Golden News
Volume 16, Number 43 - Monday 21 April 2003
The official bulletin of the Rotary Club of Kowloon Golden Mile is published
most Mondays and is distributed to all club members, District officials and
other "friends of KGM".

Winner "Best English Language Bulletin" in District 3450, 2001/2002
SARS Still Affecting KGM Lunch Meetings:
 
Well, folks, I trust by now you've all received the latest message from our Fearless, Yet Cuddly, Leader President Nanu "Nanu" Lachman advising that our lunch meeting scheduled for 23 April has been cancelled.
 
Of course, our beloved President sought advice from our Board and, apart from one dissenting vote, the consensus was to cancel the meeting.
 
The Board decision, announced Friday, was vindicated on Saturday when it was reported that Hong Kong saw a significant spike in the number of fatalities with another 12 dead, the highest toll for single day. Among those who died on Saturday, five had no previous medical conditions and were regarded as otherwise relatively young, fit and healthy.

On the same day, the total number of confirmed cases in Beijing soared from 37 to 339, due to a more open reporting protocol.
 
Despite the dark clouds, the silver lining is that although daily Government announcements tell us that SARS continues to spread and claim lives, there seems to be an increasingly positive feeling that the situation will improve in the very near future. Of course this will only occur if we all maintain the highest standards of personal hygiene, and take all reasonable precautions to minimise the spread of the virus.

Clearly, part of the "Plan of Action" is to avoid unnecessary public travel and gatherings. While our cancellation of regular club meetings is an unfortunate casualty in the battle against SARS, the overall benefit to our community cannot be understated. I also suspect that the vast majority of KGM members share our Board's concern because, at the unofficial lunch held last Wednesday, only six people attended, down from 20 members and guests a week earlier.

By the way, I don't know about the rest of you, but the Phantom was truly heartened by the message sent to us all by KGM member Tim "Tam" Wong who, on learning that one of his senior company executives had been diagnosed with SARS, decided to go into a self-imposed quarantine, eventhough Tim appeared to be unaffected.

Now that's selfless love and care for others, and evidence of the true Rotary spirit. Thank you, Tim, we salute you!

Anyway, I once again urge you all to continue taking reasonable health precautions, especially if you have young children, elderly or family members with other pre-existing ailments, as they appear to be the most vulnerable to SARS.

One thing is for certain: We will beat this epidemic, provided we all pull together as one.


This Week's Meeting:


Cancelled.
 
 
Milestones:

Birthday greetings for 25 April to David "Cares" Harilela who shares his birthday with three people who had a considerable and enduring influence on music: classical Russian composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, American jazz & blues diva Ella Fitzgerald (the Phantom's all-time favorite female singer), and Swede Bjorn Ulvaeus of ABBA (bad hair, white jumpsuit).


Member Update: Former KGM Member Alfred "Alfie" Croucher, who returned to Australia some time ago, has become quite an active political commentator, as can be seen by visiting his website (which is also known in Internet jargon as a "blogspot").

 
BOD Meeting - Tomorrow Evening:
 
KGM Directors are advised that the BOD meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. tomorrow, Tuesday 22 April, 2003, will proceed as planned, because we'll just have sufficient Directors available for a quorum.
 
Directors please note that the venue has changed to the Crystal Room 3, 1st Basement, Holiday Inn Golden Mile Hotel.

Your Board has decided to convene as planned, so that important decisions concerning our ongoing Community Service projects may continue. However Directors are urged to observe prevailing health precautions, such as wearing a surgical mask and avoiding unnecessary physical contact.

This means, Mr. President, no kissing on the lips, OK?
 
 
Fellowship News - Last Call:

Our old mate Fellowship Director Miranda "King" Kong advises that the Thai style Hot Pot and garden BBQ Buffet will proceed as planned from 6:30 p.m. on Saturday 26 April 2003,
 
However the venue has changed to an open area at the Yau Yat Chuen Garden City Club, 7 Cassia Road, Yau Yat Chuen, Kowloon (Tel: 2397 4311).
 
The price of HK$300 per adult, HK$160 per child is excellent value, because it includes a sumptuous variety of food plus unlimited beer, wine, soft drinks and musical entertainment provided by KGM members. Additionally the Fire Services Department will be standing by to extinguish flames shooting out of your orifices due to the excessive consumption of chilies.
 
