BBRC Reveille

• BBRC WEEKLY NEWSLETTER • VOL 22, NO 31, FEBRUARY 23, 2010 •

THIS WEEK

"Making Green vs. Preserving Green: The Landmark Debate Surrounding Alaska's Proposed Pebble Mine," Cary Kopczynski and Alex Rule, who will explain, using photos and personal experience, the raging debate surrounding Alaska's proposed open pit Pebble Mine and how this epic battle's outcome will impact all of us. The Pebble Mine has recently been featured in the New York Times and other national publications. [Holert]

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

"A male pilot is a confused soul who talks about women when he's flying — and about flying when he's with a woman."

Opener

Christine Addison led the Invocation with the aphorism, "Attitudes are infectious. Is yours worth catching?" She then led us in the "BBRC Song of Grace," sung to the Tune of Edelweiss 9see below).

Rick McManus handled introduction of visiting Rotarians and guests.

Family friends
Health and food
For all our blessings we're thankful.

For today's
Turn to serve
Let all Rotarians be watchful.

Friendship and love
May they bloom and grow
Bloom and grow forever.

In the best darn club
In the world,
Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club
Forever.

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Classification Talk: Aisha Kabani

New Rotarian Aisha Kabani regaled the group with the interesting story of her remarkable life, which she has led without being "a morning person."

Aisha moved to Seattle in 1981 and attended the Forest Ridge School. In her youth, she developed a passion for photography and world travel. After experience as an exchange student in Japan, where she mastered the Japanese language, she went on to complete a B.A. degree in economics at New York's prestigious Columbia University, the world's finest institution of higher education.(Conflict of interest admitted by your humble Rotary reporter and fellow Columbia alumnus.)

Kabani continued her education at the University of Michigan, where she earned a Master's degree in Public Health. After working for Jim Hebert for four years, she started her own company that did not turn out as she had hoped. She went back to work at another company until her father convinced her to come to work for him at half her previous salary at his start-up company.

The company has prospered, and Aisha now makes a good salary and has equity in the company. Their products include a variety of beverage-based projects which she has managed to place in 25 countries. Kabani oversees sales and marketing, among other things. She hopes through Rotary to work internationally to improve access to health care and to contribute to the good through her photography.

After Aisha finished her talk, President Margie Burnett announced that all requirements had been fulfilled to earn Aisha her Blue badge. (Why not send her a personal card to congratulate her and celebrate one who, for at least a moment, was the world's newest Blue-badge Rotarian.)

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Annual BBRC Retreat, March 19-20

Elena Howell and her crew (Paul Chapman and Norm Johnson) announced this year's BBRC Retreat in Port Hadlock, March 19-20. Activities will include golf at Whitehorse, one of newest courses in Washington, and retail therapy, which will involve a shopping trip to Port Townsend. Costs are $99 for each room and $25 for each dinner. Business on Saturday will center on discussion groups.

Other activities will include a cooking demonstration and class by the chef of the Inn at Port Hadlock and a historical tour of the Inn. Childcare will be available; arrangements should be made at the time you make your room reservation.

The Retreat team drew names from early sign-ups for a free dinner. Sayoko Kuwahara drew Paul Chapman's name, but he was ineligible since he had not signed up yet. Elena Howell's name was also drawn, but she was also ineligible for the same reason. Finally, Tim Johnstone won a free dinner for Friday night. There will be another drawing next week.

It was finally explained that the irritating bugle music that accompanied the whole presentation was the sound of "Retreat" and not "Taps," as some alleged. Play the file below if you need a refresher.

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Fellowship Announcements

Wendi Fischer, co-chair of the Fellowship Committee, announced that new Rotarians would meet for bowling at Lucky Strike on March 9, but everyone is invited.

Also, every third Thursday, there is a get-together at the Rock Bottom. The meeting was recently changed to the third Tuesday of each month, but attendance wasn't as good, so it has been switched back to Thursdays — third Thursdays, that is. Stop by and get credit for a make-up!

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Sergeant At Arms: a Friend to the Foundation

Sergeant at Arms Curtis Cummings took the microphone and invited Cary Kopczynski to discuss the Paul Harris Foundation. One of the best charities in the world, the Foundation gives 95 cents of every dollar directly to charity, keeping only 5 cents for administration.

Cummings asked five questions of the ten tables of Rotarians, offering to put $10 into the Paul Harris Foundation for any table getting the answers right — up to $500. The questions were hard: How many sports are included in this year's Winter Olympics? How many multiple disciplines are offered within those sports? No one knew that there are 7 sports and 15 disciplines. How many different nations are competing? Everyone got it right at 87 after Cummings told us the answer. How many athletes are competing? All of them, said Alan Pratt. But the answer was 2,549 athletes.

