Today was partly sunny, windy, and little warmer than normal, but not too bad considering that it’s late December!The crowd was quite slow to assemble today but by meeting time we seemed to have reached our normal numbers, which is too close to our caterer’s minimum guarantee
Be The Bearer of Joy To Our World
At the appropriate time, President Dave Amberg called us to order, and we sang, pledged to our Flag, and listened to Dan Larson’s well crafted Invocation. He spoke of Mo Moshovots and asked us to keep him in our prayers.He then spoke of this as the season of Peace, Joy, and the Celebrations within the world’s great religions.He ended by asking us,” as Rotarians, to be the bearer of Joy to Our World and to bring purpose to our lives and meaning to our days.” We approached the buffet table to find a tasty spread anchored with macaroni and cheese, steak, carrots, rolls, and salad, with apple pie for dessert.
Has Anyone Seen The Photos?
We reconvened and guests Bob Duggar and Charlie Wilson were introduced and serenaded with the Welcome Song led by George Schoen. Sgt. at Arms Ned Lynch continued his arm twisting which resulted in a nice $$$$ day. Birthdays for Dan Larson, Anwar Hossain, and Wes Willett kicked off his report, followed by Sue Klock’s 20th Rotary anniversary. Several UConn fans contributed for Geno’s and Chris’s 1000th win – Ceil Collins, George Schoen, and Bob Wood.Other subjects included Nick Cecere’s comments about his friend, Mo, Marc Glass’ support of the Eagles. Ruth Sheehan’s request for a Big Bat for the Red Sox, Dan Firestone in recognition of his grandson’s 6th degree Black Belt, Happy Jack for all the Steeler fans, Ned Lynch to indicate that the Patriots have a better coach than the Steelers, Neal Cunningham for Dan Larson’s silverware heist, Larry Hangland in honor of the season, and finally – Steve Jacoby for being “just a little late”!
President Dave made a comment about the Priest at Mo’s funeral mentioning that Mo was always taking pictures of something, but questioned whether or not anyone ever saw the pictures.Sounds like this could have been said by several longstanding East Hartford Rotarians! Charlie Wilson was called up to receive a check for the East Hartford Hornet Football and Cheerleading organization, a youth program supported by our Charitable Fund.Eric and LaToia came up and were presented with their traditional holiday gratuity.This is long-standing gift to those who serve us at our weekly meeting.
Jack Sayre came to the podium to thank those who volunteered to ring the Salvation Army Christmas bell at Stop and Shop.He recited a poem about the solitary man with the red pot ringing the bell on a cold Winter’s day.Our take for this year 2017 was $2017! Interesting!!!! He also mentioned that we lost another of our Rotary Family, Fred Doocy.Fred was a past president -1967.He lived to be 104.The final order of business prior to our speaker was Happy Jack’s raffle – the lucky guy – Jim Fallon.
Cyber Crime A Growing Concern
Dan Firestone, continuing his excellent speaker procurement, announced that Frank Leone will be our speaker next week. He then introduced today’s speaker, Arthur House. Arthur is Chief Cybersecurity Officer for the State of Connecticut. His talk gave a frightening view of the perils of cybercrime and how vulnerable we are to it’s dangers. He stated that cyber warfare is a serious threat. It’s easier to attack something than to defend against cyber intrusions.
The State rather than the Federal Government has the key role in protecting us. Connecticut is developing action plans to deal with cyber acts. He asked a question –“What would you do if there was a cyber attack on a major utility?” An attack could easily shut down a major grid – electricity, water, transportation or any number of other crucial services. A major problem with cybercrime – it can be initiated by a single rogue hacker, or a nation, such as North Korea, China, or Russia. Cyber mercenaries are holding individuals, towns, states, and even nations hostage. New Malware is being developed every day. Once developed, our task is to find a way to protect from it. We are not educating enough skilled computer people to stay on top of the problem. He answered several questions, but still left us with an uneasy feeling about how we (as a nation) deal with the threats posed by cybercrime.
NEXT WEEK – WINE AND CHEESE – SEE YOU THERE – BOB WOOD
