MEETING RECAP
AI: Making Magic Mundane
Sunday, January 23, 2022
By: Donn IrwinAI – Making Magic Mundane
THE LAKEWOOD KEY for January 21,2022
AI (Artificial Intelligence)
1)a branch of computer science dealing with the simulation of intelligent behavior in computers
2) the capability of a machine to imitate intelligent human behavior
In the beginning President Jim called the meeting to order at 12:30 p.m; however, there was some pre-game chatter among the Zooming members of the Lakewood Rotary tribe. Some of the chatter went like this:
Greg R. mentioned that the Board meeting went long and that President Jim wasn’t happy about it, but lots of stuff had to get done.
Ron Banner was thanked for all of the things that he does. Greg R. wanted to know how Ron was dealing with the Covid situation. Mr. Banner was very diplomatic while giving us some insight in dealing with all of the regulations.
On this day in history….
In 1677 the first medical publication in America (pamphlet on smallpox) was published in Boston
Carole Wier shared that she was experiencing a heat wave in Minnesota. When she got up this morning it was 3 degrees but the thermometer had since climbed all the way up to 13 degrees as of the time of our meeting. (For her I believe it was 2:30PM.)
Gayle Selden publicly apologized to PP Bill Potter for joking him in the last Club Bulletin. Bill allowed that it was fine and recognition of any kind is great for PPs.
1813 - Spaniard Don Francisco de Paula y Marin plants coffee in Hawaii - first record of coffee growing in Hawaii.
Now back to our meeting:
President Jim called the meeting to order promptly at 12:30 p.m and immediately went mute……I’ll leave that alone. After coming back on President Jim noted that Andrew Kruse was slated to do the invocation but wasn’t in attendance. The Pres looked for Barlow Buescher and couldn’t find him either so he gave the invocation himself (gotta love a guy that will just take charge). It was obvious that Pres Jim is a preacher’s son. The Pres followed up the invocation by leading us in the pledge of allegiance. He then explained that, at the last Board meeting, the Board discussed the fees that the credit card companies charge and that, in the near future there will be a “convenience” fee charged by LR for using credit cards to pay for our various fines, donations etc.
1899 - Opel manufactures its first automobile
Making the Meeting happen: Co-Host: Leanna Christian
Recording of fines: John Lowney
Bulletin Writer: Donn Irwin
Foundation Desk: Please mail in contributions or go online
Monitoring This President’s Gaffes: Greg Rediske
Puffins attending: Wendy McGowan, Connie Coleman-Lacadie, Angela Connelly, James Osundwa.
No guests of Rotarians were noted.
Health and Wellness: Eric Warn shared that he had spoken with John Forkenbrock and that he is dealing with skin cancer but doing okay.
1908 - "Sullivan Ordinance" is passed in NYC, making it illegal for a woman to smoke in public places. It was vetoed 2 weeks later by Mayor George B. McClellan Jr.
John Lowney was called upon to let us know that somehow a donation for the Emergency Food Network had been promised for last year but had not been paid. John then asked for a motion from the group to authorize a $2000.00 payment to EFN. The motion was stated, a second was recognized and the motion passed unanimously.
President Jim then called upon Rose Stevens to talk about the Little Food Pantry project. Rose stated that they are looking for drop off points for donations. Rose asked that Lakewood Rotary members with businesses consider being a drop off point but that she would take any suggestions. Contact Rose or Bob Zawilski.
Above: Typical LFP
1915 - Kiwanis International founded in Detroit
Angela Connelly then alerted all of us to a Business Summit being put on by Tacoma Safe. So, if you wish to attend, the Summit is Wednesday 1/26 at America’s Car Museum. The summit is about having Tacoma be a safe city but it actually is a county-wide event. The Mayor of Tacoma along with the Pierce County Executive and four Council members are slated to be there. For more information contact Angela.
Oops – at this point it was noted by someone that, unbeknownst to him, Carl Bronkema’s wife Veronica was actually in attendance as a guest. Our President asked if her application for membership was in the pipeline yet. Carl confessed that it was still on his desk.
Anne Enquist had mentioned to President Jim that Amazon has a program called Amazon Smile that allows for donations to charitable organizations when we buy things. Leanna Christian walked us through the process of signing up for the program. Greg Rediske shared that last year the club received about $350.00 of “free” money. Just go to https://www.smile.amazon.com.
