM members present, now wouldn't it?
Prospective New Member:
The KGM Membership Committee and Board of Directors have approved an application for Active membership in respect of Ms. Sonya Wu, Manager-Business Development, of G. Direction Consultancy Limited, sponsored by PDG Dipo Sani, under the proposed classification Management - Design Consultancy. Any club member who wishes to lodge an objection the above proposal is required to do so by email to the Club Secretary within 7 days from the date of this notice (i.e. on or before Monday 12 November, 2001), setting out the reasons for their objection. If no objections are received within the specified period, the candidate will be inducted as an Active member of KGM on or after 14 November 2001, subject to her advance payment of the ruling joining fee and semi-annual dues.
Milestones:
Birthday greetings for 5 November to Terrence "Mr. T" Annamunthodo, who shares his birthday with fellow
Canadian, rocker Bryan Adams.
Member Updates:
Nothing to report this week chaps. Carry on. Fellowship News:
Our next fellowship is very special because, once again, the wonderful
Harilela Family are welcoming us into their magnificent home at Kowloon Tong.
This event will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Friday 23 November 2001, when our dear friends Avisha & David Harilela will host "An Evening with the Harilela's" at 1 Durham Road, Kowloon Tong. As a courtesy to our hosts, please telephone David on 9168 8333 or send an email to "Amazing" Grace (David's efficient Secretary), if you plan to attend. As a courtesy to the Web Monster, don't even think about touching the chicken tikka, OK?
District 3450 News:
Rotary International President Rick King, will
be guest of honour at a District 3450 Inter-City meeting to be held at the Intercontinental Hotel, Tsimshatsui on Monday 3 December 2001.
Mark your diaries (or tap your Palm Pilots) now, as this will be a unique opportunity to meet the incumbent RI President (provided he is not commandeered by District officials). Members interested in attending the meeting should contact our Fearless Leader President Ebe Tung "Chee Wow" by email.
Rotary International News:
A) November is Rotary Foundation month, so you can expect KGM Rotary Foundation Director Miranda "King" Kong, will be actively seeking new contributors,
especially from those KGM members who are not yet Paul Harris Fellows, despite being members for many years.
For more information about the fantastic work undertaken by the Rotary Foundation, visit their web page. B) The latest issues of "The Rotarian", "Rotary World" & "Rotary News Basket" are now available on-line. C) As part of the preparations for Rotary International's Centennial in 2005, three distinctive new logos have been created, and you are invited to vote for your favorite. The winning logo will be announced at the International Assembly in Anaheim, California, which commences on 28 January 2002. D) An RI Presidential PolioPlus Summit will be held from 22-24 February 2002 in Mumbai, India. E) An RI Presidential Conference will be held from 22-24 March 2002 in Taipei, Taiwan. F) 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. Web Side Story:
Did you know that you can listen to a selection of ten (10) different tunes while visiting the KGM website?
Music genres include jazz, blues, fusion, bluegrass, rock and even a good old, foot-stompin' 20's rag. Just make your selection on the main page above the club
name and surf the KGM web site in style.
There are also a selection of comments about the KGM Web Monster further down the page. Yes Sir. Rotary Information, pictures, music and mirth. The KGM web site has it all.
Dear Geek:
The Geek is on holiday this week, but keep those letters coming. Who Am I?
What is the more common name of (deceased) American singer/actress Frances
Gumm?
The answer appears at the bottom of this issue.
Cunning Linguist:
Have you ever wondered about the origins of the word "Cop" to describe a police officer? Many explanations have been put forward for this one, including an acronym from "Constable On Patrol". It is also said to come from the copper badges carried by New York City's first police sergeants (patrolmen were alleged to have had brass ones and senior officers silver); it is almost as often said to refer to the supposedly copper buttons of the first London police force of the 1820s. Both these stories seem about equally unlikely. The most probable explanation is that it comes from the slang verb cop, meaning "to seize", originally a dialect term of northern England which by the beginning of the nineteenth century was known throughout the country. This can be followed back through the French caper to the Latin capere, "to seize, take", from which we also get our capture. The situation is complicated because there are - or have been - a number of other slang meanings for cop, including "to give somebody a blow", and the phrase cop out, as an escape or retreat. Both of these may come from the Latin capere. But it's suggested that another sense of cop, "to steal", could come from the Dutch kapen, "to take or steal". There's also "to beware, take care", an Anglo-Indian term from the Portuguese coprador, and phrases like "you'll cop it!" ("you'll be punished, you'll get into trouble"), which could come from the idea of seizing or catching, but may be a variant of catch. But the "seize; capture" origin for the police sense seems most plausible. So policemen are just those who catch or apprehend criminals, a worthy occupation. And a copper is someone who seizes, a usage first recorded in Britain in 1846.
Golden Smile:
If men ruled the word ......... 1. Two words ... "Ally McNaked". 2. When a cop gave you a ticket, every smart-aleck answer would actually reduce your fine, e.g.:
Cop: "You know how fast you were going?"
You: "All I know is, I was spilling my beer all over the place." Cop : "Nice one, That's $10.00 off".
3. People would never talk about how fresh they felt.
4. Hot pants would never go out of style again.
5. Every man would get two real "Get Out of Jail Free" cards per year.
6. Telephones would cut off after 30 seconds of conversation.
7. The victors in any athletic competition would get to kill and eat the losers.
8. It would be legal to steal a sports car, as long as you returned it the following day with a full tank of gas.
9. Instead of a fancy, expensive engagement ring, you could present your wife-to-be with a giant foam hand that said "You're #1!".
10. When your wife really needed to talk to you during a televised game, she'd appear in a little box in the corner of the screen during half-time.
11. Nodding and looking at your watch would be deemed as an acceptable response to "I love you".
12. The funniest guy in the office would get to be CEO.
13. "Sorry I'm late, but I was drunk last night", would be an acceptable excuse for tardiness.
14. At the end of the workday, a whistle would blow and you would jump out of your window and slide down the tail of a brontosaurus, right into your car.
15. Hallmark would make "Sorry, what was your name again?" cards.
Quotable Quotes:
"Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are driving taxi cabs and cutting hair".
-- George Burns -- The Phantom |
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"Who am I?" answer: Judy Garland.
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Once again, your mild-mannered reporter is on the road again, and this time it's a quick jaunt to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. I have
always enjoyed visiting Singapore, which everybody agrees is a "fine" city, however I must admit some trepidation about being a pale-face
in a Muslim country when I move on to KL in a few days time. Maybe I should regrow my beard, buy a turban and, oh, never mind!
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