Despite the dismal athletic expertise of the club, Cummings donated the full sum of $500.

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Preserve Plant Earth: Spring Highway Clean-Up

A Highway Clean-Up Work Party is scheduled for Saturday, March 27. We will meet at the Wilburton Park-and-Ride, located just south of downtown Bellevue at 720 114th Ave SE, at 8:30 am.

Please bring gloves and warm clothing, and wear shoes that you don't mind getting muddy. Helmets and orange vests will be provided.

Family and friends over age 13 are encouraged to participate in this project, which should take less than 2 hours. If you have any questions, please contact Ryan Scharnhorst.

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Call for Rotary Peace Fellow Applications
John Armenia

The Rotary Peace Fellows is an outstanding program. The best candidates for it include past Rotary Scholars and exchange atudents, as well as graduate students who are majoring in law, political science, international relations, and education.

The Rotary Foundation invites all districts to submit applications for the 2011-12 Rotary Peace Fellowships. Complete applications must be sent to the Rotary Foundation by 1 July 2010.

In these uncertain times, there is a growing demand for well trained international leaders to promote national and international cooperation and peace throughout their lives, in their careers and through service activities. The challenges of the 21st century require people skilled in the art of diplomacy, mediation, and conflict resolution. The Rotary Peace Fellowship program was developed to meet this very need.

Rotary is seeking non-Rotarian professionals interested in expanding their knowledge in international relations, public administration, sustainable development, peace studies and conflict resolution or a related field. Each year, up to 100 Rotary Peace Fellowships (50 master's degree fellowships and 50 professional development certificate fellowships) are offered on a competitive basis at six prestigious Rotary Centers around the world.

Participants in the master's degree program gain access to:

Two years of Rotary-funded graduate study toward a master's degree at one of our six Rotary Centers
Training in the root causes of conflict, theories of international relations, and effective models of cooperation, conflict resolution, and negotiation.
A growing network of committed alumni employed around the world in diplomacy, government, non-governmental organizations and private corporations.

Candidates already working in the field of peace and conflict studies may opt for the three-month professional development certificate program at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. Both programs require, at minimum, a bachelor's degree in a related field; 3 years of relevant work experience for the MA program and 5 years for the professional development certificate.

You could be among the next Rotary Peace Fellows. Alumni from the Ambassadorial Scholarship, Group Study Exchange, and University Teachers programs make excellent candidates for the Rotary Peace Fellowship. Thirty-one Ambassadorial Scholars and GSE team members have gone on to become Rotary Peace Fellows.

If the fellowship is not for you, you may know someone who would be an excellent candidate. Please share this information with alumni, as well as business associates, local universities, service organizations, religious institutions, and community groups that may know of individuals interested in conflict resolution and diplomacy. For eligibility and application information, click here.

Candidates for the 2011-2012 academic term should send their applications to Rotary clubs now.

Contact rotarypeacecenters@rotary.org for further information or visit www.rotary.org/rotarycenters.

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FRIDAY's PROGRAM

"Loving Machines and the Dreams they Inspire, Airplane Enthusiasts Pursue their Goals," Bob Dempster

Colleen Turner introduced the morning's speaker, Bob Dempster, a former teacher and retired Boeing R&D man, who is currently Executive Director of the Seattle World Cruiser Association, a tax-deductible, publicly supported, nonprofit corporation whose mission is "to develop, implement and maintain programs which promote aviation history through public educational activities and projects."

Dempster's presentation described the organization's current project — the rebuilding of a Douglas World Cruiser. He explained that four airplanes Point (the Boston, the New Orleans, the Seattle, and the Chicago) took off in 1924 from Sand Point to fly around the world, a flight as monumental in its time as going to the moon was in the 1960's. Dempster is engaged in the task of recreating one of those plains, the Seattle II, and has personally glued together thousands of pieces of wood to build its wing ribs. Since there are no extant plans for the original, it is a challenging project. The Smithsonian has one of the original airplanes, and Dempster was invited him to take photos of it with the panels off, greatly aiding his understanding of the plane's original construction.

