Meeting for the Week of June 22nd, 2015
This Meeting's Highlights
Speaker: Alice Chun
Program: The Power of the SolarPuff
Meeting for the week of June 22nd to 28th, 2015
Greetings
WelcomeWelcome to this week's meeting of the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley!
We're getting closer to the end of June, which means we are getting close to the end of the Rotary year. Looking back over the last year, or the last five months (if you joined Rotary when our eclub began in late January), stop and ask yourself a few questions:What have you learned?Do you feel you understand Rotary better than you did a year ago? Assuming the answer is yes, what stands out as especially interesting to you about the service focus of our organization? What do you want to learn more about?What have you given?In recent months have you celebrated some good news related to family, friends, or community by giving a dollar or two or more in our Happy Dollars section? Even a dollar and a message is welcome! If you have come to understand the wonderful things the Rotary Foundation is doing around the world, have you made a donation to help? Feel free to do so at: Rotary.org/give (you can also let Treasurer Allen know you want a donation to go to the Rotary Foundation, and he can arrange it).What have you done?The principal reason to belong to Rotary is to experience what it means to make the world better for others. Whether you are volunteering in your community, sharing messages about the work of Rotarian Action Groups, or helping us put together the content that appears in each week's meeting, the work is not only good for its accomplishments, but also for how it inspires others to act, as well. Let us know what you've been up to recently in our service survey, a little farther along in the meeting.Whatever your answers to the above, we are glad you're here, and hope you are inspired by what you find!Guests, we welcome your comments, as well, and ask that you consider contributing the cost of a meal to the service projects our club is putting in motion.
Feel free to use our donation system for Happy Dollars, or you can mail a check made out to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley to our treasurer: ℅ Allen Thompson, 13500 Cascade Ct., Bakersfield CA 93314.
Pushing Boundaries
The program this week includes plenty of thoughts on using technology in new ways. While the specific technologies in the program cover light and sustainable materials, this piece might appropriately whet your appetite for the intriguing.
The Power of Images
Another nice one from Camera Czar Keith!"This is one of my first Milky Way photo where I tried to include detail in the foreground by way of a "double exposure". It is actually two images taken about three hours apart and combined in Photoshop. It was taken in Natural Bridge National Monument in southern Utah. This area is known for its very dark skies that are nearly free of light pollution. The photo of the Milky Way over the Owachomo Bridge was honored with the "Landscape Award" at the Marin County Fair in 2013."
Happenings
Happy Dollars
Got something happy to share? I'll bet if you think about it for more than 10 seconds, you can come up with something. Please add a little something to our club's efforts with a nice message to go along with it!
from member Linda Tangren (California, USA), $15Thank Rushton for his energy! [I bow humbly in your direction! m(_ _)m ]
from member Rushton Hurley (California, USA), $5In honor of my new buddy Hajimu in Kyoto! I donate that energetically. 8^)
from member Yvonne Kwan (California, USA), $10Super pumped after a great Rotary International convention in Sao Paulo, Brazil!
from member Linda Tangren (California, USA), $15Thank you, Lisa for the wonderful tidbits you've added. Love them!
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Service Time
Donated time to a group in your community? If so, let us know about it!
What We Do
Barbeque Championships
We’re getting very close to the 2015 Silicon Valley Barbeque Championships on June 26th and 27th, a major project of the Rotary Club of Santa Clara. Please plan to participate by joining in on the fun and food. The event raises money for the Santa Club’s service efforts, and we’re proud to help! More details are on the event’s website.
Our own Stephen Zhou is coordinating several volunteers from our club and the Fremont Rotaract Club to help with one part of the program, and if you are interested in serving as a volunteer or a backup volunteer, contact him soon (szhou@financialguide.com)!
The World of Rotary
Yvonne Kwan and Mitty Chang attended the recent Rotary International Convention in Brazil, with all of its pageantry and inspiring messages. Here are several pictures from Yvonne, and you can see more at Rotary’s site.
For the first photo, this is a picture of the amazing Rotary Carnaval that took place at the convention. If you look closely enough, you can spot RI President Gary Huang in the bottom right sporting a bright red vest.
The second picture depicts one of the great things about conventions, and that is being able to meet Rotarians wherever you go. While sightseeing at Christ the Redeemer with a few other Rotaractors, we happened to bump into some Canadian Rotarians.
And for the final picture, that’s a picture of our Californian Rotaractor/Rotarian group meeting up after we landed at the airport. Can you see the excitement in our faces? 🙂
Apologies for the poor quality in some of these photos; all we were equipped with was our phones.
Sharings
The Tidbit
Sometimes it’s helpful to get a quick conversion from one kind of unit to another, and it’s easily done at Google.com, as you’ll see here.
A Little Humor
From the Dubious Accomplishments section of rd.com (lifted, apparently, from humorlabs.com), comes this one:
I don’t want to brag or make anybody jealous or anything, but I can still fit into the earrings I wore in high school.
Selected Comments from Last Week
Last week’s program by Carol Metzker on human trafficking generated lots of comments, with many noting how important the work of the Rotarian Action Group Against Child Slavery is. Below are a number of last week’s comments, and we hope you will leave your own thoughts about this week’s meeting and program in the Disqus section, below.
from member Andrew Taw (California, USA):
Thank you, Carol, for such an powerful presentation. I’m constantly humbled by the renewed understanding that we live in a world that contains both slaveholders and the members of RACSRAG. In these times, I’m often reminded of a haiku by Kobayashi Issa that goes something like this:
In this life,
we walk on the roof of hell
gazing at flowers.
I think it’s a lovely thing that people like yourself and so many others have opted to gaze around rather than to look down.
from member Heather Shaw (California, USA):
This was an eye-opening presentation and definitely brought up some emotions. Thank you Carol for bringing this to light for me and I plan on showing that video to others to share the cause.
from member Catherine Liu (California, USA):
I have to say that I am shocked to know there is such a monster. I am even more shocked that so many people are impacted.
from member Martin Fox (Utah, USA):
Great program Carol. You and the team are doing great work. Rushton – loved your story about attending the Rotary meeting. A great reminder that I need to start visiting Rotary Clubs again. At one point in time, most of my Rotary makeup meetings were done in East Africa and I made so many amazing friends. Keith… Thanks to you, I finally understand the wonders of HDR. I took identical shots with HDR on and off – what an amazing difference. Lisa… Holy cow, you just saved me a lot of time with that extension. I’ve been going to Google’s url shortener website each time to shorten the url (thank you, thank you, thank you).
from member Yvonne Kwan (California, USA):
What a powerful presentation. Carol, thank you for shedding light on an issue that is so often pushed under the carpet. It’s extremely disheartening to know that human trafficking is happening on such a huge scale (35.8 million people?!), but you and RACSRAG provide much needed hope. Thank you for the wonderful and vital work that you guys are doing.
from member Keith Marsh (California, USA):
Another powerful presentation. Also a great tidbit by Lisa. I plan to use it and have installed it on my Google Chrome.
from guest Wendy Grose (California, USA):
Great program. I don’t think we realize how close human trafficking is to us in the United States either. This is something that must be stopped. No one deserves to be treated with so little regard for their life. We all deserve respect.
from guest Martin Brocklebank (East Anglia, UK):
Enjoyed hearing Carol – interesting because our speaker on the 22nd July is the founder of RACSRAG, Mark Little, from the RC of St Edmund, Norwich UK. Also it is great to “attend” your meeting, and we have now emulated your model to help build better communication with our members – your asynchronous meeting inspired us Rushton and helped us move forward – thanks.
from guest Hardeep Singh (California, USA):
Great meeting! Very informative presentation. So glad there’s a RAG to fight against human trafficking, and that Rotarians are doing what they can to put an end to this. Also, I’m looking forward to the Silicon Valley BBQ championship event!
from member Shags Shagrin (California, USA):
Great meeting! Keep up the great work, team!!! And we’re now open to accepting new members, so please have friends and colleagues visit our eClub and see what we do.
from guest Felipe Bittencourt (Blumenau, Brazil) via email
Thank you guys for the opportunity to follow your meetings.
This Week’s Program
Alice Chun and Stacy Kelly of Solight Design created a solar-powered light called the SolarPuff, and launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $25,000 to support the effort. Very quickly they passed that mark, and backers have pledged over $446,000 to help them put the SolarPuff in the hands of many in need worldwide. Why is this device so interesting, and what can it do? Find out in this week’s program!
Alice Min Soo Chun is Co-Founder and CEO of Solight Design and the inventor of the SolarPuff. She is a Professor of Design and Material Culture at Parsons the New School for Design. After many years of research in integrating solar circuit panels with thin film substrates, she developed the first prototype for the solar inflatable light in 2009. When the Haiti earthquake happened, she turned her studio at Columbia University into an innovation studio for developing solutions to help Haiti, and then the application of the solar inflatable light, which became the SolarPuff. Her book, entitled Ground Rules in Humanitarian Design and published with Wiley Press in 2015, is about design principles for long-term sustainability.
Join us for a fascinating look at service and innovation by watching the video below!
You can learn more about the Solar Puff at the Solight Design site, feel free to purchase one or more of these for those in need in Nepal and/or Haiti.
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Meeting for the Week of June 15th, 2015Meeting for the Week of June 29th, 2015
Alice, it’s great to see what you and Stacy have accomplished with Solight and the SolarPuff – nice work bringing light to places where hope has been hard to see!
