BIRTHDAYS

ANNIVERSARIES

Robin Callan, 19 yrs

Rourke O'Brien, 17 yrs

Brian Evison, 15 yrs

Ruben Ladlad, 8 yrs

Mike Ralph, 6 yrs

Roger Allington, 5 yrs

Timothy Leahy, 5 yrs

Steve Vincent, 5 yrs

Michel Carter, 1 yr

Ann Norman, 1 yr

REAL or HOAX?

Remember to visit snopes.com before forwarding on "urgent" and "important" emails.

 

REAL

• YouTube/Facebook Virus

• Post Card Virus

• UPS/Fedex Delivery Failure

• reunion.com spamming

• Conficker or Downadup Worm

• Turning on AC when you first get in your car (open windows!)

 

HOAX

• Credit Card-Type Hotel Keys

• Internet Petitions

• Dialing *77 on cell phone summons highway patrol

FRIDAY SNAPS

Invocation & Pledge

John Dewater offered a very meaningful prayer in which he called upon God to open our eyes and show us the brilliant light of God's love and grace. He asked God to deliver the victims of tyranny, abuse, and injustice, while also delivering those of us who may struggle with greed and materialism. He also asked God to sanctify the time we spend in service and to bless our families and our health.

Introduction of Visitors & Guests

Kim Shrader recognized two visiting Rotarians, our perennial friend Frank Young, from the Bellevue Rotary Club, who celebrated with short-lived joy that "the Huskies are leading the Pac-10," and Bill Prader, from the venerable Seattle 4 Club.

A total of eight guests were also recognized and welcomed, though with a slightly, but regrettably, altered version of the traditional formula ("You are all ALWAYS welcome at the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club") that truly makes guests feel fully welcomed to our hallowed precincts in the underbelly of Glendale Country Club.

From Rotary, With Love

President Chuck Kimbrough said thank you to those who produced last week's video, "From Rotary with Love": Michel Carter, Elena Howell, Andrew Face, John DeWater, Sayoko Kuwahara, Paul Chapman, and others. As prompted by the prez, a round of applause was given for a wonderful job. The video is on the home page of the BBRC website.

New Member Induction: Walling, Cummins, Hahn & Bhatia

Never before in the memory of the club president had four new members been simultaneously inducted into the BBRC — a fact that seemed to fluster our esteemed leader.

As laughter bubbled up around the room over a somewhat bumbling start, with names mispronounced, forgotten, and mangled, someone from the crowd offered, "Is this a skit?" More laughter ensued, but in the midst of such mirth, the president succeeded in inducting the following new members, in their respective classifications.

Willkommen to Oktoberfest!

John Dewater has again brewed a ton of bier and these girls can’t drink all of it! There will even be some surprise “special guest taps.” Make it to the Oktoberfest on Saturday, Oktober 16th, at 5:30PM, for bier, food, and fun! Oktoberfood prepared this year by our own BBQ kaiser, Chris Ballard!

If you are a winer, it is BYOW – Bring Your Own Wine — as we are serving bier!

The LTF Rathskeller (Lawrence the Florist)
224 105th Avenue NE, Bellevue (front side)

Parking under (what used to be) Daly’s, off the alley. Just walk up the alley and you’ll find us. If you go to the front, you won’t!

Questions? Contact John DeWater

New Member Pizza Party

DaCdb

Sayoko Kuwahara, channeling her softer, Fairy Godmother persona, while allowing the Spider Monkey to hover ominously, spoke again about the new database. She announced, in full costume, that the Fairy Godmother will preside over the DaCdb. "About 70% have updated the database. The 30% is a problem. If Godmother cannot motivate them, the Spider Monkey will get involved," she warned. "We need your contact information so we can all be connected.

See Norm Johnson or Kindsvater if you need help with photos. If you don't put up a picture the Spider Monkey may put one in that you don't like."

