December 6, 2013

             Reporter: Cal Lee     Editor: Ron Brown         Photographer: Leander Hauri                   

President:  Hays Englehart 2013 - 2014          

SO SHY

More surprises from Gary

Gary Fulcher has always led us to believe that he wants to duck the spotlight, doesn't want to give speeches, avoid being called on at all costs, even as he is pursued by his adoring fans for his many accomplishments. Apparently this was a ruse, as he took considerable time wandering around various thoughts. It was such a shocking change of form that his ultimate thoughts didn't get recorded.

GUESTS (ALL HAD A GREAT THANKSGIVING)

Rotarians:        John Sherry, Lafayette Noon

Other:              Connie Linneman, deemed long-suffering

                        Laura Waal, also?

                        Ashley Englehart, back from 'Bama

                        Jack Peers, who used to rule

                        Mary Jo (MJ) Marggraff, of whom definitely more later

OCCASIONS

Connie, making sure John pays up

John Linneman managed to miss recognitions for his club joinder date, Connie's birthday, and their anniversary since he was last here. He was welcomed back in the usual manner.

Skip McCowan joined the club 22 years ago. Guess what he paid.

Polly Bernson thinks she did pretty well by remembering Denny's birthday.

Mark Roberts also remembered Claire's birthday,

Claire loved setting up Mark!

and wished her a happy one on Facebook.

Leander Hauri was recognized for a recent article in the C.C. Times describing his success in obtaining a modern administration building, gourmet restaurant, and noted chef for the Livermore Airport. Nice work. He hastens to clarify that this is not with taxpayer money.

In his other life, Leander praised the great effort on the last Home Team day (11/23) where there was lots of participation. Next scheduled Home Team day is Saturday, January 25th.

Davis and Melvin, what a team!

Praise was also given by and to Ron Melvin and Brad Davis, for making the Garden Park Apartment turkey dinner delivery project a huge success.

John Sherry announced that the Noon Club is again presenting the Christmas Holiday Breakfast, featuring gin fizzes, at the Oakwood Athletic Club on December 23rd, 7:00 a.m. Best 10-buck deal in town.

Our Christmas Party will have already occurred when this rag is received. Undoubtedly it will be (or was) a wild affair, being the first all-adult C.P. in a long time. Thanks were given to Steve Ware for his organizing.

MR. MELVIN RISES TO THE TOP

Hays proclaims, "You 'da man!!" Ron

John Fazel revealed that the past presidents had met to select the president-elect-elect, i.e., he who follows Buddy Burke. This would be RON MELVIN. In the short time he's been here, he's immersed himself in just about everything, so there's no way he could avoid this. Congratulations, Ron.

FLYING HIGH #1

Captain Kallio, doin' what comes naturally

The 60-second Vocational hammer fell on John Kallio, who showed the coolness he undoubtedly has in the cockpit. John has been in the cockpit for United Airlines since 1986. He flies a 767 SF to Paris three times a month. There's a two-man flight crew plus a second officer. New regulations in January will result in another crew member being required at times. Generally these extra guys take up space in the first class section, with a curtain and a bed. Anyway, John is living his dream, and will talk more about it when he gives his long-awaited blue badge speech.

FLYING HIGH # 2 (TO INFINITY)

Jim Knows wherof he speaks

Jim Marggraff, who has a passing acquaintance with today's speaker, had the honor of introducing her and did so, actually concisely and understandably. He informed us that MJ Marggraff received her M.A. at Indiana University, worked at a few companies including Hewlett Packard in human resources and had kids. She wrote a book entitled "100 Things To Make A Difference". But her passions always were flight and space. So obviously, since by the conventions of the old days she couldn't actually be an astronaut, the thing to do was to go for suborbital space flight.

MJ has a fabulous story

MJ took over her own narrative and said the best way to see the world is to train to be an astronaut and to fly to the edge of space, 65 miles up. Only about 500 people have done this so far. This is the threshold of the Universe, where the Aurora Borealis resides. Gravity laws there are different, which is one reason when you've been there, you're never the same again. Breathtaking pictures helped get this point across. (The Lamorinda Sunrise Curse didn't dare raise its ugly head this time.) Being 65 miles up (The Edge" of space) gives a new perspective, opening up new ways to improve and to live.

She showed a few dazzling photo shots in case any of us had any ideas of our own significance. The Universe is 93 billion light years across, with a gazillion galaxies (missed the exact number, but it's a lot). Our Milky Way is 100,000 light years across. There are over 3,200 planets which have been found to be inhabitable, except for the small matter of being without water.

MJ was a stargazer from 9 years old. She recently started piloting, got a bunch of certifications to fly higher and higher, and became a flight instructor. She was encouraged all the way to follow her dream by her ever-lovin' Jim.

The Chariot of choice

Her mind has since moved on to bigger things. This was triggered by a modern-day parallel to the creation of airlines resulting from the Charles Lindbergh flight. An Ansari X Prize of a cool $10 million was offered to the first non-government organization to launch a reusable manned spacecraft into space twice, within two weeks. The company which won the prize was purchased by (who else) Sir Richard Branson, who named it (what else) Virgin Galactic. A two-part spacecraft was produced and civilian space flight was born.

MJ showed a diagram of how the Virgin spacecraft does it. The first piece drops off after 10 miles. The craft continues in a parabola and lands on the same runway within an hour. She also showed pictures of the spaceport outside the colorfully named Truth & Consequences, New Mexico.

MJ siezes the moment

Escaping gravity is a big issue. MJ trained for this at the NASTAR Center outside Philadelphia, home of the Phoenix Centrifuge. This device, carrying an amusement park ride to the extreme, is a 25 foot long arm on a gondola, with the lucky trainees circling at 2,500 mph. It is a simulator for acceleration forces, using a linear or curved path, rocking right and left. When in acceleration, the rider's weight can be doubled. The measurement of force is a "G", for gravity. The top force reached which can be tolerated briefly is six Gs.

We saw a video of MJ in action on one of these amusing rides, during which the blood pools in the lower extremities. The rider pushes to try to bring blood back up to the heart, a maneuver that reminded MJ of childbirth. Other pleasurable experiences are pushing on the eyeballs, gray-outs, and looking 20+ years older. Hey, she didn't look THAT bad, and she was smiling a lot of the time.

She trained with nine other, very interesting people. Like training for a marathon, the group members were mutually supportive but quite competitive ("how many Gs could you take?").

She fervently hopes to step into The Edge, where humankind will gain knowledge and connection.

The program concluded with a video narrated by Carl Sagan, "The Pale Blue Dot". A few points were brought out: Earth is home and is all we know. We are a speck suspended in a sunbeam. Fervent hatred is expended to become monetary masters of a fraction of a dot. Our imagined self-importance could bring us down. We will save ourselves when help comes from elsewhere. Earth is where we make our stand.

The feeling was that we have a member whose spouse could be the First Rotarian In Space. We are with you all the way MJ!