And get the app. It is really easy to just designate LR as your preferred charity.
1935 -12.0" (30.5 cm) of rain falls at Quinault Ranger Station, a Washington state record.
Eric Quinn, our Youth Exchange guy, is looking for hosts as the program is being ramped back up. NOTE: Families and anyone that lives in the home will have to show proof of vaccination against Covid.
1934 -Parisian baker and "student of medieval life" Henri Littière appears in court charged with forcing his adulterous wife Juliette to wear a chastity belt. Having committed the same offence in 1932, he was sentenced to three months in prison and fined 50 francs for cruelty to his wife.
Mary Marlin announced that there is a Zoom meeting that John Korsmo has set up regarding mentoring. The meeting is on January 27th. Give Mary a call for details and/or suggestions for mentors and mentees.
President Jim opened the floor for any questions we had for member Ron Banner – the Superintendent of Clover Park School District.
Above; Ron Banner
Our President asked how the basketball team was doing and Ron said that the activity is keeping the kids engaged and active through this pandemic. Ron also noted that the coaches and players are tested for Covid three times a week.
GR: Where are you with subs?
RB: If you have a four-year degree you can apply – they need teachers! They also need bus drivers.
MH: What’s happening with new boundaries.
RB: The school boundaries haven’t changed (although he is in discussions with Bethel School District over a small area that is in question) but the voting districts can change due to redistricting following the census. This is known as reapportionment, and is based on the constitutional principle of “one person, one vote”. The school district has a consultant working on the reapportionment process.
AE: What percentage of the staff is fully vaccinated?
RB: About 99%. Those that are exempt get tested once a week. The “fully vaccinated” definition does NOT include the booster at this time.
Fines and Generous Giving – Dr. Ralph Johnson – yesterday was my 94th birthday. The good doctor paid $100.00 for the privilege. Leanna Christian had a “milestone birthday” (she didn’t mention which one) and a getaway weekend. She rounded up her fine to $50.00 to cover for the trip. (You do the math as to her age.)
1994 - Dow Jones passes 3900 (record 3,914.20).
Picked up by this writer on “Chat” during the Zoom meeting: Rumor has it that John Warner will be coming back from the East Coast on 2/2.
Program: Artificial Intelligence and its relationship with medical research.
Above: Tom George (great to see our Puffins being so active)
Tom George gave an extensive introduction of our speaker, Robin Abraham, Ph.D. Mr. Abraham is the Director of Applied Science, Program Management & Engineering at Microsoft.
Dr. Abraham shared that he has taken inspiration from a book entitled “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry”. (This writer admits that this particular title is NOT on his list of must reads – mainly because I wouldn’t understand most of it.) Our speaker also shared that AI (artificial intelligence) is the most important thing that humanity is working on.
The program focused on AI and medicine but Dr. Abraham made the point that AI takes the magical and turns it into the mundane. Think back when we marveled at asking a computer a question like “who is x” and boom – you had an answer. You didn’t have to find a reference book or even take a trip to the library! We were all amazed. Now it is totally accepted AND EXPECTED for our computers to do that for us. As a friend of mine mentioned….at one time a flushing toilet was an amazing thing.
Our speaker then talked about unsupervised learning, detecting patterns or similarities and reinforcement learning (learning from trial and error that is driven by a reward system).
The key ingredient in all of this is big data plus MASSIVE computing capabilities. (The number of transistors on a microchip doubles every two years.) With more data there is less trial and error.
Dr. Abraham went into several projects he is working on – Drug formulation and the inner eye.
He described some of the processes that they go through such as asking why a formulation failed, will it work if I tweak it and which experiences can I avoid. All of this allows AI to get to a working formula in less time than the old trial and error methods. This means quicker discovery, less time to market and getting the drug to those that need it quicker and for a cheaper cost.
Several questions were asked and answered. The speaker made it known that Microsoft does NOT look at an individual’s data…. (thankfully).
President Jim thanked Mr. Abraham for a very interesting program and adjourned the meeting. (This writer won’t mention at what time the meeting was adjourned, because of the President’s opening comments, but the time was not 1:30 p.m.)
1921 Agatha Christie publishes her first novel “The Mysterious Affair at Styles” introducing the character Hercule Poirot.
