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MISSING ISSUE
DECEMBER 1, 2018
Cut and paste this link to support our club: https://amzn.to/2DtcGvs
NEWS NOTES & NONSENSE
DE-CLASSIFYING
Look for your next Rotary Banner on December 15th. Until then...
Remember, there's no noon meeting next week. Our annual Christmas party will be held that evening at Tony's. If you have not signed up and plan to attend, contact Queenie no later than Monday (12-3). Queenie, Randy and ChrisL promise a great time.
BradL had the floor Thursday for his classification program. He described how he has tried to mesh his Army leadership skills with his Rotary activity and participation. He mentioned that one of the reasons he joined our club was the high number of club members who were veterans (and gentle nudging from WWII vet/Rotarian Charlie Kunz).. He's proud to have served his country and be a Rotarian.
Our condolences to long time former club member Red Littleton on the passing of his wife Helen. Two finer folks you will not find. May God bless Red and his family.
There's still a couple of slots open for our Salvation Army bell ringing event on December 8th. MarkV is the point person. If you signed up, show up! Thanks to those who helped ring the bells this past Thursday evening.
Prez Patty opened the meeting with some pent up enthusiasm.
Which table was naughty? Which one was nice? MarkV had to use his significant parenting skills to get his table under control.
Darren, Allen, BradL and Lori were the early birds. In fact, Darren and Allen were the only members in the house when the food line opened at 11:50. The late arriving crowd finally got us to 21 members with the arrival of Paul, Randy, Queenie and BradP.
Nowhere to be found:Mark's A & S, Ty, Pat, Nate, Matt, Virgil, Erin, Scott, Joe, Dick and Jamie.
Thanksgiving lunch featured ham, yam, Rotary g-beans, rolls, salad, colorful cupcakes and cookies.
Bill distributed the list for the Winter Wonderland event. If you need to make a change, let him know. While we're on the topic, there seems to be some seriously bad blood between "elves" Sherry and Sandy and Santa ChrisH. Everyone agreed that "Santa" Joe needs to be prepared for the kids and the rowdy elves.
Does Dave need to address Wendell as "Mr. Chairman?" Do you??
The final tally for the Turkey Fund was $305. Thanks for your generous support. Don't be surprised of you see a new and improved collection container next year (hint to designer Lori).
SAA Queenie welcomed Sherry as her money changing assistant. Birthday recognition was offered to Pat, Rhonda and BradP. Rhonda requested a "holiday Loan" to cover here "fees". BradP and Wendell were recognized for club anniversaries, 28 and 27 years respectively. Announcements were forthcoming from Wendell, Dave and Queenie. MarkV paid his virtual $ plug. If you were wearing a button-up shirt, pay a $. We had a perfect 4 out of 4 score for the trivial questions.
Opening duties were performed by Wendell, Rick (who led a badly timed 4-way test rendition, after being admonished by Prez Patty to follow it!) and Dave
The $103 50-50 jackpot went unclaimed by Rick and Bill (who was working with the number 666). Queenie found little to like with the scratch-off.
That's all from here, have a fine and dry weekend. Ciao!
GETTING SCHOOLED
WHERE'S MY FORK?
TRIVIA
(The answer is found at the end of the newsletter)
The U.S. fell two spots in the World Bank ranking of the best places to do business. Which two countries elbowed ahead?
A-Zimbabwe and Sweden
B-China and Finland
C-Chile and Estonia
D-Georgia and Norway
December 1 is National Pie Day
Output per hour for workers in non-farm businesses rose 1.3% in the third quarter from a year earlier, marking the 32nd straight quarter of yearly growth below 2%, a long and consistent stretch of anemic growth that hasn’t happened before in the post-World War II era.
In the twelve months of 1998 Yahoo stock returned 584%, AOL 593% and Amazon 970%. In fact, during the 1990s, AOL’s stock appreciated 80,000%.
4 out of 5 parents provide some type of financial support for their adult offspring. Half of parents are willing to draw down savings, and 1/4 would go into debt or pull from retirement savings to support kids who have left the nest-Merrill Lynch and Age Wave
3 out of 4 businesses in the U.S. have fewer than 10 employees-U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
On Thanksgiving U.S. shoppers spent $3.7 billion online, a 28% increase from last year-Adobe Analytics
Origins: get one's ducks in a row-American bowling alleys were the first to introduce duck pins, short slender bowling pins unlike the rotund pins that the English used. Pin boys who set up these pins (before the advent of automatic pin setting machines) had the job of getting their ducks in a row. Soon the expression I've got my ducks in a row was being used by anyone who had completed any arrangements.
Which city has the longest official name in the world?
Bangkok
Bangladesh
La Paz
Tibet
Thailand’s capital city Bangkok has a truly extensive official name: Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit. Okay, you can breathe now. The name translates as: “Great City of Angels, City of Immortals, Magnificent Jeweled City of the God Indra, Seat of the King of Ayutthaya, City of Gleaming Temples, City of the King’s Most Excellent Palace and Dominions, Home of Vishnu and All the Gods.” In 1782, King Rama I chose a bend in the Chao Phraya River as the ideal spot for the country’s new capital city. Established on an older settlement, known as “Bang Makok” – which translates as a “place of olive plums.” Although olive plums sound darn impressive, the King didn’t think it favorably represented his royal city. Hence, the 165-character behemoth.
