By Marc Seigar

 

On an overcast day in October, Rotarians gathered in the Lyric Conference Room in the Holiday Center.  President Michelle Buria called the meeting to order, and we started with a Rotary Reflection given by Chana Stocke.  Chana recalled her childhood fascination with globes and how she could look at the whole world with just a spin of the hand.  She informed us that Google Earth was created in 2001, and she remembered using Google Earth to zoom in on a Rotary Exchange student’s house in France in 2009, and how it felt like magic.  The reflection was a great introduction to our program.

 

Past Assistant Governor Phil Strom gave the Fellowship Report.  He started by informing the Club that October 24 is World Polio Day and that District 5580 is matching all contributions to Polio Plus during the month of October.  He also mentioned that Dave Rutford is currently at home ill.  Geiger Yount from the Caring Committee announced she had recently visited and he was doing well.  North Shore Bank commercials still feature Chana Stocke and Karol Sowers who were both asked to kick the Golden Can.  Self reports included, Barb Perella who celebrated her 27^th wedding anniversary, Past President Steve Yorde who celebrated 37 years of marriage, Rob Hofmann for his article in the paper about the Depot Foundation, and Dave Nolle for all the press coverage as he runs for mayor of Duluth.  Past Assistant Governor Al Makynen announced he would be attending Virginia Rotary Club’s 100^th Anniversary Dinner to represent Club #25 which sponsored the Virginia Club in 1919.  It also happens that nearly 50 years ago he was a Junior Rotarian at the Virginia Club.  Finally, Past President Branden Robinson reported that Destination Duluth had just reached the milestone of 150,000 followers on Facebook.

 

President Elect Dean Casperson & new 

member Jeramy Mercil

 

President Elect Dean Casperson introduced Jeramy Mercil as our newest member who is a senior network engineer, has two children, and generally likes being outdoors.  Welcome to the Club!  Marc Seigar introduced the October Junior Rotarian from Denfeld, Elizabeth Emmel, who had been unable to make several meetings, but will be making up by attending a few meetings in November.  She plans on going to College to study for Pharmacy or Business.  Finally, President Michelle Buria noted that veterans will be honored at our meeting on November 14, and that the Duck Pluck presentation to the Boys and Girls Club will take place on Wednesday, October 30 at 3:00pm at the Heritage Center. 

 

   

October Junior Rotarian from Denfeld,            

 

Chair of the Day, Dan Maki, a Finn, then introduced our speaker of the day, Jeff Iisakka, another Finn.  His presentation was about Google Earth and how to use it to travel the globe.  He first asked how many people in the room had little to no knowledge of Google Earth and very few people raised their hands.  Google Earth Pro can be downloaded onto any computer and it is fun to play with.  You can get a 2-D or 3-D view of any spot on Earth.  The presentation was a 30-minute video he had put together as he navigated the world in Google Earth Pro, with songs by Enya in the background, the only exception being “Happy Trails” as we returned to Duluth at the end of the video.  We were taken across the United States, from farmlands in Texas to the Rocky Mountains near Parachute, CO, from Meteor Crater near Winslow, AZ, to El Capitan in Yosemite. (If you have not seen the free solo climb by Alex Honnold in 2017 captured in the documentary movie Free Solo, it is a fascinating watch). We were then taken around the world, visiting the depths of the oceans, which consist of volcanic ridges, plains, mountain ranges and deep valleys.  Some mountains on the ocean floor have peaks that can reach 11,000 feet.  One ridge of mountains stretches all the way from Alaska, through Russia and Japan to the Mariana Islands, stretching more than 6,000 miles along the Pacific Ocean.  We saw Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain, and Mauna Kea, on the Big Island of Hawaii.  We visited Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, Victoria Falls in Southern Africa, Mount Vesuvius overlooking the ruins of Pompeii in Italy, Lake Baikal in Russia that contains 27% of the Earth’s freshwater.  One thing is for sure; my words cannot do justice to the amazing visuals we saw.  All I can say is, try playing with Google Earth.  You can invest countless hours doing so.