Club Assembly

UPCOMING PROGRAMS
April 12: Karen Trusler and Stephanie Watson--State of the Schools
April 19: Mom's Inc.
April 26: Melody Mesmer--Emergency Management Educator and Children's Advocate

PROGRAM
Last week was a "club assembly" where we were updated by President Ron Clark as well as Committee Chairs or members about what programs and ideas the club is pursuing. In addition, each of the club officers present was introduced.

Mike Warne, Treasurer gave an update on advanced billing which was intended to be instituted in the first quarter of the calendar year, but was delayed by his skiing accident. New quarterly bills will be coming out in the next week, and it will be for two quarters...the one just passed and the one upcoming. This will allow us to get to the goal of advanced billing which is standard with most clubs. The board has agreed that to allow the increased billed amount to be paid in a couple of installments. Talk to Mike if you have any questions.

Dorothy Simmons reported on the International Committee and the progress to get a District and RI grant to assist the club in finding a new library and music room at Casa Hogar in Manzanillo, Mexico. The District grant has been approved and the packet forwarded to Rotary International. She said we expect to hear of their decision within the next couple of weeks.

It was reported that the Youth Committee has secured four slots for the RYLA camp this coming summer. The Interact Club at the High School is having some growing pains, but we are working on ways to support them.

Chris Leffler reported on the Community Service Committee which handles the 9 Health Fair, Cakes for Seniors, Habitat for Humanity and is now working on a Literacy Carnival at Skyview School in conjunction with United Way. He is working on a District Simplified Grant to help fund this program, but he has already secured some corporate sponsorships. This carnival is scheduled to be held on April 27.

Susan Gust reported on the Fund Raising Committee and said that the pizza sales at the school dances have not been successful, but she and Pete Hyland are working on ideas to make it more successful. We are still looking forward to beer sales and other find raising efforts.

QUIZ ANSWER
Michael J. Fox drove a modified DeLorean in the movie "Back to the Future". There will be no quiz this week as I will not be at the meeting to answer questions, but look for it in the future.

READ THE ROTARIAN magazine's editorial by the new managing editor, Marla Donato. It is worth reading for a variety of reasons.

Reliable Electric Infrastructure

UPCOMING PROGRAMS
April 5: Program scheduled by Dan Leuschen
April 12: Karen Trusler and Stephanie Watson--State of the Schools
April 19: Mom's Inc.
April 26: Melody Mesmer--Emergency Management Educator and Children's Advocate

PROGRAM
Our speaker last week was well known to many in the club. It was former County Commissioner, Mike Geile. Geile is a fellow Rotarian from the Downtown Greeley club. Several years ago he was asked to set on a committee formed by the state legislature. This group was a task force on reliable electric infrastructure. He said they were charged with presenting a report to the legislature by November 1, 2006.

He talked about the deficit of 26,000 megawatts in the area. By area, he was referring to the western states which basically include everything west of the eastern Colorado border, and parts of SW Canada. He commented that as it relates to electrical production vs. use, California is a great sucking hole. Arizona is also deficient. He said that the California deficit will be about 4900 megawatts by 2014.

The task force also found that the Colorado Public Utilities Commission was not a participant in the original planning meeting. He also said that Colorado is the only state where local governments have control over the siting of power facilities. Geile thinks this works better because of local understanding of needs and the ability to work faster to approve applications.

Geile said the wind plant at Grover produces 300 megawatts from 300 towers/generators. The original cost was about $1 million per tower, but costs have now risen to $1.5 million each. He also said there is an estimated $1.8 to 1.9 billion to construct the necessary transmission facilities, but he expects that number to go to $3 billion before all current plans are built. He said that Wyoming formed a public/private authority to build transmission lines so that they can sell more of their massive energy available in the state. The TOT 3 project, for example, will allow them to wheel large amounts of power to Colorado.

QUIZ ANSWER
Radioactive half life refers to the time it takes for 1/2 of the radioactivity to dissipate. I have used the example of: Assume you have $1 million with a "half-life" of 1 year. At the end of the first year, you will have $500,000. During the second year, you will also loose 50% of your remaining fortune. So, at the end of the second year, you will have $250,000. You can see where this is going. Just don't use this as an investment strategy.

NEXT QUESTION
What "futuristic" car did Michael J. Fox drive in the movie "Back to the Future"?

Nuclear Proliferation

UPCOMING PROGRAMS
April 5: Program scheduled by Dan Leuschen
April 12: Karen Trusler and Stephanie Watson--State of the Schools
April 19: Mom's Inc.
April 26: Melody Mesmer--Emergency Management Educator and Children's Advocate

GUESTS
Guests last week included Brian McAvoy, Tammy Applegate, and Thompson Valley Rotarian, Shane Sparks.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Jody Niswender asked that we publish the details of the upcoming 9 Health Fair. There is a training session Thursday, April 6 at 6 PM in the Windsor Middle School Library. Set up will be done Friday April 7 starting at 3:30 PM. All volunteers should arrive at the middle school by 6AM on Saturday, April 7.

PROGRAM
Dr. Bob Lawrence, a specialist in national security studies gave a most interesting and thought-provoking program about nuclear proliferation. Lawrence is retired from both CU and CSU as a professor in National Securities.

He talked about the countries that are known to have nuclear weapons including the US, Britain, France, Russia, China, India, Pakistan, and presumably Israel. North Korea and Iran have fledgling programs, but he pointed out that North Korea’s attempt at a nuclear test was "a fizzle".