Members interested in attending should contact Miranda on telephone 9199 3077 or by email, but kindly note that there is absolutely no obligation to attend.

 Annual Ball Postponed:
 
The KGM Annual Ball, originally scheduled for Saturday 24 May 2003 has been postponed, to a date yet to be determined.

The Ball Committee, supported by the Board, decided that under the circumstances, it was likely that ticket sales would be adversely affected by the SARS epidemic.

An announcement concerning the new date and other pertinent information will be made soon.
 
KGM Member Survey:
President-Elect Patricia "Iron Lady" Blair, who will be crowned, er, assume the KGM Presidency on 1 July 2003, is keen to receive member's views on the following three (3) questions:
 
(1) What three things do you value most about your KGM membership?
 
(2) If you have a KGM wish list for the next Rotary year what would be the top two items?
 
(3) Is there anything we haven't done so far you think we should consider?

If you have yet to respond to her Ladyship, please do so by email (note that if you click on the email link, the three questions will appear in the body of the email, to save you re-typing them). Pretty cool, huh?


Walkathon - Reminder: 

Our old mate President-Elect Patricia "Iron Lady" Blair (a.k.a. SWMBO), reminds KGM members that she thinks those of you who participated in the recent Walkathon are all decent chaps, but she might change her tune if you don't give her some booty.
 
No, no, no. Not that sort of booty, Homie ............. she means "show me the money". Duh!

Please send a cheque payable to Rotary Club of Kowloon Golden Mile to "KGM Walkathon", P.O. Box 98129, Tsimshatsui as soon as possible, in respect of all the money you raised.
 
And remember to write your name on the rear of your cheque so that Her Royal Frivolity can identify you.
 
Fund-Raising KGM Polio Plus Cookbook:
 
About 40% of our stocks of our "Dining In with Great Chefs of Hong Kong" cookbook are still available for only HK$188 (US$25) per copy. This is excellent value and an image of the cover has been uploaded to the KGM website.

To purchase your copies, contact President-Elect Patricia "Iron Lady" Blair on telephone 9312 3606 or by email or you can order copies online by major credit card through PayPal.

 
District 3450 News:
 
 
1) From our "Better Late Than Never" files, we announce that on 6 December 2002, PP Alexander Mak from the RC Kingspark Hong Kong was selected as District-Governor Nominee (DGN) for the Rotary Year 2003-2004.

This means Alex is scheduled to become District Governor Elect (DGE) on 1 July 2003 and he will assume office as DG on 1 July 2004, the same date when KGM President-Elect Nominee Sylva "Dollar" Yeung becomes KGM President.

Yes, I know, Rotary ascendancy and all the related titles sound complicated, but don't be concerned because I can assure you they most certainly are, even for old-flatulents like me!


2) A SARS Resource Page has been established on the District website. Additionally, information about Operation Unite, a multi-sector, action-oriented campaign to draw the community together to fight against the challenges posed by SARS (and to which our District has pledged an initial HK$600,000 funding target), has also been posted.


3) A number of Rotary Clubs in District 3450 have cancelled meetings due to the SARS virus, and notices are published on the District website. While this list is not exhaustive, KGM members intending to visit other Rotary Clubs are advised to check the list before proceeding, in order to avoid possible disappointment.


4) The District Contract Bridge Tournament is apparently proceeding as planned from 1:00pm to 6:00pm on Sunday 27 April at the Mariner's Club, Tsimshatsui. Members interested in participating should contact organiser Winston Wong on telephone 9213 0303 or by email.


5) The 43rd Annual District Assembly at the Kowloon Shangri-La Hotel, Tsimshatsui East, has been rescheduled to the new date Sunday 18 May, 2003.

 
Rotary International News:
 

Honorary Rotarian, His Royal Highness, Charles, The Prince of Wales was guest of honour and keynote speaker at the RIBI (Rotary International British Isles) Annual Convention held recently at Blackpool, England.

Rotary Trivia: RIBI is the association of Rotary clubs in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is considered an administrative territorial unit of RI with its own constitution and governing body, and is the only such unit recognized as part of Rotary International.

Note that although the acronym "RIBI" originally meant "Rotary International British Isles", the organisation is now usually referred to as Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland.

 
Rotary Information: 
 
What is Rotary?: How do you describe the organization called "Rotary"?

There are so many characteristics of a Rotary club, as well as the activities of a million Rotarians, it's seemingly impossible to write a definition. There are the features of service, internationality, fellowship, classifications of each vocation, development of goodwill and world understanding, the emphasis of high ethical standards, concern for other people and many more descriptive qualities.
 
