Soundings (7/12/11)

Posted by Stowe Talbot 
 
 
 Flag Salute & Invocation: Catherine Reis-ElBara

Visiting Rotarians: Shaheen Salam (TX), Mike Hamilton (GA), Ann Jones (from the Big Club)

Guests: Remy Talbot

Announcements:

Bill Gorman thanks everyone who attended the 30-year party last Thursday.  Most of our 30 past-presidents were there sharing stories; it was a wonderful celebration our club's history and achievements.  The new DG Jane Helton attended as well.  Bill also thanked everyone for making his year of presidency so enjoyable.

Brewers by the Bay - Sunday July 24th - update by Steve:  We expect to have close to 40 breweries this year and 55+ beers represented. Please buy/sell more tickets, and sign up for volunteer duties!  
 
Fellowship:  Eddie says the crab feed at his house is this Thursday 5-8pm.  Please sign up, it will be fun! 
 
Anna says she will present a 2011-12 budget soon with list of goals for the year.  Board meeting next Thursday 7:30 am at Talbot Company offices.
 

Bucks in the Bay

  • Bill Gorman glad to finally sit in the back;
  • Lynn Templeton bucks for Todd Ramsay's brother who was injured recently in the line of duty;
  • Bill Geyer glad to serve on the board, remarked that women very well represented on the board this year!
  • Eddie was gone for a couple weeks, went to Italy with wife, big kudos to Frank Zurline who did a fantastic job arranging the trip;
  • Gordon Plume had fun at Chuckanut run on Saturday with two other Rotarians;
  • Curt Smith glad to get some free publicity for his "brothels" book on the front page of the Herald;
  • Tim McEvoy wedding anniversary last Thursday!
  • John Templeton apology bucks for comment to Orphalee, and glad the RE biz seems to be picking up!
  • Scot Swanson trip to Chicago to attend a wedding;
  • Patti some missed meetings while in Paris, also some fishing in Canada;
  • Frank Chmelik cruising in San Juan Islands, caught a 25-lb king salmon!
  • Marilyn Olsen for missed meetings while in Yosemite, then DC to see grandson, then Indianapolis to see mother in law;
  • May Humphries fabulous vacation trip to Sedona, Grand Canyon, etc.;
  • Tresha Dutton for missed meetings busy teaching at WCC, also trips to Cabo and then Vail; 
  • Lisa Schork celebrating 15th year in business at Capstone!
  • Steve Kimberly $ for our foundation for upcoming wedding anniversary;
  • Orphalee's son completed the "STP" (Seattle to Portland) bike ride.

Sergeant at Arms by Orphalee

Fines for Bill Geyer, Mike Hammes and Gordon Plume, non-attendees at the Saturday installation dinner, Brad Cornwell, dentists, various trivia.

Program

Dennis introduced Ken Rines, WWU professor, with a talk entitled "Galaxy Clusters and the Dark Universe".

Ken said our galaxy is the Milky Way. 60,000 light years across.  Ken explained how scientists determine distances, speed and mass with the the help of light's "doppler effect". The scientist Hubble Edwin Hubble (1889 – 1953) discovered that the degree of "Doppler shift" (specifically "redshift") observed in the light spectra from other galaxies increased in proportion to a particular galaxy's distance from Earth. This relationship became known as Hubble's law, and helped establish that:

  1. the universe is expanding;
  2. universe was denser in the past;
  3. there was initially a big bang (probably).

"Galaxy Clusters" are dense clusters of 50-1,000 galaxies with a huge mass.  Gravity vs. expansion plays a kind of a cosmic tug-of-war.

"Dark Energy" is a hypothetical form of energy that permeates all of space and tends to increase the rate of expansion of the universe.  Dark energy is the most accepted theory to explain recent observations that the universe appears to be expanding at an accelerating rate. In the standard model of cosmology, dark energy accounts for 73% of the total mass-energy of the universe.

Supernovas are stellar explosions. Ken is studying the light coming from them to determine the speed at which the universe is expanding.

Formerly it was thought that the Big Bang propelled matter into an expansion, which would ultimately be slowed down by the gravitational pull of all the matter in space.  However, recent evidence suggests universe is expanding faster and faster (counter intuitive). Once scientists accurately determine the rate of that expansion, we will have a good idea if there is such a thing as "dark energy" that is pulling the universe apart faster than it would otherwise expand.

Raffle won by Glen Groenig!

Respectfully submitted,

Stowe Talbot