She added that "the Customer Service Department is there to assist the club administrator and handle customer complaints and make your life easy and happy." She went on to explain that Steve Lingenbrink heads this department. "He's an expert in handling problems" she said, directing attention to a slide showing him in full biker mode and eliciting laughter from the club.

25th Anniversary Dinner Party, November 12

The BBRC's 25th Anniversary Dinner Party will be held on Friday, November 12th, at the Cascade Club at Trilogy. The theme is "Our Silver Anniversary." The food will be wonderful, as Tuxedos and Tennis Shoes will once again cater the dinner.

Cocktails at 6:00PM, dinner at 7:00PM — join us for an evening of fellowship to celebrate our club, and finish the evening by dancing the night away.

Friday's Program

"The Global Nuclear Renaissance: Can America Catch Up?" Dr. Alan Waltar, Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board for Advanced Medical Isotope Corp. and Senior Advisor at Pacific Northwest National Laboratories

The speaker for the day was Dr. Alan Waltar, father of BBRC member Steve Waltar Esq., who recently retired as Senior Advisor to the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, WA. He was previously Director of Nuclear Energy. He is a consultant to the IAEA and the US Department of Energy. He was Professor and Head of the Department of Nuclear Engineering atTexas A&M University from 1998 to 2002. He served as president of the American Nuclear Society from 1994 to 1995.

Dr. Waltar holds a B.S. in electrical engineering (University of Washington, 1961), an MS in nuclear engineering (MIT, 1962), and a PhD in engineering science (University of California, Berkeley, 1966).

His distinguished career with Westinghouse Hanford Company included leadership positions in several areas of advanced reactor technology. He served on the faculty at the University of Virginia where, with Professor Albert Reynolds, he co-authored the Fast Breeder Reactors textbook. Along with the Russian translation, this book has become one of the standard instructional books for fast spectrum reactors.

Dr. Waltar was instrumental in the formation of the World Nuclear University Summer Institute (SI) and has served as a mentor and member of the faculty at all six Summer Institutes in Idaho Falls, Stockholm, Daejeon, Ottawa,and two at Oxford.

Dr. Waltar authored America the Powerless: Facing Our Nuclear Energy Dilemma in 1995 and in 2004 published his newest book, Radiation and Modern Life: Fulfilling Marie Curie's Dream, which articulates the enormous beneficial uses of radiation to society.

The very distinguished guest began his talk by discussing the global energy scene. He explained that energy use is rising and will go higher as developing world advances. Two-thirds of the world population uses very little energy, but usage has been going up around the world consistently since 1945 and promises to continue at a rapid rate. In such a climate, nuclear energy has a very clear role in such issues as electricity for residential and industrial purposes, transportation (cars), desalination of water, process heat, and hydrogen production.

Dr. Waltar went on to discuss the major global drivers for nuclear expansion. Basic economics are at work, as existing fossil fuel supplies are being depleted and nuclear energy provides insurance against future fuel price increases. The prospect of carbon emission taxes and political pressures created by the global climate change issue makes nuclear energy an increasingly more economically attractive option. As a result, many countries such as Australia that do not have nuclear power are interested in developing nuclear plants. Waltar quipped, "I almost said there has been an explosion of nuclear activity, but that's not the right word." The club responded with grateful amusement.

Waltar pointed out that while nuclear accidents such as Three Mile Island and Chernobyl slowed interest for a long time, it is reviving. France, for example, now gets 75% of energy from nuclear power. France decided to go nuclear in the1970's during the oil embargo and never looked back, having recently announced plans for building new reactors. Finland is also currently building a new plant. Russia is doubling its nuclear energy production by 2020. The United Kingdom, Sweden, and Italy are all going back to Nuclear. China is planning for a five-fold increase in nuclear production with 24 plants under construction, while India is planning a hundred-fold increase by building six new plants. While the United States has many nuclear plants, only two plants (in Georgia) are in the initial stages of construction, and we are lagging behind other advanced nations.

