PUSH TO END POLIO GAINING MOMENTUM

Although the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has faced sobering challenges in the past year, it is moving forward in key political, technical, financial, and operational areas.

Stepped-up efforts to end the disease in the four endemic countries of Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan are paying off, GPEI officials say.
"Rotary International has played an extraordinarily special role [in the GPEI], not just as one of the initiators but in bringing financial resources, political advocacy, and volunteerism on the ground to getting the job done," says Dr. Bruce Aylward, director of the GPEI at the World Health Organization.
According to WHO, the incidence of polio in Nigeria in 2009 dropped by almost half to 383 cases as of 10 November, compared with 753 cases for the same period in 2008. Most dramatic has been the decline in the transmission of the type 1 wild poliovirus, to 73 cases from 692 cases. Also, the proportion of unimmunized children in Nigeria's highest-risk states fell below 10 percent for the first time.
In Pakistan, the incidence of polio decreased to 76 cases from 96 cases. Rotarians there have encouraged the national government to give strong support to ending the disease. This advocacy effort helped prompt the government's decision to launch the Prime Minister's Action Plan for Polio Eradication. On behalf of Rotary International in August, International PolioPlus Committee Chair Robert S. Scott recognized Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zardari, with a Polio Eradication Champion Award for his outstanding support for a polio-free world. Read more.
Although the incidence of polio in India increased to 568 cases, compared with 503 cases a year ago, all but two of India’s 35 states and territories have stopped transmission of the wild polio virus.
Afghanistan recorded the same number of polio cases, 24, as a year ago. The wild poliovirus is endemic only in the south, and about 80 percent of children live in polio-free areas.
In 2010, a new vaccine is expected to be introduced to help stop the transmission of the type 1 and type 3 wild polioviruses simultaneously. This bivalent vaccine, health officials believe, will multiply the gains made during the past year toward eradicating polio.
Worldwide, the number of polio cases has dropped from more than 350,000 in 1988, when the GPEI began, to 1,651 in 2008. The remaining 1 percent of cases are the most difficult and expensive to prevent, however. That is why continued support for Rotary's US$200 Million Challenge, which is close to reaching the halfway mark in funding, is crucial to the GPEI's success.
"Rotary's challenge ends 30 June 2012. Let's push confidently ahead to reach our goal and help ensure that all the children of the world will be forever safe from this devastating disease," says Rotary Foundation Trustee Chair Glenn E. Estess Sr.

• Donate now to help Rotary achieve a polio-free world.

THANKSGIVING MYTHS

MYTH: The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.
TRUTH: They landed in Provincetown. There was no rock.

MYTH: Thanksgiving dinner was a religious family affair.
TRUTH: It was primarily a community event complete with a local Indian tribe.

MYTH: The first Thanksgiving dinner was celebrated by the Pilgrims in 1621.
TRUTH: Texans will tell you that the first Thanksgiving was celebrated by Spanish explorers on the banks of the Rio Grande in 1598, 23 years before the Pilgrims.

MYTH: The first Thanksgiving dinner took place on the fourth Thursday in November.
TRUTH: The original feast occurred between Sept. 21 and Nov. 9. The event lasted nearly a week and was based on English harvest festivals.

MYTH: The Pilgrims intended to land on Cape Cod.
TRUTH: They were aiming for the Hudson River area of New York state.

MYTH: The Pilgrims lived in log cabins.
TRUTH: Log cabins came years later. They lived in clapboard houses.

THE GATHERING AT THE CREEK

It was a Sunday, 15 years ago, the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Down by a twisting creek, off in a flat and treeless corner of a farmer’s pasture, a handful of men had come together, as they did every Sunday before Thanksgiving, for a turkey shoot.

The men carried old guns, the kind they call muzzleloaders. They shot at bulls-eye targets set up by the creek, and on this day, chill and still in the country, the report of a shot rang across the hills. In an ambulance, coming over the hills toward the creek, the man heard the shots, and he smiled.

The man brought these shooters together over the years. There weren’t many, no more than 20. But every Sunday, they came to shoot their muzzleloaders. If it snowed, they wore gloves and cursed the weather, but they came anyway. They shooed away the cows down by the creek, and they shot until the daylight, or the coffee, ran out.

The man who started them shooting was always the first there and the last to leave. He brought the targets and took them home. He kept them in his garage, and he kept them in his house, and, finally, he built a room inside his house for the guns and targets and lead (he made bullets on his wife’s stove).

The man had always been a sports fan. In grade school he was a high jumper. Once, he was proud to say, he made it over the bar and was able to walk back under it without stooping. He played baseball, too, and basketball, but not much. His father died at 41, and he went to work when he finished the eighth grade. He drove trucks for a while, and he was in the Army for a while, and then he was a carpenter.

The man was caught up by guns when he moved his wife, son and daughter into a big, old house and, cleaning it, found a rusting handgun. Sometime later, he began buying the muzzleloaders, one here for $10, one there for $25, and tired, or driving a hundred miles every Sunday to shoot, he made up his own muzzle-loading club.

The man was, by then, an aficionade: he ran advertisements in shooting journals, setting down the dates for his club’s shoots; he took to wearing a buckskin jacket when he shot, and he always wore a black mountaineer’s hat with a pheasant feather stuck in the band; he made, with his own hands, muzzle-loading guns of such precision and beauty that men offered him hundreds of dollars for them, all the while knowing the man would as soon sell his right arm as his guns.

Every spring, the man made the pilgrimage to Friendship, Ind., 300 miles from home, for the national championship muzzle-loading matches. He drove a pickup truck, and his wife sat in front with him, and his son and daughter rode in the back in a cabin he built for them. He entered the benchrest matches, those in which the shooters put their guns on a table to shoot them. He never won, but he never cared, and in the winter, looking at his magazines, he would announce to his family the dates for the spring nationals.

And then, 15 years ago, when the doctors told him he had cancer, and he had two weeks to live, no more, the man thought of his turkey shoot down by the creek. He would go, he said, to the turkey shoot if he had to go in an ambulance. And on that Sunday before Thanksgiving, he went.

Coming over a hill in the pasture, the ambulance rolling silently over a path worn dusty by the shooters’ cars over the years, the man heard the guns of his friends, and he smiled. He wore his black mountaineer’s hat (his wife once caught him unawares and took his picture when he wore white longjohns and the black hat). And when they lifted him out of the ambulance on a stretcher, he told his son he wanted to sit up, damn it, so he could see.

He hadn’t spoken in the ambulance during a half-hour’s drive to the shooting range. Once there, he laughed and talked and had his picture taken with his friends and family making a semicircle on either side of his stretcher.

He didn’t talk going back to the hospital that Sunday before Thanksgiving, and he died on Tuesday, and I thought of all this again on another Sunday before Thanksgiving when, late at night, my son, 16, said, “I love you daddy.” That’s what I said, on that ambulance ride 15 years ago, to my father.

PUZZLER

An obscenely wealthy hedge fund manager named Throckmorton Bottomfeeder IV decided to build for himself and his trophy wife, a modest little 40,000 square foot home. It was a stone castle complete with an observation tower at one end that was almost 100 feet high - perfect they thought to spot from afar the first wave of angry and disgruntled investors, the kind with the pitchforks and the torches.

The Bottomfeeders had employed the finest masons in all the land to ensure that their castle was as close to the real thing as possible. As the tower was constructed by a very talented and skilled crew of masons working on the outside, another even more skilled crew constructed a spiraling stone staircase that climbed the inside wall of the stone castle until it reached the observation deck at the top.

Finally, after many months, the castle was completed just in time to coincide with the end of the Bottomfeeders' lengthy vacation. And as you might expect upon their return, the BFs, as we will call them now, scrutinized the construction, pored over every detail and found everything perfect. The workers were brimming with pride. Then they came to the tower and Lady Bottomfeeder stood there in awe. Her eyes followed that spiral stair all the way to the top. Then her jaw dropped. 'This won't do. You must take it down at once to fix it. It's all wrong. You'd never see anything so ill-conceived in Europe. Why, we'll be the laughingstock of the entire world.'

What was she talking about? 

answer below-

  

 What Mrs. Bottomfeeder saw was that the staircase was wrong. Now the medieval castles had spiral stairwells that when viewed from the bottom climbed the inside tower wall in a counter-clockwise direction. However, Mrs. Bottomfeeder's stairs climbed the tower wall in a clockwise direction. So imagine you are the princess and the castle is under attack. You are in the tower. The attackers are coming up the stairs and wielding their swords in their right hands. If the tower was built correctly, in a counter-clockwise direction, the attackers would find it difficult to swing their swords freely because the wall was on their right side. And the wall would be in their way. But the princess's defenders coming down the staircase would have no such impediment, and would have a clear advantage.

TODAY IN HISTORY

NOVEMBER 25

1999:Fishermen find 5-year-old Elian Gonzalez, sole survivor of a Cuban refugee raft, on an inner tube three miles off the Florida coast.

1963: Three-year-old John F. Kennedy Jr. salutes as the coffin of President John F. Kennedy is taken from St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington.

1986: Attorney General Edwin Meese admits that the millions made from arm sales to Iran were put in Contra rebels’ bank accounts.

PEOPLE BEING PEOPLE

A Canadian woman claims she has lost her health benefits after her insurance company used her Facebook pictures as evidence that she was no longer depressed.

Nathalie Blanchard had been on sick leave for a year from her job at IBM in Bromont, Quebec, after being diagnosed with severe depression. The 29-year old was receiving sick pay from insurer Manulife.

However, when payments stopped coming she contacted Manulife and, she claims, was told that Facebook pictures taken on a beach and during a night out were evidence that she was no longer depressed.

According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., which also produced a TV report on the case:

When Blanchard called Manulife, the company said that “I’m available to work, because of Facebook”…She said her insurance agent described several pictures Blanchard posted on the popular social networking site, including ones showing her having a good time at a Chippendales bar show, at her birthday party and on a sun holiday — evidence that she is no longer depressed, Manulife said.
…in a written statement sent to CBC News, the insurer said: “We would not deny or terminate a valid claim solely based on information published on websites such as Facebook.” It confirmed that it uses the popular social networking site to investigate clients.

FUN ON THE STAIRS

PEOPLE BEING PEOPLE

WELLINGTON - A Santa in New Zealand with a droopy eye has received a NZ$100,000 ($74,000) face-lift in the run-up to Christmas so that his aging face does not scare children.

