Todd Allen will introduce David Diamond who will offer his insights on the future of retail, bricks-and-mortar and online
THE ZOOM LINK FOR THE MEETING
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88229582283?pwd=aS9Hd3o1cS9ZK0hQL0ZhUHZXSEdxQT09
Meeting ID: 882 2958 2283
Password: 254494
The Zoom Room opens at 11:45 AM. After our opening Pledge of Allegiance and opening Password Todd will introduce our speaker.
LAST WEEK’S ANNOUNCEMENTS
President Todd Allen gave a verbal update on the Mask-Up event, noting that 15 members from our club joined up with the Lebanon Rotary Club to hand out 3200 masks and raise over $2,000 for Listen and the Haven. Bravo to those who helped out!
Liam McCarthy announced that the club has four new Paul Harris fellows: Dave Bradley (+1), Bill Garfield (+1), Kevin Wenger (+2), and Todd Allen.
Dave Bradley offered a Happy Dollar because he finally figured out how to tie the masks we gave out on Saturday.
Dick Podolec offered a Happy Dollar because his son moved from California to Connecticut, which meant he’d be able to spend more time with his Grandchild. One problem, though: there’s been a poer outage in Connecticut for the past nine days!
Liam McCarthy offered a Happy Dollar in honor of the Pooh Bear background on his computer.
Rod Thomas announced that Greg Bazylweicz won the raffle, a certificate for $10 off at Jesse’s should we ever eat there again.
DONATIONS IN LIEU OF MEALS
LAST WEEK’S PROGRAM
Dennis Logue introduced Bob Hargraves, who is launching a new energy business that uses nuclear power based on the use of thorium instead of uranium. Bob used a power point presentation that opened with several slides illustrating the current state of the climate crisis… which is dire. He noted that even if the international accords on climate were met we would still be spewing too much carbo into the atmosphere, especially given that the undeveloped nations are relying on coal which is the worst source in terms of carbon emissions. He then shared a series of slides underscoring the fact that conversion to wind and solar are not sufficient. Indeed, they may “cost more than advertised” and offer only intermittent power given their reliance on weather variability. His solution is to build nuclear plants in shipyards in developing countries to mitigate their inclination to use coal to compete with more developed economies. While this would not work in countries whose fear of nuclear power precludes its expansion, it would offset the adverse impact of third world countries spewing coal ash into the atmosphere. He gave a detailed technical explanation of how these would work and countered some of the misinformation that existed regarding the dangers of nuclear energy.
In response to questions Bob underscored that thorium is safer and cleaner than uranium, nearly as cheap as coal, and that the “solarize” movements in New England communities is not going to make a dent in the problem of global warming on a large scale.
Coming Attractions for August and September:
August 26 – Socially Distanced Luncheon at Camp Conniston in Grantham
September 2 – Todd Allen will introduce Emily Barr who owns five local TV stations and will provide us with an update on locally owned TV broadcasting
September 9 – John Hochreiter, the elected Assistant District Governor, will introduce this year’s District Governor Jamie Milne.
September 16 – Todd Allen will introduce John Helminiak who will help commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day and the 70th Anniversary of the Berlin Airlift
September 23 – Todd Allen will introduce Arnon Mishkin of Fox News Surveys who will, I am confident, have some timely news to share!
Be Well! See you on Wednesday.