While the speaker was unquestionably in favor of the expansion of nuclear energy, he did not make his case unquestioningly. The challenges of nuclear energy were explained forthrightly, including the primary issue of safety. He pointed out the incident at Three Mile Island resulted in no deaths, and even the more serious problem at Chernobyl resulted in only 31 initial deaths. Other issues included, nuclear proliferation. The overall safety record of nuclear energy has been very good. Another question is the issue of nuclear weapons vs. civil programs.

"What about the waste?" Waltar asked rhetorically. Acknowledging that waste is the number one concern in the mind of the public, he stated that it is "almost an insignificant problem." "Hans Blix," he explained, "says the waste is an attribute of nuclear power. "Nuclear waste is so small compared to the waste of any other endeavor. Recycling would utilize over 95% of what we now call waste. Much of it can be employed in medical uses." He went on to add that Sweden is actually bidding for the waste sites. "They want it," he said. The Finnish site near Eurajokl will have a waste site attached to it to make the most of sequestering a valuable commodity.

In today's economy, the issue of cost is very important. Waltar noted that "this is still the biggest real concern." He recognized that the capital cost [of building facilities] is a problem, but once operating nuclear plants are built, they have lowest cost in the US apart from very cheap hydroelectric energy. He added that costs are coming down.

Another strength for nuclear energy is the skilled workforce that has emerged in the field. There is rising enrollment in nuclear engineering programs in the USA, and dozens of nations are participating in the World Nuclear University. All of the scientists know each other and are raising up new specialists together.

On the American scene, we have plateaued at 103 nuclear plants, but the energy output from the plants has been going up. Plant capacity has increased because we have gone from operating at about 60% of capacity to 90%. We know how to run the plants better now, and plants have been upgraded. Computers are more sophisticated now, allowing for more efficient operation. The equivalent of two dozen plants has been added through increased productivity of the existing plants.

In his most recent State of the Union address to Congress, President Obama called for a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants, and both sides of the aisles cheered. Presumably there is rising political support and strong public opinion in favor of nuclear energy, but according to Waltar, "we're still asleep. America slumbers." Rather than actually investing in nuclear energy, investors are pushing wind and solar energy, calling for a 50% base load from renewable sources. In his opinion, this is not realistic, and we are stalling the building of new nuclear plants. Solar and wind are intrinsically expensive because they are both very low density and are intermittent sources. Nevertheless, he said, "We are horrifically subsidizing wind and solar, and we cannot afford to do this endlessly."

Dr. Waltar concluded by remarking that "the first nuclear power era is over. We were the clear leader in this first era, but the leadership has been lost to Europe and Asia. We need to take the lead back."

Click here to download a PDF version of Dr. Waltar's presentation.

Web Fun

10 Winners in the International Pun Contest
Courtesy of Phil Salvatori

1. A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, "I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger."

2. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. One turns to the other and says, "Dam!"

3. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.

4. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, "I've lost my electron." The other says, "Are you sure?" The first replies "Yes, I'm positive."

5. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.

6. A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. "But why?", they asked, as they moved off. "Because," he said, "I can't stand chess-nuts boasting in an open foyer."

7. A woman has twins and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named Ahmal. The other goes to a family in Spain; they name him Juan. Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds, "They're twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal."

8. A group of friars were behind on their belfry payments, so they opened up a small florist shop to raise funds. Since everyone liked to buy flowers from the men of God, a rival florist across town thought the competition was unfair. He asked the good fathers to close down, but they would not. He went back and begged the friars to close. They ignored him. So, the rival florist hired Hugh MacTaggart, the roughest and most vicious thug in town to "persuade" them to close. Hugh beat up the friars and trashed their store, saying he'd be back if they didn't close up shop. Terrified, they did so, thereby proving that only Hugh can prevent florist friars.

9. Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and, with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him a super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

10. There was a person who sent ten different puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh.

No pun in ten did.