Spoke 2/4/2016

 
Called to order by: President Don
 
Opening Song: R-O-T-A-R-Y
 
Patriotic Song: O Beautiful for Spacious Skies
 
Invocation: Steve Christy
 
Song Leader: Suellen Griffin            Song: Mockingbird Song
 
Visiting Rotarians:
Joanne Lemieux
 
Guests:
John & Kim Wilson with Steve Christy
Don Collins with Phil Rentz
Evan ? with Marian Steiner
 
Raffle: Joanne picked a card which was not the queen: 15 to go
 
Announcements:  
Brags:
John Y joke: Nuns run out of gas
John Y: Feels Bartolo should be fined for excessive photo exposure: found his picture on receipt from Price Chopper!!!
Bill K: Big vacation plans – cross-Canada on Via rail, visits to Seattle & Tacoma, later visiting India with friends, one of whom has been to India and Nepal often: Sanskrit scholar!
Paul Tierney: (missed the whole thing…)
 
Rotary Minute: Bill Babineau
Bill related conversations with a friend who went to Nepal the day before the earthquake. She pointed out that there had been 466 aftershocks since the April 15 event, at least one at 6.5. She also pointed out that nine months later, little has been done in the mountainous regions of Nepal. The urban regions have recovered fairly well, but there is a political limbo preventing doing much of anything about the mountainous regions. In addition, there has been a serious typhoon which caused further destruction, and a blockade has been set up at the India – Nepal border which is preventing supplies from reaching these areas.
 
Speaker: John Wilson
John Wilson is an MIT/Stanford trained specialist in aerospace guidance and control. His bio was featured in last week’s spoke.
In some circumstances, there are three basic survival questions:
1 where are we?
2 where’s the good stuff?
3 where’s the bad stuff?
John pointed out the need for knowing number one relating the story of the British fleet sailing home in 1707. In storm conditions, with little visibility, the British fleet sailed into a hazardous area: four ships were lost and approximately 1400 lives. As a result of this tragedy, the British government reacted quickly, as governments do, seven years later, please with the longitude act. While navigators had been able to determine latitude for centuries, longitude remained a mystery. Promised a large sum of money to anyone who can solve this problem. It was obvious that the central problems to determining longitude was knowing the exact time: if the exact time is known, the path of stars in the sky can be used to determine longitude. John Harrison developed a pocket chronometer which achieved the necessary accuracy.
In the 1900s, radio navigation techniques were developed first LF than VHF. Area navigation was aided by devices referred to as Decca, Gee, and Loran. In the late 1900s, satellites were launched by the Department of Defense.
Interestingly enough, this development was initiated by examination of the Sputnik satellite launched by Russia. While watching and listening to the Sputnik satellite, researchers heard specific Doppler effects as the satellite passed. They realized that the Doppler effects could be used to measure the location of the satellite. Once this was understood, further development of the concept was incorporated in the satellites launched by DOD. DOD This capability secret for many years, but when it’s capabilities were discovered, in 1983 Pres. Reagan declassified the system making it available for general usage. At that time the readings were accurate to within 100 yards.
Accuracy of GPS now is 3.4 m, with specialty equipment having accuracy up to 1 inch.
Our GPS units in use by most of us receive signals from satellites, but do not send information. Rather than satellite sends and receives information to and from specific GPS stations scattered around the world. Using information gathered from these stations, satellites can transmit accurate location information to numerous GPS receivers, such as cell phone towers, and it is from these receivers that our GPS devices get their information.
It takes information from three satellites to properly determine your position, but what access to 4 will give the best accuracy. With 4 signals, latitude, longitude, altitude, and time can be determined and this is what yields very accurate location.
Note that your GPS unit is also the speedometer you will overlap due to its accuracy.
GPS has its faults: they are jamable by inexpensive equipment. They can also be spoofed, and there are areas where they are inaccurate or simply not available. We are indeed too dependent on GPS: the old lamp system was going to be discontinued, but it is realized that this is a potential backup your GPS fails, so it still exists.
 
By-Law change
Article XVII Amendments
 
These bylaws may be amended at any regular meeting, a quorum being present, by a two-thirds vote of all members present , provided that notice of such proposed amendment shall have been mailed to each member at least ten days before such meeting. No amendment or addition to these by-laws can be made which is not in harmony with the constitution and bylaws of RI.                                             ·
 
Article XVIII Paul Harris Fellows
 
Section 1  President, President-elect, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary of the Club will be credited annually with one
hundred dollars toward becoming a Paul Harris Fellow. The Club will budget and set aside in a separate account five hundred dollars ($500 .00) each year for this purpose.
 
Section 2 -Whenever any member of the Club contributes nine hundred dollars ($900.00) toward becoming a Paul Harris Fellow, the Club will provide the final one hundred dollars ($100.00).
 
 
 
               Suggested revision:
 
Section 1  President, President-elect, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary of the Club will be awarded 100 points annually toward
their Paul Harris Fellow (PHF).  In the event there are no points available, the Club will donate $500 to the Rotary Foundation to generate 500 points which will then be distributed to the officers  PHF account.  The Club will budget  five hundred dollars ($500 .00) or 500 points each year for this purpose. At  the  end  of  each  fiscal  year  the  Foundation  Committee  Chair  will  allocate  the  100  points  to each officer completing  their  term  of  service.   Effective  date   2/4/16.