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Golden News
Volume 15, Number 27 - Monday 31 December 2001
The bulletin of the Rotary Club of Kowloon Golden Mile - published every Monday.
Are We Having Fun Yet?:
As there was no regular KGM meeting last week, there's not a whole lot I can tell you, other than to remind everybody that we are
back to our usual antics this Wednesday. Be there or be square!
All in all, I say we had a pretty good first half-year, but the best is yet to come.
For starters, on 25 February 2002 KGM celebrates it's 15th Anniversary, which is quite a milestone. Hopefully our Annual Ball next year will be our best ever. Please start thinking about taking a table, finding some decent prizes and perhaps placing a small ad in the commemorative program booklet. No excuses this year, OK?
Anyway, since today is New Year's Eve it's time to publish the Top 10 New Year's resolutions made by KGM members:
1. PP M.V. "Rambo" Ramadasan resolves not to telephone members to see if they received the email he sent them 15 minutes earlier, which advises that he sent them a fax 30 minutes before that, which he is going to give them a hard copy of the next time he sees them anyway, just to be sure they received it. 2. Community Service Director Silva "Dollar" Yeung resolves to activate the spell-checker on his computer.
3. Sergeant Susie "Madam" Lash Misini resolves to use a smaller whip and rubber spurs. Yee-haa.
4. Terrence "T" Annamunthodo resolves to change his name, by deed poll, to something easier to pronounce, such as Beezlebub Carlingford-Wildebeast III. 5. Balu "Kojak" Chainrai resolves to switch his gay masseur and blind hair stylist, for a blind masseur and a gay hair stylist. 6. Secretary Clarissa "Ring My" Bellstedt resolves to stop resting her beer on PDG Dipo Sani's head. 7. PP Louis Thomas resolves to tell a joke that at least one member understands.
8. Jane "I'm a terrible" Singer resolves to arrive on time for at least one KGM function in 2002 and
to finish her main course before all the waiters die of old age.
9. Vice-President Patricia "Iron Lady" Blair resolves not to say: "I know, let's have a skit at the annual ball". 10. President Ebe Tung "Chee Watusi" resolves to finish at least one meeting during her presidency by 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Hopefully it'll be the same Wednesday the meeting commenced.
This Week's Meeting:
This week's guest speaker (2nd January) is Ms. Eva Chan from Sowers Action Group, an organisation we have worked with in the past to build much-needed schools in China. Let's hope we have enough (sober) members in town to fill a few tables. Milestones:
A) Our heartfelt condolences to Program Director Carola Chard on the loss of her mother,
who passed away in Germany during the Xmas period.
B) Birthday greetings for 1 January to Kishu
"Choo Choo" Chotrani, who shares his birthday with former American FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.
Member Updates:
There are no member updates this week.
Fellowship News:
We finally have some news about our next fellowship, kindly provided by IPP "Hopalong" Cassidy Lam.
On Saturday 26 January, our Chinese members will once again graciously host our traditional Chinese
Night, however the venue has not yet been decided. Watch this space for further information but, in the meantime, carve a note on your cave walls.
There will also be a Rotary Information Seminar held just before the Chinese Night commences, and every member of KGM who joined within the last 2 years is expected to attend. If you don't, no food. Simple, really.
Meanwhile, Vice-President Elissa "Admiral" Cohen is still working on her proposed cruise fellowship, which she refers to as the "KGM Love Boat".
Fund Raising News:
President Elect Nanu "Nanu" Lachman advises that the first KGM Fund
Raising event this year will be a Walk-a-thon to be held on Sunday 20 January, 2002. Mark your diaries or tap your Palm
Pilots now!
Nanu's target is for each KGM member is to raise (or contribute) the measly sum of just HK$2,000 each. Heck, I'd pay double that amount just to be able to stay in bed on Sunday morning, especially during winter. The good news is that since Nanu will be leading the walk, it'll probably just require two laps of the Holiday Inn lobby, after which we can all retire to Hari's Bar for a much needed cleansing ale!
Anyway, further details are still unavailable, but watch this space for more information.
District 3450 News:
1) Saturday 5 January 2002 - District Mahjong Tournament
The above event is being organised by the RC New Territories at the World Trade Centre Club, Causeway Bay. For further information, contact Frederick Ng on 90427077 or Tony Hui on 94610814.
2) Sunday 13 January 2002 - District Sports Day
The above event is being organised by the RC Tai Po at Wanchai Sports Ground, Wanchai. 3) Sunday 20 January 2002 - District Soccer Tournament The above event is being organised by the RC New Territories at a venue to be announced.
However since this clashes with the KGM walk-a-thon and considering that most of our members can't walk for 30 minutes, let alone run for 90 minutes, I guess
we'll give this event a miss.
Rotary International News:
A) Group Study Exchange ("GSE") 2001-2002
The Incoming GSE Team from District 7750 (South Carolina, USA), will visit District 3450 from March 10 to April 10, 2002. Our Outgoing GSE Team, led by PP Simon Wong of RC of Peninsula Sunrise, will depart Hong Kong on April 10 and return on May 10. B) KGM members interested in numismatics (coin collecting!), should click here for more information about the silver Rotary commemorative coin being offered by the RC Hawaii Sunset.
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.
Web Side Story:
It seems many of you have forgotten where to find member contact details on the KGM website, because our Web Monster received three requests for assistance this week alone.
From the top of the KGM website, click on "Roster". The first thing you will see is a list of all current KGM members, their date of birth, induction date, membership classification (with clickable links to member's websites), and each member's status with the Rotary Foundation, if any.
However you will also find other links at the top of the roster page. The "Old Boys & Girls Roster" lists former members of KGM,
while the "Membership Tracking" link shows year-end membership numbers under each club president since KGM was first chartered.
Finally, in the pink box, there is another link to our "Member's Only" page, which reveals all member's
contact details. This feature is only available to current KGM members and requires a user name and password.
There is a clickable link to contact the Web Monster if you need assistance.
Bingo-bango! If you want to know anything about your fellow members, start at the "Roster" page.
Dear Geek:
Dear Geek, I'm going crazy with the amount of "Spam" email I receive each day, which seems to be getting worse. Help! Yours, Alotta Lupsup.
Dear Alotta, It sounds like you should create more "Mail Filters" and I recommend you visit this site for detailed instructions. As advised in an earlier column, I created some
ten "mail filters", and these automatically delete 90% of the dozens of email "Spam" messages I receive each day. The two most useful
filters I created are a "domain filter" and a "word filter".
My "domain filter" automatically deletes all email messages from the major "free email" providers such as yahoo.com, hotmail.com, earthlink.net, hotbot.com, exicte.com, gte.net, msn.com, hongkong.com, sinaman.com, sinagirl.com and angelfire.com etc. By adding a filter for all email messages with ".tw" or ".cn" in their address, I also automatically delete most email messages from Taiwan and China. My "word filter" then deletes any message with certain words such as "sex", "penis", breasts", "viagra", "underage farmyard animals", "insurance", "casino", "hair loss", "vacation", "stocks", "loan", "mortgage", "free", "you've won" and so on. Once a week, I check my "deleted mail file" for any "real" messages before finally trashing the rest. I receive over 500 "Spam" email messages each week which are filtered, but usually fewer than 10 of these are bona fide. I have other filters too, which defeat the smarter, more experienced "Spammers" but, frankly it will be impossible to completely stop "Spam". Just take your time, create and continually update your filters, and you will have less junk in your "inbox" each day. IMPORTANT NOTE: Never follow "click here to remove your name from our list" offers. These are a scam and if you click them, you will end up receiving more "Spam". Yours, The Geek. Who Am I?
What is the more common name of Italian-American tenor/actor Alfredo
Arnold Cocozza?
The answer appears at the bottom of this issue.
Cunning Linguist:
Have you ever wondered about the origins of the ("gay")word "Drag"?
When it first appeared, drag referred only to the wearing of female attire
by men; the unisex implications are much more recent.
The origin is thought to be from Victorian theatrical usage in reference to the dragging sensation of long skirts on the
ground, an unfamiliar sensation to men. The usage is not found in print until the 1870s but is surely older. The gay implications did not arise until the 1920s, and all the early
citations in the Oxford English Dictionary refer to fancy dress.
A pair of illustrations from a London publication, The Day's Doings of 20
May 1871, showed that Frederick William Park, a well-known homosexual of the period whose "campish undertakings" with Ernest Boulton in the Burlington Arcade in 1870 had
landed them both in court. The drawings are captioned "Park in mufti" and "Park in
drag". It is therefore generally accepted that the gay associations of drag were present from the start.
"A Who's Who of British newspapers"
The Times is read by the people who run the country.
The Daily Mirror is read by the people who think they run the country. The Guardian is read by the people who think they ought to run the country. The Morning Star is read by the people who think the country ought to be run by another country. The Financial Times is read by the people who own the country.
The Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who own the
country.
The Daily Express is read by the people who think that the country ought to be run as it used to be. The Daily Telegraph is read by the people who think it still is. The Sun is read by people who couldn't care less who runs the country, as long as she has large breasts. Quotable Quotes:
"Love is the answer but, while you're waiting for the answer, sex raises some pretty good questions."
-- Woody Allen --
The Phantom |
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"Who am I?" answer: Mario Lanza.
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