OPPORTUNITY RINGS
You already know that our club volunteers as Salvation Army bell ringers and kettle hawks each year. What you may not know is that all the Riverbend bell ringers are volunteers, and that there are ample opportunities for anyone to serve at one of the several area locations. It's real easy to get involved, everything is done online. Here is the link to get you started. https://bit.ly/2PTw8boShifts are two hours long, from 10AM-8PM, and are available everyday thru December 24th.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
DECEMBER 5, 2002
Current member in a leadership position: Prez Joe, Lori, Paul, Rod, MarkS and Rick
The program was presented by Brad Winn, Director of the newly opened Lewis & Clark Interpretative Center
Salvation Army bell ringing would take place on December 7th
Pat presented two make-ups from the Florissant club
Prez Joe "demonstrated" the new guest speaker thank you key chain
We collected $106 for the Turkey Fund
Entertainment Book sales were wrapping up
We were "this close" to matching our $35,000 grant goal
The names of our four new scholarship students were announced
Rick put out a call for any and all Rotary archival items that may be held by any member
Don't forget your "white elephant" gift for next weeks Christmas party gift exchange
Do you remember Gregg Kirkland?
SO LONG HELEN LITTLETON (center)
DATELINE:RI
WHO KNEW ATTEMPTING A WOLRD RECORD WOULD TRANSFORM OUR CLUB?
By Joanna Chrzanowska, president, Rotary Club of Marabella-Guadalmina, Spain
The event planning team from the Rotary Club of Marbella-Guadalmina, Spain, was awed by the first sight of the hall they had to fill. We have drawn 80 people to our walks or events before, but aircraft hangar might be the best description for the room we were looking at. It had been generously donated free of charge by Marbella Town Hall, who have been very supportive of the expatriate community. The space was also free of tables, chairs, a sound system, a stage and several other necessities for putting on a large public event.
Founded in 2010, our club is English-speaking with members from a number of different nationalities, including many new Rotarians. We have been effective at fundraising for local and international charities, but why did we suddenly take this on?
Why we did it
We’d love to tell you it was part of a master plan for growth and community engagement. But the truth is it was more like a ball that started rolling and didn’t stop. A member suggested that we could aim for a Guinness World Record in a competitive game called Beetle, which involves throwing a die and drawing parts of a beetle according to the numbers that fall. Sounded easy. Get lots of people together for a couple of hours. Give them a paper, pencil and die. And film the record attempt.
Several months later we were still working out logistics, how best to sell tickets, what else we would have to offer, how to promote the event, how to get tables and chairs to the venue, and so on.
There were some dark days, doubts and debates, a mountain of emails, and uncertainty until the very last that we would have enough people in the hall to even make the record attempt valid. A warning for severe rain on the day of the event didn’t help. To continue reading, link herehttps://bit.ly/2SboCW7
AND I QUOTE
"Never stand between a dog and a lamppost."-Stanley Baldwin
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness."-Mark Twain
"where large sums of money are concerned, it is advisable to trust nobody."-Agatha Christie
"The greatest use of life is to spend it on something that will outlast it."-William James
"Tradition is tending the flame, not worshiping the ashes."-Gustav Mahler
SMILE
A husband and wife are on the 9th green when suddenly she collapses from a heart attack. ”Help me, dear," she groans to her husband.
The husband calls 911 on his cell phone, talks for a few minutes, picks up his putter, and lines up his putt.
His wife raises her head off the green and stares at him. "I'm dying here and you're putting."
“Don't worry, dear," says the husband calmly, "they found a doctor on the second hole and he's coming to help you."
"Well, how long will it take for him to get here?" she asks feebly.
"No time at all," says her husband. "Everybody's already agreed to let him play through."
~~~~~~
A young man and a priest are playing together. At a short par-3 the priest asks, "What are you going to use on this hole, my son?"
The young man says, "An 8-iron, father. How about you?"
The priest says, "I'm going to hit a soft seven and pray."
The young man hits his 8-iron and puts the ball on the green. The priest tops his 7-iron and dribbles the ball out a few yards.
The young man says, "I don't know about you, father, but in my church, when we pray, we keep our heads down."
~~~~~~
Police are called to an apartment and find a woman holding a bloody 3-iron standing over a lifeless man.
The detective asks, "Ma'am, is that your husband?"
"Yes,” says the woman.
“Did you hit him with that golf club?"
"Yes, yes, I did." The woman begins to sob, drops the club and puts her hands on her face.
“How many times did you hit him?"
”I don't know - put me down for a five."
~~~~~~
The bride was escorted down the aisle and when she reached the altar, the groom was standing there with his golf bag and clubs at his side.
She said: "What are your golf clubs doing here?"
He looked her right in the eye and said, "This isn't going to take all day, is it?"
THE BOTTOM LINE
More than 1 million Americans have uploaded their genetic information online using public genealogy sites. There's enough genetic data on family trees that researchers estimate more than half of the people in the U.S. could be identified by name with only a sample of their DNA and a few basic biographical facts, such as their age and where they live-Los Angeles Times
Interest on the U.S. governments debt reached $1.5 billion a day in 2017, according to research from the Deutsche Bank-Ritholtz.com
Classic rock is still pulling in the crowds. Of the 30 highest-grossing live acts of 2018, 10 were Baby Boomer-era artists. The Rolling Stones took $100.8 million in ticket receipts worldwide; the Eagles, $84 million; and Pink Floyd's Roger Waters $60.7 million. Highest gross for an artist of any vintage: 27 year-old Ed Sheeran, $213 million-Qz.com