If you were born on January 21st you might like to know that you share a birthday with Rasputin, Gary Locke (Seattle), Paul Allen (Seattle), Geena Davis, Telly Savalas, Benny Hill, Christian Dior, Stonewall Jackson, and Jack Nicklaus. Oh, I almost forgot: also Oscar Wendall Magnuson in Two Harbors, Minnesota in 1904.
Be sure to tune in next week when our program will be –
In 1677 the first medical publication in America (pamphlet on smallpox) was published in Boston
Carole Wier shared that she was experiencing a heat wave in Minnesota. When she got up this morning it was 3 degrees but the thermometer had since climbed all the way up to 13 degrees as of the time of our meeting. (For her I believe it was 2:30PM.)
Gayle Selden publicly apologized to PP Bill Potter for joking him in the last Club Bulletin. Bill allowed that it was fine and recognition of any kind is great for PPs.
1813 - Spaniard Don Francisco de Paula y Marin plants coffee in Hawaii - first record of coffee growing in Hawaii.
Now back to our meeting:
President Jim called the meeting to order promptly at 12:30 p.m and immediately went mute……I’ll leave that alone. After coming back on President Jim noted that Andrew Kruse was slated to do the invocation but wasn’t in attendance. The Pres looked for Barlow Buescher and couldn’t find him either so he gave the invocation himself (gotta love a guy that will just take charge). It was obvious that Pres Jim is a preacher’s son. The Pres followed up the invocation by leading us in the pledge of allegiance. He then explained that, at the last Board meeting, the Board discussed the fees that the credit card companies charge and that, in the near future there will be a “convenience” fee charged by LR for using credit cards to pay for our various fines, donations etc.
1899 - Opel manufactures its first automobile
Making the Meeting happen: Co-Host: Leanna Christian
Recording of fines: John Lowney
Bulletin Writer: Donn Irwin
Foundation Desk: Please mail in contributions or go online
Monitoring This President’s Gaffes: Greg Rediske
Puffins attending: Wendy McGowan, Connie Coleman-Lacadie, Angela Connelly, James Osundwa.
No guests of Rotarians were noted.
Health and Wellness: Eric Warn shared that he had spoken with John Forkenbrock and that he is dealing with skin cancer but doing okay.
1908 - "Sullivan Ordinance" is passed in NYC, making it illegal for a woman to smoke in public places. It was vetoed 2 weeks later by Mayor George B. McClellan Jr.
John Lowney was called upon to let us know that somehow a donation for the Emergency Food Network had been promised for last year but had not been paid. John then asked for a motion from the group to authorize a $2000.00 payment to EFN. The motion was stated, a second was recognized and the motion passed unanimously.
President Jim then called upon Rose Stevens to talk about the Little Food Pantry project. Rose stated that they are looking for drop off points for donations. Rose asked that Lakewood Rotary members with businesses consider being a drop off point but that she would take any suggestions. Contact Rose or Bob Zawilski.
Above: Typical LFP
1915 - Kiwanis International founded in Detroit
Angela Connelly then alerted all of us to a Business Summit being put on by Tacoma Safe. So, if you wish to attend, the Summit is Wednesday 1/26 at America’s Car Museum. The summit is about having Tacoma be a safe city but it actually is a county-wide event. The Mayor of Tacoma along with the Pierce County Executive and four Council members are slated to be there. For more information contact Angela.
Oops – at this point it was noted by someone that, unbeknownst to him, Carl Bronkema’s wife Veronica was actually in attendance as a guest. Our President asked if her application for membership was in the pipeline yet. Carl confessed that it was still on his desk.
Anne Enquist had mentioned to President Jim that Amazon has a program called Amazon Smile that allows for donations to charitable organizations when we buy things. Leanna Christian walked us through the process of signing up for the program. Greg Rediske shared that last year the club received about $350.00 of “free” money. Just go to https://www.smile.amazon.com.
And get the app. It is really easy to just designate LR as your preferred charity.
1935 -12.0" (30.5 cm) of rain falls at Quinault Ranger Station, a Washington state record.
Eric Quinn, our Youth Exchange guy, is looking for hosts as the program is being ramped back up. NOTE: Families and anyone that lives in the home will have to show proof of vaccination against Covid.
1934 -Parisian baker and "student of medieval life" Henri Littière appears in court charged with forcing his adulterous wife Juliette to wear a chastity belt. Having committed the same offence in 1932, he was sentenced to three months in prison and fined 50 francs for cruelty to his wife.
Mary Marlin announced that there is a Zoom meeting that John Korsmo has set up regarding mentoring. The meeting is on January 27th. Give Mary a call for details and/or suggestions for mentors and mentees.
President Jim opened the floor for any questions we had for member Ron Banner – the Superintendent of Clover Park School District.
Above; Ron Banner
Our President asked how the basketball team was doing and Ron said that the activity is keeping the kids engaged and active through this pandemic. Ron also noted that the coaches and players are tested for Covid three times a week.
GR: Where are you with subs?
RB: If you have a four-year degree you can apply – they need teachers! They also need bus drivers.
MH: What’s happening with new boundaries.
RB: The school boundaries haven’t changed (although he is in discussions with Bethel School District over a small area that is in question) but the voting districts can change due to redistricting following the census. This is known as reapportionment, and is based on the constitutional principle of “one person, one vote”. The school district has a consultant working on the reapportionment process.
AE: What percentage of the staff is fully vaccinated?
RB: About 99%. Those that are exempt get tested once a week. The “fully vaccinated” definition does NOT include the booster at this time.
Fines and Generous Giving – Dr. Ralph Johnson – yesterday was my 94th birthday. The good doctor paid $100.00 for the privilege. Leanna Christian had a “milestone birthday” (she didn’t mention which one) and a getaway weekend. She rounded up her fine to $50.00 to cover for the trip. (You do the math as to her age.)
1994 - Dow Jones passes 3900 (record 3,914.20).
Picked up by this writer on “Chat” during the Zoom meeting: Rumor has it that John Warner will be coming back from the East Coast on 2/2.
Program: Artificial Intelligence and its relationship with medical research.
Above: Tom George (great to see our Puffins being so active)
Tom George gave an extensive introduction of our speaker, Robin Abraham, Ph.D. Mr. Abraham is the Director of Applied Science, Program Management & Engineering at Microsoft.
Dr. Abraham shared that he has taken inspiration from a book entitled “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry”. (This writer admits that this particular title is NOT on his list of must reads – mainly because I wouldn’t understand most of it.) Our speaker also shared that AI (artificial intelligence) is the most important thing that humanity is working on.
The program focused on AI and medicine but Dr. Abraham made the point that AI takes the magical and turns it into the mundane. Think back when we marveled at asking a computer a question like “who is x” and boom – you had an answer. You didn’t have to find a reference book or even take a trip to the library! We were all amazed. Now it is totally accepted AND EXPECTED for our computers to do that for us. As a friend of mine mentioned….at one time a flushing toilet was an amazing thing.
Our speaker then talked about unsupervised learning, detecting patterns or similarities and reinforcement learning (learning from trial and error that is driven by a reward system).
The key ingredient in all of this is big data plus MASSIVE computing capabilities. (The number of transistors on a microchip doubles every two years.) With more data there is less trial and error.
Dr. Abraham went into several projects he is working on – Drug formulation and the inner eye.
He described some of the processes that they go through such as asking why a formulation failed, will it work if I tweak it and which experiences can I avoid. All of this allows AI to get to a working formula in less time than the old trial and error methods. This means quicker discovery, less time to market and getting the drug to those that need it quicker and for a cheaper cost.
Several questions were asked and answered. The speaker made it known that Microsoft does NOT look at an individual’s data…. (thankfully).
President Jim thanked Mr. Abraham for a very interesting program and adjourned the meeting. (This writer won’t mention at what time the meeting was adjourned, because of the President’s opening comments, but the time was not 1:30 p.m.)
1921 Agatha Christie publishes her first novel “The Mysterious Affair at Styles” introducing the character Hercule Poirot.
If you were born on January 21st you might like to know that you share a birthday with Rasputin, Gary Locke (Seattle), Paul Allen (Seattle), Geena Davis, Telly Savalas, Benny Hill, Christian Dior, Stonewall Jackson, and Jack Nicklaus. Oh, I almost forgot: also Oscar Wendall Magnuson in Two Harbors, Minnesota in 1904.
Be sure to tune in next week when our program will be –
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