Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show October 14 2010

JANE REED, COETA CHAMBERS and LONNIE GARY welcomed Los Altos Rotarians to the sunny Thursday noon meeting at Shoup Park where President Dennis Young rang the bell to start the proceedings promptly at 12:16.
 
PP TRACIE MURRAY led us is a snappy pledge of allegiance that would make any platoon sergeant proud. 
 
In the spirit of the National League West Champion San Francisco Giants, JOHN SYLVESTER thrust his hands like wands above the podium to cheer us all into a chippy rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”
 
Of course it was not all fun and games.  President Dennis welcomed visiting Rotarians and Rotarians with guests because PE MONA ARMISTEAD is still wandering the earth.

• On October 21, 28 and November 4, Café Primavera will cater the lunch.
• On Nov. 11 and 18 we will meet and have lunch at the Los Altos Country Club.
• The club will be dark for Thanksgiving.
• Alotta’s Restaurant will cater back at the Garden House on December 2
• Followed in the next two weeks by our current caterer Frank Schuman with Four Seasons, who will provide the lunch.
  
  So, For the next eight meetings, there will be one price for lunch – $18 plus the usual mandatory $5 fee for non-eaters.
  
  Since costs have risen 26 percent due in large part to an increase in rent of the Garden House to the City of Los Altos, starting January 1, 2011, lunch prices will rise to $20.
  
  President Dennis encouraged the members to pay attention to the food for the next eight meetings, as another survey will be held to solicit your comments and preferences going forward.

• Asante’ is on the way!  Please purchase your tickets for $50 each from PP TRACIE MURRAY.  This popular annual event to support the Rotacare clinic is Nov. 11.
• JOHN SYLVESTER reminded everyone to attend the wine and cheese get together at CLARI NOLET’S house Friday.  It will be the last wine and cheese event of the year due to the upcoming holiday festivities.
• BAIDRA MURPHY announced the Red Badge meeting was set to be held Thursday night at First Republic Bank.  Don’t forget, these count as make-up meetings for anyone to attend!
• MICHAEL STADLEN announced the Los Altos Mediation Project seminar will be held on Nov. 6 from 10-4.  Contact Michael for details, or see this PDF.
  
  
  
  
• MEETING VENUE CHANGE NOV 11 and 18th.  Don’t forget to mark your calendars for a meeting change of venue for November 11, which will also be a special day to commemorate Veterans Day.  That is, the November 11, 2010 meeting will be held at the Los Altos Country Club.  We will also meet at the Country Club the following week, on the 18th.
  
  
  
  
  
  
•  PP WYATT ALLEN presented DAVE DEMATTEIS with his two-ruby pin for his contributions to the Rotary Foundation.  Over the 10 years of Dave’s membership he has been a regular and generous contributor to the Rotary Foundation.
• MARV PATTERSON is recovering from serious surgery and hopes to be back at Rotary soon.  We wish him well.
• BONNIE BURDETT, chair of Partners for New Generations brought to our attention the critical need for tutor and mentors for our youth. The PNG board meeting is Wednesday at 8 AM at Intero Real Estate in Los Altos. This would be a great makeup meeting. Contact Bonnie or visit their website at Partners for New Generations at http://www.pngmvla.org for more information about opportunities to serve the youth in our community.
• JOHN CARDOZA was presented with President Dennis’ Rotarian of the Month Award for his work on the club’s surveys.

RAE HOLT’S 10-MINUTE TALK Like the saying goes, “There’s a lot to be learned from a name.”  Rae was named after his father and grandfather.  In Celtic Mc means son of, so son of Rae. But the spelling gave him a uniqueness that he slowly came to appreciate, but not without some trials and smiles.  In high school he was assigned to a girls’ gym class and at church camp he was sent to the girls’ tent.
His parents came from Alaska and Kansas to be married in Southern California in the 1940s.  Rae attended school near Pasadena and enjoyed going to the Rose Parade.  His family was not particularly religious, but Easter sunrise services made an impression on Rae who grew up to become a Baptist minister.  After graduation from USC, he served as a pastor for 25years.  He now serves as executive director of the Terraces in Los Altos, a retirement community.
He has two children, a son and daughter, and is married to Charlene Doherty, also a pastor and retirement community administrator.
Rae is a former member of the Burlingame Rotary Club.  His family derives from immigrants who came to America in the 1640s.  
Welcome Rae to the Los Altos Rotary Club.

Fine Master BILL MOISON was a Disaster
Bill took the theme of questions from the Chilean mine disaster rescue and raised funds from PP AL TRAFICANTI, RANDY GARD, JACK KELLY, PP SAM HARDING, PP TRACIE MURRAY, RICK GLAZE, AILEEN LOW, JOHN BOGART, PP WYATT ALLEN, JASON SANBORN, JOHN CARDOZA AND PP JACK HEIDMILLER.

Mr. Magneto a Super Hero’s Story JOHN CARDOZA introduced speaker Sheldon Breiner, a geophysicist and expert in the field of geomagnetics.  Sheldon was raised in Missouri and attended Stanford in 1959 where he obtained as MS and PHD in geophysics.  He explained that he would tease us with some of the interesting projects he has been involved with over the scope of his career.

Sheldon started off by telling us about his exploration of San LorenzoTenochtitlan in Vera Cruz, Mexico where he worked with world famous archeologist Michael Coe.  Using magnetometers, Sheldon was instrumental in the discovery of the Olmec heads – large stone sculptures of the civilization that predates the Maya by 1,000 years.  The heads are now the centerpiece of the Museo de Anthropoliga in Mexico City.  Sheldon believes the Olmecs has discovered the compass due to the orientation of their artifacts pointing to the then-magnetic north pole.

The next project he described was the discovery of a Manilla galleon off a beach in Baja.  Again using magnetometers, Sheldon surveyed a beach where Ming China was washing ashore.  In the breakers, he discovered the remains of the ship.  Plans are now in place to remove the ship from its watery grave and display it much like the Vasa in Sweden.
In the 1960s, Sheldon was involved in a project to determine whether an H bomb would disrupt electronic communication.  It does.  He also uses his expertise to try and predict earthquakes along the San Andreas Fault.

THIS THURSDAY'S PROGRAM: "Disconnected:  Is Democracy Still Doable?”  “Have the American public and the institutions that represent them reached such a level of alienation that conventional notions of democracy are still viable?” That is the question posed by Senator Simitian, and the subject of this week's program with the Senator.

Joe Simitian was elected to the California State Senate in November 2004 to represent the 11th State Senate District, which includes portions of San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties.  His public service over the years includes stints as a State Assemblymember, member of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, Mayor of Palo Alto and President of the Palo Alto School Board. He has also served as an election observer/supervisor in El Salvador and Bosnia, and participated in refugee relief and resettlement efforts in Albania and Kosovo. 

In the Senate, Simitian chairs the Environmental Quality Committee and serves as a member of the following committees: Budget & Fiscal Review, where he is Chair of Subcommittee #2 on Resources, Environmental Protection and Transportation; Education; Energy, Utilities & Communications; Natural Resources & Water; and Transportation & Housing. 

Raised in Palo Alto and a graduate of Palo Alto (“Paly”) High, Simitian’s roots are in the Midpeninsula. His community involvement includes service on the boards of local organizations such as American Leadership Forum – Silicon Valley, Adolescent Counseling Services and the Clara-Mateo Alliance, and he co-chairs the Silicon Valley Leadership Group’s Housing Leadership Council.

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