Upcoming Events
All meetings (Except Dinner Outs) @ - Millennium Hotel
November & organiser
Tuesday 19th Mathew Barclay Consul General Australia
Tuesday 26th Larry Demco
December & Organiser
Tuesday 3rd - Dinner Out - PP Andy Becker
Tuesday 10th Annual General Meeting - P Jonathan Russell
Saturday 21st - Christmas Party - PP Karen Eidvik Moody
No meetings for Tuesday 24th & 31st
No one this week
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Tuesday 19th November
organised by PP Walter Wheeler
Matthew Barclay, the new Consul General to Australia
‘Phuket’s place in 21st-century diplomacy’
Matthew shall talk about his own pathway to a diplomatic career (via Rotary’s Youth Exchange Program) and the changing nature of modern diplomacy. Smaller - more dynamic - diplomatic missions, deployment in high-threat environments, increased social media engagement and the growing role of soft-power - these are some of the trends that are leading the shift in today’s foreign services.
Tuesday 12th November
It was a busy night, with many visitors ready to hear the guest speaker our own PP OB Wetzell.
OB has a great way of presenting a talk in an engaging & engrossing manner.
Phuket is now at the beginning of the high season.
A lot more tourists in town. Weather is nice.
Visiting Rotarians:
There were two Rotarians who joined the meeting from seeing the notice at the entrance in Jungceylon. (It certainly pays to advertise -ed)
Rotarian Ewald Restle from the RC of Pfullendorf Germany.
Ewald said a few words & exchanged his club banner with P Jonathan
A Rotarian couple from Sweden also received a banner from P Jonathan.
They will send a banner back to us.
Several visitors came to hear PP OB & enjoy fellowship & the excellent meal provided by the Millennium Hotel, Jungceylon Patong.
PP OB brother-in-law’s Mervin brought 4 bottles of red for all of us to have a sip. THANK YOU!!
Great fellowship was evident. A few visitors showed interest in joining the club.
J Will get the process started. Club shirts were given to Michael (OB’s friend) for telling a joke, Vincent (potential new member) for a birthday, and Rtn Ewald as a souvenir back to Pfullendorf, Germany.
Happy hundred bowl was happy to receive lots of 100 baht bills from everyone in the room.
Dr Johan for Community Services provided an update.
- The very successful swimming program is being expanded, & the RC of Andaman will join. The program will be ongoing. We are trying to get as many clubs involved as possible. The fund is available. All club members are encouraged to assist Dr. Johan monitor and work with other clubs.
- Another new Community Service Program is the resuscitation units for premature babies. This will be at the Vachira hospital in Phuket. The cost of a unit is $65,000 & will be a great addition at the hospital. Once successful, we will try to expand the program to supply one unit to our local Patong Hospital as well. Not only the resuscitation equipment, we are also looking into equipping local, smaller health offices with some basic equipment. These smaller health offices serve local residents and tourists alike. RCOPB would like to work with Rotary clubs from abroad that has interest in this project. Contact us.
Pres Jonathan announced that the board and subsequently the club have approved a new member Mr. Dieter Dratwa. He will be installed at our AGM in December.
PP OB commenced his talk
The key thing about the test and the emphasis of my talk is that “things are not as bad as we project”
We all have perceptions, predispositions & other distortions that deny us believing in the truth about the past, the present & the future. Note, the average score on the test was 32% which we should have achieved if we just closed our eyes & made a mark… the fact is that most of us believe, wrongly, that the world is both worse than yesterday and headed downhill in the future in most things human. So, we marked negative answers by & large.
My hope was to highlight a few of the many items of improvement in the human condition over the last 20 years or so.
I wanted to admonish all of us to see where the glass is half full & not to diminish the positive strides, we have made in life expectancy, health, equality, Children’s survival rates etc….
We should neither romanticize the past nor be woeful or cavalier about the future.
Questionnaires were used and attached here for your information. How many have you got right?
A word of thanks by Pres Jonathan to PP OB for an interesting & thought-provoking talk.
Night report: Pres Jonathan R. Photos: PP Walter W. SAA: PP Best W.
E&OE
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A.A.A.D.D.- KNOW THE SYMPTOMS!
Thank goodness there's a name for this disorder.
Age-Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.
This is how it manifests:
I decide to water my garden.
As I turn on the hose in the driveway,
I look over at my car and decide it needs washing.
As I start toward the garage,
I notice mail on the porch table that
I brought up from the mailbox earlier.
I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.
I lay my car keys on the table,
Put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table,
And notice that the can is full.
So, I decided to put the bills back
On the table and take out the garbage first...
But then I think,
Since I'm going to be near the mailbox
When I take out the garbage anyway,
I may as well pay the bills first.
I take my chequebook off the table,
And see that there is only one check left.
My extra checks are in my desk in the study,
So I go inside the house to my desk where
I find the can of Pepsi I'd been drinking.
I'm going to look for my checks,
But first I need to push the Pepsi aside
So that I don't accidentally knock it over.
The Pepsi is getting warm,
And I decide to put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.
As I head toward the kitchen with the Pepsi,
A vase of flowers on the counter
Catches my eye--they need water.
I put the Pepsi on the counter and
Discover my reading glasses that
I've been searching for all morning.
I decide I better put them back on my desk,
But first I'm going to water the flowers.
I set the glasses back down on the counter,
Fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote.
Someone left it on the kitchen table.
I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV,
I'll be looking for the remote,
But I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table,
So I decided to put it back in the den where it belongs,
But first I'll water the flowers.
I pour some water in the flowers,
But quite a bit of it spills on the floor.
So, I set the remote back on the table,
Get some towels and wipe up the spill.
Then, I head down the hall trying to
Remember what I was planning to do.
At the end of the day:
The car isn't washed,
The bills aren't paid,
There is a warm can of
Pepsi sitting on the counter,
The flowers don't have enough water,
There is still only 1 check in my chequebook,
I can't find the remote,
I can't find my glasses,
And I don't remember what I did with the car keys.
Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today,
I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day,
And I'm really tired.
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True story
Off Newfoundland, Canada
US Ship:
“Please divert your course 0.5 of a degree to the south to avoid a collision”
Coastguard:
“We recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the south to avoid a collision”
US Ship:
“This is the Captain of a US Navy Ship. I repeat, divert YOUR course”
Coastguard:
No. I repeat, you divert YOUR course!
US Ship:
THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS CORAL SEA.
WE ARE A LARGE WARSHIP OF THE US NAVY. DIVERT YOU COURSE NOW!!
Coastguard:
This is a lighthouse. It's your call.
"Borrowed" from the RC Kwinana Western Australia - Thank you
The Joke bank is 10
Please Note:
As Bulletin editor, I reserve the right to not publish anything considered inappropriate in the Joke section or elsewhere in the Bulletin - Ed Denis
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