Gene Tognetti
What an inspiring message from Alice. It was very encouraging to see what’s been done and what the possibilities are. Outside the box thinking at its best! I was also floored by the dynamic shape display from MIT – if that could turn into a reasonably priced product some day, the opportunities – in education and more – are vast!!!
ShagsCA
Fascinating video about advances in technology! Amazing photo, Keith!! Sorry to be missing the BBQ event, but there’s a family wedding in SoCal to attend. Chew some Q for me! Loved the photos from the convention, too. And the program was awesome, even if it was the redo — I was there for the first run when Rushton’s computer sneezed and messed up the recording.
Wow…super meeting! Have contacted “in-form” people via their website to get one of their interactive pads. Pushing boundaries is so appropriate to our goals. The Solight has potential for remote locations shoots and adding aesthetic value to other situations. The plus is helping out others under their system. Keith I bow in your direction: amazing photo.
Keith Marsh
Another fantastic meeting focused on technology. Loved the “Pushing Boundaries” Video and the Tidbit by Rushton. Glad to hear that Yvonne and Mitty were able to attend the Convention in Brazil. Solar Puffs are amazing. Another way Rotary can help those in need around the World.
What genius idea! What a wonderfull design. I am always impressed when I see people such you Alice, being realy preocupied with sustainability. Again, as we can see, everything start with a sparkle. Your’s was probably a flash! Bravo.
Martin Fox
Great program – a continuing theme with this club. Love the approach Alice is taking with the SolarPuff design, retail/donation funding blend, and use of sustainable materials. We need more people like Alice on the planet. A wonderful way to start my Saturday morning 🙂
Lisa Highfill
Really love this Alice. So brilliant. I’m curious about what you did with your classroom at Columbia, turning it into an innovation studio to find solutions for Haiti- I wonder about other classrooms that are doing something similar for social change. To me, this is what learning should/could be…ideas–>creations–>solutions. Thank you for sharing.
john lozano
Alice, thank you for a great presentation. I enjoyed hearing about the process of the idea, design, and production. Very inspiring to hear how innovation is working to find solutions for places like Haiti and around the world. Keep up the great work!
Meg Taylor
Alice, I loved this presentation! Thanks so much for the great work you’re doing.
Richard Knaggs
The beauty of the Cosmos astounds me. I am stunned by Keith’s picture. Solight is really clever and innovative. We constantly have the problem of low cost housing burning to the ground in our informal settlements and many lives are lost every year as a result. Is there any way of getting the cost down lower as they are very expensive for our communities that survive on less than $100.00 a month?
Alice shows what good design and great questions can lead to. What an amazing light!
Paul Mosso
Alice-First, thank you for such a great presentation. Second, for being a leader in the entrepreneur community in creating sustainable and ecologically responsible products. Manufacturers generally do not consider the full lifecycle of their product and how environmentally responsible it is at all stages of its life. I was mentioning to an associate this week on how Rotarians are working to leave the world a better place than how they found it, and I’m happy to be part of a group that invites individuals like yourself to present and ask us to support your cause. Thank you for your hard work!
What a great idea and I love that it is so environmentally conscious! It has got my curiosity up and I am going to purchase one and send one so I can share the program
Stephen Zhou
Just wanted to thank all those who volunteered at the Santa Clara BBQ Championships coordinated by the Rotary Club of Santa Clara. Special thanks to the Fremont Rotaract Club and Silicon Valley Rotaract club for helping out with some volunteers! It was a great success and the rotary club of Santa Clara really appreciated our help! I hope everyone also enjoyed the tasty BBQ they served at the competition!
Andrew Taw
Congrats on such a successful kickstarter campaign! I just checked out the website and the product looks super cool! Not to mention the fact that bringing light to communities that don’t have it is so empowering for those community members.
Allen Thompson
Excellent information in this week’s meeting. And thank you Keith for a new desktop background for my computer! Your photos are all marvelous.
The Solar Puff and Solar Helix look very promising for wilderness use. I ordered a couple!! I hope to be able to use them often!
We could have used them this weekend at our family campout at Mammoth Lakes, in the Sierra Nevada just east of Yosemite National Park. What a pleasant change from the brutal heat of the Bakersfield heat!. Mammoth Mountain is well known by snow skiers as a premium ski area but the area is also very popular for summer hiking, biking, and boating. And just laying around doing nothing …. as did I.Alice, thanks so much for taking the time to share your innovative project with us. Solar Puffs sound like a great way to light up the world. I love it!
Yvonne Kwan
This is AWESOME. Alice, thank you so much for sharing this project (and congrats on totally knocking it out of the park with your Kickstarter campaign!). I love that the Solar Puff is designed with sustainability, eco-friendliness, and aesthetics in mind. This is such a great way to bring light around the world to those who need it most!
About us
Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley is a non-profit 501(c)4 organization dedicated towards bettering humanity through service and fellowship.
Delivering innovation, entrepreneurship, and education since January 2015.
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