President Margie Burnett & Ron Sutton
Jim Gordon & Colleen Turner
President Margie called the meeting to order at 7:30 AM on the mark. Colleen Turner provided the invocation and led the Pledge of Allegiance. Jim Gordon introduced visiting Rotarians and guests. Ron Sutton of the Rotary Club of Pleasanton North, CA, exchanged banners with President Margie.
President Margie Burnett
The Club Administrator noted that 56% of the membership was present, allowing President Margie to call for a motion from the membership to approve a vote of the BBRC Board of Directors to incorporate the BBRC as a Not for Profit Corporation in the State of Washington. The motion was made and seconded. With no discussion, the motion passed with a unanimous voice vote.
Ryan Scharnhorst
Ryan Scharnhorst celebrated his first anniversary with the club with a brief talk noting his involvement with Rotary First Harvest and our Preserve Planet Earth effort to clean up our little patch of Northbound I-405, between the SE 8th on-ramp and the NE 8th off-ramp. Ryan has stepped up to chair the Preserve Planet Earth Committee for the current Rotary year.
Bob Bowen
Bob Bowen, recently back from a project survey trip in Kenya, related sleeping just feet from many wild critters, in addition to witnessing the migration of 4.5 million Wildebeests. He also visited a girls' school to deliver not only 100 LED flashlights, but to provide curriculum support for girls, to better understand HIV/AIDs, hygiene, and well baby care.
It is the goal of President Margie to provide the opportunity to have every member spend time at the podium at some point in the Rotary Year. This appeared to be the moment for none other than the 2009-2010 Sergeant at Arms, Curtis Cummings.
SAA Curtis Cummings
The Sergeant reported that it was a slow summer for R.O.A.R. (Rat on a Rotarian). He also mentioned the cost of personal advertising with broadcast emails. So, talk to the Sergeant prior to hitting the send button.
It is indeed a really slow summer, since we are now engaged in “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?”
Apparently we are smarter than a fifth grader, as only $105 was raised with a series of questions that most of the tables guessed correctly.
"A Brief History of Tea & the Cutty Sark," Roger Hodge
Roger Hodge
It is rewarding in life to find yourself involved in a “Hobby Job” that allows you to follow your passion while providing inspiration and preserving a rich heritage for future generation. This is exactly what today’s speaker, Roger Hodge, has achieved in his involvement with the preservation of the historic Tea Clipper, the Cutty Sark.
The Cutty Sark was designed in the 1860’s to provide fast transport for tea from Singapore to Great Britain. The tea delivered by the first tea clipper commanded the highest price for a nation that found tea an indispensable part of their daily lives. Tea was first introduced as an aristocratic drink in 1664, when 100 pounds were imported. This grew to 32 million pounds by 1813.
In between those times, we also experienced the Boston Tea party and the blockade of the North American coast by the British Navy. The clever Yanks did not play fair and designed fast clipper ships that could outrun the British Fleet. The Cutty Sark design came from this class of Yankee Clippers, only being extended to allow faster speed. It was also a hybrid design using both wood and iron.
Kaj Pedersen
The life of the Tea Clippers was limited when the Suez Cannel was opened in 1870 — only a year after the Cutty Sark was commissioned. Now, steam ships had a much faster passage to China since sailing ships could not navigate the canal. For the next five years, the Cutty Sark became a “tramp,” hauling cargo from port to port, without a guarantee of what was coming next.
President Margie Burnett & Roger Hodge
Since 1954, the Cutty Sark has been on display in Greenwich, London, attracting 17 million visitors. The ship is undergoing extensive reconditioning that is funded with lottery sales. For more information on the Cutty Sark visit their very informative web site.
An interesting side note is that the distiller of whisky bottled Cutty Sark scotch in honor of the clipper. Roger was introduced by his son-in-law and BBRC member, Kaj Pedersen.
Courtesy of Bob Vallat
Why do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions, while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front?
Why do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a diet coke?
Why do banks leave vault doors open and then chain the pens to the counters?
Why do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage?
Why do hot dogs come in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight?
Why do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering?
Why does the sun lightens our hair, but darken our skin?
Why can't people put on mascara with their mouths closed?
Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"?
Why is it that doctors call what they do "practice"?
Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?
Why is the person who invests all your money called a broker?
Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?
Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?
You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes? Why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff?!
Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?
Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?
If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?
If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?
Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes?
