Meeting for the Week of June 29th, 2015

Meetings

Jun 29

Written By Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley

This Meeting's Highlights

Speaker: Eileen BrewerProgram: Empowering, Connecting, and Supporting TechWomen

Meeting for the week of June 29th to July 5th, 2015

Greetings

Welcome from President Rushton Hurley

This is it - the last meeting of the Rotary year! Has it been a good year for you? Have you learned something from your Rotary meetings? Have you made one or more new friends through Rotary?As you think about that, you can also begin imagining how you will help with our club's service in the coming year.Perhaps you haven't given your talk yet, and want to get on the schedule. Remember, this isn't anything complex! We just want to know who you are and what you do. If there are hobbies or organizations that help explain what you hope to be as a Rotarian in the coming year, you're certainly welcome to share that, as well.You might also have decided that there is an effort of some kind in your community to which you will give your time in the coming months. Do you help with a food distribution program? Do you volunteer at a library or senior center? Do you help a nonprofit with its operations in some way? Do you tutor at a school? Whatever it is, in making the commitment, you're committing not just to helping others, but to enriching your own life.That's the little secret Rotarians understand about living!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.

Imagining the Future

Students at member Richard Knaags' school in Cape Town have entered a contest which is linked to the Google XPrize Moonbots competition (details here). They are waiting to hear if they made the Phase 2 cut of just thirty schools around the world, so everyone think good thoughts! Judges' decisions for that will be announced on or about July 7th.

Cool Tweet

from member Martin Fox (‏@GlobalRipple)You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop. - RumiAre you on Twitter? If so, make sure you're following Martin (see the link, above), as well as our eclub, which will start sharing plenty of ideas over the new year.

The Power of Images

from President Rushton

Earlier in June, I had the chance to visit Taipei and Kyoto, and last week shared the story of meeting Hajimu during my visit to Kyoto South Rotary. This week, I'll offer up a picture I took at Tenmangu Shrine (map), which I'd never visited before this trip. Kyoto is absolutely loaded with temples and shrines, and I thoroughly enjoy wandering amidst the beautiful buildings and learning the stories of their histories.In this picture, I noticed a set of torii (gates at a shrine which mark off sacred space at a Shinto shrine), and tried taking a photo from within them looking back at one of the building's walls.If you like pictures like this, I'd encourage you to visit Flickr or another image site where people share their work, and do a search on "Kyoto temple" or "Kyoto HDR" - both of those are links to searches in Flickr via search.creativecommons.org. Having Creative Commons licensing means the photographer has given you permission to use her or his work for free, as long as you properly cite the source.

Happenings

What We Do

Barbeque Championships

A big thank you to all our members and eclub buddies who helped the Rotary Club of Santa Clara with its big BBQ event last weekend! Representing our eclub were Gene Tognetti, Andrew Knaack, Yvonne Kwan, Mitty Chang, Hardeep Singh, Janel Alimboyoguen, Collin Breen, and David Kautz, led by Fearless Social Czar Stephen Zhou. Way to go, guys! Our portion of the proceeds totalled $1000, and we'll put that to good use in the service projects we're taking on in the coming months.

Sharing Ideas

In a stunning move, we have two upcoming program recordings scheduled so far in advance that we can announce them in the meeting! I hope you were sitting for that one.This Thursday (July 2nd) at 11:00a PDT, our 2015-2016 District Governor (DG) Susan Valenta will kick off her year-o-leadership and talks to every club by starting with...us! Let Rushton (president@siliconvalleyrotary.com) know if you can join in on the recording, and we'll get you invited in to the Hangout.This Sunday at 9:00a PDT, member Richard Knaags will give his talk to the club. Richard is part of the leadership team at Parklands College, one of the finest schools in South Africa. Join in to hear the very cool things happening in Cape Town, as well as his fun accent! For this one, too, please let Rushton know if you can join the recording.

Next Social - July 6th in Oakland

Our next gathering is in Oakland, on Monday, July 6th, at 6:30 PM. It will be at "Lost & Found" on Telegraph (map). It's a gastropub with great food, drinks, and a cool vibe.

District Newsletter

DG Ed's last newsletter is available for you to see on the district website. In it, you'll find a mention of how District 5170 Interact students represented Silicon Valley at Rotary's Sao Paulo convention, as well as what's happening around our area.