In 1976 the Rotary International Board of Directors was interested in creating a concise definition of the fundamental aspects of Rotary. They turned to the three men who were then serving on Rotary's Public Relations Committee and requested that a one-sentence definition of Rotary be prepared. After numerous drafts, the committee presented this definition, which has been used ever since in various Rotary publications:
 
"Rotary is an organization of business and professional persons united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help build goodwill and peace in the world."
 
Those 31 words are worth remembering when someone asks, "What is a Rotary club?".


Ask The Geek:
 
Dear Geek, When I'm preparing to send out an email, what's the real difference the "To:", "Cc:" and "Bcc:" recipient address boxes? Yours truly, Miss Conception.

Dear Miss Conception, In simple terms, the most common protocol is as follows:
 
To: This should be used for the primary recipients from whom you expect a reply and/or action.
 
Cc: Stands for "Carbon Copy" (which harks back to the ancient days of typewriters), and should be used for secondary recipients whom you want to openly keep "in the loop", but from whom you do not expect a reply or action, but you give them the option of doing so.

Bcc: Stands for "Blind Carbon Copy" and should be used for other recipients whom you want to privately keep "in the loop", but from whom you do not want a reply or action.

Of course it's possible to mix 'n' match the three boxes into a single message:
 
(a) Let's say you want to make an announcement to a whole bunch of people, but you only want replies to be seen by you. In such a case, you should only use the "Bcc" box (e.g. the method used when sending out this bulletin). This "protects" a group or an individual recipient's email address from being revealed to every other recipient.

It's worth noting that if a recipient of an "all Bcc" message clicks the "Reply to all" option, the reply will still only go to the person who originated the message and/or those in the "To:"and/or "Cc:" boxes.
 
(b) Let's say you want to send a message to three people whom you expect to take action, but you also want to openly include others "for information only". In such a case, the primary recipients should be in the "To:" box, with the others in the "Cc" box.

In such cases, a response from any person who clicks the "Reply to all" option will be seen by all parties originally listed in the "To:" and "Cc" boxes.

See The Geek's stupid website of the week  (be patient - it can be slow to open!)
Who Am I?
 
What is the more common name of famous movie & TV cowboy Leonard Franklin Slye? Clue: He had a nice horse!
 
The answer appears at the bottom of this issue.
 
 
Golden Smile: 
 
Contributed by PDG Dipo Sani:

A man staggers into an emergency room with a concussion, multiple bruises,  two black eyes and a five iron wrapped tightly around his throat, so the doctor asked him to explain what happened.

"Well, it was like this", said the man. "I was having a quiet round of golf  with my wife when, at a difficult hole, we both sliced our ball into a  pasture of cows. We went to look for our balls and, while I was searching, I noticed that one of the cows had something white stuck in it's rear end."

I walked over and lifted up the tail, and sure enough, there was a golf ball with my wife's monogram on it, stuck right in the middle of the cow's butt."

"And that's when I made a terrible mistake which caused my injuries."

"Why? What did you do?" asks the doctor. "

"Well, I lifted the cow's tail and yelled to my wife, 'Hey, honey, this looks like yours!', but I don't remember much after that."


More Unattributed "Random Thoughts":
  1. There's always a lot to be thankful for if you take time to look. For example I'm sitting here thinking how nice it is that wrinkles don't hurt.
  2. If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.
  3. Don't assume malice for what stupidity can explain.
  4. A penny saved is a government oversight.
  5. The sole purpose of a child's middle name is so he can tell when he's really in trouble.
  6. The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat are really good friends.
  7. The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.
  8. If you think there's good in everybody, you haven't met everybody.
  9. If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.
  10. We're all born naked, wet, and hungry, then things get progressively worse.
  11. When you go into court you're putting yourself in the hands of 12 people who weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty.
  12. Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
 
Quotable Quotes:

 
"You can fool some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time".
 
Abraham Lincoln
 
 
The Phantom
Who Am I answer: Roy Rogers (his horse was Trigger).

If you no longer wish to receive this bulletin each week, click here. For previous issues of the bulletin (or to view them in their full HTML glory), visit our archives. © 2002 Rotary Club of Kowloon Golden Mile. All rights reserved. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author (who is under heavy medication), and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of any other member of the club.