The Flywheel
Archive issue

NEXT MEETING: February 15, 2013

Shen Yun: The Renaissance of Chinese Traditional Culture

Many people in the west have long been interested in China. This is true today more than ever before. The ethical values and principles derived from traditional Chinese culture helped create 5-thousand years of splendor in Chinese history. Unfortunately this rich tradition was interrupted by the communist regime. With the present state of the world, understanding the true China has never been more important.

Today’s speaker, David Zhang, Assistant Director for Asian Art Foundation, will take us a step further toward understanding that culture.

MEETING OF February 8, 2013

Welcome

President Jim Young called the meeting to order. Lynn Martin lead the Pledge. Stoney gave the Invocation, in which he asked for a moment of silence for peace, freedom and justice and for the two murdered Pakistani women who were administering polio vaccines.

Visiting Rotarians

Pate Thompson from Berkeley Rotary joined us today.

Rotarians with Guests

Jim Young brought his wife, Linda. Henry Kellman brought his brother and former Richmond Rotarian, Joe.

Sunshine Report

Bill Koziol reported that his wife gave birth to their new daughter, Eve Elizabeth Koziol, about three weeks ago— and that he hasn’t slept since.

Announcements

• The Crab Feed was a great event.  It sold out and the Club made about $4,000!
• The gods of avian adventure shined on ten Rotarians and friends last Saturday. On that sunny day, Nick Despota, his hawk-eyed wife Nel, and naturalist Alan Kaplan guided the troupe through the marshes and hills of Coyote Hills Regional Park. They spotted 46 species of bird, heard, among other more wholesome stories, bawdy tales about duck perversity (Alan knows his stuff), visited an Ohlone Indian archeological site, and swapped stories about their own adventures in nature near and far. Can’t wait till next year.
• But you needn’t wait to see another expression of natural splendor in the Bay Area—this one, in right here in Richmond. The last several days have brought tens of thousands of gulls to the Richmond shoreline. The birds feast on the roe of spawning herring off Ferry Point and Miller Knox Park. Try to get out there in the next day or two to witness this in real life.
• The Rotacare Clinic is set for a grand opening on February 21.  Starting at about 4:00 p.m. there will be tours of the clinic, at 2727 Macdonald Avenue, and food and drink in the Bermuda Room.  At about 5:30 there will be a presentation in the Bermuda Room followed, at about 6:30, by a ribbon cutting at the Clinic.  Please RSVP so they know how much food and drink to buy. RSVP now.
• Also on February 21, at noon at La Revolution, there will be a Board Meeting.  All are invited to attend.
• On February 22 our program will be a Club Assembly, which will include a presentation of an international water project in Ecuador.
• Felix invites Rotarians to another tree planting on a Saturday in February.  I could swear that President Jim announced that it would be on the 27^th, but that’s not a Saturday.  Anyway, on whatever Saturday, meet at 9:00 a.m. at the Solano Playlot and trees will be planted around the North & East neighborhood.
• Richmond Tales:  Actually, the name of the play will be Lost Stories from the Iron Triangle, so look for that title in future publicity.  On April 20th there will be a literacy festival presented by the City, LEAP and the School District. Richmond Tales will be incorporated into the festival.
• If you want to look up your donations to the Rotary Foundation, do this:
  1.  Go to “rotary.org”
  2.  Click on Member Access” (top of page)
  3.  Open or create your account
  4.  Click on View Contribution History (bottom left)
  5.  Click on “Transaction Detail” (bottom left below the report). Note that you may need your RI number from the address label on your Rotarian Magazine to create your account. The report may be slow in downloading, so be patient.

Recognitions

Happy and Sad Dollars

Michelle Itagaki because her surgeon has confirmed that her bones are healed, and as soon as her joints and muscles heal she can get back on her motorcycle.

Herb Cole, who isn’t so lonely as the only alumnus of the University of Second Choice now that Joe Bagley’s daughter is dating a USC alumnus and that Jon Lawlis’ fiance’s daughter has applied for admission.

Erle Brown who, starting tomorrow, will be sitting on a beach in Puerto Vallarta for a month.

Henry Moe had happy bucks for the Crab Feed success.

David Brown was happy to be joining Erle in PV in a week, but for less than a month.

Rafael Madrigal. Oh, not so happy. He still sore about missed calls in the Super Bowl.

Don Lau, was now happy about stuff that didn’t necessararily delight him when he was a kid. He just returned from a week in Hawaii where he helped his parents weed the yard and fix the house.

Norm’s Nonsense

A psychiatrist welcomes a man into his office, and says: “Sit down, what can I do for you?”
Man: “Oh, it’s not for me, I’m here for my brother, he thinks he’s a chicken. He goes waddling and clucking around the house all day and he even built a nest in his bedroom.”
Psychiatrist: “This sounds serious, how long has he been this way/”
Man: “Close to a year now.”
Psychiatrist: “A year! What took you so long to come to me?”
Man: “Well, frankly, we needed the eggs.”

PROGRAM

Adventures in Antarctica, then and now

Scott Shakleton is the Dean of facilities for the UC School of Engineering and, according to President Jim, the fifth cousin of famed explorer, Ernest Shakleton.  By my calculation, however, he’s the first cousin five times removed.  Scott is a graduate of the California Maritime Academy and he and President Jim and Richard Alexander, whose son is a senior at CMA, are talking about connecting CMA and the UC School of Engineering with the Richmond High School Engineering Academy.

Scott told us of the history of exploration of Antarctica, starring his ancestor, Ernest Shakleton.  Ernest went to Antarctica four times:

• The first time with Robert Scott in 1901, but he had to leave early for health reasons.
• Then as the leader of the expedition in 1907, and got to within 100 miles of the South Pole before realizing they didn’t have enough food and starting back.  They arrived back at their camp only just in time to flag down their ship as it was leaving, which would have stranded them on the ice for a whole season.
• Next as the leader of an expedition in 1914.  Before they could begin their trek across the continent, their chip was crushed by the ice and the entire crew stranded.  Ernest led part of his crew to Sough Georgia Island, where they landed on the wrong side of the island and had to hike across, over mountains in winter.  All of the crew, however, survived.
• Finally, he was to return in 1921, but died on South Georgia island.  The story is that he was a philanderer and that, when informed of his death, his wife told them to bury him on South Georgia.

Meanwhile, Scott actually made it to the South Pole, only to find the remnants of the camp of Roald Amundsen, who had beaten him there by 35 days.  Scott and his crew then froze to death on their way back.

Scott got to travel to Antarctica as part of Operation Deep Freeze, 2010, the annual resupply of the American scientific colony, McMurdo Station.  Scott was able to fly to the South Pole station and actually stand on the South Pole, becoming the first Shakleton to do so.

Josh Genser, pinch-hitting scribe