Boeing was directly involved in the original flight, which left Seattle on April 6, 1924, and returned on September 28, 1924. The route was from Seattle, around the Aleutians, where the command ship (Seattle) was lost, then on to Japan, in the first crossing of the Pacific, then to India, Baghdad, Paris, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, then home to Seattle. The trip took 175 days, covering a distance 26,345 miles, at 72.5 miles per hour, with total flying time at 363 hours and 7 minutes. The longest hop was 830 miles, from Iceland to Greenland. The flight included 69 scheduled stops.

Dempster showed an array of impressive historic slides. The McDonnell Douglas-designed, bi-wing aircraft had a 50-foot wingspan, with a folding wing feature. It was christened at Sand Point. The original charts say the pilots took off at 9:23 in rain and fog. Pilots Barton and Harvey were shown with the Seattle before they hit a mountainside in Alaska. Dempster has been to the crash site and included pictures he personally took of what remains of the wreck. The pilots were able to survive the crash and hike out to safety.

One of the slides depicted the arrival of the three remaining planes in Japan. In Calcutta they changed their landing gear floats to wheels. They landed in Baghdad, then flew up to Paris. Their charts say of one place in France along the route, "danger: artillery proving ground." Le Bourget was the landing site near Paris. Arriving in England, they converted back to floats. The Boston had engine trouble and was lost at sea. They then took the prototype airplane and made it the Boston II. President Calvin Coolidge met them at their landing in Washington, DC, and large crowds received them in Santa Monica, California.

The flight ended in Seattle, and the headline in the Post-Intelligencer said "Flyers End World Flight: Major Martin in Tears as he is cheered by throng." A Granite obelisk monument was erected at the time, which still stands on Sand Point Way at entrance to the park.

Three of the plains still exist. The New Orleans is owned by the Los Angeles County Museum. The wreckage of the Seattle was recovered by Lowell Thomas, Jr., son of one of the pilots, and is kept in Anchorage. The Chicago is in the Smithsonian.

On Dempster's hike to the crash site in Alaska, he found the original throttle quadrant and other pieces (a total weight of 350 pounds). Lowell Thomas, Jr., gave him the steering wheels for the airplane, which were beautifully kept and restored by his father. The power plant for the planes was the Liberty V-12, made by Lincoln, Ford, Packard, and Lincoln. The engine displaces the equivalent of 1,649 cubic inches, with pistons having a five-inch bore and seven-inch stroke.

More information is available at www.seattleworldcruiser.org.

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Web Fun

Creative Responses

Rather than admit defeat in the face of tricky test questions, some students decided to take a more creative approach to their answers.

What is a nitrate?
Much cheaper than a day rate

What was Sir Walter Raleigh famous for?
He is a noted figure in history because he invented cigarettes and started a craze for bicycles.

What did Mahatma Gandhi and Genghis Khan have in common?
Unusual names

Name one of the early Romans' greatest achievements.
Learning to speak Latin

Name one measure which can be put into place to avoid river flooding in times of extensive rainfall, e.g., in Mississippi.
Flooding in areas such as the Mississippi may be avoided by placing a number of big dames into the river.

Name six animals which live specifically in the Arctic.
Two polar bears and ~~three~~ four seals.

Assess Fashion House PLCs choice to locate its factory near Birmingham. Is Birmingham the right location for this type of business?
No, people from Birmingham aren't very fashionable.

How does Romeo's character develop throughout the play?
It doesn't, it's just self, self, self, all the way through.

Name the wife of Orpheus, whom he attempted to save from the underworld.
Mrs. Orpheus

Where was the American Declaration of Independence signed?
At the bottom

What happens during puberty to a boy?
He says goodbye to his childhood and enters adultery.

State three drawbacks of hedgerow removal.
1. All the cows will escape.
2. The cars drive into the fields.
3. There is nowhere to hide.

What is the highest frequency noise that a human can register?
Mariah Carey

Explain the phrase "free press."
When your mum irons trousers for you.

Why would living close to a mobile phone mast cause ill health?
You might walk into it.

Joanna works in an office. Her computer is a stand-alone system. What is a stand-alone computer system?
It doesn't come with a chair.

Steve is driving his car. He is traveling at 60 feet/second and the speed limit is 40 mph. Is Steve speeding?
He could find out by checking his speedometer.

Give a reason why people would want to live near power lines.
You get our electricity faster.

What is vibration?
There are good vibrations and bad vibrations. Good vibrations were discovered in the 1960s.

Where was Hadrian's Wall built?
Around Hadrian's garden.

Expand 2(x+y)
2 ( x + y )
2  (  x  +  y  )
2   (   x   +   y   )
2    (    x    +    y    )

The race of people know as Maylays come from which country.
Malaria

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BIRTHDAYS