The 20-meter (66 feet) tall fiberglass Santa has been among the festive decorations in Auckland since 1960 but in recent years began to struggle with one of his eyes that was made to wink and a mechanical figure that moved in a welcoming gesture.

"There was a concern the guy did look a little creepy. It was the finger and the Sad Sack, winking, droopy eye," Heart of the City chief executive Alex Swney told local media.

The Santa, that stands on a street corner in the city center, has undergone extensive facial work over the past four months at a cost of over NZ$100,000.

His face remains bandaged ahead of a public unveiling on Sunday but his mechanical figure has been replaced with a static digit.

JUST SAYIN'

MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty shure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

DAVE WAS/IS THE PUMPKIN PIE GUY

TRAVEL TIP

Create a packing list. It's unnecessary to make a packing list for each trip. Instead, draw up a master list with everything you might need on any given trip--from ski goggles to snorkels, slippers to saline solution. Make multiple copies or save it on your computer. Before you start packing, cross out anything you don't need for that particular trip

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

May your stuffing be tasty

May your turkey be plump

May your potatoes and gravy

Have never a lump.  

May your yams be delicious

 Your pies take the prize

May your Thanksgiving dinner

                               Stay off your thighs!

JUST FOR PUN

The angry ice cube boiled with anger, then let off some steam

NOT YOUR TYPICAL HONDA ACCORD

AND I QUOTE

"Most people would like to be delivered from temptation but would like it to keep in touch."-Robert Orben

TUNE IN TONIGHT

NOVA: WHAT ARE DREAMS?

PBS, 8 p.m. ET

(Check local listings)

In 1899, Sigmund Freud attempted an interpretation of dreams. In 2009, this PBS series gets around to the same questions.

BACK TO BASICS

At its November meeting, the RI Board adopted a revised strategic plan that comprises three priorities, all of equal importance to Rotary’s future.
The priorities are:

• Support and strengthen clubs.
• Focus and increase humanitarian service.
• Enhance public image and awareness.

Following a mandate from the Council on Legislation, the Board recently conducted a triennial review of the plan. This review included surveying 14,000 Rotarians worldwide about the organization’s priorities and holding focus groups to assess Rotary’s image in different countries.
In addition, the Strategic Planning Committee carried out a detailed analysis of Rotary’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges and considered its findings in relation to the organization’s mission, vision, and strategic priorities.
The revised plan, effective July 2010, reflects the results of this research. For example, survey responses clearly linked membership growth to strong clubs, and external data indicated that opportunities for service and networking are Rotary’s greatest appeal.
The plan also unifies the strategic direction of RI and The Rotary Foundation by emphasizing the connection between clubs’ most popular service areas and the areas of focus in the Foundation’s Future Vision Plan.
Moving forward, the Strategic Planning Committee and the RI Board will continue to refine the goals attached to each priority and develop tactics for achieving and measuring success.
“The revised strategic plan focuses RI’s efforts on the clubs and getting back to basics,” says RI Director Thomas Thorfinnson. “RI’s main role should be supporting clubs and helping them to expand their service and publicize the accomplishments of their efforts.”

TODAY IN HISTORY

NOVEMBER 24 

1963:Millions of stunned Americans watch a live TV broadcast as Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused killer of President Kennedy, is shot dead by Jack Ruby.

1859: Charles Darwin publishes his theory of evolution in his book On the Origin of Species, which immediately becomes a bestseller.

1971: Mystery hijacker D.B. Cooper parachutes out of a plane over Washington state with $200,000 in ransom money. He is never seen again.

FOOD DISASTERS

The Food and Drug Administration has issued a number of dangerous food recalls in the last few years. But there was a time when food didn’t just attack us after we ingested it. Some foods just cut out the middleman and created wide-scale disasters without contaminating a single colon.

1. The Boston Molasses Flood of 1919

A 50-foot high tank of sweet syrupy goodness stood over the North End of Boston when the massive steel behemoth burst open on an unusually warm January afternoon and violently drizzled over everything in its path, killing 21 people. The viscous liquid created quite a disturbing sound as it coated two city blocks. A Boston Herald reporter described how the sweet syrup tidal waves created a “muffled roar [that] burst suddenly upon the air.” It also moved quite fast as it slithered through the town into a destructive fist that flipped houses and buildings, knocked over horses as if they were tasty slices of French toast and even smashed an elevated railroad structure “like an eggshell.” If you’re suddenly thinking about making an IHOP run, seek counseling immediately.

2. The London Beer Flood of 1814

In 1814, Meux’s Horse Shoe Brewery in London constructed a brewing vat that was 22 feet tall and 60 feet in diameter, with an interior big enough to seat 200 for dinner — which is exactly how its completion was celebrated. (Why 200? Because a rival had built a vat that seated 100, of course.)

After the dinner, the vat was filled to capacity. Unfortunately, they overlooked a faulty supporting hoop. Yup, the vat ruptured, causing other vats to break, and the resulting commotion was heard up to 5 miles away.

A wall of 1.3 million gallons of dark beer washed down the street, caving in two buildings and killing nine people by means of “drowning, injury, poisoning by the porter fumes, or drunkenness.”

The story gets even more unbelievable, though. Rescue attempts were blocked and delayed by the thousands who flocked to the area to drink directly off the road. And when survivors were finally brought to the hospital, the other patients became convinced from the smell that the hospital was serving beer to every ward except theirs. A riot broke out, and even more people were left injured.

3. The Wales Tapioca Freighter Time Bomb of 1972

Tapioca might sound like an innocent treat that’s the favorite of toothless infants and toothless elderly the world over, but the right conditions can turn it into a bulky ship destroyer. The crew of the Swiss freighter Cassarate were hauling 1,500 tons of the stuff when a fire started in some timber in the upper holds. The freighter docked in Cardiff, Wales, so firefighters could extinguish the blaze the crew had kept under control for more than 25 days. But the fire wasn’t the ship’s biggest problem. The water from the firefighter’s hoses seeped into the cargo hold, and the fire started cooking the tapioca. The food swelled to massive size and raised concerns that 500 truckloads of the dessert treat could buckle the ship’s supports and sink it. Fortunately, crews were able to stamp out the fire and cool down the pudding before it could do any real damage to the ship’s supports, the town’s docks or the crew’s blood sugar levels.

SO THAT'S HOW THEY DO IT

80's HIGH TECH

WORLD POLIO DAY RECAP

From walking to the White House to climbing the Himalayas, the family of Rotary turned out on 24 October, World Polio Day, to raise public awareness and support for ending the disease.

Nearly 1,000 Rotary clubs in Germany carried out a national fundraising campaign during the week of 19 October. Highlights included screenings of the Academy Award-nominated documentary The Final Inch in Berlin and Cologne, sales of a benefit CD set featuring international recording artists, and promotional support from Frankfurt’s Deutsche Bank Skyliners professional basketball team.

The Rotary Club of Hamburg-Hafencity, which was officially chartered 7 November, raised about US$29,700 through sales of the CD set. The Rotary Club of Berlin International, also chartered on that date, garnered $11,111 through a used cell phone drive, along with other activities.

The $355 million in grants awarded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to The Rotary Foundation “is a huge motivation for us to raise additional funds for the fight against polio,” said Gunnar Wöbke, CEO of the Deutsche Bank Skyliners and a member of the Rotary Club of Frankfurt/Main-Paulskirche.

Other fundraising efforts to help meet Rotary's $US200 Million Challenge included:

• Rotarians in Austria netted more than $297,000 for Rotary’s challenge by selling packets of sunflower seeds nationwide for $7.50 each.
• A World Polio Day Dinner sponsored by the Rotary clubs of Abilene, Abilene Wednesday, and Abilene Southwest, Texas, USA, and featuring RI President-elect Ray Klinginsmith as a guest speaker, raised more than $50,000.
• District 7610 (Virginia, USA) coordinated a Final Inch for Polio Eradication Walk of 24.6 miles from Herndon to the White House, raising almost $10,000 for Rotary’s challenge.
• A bikeathon sponsored by the Rotary Club of Bali Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia, garnered $1,500.
• In Tanzania, a children’s band led more than 100 Rotarians and friends on a walk through the streets of Arusha to promote polio eradication.
• In an ongoing effort, the Rotary Club of Victoria, Texas, USA, is making “Join the Challenge, Stamp Out Polio” stamps available to clubs and districts in support of Rotary’s challenge. Order sheets of 10 for $10 each at www.victoriarotary.org/stamps.

SO TRUE

Was learning to write in cursive really necessary?

GETTING RID OF THE TANGLES, FOR GOOD

HackCollege  tested out a bunch of different cord-wrapping techniques with the goal of finding a technique that was easy to use, didn't impart kinks or curls to the headphone cord, stress the headphone jack, or require any fancy undoing to return the headphones to their natural state. They ended up using an over-under wrap held in place with a simple twist tie. Watch the video below to see it in action—you can jump to around the 1 minute mark to skip the intro and get right into the technique.

TODAY IN HISTORY

NOVEMBER 23

1936:Margaret Bourke-White’s photo of Fort Peck Dam is featured on the first cover of Life magazine, which sells for 10 cents a copy. The photo is later reproduced on U.S. postage stamps.

1889: Louis Glass and William Arnold demonstrate their invention, the nickel jukebox.

1996: Three Ethiopian men hijack an Ethiopian Airlines jet that runs out of fuel over the Indian Ocean. The crash kills 125.

SAY GOODBYE TO THE BOOK

You may not be able to let your fingers do the walking much longer, at least to find local home telephone numbers. In response to the decline of traditional landlines and the increase in Internet use, some phone companies are putting a stop to the automatic delivery of residential white pages. An added advantage: They save on printing and distribution costs while addressing environmental concerns.

AT&T, among others, has already introduced an “opt-in” program. “We have listened to our customers, and the feedback we received led us to decide we would rather give people the option to receive a print copy of their local directory than send it automatically to those who do not want it,” says Fletcher Cook, an AT&T spokesman.

But not all customers are plugged into the Web. “The digital divide does exist,” says Will Phillips, associate state director for advocacy for AARP Georgia. “Our members are less likely to have Internet access and more likely to rely on a landline. It could be a significant problem.”

Business white pages and the yellow pages are not affected. An insert in those directories will explain the opt-in choice.

PEOPLE BEING PEOPLE

 Here's a novel idea that mixes the very good and the very bad of the holiday season.

The Salinas Police Department has added a turkey giveaway to this week's DUI checkpoint.

Officers will give turkeys to some  of the drivers who successfully pass through the drunk driving stop Tuesday night.

It wasn't clear how the lucky winners will be chosen, but the turkeys themselves come from donations from local businesses, members of the department and any private citizen who wants to hand over a bird.

 This is the seventh year Salinas police have added a giveaway to the Thanksgiving week DUI checkpoint.

It's become so popular, Salinas police are now asking drivers not to go through the checkpoint more than once just to try to win a turkey.

Police keep the location secret ahead of set up.

This is probably the only DUI check point in Northern California that has drivers hunting it down instead of doing whatever it takes to avoid the area.

RULE OF THUMB

MOUSE-PROOFING YOUR HOUSE
A mouse can squeeze through a space little bigger than the width of a pencil, or widen it by chewing. If you want to patch such holes, leave the patch smooth or the mouse will be able to pry it out.

BLOWIN' IN THE....

Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale. On Earth, wind consists of the bulk movement of air. In outer space, solar wind is the movement of gases or charged particles from the sun through space, while planetary wind is the out gassing of light chemical elements from a planet's atmosphere into space.
Winds are always commonly classified by their spatial scale, their speed, the types of forces that cause them, the geographic regions in which they occur, and their effect. While wind is often a standalone weather phenomenon, it can also occur as part of a storm system, most notably in a cyclone. While winds on Earth can be strong, the strongest winds within a planet in our solar system lie on Neptune and Saturn.
Winds are plotted on surface weather analyses indicating the direction the wind is blowing from as well as its strength. Shorter duration winds, such as wind gusts, can cause substantial damage to power lines and suspension bridges. Winds with an intermediate duration, which sharply increase and last for a minute, are termed squalls. Long-duration wind speeds have various names associated with their average strength, such as breeze, gale, storm, hurricane, and typhoon. Wind occurs on a range of scales, from local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting tens of minutes, to global winds resulting from the difference in absorption of solar energy between the climate zones on Earth. There are two primary contributing factors of large scale atmospheric circulation; The first is the differential heating between the equator and the poles, which causes the jet stream and the associated climatological mid-latitude westerlies, polar easterlies, and the trade winds. The second is the rotation of the planet (Coriolis effect), which causes the circular motion of air around areas of high and low pressure. Within the tropics, thermal low circulations over terrain and high plateaus can drive monsoon circulations. In areas where winds tend to be light, the sea breeze/land breeze cycle is the most important to the prevailing wind; in areas that have variable terrain, mountain and valley breezes dominate the wind pattern.
In human civilization, wind has inspired mythology, influenced the events of history, expanded the range of transport and warfare, and provided a power source for mechanical work, electricity, and recreation. Wind has been used to power the voyages of sailing ships across vast oceans. Hot air balloons use the wind to take short trips, and powered flight uses it to increase lift and reduce fuel consumption. Areas of wind shear caused by various weather phenomena can lead to dangerous situations for aircraft. When winds become strong, trees and man-made structures are damaged or destroyed.
Winds can shape landforms, via a variety of aeolian processes such as the formation of fertile soils, such as loess, and by erosion. Dust from large deserts can be moved large distances from their source region by the prevailing winds. Winds that are accelerated by rough topography and associated with dust outbreaks have been assigned regional names in various parts of the world because of their significant effects on those regions. Wind helps to spread wildfires. Nature uses wind to help disperse seeds from various plants, in order to enable the survival of those plant species, as well as flying insect populations. When combined with cold temperatures, wind has a negative impact on livestock. Wind impacts animal food stores, as well as their hunting and defensive strategies.

ROGER RETURNED TO REPLACE KEVIN, BEFORE HE HEADED FOR THE ATM

JUST WHAT IS YOUR RISK OF ID THEFT?

Just when you’d figured out how to get your credit score, another important number crops up: your ID score, which can alert you to your risk for identity theft.

In use for a decade by financial institutions and other creditors, the ID score calculates the risk that customers are who they say they are. Now for the first time, San Diego-based ID Analytics, one of the companies that develop and sell the score to businesses, is making it available to consumers for free on the website www.myidscore.com.

You must fill out contact information (no Social Security number is required) and answer some simple questions about your financial history. The result is a score between 1 and 999. The higher the score, the more you are at risk for identity theft. If your score is high, a link is provided to the nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center, which can help you learn how to protect yourself.

DO YOU REMEMBER?

Perhaps if they had paid a bit more attention in their prep school biology classes, one of the millions of students sporting their prized “alligator” shirts would have noticed at some point that the emblem adorning their apparel wasn’t an alligator. Maybe nobody ever really gave it a close look, blinded instead by the vast palette of pastel colors to choose from. Whatever the reason, the poor misinterpreted crocodile would have suffer this indignation while teens went crazy for alligator shirts, a mascot for the 80s generation.

This history of this iconic shirt, created by Izod in 1934, owes its design to French tennis star Rene Lacoste, whose uniquely-shaped nose, coupled with his aggressive style of play, had earned him the nickname “le crocodile.” As a result, he had an emblem of the reptile embroidered on the breast of his tennis whites and the style caught on among his affluent fans. And for the next 50 years, the style remained unchanged until a new generation embraced the style of their ancestors, if not the name.

Throughout prep schools across the country, the alligator shirt became the accepted uniform of teens, usually untucked, with collar flipped up, and worn with a pair of khaki slacks. And with this particular fashion statement, the term “preppy” was born. Eventually, the preppies even began wearing two different colored shirts at the same time, one layered over the other. Taking such bold fashion risks required a well-stocked closet, filled with as many colors as one could get their studious little hands on.  And with dozens of shades to choose from, the possibilities for mixing and matching were endless.

Like any iconic fashion, the imitators quickly followed with a menagerie of other critters to set them apart. J.C. Penny introduced the Fox, Gloria Vanderbuilt unleashed the Swan, and Hunter’s Run trotted out the Horse. But prep school fashion isn’t quite as inclusive as Noah’s Ark and if one wasn’t wearing the real deal, scorn and ridicule quickly followed. And while not as popular as they once were, alligator shirts still play a prominent role in prep schools around the land. Although you would think that one of their biology teachers might have pointed out the naming discrepancy by now.  

AND I QUOTE

"Never have children, only grandchildren."-Gore Vidal

TODAY IN HISTORY

NOVEMBER 22

1963:President John F. Kennedy is fatally wounded by an assassin while riding with his wife in a motorcade in Dallas.

About 45 minutes later, Dallas police officer J.D. Tippit stops a man meeting the shooter’s description and is shot to death. The man is tracked to the Texas Theater and arrested. His name is Lee Harvey Oswald.

Ninety-nine minutes after Kennedy is declared dead, U.S. Judge Sarah T. Hughes swears in Lyndon Johnson as the 36th president of the United States.

PEOPLE BEING PEOPLE

CANBERRA  - An elderly man who went out to fetch a morning newspaper ended up driving nearly 400 miles after getting lost and taking a wrong turn onto a major Australian highway, police said on Wednesday. The man, 81-year-old Eric Steward, eventually stopped and asked for directions after driving for nine hours, from the New South Wales country town of Yass to Geelong in the southern Victoria state.

Steward, who did not know where he was, eventually approached a policeman at a petrol station and asked for help late Wednesday.

"This little old man came up to me saying he was lost. He handed me his mobile and asked if I could speak to his wife," said Victorian Police Senior Constable Clayton Smith.

Steward, who was reunited with his family on Wednesday, said he took the wrong turn and just kept on going.

"I just went out on the road to have a drive, a nice peaceful drive," he told reporters, adding he did not need a satellite navigation device as he'd only been lost once.

CLASSIC MOVIE LINES

JUST FOR PUN

He could play baseball, football, basketball, soccer and tennis. He was a jock of all trades

CREATIVE BILLBOARD

MORE HEAT FROM YOUR FIREPLACE

Fireplaces are lovely and cozy to sit around but not to great for actually heating your home. Increase the efficiency of your fireplace with these tips and get some of that wasted heat back.

The problem with most fireplace design is that a significant amount of heat is pulled right up the chimney and then the problem is compounded by a strong updraft pulling heated air from the room along with it. Tweaking a fireplace to be more efficient involves combating both of those problems. At Mother Earth News they put together a list of ways you can cut down on heat loss and increase the heat retained in your living space.

Some of the solutions are fairly inexpensive like installing a fire throwback:

A fireback is simply a heavy sheet of metal (traditionally cast iron) behind the fire. In addition to protecting masonry in the back of the fireplace, a fireback reflects heat into the room (instead of all the heat going up the chimney). Estimated cost: $75 to $350.

Adding glass doors to a fireplace is another simple, although pricier fix. The most efficient but expensive fix is to install an insert into your fireplace essentially turning it into a miniature wood stove.

WORKIN' FOR PEACE

Three graduates of the Rotary Centers for International Studies in peace and conflict resolution are working at the United Nations to promote peace, tolerance, and human rights.

Bautista Logioco, Jayashree Nadarajah, and Richard Gee are among dozens of Rotary Foundation alumni playing important roles at the UN. These alumni bear witness to the close collaboration between Rotary and the United Nations, celebrated during Rotary UN-Day on 7 November.
"This is our life's work and our biggest dream," says Logioco, a political affairs officer for the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations in New York. "Rotary gave me and others the chance to create and build the capacity to make contributions to society through peace and conflict resolution."
Logioco was a member of the first class of peace fellows at Duke University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2002-04. He has been with the UN for about a year, providing support and guidance for 7,000 peacekeeping troops in Haiti.
He says a natural connection exists between the Rotary Centers and the United Nations.
"Both aim to contribute to help people's lives through peace-building initiatives," says Logioco. "Rotary is a worldwide networking machine that expands the promotion of human understanding in every single direction."
Nadarajah, a program officer at the Office of the Special Representative for the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, says Rotary will always be close to her heart. The former Rotary World Peace Fellow, who was also an Interactor, Rotaractor, and Group Study Exchange student, says Rotary helped shape her views of peaceful resolution and equal rights.
"Rotary is an essential partner to the UN," says Nadarajah. "They are able to help in places where the UN has no reach. Rotary is held in the highest regard."
Nadarajah graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2006. Her work at the UN has included protecting children in Darfur, Sudan, from armed conflict.
Richard Gee, another member of the inaugural class at Duke University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is an electoral and political affairs officer with the Electoral Assistance Division, focusing on issues in the Middle East.
Gee says the Rotary Centers' agenda for implementing peaceful conflict resolution sets them apart from other peace programs.
"There is so much potential for what kind of impact the Rotary Centers can have on building peace and human rights," says Gee. "Rotary has a quiet but influential role in humanitarian efforts around the world."
Since 2002, the Rotary Centers for International Studies program has graduated more than 430 peace fellows. Many have gone on to work for peace in government and nongovernmental organizations, including the UN, World Bank, and the Organization of American States.
"The most important part of the Rotary Centers is that they're truly creating a network of peace practitioners," says Logioco. "The network can only multiply from here. I think it is now starting to deliver results."

SO TRUE

I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than to make 2 trips to bring the groceries in.

EGYPTIAN ROTARACTORS IN ACTION

                 The Rotary Club of Alexandria Cosmopolitan, Egypt, Rotaractors, and the Rotarian Action Group for Population Growth and Sustainable Development have been addressing poverty through a comprehensive development project that includes microcredit, literacy, and family planning efforts. The Rotaract Club of Alexandria Cosmopolitan, which has been working with Rotaract District 1860 (Germany)to help support women in Alexandria, has helped document these efforts on video. Watch and share this footage to show others how clubs around the world are making a difference.
Microcredit, Illiteracy Classes and Family Planning in Alexandria from Kai Hylla on Vimeo.

TUNE IN TONIGHT

THE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION: 24 HOURS AFTER

History, 8 p.m. ET

Devoting two hours to the day after John F. Kennedy was shot is a proper, and laudable, use of network time.

AND I QUOTE

"Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten."-B. F. Skinner

TODAY IN HISTORY

NOVEMBER 21

1934:The New York Yankees give the minor league San Francisco Seals five players and at least $25,000 in exchange for Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio Jr. “Joltin’ Joe” becomes one of baseball’s most revered figures.

1985: Intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard is arrested outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington for selling sensitive information to Israel.

1995: Traders celebrate as the Dow Jones industrial average closes above 5,000 for the first time.

2002: NATO invites seven former communist countries to join its membership.

HELP FOR YOUR ROADTRIP

WeatherUnderground.com has just launched a new mashup of Goggle Maps with their weather information. The directions will now include weather-related information as well as directions.

After inserting the date and time of your trip together with the request for directions, within the directions portion of Google Maps, the temperature along the route is listed as well as possible rainstorms, snowstorms, icing, etc.

Not a bad idea — it’s good for both Google map users and provides another venue for WeatherUnderground to serve up weather information.

The roadtrip section on WeatherUnderground.com can be found at wunderground.com/roadtrip

The weather site also have an excellent planning tool for anyone thinking about a trip to a national park. The site provides weather information 50 national parks in an easy-to-click-to format

ENJOY THIS RENDITION OF TAPS (Il Silenzio) BY A GIFTED 13 YEAR OLD

SAFE TRAVEL WITH FIDO

There are some very important ‘rules of the road’ that everyone should be aware of when traveling with your dog. While taking your furry friend along for the ride can be tons of fun, it can also present some real dangers—to both of you.

First things first – Buckle up! We’re all used to buckling ourselves in when we get in the car, but a lot of people don’t realize it’s equally as important to provide some sort of restraint for your dog.  According to Bark-Buckle UP, a pet safety advocacy group, if a car is traveling at 30mph and has an accident, a 60-pound dog will crash into the windshield, front seat or another passenger with the impact of 2,700 pounds. Obviously, the faster you’re going, the greater the impact.

There are some great restraints for dogs of all sizes ranging from harnesses and car seats to safety belts and carriers.  In addition to injuring one or both of you if you do have an accident, there are other potential dangers if your dog isn’t properly restrained in the car including:

- Distracting you when you’re driving
- Jumping out of the car and either being hit or causing another accident
- Preventing emergency workers—out of protectiveness for you—from reaching you should you be involved in some type of serious accident

If you’re planning on traveling with your dog this holiday season—or any time, for that matter—you should consider a few other safety tips that the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) recommends:

- Have your vet check your dog out before you travel.  Some dogs aren’t well-suited for travel so make sure there aren’t any temperament issues or physical problems that might make car travel a bad idea.
- Try taking your dog on a few short trips to get it comfortable in the car before you head out on a really long journey.
- NEVER let your dog ride with its head out the window. While it seems harmless—and most dogs really like the wind in their face—dirt and debris can get into their eyes, ears and nose and cause serious injury or infection.
- NEVER leave your dog—or any pet—alone in the car.  Just like humans, they can easily suffer from heat stroke or hypothermia, which can lead to serious injury and even death.
- Stop for exercise every two or so hours—it’ll be good for both of you—and feed your dog small portions of food and water when you do.
- If your dog is prone to motion sickness, ask your vet for medication.  Otherwise it can get really uncomfortable for both you and your pet.
- And don’t forget, if you’re taking a long trip and will need a hotel room, check ahead to make sure you can find a pet-friendly hotel in the city where you’ll be calling it a day.

The Travel Industry Association reports that 67% of all pets who travel with their owners do so by car or truck.  With this many pets on the road, it’s really important that we take whatever precautions necessary to make sure they have a comfortable, safe and fun trip!

Happy holidays and safe travels!

JUST ADD THE GREEN EGGS

FROM THE ARCHIVES AUGUST 18, 1994

THE CLEAN WATER CHALLENGE

Billions of people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation, leading to disease and, in extreme cases, death. Read what Rotarians are doing about it in the November edition of Global Outlook.

• Download Global Outlook
• Read about clean water for schools
• Read about safe water in Mexico

SO TRUE

There is a great need for a sarcasm font.

PROMOTING ROTARY

District 9350 (Angola; Namibia; South Africa) partnered with an innovative out-of-home media company with a corporate social responsibility program to place Humanity in Motion public service announcements (PSAs) in about 24 Cape Town, South Africa, supermarkets. The PSAs, which were placed at no charge, receive an estimated two million views per month. Seeking out a local company that promotes corporate social responsibility is just one way clubs and districts can place Humanity in Motion materials free or at a discounted rate.

TODAY IN HISTORY

NOVEMBER 20

1945:Surrounded by white-helmeted American military police, 20 Nazi leaders go on trial before an international military tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany.

1975: Spanish dictator Francisco Franco dies after almost 40 years of authoritarian rule, sparking hopes for a new democracy in his country.

1977: The Chicago Bears’ Walter Payton rushes for 275 yards against the Minnesota Vikings, setting a single-game rushing record.

YOUTH SPEAK OUT AT ROTARY-UN DAY

Former Interactor Sophia Hameed said taking part in a Rotary youth program was a life changing event, thanks to the encouragement and support she received from Rotarians.
Hameed, a member of the Interact Club of Miami High School, Florida, USA, before her graduation, shared her experience as a 2009 National Immunization Day volunteer with 1,600 attendees of Rotary-UN Day in New York City on 7 November. Speaking as part of an afternoon youth panel, she noted how Rotary helped her initiate Project B4US (Backpacks for Underprivileged Students).
She urged Rotarians to support youth programs.
"Interact and Rotary were the crux of my high school life," said Hameed, who received a standing ovation. "It is an experience that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Rotary sparked in me a passion for service."

This year's Rotary-UN Day had a special emphasis on youth, both during the afternoon youth panel, and through a separate morning program for youth interested in humanitarian service.
Anne-Charlotte Perrin, president of the Rotaract Club of Paris, joined Hameed on the afternoon panel, speaking about a microcredit project her club initiated in Madagascar. The project helped eight poor families purchase a zebu, a type of domestic cattle, as a source of income.
Ambassador Zina Andrianarivelo-Razafy, permanent representative of the Republic of Madagascar to the UN, thanked Perrin for her club's work.
"Rotary is a one-of-a-kind organization. It encourages people to become entrepreneurs. This is very important in a country like Madagascar," he said. "I would urge all clubs and districts to support youth projects like this."
"They [Rotary youth] are ready, able, and surprise us every time we hear what our Rotary youth programs are doing in communities around the world," said panel moderator Helen B. Reisler, alternate RI representative to the UN and past district governor.

Youth program

During the morning youth program, speakers from Interact, Rotaract, Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, and Rotary Youth Exchange talked about the importance of social networking as a tool to attract more people to Rotary youth programs.
Jessie Fernandez, 26, said she decided to join the Rotaract Club of San Pedro Sula, Honduras, in May because she realized something was missing in her life.
Fernandez, chair of her club's international service committee, shared some ongoing club projects with the more than 700 young people who attended the youth portion of Rotary-UN Day.
She will be organizing the club's 10th annual charity soccer game in 2010, which brings celebrities from across Latin America to play. Her club will also conduct a medical project in which doctors and dentists will travel to poor villages on the Honduras-Guatemala border.
"I came here to network with my sister clubs. But I also wanted to represent my club, my district, and my country," said Fernandez. "I hope coming here will open the doors for more people to attend."
RI President John Kenny concluded the program, telling the youth: "Our future lies in the youth of today, and you are among the brightest promise for a better tomorrow. It is, of course, my sincere wish that each of you should find a place for yourselves within Rotary -- but at the very least that the ideals and service of Rotary may find a place within each of you."

• Read more about Sophia Hameed's participation in a National Immunization Day and watch her video on YouTube.
• Read more about Rotary-UN Day

AND I QUOTE

"Posterity is as likely to be wrong as anyone else."-Heywood Broun

MEETING PROGRAM NOV.19, 2009-PATRIOT GUARD RIDERS

Rod Croxford tells us about his involvement with the Patriot Guard Riders.
(Listen via the link below.)

here is their mission statement:

The Patriot Guard Riders is a diverse amalgamation of riders from across the nation. We have one thing in common besides motorcycles. We have an unwavering respect for those who risk their very lives for America’s freedom and security. If you share this respect, please join us.

We don’t care what you ride or if you ride, what your political views are, or whether you’re a hawk or a dove. It is not a requirement that you be a veteran. It doesn't matter where you’re from or what your income is; you don’t even have to ride. The only prerequisite is Respect.

Our main mission is to attend the funeral services of fallen American heroes as invited guests of the family. Each mission we undertake has two basic objectives:

1. Show our sincere respect for our fallen heroes, their families, and their communities.
2. Shield the mourning family and their friends from interruptions created by any protestor or group of protestors.

We accomplish the latter through strictly legal and non-violent means.

To those of you who are currently serving and fighting for the freedoms of others, at home and abroad, please know that we are backing you.  We honor and support you with every mission we carry out, and we are praying for a safe return home for all.

