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May 20, 2008 No.
31 Vol. 86
This Week’s Program:
Sandra Pinto, Newscaster for Bay News 9 en
español
Covering the news that affects the Bay area's
vital Spanish-speaking community is the goal of Bay News 9 en
español, the nation's first local 24-hour cable news channel to
broadcast entirely in Spanish.
To accomplish that goal, reporters like Bay News 9 en
español's Sandra Pinto cover issues of importance to Hispanic
viewers.
Sandra works with the Bay News 9 en español family as
a producer/reporter and is an experienced television journalist.
She came to the station from San Antonio,
Texas, where she worked at KVDA Telemundo 60 as a general assignment
reporter. She covered major stories such as the flooding in Coahuila,
Mexico and the roof collapse of a Kidzville in San Antonio.
Prior to that, she worked as a reporter in
both English and Spanish at KFDA News Channel 10 and Telemundo 36 in
Amarillo, Texas.
After graduating from Hofstra University in
Hempstead, N.Y. with a Bachelor's degree in electronic journalism and
sociology, Sandra began her broadcasting career as a news assistant at
CNN in New York, and within a year started working as a field producer
for CNN en español. In addition to working at CNN, she's worked
at News 12 The Bronx as an assignment editor.
A native of Queens, N.Y., Sandra is very
proud of her Colombian heritage and is always eager to help out in her
community. She is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists
and Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.
Welcome, Sandra! We’re eager to learn more
about making the news accessible to Spanish speakers.
Last Week’s Program:
Fox Channel 13 Meteorologist Paul Dellegatto
Paul Dellegato was ably
introduced by Kiwanian-of-the-Day Scott Boyle. Dellegato offered to
speak about global warming, the recent outbreak of tornados or the
upcoming hurricane season, but managed to touch on all three during the
course of his talk. Neither he nor the pre-eminent expert on hurricanes,
Dr. Gray in Colorado, believes that global warming is mostly man-made;
however, regardless of one’s beliefs, said our speaker, climate change
is definitely taking place. He referred to the recent outbreak of
tornados in the Midwest and said we can expect to see another series of
them soon.
Paul told us he has
loved meteorology since he was a child and feels blessed to work in the
field for what he considers to be the best station in America. Recent
surveys revealed that the majority of people who watch the news do so
for the weather. Fox, which is owned by News Corporation, upgraded its
radar system to the tune of $800,000 and now boasts one of the biggest
radar dishes in the country. With an impressive reach, it can spot rain
to the curve of the earth.
Although we dread
hearing that a hurricane is rolling toward us, Paul said that’s his
SuperBowl, the most exciting weather event of the year. He wants Tampa
Bay residents to continue to prepare for the worst, but said there is
less than a 1% chance that a hurricane will tear through Tampa Bay.
Actually, both Long Island and the coast of North Carolina have a better
chance of a devastating hurricane than the Gulf Coast of Florida. Most
storms come from the east and a hurricane would have to make a pretty
dramatic turn to come up into the Gulf and hook back over land. When the
Gulf warms up, we get nervous, but water temperature is just one of
seven different variables that play a role in starting a hurricane. Even
dust from the Sahara can play a part. When he was asked why multiple
computer models are used to show the possible paths of hurricanes, he
said they come from computers in D.C. and took credit for having been
the first, along with his colleague, Jim Webber, to throw them up on the
TV screen to give viewers the whole weather picture. Asked about the
unreliability of weather forecasts, Dellegatto used the analogy of
trying to predict the path of cigar smoke. Even so, weather this time of
year in Florida is so repetitive, a two-day forecast has about a 95%
rate of accuracy.
One interesting piece
of trivia that came up at my table is that Paul Dellegatto and our
fellow George Gower dated the same girl in 1978!
Thanks, Paul, for
allowing us a glimpse into the world of weather. Our forecast for you is
continued success.
Guests and Visitors
Fifty members turned
out to vote in our election Tuesday. Guests Nancy Gallant, a teacher,
and her husband Dr. Gallant, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon,
accompanied Al Muter scholarship award winner, Zachary Hungate. Lisa
Bridge, a student at Vanderbilt, attended with proud papa, Lorin. Pete
Tyson, of Peter Tyson Insurance, was hosted by Steve Cunningham, and
Eric Mercado from Colonial Bank dropped in to check out our Club. Thanks
for coming, everyone! We hope you enjoyed our program.
What’s Happening?
Kiwanis Rocks The
Vote!
Ballots were handed out
and the votes came in in one of Florida’s smoothest and error-free
elections. Paul Renker and his election supervisors handed out ballots,
counted votes and announced the winners for the upcoming 2008-2009 year.
Congratulations to President-Elect Bob Piplitz, Vice President-Elects
Cyndi Mulligan and Frank Ranieri and new Board Members Cynthia McGowan
and Dan Stone. As for next year in the Club under their (and Biff
Baker’s) leadership, I am reminded of the words of Penn and Teller who
said of another election, “it may not be a better world, but it sure
will be a different one!”
Our Final 2008 Al
Muter Scholarship Award
J.C. Russell introduced
us to Zachary Hungate, our scholarship runner-up award winner from St.
Petersburg High, who was unable to join us the previous week due to his
International Baccalaureate exams. Zachary is a charming young
overachiever whom J.C. described as “well-rounded and laser-focused.”
His impressive array of honors and advanced placement classes,
extracurricular activities (tae kwon do, tennis, president of the
Spanish Club, etc.) and part-time employment (with Dr. Gallant,
mentioned above), is testimony to the superb qualifications of those
students who applied for this year’s awards. Zachary received a check
for $1,200 at our meeting and will continue to receive support from our
Club as long as he keeps up his GPA and continues to work part-time
through college. He has been accepted at Duke for this fall and intends
to follow in the footsteps of his mentor, Dr. Gallant, studying to
become a pediatric plastic and reconstructive surgeon. Best of luck to
you, Zach! We’re in awe of your accomplishments to date and are proud to
play a small part in what we know will be your highly successful future.
Bring A Guest June
24th Or The Little Dog Gets It!
Cathy Swanson announced
that the Membership Committee has planned a special membership drive for
our Jim Leavitt program on June 24th. Bring a guest/potential
member to that meeting or you’ll be fined $10! No more Ms. Nice Guy,
okay? Make it happen. Your guests will love it.
Bring An Auction
Item Or The Little Dog Get Its! (Again)
Silent auction items
are needed for the 4th Annual Jim Fischer Birthday Bash and
John Biesinger took a page from Ms. Swanson’s book…When Big Al made the
announcement, I wrote, “bring your donations to Al Karnavicius or John
Beisinger at an upcoming meeting (by June 3rd at the latest)
and help us give a gift of scholarship – and a future – to deserving
students in our community.” Now that Biesinger is on the case, the
message has become “bring your donations to Al Karnavicius or John
Beisinger at an upcoming meeting (by June 3rd at the latest)
or it’ll cost you $25 and we’ll put together our own dang
baskets!” (Or something like ‘dang’). Anyway, you know the drill – your
participation helps us raise critical college scholarship money for high
performing grade-schoolers and middle-schoolers from low-income
families. How can you help? 1) Bring a donated item or service to Al or
John by June 3rd. 2) Attend the Birthday Bash on June 14th.
3) Encourage people to bid on items and bid on some yourself! There’s
always a holiday or birthday in the offing, so do your shopping at the
birthday bash and help raise more scholarship dollars for deserving
students.
Park It Here
Kiwanians are needed to
direct parking for the All Children’s Telethon May 31 and June 1st.
The parking situation has changed from years past and is more remote,
so parking volunteers play a vital role in the success of the two day
event. Please let Bob Piplitz know if you can help out.
TODAY’S QUIZ:
1.
What is echolalia?
2.
A famous John Lennon song was called by the media “the
national anthem of the antiwar movement.” What was it?
3.
Although typically only the first verse is sung, ”The Star
Spangled Banner” has how many verses?
4.
If I were to offer you a quahog, what would you do with it?
A. Pet it B. Frame it C. Drive it D. Eat it.
Bonus question:
5.
In 1984, a portion of the Berlin Wall was painted by which
artist: Robert Longo, Julian Schnabel, Basquiat or Keith Haring?
LAST WEEK’S
QUIZ:
1.
The Ohio River borders Kentucky.
2.
There are four groups of muscles in the neck: the
cervical, the suprahyoid, the infrahyoid and the vertebral. Each of
the four groups is comprised of 3 to 6 muscles that control neck,
shoulder and head movement.
3.
Moissanite is a gemstone of silicon carbide that looks
like a diamond and comes from meteorite ore. It mimics many of
the characteristics of diamonds, but is heavier in weight. Beautiful
moissanite jewelry is sold for about a third of the cost of diamond
jewelry. The highest quality jewels of moissanite are manufactured by
Charles and Colvard.
4.
In the 2000 presidential election, George W. Bush accused Al
Gore of fuzzy math.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Before we eat,
We turn our attention
To the bounty before us.
We are truly thankful for this meal
And for the richness of our lives.
May this food nourish our bodies,
And the company of those we love
Nourish our spirits.
Amen.
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