Wednesday, 20 July 2016

Rotary Club of Oak Bay Meeting 19 July 20, 2016 - Dr. Perry Bamji on Goofy Patents

Reporter: Sabrina

Introduction to the Meeting
President Lori McLeod talked about harmony to open the meeting
We sang “O Canada” to a new YouTube version (Karaoke)
Tav McPherson did the invocation
Peter Lawrie and Wendy Townsend were pinned for being incoming board members
Sandy Currie introduced our guests and visiting Rotarians:
  • Marlene Oliver – visiting from the Victoria club
  • Jean Dickson – guest of Lori McLeod
  • Maya McIntyre – guest (and daughter) of Anne McIntyre
  • Thuly Kamohelo – guest (and daughter) of Naida Hyde
  • Donna Carrigan Chow – guest of Alyx Valdal and past member of our club

Rotary Moment
Neil Rawnsley presented a “Rotary Moment” providing the story of the origin of the 4-way test
If anyone wants a copy of the story, email Neil and ask him – very interesting!

Announcements
Lorna Curtis made 2 announcements:
  • District Governor is visiting on Sunday, August 21st from 3-6 PM at a traditional Salmon BBQ for all our local clubs at once.  The BBQ will take place at 2895 Sooke River Rd, cost is $40 per person.  No host bar.
  • Oak Bay Rotary is having a social on August 6th at Bob Schelle’s house.  It’s an “East Coast Kitchen Party” with the best donairs you’ve ever tasted, and lots of live music.  The cost is $30 per person.  Members from the newly chartered downtown club are attending.

Celebrations Master
Peter Lawrie completed his duties quickly so that Perry would have time for his presentation.
Fines: members were fined if they haven’t yet brought a guest to a meeting in this Rotary year.
Birthdays: Lorna Curtis and Joan Peggs both celebrated their birthdays at today’s meeting.
Happy/Sad dollars: Wendy Townsend is retiring on September 30th
50/50 draw: Naida won the draw but didn’t pick the magic marble!

Health of the Club
Lynne Murray mentioned she’d gone to see David Sills .  He might be sent home later this week and is doing well.

Speaker
Naida introduced our very own Dr. Perry Bamji as our speaker, who has a Bachelor’s degree in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Bombay and  Masters and Ph.D.in Electrical Engineering  from the University of Bradford in England. Perry was employed by Alcan International as a junior research engineer and worked his way up to being a Director with Alcan in England, Japan and Canada.  On his retirement from Alcan he was invited to join Queen’s University School of Business as an Associate Professor and Director of Small Business Consulting.

Perry’s life motto: “The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of anything.” – Author Unknown
Perry holds 12 patents and has published several technical publications in Journals of Learned Societies.
Perry spoke today about “Goofy Patents: An Extravaganza of Eccentric Ingenuity!”  Among the inventions he discussed were the following:
  • Alarm clocks from the early 1800s
  • Transportation devices and travel aids
  • Dining implements
  • Beauty, grooming, and dental aids
  • Golfing and fishing aids
  • How cardboard can get patented, showing a cardboard cat figure to deter mice
Peter Lawrie thanked Perry for his presentation which everyone found highly entertaining, as Perry had a few of them actually constructed and on display.

Meeting was adjourned by President Lori with another song about harmony.

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