Please give a listen to learn more about this group. Additional information can be found at their web site-http://www.patriotguard.org
  
   

   
   
Powered by Podbean.com
   

HERE IS A RELATED VIDEO-

TURKEY FUND UPDATE

Our TURKEY FUND program concluded today with a record total of $273 contributed. Roger won the Alton Little Theater ticket auction for $22. (Those proceeds are included in this total.) Thanks to all for their generous contributions. All monies will be given to Operation Blessing for their Thanksgiving program.

SO TRUE

I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

PROTECTING YOUR SMART PHONE CONTENTS

Don't Be Dumb About Smart Phones
Would you want hackers to have all the information on your device? Here's how to protect yourself.
By ROGER CHENG -Wall Street Journal
Given how much information can be found in people's smart phones—contact lists, emails littered with details about their personal lives and their work, company documents and data, personal financial information and passwords—it's startling how little most users feel the need to protect the devices.
"People have a false sense of security" about their phones, says Daniel Hoffman, chief technology officer of SMobile Systems Inc., a provider of security software for mobile devices.
Security experts have long warned of the vulnerability of smart phones to hackers. And in the past year the threat has been highlighted by an attack on the Symbian operating system, used mainly by Nokia Corp. phones, and a demonstration at a conference of a flaw that was found in the iPhone's security.
As the software for smart phones becomes more sophisticated and open, they become better breeding grounds for a new generation of spyware and viruses. Hackers can work their way into your phone through text messages, steal your information and use your contact list to find more victims. Scammers can now dupe you into revealing your Social Security number or credit-card account number on your phone, just like they've been doing for years on PCs.
There are low-tech ways to get into trouble, too. Theft or loss of your phone can be much more than an inconvenience if the person who ends up with it chooses to explore its contents. And you can even give away sensitive information by using your phone without regard to who might be watching or listening to you.
To some extent, you need to rely on your phone's maker to keep you safe. But there are several simple ways you can help protect yourself.

Here's a look at some of the dangers and how you can minimize them.
Message Minefields
Text messaging is a favorite service for many mobile-phone users. It's also becoming a favorite line of attack for scammers. For instance, text messages carrying insidious coding were the weapon in an attack late last year on phones using the Symbian operating system and were later identified as a threat to the iPhone.
For owners of the Symbian phones that were targeted, the attack was a major annoyance. Phones that received the malicious text messages shut down and lost their ability to receive any further text messages—damage that could only be repaired by sending them back to the factory. Then, in July, hackers at a conference on digital security demonstrated the ability to send text messages to iPhones that would allow the senders to gain access to data stored in the devices.
Apple Inc. and the Symbian Foundation patched up the holes in their security. For attacks like these, users have no defenses of their own—the messages do their damage without any action on the part of the user. But these incidents should alert smart-phone users to the vulnerability of their devices, and encourage them to guard against other kinds of attacks.
That includes phishing scams, which attempt to acquire personal data such as passwords or credit-card account information through fraudulent messages. These scams have spread from email to text messaging. Here the best protection should be familiar: Be skeptical of any messages that ask for passwords, account numbers or any other personal information. When in doubt, check directly with the company that claims to be asking for the information.
Multimedia messages—photo attachments sent like text messages—also pose a threat. A message could contain a virus that not only can tap into any information stored on your phone but also dig into your phone's address book to spread itself to all of your contacts. Other versions might spread by using the phone's Bluetooth connection to attack nearby devices. Attacks like these will drain your phone's battery and leave you with a large messaging bill, not to mention the embarrassment of contaminating the phones of your friends and colleagues, or even perfect strangers.

Again, caution is the best protection. If you don't know the origin of the message or don't recognize the number it's sent from, it's best to delete it before opening. Even if you do recognize the number, be wary of messages you weren't expecting, since viruses spread through contact lists look like they're coming from a trusted source.
Denying Applications
Applications could be another avenue for hackers, security experts warn, though it appears to be one that hasn't been explored yet to any great extent.
One way to head off potential problems is to limit the access applications have to your phone's functions. For example, some games require access to your Internet connection so that they can compare your scores to those of other players. But many applications don't need this capability, and if you find that one of those apps does have access to your connection, it could be a sign that something is amiss.
Smart phones running on the Android operating system or the BlackBerry system allow you to limit the amount of access an application has. You simply head to your Settings menu and choose Application. You can then look at each application to see which phone functions it has access to, and deny it access to any that don't seem necessary.
Losing It
One sure way to give strangers access to your phone is to lose it. And of course theft is another concern. If you have sensitive data on the device, make sure you have a way to remotely erase the contents—and that you know how to do it. Most corporate phones have the ability, as do iPhones, BlackBerrys and Windows Mobile phones.
If your phone doesn't have the capability, SMobile offers a program that allows you to remotely back up data and wipe the device clean. The company charges $20 a year for the software, which works with most smart phones.
A password is another simple measure that can go a long way toward deterring common thieves from gleaning anything from your phone. All smart phones have the ability to create a password built in. For BlackBerrys, simply go to the Security Options under Settings to turn on the password. Similarly, iPhones have the option in the Settings menu.
For extra security, you can set up additional passwords for other actions, such as accessing email or downloading a program. That can also be done in the Settings menu. BlackBerrys have the option to encrypt data on the media storage card so it can only be read on that phone. Simply go to the Media Card menu under Settings to activate the encryption.
Another easy way to lessen your vulnerability is to limit the amount of personal information on your phone. Don't list your home address, or the personal relationships with your contacts. Also, never place your credit-card or bank account numbers on your phone. There are programs designed to track down the 16-digit credit sequence in electronic devices.
If your phone is lost or stolen and you get it back, be wary of any new applications that have been loaded. If your cellphone is sluggish, take it to the carrier; it might be compromised.
Keep It Down
It's also important, and easy, to shield your phone from prying eyes and ears.
3M Co. makes a thin film called the Mobile Privacy Filter that goes over your screen, making it tough to see what's displayed unless you're directly in front of the phone. It can be found at any office-supply store or online for roughly $10.
Also, try not to discuss sensitive topics in public. It sounds obvious, but people sometimes appear oblivious to those around them as they discuss work or rattle off their name, Social Security number or credit-card account numbers while making purchases or taking care of personal business on the phone.

ROTARY AND THE GLOBAL COMPACT

Rotary and the United Nations Global Compact have recently agreed to deepen their collaboration, encouraging Global Compact local networks and Rotary clubs to seek a stronger alignment through joint activities and programs. The announcement was made during Rotary-UN Day at United Nations headquarters on 7 November. "Through discussion, collaboration, and joint cooperation, Rotary clubs and the United Nations Global Compact can foster high ethical standards, universal principles, and tangible humanitarian successes," said Rotary International General Secretary Ed Futa. "Together, we can work for the benefit of all."

RULE OF THUMB

BUYING A HAND TOOL
Never buy a hand tool that does not have the manufacturer's name permanently inscribed on it. The absence of a name indicates poor quality.

TUNE IN TONIGHT

FRINGE

Fox, 9 p.m. ET

The watchers are watched in tonight’s episode, as the team begins to piece together just how ubiquitous the Observer and his ilk have been.

TODAY IN HISTORY

NOVEMBER 19

1863:President Abraham Lincoln dedicates a national cemetery at a Civil War battlefield in Gettysburg, Pa., stating America is “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

1919: President Woodrow Wilson is rebuffed as the Senate rejects the Treaty of Versailles.

1985: President Ronald Reagan meets Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at a Geneva summit that begins warming relations between the rival countries.

LAST WEEK'S GREETING CREW, WITH A SMILE

HOOKED ON ROTARY

In his 36 years as a Rotarian, RI Director Frederick Hahn Jr. has distributed medicine airlifted to Russia and India, started the first Rotary Youth Leadership Awards in Missouri, USA, given drops of polio vaccine to children in Ethiopia, and served in leadership roles in Rotary’s PolioPlus program. Through these efforts, he has had the opportunity to meet Mother Teresa, oral polio vaccine inventor Albert Sabin, and Bill Gates.

When asked which experience he’d consider his personal highlight, he says Rotary is a lot like traveling: “My take on life is that wherever I am, that is my favorite. The same is true with my Rotary work.”
Hahn has visited more than 75 countries on all seven continents. Antarctica was the seventh, where he and his wife, Marge, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.
A Rotary Foundation alumnus, Hahn led a Group Study Exchange team to Turkey in 2000. Although his invitation into Rotary came in 1973, he says he truly became a Rotarian in 1985, when he met Sabin during the RI Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. Hahn was president-elect of the Rotary Club of Independence at the time.
“I had the opportunity to shake hands with him and visit with him about his feeling concerning polio. My being a physician made this particularly meaningful to me,” he says. “This opportunity hooked me on Rotary.”
After meeting Sabin, Hahn became an active contributor and fundraiser for polio eradication, serving for years as a zone coordinator for PolioPlus Partners and at one time as vice chair for the western United States. His interest culminated in a major gift to The Rotary Foundation, qualifying him and Marge as members of the Arch C. Klumph Society (which honors those who contribute at least $250,000 to the Foundation).
While volunteering during National Immunization Days in Ethiopia in 1997, the Hahns attended a Presidential Peace Conference in Addis Ababa that led to an opportunity to meet Dr. Catherine Hamlin, a physician whose life’s work was fistula repair in young women and girls. The following year, she received an international service award from Rotary in recognition of her work. Hahn says meeting Hamlin was an experience the couple will never forget.
As district governor in 1992-93, Hahn worked with Heart to Heart International in obtaining a Foundation Matching Grant to provide medical supplies to St. Petersburg, Russia. Two years later, he cochaired a project that airlifted medical supplies to Mother Teresa’s facilities in Kolkata, India. Later this Rotary year, he will be making his seventh trip to Honduras as part of a Teachers Teaching Teachers literacy program, where his Rotary club partners with Friends United. These two efforts also received Matching Grant support.
Hahn retired in 2005 after 35 years of practice as an ear, nose, and throat specialist. He is past president of the Missouri State Medical Association and continues as president of the Missouri State Medical Foundation. He also serves on several other service-related boards.
“I really believe RI’s motto of Service Above Self and The Rotary Foundation’s motto of Doing Good in the World,” he says.

SO TRUE

NOTHING SUCKS MORE THAN THAT MOMENT DURING AN ARGUMENT WHEN YOU REALIZE THAT YOU'RE TOTALLY WRONG.

RUGGED AND SOON TO BE READY

Generally speaking, having something "ruggedized" ruins the aesthetic appeal. You trade style for function, and that's been perfectly acceptable until today. The EX-G1, which becomes the first camera in the new EXILIM G line, takes a few cues from Casio's G-SHOCK line while being the planet's thinnest shock-resistant camera. Furthermore, this thing is freezeproof, waterproof and dustproof, and at just 0.78-inches thick, you'll hardly notice it shoved in your left rear pocket. As for specs, you're looking at a 12.1 megapixel sensor, intelligent AF, a dedicated movie mode (848 x 480), 35.7MB of inbuilt memory (yeah, we know), a microSD / microSDHC expansion slot, 3x optical zoom and a 2.5-inch rear LCD with a 960 x 240 resolution. We're told that the rechargeable battery should last for around 300 shots on a full charge, and the Interval Shooting function enables the camera to automatically fire at fixed points when shooting action sports. If you're foaming at the mouth right now, your cure can be found this December in black or red for $299.99.

GIVING YOUR CELLPHONE A BATH IS NOT A GOOD IDEA

If cellular companies were nice, they'd realize that running water, beverages, and rain are a part of everyday life. As it is, most cellphones these days have paper inside that change color when a little liquid completely voids your warranty. If your cellphone is on the fritz after an unexpected bath, we've recommended a bowl of rice, a bit of kitty litter, and, for certain phones in certain dire situations, even rubbing alcohol. They can't save your soaked gadget every single time, but when they do, you'll feel like celebrating—just keep the phone away from the table next time.

THE DOMINO EFFECT, BIG TIME

AND I QUOTE

"Television has raised writing to a new low."-Samuel Goldwyn

PEOPLE BEING PEOPLE

Not Too Sickly for a Career in Bank Robbery: Police in Southern California know what the man looks like (from surveillance video) but have not yet apprehended the well-dressed, 70ish man who has robbed four banks since August, with the latest being a Bank of America in Rancho Santa Fe in October. The man has shown special dexterity to pull off the robberies, since he is on oxygen and has to carry around his own tank.

TODAY IN HISTORY

NOVEMBER 18

1978:More than 900 members of Jim Jones’ Peoples Temple die after drinking cyanide-laced punch in Guyana in South America. Jones dies of a gunshot wound to the head.

1976: Spain’s parliament passes legislation allowing for general elections, ushering in democracy after 37 years of dictatorship.

1991: Hostages Terry Waite and Thomas Sutherland are released in Lebanon. Sutherland was seized by Islamic Jihad in 1985; Waite in 1987.

2002: U.N. inspectors enter Iraq for the first time in four years in search of weapons of mass destruction.

UNLOCKING MEMORIES

Music Therapy Opens a Path to the Past for Alzheimer's Patients; Creating a Personal Playlist

Music Triggering Memories in Dementia Patients

With the help of some old familiar tunes, advanced-dementia patients at Beth Abraham Family of Health Services in New York are reconnecting with their memories and with each other in ways that may seem surprising for those with degenerative brain diseases.
But with stroke and dementia patients, iPods and other MP3 players are having just the opposite effect.
Listening to rap and reggae on a borrowed iPod every day has helped Everett Dixon, a 28-year-old stroke victim at Beth Abraham Health Services in Bronx, N.Y., learn to walk and use his hands again.
Trevor Gibbons, 52, who fell out of a fourth-floor construction site and suffered a crushed larynx, has become so entranced with music that he's written 400 songs and cut four CDs.
Ann Povodator, an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient in Boynton Beach, Fla., listens to her beloved opera and Yiddish songs every day on an iPod with her home health aide or her daughter when she comes to visit. "We listen for at least a half-hour, and we talk afterwards," says her daughter, Marilyn Povodator. "It seems to touch something deep within her."

Caregivers have observed for decades that Alzheimer's patients can still remember and sing songs long after they've stopped recognizing names and faces. Many hospitals and nursing homes use music as recreation, since it brings patients pleasure. But beyond the entertainment value, there's growing evidence that listening to music can also help stimulate seemingly lost memories and even help restore some cognitive function.
"What I believe is happening is that by engaging very basic mechanisms of emotions and listening, music is stimulating dormant areas of the brain that haven't been accessible due to degenerative disease," says Concetta Tomaino, executive director of the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function, a nonprofit organization founded at Beth Abraham in 1995.
Dr. Tomaino, who has studied the therapeutic effects of music for more than 30 years, is spearheading a new program to provide iPods loaded with customized playlists to help spread the benefits of music therapy to Alzheimer's patients even at home. "If someone loved opera or classical or jazz or religious music, or if they sang and danced when the family got together, we can recreate that music and help them relive those experiences," she says.
Dr. Tomaino says she frequently sees dementia patients make gains in cognitive function after music therapy. In one unpublished study she led a few years ago, with funding from the New York State Department of Health, 45 patients with mid- to late-stage dementia had one hour of personalized music therapy, three times a week, for 10 months, and improved their scores on a cognitive-function test by 50% on average. One patient in the study recognized his wife for the first time in months.
David Ramsey, a music therapist and psychologist, holds twice weekly sessions at Beth Abraham, where small groups of patients can sing and dance to familiar songs like "Under the Boardwalk" and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." Mr. Ramsey will sometimes stop singing and let residents fill in the blanks on their own. When they do that, he says, "they are exercising their cognitive function—just like they are exercising in physical therapy." And unfamiliar songs quickly become familiar, another sign that even advanced Alzheimer's patients are forming new memories. "One of our therapists played, 'Who Let the Dogs Out?' I know they had never heard that one, but it became an anthem," he says.
In addition to benefiting Alzheimer's patients, decades of studies have demonstrated that music can help premature infants gain weight, autistic children communicate, stroke patients regain speech and mobility, dental, surgical and orthopedic patients control chronic pain and psychiatric patients manage anxiety and depression. Now, neuroscientists are starting to identify the underlying brain mechanisms that explain how music connects with the mind and body, and they are starting to work hand in hand with music therapists to develop new therapeutic programs.
There's no single center for music in the mind—the brain appears to be wired throughout for music, since it engages a wide variety of functions, including listening, language and movement. But Petr Janata, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of California, Davis's Center for Mind and Brain, recently located an area of the brain—the medial prefrontal cortex, just behind the forehead—that seems to serve as a hub for music, memory and emotions.
In a study published online in the journal Cerebral Cortex in February, Dr. Janata had 13 UC Davis students listen to excerpts of 30 songs chosen randomly from "top 100" charts from years when they were 8 to 18 years old, while he recorded their brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI. Songs that were unfamiliar evoked reactions in the auditory processing parts of the students' brains; those that elicited emotional reactions stimulated other brain areas. When songs conjured up a specific personal memory, there was particularly strong activity in the medial prefrontal cortex. That's where what Dr. Janata calls "a mental movie" seems to play in the mind's eye, with music serving as its soundtrack.
And, it turns out, this same medial prefrontal cortex had been identified in earlier research as one of the last parts of the brain to atrophy as Alzheimer's disease progresses.Dr. Janata hopes to study whether the same phenomenon occurs, in the same part of the brain, with older test subjects and eventually with Alzheimer's patients. He says that activating memories with music cannot reverse or cure neurological diseases like dementia. But playing familiar music frequently can significantly improve a patient's mood, alertness and quality of life. Music therapy isn't used more widely with Alzheimer's and dementia patients largely because of a lack of manpower and money, experts say. There are only about 5,000 certified music therapists in the U.S., and fewer than 20% work with geriatric patients. That's why the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function is trying to bring music therapy into patients' homes.
Caregivers or family members can use records or tapes at home, or program their own iPods. The institute provides suggested songs by era and genre on its Web site, www.imnf.org. But those who don't have the time or technical skills can send an iPod to the institute after filling out a questionnaire about the patient's musical tastes, and the institute will program a customized iPod for them. (See the Web site for prices and package information.) The institute is also seeking donations of iPods that are no longer in use to load with music and send to Alzheimer's patients who can't afford their own.
Dr. Tomaino advises caregivers to listen as long as the patient seems interested. A patient may want to listen alone through headphones or through speakers so that a friend or family member can listen along. "Then they can reminisce together about what the music reminds them of or just hold hands to be more connected," she says. She also suggests involving the whole family in interacting with the music. "The kids can drum along while Grandpa listens to Big Band sounds," she says.
One possible downside: Dr. Tomaino says sometimes a song can evoke unhappy memories, such as the death of a loved one or a relationship gone bad. She recalls a Holocaust survivor at Beth Abraham who became very upset upon hearing a Wagner opera.
"If family members don't know what music would be appropriate, think in generalizations," she says. "If a parent loved to go dancing in their teens, picking the most popular songs from that era tends to be pretty safe." Music from a person's teenage years seems to be especially evocative of memories, for reasons not well understood.

KEEP AN EYE ON THE RED SHIRTS!!

WHEN THE WALL CAME DOWN, ROTARY WAS THERE

On a November 1989 evening, hundreds of Rotarians participating in an International Institute packed the foyer of the Hilton in West Berlin. They anxiously waited for taxis to take them to a host hospitality event, but none arrived.
Finally, a hotel employee walked to a microphone and made an announcement, as organizer Peter Lorenz, of the Rotary Club of Berlin-Spree, recounts:
“He said, ‘We have to ask for your patience because the taxis we called can’t make it to the hotel. As you will see, thousands of visitors from the eastern part of the city are on the streets, blocking access to the hotel. We have been waiting for these guests for 28 years, and we ask you to wait with us. The [Brandenburg] gate and wall are open.’”
The fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago this month marked the beginning of monumental political changes in Europe, but also the start of a new era in Rotary. The event is largely seen today as the launching pad for the rebirth of Rotary across Eastern Europe.
German Rotarians, stunned by the events of 9 November, rejoiced in the prospect of a reunified Germany and what it would mean to Rotary. They also wasted no time in getting involved, even as the wall itself was coming down. Members of the Rotary Club of Berlin-Tiergarten welcomed visitors coming through the wall from East Berlin with tea and coffee. The Rotarians also donated street maps of West Berlin, which the visitors needed because their East German maps didn’t indicate any West Berlin streets. “The coffee went cold, but the maps went in a flash,” recalls Berlin-Tiergarten club member Jürgen Thormann.
In the weeks and months that followed, West German Rotarians developed strategies for reestablishing clubs that had once existed in the eastern part of the country, in cities such as Chemnitz, Dresden, and Leipzig.
District governors from the Austrian and German districts discussed plans for expanding Rotary into East Germany and neighboring countries, including Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Yugoslavia. Clubs and districts also began conducting seminars with communities in East Germany, many of which helped establish twin city programs or led to Rotary club projects that are still ongoing, 20 years later.
Even though the concept of service clubs was foreign to an entire generation in what had been East Germany, within a year after the German reunification, 49 new clubs were chartered there.
In March 1990, Hugh Archer, who was RI president at the time and attended the International Institute in West Berlin when the wall came down, traveled to the Kremlin to discuss the concept of service organizations with Soviet officials. Three months later, the Rotary Club of Moscow was chartered.
By the autumn of 1995, the reunified Germany had 91 new clubs, and the Rotary movement was rapidly expanding into Eastern Europe.  
Adapted from Rotary Magazin, the certified regional magazine of Austria and Germany.