The World of Rotary

Two of Rotary's Areas of Focus are educational support and clean water provision. It turns out there is a tight relationship between these two when you think of the importance of clean water in schools for keeping kids healthy and focused.In early June in Brazil at the World Water Summit, UNICEF reported on its Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Schools, and with the support of Rotary-collaborated projects, partner World Vision helped more than 845,000 children gain access to clean water through $85 million in project funding in 2013 alone.There are big problems in the world, but there are also bold leaders in organizations like Rotary who take an interest in addressing those problems. Take pride in your part in these efforts, and get the full story at Rotary's website.

Service Time

Last week of the month! If you haven't reported service you've done in the last few weeks, now's the time. Tell the story of how you have helped others, whether in a big or small way, and let's build our encouragement of each other to regularly experience the joy and better perspective that come with helping others.Next week, we'll catch up on what we've been up to! Report yours here.

Birthdays

Last Sunday (27th) was a birthday for two folks in our club: member Heather Shaw and soon-to-be-a-member François Tessier. The club hopes that you both celebrated with style, and with an upcoming Happy Dollars donation to our efforts!

Happy Dollars

As this is not only the last week of the month, but also the last week of the 2014-2015 Rotary year, I'm hoping that everyone will toss in a dollar or two to report a little happiness. At the very least, I hope you're happy to be in the club! That's worth a dollar, no?

from guest Hardeep Singh (California, USA), $5 Thank you, Yvonne and Mitty, for sharing your pictures (with some of my Rotaract friends too) from the RI convention!

Fill out my online form

Sharings

The Tidbit

You might assume that you are limited to a rather bland offering when opening a new tab in Chrome. Not at all, says Webmaster Mitty, and in the Tidbit, he shows you how to spruce up your new tab experience in two different ways.

A Little Humor

from John O’Callaghan on LaughFactory.com

A boy asks his father, “Dad, are bugs good to eat?” “That’s disgusting. Don’t talk about things like that over dinner,” the dad replies. After dinner the father asks, “Now, son, what did you want to ask me?” “Oh, nothing,” the boy says. “There was a bug in your soup, but now it’s gone.”

Selected Comments from Last Week

Last week’s program by inventor and design specialist Alice Chun drew plenty of admiring comments:

from about-to-be-a-member François Tessier (Montreal, Canada)
What a genius idea! What wonderful design! I am always impressed when I see people like you Alice, so really focused on sustainability. Again, as we can see, everything starts with a sparkle. Yours was probably a flash! Bravo.

from member Keith Marsh (California, USA)
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.

from member Shags Shagrin (California, USA)
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. [Argh. – Rushton]

from member Chris Cochrane (Ontario, Canada)
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.

from member Gene Tognetti (California, USA)
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!!!

from member Rushton Hurley (California, USA)
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!

This Week’s Program

If you could help aspiring engineers from some of the developing parts of the world come to Silicon Valley and bring their talents to a new level, how would you do it? If you’re Eileen Brewer, you do it by volunteering your time as part of the TechWomen Program of the U.S. State Department.

TechWomen empowers, connects, and supports the next generation of women leaders in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) from Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East by providing them the access and opportunity needed to advance their careers, pursue their dreams, and inspire women and girls in their communities. Through mentorship and exchange, TechWomen strengthens participants’ professional capacity, increases mutual understanding between key networks of professionals, and expands girls’ interest in STEM careers by exposing them to female role models.

Eileen Brewer is a Director at Symantec, managing their Security Appliance Team. She has over fifteen years in the hardware and software development industry and in addition is passionate about volunteering and helping others. For the last three years she has been volunteering with the TechWomen Program where she mentors women arriving from the Middle East and Africa for a one-month visit to the Silicon Valley.

A special thanks to member Gene Tognetti for his work getting this program together!

Other notable sites in relationship to empowering women and girls:
Girls Who Code – “working to close the gender gap in the technology and engineering sectors”
Women’s Alliance for Knowledge Exchange – “links high-impact, innovative women’s organizations to technology tools and expertise from leading companies to help organizations accelerate their impact and scale their work”
Notable Women in Tech – supporting “educators around the world who are working to inspire women and girls to consider or continue careers in computing”

Find all the US State Dept Exchange Programs at the department’s website.

I Attended!

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.

Recent Meetings

Something Special June 27, 2016
Lighting for Literacy June 20, 2016
How to Raise Money Using Video June 13, 2016
Project HAND UP – Using Puppets to Teach Health Education June 6, 2016
The State of the Union on Sports May 30, 2016

Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley