Monthly Archives: February 2012

President’s Message

Are we getting the full benefit of membership?
Probus members in Canada, about 22,000 of them, have an advantage over the members of most service and social clubs. To start with, Probus clubs are not fund-raisers or assigned to supporting the community or medical needs of others, although we may support volunteer activities individually. We are free to enjoy ourselves and meet our own hedonistic pursuits for social and mental stimulation. So far we haven’t taken much advantage of the Probus potential. Many extra activities are possible. Some clubs, especially those with female membership, will have a dozen or more extra activities. For example the new Credit River Club has 14 activity groups. Another combined club has three book clubs, two or more card clubs. a garden club, hiking club and computer club. Others have dining groups and even a scotch tasting group. We only have an active book club and an investment club and have done some golf. Our members should look around and see where we could take more advantage of the possibilities.

Gerry Sutton, our overworked VP and Speakers Chairman will preside at the next meeting, in February, while I return to Mexico to study the effects of the drug and booze trade on Gringos.

– Dave Patterson

In Memoriam

Sadly, Myles House, a long standing club member, died on November 29th  in his 76th year. Myles was a computer specialist and spent his whole business career at IBM. He cottaged in Muskoka and took a special interest in the region’s history. In fact some years ago he gave a talk with slides at the club on some of the research he had done. He leaves Donna, his wife for 50 years, a son and a daughter.

Book and Investment Clubs & Movie Reviews

THE BOOK & INVESTMENT CLUBS
The Book Club, is now in its 15th year. Only 2 original members remain active, Lou Bourgeois and Grant Gooding.

Currently members have been reading and discussing Michael Lewis’s two books The Big Short and Boomerang, both fascinating reads. The first relates to the U.S. financial market in the recent crash and the second to the European financial mess. Two new members have been welcomed recently, Mike Pallant and Alex Murphy. More info – call Lou Bourgeois..

In today’s unusual financial environment members of The Investment Club are glad to have a club where investments can be discussed and evaluated. The club meets at 10:00 a.m. on the second Thursday of each month at St. Paul’s United Church. Membership now stands at 19. Additional members are always welcome – call Gunther Lutz.

MOVIE AND BOOK REVIEWS
Helmut Erxleben reports on The Psychopath Test, A Journey through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson. “This is not exactly restful holiday reading, but nevertheless I found the title of this book intriguing enough to arouse my curiosity. Madness is an extremely difficult concept to define. To get a handle on what it means to be a psychopath, the author, a former BBC host, tries to gain insight by interviewing a number of individuals who at some point in their life had a role to play, either as psychiatrists, researchers, victims, clinicians, institutionalized psychopaths and those not yet clinically diagnosed, but who may have wreaked criminal, political or economic havoc in our society. Essentially, psychopaths are people who lack the insight into other people’s feelings. Is the cause of this lack of empathy, as some believe, a neurological condition, or is it simply a matter displaying a certain number of odd behaviour traits? The history of treatment for psychopathology has been marked by numerous failures, one of the most famous being the Oak Ridge experiments right here in Canada with LSD.”

Harold Erlendson, our movie critic, recently saw the War Horse. Here is his report: “This is an emotional drama that will move you and leave you with tears in your eyes. The setting is in rural England and Europe during WW1. The story begins with a remarkable relationship between a horse and a young man who tames and trains him. The film follows the remarkable journey of the horse as he moves through the war meeting British and German soldiers, a French farmer and his granddaughter and others. The film reaches its emotional climax in the middle of no-mans-land. It is a gallant film with sweeping cinematography and beautiful music. Highly recommended.

Membership Notes

At the January meeting we welcomed our first new member of 2012, Gordon Thomas. Gord was a research scientist with ORTECH, based in Mississauga. He was introduced by his long-time friend Bryan Noble.

Jim Tonner is looking for someone to handle the name tags for the March meeting. He will be away on holidays in March as will Ken Lewis who has been filling in. Please let Jim know if you can cover for him.