• Read about a Rotary peace event commemorating the street marches in Leipzig
• Read an article about Rotary's rebound in Central and Eastern Europe in the September 2004 issue of The Rotarian

VINTAGE BEATLES

SHARING A LAUGH

AND I QUOTE

"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear."-Mark Twain

DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME

TODAY IN HISTORY

NOVEMBER 17

1558:Elizabeth I takes the throne of England after Queen Mary, her older half-sister, dies.

1800: Congress meets for the first time in the not-yet-finished Capitol in Washington, D.C.

1973: At a televised meeting with Associated Press editors, President Richard Nixon maintains his innocence in the Watergate scandal, saying: “People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I’m not a crook.”

GIVE EXPERIENCES FOR CHRISTMAS

The holiday gift-giving season is upon us once again. For many of us, that means stress. What gift can we give to the people we care about that actually means something? Why do the holidays have to be so expensive after we buy gifts for everyone on our Christmas list? Then, on Christmas Day, we have to find polite things to say about the unwanted gifts we get and we find ourselves with a bunch of additional stuff to take care of whether we like it or not.

All of these problems can be solved by one simple change in your perspective about gift-giving this year: give experiences instead of things.

What do I mean by this? Instead of giving a material gift that would require you to spend money on something you’re unsure they’ll like and them receiving something that they’ll have to now take responsiblity for, give them something that isn’t material.

Six Ideas for “Experience” Gifts
Here are six quick ideas to get you started, but there are hundreds more just like it if you let your creativity go.

For a child, give a field trip. This could be a trip to a zoo, to a kid-friendly science center (like the wonderful one in Des Moines, Iowa), a wilderness hike, or to a baseball game. You’ll handle all the logistics of the trip for them.

For a food lover, offer a home-cooked version of a meal they’ve longed for. Try making them something challenging like coq au vin or beef bourguignon. Get out your fine china and linens for this dinner, too – make it something special. It could be a romantic gift for a food-loving couple.

For an art lover, plan a trip with them to the art museum of their choice later in the year. Buy the ticket and handle the transportation yourself.

For a spouse, pledge to do the dishes for a year – or give them a few weekends where they can do whatever they want (with or without you).

For a gamer, give them some invitations that allow them to choose a game to play with you. This is a great way to understand someone’s hobby better (and perhaps find it interesting and exciting yourself).

For a parent, give a free night of babysitting. To them, this means an evening doing whatever they’d most enjoy doing without having to worry at all about their children.

CORPORATE GREEN

Seemingly every day a different company announces a new greening initiative, so when Coca-Cola said this morning that it has begun distributing plastic bottles of Coke and other beverages made with up to 30% plant-based material, it might have seemed like just another press release.

In fact, consider it a milestone. The Coca-Cola cursive logo is the most recognized consumer brand in the world, and now, in some places, it will have a little green stamp on it, symbolizing not only that company’s sustainability efforts, but the degree to which green thinking has penetrated the corporate mindset.

Introducing PlantBottle

The Coca-Cola Company dubs the new packaging PlantBottle, and boasts that it is the first-to-market plant based PET plastic bottle in the industry. PlantBottle is already on the shelves in eco-conscious Denmark (in time for Copenhagen) and will be introduced in Canada in December, and San Francisco, LA and Seattle in January.

The beverage company aims to produce 2 billion PlantBottles by the end of 2010, “a first step towards achieving the Company’s vision of bringing to market plastic bottles that are made with 100 percent renewable raw materials and are still fully recyclable,” according to a press release. Muhtar Kent, Coke’s Chairman and CEO called PlantBottle “the bottle of the future.”

The Bottle of the Future

According to the press release, PlantBottle packaging is currently made through a process that turns sugar cane and molasses, a by-product of sugar production, into a key component for PET plastic. The sugar cane being used comes from predominantly rain-fed crops that were processed into ethanol, not refined sugar. Ultimately, the Company’s goal is to use non-food, plant-based waste, such as wood chips or wheat stalks, to produce recyclable PET plastic bottles.

The bottles do not use 100 percent plant material because the material can not handle hot or carbonated beverages. The end packaging, regardless of the materials used in its manufacture, needs to be PET plastic, so it can be easily recycled with other non-plant based plastics, according to Scott Vitters, Director, Sustainable Packaging at Coca Cola, who discussed the packaging with Triple Pundit earlier this year.

As a result, the new packaging does not directly address the issue that only about 23 percent of plastic bottles in the States are recycled. For countries with no recycling infrastructure that number is much lower. Coca-Cola has made efforts to address this problem by building recycling plants.

NO SCROOGE HERE

French Rotarians are hoping to raise more than US$1 million for brain research during a premiere of the Disney movie A Christmas Carol on 17 November in 350 theaters across France.
Espoir en tête, an effort of Rotary International districts in Zone 11, is now in its fourth year, having raised more than $5 million since its inception in 2005 as a centennial project.
"In Zone 11, we have more than three million patients who are victims of Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, strokes, etc.," says RI Director Catherine Noyer-Riveau, explaining the decision by the zone's 2004-05 district governors to select brain disease research as the project beneficiary. "Brain diseases are sadly a part of our daily lives and touch everyone regardless of age, the region where they live, or social and cultural background."
Tickets to the premiere are being sold for about $22, with $12 going to the Fédération pour la Recherche sur le Cerveau (Brain Research Federation ).
Since launching the fundraiser in 2005, the project's board of directors has worked with four movie distributors: Pathé Cinéma, Wild Bunch, Warner Bros., and Disney Pictures. The first event attracted 70,500 movie goers, raised more than $1 million, and generated more than 700 news articles on Rotary in the French media.
The project's success has ensured its sustainability, one of three initial criteria the district governors used to select a fundraiser. The effort also had to relate to an Avenue of Service and include a public relations component.
With the help of a PR grant from Rotary International, the districts produced a seven-minute video about Rotary which will be shown before the movie. As a result, Rotarian and non-Rotarian movie goers will learn more about Rotary and its work.
In the future, the project directors envision movie theaters downloading the video about Rotary directly, and having local districts and clubs supplement the main portion with customized information about their own communities.
"With Espoir en tête, we communicate about Rotary, we take part in a great public health initiative that is among the government's priorities, and we fund this project by collecting money from movie goers -- non-Rotarians, for the most part," Noyer-Riveau said.
To learn more, visit the project's Web site.

A CLASSIC BREAKFAST WITH A COUPLE OF TWISTS

FISHIN' FOR THE WISHBONE

JUST FOR PUN

Beautifully manicured lawns are highly sod after.

LOOK UP

This year's Leonid meteor shower will peak early Tuesday, forecasters say, producing mild but pretty sparks over the United States and a more intense outburst over Asia.

"We're predicting 20 to 30 meteors per hour over the Americas and as many as 200 to 300 per hour over Asia," said Bill Cooke, of NASA's meteoroid environment office. "Our forecast is in good accord with ... work by other astronomers."

The Leonid shower is made of bits of debris from the Tempel-Tuttle comet, which streaks through Earth's inner solar system every 33 years.

It leaves a stream of debris in its wake. Forecasters, however, say it's hard to know exactly how many of the meteors will be visible.

"We can predict when Earth will cross a debris stream with pretty good accuracy," Cooke said. "The intensity of the display is less certain, though, because we don't know how much debris is in each stream."

The first stream will cross over Earth about 4 a.m. ET. That stream should produce about two or three dozen meteors per hour over North America, NASA said.

Experts say people who want to watch the shower, which is visible with the naked eye, should get as far away from city lights as possible. The darker the sky, the brighter the meteors will appear.

Leonids will appear to be shooting almost directly out of the planet Mars.
--Bill Cooke, of NASA's meteoroid environment office

High-altitude sites are best for viewing, reducing glare from the moon, and there's no particular direction one should look for the best shot at seeing one, they say.

The next Tuesday streams will peak over Indonesia and China shortly before dawn there. The pair of streams there were actually laid down by Tempel-Tuttle in A.D. 1466 and 1533, and the two of them crossing at the same time is the reason for the 300 or so visible meteors expected.

"Even if the rates are only half that number, it would still be one of the best showers of the year," Cooke said.

TODAY IN HISTORY

NOVEMBER 16

1959:Oscar Hammerstein and Richard Rodgers debut their last musical collaboration, The Sound of Music, on Broadway. It goes on to win the Tony Award for best musical.

1973: President Richard Nixon authorizes the Trans-Alaska Pipeline in response to the oil crisis.

1981: General Hospital’s Luke and Laura say “I do” in front of 30 million TV viewers.

THE INTERNET STARTED WHEN?

The above link will give you a thumbnail history of the internet. It's quite interesting.

LOOSE SCREW, IN YOUR GLASSES

The screw that holds your glasses tight against your head? It's gone the way of seemingly everything on expensive and hard to fix items. When you finally get a miniature screwdriver and restore your snug fit, grab some clear nail polish and dab it over the top of the screws. It's enough of a bond to keep the screws from coming loose again, but you could still get them out if you needed to.

AND I QUOTE

"I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me."-Noel Coward

PEOPLE BEING PEOPLE

Procter & Gamble announced in October that it will once again create and host a public restroom for the holiday season in New York City's Times Square as a promotion for Charmin tissue. Last year's installation was merely specially outfitted toilet facilities, but this year P&G will upgrade by hiring five bloggers ("Charmin Ambassadors") to "interact" with the expected "hundreds of thousands of bathroom guests" and write about their experiences with Charmin tissue on the company's Web site (and include "family-friendly" photographs). P&G is calling the campaign "Enjoy the Go."

SMALL CHANGE CAN HELP

Everyone remembers the horrifying December 2004 tsunami. But what few people know – because almost no media reported this fact – is that nearly half of total relief donations worldwide, $2.78 billion, came from ordinary U.S. citizens. Celebrities and big corporations got press, but not these individual small donors, most of whom gave less than $50.

Wendy Smith describes this unprecedented burst of generosity in Give a Little: How Your Small Donations Can Transform Our World , published this month. Smith, who profiled a bridge-building project funded by The Rotary Foundation, adds that giving a lot of money does not guarantee success. “What matters,” she says, “is the outcome.”
Rotarians know this firsthand, whether they are among the Foundation’s top donors, bequeathing multimillion-dollar fortunes, or the many club members who steadily contribute smaller amounts every year.
We surveyed the landscape of recent projects funded by the Foundation and came up with these eight ways to change the world on the cheap. All of them fall into at least one of the six areas of focus outlined in the Future Vision Plan. And all have price-to-impact ratios that would delight any executive. For the cost of a candy bar, you can save a child from HIV infection. Give up a couple of lattes, and you can restore someone’s eyesight. And your next dinner at a restaurant? Buy some chickens instead – you could feed a family and provide enough income to send the children to school.
Rapid HIV test: 70 cents
The remote border towns of China’s Yunnan Province are a virtual petri dish for HIV, with a thriving sex trade, cheap heroin from the neighboring Golden Triangle, plenty of migrant workers to spread the virus, and a lack of education about safe sex practices. (In 2003, about 6 percent of Chinese villagers knew that condoms could protect against AIDS.) Yunnan is also a place of mythic beauty; it inspired the legend of Shangri-La.
The Rotary clubs of Shanghai and Fremont, Calif., USA, teamed up with pioneering virologist David Ho in 2006 to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the virus in Yunnan, which accounts for a third of China’s reported AIDS cases – by far the highest of all provinces. Ho, named Time magazine’s Person of the Year in 1996 for inventing the cocktail of drugs so successful in treating AIDS patients, is also credited with helping to convince the Chinese government to confront the AIDS epidemic with a huge commitment of resources.
In rural Yunnan, an HIV-positive pregnant woman has 33 percent chance of passing on the virus in utero, during delivery, and while breast-feeding. A 70-cent test, funded by a Matching Grant from The Rotary Foundation, lowered the risk to less than 2 percent among those tested. The rapid HIV test allows for early detection so the mother can be treated, preventing transmission and saving two lives.
Armed with Foundation funds, the Rotarians and Ho’s China AIDS Initiative launched a massive drive to perform rapid HIV tests on 30,000 newlywed and pregnant women.
The China AIDS Initiative, a public-private partnership, is coordinated by the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York, where Ho is chief executive officer. Ho recruited basketball stars Magic Johnson (Ho’s retroviral drugs are keeping him alive) and Yao Ming to publicize the drive. “A photo of Yao showing Magic how to eat with chopsticks – that carried a message that HIV is not transmitted casually,” says Fremont club member Lena Zee.
The Rotarians and the initiative also organized 270 educational events for the public, reaching 120,000 people, and trained 1,800 health workers.
More than 160 of the women in Yunnan tested positive. China AIDS Initiative clinics treated the women and provided drug therapy to prevent HIV transmission. Of the children born to the women, only two had the virus. “The rate is on par with standards achieved in developed Western nations,” Zee says. Recently, a second Matching Grant funded another drive. Only one child tested positive.
Mosquito net: $5
“Give me $10-$20,” Terry Youlton says, “and we can save a family.”
Youlton, 73, is directing the delivery of 110,000 mosquito nets to boarding schools across Tanzania. “There are over 16 million cases of malaria a year in Tanzania,” he observes. “And 100,000 people die. Most susceptible are pregnant women and small children.”
Youlton’s club, the Rotary Club of Ridgetown, Ont., Canada, and the Rotary Club of Moshi, Tanzania, with 18 Canadian districts, secured a Matching Grant from the Foundation and another grant from the Canadian government. The Rotarians purchased the nets through the Against Malaria Foundation, which guarantees that they’re distributed where promised. On the group’s Web site, donors can track the nets through photos and videos. “This was the kind of proof I wanted for Rotary,” Youlton says.
The Against Malaria Foundation provides long-lasting insecticidal nets. The mosquitoes are drawn by the odor of the sleeping person and killed on contact with the nets. Even with holes, a treated net remains 90 to 95 percent effective for about five years. The insecticide also is safe for all: A mosquito is a million times smaller than an infant.
Population Services International, a global health nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., will install the nets. “It’s a hot and dirty job,” Youlton says. “I know, because I’ve been there and done that. You’re climbing around on the top of double and triple bunks. They’re doing it all for free.”
Cataract surgery: $25
When Pennsylvania Rotarian Robert Walton talks to Rotary clubs, he doesn’t plead for thousands of dollars. Instead, he asks, “How many eyes do you want to restore?”
Then he tells them that for $6.75 – when combined with contributions from Rotarians in Karachi, Pakistan, and Matching Grants from the Foundation – each person in the audience could save someone from blindness.
Cataracts, the clouding of the eye lens, have many causes, among them aging, diabetes, hypertension, eye trauma, and long-term exposure to ultraviolet light. According to the World Health Organization, age-related cataracts account for nearly half of the world’s blindness, and as people live longer, the numbers are rising. 
In the United States, cataract surgery to replace the existing crystalline lens with an intraocular lens (IOL) costs about $3,000. Two small Rotary clubs – Spring Township Centennial, Pa., and Karachi South, Pakistan – found a group to do it for $25 at a state-of-the-art hospital in Karachi. With a Matching Grant, they funded IOL implants for 2,000 impoverished patients, teaming up with the Layton Rahmatulla Benevolent Trust, a nonprofit operating 16 eye care hospitals in Pakistan.
Concentrated language encounter: $8.56
Where conventional literacy techniques have failed, hundreds of thousands of children and adults have learned to read through the concentrated language encounter (CLE) method.
Schools in more than 30 countries have adopted the approach, developed by Rotarian Richard Walker more than 30 years ago, and the literacy booklets have been translated into a multitude of languages, among them Afrikaans, Arabic, Bangla, and Turkish.
And it’s cheap. The basic supplies are paper, cardboard, crayons, and twine, to create books that the classes write together. The Rotary clubs of Pasig North, Philippines, and Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, recently completed a two-year CLE program for four elementary schools in Pasig City, Philippines.
With $10,000 raised by the two clubs and a Matching Grant of equal size from The Rotary Foundation, the program reached 2,337 students, at a cost of $8.56 each. And that’s just the first class: The grant also funded training for 51 teachers.
Vitamin A: 2 cents
Consider this the next time you walk past a penny on the ground: The leading cause of preventable blindness in children, vitamin A deficiency, can be eliminated for 2 cents a dose. Up to half a million children a year lose their sight because they lack the vitamin, abundant in the diet of children in developed nations. (Eggs, fortified milk and cereal, carrots, and spinach are all good sources.) Children with vitamin A deficiency are also more likely die from common childhood illnesses such as diarrhea and measles.
Administering 200,000 IU (international units) of the vitamin for two days cuts blindness and mortality rates. Matching Grants have funded many vitamin A drives. Supplements also are often delivered with polio vaccines during National Immunization Days, averting 1.5 million childhood deaths since 1998.
Bio-sand filter: $32
The numbers are astonishing: One in three people worldwide lacks access to clean water, 3.5 million people die each year from drinking it, and one child dies every 15 seconds from waterborne illnesses. Recently, 19,000 bio-sand filters – simple, cost-effective tools for purifying water – were installed in homes in the Dominican Republic, funded by 30 Foundation Matching Grants to clubs in Canada, the Dominican Republic, and the United States.
The HydrAid bio-sand filter removes all parasites and 95 percent of bacteria and viruses. It uses gravity as a power source, has no moving parts, and lasts for at least 10 years. Made of plastic, it weighs just 8 pounds. For $32, you can buy yourself two bottles of water a day for about two weeks, or you can buy one bio-sand filter and deliver pure water for a decade to an entire family.
Polio vaccine: 60 cents
Unless you joined Rotary yesterday, you’ve heard this before: Drops of the oral polio vaccine in the hands of Rotarians have changed the world. But we’re not done yet. Without dusting off your passport, you could help eradicate the disease from the four nations where the wild poliovirus persists. And it’s a bargain: 60 cents will protect a child from polio for life. Since the PolioPlus program was launched in 1985, Rotarians have contributed more than $800 million to the cause and immunized two billion children.
Flock of chickens: $20
The Rotary Foundation has awarded many grants over the years to clubs that team up with Heifer International, providing farm animals to impoverished families. The stipulation: Recipients must pass on the good fortune, by way of animal offspring. With a Matching Grant, the Rotary clubs of Kololo-Kampala, Uganda, and Hayle, England, recently provided 22 Ugandan families with heifers for $500 apiece. About 58 gallons of milk are now flowing each day into the local economy.
If that’s too pricey, Heifer International also can provide a starter flock of 10 to 50 chicks for $20. The birds can thrive on small plots and survive on table scraps and insects, making them ideal for impoverished communities.
A good hen can lay 200 eggs a year. Ray White, Heifer International spokesman, says that with 25 roosters and 25 hens, a family starts eating a lot better. “Suddenly there’s protein in the diet,” he says, “and if there is space for a garden, the homegrown vegetables do better with the application of the manure.”
With a flock this size, White says, a family can bring both eggs and meat to market and still increase the overall number by allowing some eggs to hatch. A family in Burkina Faso, for example, could triple its annual income, sometimes in a matter of months. “Now they can afford the $3 to send a child to school for a year. They can afford what they call ‘iron sheets’ for the roof, so the home is dry for the first time. They can afford a little medical care, and a little goes a long way when children are dying of measles, dysentery, and malaria.
Find out how your donation to The Rotary Foundation can help make a difference.

MISS LAST WEEK'S EPISODE? HERE'S HELP

More and more television shows and movies are hitting the Internet. It's easier than ever to watch your favorite shows for free.There's just one problem: These shows are spread across numerous different sites.

That's where Clicker can help. You can search for your favorite shows. You can also look for movies.

Clicker will present you with a list of available episodes. It tells you exactly what site is featuring the episodes. All you need do is click a title to start watching.

You'll also want to check out the Playlist feature. Once you sign up, you can begin adding shows to your playlist.

As new episodes are made available online, they will be added to your playlist. You'll always have something to watch!

(link above)