Nuclear weapons include atomic bombs, hydrogen bombs, and neutron bombs which are designed as instant radiation anti-personnel weapons. Lawrence also talked about why nation states are unlikely to use nuclear weapons because of the threat of Mutually Assured Destruction. He told of Trident submarines (of which we have 14) which can stay underwater for months and can outrun any current surface water warships. Tridents carry a complement of 24 missiles each capable of delivering 10 warheads. That means that one submarine can shower a region with 240 nuclear warheads in roughly ten minutes. Not a pleasant thought. He said it is vitally important to assure that no fissionable material gets into the hands of terrorists as they have no nation or citizenry to defend. To that end, he touted the Nunn-Lugar act which provides money to Russia to provide jobs for their nuclear scientists and to buy up excess fissionable material.

QUIZ ANSWER
Only two brothers signed the Declaration of Independence--Richard Henry Lee and Francis Lightfoot Lee.

NEXT QUESTION
While we are on the subject of nuclear weapons and radioactivity, what is "radioactive half life"?

The Mighty Flying Fortress

GUESTS
Brian McAvoy was a guest of the club and hopefully will be a new member soon. We were also joined by Larry Wilson a guest of Ardin Wright.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
We were pleased to induct Sherri Frank to the club as our newest member. We now have 37 members and continue to grow.

Jody Niswender asked that we publish the details of the upcoming 9 Health Fair. There is a training session Thursday, April 6 at 6 PM. (I presume at the middle school). Set up will be done Friday April 7 starting at 3 PM. All volunteers (you did volunteer didn't you?) should arrive at the middle school by 6AM on Saturday, April 7.

Ardin Wright reminded us of the District Conference in Cheyenne June 8-10. He pointed out that it is close enough so that you can drive back and forth daily.

Let me be the first to admit that I am a couple of decades away from dealing with middle schoolers. Maybe it is just a faulty memory, but I don’t recall the peer pressure, shouting, cajoling, and quick movements I observed at the Middle School Dance Friday night. I'm not talking about the kids. I'm referring to the tactics Pete Hyland used to sell pizzas-and sell pizzas he did. Pizza disappeared by the slice, by the plate, and in some cases by the box. Admittedly, there were some deep discounts involved, but the pledge of "No pizza goes home" was met.



PROGRAM
We were again greatly entertained and informed by Ft Collins Rotarian and retired Professor Dr. Bob Meroney. Dr. Meroney displayed another facet of his varied interests by talking about the B-17, "The Mighty Flying Fortress". For those of us who love airplanes it was a true treat. In addition to the very well conceived and presented Power Point Presentation, he had models of a variety of WWII aircraft.

Dr. Meroney told us of four B-17 crash sites here in Colorado--one of which west of Ft. Collins. He also told of the history of Boeing Aircraft Company which was started by a wealthy timer merchant on Washington State. After Boeing took rides on an early airplane, he decided he could build a better one, so he founded Pacific Aero Products in 1916 and changed it to Boeing Aircraft in 1917. He was a true pioneer in the field producing the first all metal monoplane in 1930 and numerous other aircraft through the years. During WWII over 13000 B-17's were built but few survived the war. Most never made it through 25 missions.

QUIZ ANSWER
"The Bridge on the River Kwai" ended with a British Officer stating "Madness! Madness!" after the bridge was blown and the train was wrecked.

NEXT QUESTION
What two brothers signed the Declaration of Independence?

Engines and Energy Conservation Lab

GUESTS
Guests last week included Tammy Applegate, guest of Susan Gust; Sherrie Franks, club guest, and Brian McAvoy, guest of Bob Penny.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Jody Niswender discussed the upcoming 9 Health Fair, and Scott Bailey talked about the volunteers who will be working the fund raiser at the school dances. He is still looking for help on March 9, so if you can call him (don't use his e-mail, it is not working at the moment). I believe we set a record for attendance last week with 32.

PROGRAM
Our program last week was Dr, Bryan Willson from the CSU Department of Mechanical Engineering. He is the director of the Engines and Energy Conservation Laboratory. The lab was started in 1992. It employs 50 students from freshmen to post doctoral. Over half of the employees are undergraduates. Part of their mission is defined by working to create energy solutions and entrepreneurial models that benefit the human condition.

He displayed charts that show increased oil demands and diminishing oil production. Areas like China and India are expected to have a huge impact on oil demands in the future. He also showed the Keeling curve that establishes a dramatic rise in CO2 in the last fifty years.

He focused on three issues during his talk--two cycle engines, cook stoves, and fuel supplies. He showed areas of Manila with severe air pollution caused by the millions of two-cycle engine motorcycles and cabs that are used in the area. He told us of a direct injection system that has been perfected in the lab which is relatively inexpensive to retrofit to 2-cycle engines. These modifications can pay for themselves in less than a year in fuel savings alone because there is so much less loss of fuel through the open ports.

Cook stoves are a problem in many areas because they use solid fuels and few of them are vented to the outside, but are open to the rooms in which the cooking is done. The Lab has developed more efficient cook stoves that also serve to generate enough power to light a 16-watt fluorescent light be use of a thermoelectric generator. The worldwide need for efficient cook stoves is 500 million units. Through the efforts of the Lab and others, they have managed to lower the costs for the stoves from $67 each to $50 each and quadrupled production.
Willson talked briefly about the work on converting algae to biodiesel and methane.

QUIZ ANSWER
What was originally called caisson disease, a malady that afflicted men working under compressed air in deep excavations like the foundations for the Brooklyn Bridge, is now know simply as the bends. This name was shortened from the description of the doubled over stance known as the Grecian Bend.

NEXT QUESTION
What Oscar winning movie ends with the words "Madness! Madness!"?